137: The Mindset Shift You're Missing in Your Business with Hollis English

This episode is for the ambitious entrepreneur who knows they are made for more! If you have a growth mindset and are ready to embrace transformative changes in your business, these simple yet effective mindset shifts are tailored for YOU.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Key mindset shifts that can unlock new levels of success in your business
• Practical tips for cultivating a growth mindset and overcoming limiting beliefs
• Insights from Hollis English on how to embrace change and take bold steps forward

Connect with Hollis: 

• Group coaching program
• Book a free connection call here
• Instagram @hollis.coaches.entrepreneurs

Ready to Elevate Your Business Mindset?
Hit play to explore the mindset shifts that can propel your entrepreneurial journey and help you achieve your goals!

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:19

You guys are gonna love the chat that I just had with Hollis. Hollis English is an entrepreneurship coach and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience in entrepreneurship and business. For 14 years, she led her team at Murphy's Farm Market and Bakery, growing it to seven figures. She oversaw the leadership and development of her team, retail and bakery product development and design, as well as the marketing and branding of the company. She uses her entrepreneurial experience to support business owners and their teams and their personal and professional growth, helping them create clarity and goals that build the lives and businesses they love. She is a con method certified coach that specializes in co-creating the business vision and the mindset tools needed to bring it all to life. She believes kindness and empathy are the keys to great leadership and building genuine connections with others, is what life and business is all about. The pursuit of creativity and her four children keep her days and heart full. Whether you're an entrepreneur or just someone who wants more out of life, you have goals, you want to work on your mindset, you are growth-minded. This episode is absolutely for you. We talk about so many great mindset shifts that you can make today. So enjoy. Okay, I'm so glad that you are on with me. You were on my podcast summit. So you haven't been on this actual show yet, but we have met through a mutual friend, Andrea. I feel like she's the ultimate connector in the world, and she's connected me to so many wonderful people, including you. And now we actually work together. I do lots of behind-the-scenes work for you, and you are just absolutely lovely. And I'm super excited to pick your brain today. So welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Thank you. Thank you so much. I so agree. Andrea is a delightful human being. And I'm just convinced that the whole point of life is meeting other delightful humans. And then especially better when they refer you to other delightful humans like yourself.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Oh, yes. So everybody's start in entrepreneurship, I feel, is so different because I ask everyone on the show, how did you get started in entrepreneurship? And everybody, it never fails, has a different story. So tell me about how you got into entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

100%. You are so right. It's so funny. I know my mom and I read home decor magazines. Um, this is an aside, and then I'll circle back to my entrepreneurship, I promise. We always are reading home decor magazines, and it's talking about these super cool entrepreneurs that have started these amazing stores in upstate New York and they've left the corporate lifestyle. And there's just like so many lines of that where they're like, we did the corporate thing, and then we're like, scrap that, we're not doing that anymore. And I always think to myself, gosh, that is so far from how I became an entrepreneur. Like I didn't go that route at all. And I am a fifth-generation farmer. We grew up on a potato farm and I come from a very long line of entrepreneurs, quite honestly. And I didn't really know any other way. I mean, obviously, you discover it kind of as you go along, but farmers don't typically call themselves entrepreneurs, but they are very much the embodiment of working for yourself and the lifestyle that you create. I went to university for landscape architecture, which is an amazing program and I absolutely love. But when I finished, I decided that I was gonna go be a nanny in England for a year. So I did that. And then while I was there, I was like, you know what? I don't think I wanna join a landscape architecture firm. I think I want to come back to the farm and really reinvigorate our family farm market and bakery and what I grew up with that my parents ran, that they had scaled back significantly. So then I, along with my siblings, really took the leap and were like, okay, we're gonna do this and we are gonna start a scratch bakery and we are gonna figure that out and how to do pick your own and all these kinds of things. So it was trial by fire, I think, more than anything.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So you were really in entrepreneurship from day one, which is so different than my story. I'm more of the, oh yeah, we went to school, we got a nine to five, and then decided this is dumb. Let's try something else. You've lived and breathed this 100%.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

And even through university, I was a swimming instructor, got like all my levels in swimming, and so I started my own swimming school. So I taught swimming lessons every summer all through university. And as kids, like we were involved in the farm, we had sweet corn roadside stands and all sorts of things like that. So it was kind of constantly in that space, really.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Well, I know that one of the things you love to teach on is working from your goal and not to your goal. And I just want to dive in with that because the first time I heard you say that and I was watching a recording of one of your talks, that struck me and I was like, yes, I had never heard it said that way. So why don't you explain that to us a little bit? Like what it does that mean and then why is it so important?

SPEAKER_00 4:58

First of all, the thing I will say is I've been an entrepreneur for over 20 years. I have only in the last four to five years really gotten into more personal and professional development and coaching and all of these things. So if I think that three quarters of the time that I've been an entrepreneur wasn't aware of all of these things and these resources and kind of mind-blowing ideas is like, wow, if I had known that, you know, you can get lost down a trail of if I had known, if I had known, or you know, maybe I would have done something differently. But ultimately all we can ever do is know what we know now and move forward. That exactly ties into this idea of working from your goal and not to your goal. Culturally expected or understood way that people set goals is they go, I want to start my own business. And now I am a teacher currently, and I am going to do the things that I am going to do to get myself there. And they kind of move themselves one step at a time. This applies to literally any kind of goal. And you spend your time working towards your goal. And the real irony of working to your goal is that you spend most of your thought and time in the not having. Like, right? You are working to your goal. And so you're like, don't have it, don't have it, don't have it, still don't have it. I see it in the future, like it's in the horizon. And all of your energy and all of your thought are around the not having. It's just so interesting because you just kind of keep yourself away from what you want psychologically and completely unintentionally when you think about it that way. And so the flip version of that is working from the goal. That is saying, I am an entrepreneur now. I might still have a teaching career, I might still have other things, whatever your goal is, is really embodying it in the present. And then you reverse engineer by putting yourself even mentally and visually in your goal. I'm an entrepreneur, I work for myself, I have my own business. And by stating it, by saying it in the present, also makes it also feel more real to you. The more that you can kind of keep your space and headspace in the present, it is so important. And then it puts you in the energy of having and the energy of being what you say that you are. And then all of your decisions and all of the things that you do come from that place.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, wow, because I'm big on, yes, I love the woo. I love the mental game and like putting yourself in that space and believing it and acting like you have it. But I also know we have to take action. Yes, but those actions that we're taking, they're going to be wildly different if we are in that space of I already have this goal. What would I do and how would I act? That list of actions is completely different than okay, I'm back over here and I'm trying to get there. What could I possibly do as actions to take steps? Yes, we have to take action. I get that, but the list of what we're actually doing is so different. And I think that was the biggest impact I took away when I first heard you say that was like, wow, if I am a CEO, if I am this or that, what decisions would I make? Well, they're very different than maybe what was on my to-do list that day when that hit me.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Honestly, I've said that a million times. It has landed so much deeper for me, even hearing you say that, because it is a thousand percent true. You have to take action, whether you are working to or working from the goal, action is how things come to be. But the types of actions you are making, exactly as you just said, are wildly, wildly different. The energy that you're in is wildly different because you're not in an energy of lack or an energy of not having. You are in the energy of having what you want, of visualizing where you are. Exactly. You take different action steps. The other piece that goes right alongside with that is when you are working to your goal, you're constantly like, but how could I do this? But how will this happen? But and there's just this real playing in your mind of the how. One of the most freeing things that my coach taught me was the how is none of your business. At first, my first reaction was like, that's absolutely not true. And I'm like, no, I'm very practical, the how is very important. But if just for like the length of this podcast, if for however many minutes you can just allow yourself to sit with that idea that the how is none of your business, then you can start to go, okay, well, then if I am in my goal and the how is none of my business, then I am going to move on things in the action, in the energy of the goal. So in that example, I am an entrepreneur. So as an entrepreneur, maybe that's how I'm gonna introduce myself to people. Maybe that's what I'm gonna put as my email signature. Maybe I am going to go to a co-working space. Even if I'm working my nine to five still, the person who has my goal, who is an entrepreneur, is carving out time to go into a co-working space and sit there for an hour or two. She's made herself a website, you know, whatever those steps are that really align with whatever your goals are.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

100%. Even posting on social media or sharing that you are a business, sometimes you get in your own head of like, well, I can't share yet. I'm not quite ready. I don't have this, that, the other ready. But like, if you had the goal, if you were the goal and you were embodying that, you would not think twice about sharing on social media. You would turn the lights on and open the door of your business every day. And that would be silly to even bother wasting brain space thinking about if that is a thing you would do. You're just doing it. So it really made things really black and white for me. Yeah, no, that's not worth our time and our thought because that's just what we do. The introducing yourself to someone, I was a teacher for 13 years. That is like deep in my identity. And it was two years now of shedding that. And when I would, hey, what do you do? Oh, I was a teacher. I still was answering that question saying, I was a teacher. Now it's like, absolutely not. I sometimes don't even mention that I was a teacher anymore. And I just go right into the new spiel. We're not entertaining that kind of energy and thought anymore because we're not going for that.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

I lived in a very small town and I was the owner and co-owner of our farm market and family bakery for 14 years, the similarly to you. And every time I go to the grocery store, they're like, oh, what's in season? Oh, I run into people in town. What pie do you have? Duh du-da, right? And it's just like, if I am not the thing that I used to be anymore, what the heck am I? Like it's a real identity shift too. And one of the other things that I have found that helps with the identity piece is asking yourself, which is very much in alignment of working from the goal, but what would the person with my goal do? So I found it easier to step into a new role. So now being a full-time entrepreneurship coach, I found it easier even before I became that, to build a little version of somebody that was that. And I let her exist outside of me. I was like, oh, policy entrepreneur coach, she would have her own website. Her Instagram bio would say that she is a speaker and a writer. And just because she's only spoken one time, like how many times does it take for you to become a thing? Or I'm a writer, I write a newsletter. Does that make me a writer? Like, what are the boundaries that I'm putting around the labels of what that identity is, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

I honestly did think I did the same thing. It was like I created this picture of like who that person would be. Like it's me, but like I wasn't ready to your alter ego. Yeah, yes, exactly. Like if that's easier for you to grasp, because that absolutely was for me. And then I just noticed that it just got easier for her to mesh into me, like for me to just like step into her because now I had clarity on who she actually was and where she was actually going. And I lack that before when you try to sit in that middle ground of like, well, but yeah, I used to own a bakery or I used to be a teacher, but like, and I had the same thing too. I sat at an entrepreneur event, had literally two LLCs opened and running, and was like, Yeah, I'm not so sure if like I'm an entrepreneur yet. Like there was some bar that I had to hit to be like, okay, you've officially graduated to entrepreneurship status, right? No one is welcoming you.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

There, there's not this like crowd that's waiting for you to cross the line. It's like you decide and then you are like exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Oh my gosh, for sure. The other piece I was gonna ask you about was entrepreneurship can also just feel like one decision making hamster wheel after another. You are in charge. So you're constantly deciding things, and it can sometimes feel never-ending, which is a great thing that you have that much power, but also sometimes can wear on you. How do you go about making decisions in your life to cultivate that dream life and dream business?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Decision making is honestly one of the most impactful things and habits that you can build. And I used to think it was a personality trait. I used to think it was something that you either had or you didn't. And I always related to being someone who was indecisive, related to being somebody that asked everybody, you know, what their opinion. I think it's so interesting because society at large almost teaches us not to trust ourselves and that what our knowing is isn't enough. So it's like make a pros and cons. Let's get it on paper, ask everybody that you know, check in with your family, do some research online. And it's just such a limiting way to exist in a way where you can go. The real irony is that in the simplicity is that you can just say, What would I prefer? And then you make a decision. Even before I learned how to make decisions, it was learning to ask myself, what do I want, first and foremost? What do I want? What would I prefer? What would I love? Any of those questions just to get in touch with that. For myself, I still do that on a regular basis. But that was kind of like my gateway drug, if you will, to building the habit of making better decisions was asking myself what I wanted, what I preferred in really small and insignificant situations. Would I like to go out for dinner tonight or would I like to make dinner tonight? Would I like the usual that I get at the ice cream store with my kids? Would I like to try a new flavor? What do I want to wear today? All of these really small foundational things get you in the habit of being like, oh, I can ask myself what I want to wear, what I want to eat, where I want to go, how I want to drive on my route today. I think that is the foundation. And then after that is just really continuing to build that muscle of what would I prefer, what would I love? Because then it doesn't seem so scary. If you've never asked yourself what you would prefer or what you would love, then sitting down with yourself and saying, Hollis, what would you like to do for the rest of your life? Hollis, how do you want to spend every waking minute of your career? Like that is like you just want to die.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, absolutely. I do think you're absolutely right. I mean, think of school. We're taught that where's the answer? The answer is not in you, the answer's in a book or the answer is on Google, or you check with the teacher, but from very young, we're taught that we don't have the answer. And so now when we're adults and we are running a business and we're the one in charge of making decisions, like you just said it can feel like I would rather do anything else. Someone just tell me what to do. But I agree, it's a muscle. It sounds so simple. Like, what do you prefer? Like, I'm sure people listening are like, Well, there's no way I haven't asked myself that. That's crazy that I wouldn't have asked. And then when you really think about, okay, what when is the last time that you did? I mean, as a mother of three, it's been a hot minute, probably. A hundred percent. It's practicing that and checking in with yourself and trusting that your answer is it's right. And I bet I spent my first year out of the classroom looking around, taking action, and then looking to see, like, okay, did that make people happy? Are you did that please you? Are you what did you think about that? Uh-huh. And realize I'm getting nowhere and I am not thrilled about this. And literally, I think it was about a year of doing that before I was like, wow, people I'm asking can't approve of where I'm going because they've never been there. Uh-huh. They're not in entrepreneurship, they're not running businesses. And I am hoping that you're going to approve of me or say something that sounds like you're approving. It just hit me like a load of bricks one day about a year ago, where I'm like, wow, actually, that's never going to come. So let's just stop looking for it because also I can't expect that of them when it's not the life they've lived. That kind of freed me too, to be like, no, just make the decision. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Yeah, I love that. Exactly. Like if they've not been there. And that's not to say to people listening that you can't consult people that love you. They can't that you can't, you know, ask advice from the people that care about you because, you know, they do have your best interest, of course, at heart. You just have to take that advice as what it is, as someone's opinion and from their lived experience. And that doesn't have to be what you choose to do, but you can absolutely take that and measure that and weigh that. And the other thing too that I have recognized is by you doing what you want, whether it's small little things, whether it's big life things, the best thing that you can do for yourself and for everyone else is to do what you want, is to ask yourself what you want, because you automatically give other people unconscious permission for them to do what they want. Candace leaving a teaching career, and it may not happen right away. You may not even know the impact that what you do has on other people. But there's probably someone else out there that watched you leave a career of 13 years as a teacher, really respectable career and something that you love to step into something else. And they might not at the time not go, I could never, that's not for me. You know, I couldn't do that too. But the ripple effect of you living in your own truth, of you living the things that you love absolutely gives permission to people to do the same.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Absolutely. What is it that you say about not making decisions, the cost of it?

SPEAKER_00 18:39

That the most expensive thing that you could do is not make a decision, and that not making a decision is also making a decision because you're making a decision to not make a decision.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Yeah. I think when I heard you say that, because you had it in your free training, wasn't it? You did a habits masterclass and I listened to the replay, and I was like, Yeah, you're darn right. It's even like when you just choose not to take that dirty laundry basket downstairs, even though to the laundry room, even though you've walked by it 16 times. That kind of thing struck me too. Like I chose not to make a decision about that basket 16 times, and now it has taken up 16 times worth of my brain space and thoughts because now I'm beating myself up that like I went downstairs 16 times and I never took it. Could I not have just grabbed that? Even those little things, I mean, it's funny to joke about that, but we all have that going on in our life, and that clutter or whatever is also taking up space, and the decision to not make a decision about it is a decision.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

That's the definition of clutter, too, is I think I talked about that on the masterclass. Clutter is a delayed decision. And whether that's mental clutter, your inbox, your laundry, whatever that looks like. And ultimately, those things are energy leaks. All of those unmade decisions or elements in your life that drain you in even the most minute capacity. For some reason, I keep thinking about a piece of Swiss cheese lately. It seems so silly, but I'm like, think of how many holes. I just feel like if my energy is literally leaking out through every one of these holes, whether it's the laundry, whether it's what I'm making for dinner, whether it's should I post on LinkedIn? I've never posted on there before. Should I change my Instagram bio? What should I do with my new masterclass offering? Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Your life is about blocking those leaks, stopping the leaks, or even just like the little pinpricks of a hose. Your energy is just going all of these places, and then your effect and the impact that you can have is just lessened minute by minute by every one of those decisions. And even if you close leaks like a little at a time and make decisions a little at a time, they really do add up.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

It's a great analogy because when you think about it like that, energy is precious to me. I know that I need it for inspiration in business and for next steps, and I need it to enjoy and be with my family. So the parts of life that are amazing and lovely and the parts that we all live for or that I live for are those pieces. And if I'm thinking about my energy like that, I would definitely not want to choose to let it go to the laundry or an unmade decision like that. We've gotten a lot of pieces that people could take with them today. Is there anything else you wish people running their own business would know?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Goes back to kind of the first thing that we talked about of working from your goal and kind of ties in beautifully to the last thing we just talked about, which is your energy. Your energy is your currency. And it took me 35 plus years to figure that out. But your energy is everything. It is where you create from, it's how you show up for your children, it's how you show up for your clients, it's how you do everything. And when you are working from your goal, one of the best things that you can do is think about your wish fulfilled, that goal realized. And if that is being an entrepreneur again in an earlier example, if you think of those feelings that you get from living that life, freedom, flexibility, rest, lightness, whatever those feelings are, your work is to stay in that energy. Your job, number one priority, is staying in that energy. So even things that are not, shall we say, business related, like sitting down and fixing up your LinkedIn, if it is in the energy of the goal, it keeps you in the energy of the goal. Meaning if you feel flexible and rested by walking your kids to school and taking a little bit of extra time instead of driving them to school, if that keeps you in the energy of flexibility and spontaneity, then do that. If you want to stay rested and as an entrepreneur, then rest, then have a nap, then prioritize those things that keep you in your energy and really have strong boundaries about the things that do drain you because you get to your goals so much faster. You embody those goals so much faster when you are in the energy of what you love.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Oh, yes. Thank you for that. Tell us what do you have going on this summer that we can look out for? How could someone work with you if they're listening? They're like, I love this girl, like Hannice does.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

How could they work with you? Excellent question. So I have my empowered entrepreneurship group coaching program, and the enrollment is open, and we are welcoming incredible clients, all at various stages of entrepreneurship. Some that have been in for years, some that are just starting, but really have created a really special container where we can really celebrate each other and really hold each other accountable and use these principles that we've talked today. Building out that goal, working from the goal, maintaining our energy and kind of using all of those types of tools. So it is a three-month program, and I am just so thrilled about it and love everything going on there.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Amazing. I will link that in the show notes and tell us where's the best place to follow along with you.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Instagram, I would say it is hollis.coaches.entrepreneurs. We have a lot of fun and silliness in regular everyday life there as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Yes, amazing. Thank you so much for being on. We could talk all day, but we also have some Bridgerton season three to go caught up on.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

So this is part of the energy of the goal. We must make haste. We must end because that's the energy of the goal is rest and relaxation. Has to happen. So thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me, Candice. I so love chatting.