Your Answer to Strategy and Productivity in 2021

I'm going to get a little personal and share with you what I think is your answer to strategy and productivity in 2021.

If I'm being honest, I wasn't sure that I was going to tell this story because I've shared a little bit about my background in terms of my transformation over the last year on social media. But I’ve never really told the true story, as in what has really happened over the last year and how I felt about changing all the things. This time last year, I was sitting at my desk at my nine to five job looking at my Instagram. I was scrolling around like many of us do and thinking, what the heck am I doing? I had spent literally thousands of dollars trying to grow my account, fix my website and grow my team. At that point, my business was 100% network marketing and while I was making progress, it was really slow. At least I thought it was slow based on the amount of work that I was doing.

I was spending a lot of time on it. I was frustrated. My family was frustrated because let's face it, doesn't everyone's husband or kids give you a dirty look when you're on your phone all the time? I was at a loss for what to do. I kept looking for that secret and was like, okay, well, what training am I missing? What am I not doing? I thought that if I just kept at it, because I am probably one of the most consistent people in the world, it would just work itself out. But the truth is, almost five years in it really hadn't. I had spent what felt like a lifetime growing my business and it wasn't scaling the way that I wanted to. At this point I was literally trading time for money.

I was burnt out and really didn't know what steps to take next. If you are familiar with network marketing (my business was in the fitness and wellness industry), December is a really crazy time. So here I am sitting, scrolling, frustrated, and feeling like all the people around me are crushing it. At this moment, I knew something had to change. I was super burned out and I, again, just didn't know what to do next. I knew that I couldn't keep going at the current pace I was at, so I was either going to quit, just keep giving up my time, or do something different.  

But here's the thing: I'm really not good at quitting. 

I felt so guilty for even thinking about quitting and stepping away after all the long nights, hundreds of team calls, and the training that I had invested time and money into.

I thought, Holly, can you really just step away from it? Can you really just stop? I remember vividly sitting in a conference room after a meeting (I can literally picture the color of the walls where I was sitting). I had signed up for an Instagram training (like the $99 course that I kept taking) and the group had a guest speaker. So on my lunch break, I put on the webinar and listened. And the crazy thing was that it wasn't about Instagram. It was about setting your intentions and expanding your capacity and truly dialing into what you were meant to do. When I first started listening to it, I was like, well, this is not what I need because I want the steps, like give me the steps. But it was really, really interesting and caught my attention. I had never met the speaker before, so of course, I did what anyone does and I found her podcasts and stalked her website. Two episodes into her podcast, I emailed her over my lunch break and said, tell me what I need to do. I was sold. Whatever she was doing, I wanted. I signed up for her mastermind and almost a year later, here we are. The really cool part about this whole story is that you can actually go back to Instagram, to last December, and visually see my transformation from not working in a mastermind to working in one. Because this transformation was so big for me, I thought I would share about what has changed, what I've done, and a really cool opportunity for you. 

In the last year, I invested heavily, but I invested in something different than I had ever done before. I am a chronic course collector. I want to know all the things. I have always thought that I could just do it myself, but what I found after five years is that you can't. If you really want to get to the next level, you need somebody two to three steps ahead of you that has done it before, so that you can grow and not make the same mistakes that they did. That kind of investment is really scary. It's the kind of investment where you don't really know if it's going to work, but deep down know it truly is the next step. For me, it was my last chance. I remember talking to my husband and said “This is it. I'm going to go all-in for one year. I'm going to do whatever she tells me to do. One year from now, I'm going to decide what my next step is.” To say I was nervous is an understatement. But if I look at where my business is now versus back to where it was, it's done a 180. Maybe even a 280! The amount of change and growth that I've had in one year is crazy and only possible because I had the support system that I needed to really dig in and take me to the next level. Just one month into deciding that I was going all in, there was a little twist. COVID hit. While most people were completely panicked, (trust me, I was very nervous too) I chose to see it as a sign. And going into 2021, my message is that you should see it as a sign too. A sign that we need to change.

We need to do things differently. How amazing does it feel to have more time at home? Granted, I know it's stressful at times, but I think the world is starting to do things differently and hopefully better. So I'm using it as a sign. Honestly, I had no idea how I was going to make the mastermind work with my full-time schedule, but I told myself I would figure it out. Because of COVID, I was now at home which made my working lunches a bit easier now that my day wasn't jam-packed. But every single day, since day one, I have shown up 100%. Every. Single. Time. At this point you might be like, well, that's awesome, Holly, but why are you telling me this? To encourage you. Every couple of months, I go back and look at my account on Instagram a year ago from today. The difference is obvious. You will see the confidence. You will see the strategy. You will see the niche. You will see the products. I had nothing when I started last December. I had no courses. I had no website. I had no podcast. I had no brand. Nothing. 

It will literally all unfold in front of you and I credit the mastermind 100% for doing this. The reason why the mastermind helped me so much is because since I invested so heavily, I knew I needed to make it work. I also now had built-in accountability every single week where I had to show up and share what I did to move my business forward. The mastermind focused on strategy so much that I made it a pillar of my own business because it changed the game for me. We definitely focused on tactics, scaling, and all the things that people want to hear, but we were also focused on “what are you doing three to five years from now? How are you working on that now so that you don't get burned out and ensure you are working on the right thing.” This is something that you guys know I talk about all the time because it has been such a game-changer for me. If I can inspire you as we go into 2021, I will tell you that having a community of support, a place to ask questions, and having a focus on strategy has allowed me to grow a five-figure a month business in eight months during a pandemic. Obviously, I had to work hard and still work very hard to make it work with a limited schedule, but I never would have gotten to where I am without the support of a business coach, a community, accountability, a place to ask questions and that drive to really move forward.

I am so passionate about teaching women how to build their own businesses without sacrificing weekends and priorities, and really making sure that you're in alignment with your goals. I believe so strongly that you can create a routine and a business that you love with the right tools and a lifestyle that works without burnout. If you are sitting there reading to this, like I was in my office a year ago, thinking you don't know what to do, this is your pep talk. If you’re thinking that you cannot keep going like this, something has to change, I encourage you to think about what your next step is. For me it was in-person coaching and that group community, which hands down has been the number one way. I have been able to grow my business in 2020 as I had never imagined. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, there is a difference between investing in a $99 course and making an investment in your business.

I have taken this entire year and have learned and grown and scaled and done all the things. I am excited to announce the brand new Crush the Rush Collective Community. To be honest, this is the vision I had back in February when I was really trying to think about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to bring women together and really help them succeed. And this is it. It's finally here. The collective is an exclusive six-month personalized group mastermind to help you fast track your success inside a powerhouse community. And here's the thing: it's six months. You are definitely going to see a difference. You get monthly calls with me and monthly guest speakers. Plus, every single week we have accountability pods, which means you show up and I make sure that you're working on the right things and you have a chance to ask questions.

Can you imagine if you were consistent with working on the right things, to help you scale, build your strategy, and grow your business for six months? I am telling you it is magic. The collective is an invite application, only group. It is capped at 20 members and it is already one-fourth full. So I encourage you to grab the link here. Let's set up some time to chat and see if the collective makes sense for you! I have definitely been in your shoes where you're sitting there feeling like you're just spinning your wheels and don't know what to do next. I can tell you that going at it alone in your business is overwhelming and can be expensive, time-consuming, frustrating, and just so crushing.

It's time to do things differently. It will make a huge difference in your business, your life, and your long term goals. I literally cannot wait to help the 20 women that are going to be the new Crush the Rush members. They have so many exciting things waiting for them. And I hope one of them is you.

Learn more about The Collective here.