229. Grow Smooth

Discover a countercultural process to help you have a sustainable business and an incredible life.

Rather than focusing on growing as fast as possible, growing smooth means you are more interested in long term sustainability and health, not just in your business, but also in your personal life.

This episode of the podcast will introduce you to Grow Smooth, the new business course from Superabound.

We believe business is a spiritual practice. Explore how that might be true for you and what you can do to have a more aligned personal and work life.

Discover what one activity will help you make sense of your setbacks and put today's challenges into a big picture, so you can have more energy and creativity in your business.

You will also learn the importance of community in thriving as an entrepreneur and how to prioritize the support you need, including spending time with others who inspire you.

To learn more about the Grow Smooth course, visit besuperabound.com/grow

Episode Transcript

Erin Aquin  0:05  
Hello, and welcome to the Superabound podcast. I am one of your hosts Erin Aquin, and I am joined by my co founder, the amazing, Steve Haase. Hi, Steve. Hello, everybody.

Steve Haase  0:19  
Good to see you. Great to be here.

Erin Aquin  0:22  
Today we are talking about something that is very near and dear to our hearts. It is the idea of growing smoothly. And it's kind of fun, because this coincides with the release of one of our newest programs called Grow smooth, which we designed for business owners and business leaders as kind of a counter cultural process designed to actually help more people have sustainable businesses and incredible lives. Because I think, right now out in the world, people are talking about how to grow as fast as possible how to push and make super amounts of money in short periods of time. And while that is all well and good, we tend to work more with people who are interested in growing in ways that are sustainable for the long term health not only of their business, but of their personal lives.

Steve Haase  1:34  
And those are the things that actually matter. Who cares if you hit some big revenue milestone, if everything explodes when you get there. We know far too many people who have focused on the next big thing in their business, only to see the relationships fall apart, their health fall apart, even their business fall apart, right? If you are pushing, but you don't have the right systems in place to support that push, and you don't have the right self care and support for yourself to maintain that kind of velocity, then the results can even be worse than had you not done that push in the first place. So we are on a mission, right? We're more than passionate, we are on a mission to help people grow in a way where their life is the main event and business happens within their life, rather than the other way around, which sadly, is the overriding narrative of our world, right? It's like business economics, that's what matters. And you know, figure out how to fit your life within that grow smooth is all about helping you have the life that you want, with a business that supports all of it, including your most valued ideals, your your, your reason for being on this earth.

Erin Aquin  2:56  
Yeah, and I think that that is something I would like to share with everyone today. Hopefully, you'll join me in this, Steve. But really talking about business in a way that I don't see a lot of people doing it. We think of business as a spiritual practice, it is one of the most rigorous spiritual practices out there, because it illuminates parts of yourself that maybe want to stay hidden, it makes sure that you address the things that you were taught and questions, a lot of those assumptions that the rest of the world is made about you. And so one of the things that we are doing within this program is actually starting with figuring out what that big high level vision for your business and your life really is. When I started my business, I think the goal was just to, you know, hopefully help a couple people and maybe I would make some money. You know, I had these like smaller goals. But very quickly as every entrepreneur knows the learning curve, when you're doing something new, and you're trying to build out a business behind it that supports it. It's a lot of feeling like a total idiot. I don't know anything about websites. I don't know what I'm doing. I was new in my business. Like I wasn't the most expert coach in the world. When I started a yoga business. I was not the most expert yoga teacher. And you're kind of up against it's it's kind of like being at the bottom of a mountain. And you're looking up and you're like I'm supposed to get up there. Wait, why are we doing this? Again, this seems very hard, or, you know, a peek that I can't even see because there's some clouds in the way. So we think that one The most important things to start with is really that big overarching vision that can hold all of the times that you fail things flop and you feel like an idiot.

Steve Haase  5:12  
Because otherwise, you're just going to feel like an idiot. But if you have a big vision that can hold all of it, then you'll know that it's for a purpose. Like when you're exercising, if you know that you are training for an event, or you have a particular, even just lifestyle goal in mind, right to have enough energy to keep up with my kids, for instance, the suffering and the struggle of that experience is happening in a bigger context, that makes it more meaningful. And so we start the entire grossmith program. And even as you're listening right now, consider your vision. It's not something for later, it's not something for after you IPO or as you're putting together your documents for the security filings as you go public, it's for now, because that is what's going to make the struggle worthwhile. It's what connects your daily small activities, to the vision that you have for your life, which ultimately is, like, that's the most special thing that that you bring to the world. And so we we start there, rather than pushing it off for another time.

Erin Aquin  6:29  
I honestly think I don't, I don't have a lot of regrets in my business. But this is something I do wish I had done sooner. I wish I had sat down and really thought about the vision for my life and for the business. You know, right. When I hit that first six figures, I don't know what I was thinking about. By that point. I was like, Okay, this business can work. But I didn't have a really clear vision that I was working towards. And at that moment, I remember just feeling like the revenue thing was interesting. But I don't know if like saying, Okay, next target is a million dollars, I don't know if that's really enough fuel. So we start with vision as fuel. And in the program, we're we've basically taken some of the tools and concepts that we've only ever shared with our private clients and in our small group masterminds, and made this into a self paced, digestible course that also has a really fun community where you can come and get support and help. So well as something we just decided, the other day that we're going to do is we're going to have monthly workshops. So that we can really dive in with our business leaders and with the entrepreneurs in the course, to work through some of the advanced topics, we have a whole series on value lead sales, and how to make sure that your vision is present in your sales process. This was mind blowing for some of our clients, because a lot of people feel like, okay, I have a really strong purpose for doing what I do. And then over here in the dark corner, sales. And we do that totally differently, it does not really feel super aligned with our vision or our operating principles.

Steve Haase  8:38  
So if you find yourself pulling back at all from sales, or even if you kind of put on a different hat, metaphorically you have a different energy around sell sales, this will help you line the whole thing up. Right again, the thesis of this entire program is that your life is the thing that matters, and then business is going to happen within that. So that means all the ways you're doing business, including selling are going to have that same fuel that you tap into when you think what is my life for but you're not going to be selling in someone else's way. You're not going to be you know, pulling back from the sales process. This will allow you to infuse selling with your own essence and energy. So if that's not happening yet, this is going to be super valuable for you.

Erin Aquin  9:30  
Yeah, I it took me a few years to really figure this out. In in our business, and it's been something that we've worked with a lot of folks really closely on, but I love to feel like when I'm selling it's not really selling. Like I don't send out an offer unless I feel really silly but I can challenge you all listening to to play with this. Next time you're writing a sale As email or you're putting an offer out, it should feel generous to you. And I say that with with a little asterix beside it. Because it doesn't mean like, how much stuff can I throw at people, it means that I feel like I am helping people. By making this particular offer, like even this program, I was so excited, I couldn't stop myself, and I let my current clients know that we were having this come out. The sales for that was easy. The process was easy, because I was like, Oh, these people are gonna want to know that this is another way that they can learn the tools. This is another way they can be in community with each other. It's super fun, always to bring people we work with one to one into a larger group where they get to see that when we're telling them, Hey, you're not alone as a business owner and a leader. Other people have this problem, too. They're like, I think my coach is just trying to make me feel better. But in in life, they get to now see it within the community inside grossmith. Just super fun.

Steve Haase  11:19  
It's amazing. And I want to dive a little deeper on the community element. Because one of the most difficult parts of being an entrepreneur is the loneliness, right? The fact that it's just you and your team, right, even here at our business, it's me and Erin. And so we find ways to plug into communities, in order to get new ideas in order to be inspired by other people that are doing big things, and to see that our struggles are not ours alone, but they're shared by a whole group of people. And that community, you know, the things you will learn is one entire direction. But the people who support you, is how you actually turn those learnings into ongoing. Fun, right, it's like being able to share your life with others is the point. And so having a community where you can share those wins, you can share those challenges, you can come together and learn from others and have fun building your business is the secret sauce to really enjoying the entrepreneurial path. Because otherwise it is a grind, right? It is lonely, you are the one who's in charge. And it can turn a lot of people off. So the fact that you are doing it that you have this thing you want to do. joining in with others will give you that boost will give you that momentum to turn it into something truly enjoyable.

Erin Aquin  12:54  
I think this is true for every entrepreneur, and business leader. Because when even if you have amazing supportive communities and partners and family members and like people who love you, if you don't have a group of other leaders, if you don't have a safe place where you can go and be be coached and ask questions and troubleshoot issues that you're having in your business. If you're doing that with I'm going to call the muggles. I don't know if I'm allowed to use that. Sorry, JK Rowling. I probably shouldn't say that. I'll try it out I'll. But you know, when you're talking with people who don't understand that maybe they're employees of someone else's business. You're going to get feedback and advice that is probably not really applicable to your situation, your chances are you're not going to get coaching where you can find your your truest answer the one that's actually most aligned with your business, you're not going to have other people saying, hey, put your SEO cap on for a second here. What is your business actually need. And that is something that I think our community is really designed to, to support. That is something that's important to Steve and I. And it's something that within this program, we're really going to be doing that it's there's a year of that kind of support included with the program, which is something we've we haven't we haven't done at this particular level with so many people, so it's exciting.

Steve Haase  14:39  
It's so exciting. And the tools that you learn and grow smooth, are not just there to help you grow your business. faster, smoother, right to actually lay the foundation of your business which is what you will do. They are also the kinds of tools that you can use in All of your relationships in your day to day life, because the limiting or expanding factor in growing your business as an entrepreneur and as a leader is you. And so, like the foundational work is actually how to handle your own emotions, and limiting beliefs, how to, like we said, set your own vision, and practice that vision day to day so that it's more than just something you wrote one time, but it's actually an ongoing reference point for you. And also how to take any big mountain in front of you, and turn it into the next 10 steps. So that you can feel confident in your ability to move forward. And these are tools that will not only help you build your business, but also be a better partner, be a better parent, be a better community member, whatever it is, that's important to you, you're going to be tapping into our approach to gaining inner resources to tending your own inner fire. And it's it's powerful stuff.

Erin Aquin  16:13  
Yeah, I don't even know if we if we've done a full episode on this yet. But one of the one of the modules inside the course is where we teach you what we call the tending try at this is I don't think this is in any other business course I didn't mean, I know it's not because we invented it. It's our it's our kind of thought concept. But I don't know a lot of business classes courses that really put so much emphasis on internal personal cultivation. So three of the pieces that make up the tending triad, we call visionary practice, which as you mentioned, Steve is making sure that your vision is alive and working daily in your business. It's not just something you thought about and wrote in a journal one time or you did a workshop on. But it's something that's living and breathing in your business. And we also teach you the concept of sustaining rituals, which are the things that you do to keep your internal fire and your inspiration. Going. A lot of people pay lip service to I know eating well, super important or sleep or exercise, super important. But so many people just pay lip service, they don't actually build in the things that are needed to sustain them in their business. And we're not prescriptive about this, you don't, we're not going to be giving you some kind of a food plan or something. But it really is more about changing your mindset around taking care of yourself and your own self investment and making sure that that is at the forefront, because if you're a leader or business owner, your business doesn't go if you burn out. And of course, the final part of that little triangle, that little triad is what we call personal filter. So you may know this as like boundaries, but it's really the space in which you create around you, that protects and sustains you. It is being thoughtful about the kinds of relationships you have with other people. It's about being thoughtful about how you spend your time and your energy. You know, do we do you let work kind of bleed out into the rest of your weekend? Or do you have nice solid firm caps on when it's working time and when I'm off the clock.

Steve Haase  18:55  
When I first started practicing personal filter, I had the experience of the inside of my home changing from you know, like kind of a chaotic energy where stuff is just coming and going and I'm feeling pulled in all directions to a sanctuary where I was the builder of my dreams, it kind of felt like a castle like a mind castle. Just like I'm in a place where I'm making the world up and making the world that I want. And it just came from putting in place the personal filter so that the energy around me the energy of my world matches what I want to be experiencing on a day to day basis. And the cumulative effect of doing that day after day is like I mentioned going from feeling like you're out of control and you don't have time. So if you ever find yourself thinking I don't have time I'm Hold on all these directions, then putting in place, the tending triad, and particularly the personal filter. But really all three of those points will help you shift to a far more empowered position in your life and with your business.

Erin Aquin  20:19  
And that is actually another reason that the way we created this is in a course format. Because, you know, we've taught these things in bite sized pieces to our clients, as they come up, they do, we do revisit all of these topics in our Superabound your Business Mastermind program, which will be coming out later this year. But we wanted to create something that would become the prerequisite to all of our programs. And the point of doing it in this way is that so, you know, with a day long workshop or a weekend thing, you can get a lot of information. But it's really hard to implement the small steps. And we know people learn at different paces. So we wanted to create something where you can really do this at your own pace. If you want to watch it all over, you know the course of a couple of weeks, you totally can. But if you want to space it out and do one section a month, and then take the time to implement it take the time to adjust it to what your business needs and what you need. That path is available to you and I don't think there's any, any other course that's quite like that. That's also so foundational to the rest of the rest of the options for what we we at least what we offer out there. So we're very excited, very excited. I can't stop saying I'm like this is getting boring. I'm saying excited so often. But it's really true. This is a lantern. It's a lantern for us to be able to support you and and provide a microcosm of our vision which is to help people realize the life the universe is dreaming for them.

Steve Haase  22:13  
Absolutely. So what you can do if this sounds like the thing that you need in your business in life, we would love to have you in the course had to besuperabound.com/grow and you can learn all about the Grow Smooth course and get started. Get started today.

Erin Aquin  22:34  
So exciting. Thank you so much, Steve.

Steve Haase  22:38  
Thank you. talk to you later.