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Frameworks for Freedom: Helle Brodie on Scaling Without Burnout
Episode 388 • 17th June 2025 • The Scalable Expert • Tara Bryan
00:00:00 00:22:25

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 In this episode, Tara sits down with business success coach Helle Brodie, whose calm approach to business transformation offers a much-needed alternative to hustle culture. After decades of entrepreneurship - and burnout - Helle developed a framework to help others scale without losing themselves in the process. Tune in to hear her journey, her unique CPU method (Commitment, Performance, and You), and her powerful message for anyone feeling maxed out by their own success.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

  • How Helle shifted from 70-hour weeks to running a business on her terms
  • Why authentic energy matters more than trying to “stand out”
  • The power of frameworks (and why they’re actually freeing, not rigid)
  • How burnout signals opportunity for real change
  • Tips for scaling your business without sacrificing peace of mind

📌 Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome + Meet Helle Brodie

01:00 – Helle’s Entrepreneurial Story (and Overwork Wake-Up Call)

03:45 – What Happens When Hustle Becomes Survival

05:15 – The Power of Authentic Energy in Coaching

07:00 – Building a Business That Doesn’t Own You

08:30 – The CPU Framework Explained (Commitment, Performance, and You)

10:00 – Scaling Through Masterminds and Human-Centered Models

12:00 – Tips for Transitioning Out of Burnout Mode

13:20 – Creating SOPs and Trusting Your Team

14:45 – Frameworks as a Path to Freedom

16:00 – Managing Stress as a Business Owner

18:00 – A Client Story: Overcoming Perfectionism

19:10 – Final Advice: Make a True Commitment to What Matters

20:00 – Where to Learn More About Helle Brodie

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

🎧 Want to Scale Without Burnout?

Take the next step and discover your unique path by taking the Scalable Expert Quiz.

About Helle Brodie

I'm Helle, a business coach helping entrepreneurs just like you turn the chaos of business into their personal success story. I call that freedom: financial freedom, time freedom, and the personal freedom to savor your life.

Freedom in business is created through commitment, turning overwhelm into effectiveness, and building a business success mindset.

I've helped countless business owners turn their business back into the passion that supports their lives - not consume their lives.

About Me:

Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results. 

I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business. 

Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.

To learn more:

Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com

Here are two ways we can help you create, grow and scale your business:

1. Want to package your expertise or become a Scalable Expert? Take our free quick assessment to see how close you are to creating a scalable business.

The Scalable Expert Assessment

2. ALREADY HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS & READY TO INFINITELY SCALE?

Schedule a 30 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.

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Mentioned in this episode:

https://taralbryan.com/step/15-learn-to-scale-call

Transcripts

Tara Bryan:

Welcome to the Scalable Expert, the podcast where we unlock

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the secrets to building a business

that grows with you, not around you.

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I'm your host, Tara Bryan, business

strategist, mentor, and creator

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of the Infinite Scale Method.

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If you're a coach, consultant,

or service provider who's

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maxed out with one-on-one work.

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Overwhelmed by the grind and

ready to scale your expertise into

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a business that works for you,

then you are in the right place.

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Each week I'll share actionable

tips, inspiring success stories,

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and proven strategies to help you

reclaim your time, grow your income,

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and create a business that delivers

results without sacrificing quality.

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Let's dive in and make your

business infinitely scalable.

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Hey, everybody.

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Welcome to this episode of the podcast.

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I am thrilled that you're here.

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I want to introduce you to Helle

Brody, she is our guest for the day.

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So welcome Helle we're so

excited for you to be here today.

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Kick us off, give us a little

bit of a sense for who you

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are and what your business is.

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Helle Brodie: So first of all, thank

you so much for having me on your show.

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It's really an honor.

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So who am I?

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I'm a business coach.

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I call myself a business success

coach and I work with entrepreneurs

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who have been in business for a few

years, and so they've figured out

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how to get some business, and they've

created some messes for themselves.

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It's pretty common because, you know, when

you start in business, you're grabbing

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at every opportunity that comes your way.

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And before you know it, you're doing

things that you don't want to do,

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you're working crazy hours, and

it's not necessarily fulfilling.

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And so how do I, how did I get into this?

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Well, I've been an

entrepreneur for 37 years.

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I started my, my business, my first

business, when my son was born,

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and I thought, great, no boss, no

overtime, no more two hour commute

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to the office every day, more

money, and my time is my own, right?

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It was kind of an illusion at the time.

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So, 37 years ago, I hung out

with my shingle, started a

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landscape architectural practice.

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Super successful.

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I absolutely loved it.

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Before I knew it, I was

working 70 hours a week.

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I was a single mom.

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I had two kids, in, in competitive skiing.

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And my own mother was terminally ill.

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So I was exhausted and stressed

and just surviving on adrenaline.

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This was not the picture I had when I,

you know, when I started my business.

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Now, this isn't why I quit my job, right?

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And so, you know, I walked into Starbucks

one day and I thought, I looked at the

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barista and I thought, you know, she

has way more fun in her life than I do.

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I wasn't spending time with my kids.

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I was losing connection with my

friends and starting to feel alone.

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And even my hobbies were starting

to feel more like obligation.

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And then when my mom passed,

I knew things had to change.

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Like, I just couldn't live like this.

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So I had two choices.

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I could either give up my business, and

it was tempting, or I could figure it out.

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So I decided I was going to figure it out.

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Took course after course.

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Business courses, personal

development courses.

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I even gained a couple of coaching

designations to get this figured out.

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And I figured out there's a way to do it.

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There's a way to have it all,

you know, and, and it had

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such a huge impact on my life.

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I wanted to share it with other

entrepreneurs who were feeling

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the same way I did, you know?

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And, and, so I've, I've turned it into a

bit of a system and I call it your CPU.

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So it's about commitment, it's

about performance, and you.

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And it's now the system

that, that, supports my life.

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It doesn't run my life.

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Tara Bryan: Yeah, that's amazing.

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So I have to tell you that our stories

are very similar and so I can go through

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that a little bit, in terms of that.

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But I have to say that you

have such a calming energy.

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Helle Brodie: Well thank you.

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Tara Bryan: Is that what you bring

to your clients when they're all

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frantic and doing all the things?

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You're just like, okay, it's fine.

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We're going to develop a system, right?

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You're just very calm.

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Helle Brodie: Well, thank you.

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I take that as a huge compliment.

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So when you think about it, that

entrepreneur who's going, oh my

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God, I don't know which way to turn.

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There's so much, there's this, there's

that, I didn't know what's going on.

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Can I even handle this?

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Because self doubt always

comes into play, right?

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Do you need another person

who's doing all of this stuff?

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Or do you need someone

who's calm, you know?

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And, you know, I've had my

clients tell me, you know, you

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just make us feel confident.

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Tara Bryan: Yeah, yeah,

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Helle Brodie: We have a

sense of confidence we didn't

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know we had after talking.

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Tara Bryan: That's amazing.

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I love that.

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It's because it's interesting because it's

like, again, like you and I do something

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very similar, but I lead with more like

the passion and the confidence like I'm

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like, okay, let's go right like I calm

them down, but I also am very confident.

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So I'm like, okay, this is the

path, this is what we're gonna do.

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And so you did the same thing you

just do it with more calm than I do.

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So I love that because it's, it's a

nice parallel in terms of if you're

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listening, listen to the differences

because, I think that this is a total

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sidebar, but it is interesting like

that, that, we do similar things.

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I'll share my story with you in a second,

but we do similar things, but we would

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attract two very different people.

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Helle Brodie: Absolutely.

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Tara Bryan: And that's an amazing,

actual, kind of nugget for those

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of you who are listening, is that

you can do something really similar

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to somebody else, but attract

different people and that's amazing.

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And that's awesome, right?

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Like somebody who would be attracted

to a very calm style wouldn't be

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attracted necessarily to my style

because mine is a little bit more,

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you know, like passionate, right?

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And then vice versa.

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And so that's a total sidebar, but,

but something that's really important,

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If you are listening to this and you're

like, ah, just, I'm struggling with,

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why somebody would hire me over somebody

else and da, da, da, that's a really,

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this is a really great example of that.

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And so thank you for your

energy because I, I love it.

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It's very nice.

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Yeah.

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Helle Brodie: Well, I just want to add,

you know, I mean, that's why everybody

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says you've got to be authentic, right?

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Because if I try to be like you, like it

just, I'm sorry, it doesn't work for me.

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Right.

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Tara Bryan: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Helle Brodie: And yet.

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I mean, I've got lots of energy.

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It's just a different type of energy.

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Tara Bryan: Different type, yep.

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100%.

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And, but that's the gift.

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And that's, that was not even

intended in our conversation, but I

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think that's such a powerful example

of that in play, which I love.

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And, it just brings me joy to hear you

tell your story, from your perspective,

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even though it's very similar to mine.

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I was also, you know, doing the

corporate thing and then started

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an agency that was very successful.

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I'm 20 years in, not as long as

you, but, but 20 years, so I have a

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good run, but it was the same thing.

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I, I, you know, thought I was

going out to live the dream and

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it was going to be amazing and

everything was going to be great.

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And then, it was great, like I loved

what I did, had you know, an amazing

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roster of clients, but the more clients

we had, the busier we got, and it

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wasn't like, when is all that freedom

and awesomeness going to happen?

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Like, it's great that we're growing,

but when am I going to realize all this?

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And I had that same realization

where it's like, what, something is

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not right in this business model.

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And then took it into, okay, so how do

I figure out how to scale this without

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taking up all of my time, all of my

team's time and all of the things.

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And so I love that because I, I think

everybody gets to that point, right?

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You're, you're maxed out.

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Your time is not your own and you

think about what am I going to do?

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And in my case, I actually

shut down the agency.

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Like I was like, I'm done.

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I can't.

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So I'm, happy to hear that you didn't

do that, but I just shifted into a

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completely different business model.

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Right.

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But, but as you're kind of reflecting on

that journey and pivoting to a different

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business model, tell us a little bit

about like, how are you growing and

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scaling and serving your people now

and also not maxing out your time?

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What does that look like in your world?

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Helle Brodie: Well, there's a, I mean,

there's two sides to that, right?

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So my, my process, CPU, is you

know, a lot of it's about you.

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And I mean, if you're, if you're

doing similar things to me, you

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know, that, that, you know, the,

you know, when the, the owner

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stops growing, the business grows.

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So in this new model for me, because

it's, you know, I haven't been

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doing this for 37 years, right,

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There's constant growth

for me in different areas.

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You know, I've got a base, I'll say

knowledge about business and growth

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and I'm still growing, you know,

I mean, I thought, I think that's

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critical for people like you and I.

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Now in terms of scaling, so I have my one

to one clients and I absolutely love them.

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The majority of my clients are

one to one and I also run, I run a

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mastermind for women in business.

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It's called Thrive Business Circle.

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Now at the moment, I'm just doing an in

person mastermind because a lot of people

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are getting tired of looking at screens.

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And so that's growing and I'm getting

ready actually to open up a second one

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because I'm just finding that there's

really a lot of demand for that.

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So that's one way that I'm scaling.

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Eventually, I'll probably turn, turn some

of my coaching into, into group coaching,

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but at the moment I'm really, really

enjoying just working one on one with

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people and, and just helping them with,

with their specific problems because,

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as you know, we don't live in a silo.

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It's not just business and personal life.

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They kind of get mixed together.

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So what's happening in your personal

life happens in your business.

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And so it's very easy to, to help

somebody with the whole picture.

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And I really, like, I really enjoy that.

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So eventually I'll, you know, head

more into group coaching for now.

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I've got my, my one on one

clients and I've got my mastermind

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clients and, and it's great.

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I'm loving it.

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I'm just loving it.

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Tara Bryan: That's amazing.

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And so, and, and so it's, it's great

that you are, you know, you did

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the one on one model, you figured

out like, okay, I'm going to shift,

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I'm going to help really solve some

problems for my one on one clients and

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then shift a little bit into group.

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Even if it's not, it's not like

shifting your one on one into a

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group model, it's starting with a

different group model, which is great.

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And then as that starts to grow, then

you're going to go, oh wait, now I can't

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handle any more one on one clients.

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I can't handle any more of

these masterminds because

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your time is maxed out.

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And so that's when then it makes sense

to start looking at some scalable offers

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package this gift that you have for

helping your one on one clients so you can

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get out to help more people in the world

without kind of that one on one piece.

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Helle Brodie: You know, I think, I

think I don't think I'm ever going

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to give up 100 percent of my one on

one clients just because like I just

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enjoy enjoy it so much, you know.

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And that's what I like about the

masterminds is people bring their issues

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to the table and as a group, we can help

them solve their problems and support

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them in achieving their goals, right?

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You know, it's sort of a, it's the closest

I could get to one on one coaching,

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it's doing a mastermind because it

really addresses individual concerns.

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You know, it's not a, yes, there are all

the standard things that we need to learn

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in business that can easily be translated

to a, a group coaching, model, and I'm

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just having a whole lot of fun right now.

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Tara Bryan: Yep.

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Yep.

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That's amazing.

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Well, and that's, and that's what

such the gift around it, right.

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Is that you can make it whatever you want.

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You can make it where you're

helping other people and.

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You know, your one on one is still your,

probably going to be your highest level

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of service that you provide for someone.

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And then you sort of fill out, fill out

the rest of it as you build out the rest

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of your business, to put it together.

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Awesome.

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So tell us a little bit about, um.

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so for my audience, tell them a little

bit about like, what would be a tip or

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trick or something that has helped you

not only in the business you have right

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now, but make that transition from kind

of just knowing that you just did not

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have the capacity to keep working 70 hours

a week, and you needed to make a shift.

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Like, what would be your advice

for someone who's in that position?

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Helle Brodie: So if I, if I look at

my previous business, there were a

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couple of sort of critical things.

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I mean, I, I had to really learn to

trust other people, and give away

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or give them autonomy to really do

things the way, I mean, everybody

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does things a little bit differently.

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And so, in order to do that, what I needed

to do was create processes, SOPs, so I

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could take everything that was in my brain

and pass it over to, to my team members.

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So they had, I mean, they had a

clear idea of how I was doing things.

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Now, I mean, it took a while to sort

that out because I thought I was being

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consistent, but I wasn't, you know,

and it's just, we all think we're being

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consistent, oh, but I'm just going to

do this this time and I'm going to do,

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well, no, when you have to actually

write it down and say, this is the

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way it is that's when you realize

you're not being consistent at all.

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So it was a combination of things.

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I needed something to, to transfer

what was in my head to my team.

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And then I needed to trust them with it.

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And the cool thing about the

processes was that it was a baseline.

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So because we were then doing everything

consistently when that team member had

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a new idea or something changed in the

marketplace, we could look at this new

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idea compared to what we were doing and

say, oh, like we were being consistent.

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Oh, so how does that fit in?

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How's that going to change?

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Like it just, they

became living documents.

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In the business and not to create

rigidity, you know, and they're all

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about flexibility because once you

have them in place, they're actually,

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they're a framework for freedom, right?

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Because you know, what needs to happen.

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Tara Bryan: I love that framework for

freedom that remember that people,

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because that is totally it, right?

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Like, it's not, yeah.

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It's not restrictive, but it's taking that

chaos and moving it into something that's

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manageable, and then from that manageable

place, then you can get creative, right?

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But like, you can't be chaotic

and creative at the same time.

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It doesn't work.

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Helle Brodie: Yeah, well, and so what

it does is, you know, I say a framework

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for freedom because it frees you up from

the, okay, what do I have to do next?

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What do I have to do next?

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To, okay, this happens

easily and effortlessly now.

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And now my mind and my time is

available for the creative stuff.

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For solving important problems, right?

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For what really matters.

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You know, and in the end, it gives you,

it gives you time to do what you really

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got into business for, what you love.

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It frees up your time, it increases

your cash flow, increases your profits.

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Like, I mean, there's a, they're dull

and boring things, you know, we didn't

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get into business to start, you know,

create processes, but they really

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are the lifeline of your business.

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You know, they really are

that framework for freedom.

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Tara Bryan: Yep, yep.

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I agree a hundred percent.

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And that's the, that's the, one of the

things that we do is, is I always call

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it duct tape and paperclips, right?

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Like what you know, that when you, your

business is put together with duct tape

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and paperclips, it's time to take a

pause and really start to, to figure out

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your process and frameworks and all of

the different things so that you don't

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just keep operating, in crazy mode.

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Helle Brodie: Yeah, chaos.

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Tara Bryan: Yeah, for sure.

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Awesome.

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All right, good.

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So, give us one tip or a book, resource,

tool, template, something that you

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can't live without, in your business.

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Helle Brodie: I have one here.

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I don't know if it shows.

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Oh, I think it's mirrored.

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It's called Stress Wisely.

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Um, and it's just, you know, stress is one

of the things that, that I address with

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my clients because we all feel stress.

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Stress is never going to go away and there

are some good parts to stress, right?

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You know, there's, the kind of

stress that just energizes you and

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it gives you a boost of adrenaline

and you get a ton of things done.

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And then, you know, if you've ever seen

the stress curve, you know that that's

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where you are and then you hit the peak

and then it starts going downhill, right?

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And it's that, it's the stress

that is continuous, there's

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no break for us for it.

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You know, our bodies and our minds are,

we perform well when there's stress

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and there's rest.

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As entrepreneurs, what happens is we

get stressed and more stressed and more

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stressed and more there's no break.

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And so, it's really about

it's about self care.

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You know, it's about understanding

what is it that causes you stress.

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What's your trigger?

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I have a, a client, Sue, for example.

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She went through the whole thing.

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That whole same picture.

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She was going crazy.

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She's very, very capable.

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Incredibly bright.

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And she discovered that, I mean,

she could handle almost anything.

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She discovered that the main cause of

her stress was actually perfectionism.

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That's what was making her stress.

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So once she understood that, we could

start to work through that process.

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She created, um, self care rituals

that were, you know, she couldn't move

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from, you know, workouts, no more take

out food, or, very little take out

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food, good night's sleep, all of those

things to really look after herself.

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And then she developed, strategies

to use in the moment, right?

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Take a few deep breaths between meetings.

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Go for a quick walk at lunch, get

some fresh air, clear your mind.

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She started journaling, you know,

she, she developed strategies

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she could use in the moment.

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And stress, I mean stress affects us

all, especially these days with all

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the crazy stuff going on in the world.

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Tara Bryan: Yep, yep, for sure.

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Helle Brodie: And we're not

going to get into details.

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Tara Bryan: No, no, no, no,

not right now, that's for sure.

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Helle Brodie: We'd be here two days.

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Tara Bryan: Yeah, awesome.

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Well, that is a great resource.

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We will definitely put

that into the show notes.

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I haven't heard that one before,

so I'm excited to go check it out.

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Helle Brodie: It's

actually relatively new.

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Tara Bryan: Is it?

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Oh, okay.

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Well, that must be why

I haven't seen it yet.

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So, there's usually like a number, sort

of a similar theme to books that people

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bring up and so, it's always exciting

to see new ones that are cropping up.

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So, that's awesome.

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Alright.

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For my audience, what would you give

them as like your one main, For,

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wherever they are in business right now.

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Helle Brodie: For wherever

they are in business.

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I would say that that falls

into commitment, right?

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Commitment is different than

this is what I'm going to do.

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Like, are you really going to

commit to what matters to you?

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What's working for you?

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And making a commitment means

this is what I'm going to do.

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There's all these bright,

shiny objects out there.

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I'll consider the bright, shiny objects,

but I make a commitment to this, and

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that's making a commitment to yourself,

to your business, and to your future.

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Tara Bryan: I love that.

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Very good.

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Very, very good.

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I like that.

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Awesome.

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All right.

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So for my audience, if they would

like to learn more about you

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and what you offer, any of those

masterminds or one on one, give us

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some sense for where we can reach you.

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Helle Brodie: So I have a website my

business name is called Freedom Journeys.

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So that's why these processes are a

for, you know, a framework for freedom.

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So it's freedomjourneys.ca.

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So I'm in Canada.

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So freedomjourneys.ca

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and I also have a, a resource, that

I'd like to share with your audience.

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And it's called the Freedom Formula

for Entrepreneurs, 10 Steps to

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Leveraging Your Time, Boosting

Profits, Busting Your Income

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Ceiling Without Losing Your Freedom.

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Tara Bryan: Excellent.

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I love it.

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All right.

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You've heard it from her and we

will also add it to the show note.

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Thank you so much for

being on the episode today.

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We just appreciated all of

your insights that you had.

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And for those of you who, are

listening today, thank you,

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and we'll see you next week.

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