In this episode of the Wealth Witches Podcast, host Katelyn Magnuson welcomes Aislinn McKenna, a former luxury wedding photographer turned successful business coach. Aislinn shares her inspiring journey from being a renowned photographer, published in Martha Stewart Weddings and Brides, to coaching women in the wedding industry. She highlights the importance of building a business that feels good and supports your overall well-being.

Aislinn and Katelyn discuss various challenges faced by wedding industry professionals. They cover the essential strategies for avoiding burnout, setting boundaries, and creating supportive systems that enhance productivity and client satisfaction. Aislinn emphasizes the significance of nervous system regulation techniques such as emotional freedom tapping, box breathing, and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule. These practices can help manage stress, improve creativity, and maintain a balanced life.

The conversation also covers the value of having a solid support network, whether through mastermind groups, coaching programs, or online communities. Aislinn encourages listeners to automate routine tasks and implement systems to free up time for more creative and strategic work. This episode is packed with practical advice and actionable insights for anyone looking to transform their business and life.

Key Takeaways

• Why it’s crucial to acknowledge and validate your feelings. Trusting yourself is the first step towards creating a business that feels good.
• Learning to set boundaries with clients and for yourself is essential to avoid burnout.
• How techniques like emotional freedom tapping, box breathing, and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule can help manage stress and improve creativity.
• Why having a solid support system, such as a mastermind group or a coach, can provide guidance and keep you grounded.
• How implementing automated systems and templates can enhance client experience and free up time for more creative and strategic work.

Guest Bio:

Aislinn McKenna is a former luxury wedding photographer with over 13 years of experience, featured in prestigious publications like Martha Stewart Weddings and Brides. She transitioned to coaching in 2020, helping creatives scale their businesses and elevate their mindset. Aislinn is dedicated to teaching strategies for success, nervous system regulation, and the importance of automation in business. Her clients achieve impressive results, such as $25K months and 5-figure recurring revenue. Passionate about empowering others, Aislinn combines business acumen with personal growth to create lasting impact.

Connect with Aislinn:

Instagram: @aislinneileencoaching

Website: https://aislinneileen.com/

Free Guide: Profitable Photographer Masterclass

🔮 Wealth Witches™ Monthly Membership Program 🔮

Are you ready to take your financial journey to the next level? Join the Wealth Witches™ membership for exclusive access to live training sessions on money, taxes, retirement, and business support. You'll also gain entry to our inclusive community where you can connect with like-minded individuals and get even more out of your financial journey. We're a community of passionate, purpose-driven entrepreneurs who see creating wealth holistically rather than stuck in another crypto-bro investing black hole membership. Join today: www.thefreelancecfo.com/wealth-witches-podcast-member

Thanks for Listening:

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share! Follow us on Instagram @WealthWitchesPodcast or drop us a message with your questions and episode requests. Looking for more finance tips, visit our main Instagram @thefreelancecfo.

Subscribe to The Podcast:

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, don't forget to subscribe. You can also give us a follow on your favorite podcast app.

Leave Us a Review:

Leave a 5-star review and include your IG handle to enter to win a free month of Wealth Witches Membership! We draw the winner at the beginning of each quarter.

Stay magical and empowered, and remember, wealth isn't just about dollars in the bank – it's about creating abundance in all aspects of your life.

DISCLAIMER: This Podcast may receive compensation for promoting or recommending products or services through affiliate links. We only recommend products and services that we believe are of value to our listeners. The content provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional financial, accounting, or legal advice. Listeners are advised to consult with qualified professionals before making any financial decisions. The Freelance CFO is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided

Music credit: Neon Fairies by Wolves 

Hello, and welcome magical creatures to the Wealth Witches podcast.

This is a place where we brew up financial empowerment and mix in a little

sprinkle of magic. I'm Katelyn Magnuson, your guide on this

enchanted journey to financial enlightenment. Here, we honor all

identities and invoke our inner witches to create holistic wealth and prosperity.

So grab your crystals, open your minds, and let's get ready to conjure some

financial clarity clarity.

Welcome back to the Wealth Witches podcast. I am so excited

for our guest today. We have Aislinn McKenna here.

And, Aislinn, before creating a successful coaching business,

she was a luxury wedding photographer for 13 years. During

that time, Aslan was published in Martha Stewart weddings and brides and flown

all over the country for celebrations. Now she helps women in the wedding

industry with established businesses, create more money online, and master

their mindset. Aislinn, welcome. I am

so excited to have you here. Thank you so much for inviting me to

do this. I'm so excited for this conversation. I know it's gonna be super juicy.

It really is. No. It you've just been such a

wealth of knowledge when it comes to navigating the wedding

industry and navigating, you know, burnout and

emotional regulation and building a business that you are really

in love with and that supports you. And that is such a big part of

what we want to see, you know, happening for our clients, happening for ourselves. So

I think you bring a wealth of information to the conversation. I'm so

excited. That's that's fantastic.

Yeah. I'm excited to get into this and just,

like, really kinda dig deep into nervous system regulation,

dig deep into how to make a business that actually feels really good, and kind

of, like, just share some of the different things that I've learned over the past,

gosh, 15 years of business that I've been in business now. And,

like, I'm just so excited for whoever's listening to this to take what you

can from it and apply it to your own life. Even if the story isn't

your exact story, it doesn't mean that it's not valid.

Absolutely. And I'm I'm stoked because today

we're chatting all about creating a wedding business that feels good.

And, Aslan, I'm sure you have your own thoughts on this, but having worked with

so many wedding industry professionals over the last 7 plus years,

it's been it's been a hot second. Like,

the last few years, especially with COVID

and rescheduling and closures, and then, you know, everything that came back

where everyone was playing catch up and trying to get all of their weddings and

their events rescheduled when things are opening back up. And then the, you

know, the slump, the changes to the industry led. Anyone with a

wedding industry business, I feel like, had been through the damn ringer over

the last few years and needs everything

that you provide so much more than I think ever before. I think it's become

so much more apparent. I think we, as a society, value

not burning out, building something that's sustainable, building something

that nourishes us while also providing a really valuable service offering.

Yeah. Absolutely. And I I have been in the industry a very

long time, so I've seen so many different really beautiful people

who have burnt out. And either they've come back from it stronger

or they've decided to exit the industry. And both of those are perfect

ways to, you know, do it for yourself, like whatever you need to do. But

I also have seen so many people that have gotten to the point of

burnout but didn't know what to do. They didn't know how

to start to set more boundaries for themselves and set boundaries for their

clients. They didn't know, like, the support and structures that you could have within your

business. They didn't know how to communicate their own needs. And if they had those

tools and resources, if you could just, like, imagine, like, a toolkit, like, wrapped

around your waist, like you're, like, about to, like, go to work or whatever. And,

like, if you had, like, the different tools that you needed, that you could just

pull them when you're starting to noticing burnout, or if you're starting to notice

like, hey, I need to communicate my needs better, how much better equipped

you would be for so many different situations that you find yourself in? Or you

won't even find yourself in those situations anymore because you had the tools when

you needed them, so it prevented those situations from happening.

Right. And being proactive instead of having to be reactive. And,

I mean, we preach that a lot here. So when it comes

to building a wedding business, that feels good. Like, where

where do you even start with that? Like, what I come to you and I'm

like, you know what, Aislinn? I have my business, and I am so I'm

over it. I don't know what I wanna do. I'm kind of, like, sitting

feeling this lull and I feel like listless and just

lethargic which I heard a lot from some of our clients especially in the last

year like where do I even start with that?

Yeah. So if someone was coming to me and that's exactly what they said to

me, the first thing I would say is I hear you. I hear

you. Because I think what's so hard is when you are feeling

that way and you come to someone hoping for help or hoping for advice,

and they're just like, well, that's just the way it is. That's just the industry

or that's just the economy or whatever. Like that completely invalidates

the feelings that you're having. So I think the very first thing we have to

do for ourselves is validate that it's

okay that I feel this way right now. It is okay that I'm

feeling overwhelmed. Of course, I'm going to feel overwhelmed sometimes.

It's okay that I don't know what I wanna do next. I don't have to

know the how and the why and the exact when it's gonna happen in

order for me to make a move that feels good to me right now. I

don't have to make a choice right now and live with that choice for the

rest of my life. Like, I could make a choice right now and in 6

months from now, if I wanna choose something different, I get to choose something different.

So I think the very first thing that I really like to work with my

clients on is that self trust piece. And I think

so often when when we're looking for external validation or we're looking

for things outside of ourselves to tell us like we're doing the right thing, it's

really easy to stop trusting that internal compass that's

saying, hey, I actually wanna do this thing over here. I actually wanna advocate for

myself and I actually want to, you know, do things that make me happy.

It's really hard to do that if you're not listening to

yourself and you're not trusting yourself. So I think the very first thing is coming

at it from a perspective of it's okay that

you don't know what you want to do. It is absolutely okay.

However, it is a choice to stay

in that mindset. It is a choice to stay in that

mindset. So what are you gonna choose?

I think that's really powerful. I think that so often we

wanna dive right into fixing something right, or just like brushing past where we're

at and feeling the

feelings, acknowledging the feelings, even if it's uncomfortable

is a really bad place to start. Yeah. And I I you and I have

even had this conversation where I was just like I don't know what I'm doing

And here I am, like, 7 months later, and I'm like, hey, I don't know

what I'm doing, but I'm enjoying the process again. And I think that's, like, one

of the things too with wedding professionals that I see so often is that they're

not enjoying the process. Like, being an entrepreneur is a

journey. There's going to be ups and downs, and there's going to be parts of

the process that don't feel good. But if you think the entire process, the

entire journey has to not feel good, then you should probably not be an entrepreneur.

thinking that the entire process needed to feel that way. I don't think I would.

I don't think I'd be a business owner. Yeah. That would be absolutely awful.

So Yeah. Get into it that. No. If you're listening to this and you're

feeling that way, I would say, please take a minute to just

reassess. Like, are are you making this? Are you

expecting this to be difficult every second of the way?

Yeah. And I think the second kind of piece of this is, like, what's

your input? Like, on a daily basis, what are you

consuming? Like, what podcasts are you consuming? What social media are you consuming?

What conversations are you entertaining? And I mean that. What conversations are you

entertaining? Like, are you sitting around a group of people and you're entertaining, like,

really not positive conversations just because you're in

that group of people, like, that's a choice. You do not have to sit in

that at that table and, like, keep, like, being around those people. You can

choose other places, to be and like other tables to sit

at. So I think like taking like a audit or like an

inventory of like what is my consumption right now? Like,

what am I actually consuming? And can I plug in somewhere else that's actually

inspiring and activating? Absolutely. I know that I had

gone through and I think called my Instagram following,

to have people that I wanted there. I didn't want someone in there telling me

that it had to be a hard. It had to be a slog every day.

It had to be, you know, so, like, delivering the least that come up

with childhood. Right? Like, work is a 4 letter word or all of these things.

Like, it doesn't doesn't have to always be that difficult. It doesn't have to

be like, it gets to be, I think, what you want to create it to

be. Mhmm. And I noticed here that for me, finding

a really fantastic group of colleagues, peers,

like, you know, especially working remotely for me. That's been really kind of a

challenge, because you want to find people that

are that understand what you're doing. I mean, even now where I live and I

don't know if you ever experienced. It's really funny. Like, oh, what do you do?

And I'll tell them and they're like, oh, okay. So, like, you have an office

in town and, like, you go in and you do the cubicle thing. I'm like,

no. No. Not quite. Like, there's a whole online, you

know, aspect to the business. And I'll talk sometimes about, like, what our

clients do. My mom's like, what what is that? Like,

it's a business. They do things online. Like, here's

the whole premise. And my mom is, like, mind blown

by how things can be different. And so finding people, like, not

everyone always gets what you do. And it's really nice to have

people that understand where you're at and where you wanna go and, like, what your

dreams are. And not just, you know, in our case, like, punching in or punching

out every day, which there's nothing wrong with if that's your jam. I

did it for years. It was not my jam. Yeah. And I think if

anyone's listening to this and you're like, okay. But, like, I don't have that

group of people, it's not

other people's jobs to come find you and make that group. It's your job

to go find that group or create that group. So, like, if you

need to, like, join a mastermind, join a mastermind. If you need

to, you know, like, join an online group of people in order to

find your people, like, go do it. Like, you don't need to wait for those

people to come find you. Like, sometimes you need to be the the facilitator of,

like, the person who's actually, like, showing up and being like, alright. I'm gonna

find the right people. Ten, I've said, I've I've been that person

several times, both for, like, paid masterminds, like, just

little collaborative masterminds. We even have, like, a Voxer group right now with a couple

of people that have become my peers, and I have had some

iteration of that. It's fantastic. One of them has found

me. The other ones, I've been like, hey. I think we'd be

really great in a group together because I keep bouncing ideas off of

you and off of you and off of you and vice versa. Do you

wanna, like, make official? And it's amazing. Like, how

easy it is to just say that and then be like, oh, damn. You don't

be like, instagroup. And it's fantastic.

Yeah. No. I think putting that the effort and not just like where are

my people? Please find me virtually. I'm gonna

put effort in. Yeah. We don't need to play in, like, the, like, pick me,

girl vibes. Like, we just don't. We can be out there and be

leaders and be the ones finding people and facilitating those spaces.

Absolutely. No. I love that. What have you

done in your business, Aislinn, to

find that community for yourself? Yeah.

So when I was a wedding photographer, I joined educational groups,

and I was in, like, the free accountability groups. And they were they were

good. Like, I enjoyed them a lot. What I noticed is that I ended up

usually being the leader of those groups, but I wasn't getting paid to be the

leader of those groups. And so I was hitting a point where I was like,

there's a lot of effort to make this a nice space for other people,

and I'm not, you know, getting paid to do this. Mhmm. So

so when I was a videographer, I was in, like, free educational group. Well, it

was paid educational groups, but, like, free accountability groups. And then as I kind

of ventured into coaching, I started to get into the world of masterminds

and paid masterminds and like high level masterminds. Most of the

women that I was sitting at tables with were like at least

like making $500,000 a year. Most of them were billionaires.

So like, and the conversations you have at that level are just vastly

high

level conversations were happening and the types of high level

conversations were happening. And the types of

conversations I have in my life on a daily basis now have really, really shifted.

So as far as like finding community, like a, Mastermind,

b, being able to kind of create that within my own

like communities, like my own signature program and my own membership and

my own mastermind. I kind of just like made it for myself of

like, I wanna have high level conversations, so I'm going to ask high level

conversation questions and see what what we get back, basically.

Right. Yeah. If you what is it? If you build it, they will come.

I found both paid and unpaid groups like that to be really,

really beneficial. I think it was so much easier when I was getting going in

the online world to start with those paid groups because

you don't know who you need to find or, like, what you need to need

more of, or to navigate. I don't even know. I mean, I still I think

the masterminds are such an invaluable resource.

And I think being discerning about finding one that is the right fit for

you. Because I know I've absolutely hopped in one where it was like, oh, shiny

object syndrome. And you get it and you're like, yeah. This wasn't

like, I didn't I didn't do the work on this to vet this, or I

wasn't in a spot. I joined, and it was tax season. And

guess what? I didn't have the availability that I wanted to be showing up in

the space and to be really connecting and making the most of

it. It's not a reflection on the mastermind space. It is absolutely a reflection on,

like, where I was at in my own journey, and, like, being really cognizant

about that. Because I think that it could be really easy to give them a

bad name. Sometimes, if you hop in when it's not the right

time or right place for you. Yeah. Or you're not at a

place where you even know how to do the work. Is it? Is

it? Absolutely. I think that's really

important. What else when you're looking to build

this, you know, wedding business that actually feels really good, like, what are the

other I I look at it as like ingredients. Right? You're like baking

I don't know. We'll we'll say we're baking a cake. Right? So, like, what are

the ingredients that we're looking at that really sort of start to bring this together?

It's like, number 1, we're looking at acknowledging our feelings of, like, in in

the case that we I'd laid out, like, where we're at right now, and then,

like, making a decision of are we wanting to stay there, are we wanting to

move forward, and, like, what does moving forward look like now subject to

change in the future? Yeah. So when I think about a business,

like a wedding business, that feels really good, I'm looking at a couple of different

things. So I'm going to look at the ability to actually take time

off. And when you take time off, you're not like having like a mental breakdown

while you're watching Netflix because you're so stressed out. Like, you actually can

go, like, read a book at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and it is not

a reflection on your laziness or worthiness or

ability to like do anything in your business or you're not avoiding

anything. So that's one of the things I look at is like being able to

actually take time off and being able to actually enjoy your life

because, hi, wouldn't that be nice if we could actually enjoy

our lives? So if we wanna have businesses that feel good, we have to be

able to take time off. So that's one of the first things I look at.

The other thing I look at is being able to actually plan ahead and think

from a 30,000 foot view instead of always thinking about your business in

this, like, okay, well, today I have to edit. Okay. Great.

How is editing bringing you income in the next 3 months? What are

you actually doing from a 30,000 foot view to like actually

move your business forward? So if we want a business that feels good, we have

to be looking at it from a higher level than, okay, today I'm editing or,

oh, I have Ted Weddings, all the books. It's gotta be more than that. Some

of the other things I look at are, being neutral, whether or

not someone books you, like, or hires you. So, like, when you come to a

consultation call and you're putting all your hopes, dreams,

fears, and worthiness on this client who's sitting across the table from

you and you have that despot, grabby energy of like, I have to

book this or I'm going to, like, you know, pass out. That's

not what we want for our businesses. But I see a lot of wedding

professionals who are like, oh, I'm gonna manifest this. I'm gonna manifest this

really amazing client. And like, oh my god, I have the consultation. And

oh no, they said no. And they booked somebody else and I'm a terrible person

now. Because they booked somebody else, I'm a terrible person. And it's like,

why would we want to create that kind of dynamic in our relationships and in

our business? So if we want a business that feels good, that stuff has

got to get figured out. And that's one of the things I work on with

my clients is like, we gotta talk about that because that's not cool.

One of the other things I think about with like business feeling good, a wedding

business feeling good, is taking care of yourself. Being a

leader and taking care of yourself. Knowing how to regulate your nervous system,

not only on a wedding day when you're heavily dysregulated, but also on

the day to day hygiene of your reg, like of your regulation. Like knowing how

to do those things that like make you feel good and make you feel grounded

so that you could show up in your business from a powerful grounded

standpoint instead of the standpoint of like, I need something outside of

myself in order to feel good about myself. So taking care of

yourself, leading yourself, not waiting for the outside world to tell

you, like, your next step is this. Like, no, just figure

it out on your own. Like, you don't need the industry to tell you that

it's time to, like, go do something. So not waiting on

outside forces to push you. So when I think about a business that feels really

good, there's definitely like this piece of like a business that

feels good, feels stable and feels grounded and feels

like, I don't know, like, like almost like a best friend, like where it's

just like this kind of like, I can't wait to talk to that

person. I can't wait to like be in that person's presence. That's how we should

feel about our businesses. I love that. Yeah.

That feels so good. No. I god. I just felt

like you you kicked me in the best way for a second. I noticed the

biggest difference in my business when I was no

longer attached to the outcome of someone booking and

what it meant or didn't mean about who

I was, who I was as a business owner. It was very

much, and it it's made such a huge difference even now. Not everyone is gonna

be the right fit. Yeah. That's a good thing. We don't

wanna work with everyone in the world. There are so many people out

there that we could work with and knowing that, like, hey, this is what

we provide. This is how we show up. This is who we are. If this

resonates with you and it feels really good and it's the right time and everything,

like, I say all the stars align. But, like, if all the stars align,

great. Fantastic. Whether it's a year, whether it's 10 years, and,

like, so long as we're all a good fit, we're here for that. We're excited

for that. But it also means absolutely nothing if

you go with someone else, if you don't go with anyone at all, if

you fall in love with us for the next year. And I

think that that's what happens to a lot of times. It's like, oh, yeah. I'd

like divested myself from the negative side of things.

And then we're so invested in the

good side of things or the, like, perfect soulmate

client. Yeah. And that, like, I'm here for it, but you also

I feel like there's that level of detachment that

is so important in order to feel

good with who you are and like not make it not make all these stories

up about ourselves. We're really good at making stories up about what something means about

who we are. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, I I

think it's just a really good point of, like, being detached

from the outcome. Whether you're a coach or whether you're a wedding professional,

being able to show up from a unattached energy to a

consultation call, the person on the other side of you, like, of the other

side of the table who, like, might book you, they are going to

feel that energy. Whether or not they ever say anything about it, they're going to

be able to feel that you don't desperately need them to book

you. Like, they're going to be like, oh, you know, Aislinn seems like a really

cool person. She seems really grounded and she seems have a really great process. And,

like, I'm excited that she talked to us about the timeline, not, man, there's

something really off about her. And I felt like kind of like, like she

needed me to make a decision right now and I was a bad person if

I did make a decision. We don't want our clients to feel that way. Such

a different experience. Yeah. And I don't care if

you're charging $3,000 for wedding photography or if you're charging $15,000 for

wedding photography. That's a skill you can learn and it is going to take you

so far. Absolutely. No. I think that

I mean, I see it at multiple levels in the in, like, my business side

of things. And it's been, it's just such a game changer. And it can be

really tough, I think, sometimes for us, especially when you're getting started out and you're

like, but I need to be making it. Like, I have bills to pay. I

need x with each. That desperate energy comes through

so hard. Yeah. So hard when you're making

it say things about yourself and about what it

means for your ability to, like, attract clients. And I mean, like, I

think, you know this because I told you, but I think you have such a

great outlook around, like, yeah. I'm here for this and like, I really love

to work with, you know, x number of people for this program and like, in

the financial side and the, like, logical side. We look at it all, But it

then it's very much like yeah. And the people that are, like, meant to be

here will absolutely be here. And, like, if not, there's these other rounds and,

like, this is what it's gonna look like. And someone will find me a different

parts of their journey when it's time. But, like, you're still putting the actual work

in to, like, reach out, promote. You're not just, like, sitting here and be

like, yes. My people will find me. I may not be doing

anything. I may not be talking about it, but somehow, I think they're going to

magically find me. I'm, like, that's where so much of the magic is. Isn't holding

the space, not being desperate, having this grounded energy, but also, like,

doing the fucking work. Right? Because it's so easy to just be, like, I'm

manifesting all of this with without taking a step forward.

I don't chase. I attract energy. Like, okay.

But, like, what are you attracting? If you're not doing the work, if you're not

putting good energy out there, what are you attracting? I don't chase. Cool. That's

fine. But what are you attracting with the energy that you're putting out there? If

you're putting out there, like, super grounded, unattached, I'm just here for the fun of

it kind of vibes, imagine what you're gonna get back. Imagine the kind of

people that you get to cocreate with. Imagine the kind of conversations you get to

entertain. Imagine the kind of vendor partnerships you get to have When you come at

it from this perspective of my energy is so freaking

solid no matter what, of course, I'm going to

attract really cool experiences. So when you work on your own energy

first, that's when your business starts to feel really, really freaking

good. Absolutely. No. I think that's so

important. And I think that well, like,

you you offer so much I'm gonna say magic for lack of a better term,

but, really, like, so much magic that you bring to this experience of, like, you

know, creating a business that feels it feels really good.

Because I think a lot of us will get into business. It feels good. It's

exciting in the beginning. Right? That'd be like a long term well, it is it

is a long term relationship, frankly. But like you get into it. Right? It's like

hot, new, and exciting, and sexy. And then like you get into,

you know, that like a a rough pact or something, you

know, goes a mock. And you have to make a decision of, like, how am

I gonna handle this? How am I gonna proceed through? And there's so many parallels

between, like, are you in a stable, supportive relationship?

Are you showing up in the way that, like, you want to be showing up?

Is your partner business, etcetera, showing up for you? You

know, what what are we putting out there, and what are we getting? And, like,

does this feel good? And where you, I

think, excel dramatically outside of, like, the actual strategic

experience is in nervous system regulation. And I

think that that's something that's not talked about,

especially in the wedding industry, but really in a lot of industries as

much as it needs to be spoken about. Is that something that you're comfortable

kind of elaborating on for anyone that's, like, new to the concept?

Yeah. Absolutely. So this is actually something that is part of,

the work that I do in my coaching business and I inside of my

signature program called success accelerator program. I'll just short it for

SAP, for now. So inside of SAP, we actually have several trainings about

nervous system regulation. And so what I talk to people about is

kind of like what it feels like to be lightly dysregulated, medium

dysregulated, and heavy dysregulated. And each one of those scenarios is

going to have different ways to get you back to, like, a

more neutral grounded state. So you'll hear a lot in kind of

like the spiritual spaces. People will talk about energy and they'll talk about grounding and

stuff like that. Well, there's actually science behind it. And there's actually, like,

somatic body things that we can do to regulate

our nervous system. So if you've grown up in a really chaotic

environment or you've gotten really used to how chaotic being in the wedding

industry can be sometimes, that might be what feels safe to your

body because that's what you have gotten used to over time. But

as you start to introduce more nervous system regulation tools,

you're going to be able to kind of get to this more neutral grounded

state, like just kind of as your baseline. So our goal is not for you

to never feel a negative thought or negative feeling. That's not the goal. The goal

is for you to know how to process that in the moment

so that you can still do the thing that you wanna do, even though you're

feeling nervous or you're feeling kind of shaky or you're feeling kind

of like ungrounded or unattached to your body at that

moment. Knowing the different tools that you can use in that moment is

going to help you be better for yourself and be like more

calm for yourself, but also be a better leader for your clients. Because

I see this happen so often on wedding days where like something crazy happens on

a wedding day and you're like all kinds of dysregulated. You're

like, can't think straight, can't think creatively. You're probably

sweating a lot more than you probably would have been. You're, you know, snapping at

people. You're feeling anger, all these different, like, dysregulation pieces.

If you had the tool in the moment to go regulate your

nervous system, you would be able to think more creatively at the moment.

You would be able to process what's happening to you and communicate

better. Because what happens when we're dysregulated is that there's a certain part

of our brain that just kind of like shuts off and it's the creative thinking

part of our brain. So when we're dysregulated, it is harder for us

to think in that moment about solutions to what's in front

of us. So if you know how to regulate your nervous system when you're highly

dysregulated, you're going to be able to show up better for your clients. You're going

to be able to be a lot more zen for your clients, but also just

on a daily basis as well. Right. Absolutely. It's

very much like showing up better for yourself, showing up better for everyone else

in the world, but for everyone else that you're interacting with in the world too.

What does your own if you're comfortable sharing, I

know we didn't discuss this beforehand, but, like, what does your own routine or, like,

your set of rituals that you, you know, go through on, like, a weekly or

a monthly basis? Like, out of curiosity. Because I'm always, you know, developing my

own and making tweaks to it, like, changing it kind of with my cycles and,

just super curious of what that looks like for you right now. Yeah. So, I

mean, there's a whole bunch of things. Like, it would probably take an hour to

talk about all of it, but I'll just kinda give you some of it. Yeah.

Spark notes of it. So the very first thing I would say

is getting regular sleep. And I don't just mean like, oh, like, you you sleep

in a bed once a week at some point or other, and you get maybe

5 hours or maybe 10 hours. It just depends. That is

not healthy. Please, please stop doing that if that's you. But one of the

things that I have really done that's helped me a lot with regulating my nervous

system is making sure that I have a wind down routine before I go to

sleep and that I wake up at the same time every single day. You

know, weekends are gonna look a little bit different, but, like, for the most part,

I, like, start going to bed around 8 o'clock. And I like, that's when I

start reading and, like, I'll, like, get my Kindle out and I'll read for, like,

2 hours. I have my, I have a hatch restore alarm

clock. And so at one hour of me reading,

the noise and the light changes. So it tells me I've been reading for an

hour and that it's time to start putting my book away and go to sleep.

And then when I wake up in the morning, I have it set where, like,

30 minutes before I'm actually supposed to wake up, there's like a light that comes

on and then the sound comes on 30 minutes later. So that right there is

like a huge thing that you can start doing for yourself is just the basics

of getting good sleep. So that's the very first thing you could do to help

regulate your nervous system. One of the other things that you can do is called

emotional freedom technique. It's also called tapping. So you could tap on

the side of your hand. It's called the karate top point. That right there

is going to, be a they they call it like a like

an acupuncture, point, acupressure point. And so, like,

you can tap on the side of your, wrist and you're able to

kind of, like, it almost like just like grounds you in the moment to

feeling your body again. Because what happens when we're dysregulated a lot of times is

that we don't feel connected to our body. So if we can start to do

body practices, somatic practices like tapping, it can kind

of get us back into a state of, like, recognizing that, like, we

are like in the moment rather than we're the past of the future.

And then one of my favorite things that I tell my clients to do is

called orienting. So orienting is teaching

your brain that your body is safe. So essentially what

you do, if you are in a moment, and this not when you're super dysregulated

where you're like having a panic attack, this is like when you're just kind of

like, okay, there's a lot going on. I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I need

to just like ground for a moment. What you're gonna do is

look for reasons in your environment why you are safe.

So you look at the wall and you say, there's a wall. It's

solid. I am safe. You look at the roof. Okay. There's a roof

over my head. I am safe. There is a door. If I need to

escape for whatever reason, like lizard brain turned on and I need to escape,

there's a door. I can go escape right now. And just orienting yourself

to remind yourself that you are present in the moment is one of the really

good ones. And the final one I'll tell you guys about is, box breathing.

So box breathing is breathing in for 4, holding it

for 4, breathing out for 4, holding it for 4, breathing in

for 4, holding it, breathing out for 4. You just do that as many times

as you need to. So those are, like, kind of the the ones that I

actually use on a pretty regular basis. Mhmm. I feel like

sleep, pun intended, is so slept on.

That that is a a very, very firm nonnegotiable in my life, and it

has been for a long time. And it's actually kinda like a running joke on

our team. When they're all here, like, I will still go to bed

and at my normal time because I wake

up at the same time almost every day just naturally. And,

like, stay up till 1 in the morning doesn't really work very often

because I'm slow up at 6:30, and then I'm just really cranky and not my

best the next day because that much sleep does not work. It

does not work for many people. I know that there I have some that swear

by it, but I am a mess if I'm not getting

regular sleep and everything else comes after that.

Everything else feels like icing on top. Right? Like, if you don't have the foundational,

like, but are you resting? Yeah.

Actually resting and recovery because we can do everything

else outside of it. But if you're not actually, like, having the restorative

time then Well it's funny because

like sometimes my clients will come into into Slack and they'll be like telling

me all these, like, mindset things, like, everything's going terribly, everything's wrong.

And one of my first questions is usually, like, how much sleep did you get

last night? Like sorry to be a pain in your

ass but like did you sleep last night? And then they'll come back and they'll

be like oh I only slept 3 hours and I'm like go take a nap

and then we can talk about this. Oh.

Yeah. Yeah. So and if you're at sleep or snack. Yeah. Yep,

it's 1 or the other like so, yeah,

I I definitely will say sleep is one of those big things. And not just

like, oh, I don't go to bed at a, like, you know, the same time

every night, but like I I want you guys to, like, start to get your

circadian rhythm, like, in order. Like, I want it to be, like,

clockwork. 8 pm, the melatonin is starting to hit in your body and it's

like, oh, it's bedtime because your body knows that it's 8 PM and it's

bedtime or 9 PM or whatever it's gonna be for you. And same as you,

like I, my body wakes up at 5:22 whether or not

I set an alarm, so I might as well get enough sleep. Right.

And then just work backwards from that, and then, yeah, that's when when you need

to be going to bed. I actually I was talking to my husband a couple

of months ago, and I was like, I just wanna be a 5 AM girly

again. I just wanna be a 5 AM girly. I wake up and not have

to talk to another human for the first two hours of the day. That is

bliss. It's the best. Bliss.

Oh. And so I, at the time, did not have a good sleep

schedule. And so that's when we got the hatch restore alarm clock.

And since then, I've had such great sleep. And, like,

I have, like, so many, like, Google Docs of things that I want to do

and ideas and stuff because I just have all this, like, brainpower going for me.

Not because I wake up at 5:30, but because I have a

very consistent sleep schedule now. Mhmm. Mhmm. I think yeah.

I I think so many people will put all the stock in being the 5

AM club, 5 AM and it, like, that has absolutely been me. I am more

of a morning person depending on the season because mine changes seasonally,

which is so interesting, especially with where I live now. It's really, really tied to

that. But it is so much more about okay. Cool.

Are you getting up at 8 AM? But are you

sleeping? Because if you're a late night person, then like, that still means we

need to be like sleeping a little bit more. Like, if that's really your jam

and that's how you really work best. But establishing, like, healthy

sleep hygiene. Yeah. And it's, like, adoyingly

basic. I know it's boring, guys, but it's so important.

It's literally the same with finance. Right? Like, none of it's sexy. Everyone wants this,

like, quick, sexy fix of, like, oh, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna be rich

tomorrow. No. It's just, like, literally consistency over time and,

like, the simple, easy, consistent it's like automating,

and it's like, yeah, I know I really wanted to know a little bit more

pazzy. Yeah. Actually, you're talking about, like, earlier, like, business

feeling good and, like, what does it look like for business feel good? I think

knowing that you have money flowing in from multiple directions is one of

the best ways for business to feel good because you're never

desperate for that high paying client or, like, that, like, high ticket

offer to get filled because you know, like, and you have that,

like, safety within your body that, like, oh, I have money coming in from all

kinds of places. Like, money just flows to me all the time. Mhmm. So I

I was just thinking about that. I was like, oh, it's a perfect segue because,

yes, like, we need to build businesses that have multiple streams of revenue

in order for business to feel good. No. Absolutely.

I think I don't think I know when I rearranged my offerings, I

think, 3 years ago. Specifically, so if I

didn't lose a client like that that could be make or break for me at

the time. And we rearranged how we were doing things like water package

offerings work, and it's amazing because

It doesn't it doesn't make her like the stakes are lower. We still

get to work and really serve in this fantastic capacity, but we're

not desperate for every single sale and that

for me, for building a team, for having salaries and

livelihoods that, like, rely on stable cash

flow, all of that is just, like,

dramatically different than it was 3 years ago. I think I take it for granted

some that because it's been a while in my brain, you know, like, for years

in entrepreneur land feel like an eternity. Yeah. It's really easy to

forget that, like, you don't have to only have one thing that you do

over and over and over again. You can put other

offerings out there. You can have overlapping offerings. You can have,

like, different tiers. And there's, like, some really great strategy behind

Yeah. I have a lot of conversations with my clients about that because, like, they'll

be like, oh, I haven't booked a wedding in 3 months. I'm freaking out. And

I'm like, well, what have you been doing for the past 3 months, like, to

remedy that? Like, what other revenue streams are you building right now?

Yeah. No. I think that that is Fuck.

We're gonna say slept on again. Honestly slept on right? Like

you don't you don't have to just have the one

option. Like and I know my

creative energy, it is it is amazing. The

ideas, the sparks, the glimmers

that will come up when I'm taking care of myself. And my default

now is when I'm over it.

I'm having, like, a day that I'm just, it feels like I'm swimming

ups uphill, upstream, all of the ups, and

everything's fighting against me. I will normally stop. Even if I'm like, oh my god.

I have 3 things that I had planned to do today, which, like, also we

generally don't do now because we're being realistic about what we're accomplishing

in a day. I'll let you get nap. I'll let you go 45 minute

nap, and then I'll come back to it. I'm like,

oh, guess what? This I feel much more

equipped to, like, deal with some of these things. Some of these things aren't the

issues that I would you know, I'm really thinking that they were. And it is

amazing how the basics makes such a

big difference in how we show up. Because but it feels weird. Right? Because

you're like, I have all these things to do. Why would I go be lazy

and take a nap? Mhmm. And I actually made one of my

goals last year was to nap at least 3 times a week. Oh,

wow. Yes. And I did. And I did. And I'm normally,

like, a 2 to 3 time a week napper now. Pretty consistently between,

like, 35. Like, I think most of a lot of us get real real

drowsy during that time frame. And if I'm not feeling it, I'll just go take

a nap and be good to go. And that was the silliest goal. Like, I

even felt I felt kind of weird, like, telling people. I was like, yeah. My

goal is not more. But I'm like, it it makes a really big difference.

Like, for myself, in my relationship, in my business, like,

dramatic difference. Like, why would we be fighting to do something? It's like,

I've never pulled an all nighter. I never pulled an all nighter in school.

Mhmm. Many times because I just valiantly, and

I didn't school was a little bit easier for me, so I could kind of

BS something and still get a possible grade.

But there was no point. Like, you have diminishing returns if you just keep

pushing and keep pushing and keep pushing. What is that serving? Like, is

it is it this feeling of, like, having to do it? Because if we don't,

we're lazy. Like, what are all these stories that we're telling about our flaws when,

like, I just say screw it, go to bed, get up an hour early, and,

like, finish whatever I finished in the morning? Yeah. I don't know if

people are gonna wanna hear this, but I think it's ego driven. I think there's,

like, some hero complex going on there of, like, I'm I'm the chosen one. I'm

the only one who can do this. I'm the only one who can, like,

be the, like, like, the hero of the story. I'm the

only one who can, like, do these tasks, and it's falling on my shoulders.

And I think like if, if that was a little triggering for you guys to

hear, I want you to ask yourself the question of like, what are you actually

getting out of having an all nighter? What are you actually getting out of

like sitting at your desk, like disassociating while you think

that you have 30 tasks versus just going and taking a nap and coming back

and doing 3 of the most important and urgent tasks.

Yeah. No. I that's a fantastic way. Yeah. What what badge are you

needing from this or

it's it's I don't miss those days in the slightest. I

absolutely like, to a to an extent, I was never as bad as, like, for

my sister, bless her, is that like, my mom and my

sister, all nighter queens. All nighter

queens. Oh, man. Yeah. No. I can't do it.

People will laugh, but I'm like, yeah. No. I've never I've never pulled an all

nighter. Even my husband was like, wait. What? Like, now I even feel like a

party in college? And I was like,man. I think

that was the only time I pulled out all nighters was, like, college parties or,

like, so I was on the fencing team in college. There was a couple times

we had to drive through the night, like, because we were, like, driving from Florida

all the way up the East Coast to get to, like, like, the different colleges

up there to do fencing tournaments. That was the only time we pulled all nighters.

Like, I can distinctly remember, like, 2 at the morning being in the middle of,

like, nowhere, Virginia, like, having to, like, take a potty break, like, on our way

to events and competition. That's the only time. And I was, like, such

not a person to pull an all nighter. So, like, when I was around people

who, like, regularly did it, I was, like like, I was a super

regulated one versus them. They were just like, oh, this is normal. And, like, I'm

hyped up on caffeine. And I was like, I just wanna take a nap. Like,

I just wanna sleep because I have competition in the morning in 6 hours.

That sounds awful. It was great. I would never do it again, but

it was great. But yeah. Yeah. No. I get that. I

get that. There are times where I'm like, did I miss out on things? I

mean, you know what? Honestly, though, I function so poorly the

next day if I don't get what I need for sleep. And I'm like, mhmm.

I really take and the older I get, the more I notice it. Like, it

really takes a lot. We we had some friends here, and I stay up, I

think, until, like, 11:30 this weekend. And I was like, I really

love you guys. Like, this is because they work nights. They're one of them is

an ER nurse, and so I'm like, our schedules are completely different right now.

This is fun. So we, like, meet in the middle. I'm like, this

is this is not a long term solution.

Thank God they were here for 3 days because, yeah, they were we need to

find something in the middle. Oh my goodness. Okay. Amazing.

Is there anything else that you want to

tell anyone that's listening that has a wedding business that

wants to make sure that it feels supportive,

great, juicy, like, all all of these, you know,

words. Maybe we don't necessarily associate with business, but, like, I I associate juicy with

business now. That took a while. But is there anything that you want

them to really take away from this? Or, like, the the main like, what

should you be doing? What should you be thinking about to really build

something that is supportive? Yeah.

I think, like, one of the first things is, like, what's your support system

look like? Like, are you trying to do this all by yourself? And I'm not

talking about, like, hiring an assistant or hiring a VA or anything like that. I'm

talking about like, what are your support systems for like, do you have a

mastermind or do you have like a high level coaching space where you can plug

in to someone who is grounded and somebody who's going to like bring you

back to like your like actual capabilities and

bring you back to this space of like dreaming rather than the space of

just like trying to survive? Like, do you have that for

yourself? Like, do you have that kind of support? And then I think the other

thing to look at is just like, what are your systems actually

doing for you? I know a lot of wedding professionals really love to play this

game of like every single client has to be completely unique. I

can't automate anything, especially as I get further into luxury weddings, and I

am calling bullshit. Like, you

could have a multi 6 figure, a $1,000,000 business and have

things be automated. Trust me, I know. I sit at tables with

women who have done it. So I just want you to hear that from someone

who, like, has that experience that, like, not every client has to

get a, like, unique email from you. Like, not every

client needs to be communicated with in a different way than other clients.

Humans are not that unique. Like, sorry to, like, break it to you, but

they're just not. So, like, if you're thinking like, oh, I have to, like,

reinvent the wheel every single client of course you're gonna be leading

to burnout. Of course business is gonna feel like shit. Like, if you want a

business that feels good, you're going to have to put systems in place to make

parts of it, you're

going to have to put systems in place to make parts of it

repeatable so that you can put your actual energy and your actual

creative energy on the things that need creative energy. So I think that's like

the 2 places I would say, systems and then like energetics.

Like systems, energetics, mindset, all 3 of those are kind of, like, the golden,

like, like, recipe to actually I got it done. Yeah. Yeah. The business that

actually feels good is gonna have all 3 of those things. No. I hate that

that that's so important. We I even pushed back against this for a

while with an OBM who was like, hey. We can set up some, like,

systems and some templates. And I was like, can't we? And she's like, yeah.

We really can. Like, we we can standardize

a lot of this. And I was like, but the client experience and

then guess what? It's freaking better because they're actually getting things

consistently as needed. Nothing slipping through the cart. Like, oh

my god. What a better client experience. And we can tailor so

many of the things that we need within that and, like, have the info. And

then exactly show up for them in the ways that, like, we can't automate as

easily or show up in the ways that do require more of my, like, creative

power or, like, bringing new and innovative solutions.

Stalker, I actually have the energy to be doing that. Like, what a

novel concept. Yeah. I feel like that's, like, CEO

energy right there. It's like you're actually putting, like,

your energy and your, like, creativity into the things

that need your specific brain versus the things that could be

automated or outsourced. And I think, like, when you start to think about it in

that way, like, we start to realize that, like, oh, I can actually create a

much better client system this way than what I was doing beforehand. And I

don't think you can really see that unless you have it templated for

you. I actually I give my clients in SAP, my my

program, I give them, like, a whole pack of templates that I used while I

was a wedding professional. And every time I every time I show them these templates,

they're like, this is how your brain works? And I'm like,

yes, please take these and use these. Like, it

just it's funny because I used to get emails from clients, like, when I would

send them the template email. Well, actually, my system would send up the template emails.

I wouldn't even know that the system was doing it. And then I would get

an email from the client back. They'd be like, oh my god. Thank you so

much for checking on me. I'm doing great. I really appreciate you checking in. And

I'd be like, oh, I guess I sent an email today.

Right. But that that's the whole point. It's like you're able to put

the effort and the intention in to the client experience without it

requiring the, like, regular one on one effort from you at still

providing this, like, really excellent service. Yeah.

Why would you not? Yeah. You guys want to raise

your prices? You wanna have, like, luxurious client experiences?

You wanna attract clients who want that kind of thing, it's up to

you to put it in place. Absolutely.

Let the ego out of it. Like, just, like, a if your

ego is fighting it and be like, Noah, each one has to be unique, like,

just question it and be like, cool. Good job, bro. I'm gonna

do it anyway. Mic drop.

What a great closing on that entire topic. Yeah. Just ignore the

ego. Tell it to go away for a little bit. If anyone

is wanting to follow you, learn more about what you're

doing, what awesome programs you have coming or

currently in progress, where should they find you? Like, what are you

really excited for that you're, you know, doing in your business right now?

Yeah. So couple different things. You can find me on Instagram at aislinncoaching.

That's where I hang out most of the time. So if you want to actually,

like, say hi, you're more than welcome to come say hi in the DMs. I

am currently in a launch for my signature program, which is

called success accelerator program. It is a high level, high touch

4 month group program. So there's both trainings, there's group

calls, and then you get some one on one access to me as well. And

there's a Slack community where we get to chit chat like pretty much

throughout the week. Like you guys could ask me questions or we could have conversations,

we could brainstorm. So there really is this element of my eyes on your

business that a lot of programs don't have. So we talk about

mindset in the program. We also talk about nervousness of regulation. We talk

about sales. We talk about scalable offer pro like suites

and all the different things that you need to get your business to the next

level. So that's one of my favorite places to be. It's application based.

I am actually, by the time this comes out, I will be in the middle

of it, but you guys could still send me a DM and get in for

the 2024 version of it. If you've been like, I want

super high level conversations, you get access to all the programs, all

the things that I've run, including the trainings inside of SAP,

but you also get access to extra trainings if you are in a place

where you've already got a great business, it's going really well, but you

wanna have those higher level conversations. You wanna talk about, like, how

juicy business can be. You wanna talk about nervous system regulation, but on,

like, kind of a more like 30,000 foot view. That's what the mastermind

is gonna be. So those are kind of the places you could be right now

that are higher level. If you just want trainings from me and you just occasionally

want to, like, plug in to, like, my trainings, that's gonna be Clarity Academy

membership, which is my strategic membership. You get monthly trainings and

and occasionally get to ask me questions, and I'll answer them in video, which is

really fun. So those are the places you guys could find me, but Instagram is

definitely the place that I hang out the most. Fantastic. Yeah. No. That's

that's really exciting. I'm stoked for your your program offerings

that you have coming. Knowing what I know about them behind the scenes, I'm I'm

really excited for anyone that joined. Thank you. So, Aislinn, thank

you so much. Again, everyone, everything will be linked in

the notes section of this. So if you're wanting to share out based on

Instagram programs, all of that, make sure you check that transcription in

is in there as well, so that you can read along if you're not wanting

to listen or if you didn't catch something specific or if you wanna take notes

because you did really lay out some fantastic action steps for

them here to take tangible steps forward. So thank you so much. It

was fantastic to have you. Thank you so much for having me. This was I

knew this was gonna be a good conversation, and it totally, like, was.

That's a wrap for this episode of the Wealth Witches podcast. I hope our

magical money talks have left you feeling empowered and inspired.

Remember, wealth isn't just about dollars in the bank. It's about abundance and

financial freedom in all aspects of your life. I'm Katelyn Magnuson

encouraging you to keep challenging the status quo and embrace your inner witch on

this financial journey. Until next time, stay

magical. Hey there,

magical listener. This is your host, Katelyn Magnuson, and I've got some exciting

news for you. The get your finance shit together mastermind is back

and better than ever. Whether you're a business owner making under a 100

k, a side hustler, or just starting out, this mastermind is

designed to save you 1,000 of potential mistakes and give you a clear road

map to grow both your business and your revenue. In this mastermind, you'll get

weekly live group Zoom calls, ongoing group support in

Slack, and lifetime access to a treasure trove of resources and

training. We We start the week of September 15th and wrap up just before Thanksgiving,

ensuring you're ready to roll into the new year with confidence. We'll cover

everything from setting up accounting software, categorizing transactions,

saving for quarterly taxes, audit proofing your business,

hiring contractors, budgeting, and how to

confidently prep for tax time. Plus, you'll walk away

with an actual understanding of the finance side of your business putting you

in control instead of the other way around. But don't just take my word for

it. Here's what Jim Richards had to say. If I was a words person, I

would probably still find it difficult to describe how indispensable

Katelyn has been to the best and grown of my business over the last 12

months. As a creative, I needed someone who was easy to understand with no

BS and no financial jargon. She guided me through setting up my business

in a new state, business structure, taxes, bringing on contractors,

and the day to day necessities

dread I felt every time I tried looking into my own finance. To join the

wait list and get access to special pricing and upgrade or sign up for the

mastermind if we're actively enrolling, visit the link in the show notes or reach out

to us on Instagram at wealth witches podcast with any

question. Don't miss out on the spellbinding opportunity to transform your financial

future. Your wealthier self is waiting.