Stefanie (00:00.55)
Welcome to the Life Changing Manifestations podcast. I'm your host Stephanie Edwards and I'm labeling this podcast, Doing Things Differently. And because we're going to check in a little bit on our 2025 goals, see how things are going as we prepare to wrap up. I can't believe this is happening, but we're wrapping up the third month of the year, which means one quarter of this entire year is done, is gone.
And so like, let's check in, let's see how things have going. Because I have come to realize something as I have been working on my goals. Specifically, I want to talk about my big goal. I set a really large goal at the start of the year that I wanted to write 12 books this year. And not just write, because I've written a lot of things that I've never put out there in the world, but to write and to publish onto Amazon and like release them into the world.
This matters to me and I, I'm not going to go into the whole why of it, but it matters to me for why I decided to do 12 books, essentially one every month. The around that I set no other parameters. I will say that like I felt like the topic, what the book was going to be would reveal itself as they went on. So I already had one book that I was working on as I rolled into January. I finished up that first book I published before January is over.
and was so, so excited to get that out there. And then I started in book two, I wrote the entirety of book two, but I didn't publish in February. And to be honest, that book is still sitting all printed out on my desk and I'm still editing. And I don't know why I'm like so caught up on this and it's like, I felt like this stuckness.
On book two, what it is, because I really do love book two, there's a lot in book two that I really enjoy. It's different than book one. So it wasn't like they were a continuation. They are different books. And I just felt like book two in some ways had a lot of power and a lot of strength to it. But I haven't published that one yet. Now here we are wrapping up month three, March, and there are different things that I have written, but I have not compiled another book in that way. So.
Stefanie (02:19.567)
I was just kind of ho humming and trying to figure out what else I wanted to do. I'm being completely wrong and completely honest with you on this because I want you to realize that sometimes you can attach to a really big goal and you can have a vision of what it's going to be. So for me, writing these books was going to be the vision of how I was going to attract new business. I was going to get clients who would read my book, love like feeling like they've connected with me and want to go to the next stage, want to do something else with me.
which is either purchasing one of the trainings that I already have that are available and they can go through at any point in time on their own, which would be another way of deepening that connection they built off of the book. Or maybe they wanted to hire me to do one-on-one work with them and take them to another level on that because I have done that. And that's why I, there's so many books that I've read and I'm like, really resonate with this author. It, what else do they have? And so I get that and I, I,
motivated out of that. However, it just wasn't all coming together. There are so many things that have been great in the learning process of putting out my first book, but at the same time there were struggles that I was having with connecting with what I wanted to do in the business. I already have the courses built, they're already available, but what beyond that was going. And so anyhow, I'm sharing all this because it's been an emotional roller coaster.
there's a huge part of this that has felt like a mountain to climb. And then you get to that stage and then there's something else to conquer. And it's just, there's been different things to overcome. And one of the biggest things I would say that I have had to overcome to consistently show up to consistently drive myself into momentum is overcoming my own emotional insecurities and my own judgments, both of which are ways that I self sabotage.
And I have done this to myself and I'm able to expand and then I shrink. I go big and then I go small. So it's like grow, grow, grow, then contract, contract and pull back, pull back. You've gone too far. And there are just years in my journey where I have struggled to move from being an employee to being an entrepreneur, to actually working on my own, earning my own money versus working for somebody else and they pay me to work for them. And even as a,
Stefanie (04:44.879)
I haven't been like a full-time employee in that way since 2019. So that's a thought of years not to be inside as an employee. And yet there have been different jobs that I've taken along the way and different contract work that I've done along the way. And in my opinion, like, and once again, this is just how I'm labeling it, how I'm identifying with it. That's still not me 100 % on my own, something I have produced and put out into the world. That's still me working for somebody and they're paying me to work for them.
And there's beauty in that. I'm not dissing that in any way, shape or form, because I have loved that. I've grown from that. I've gotten stronger because of it. And I have been blessed to come along outside other people and help them in their businesses doing what they're doing. But I just have this passion. I have a passion to create something that comes entirely from my own interests, my own desires, everything I've been putting into myself.
and what God is laying on me, that the message, the voice that I am here to share. And so I feel like God has given me more and has inspired me in this way. And yet I'm not putting it out there and people are not engaging with it. And that's my struggle because I'm realizing now that it's not just me and my strengths and my abilities. What can I do? But it's me standing in God's power.
and what can God do working through me, meaning I can stand in his power to do the work that I can praise him with. And I can bring glory to his name by what I'm doing. And rather than trying to do it all within my own limited range of power. And that is a level of alignment that I'm continuing to grow and expand on. And this has helped me to get back into action. This has helped me in a way to sustain myself, to keep showing up, keep
doing the activities day after day with faith. And this is what brings me back to the mountains that you must climb before you become a business success is there is this emotional side. There are all these skills and assets that you need to possess to be able to do what you do. Like there's, get that, but it's also about becoming and overcoming all the obstacles, the self sabotage, the emotional hurdles. And you've got to have the resilience, the consistency, the persistence. Persistence is the word that the Bible uses.
Stefanie (07:06.669)
to be able to maintain to keep going. And that's where I've gotten stuck in my ability to deliver in the past and my ability even over these last three months, looking at this year specifically, am I hitting the mark? Am I doing what I need to be doing? Am I creating and am I earning income to be able to sustain creating in this way? Because you could honestly be creating and putting a lot of stuff out there, but is it going anywhere?
And so I have been creating what I feel inspired to create. And this is great. I'm very passionate about what I'm building, but is this what matters in the market and the way that I would say not the way, but one critical way to know if it matters in the market and you're actually going to earn an income from it is, it generating money? Are people buying it? Are people showing up and wanting it? And there are lots of things that are amazing that we
value and but they weren't valued at the time or in that person's lifetime. I can't think of the artist, but there's like somebody who now is like each piece of art is worth so much money, but like nobody valued him when he was actually alive. I just don't want to go through that. Like I want to at least put out something. Maybe it's not my masterpiece like that art was, but I can at least put out something that could earn me a living so I can sustain being
and working from home. Okay. Does that make sense? So I do have basic needs that need to be met from what I'm doing here at home. So I do need a direct result from what I'm doing. So I put that into play. said, okay, so if what I am writing, my books that I'm publishing, the content I'm creating, the courses and the trainings, I feel led to do that. It's my passion. I put that out there into the world, but maybe that takes time to grow and degenerate.
I do believe this and I don't think it's a negative thought that I'm holding onto that it takes time for that to grow because I'm still relatively unknown and I haven't quite found the point to attract the right people to buy it, to connect with that, to build, know, even this podcast, putting this podcast out week after week, the message I'm sharing, the relationship that I'm building with you and
Stefanie (09:29.141)
as that continues to grow and evolve, what does that become? So I have to be patient with it. Yes. And so I I'm honest about that, but I'm bringing it back to do I have something in the market right now that people can buy and want to buy and is selling and is thus making me money and is sustaining the life that I want to live. And so are people buying the books on personal development? Cause that's the
bigger generalized category that I write towards? Yes. Mindset? Yes. Are people buying books on faith and spiritual growth? Also, yes, because I can go in this category as well. But my book is really like a hybrid between these. So then I asked the question, are Christian women, so those are the faith-based women I'm speaking to, are they buying a hybrid book that weaves in manifestation principles with biblical roots? And I thought, well, no, like I haven't found that book.
This is what I feel has been my discovery, if you will, and what I'm weaving together and just finding this beautiful way of sharing our faith and action to live out these abundant lives. And so I feel like I have this amazing discovery. I love studying it, unpacking it, writing about it. And I so passionate to write these books and create these courses and even put what I put here on the podcast because it matters. I know it matters. This is my art.
if we will, right? Going back to that reference. But I feel like somewhere in my journey of research, I need to make an adjustment for what I'm also spending my time doing, that I'm spending something in my day that is earning direct income in response to what people are already searching for and already have a desire for versus trying to teach people to search for something new, income, explore something new. So
Is it intertwined? Is it something separate? These are all the questions I've been asking. And the only reason I'm able to ask these questions now, the only reason I'm able to get to here now is because I've done the research and I've only done the research because I was taking the steps and I was in action to get here. So the insights that I have coming to the end of the first quarter is different than the insights that I held at the start of the quarter. Is that making sense? Because you're only going to get the discovery. You're only going to get the lesson if you've gone through the experience.
Stefanie (11:56.903)
You have to get out there. You have to do something and then win or fail in, you know, those are only relative terms, but what you get out of it, take the lesson because you either get what you want, which would have been for me selling the book or you get what you need. And I'm like, okay, why, what do I need here? What do I need to take away from this experience of what I'm putting out?
So as I kept doing this, the more research I'm exploring, not just the type of book that I want to write, which doesn't necessarily exist in that way, or form, but I'm looking at what other people are actually searching for. Because if you just go on Amazon, you can see in the keywords what people are actually looking for. And that got me kind of going down a little bit of trail, a little bit of trail here as I was looking and I got really excited and I started to read not only what people were searching for, but then the
comments that people were leaving on the different books and resources that I was looking at. I also have this tool that I can use to track and see how books are selling, how much they're earning, all these different things. And so I was looking and I was searching for a gap, a gap in the market for what people were searching for, but either didn't exist in the number of quantity in response to the amount of people searching for it or like there wasn't a good enough option.
And people were buying it because it was the only thing, the only book, for example, on that topic, but they were wishing that there was something else. And maybe that's where in the comments, that's why it's so important to read the comments, because the comments reflected that people were not satisfied with this particular book. And so armed with my research, I took time to consider if I would be willing to make a shift. I was just checking in with myself because here's what I didn't want to do. I didn't want to jump ship entirely. I did not want to leave my passion project behind.
But at the same time I had to say, okay, I'm not yet earning income off of my passion project. So what do I want to do that is going to earn me income? And I did not want to get a job because that didn't align with my value of wanting to be at home. Why I want to be at home. And you know, I recently moved. and the lifestyle that I want to create here with my oldest son and the experience that we have as I'm homeschooling him, like, what does that look like? And so I just opened it up because
Stefanie (14:19.375)
What my book, what my brain, not my book, my brain was saying about the book that I was now have an idea to create. My brain was saying, but that's not a book book. Meaning it wasn't a book full of written ideas like the others I had created. And that gave me a little bit of shame. It gave me a little bit of doubt. It gave me some frustration. But then I was so glad I'd had this experience. I had like to deal with my mindset before a couple of years ago.
When I was like, I read a hundred books this year. And then there was like this question about, I actually read the book, like physically hold a book or was I doing audio books? And I was like, what, there's a difference? Like it's still the same book. It's, and I still know, I can tell you everything that was inside this book. I just physically didn't sit down and 100 % hold it in my hands to read it with my own eyeballs. I had my eyeballs closed for most of the time because I read books.
at night to unwind. And so I'm listening to the book, but how is that any less valuable? I still know what the book is about. I still went through the whole entire book. Like it matters. And I, yes, I did read 100 books. And so I was like, there, there doesn't need to be a shame if I do an audio book or I do a physical book. It's a book is a book. And I remembered that in this moment when I was doubting myself that if I published 12 books, they all had to be the same type of book or
about the same type of topic and that one wasn't going to matter as much as the other. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. If I put a book out there and it sells and I put a book out there and I publish it and it's really released into the world, this is what makes a book a book. So I'll have to say, I discovered a market for books that are not written books, but are activity books. And I found a particular niche in these activity books that people are buying.
and they're buying in great amounts every day. And I can see the profit that people are making off of the books, but there's a limited options and limited quantity. so with all my background as a graphic designer, was like a hundred percent. I know I can satisfy the customers who are saying that these existing books are not meeting quality and performance category. I can design something better. And so I felt really passionate about that. I can enjoy this process.
Stefanie (16:45.731)
This is fun and creative outlet for me. And it's responding from the research I've already done to something that's already selling that people are literally raising their hand on Amazon and asking for. People are seeking to publish or to purchase these. And all I have to do is publish it and put it out there. And so it's like, OK, what if for the month of March, instead of finishing out this, you know, which isn't a fully formed idea, but a written book, so to speak.
I work on one of these other activity books. And so that's what I've been doing. But I questioned myself on if I could walk away from the original goal. And I was like, wait, this isn't walking away from the original goal. This is just making adjustments. And I had to come to the place and space of saying, no, I'm not. I'm actually being smart with my goal. I'm staying in tune with my values. My values are to work from home.
In order to do that, how can I sustain myself? And I need to make sure that I'm publishing and creating towards that end. I can still have my passion project, but I also can do work that is going to sell, that is going to connect with this. And so that's why I'm sharing this with you. And I hope that you will allow yourself the freedom to adjust and pivot as needed without shaming yourself or without feeling like you're jumping ship. Like I felt like the
The lesson there was that I'm going to continue to grow. I'm going to keep evolving. I'm not giving up. This is still in alignment with my goal because remember I told you, I did not say what kind of book it had to be. So I'm still going to publish my 12 books this year and I'm not going to give up on this and I'm going to find out what else is coming and being birthed out of this experience, these insights and these lessons that I'm going to get as I'm going along the way. So it's just a discovery process and I'm applying this into the content that I'm spending so much time.
planning, recording and editing and building. And so even this week, I'm not putting out a direct YouTube in relationship to this podcast. I'm only creating this as an audio because I needed to dedicate more time towards this other book that I'm building. So I hit my goal of being done before the end of the month. And I was like, okay, one way I can make something simpler that is not directly towards my revenue goals. Yes.
Stefanie (19:01.225)
is instead of also doing the YouTube and which revolves more editing and twice the amount of work, I can just simplify this and just record the audio podcast this week. Maybe next week I'll be back on doing YouTube. But there are other elements of this that I wanted to adjust as I was going through it. Just modifying to keep the pace, to stay on track, knowing what matters, what I need to sustain my lifestyle and holding true to my values, which brings me to my final point for this episode.
And thank you so much for staying with me throughout this. I hope this has been valuable to you just to have this raw honest reflection and conversation around this. As you're looking at, hopefully in evaluating where you're at after the first quarter of 2025, is build with alignment to your values. Your goals are the stepping stones to seeing your values fulfilled.
And it is the journey in which you're going to undertake the achievement of those goals, okay, that builds out your life. So it definitely needs to be in alignment with who you are, or else you're going to be building something that you're not going to stick with, that you're not going to be excited about. And you're going to sabotage in some way because it's not in alignment with your values. And so you're going against who you believe you are.
But if you enjoy the process, if you're in alignment with who you are, you are clear about your goals that build on your values rather than taking away from them. You're not going to, I'm not going to say not self sabotage because self sabotaging happen for a lot of reasons. Um, including just growth, right? You start to change and you self sabotage, but being alignment with your values is what's going to matter the most. So I had to check in with myself and he said, I'm still publishing. I'm still creating content that is selling.
Like this is still in alignment with who I am and the life I want to live. And I get to do it on my terms with my freedom, working from home, all in alignment with my values. Like I completely checked in that if this pivot, I went forward with this pivot, is it still in alignment with my values? And does this goal change? And how does it change? Is this still in alignment with my values? I brought everything back to the core values of who I am and what I said I wanted big time to live out this year in my life. And this is the biggest lesson year.
Stefanie (21:22.641)
the year so far for me is I am willing to shift my goals to make sure that my values stay met and maintained. I do not want to change my values to hit my goals. And so like I said, tying in this into income is a great tangible way to check this. And so I have a baseline in my mind of what I income set up and like soon. And now I have current goals to achieve this income.
so that I can fulfill the value of maintaining my independence, my freedom, living life on my terms, working from home. That's what that means to me. And what this means to me working from home is being able to achieve this business endeavor, being able to sustain my own lifestyle independently on my own instead of having to rely on anybody or do something else. But working from home while having this independence allows me to take breaks, to spend time with my son, to go off and see my family that I moved.
relocated to be near, get to see all of this take place because one of my values, one of the things that I feel so strongly about is the next 10 years are extremely critical years to be with my family. Like the kids, all the adults in 10 years, like legal adults out of my house kind of adults, right? My parents will be in their senior years in 10 years.
Like there's so many things that are going to be so very different and I'm going to be in my 50s in 10 years. So I think about all these different dynamics of what is going to change in the next 10 years, the memories that need to get made. Like that's how I look at it. I have 10 years to make these kind of memories that I want and to not hold back on living my life while I have my life here in front of me because I don't even know what's going to be in 10 years. But
To me, I didn't want to be trapped working a job in an office all day, every day, like I did in my twenties. I just didn't want that for myself at this stage of the game. So if my current goals are not going to work to fulfill my value system, then I need to make a decision. And so that's where changes are super critical is if you have a goal right now that is not in total alignment with your values, make a change immediately, make a pivot because you need to know clearly what your values.
Stefanie (23:44.439)
are because that's who you are. That's your identity, which that's a big part of it too, is have you even identified your values? Do you know what values you hold to and what matters? What do you want to live out? What do you want to be the biggest factor of the life that you live and you create? So that's where I'm at. That's what I'm willing to create. That's what I'm willing to do to be able to afford the lifestyle that I want to have and to live out and create these memories over the next 10 years with my family.
to be the person I want to be as I'm wrapping up my 40s and moving into my 50s over the next 10 years. I'm nowhere near wrapping up my 40s at this point, but I want this more than making the sacrifice of my life to get a job, to fund a dream of writing books. I I want to write the books that I want to write. I want to create the books that are going to sell that are going to fund my dreams. And this is a big breakthrough for me because in the past,
I have not had this depth of perspective to be able to realize that where I was going wrong was doing things that were sacrifices to my values in order to try and achieve an income. I've taken jobs, I've done projects that I'm like, and I hate it. And I'm like, I wish I wasn't doing this, but I've got to make the money. That is not an alignment. And that's why those negative side of work out.
And so what I want to do is hold true to my values, who I am, what I'm continuing to evolve into, because I'm not going to stay the same and keep working towards those bigger goals and keep aligning in all of this alignment is so huge. I, just, matters to me. I had to share this with you because I know that this, when you realize how this fits and your goals, your values and your alignment with all of that.
the benefits it can bring to you too, friend. So thank you so much for hanging out with me throughout this discussion. Keep going, keep feeling inspired with what you're working towards. We are moving now into the second quarter of 2025 and make that pivotal change, any adjustments that need to be done and get back to work, get into action, stay committed as you continue to expand, keep evolving with Jesus as you trust him to guide you and lead you forward and to empower you.
Stefanie (26:03.705)
in the actions you're taking. And with that, I'll wrap up this episode and wish you all the very best. Have a great one.
