Are you ready to focus on your passion instead of the busy work? In today’s episode, I have the honor of introducing you to Liz Hartke of the Luminary Leadership Co. We’re chatting all about increasing our revenue, discovering your self-worth, and answering your calling.
On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.
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Review The Show Notes:
Feeling Burnt-Out And Broke As Entrepreneurs (4:49)
Identifying Your Sweet Spot (8:09)
Maintaining Your Business While Fine-Tuning Your Sweet Spot (12:37)
Where To Start With Your Next Big Move (18:22)
Making Room For Abundance (24:40)
Reframing Your Story And Believing It (29:32)
Collecting The Evidence That God Showed Up (34:08)
Stop Trading Your Time For Money (38:09)
Predictions for 2025 (44:52)
Key Tip From Liz (50:40)
Connect With Liz:
Instagram: instagram.com/elizhartke
Podcast: luminaryleadershipco.com/podcast
Review the Transcript:
Quianna: I know you’re amazing. Your past clients are raving about you and your dream clients are praying to find you. As we kick off the year 2025, I know this year is going to be a big year full of transformations, glow ups, abundance, and incredible opportunities. We’ve all put in the work, invested in coaching, and it’s time to refine our systems to scale and open our arms to receive the fruits of our labor.
I know this time of year can flood with emotions. Some of us are feeling fired up for a clean slate and fresh calendars to fill. If you are the one that loves going into those office stores and getting all the sticky notes and those big postables that can go on the wall to write with fun colored pens and highlighters, We are the same.
That is me. That is the time to start getting new planners and journals. I’m all about it. And some of us may be feeling the comparison game creep in as we realize we didn’t accomplish as many checks off of our resolutions and goals as we planned last year. I get it. I feel you. I’m also that person too.
Many of us are simply grateful we survived 2024. It’s also important to remember that we are still in the season of winter, for rest, reflection, and redirection for the seasons ahead. It may actually not feel aligned to be popping confetti, releasing new offers, or making a splash into the new year. Some of us are cold, feeling cuddly, and really need this time to bunker down and make some plans.
Now is the best time to fine tune our calendars, find alignment with our life and business, and truly make time for the things that bring us joy. Today I have the honor of introducing you to one of my biggest inspirations, Liz Hartke. Liz has created a movement with Luminary Leadership Co. that inspires and encourages business owners to scale intentionally.
While raising a family and prioritizing what means the most to you. We started our businesses to create freedom and make an impact. Yet many of us are on the hamster wheel of people pleasing, content creating, and moving the goalpost as soon as we celebrate wins of all sizes. Liz has frameworks, education, and coaching that cuts through the crap, finds alignment with your mission and calendars to actually make more by doing less.
Amen, does that sound good? I’m so thankful my bestie Tara Dunn could make this introduction because this podcast episode is legit a coaching call that I snuck into an interview to share with you today. We’ll be chatting all about increasing our revenue, finding clarity, not only in your calling, but how to take action with conviction to answer that calling.
Yes, I know. It’s going to take a little bit of action, lessons of self worth and mindset shifts to embrace millions in revenue, creating high ticket offers. And Liz even takes us behind the scenes of some memories she wishes was recorded to share her growth and to witness God’s direction for success.
She even dropped some predictions for the coaching and online business industry for 2025 and the years ahead. Now is the perfect time to whip out that notebook and grab a warm beverage. This one’s going to get us all grounded and help guide us right into a successful 2025. Ready? Let’s go, babe. Please welcome Liz Hartke.
Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen, photographers who are excited to serve their clients. And friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast
Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating your wins. through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.
All right. All right. Welcome to the podcast, Liz. It is such an honor to have you. How are you doing this morning? I’m doing so well and
Liz: I’m so happy to be with you. I have watched you. I have heard and had peers and clients sing your praises and I’m excited to finally connect and chat.
Quianna: Thank you so much.
I’ve been fangirling for a while. So let’s just dive right into this. I know so many business owners that are creative and ambitious. They’re talented and they’re knowledgeable, but they feel broke. And when I say broke, I want to say, I want to clarify that we’re paying our bills. We are getting things done, but we’re not scaling or reaching those revenue goals that we believe we deserve.
How can we increase our revenue and identify those revenue making tasks?
Liz: Yeah. That’s such a good question. And I see it too. A lot of the people that I serve, whether it be via my podcast or people come into our programs or in intensives, they’re at that point where they feel like they’re kind of butting their head up against a gross ceiling.
It’s like this feeling of I’m doing the work I’m putting in the time I am grinding, but why am I feeling stuck? And like, I can’t seem to move the needle. Maybe I temporarily do, but I have seasons of feast or famine or for me to just, I don’t Inch myself ahead, I have to put in so much more effort. And I think the key differentiator between those who kind of stay stuck in that place and those that really have their breakthrough where the growth is not only exponential, but unlimited.
And I’ve seen this so many times, I’ve worked with thousands of people virtually and hundreds and hundreds of people personally over the last about 13 years. And that differentiator is They have this awakening to the fact that what got them here won’t get them there. And it’s really more so what got them there, or what got them here will keep them here, right?
Like they’re trying to do the same things to get to next level places and it doesn’t work that way. And the cool thing about it is that the path to that exponential growth and getting out of that slow incremental grind that you’re describing where you feel broke, like you feel that you’re maxed out, you’re spending your resources, whether it be time, money, team, whatever, and it’s just not landing.
I think the mistake is that a lot of people think, okay, just the compound effect will kick in if I just keep doing it. They tell me if I keep doing the same things, eventually it’ll all add up and really take off. And it’s not true. Like the people that we see that are thriving and living. Not just successfully in their business, but holistic success, like where they’re actually thriving in their marriage and they’re present with their children and they have quality of life and they have peace and prosperity and all those things we crave where their incredible work doesn’t come at the expense of the things that matter most.
They are not doing those amateur moves of the average entrepreneur. Their path is narrowed. They are laser focused on the things that actually move the needles. So the, the, the first thing I would say to answer your question is they’re doing way less, they’re doing way less. So if you are feeling that burnout, if you’re feeling like you can’t move the needle, you are likely spread across too many things.
You are not spending the bulk of your time in your sweet spot within your business. You’re a jack of all trades, you’re managing, you’re not, you’re maintaining, you’re not, um, leading and growing. Really it’s stepping into a season of pruning first. What needs to be stripped away? What is not where we’re going?
What is just maintaining what is and really just operating from a completely different mentality. It’s part strategy, but it’s in big part leadership and mindset.
Quianna: Yes, I love that so much. And you’re absolutely right. I feel like for a lot of us, we got into this business because we’re passionate about something.
We start juggling all these different things, and then all of a sudden we realize, Wait, I’m doing too much and I’m getting burnt out. This isn’t fun anymore. I don’t have that income to prove this success and to prove this hard work. And so I feel like a lot of us, Liz, a lot of us are really good at a lot of things, right?
I can speak so candidly for a lot of creative, passionate entrepreneurs. We are a jack of all trades. So what advice would you have when it comes to actually prioritizing that consistency over creativity?
Liz: I would probably tell you to lean into the creativity more. So for me, when I work with people, it’s about identifying that sweet spot because the work that we do at luminary is really about taking busy founders and taking them out of their busy work and into their life’s work because the money follows that.
So when you identify. What it is that you are put here to do, like what you are called to do, and it aligns with the gifts that you have, both the innate gifts, like kind of like the God thumbprint that’s on just you, uniquely you, probably the stuff you take for granted because it feels so trivial to you because it’s so organic and naturally you.
In addition to the skills that you’ve developed, right? Like the things that your experiences and all of that, where that collides and what the market calls for is your sweet spot. And traditionally speaking, when we, um, we do a lot of auditing of businesses from the standpoint of looking at where the visionary’s time is being spent and almost always less than 3 percent of their time is spent in that sweet spot, in that creative zone where they’re doing the work that makes them come alive.
And the problem is they’ve fallen into the trap of believing that if they’re just consistent, if they just do a little bit of everything and they keep pushing ahead, that eventually they’ll have the freedom that they’re really looking for. So it’s a pretty bold move. We call it your big next. It’s where you’re willing to take the really big leap, the really big, it feels like a risk.
For example, in, it was like 2015. Our business finally was gaining traction. We had broken, we had just hit our first million in profit. Uh, we had hired, our team had inflated pretty big. I mean, for a small business like ours, big for us, I was getting booked to speak. I was getting all these opportunities and I was more miserable than I had ever been.
I remember saying to my husband, like this, if this is success, like I don’t want it. This sucks. I had this. epiphany when I had a mentor come into my life and ask me a couple of questions. The first was really clear. They’re like, what do you want more than anything? And I was able to really seamlessly rattle off all the things that I wanted.
I was like, I know that I want more freedom. I know that I want to be present with my kids. Cause we were started 2015 was also the year that we had our first child. I know that I want to be an amazing wife and, and have this connection with my husband that just grows over time. Like I had all these visions.
I knew what I wanted my business to do. And then he’s like, okay, Liz, open your schedule and show me the evidence that any of that is true. And there was just this major disconnect because I was living in this, like, just got to consistently check the things off my list. And I was not leaning into my, my innate gifts.
And I was not leaning into what I was really being called to do. And there was a gap and a risk between those two points. Like for me to go from kind of grinding to make things happen and generating great revenue to no longer being, having my hand in everything and pursuing what was on my heart versus just what was the logical next step or the low hanging fruit.
I was going to have to risk losing money. I was going to have to risk losing team, which I took so much pride in having a team and loved my team so much. I was going to have to take a risk, but to get to the next level that I really craved where that growth that you talked about in the beginning is actually available to you.
Got to take that leap. So that was kind of my first experience in realizing, Oh my gosh, if I just keep doing what logically makes sense, what incrementally helps us grow, what feels like the low hanging fruit, I’m never going to fully tap in to my potential personally or in my business. So it was when we really started to take some courageous actions and pursuing.
what felt super aligned and leaning into like my creative gifts and doing the things that were kind of bubbling up inside me, but I kept pushing down because it wasn’t on my to do list. That’s when we really started to see a type of growth that couldn’t just be strong armed or manufactured through just hard work alone.
Quianna: Yes. I love that story so much. And I’m so grateful that you shared that because I feel like that’s so relatable. And I would love to know, as you were in the thick of it, right, where you’re realizing, holy smokes, we’ve really ballooned up, we’ve grown exponentially, and then it, it felt like that pruning phase, right?
Almost like, I love the idea of roses in the garden, where you literally have to physically hack at them to regrow, regrow for next year. How were you able to juggle both of those? Like fine tuning and the laser focusing to find your sweet spot while still maintaining what you have. Like, did it just take a couple days to kind of rest and regroup?
Did it take a six month process to kind of find alignment in this next wheel house of your business? Like, what did that look like for you?
Liz: No, it didn’t take a couple days because for me, it felt like literally detoxing. Like I’m a three on the Enneagram. I’m all gas, no breaks. I can be a dog on a bone when I’m pursuing and chasing something.
And I can be really unaware of how I’m dropping the ball in other areas of my life. So it does not come naturally to me. So the first key was having someone in my life to hold me accountable to the, not just the vision that I said I wanted, but what they saw in me. And I had a mentor do that for me. In fact, he sat me down in 2015 when we had just hit our biggest goal of breaking that million dollar mark in profitability.
And I thought he was about to pat me on the back and he was like, Liz, I have to be honest with you. I’m like, what’s up? He’s like, you are drastically underperforming your potential. And it was such a gut kick, but it was so true because that, that was like a turning point for me where I realized, Oh, this is about more than just metrics and KPIs and numbers.
This is about me as a person and really living into that. So it didn’t come naturally. I needed the mentors and the people to hold up the mirror. And then I needed to start asking the right questions to get the right answers. Yeah. Yeah. One thing that I’ll share with your audience that I’ve turned into a tool that I utilize for myself continuously and for my clients, sometimes I’ll sit down to journal and I don’t know what the heck to write.
Like it’s just a brain dump, so I need questions to guide me to gain the clarity that’s going to help me get there. So if they go to Instagram and they just DM me the word clarity, I’ll shoot them over. But it’s a set of like writing prompts that leaders use to get some of the answers as to what does need to happen next and even more so what needs to go away.
More likely what’s standing between you, your listeners, me and my big next, your big next, whatever it might be, is not that we’re not doing enough. It’s that we’re doing too much. And there’s this really scary, but. Clarifying moment where you realize, Oh, my gosh, so much needs to go. So it was a long process for me because that is not my natural tendency.
I like my, I’m a massive action taker. I feel good. I feel in control when I’m in action and I feel very out of control when I’m in stillness. But it was creating more margin in my days, not to be in my to do list, but to actually be in that visionary seat where I could think and I could contemplate and I could reflect.
I could actually analyze what was and identify like, Oh, that’s why we’re stuck here. Like, this is where I’m focusing. This is how much of my time is going towards this. Instead of that. I do it with my clients all the time. I have a client who I love. Her name is Michelle. And when she came to me, she runs, um, her business is about at the three to 4 million mark.
She has about 25 employees. So she’d done very well, but she was miserable in her work and the business had plateaued. And this applies no matter what you’re bringing in. You get to this point where what you’re doing isn’t going to generate more. You’ve kind of capped yourself, like you’re maxed out. So what we did was we really started to assess, okay, like, well, what are the things that need to happen to help you see this big leap?
And we had identified very clear initiatives. More focus on sales conversations, more focus on lead generation and conversion. And it was very simple. Then we looked at her time. 2. 3 percent of her time was in those initiatives. The remaining balance of her time was in managing team. It was in fulfilling on her offers with her clients.
It was in customer service. It was in podcasting. It was in all these things that weren’t generating. So the process is asking the right questions to identify what are those needle movers? We call them high leverage moves. That if you just lasered in on those two or three things that only you can do as the founder of the business, That would absolutely and epically generate massive momentum and growth for the business.
Now that often means letting go of all the little crap that feels like it’s sustaining and feels like you’re keeping your head above water. But how long do you want to just tread water? And you have to be able to answer that question because if the, if the question is like, I’m tired and I don’t want to do it like this anymore and I want to surf the waves and I want to have fun again, then you have to be willing to let go of those anchors that are just like pulling you down, pulling you down, pulling you down.
It’s asking those questions. And in asking those questions, we’ve identified that like leadership, really all it is at a core level is self awareness and so few people are self aware and it’s why it really helps to be able to ask those questions and then have the people who can speak into your life and say, Hey, These are your gaps that you’re not seeing.
These are your blind spots that are keeping you drowning. We need to let those things go. We have to overcome those stories. We have to rewrite these narratives and we have to take different actions so that we can actually get a different result. Oh my goodness. I love this so much.
Quianna: And I feel like I’m almost getting this breath of fresh air hearing you speak and sharing this because it can feel really scary.
It can feel really scary, not just not too sure with what that next step is, but I think sometimes when I think of expanding or kind of like those That analogy of the arrow, right? You’re going to pull back so you can, you know, you’re pulling backwards. You can actually propel forward. But sometimes I feel like, okay, wait, what does that look like?
Is that me doing less of the busy work? Is that me bringing in my first new hire? Right? Like, where do we kind of. Kind of come out of the mud in that situation where we’ve decided, okay, this is definitely a waste of time. I can alleviate some of these tasks and I can focus on the things that are actually revenue driving and actually kind of moving the needle.
But then what comes next after that, Liz, is that truly making that investment with. Either an assistant or hiring a coach, like where would you see that kind of playing out for our next big move?
Liz: Yeah, it’s a good question. So it’s, it’s dependent on the person in the situation, but there are four options when you discover like, okay, I’m spending way too much time in the busy work.
And yes, it is like if you’re spending a majority of your time checking tasks off a list and just kind of groundhog daying your way through business, like something’s got to So the options are you can eliminate it altogether. You can look at something and be like, this is not producing revenue for us.
This is not supporting growth. This is not supporting our clients and it’s not where we’re going. Okay. It goes away. Like, even if it generates money, if it’s not where we’re going, it goes away. Uh, the second option is you can defer it. You can look at the calendar. We plan two to three years ahead at all times.
So we look at the calendar and we, and we have our mission statement. We know exactly who we are. We know exactly what our three top economic objectives are for the next year to two years. And we say, Are these tasks, are these projects, are these things that we’re doing, putting time and money into? Are they taking us closer and faster to that mission or are they a distraction and a deterrent in the season?
So maybe if it, it can either go away or if you’re like, you know what? That’s a great Q4 initiative. So it’s being deferred. It’s not on our plate right now. And you just take that pressure off. You kind of make the decision that, okay, enhancing the blog or getting our SEO up and running or running the podcast or whatever.
It’s not producing for us right now. We have bigger initiatives, bigger fish to fry that gets deferred. And then you pick that, you know, deference date. Then the third option is it can be. automated or systemize so that you’re not beating against your head against the same wall every day and wasting your time.
So if you find yourself answering the same questions or having to support your team the same way over and over, or your clients are needing the same things, or you get the same kind of processes in your DMs, like you’re answering the same thing, create a system for it. There’s no reason that you have to recreate the wheel every time you sit down and that should save people.
So much time tens, if not 20s of hours a week, that’s the third one. And then the final is to delegate, right? You can bring someone in if you deem it to be something that is going to move the needle towards the mission. Like that’s the key that I keep saying over and over because you have to be able to discern that.
Is this taking us closer? Or is this just slowing us down and getting there? Right? There are plenty of super sexy, shiny things that sound great and are awesome opportunities. But if you’re not crystal clear on where you’re going, then you can’t even answer the question, is this getting me there? When you’re crystal clear on where you’re going, then you can say, is this getting me there?
And if the answer is no, Then you don’t even want to delegate it because why would you want to pay someone else to do it if it’s not getting you closer to it? So you want to look through, like, we want to start with elimination. Let’s get rid of as much as we possibly can. Then you want to look at what just can be pushed off.
It’s just not meant for this season. That’s a future initiative. And then it’s, what can we automate and systemize that would save us tons of time? And then what can we delegate? Where is it appropriate to bring in the right person? And I think sometimes we hire from a place of desperation. We’re like, oh my gosh, I’m so overwhelmed.
I just want to get these tasks off my list, but then we don’t have a system for hiring and onboarding. So now we’re managing someone. So now our time is going into management and it doesn’t serve us. So really having the right, like steps, doing it in the right order is very, very helpful. So that, you know, what are we taking on?
What are we taking off our plates and how are we proceeding towards the mission? And we have great clarity around it. I do believe it’s always really important. I always have a coach of some kind. I’m either in a, I’m almost always in a mastermind. I run a mastermind. I’m always looking to hire people. To see my blind spots and to help support me.
It’s, it’s my investment in myself and it’s very much my investment in overcoming my humanity of knowing that I just can’t do it alone. Like I need the people to speak life into me. There are different levels of that different, obviously different levels of investment for that. But you have to have good people in your life who can see what you cannot see and then guide you through that.
Quianna: Yes. Those are all incredible tips and strategies and I feel like that is something that all of us can do today, literally, like while we’re taking a lunch break, while we’re driving in our cars to pick up kids after school, whatever that feels like, whatever there’s a little bit of margin or space that we can squeeze out today, we can start noodling on those action steps.
And I love that. I’m definitely going to start making notes to start decluttering, streamlining, creating those automations, and then definitely leaning on support. One thing, though, I would really love to dig a little bit deeper, Liz. I feel like we’ve tackled a lot of strategy, right? So let’s say we are running the business, whether it’s a recent pivot, and we’re now kind of getting into the online space, or we are really just buckling down on a service based business that we love, and we’re ready to scale.
You know, we’ve made those automations, we may have hired a couple great assets to our business. But there’s still this lingering roadblock there may be something that is like a mental block or just some limiting beliefs that are holding us back from that scale because like you mentioned the beginning where you know you only are going to go so far for what you’ve been doing that’s been tried and true.
We have to start doing new things. I think with so much change and with so much abundance and all these endless opportunities, all of a sudden can can feel very overwhelming. And I guess my question is, I needed to like paint a picture, but the question is, is how do you personally feel about that? Crush those limiting beliefs.
How do you open your arms, your mind, your heart for abundance and wealth? I mean, when you mentioned that in 2015, you guys cleared over a million dollars in profits. I mean, I can’t even imagine what you’re clearing today. Holy smokes. That like stirs something in my nervous system. That I would love to be more open to.
So how did you and your husband and your team really make room for that abundance mentally?
Liz: It’s the ultimate roadblock because the strategy we can do, right? Like if I’m like, okay, go get your calendar, put these on it, take these things off. Like we can do the applicable, tangible things because it’s not emotional.
Like there isn’t the, if you’re a hard worker, you can apply what you learn. But then there are the mental roadblocks and it’s why we are so obsessed with leadership because it’s really who is greater than do. So often we’re looking at the do, we’re saying like, what do we need to do to get there? I need to hire the coach so I know what to do to get there.
But the real question and the good coaches are going to reflect it back to what you believe about the who. And there’s a, there’s a process. Not my own. This has been around for a long time called be, do, have. The principle behind it is we tend to operate in the other direction. Have, do, be. Once I have the thing, once I have the million dollars, then I’ll do the things that I want to do and then I’ll finally be fill in the blank.
But really, the way that you access that, the thing that you want to have, is who do I need to be? So if there’s something that I’m pursuing, I want to look around and say, Okay, where is there evidence of this having been done before? I don’t want just money for money’s sake. I certainly don’t want fame, like, I’m writing my book and I’m toying with the idea of using a pen name because that’s my dream.
It’s like being a hermit, no one knows who wrote it, but I can get paid on it. So I’m, I’m looking at all these different things and the idea is not, uh, looking at someone and saying like, all right, I have, I want what they have. So how do I create what they have? It’s saying, who did, like, what type of person can be all those things I want to be?
So I, yeah, I want a book that’s very successful and I want a business that’s successful and I want freedom in my life and I want quality of life and I want joy in my life and I want to know that I’m living in alignment with what God has placed in my heart, all those awesome things. So I look for those people in the world that I feel like are doing that and I say, like, well, what are they, like, who are, who are they that I am not yet?
So that’s the unlock. It’s the be first. Who do I need to be? Because when you know who you need to be, then you can discover, all right, well, what does that type of person do? And then you transform the tangible. Oh, they don’t watch television. Cool. I can cut that out of my life. Right. They don’t pick fights with their spouse over trivial things.
All right. I can work on that. Right. They, they don’t waste their time in the menial tasks of the day to day. They hire someone to do that. And they only spend their time in the things that move the needle. Okay. That’s something I can learn to do and apply. Now it doesn’t happen overnight just because you discover it.
You sometimes have to work your way into it or overcome old narratives. I mean, so much of it is like, what are the stories we tell ourselves? Those become our ceilings. So it’s rewriting those stories. It’s resetting those intentions that we have for ourselves. It’s, it’s again, the self awareness to be like, man, why do I keep getting stuck here?
Like, why am I not making that pitch of myself? Like what part of me fears rejection that I’m the reason I’m not accelerating my podcast or a reason I’m not accelerating my sales level or how many people I’m bringing in is because I think I’m noticing that if I put myself out there, I run the risk of rejection.
Why am I telling that story and what story do I have to write so that I can just get over it? Like, what, how can I just get past it? A lot of it is just like old crap that we haven’t cleared out the same way you’re clearing the deck on the things in your business. You kind of have to like clear the deck on the stuff in your mind that is just old and crusty and dusty and like not serving where you’re going.
You can try and strong arm your way forward. That only takes you so far, right? You have to actually believe what you’re pursuing. You actually have to believe who you are and that you’re capable of it, and then step into, you know, what you need to do, and then you get to access what you want to have.
Quianna: Oh, I love this so much.
And I can relate to that so much when it comes to those stories and to those limiting beliefs and thinking. I mean, even for me, for example, personally, I used to always tell myself and even share online that I’m scrappy, right? I literally would say I’m scrappy. I’m resourceful. I may not have the answers for you, but I know a girl who does, or I know a friend or a mentor or someone that I can get the answers from.
And even for myself, I’m practicing No, I’m not scrappy, like, no, hold on, I’m a professional, I can show up in a different light and it really does start with those inner thoughts and how we are reframing, rewriting, and just creating the story that we want. So what questions would you ask yourself, Liz, or what, what ways would you reframe your stories?
Cause it’s, it’s easy to say like, Oh, I’m a millionaire or, Oh, I am a very successful business owner, wife, parent, all the things. I would love to know maybe if we can get a little insider into your mind, like what are just some sweet whispers or some things that you would share with yourself to paint that picture, to actually start believing those things are true for you and for your success.
Liz: Yeah. I mean, it’s just kind of, uh, peeling back the layers of the onion for me at writing really helps because sometimes I get tripped up trying to just create margins and just think about something or even just like free right. So when I have prompts to come back to. It helps support me. And sometimes it’s as simple, like if I’m running into some kind of limiting belief or some kind of block, it’s like, all right, what am, what am I believing is true here?
And then it’s all right. What is actually true? Like simple. It’s not a complicated thing. I also. We’ll ask myself like, all right, well, what is it? What do I think it is that like made me feel this way? like can I pinpoint it and if I can’t like sometimes we don’t I feel like we live in a society that like wants you To just dig into the root of everything like sometimes you don’t freaking know where it came from It’s something stupid that like had not like one day you were three in your crib crying and your mom was still in the shower and she took an extra 10 minutes to get you and now you feel abandoned.
Like we don’t always have to get to the friggin root of every little trauma that we’ve ever experienced in our lives. So sometimes I think people like waste time and energy trying to discover it. It’s just like, I feel the feeling and then be like, well, if I can’t discover exactly where it came from, what do I want to do with it?
And what do I, what do I want to believe to be true? And what is true about me? Like I like to collect evidence because it feels relevant. It feels like something I can sink my teeth into. So when I’m telling myself, Oh no, you’re not smart enough. I need to go. Cool. look at the times in my life where I’ve showed up in a way where I was plenty smart enough and I, I performed in the way that like delivered on the thing that I’m afraid to, to step into at this point.
That’s where I get. my clarity from is just being able to kind of just like piece through like, really to me, it’s, it’s more the awareness of it. It’s like, Oh, I have this feeling and this is a pattern and I don’t want to have this pattern anymore. So what am I, who am I choosing to become instead? So then when I go to do it again, like the next time I maybe want to avoid sending a pitch or proposal.
And I feel that creep in, I can just be like, Oh, there it is again. Like you’re, you’re starting to do that thing, Liz. So we’re not going to do that this time because the type of person you’re becoming, like sends the pitch, even though they’re scared. So you send the pitch and now you’ve done it right. And now you’ve, okay.
I didn’t die doing that. Like, I’m all right. I’m still here. And then you get a little bit safer the next time you do it. So it’s just, I try not to overthink it. Cause I’ve been through phases of my life where I overthought it and I felt like I had to get to the root of it and I had to have this grandiose new story.
And it’s just like, no, I don’t like how I’m being, who do I want to be though? And then just being that even when it doesn’t necessarily feel natural at first and almost expecting it not to, it’s a little bit of, okay, fight nature for a minute. And do it enough times where it starts to feel like nature eventually.
Yes.
Quianna: Ah, yes. I love that. And I’m so grateful that you shared a little bit of those inner thoughts. And, and I noticed from what you just said is that you’re creating patterns, right? You’re literally, your action is building traction and creating patterns. So you can go back to those and think, Oh, I’m triggered by this or, Oh, I’ve had that thought bubble again.
I’m noticing that this is coming up around these actions or these tasks or just everyday life in general. And I love that you mentioned too. I think I know I am a, I don’t want to say a victim, but I am definitely that person that loves to get to the root cause of everything. I love the layers. I want to go deeper.
I hate small talk. I hate the fluff. I don’t want to talk about the weather. I want to talk about like your inner child. I want to talk about your traumas. Like, why do you tick the way you tick? And I love that you are basically giving us that green light to dig into those things, journal on them, but that’s.
By overthinking it, you’re gonna just stay stuck, so let’s just, let’s address it, let’s love it, and then keep moving forward. I love that so much. It’s okay
Liz: to like, go there, but not, I think we go there almost as a safety net to not have to go forward. It’s like, oh, I’ve got to figure this out first, like, no you don’t, no you don’t, just keep going.
Like, what do you want? Go for what you want. And, and sometimes just in pursuing what you want, you unlock like, Oh, that was never true. Clearly, because I did this.
Quianna: Yes. Oh, I love this so much. Oh my gosh. Well, one thing I would love to, uh, to ask, and especially as we were kind of getting back a little bit behind the scenes of your business and some of your inner thoughts and the way that you’re taking action and funneling all of all this expertise.
If you could go back and you could video record or capture, capture a little behind the scenes video of a piece of your timeline or a piece of your memory, whether that be in your coaching business, your life, your family, what do you wish you had a video of Liz? Is there, is there something that you would love to have a record of you actually proving your hard work or commitment to your career and your big vision?
Liz: Yeah, for me, I wish, and my husband and I talk about this a lot. I wish I more. consistently. I’ve done it more in the last handful of years, but I wish, especially in the beginning, that I collected the evidence of all the times that God showed up when I was, like, at my breaking point. I wish I had that, like, in fine detail, because Now I’m finally at a place that no matter how ugly it gets or how hard it gets or how incapable I am that he’s going to swoop in and like create the path if it’s what is for me.
And if it’s not, I have the confidence that he was protecting me from something that was never for me in the first place and leaving space for what it is. There’s never been a time I’ve been let down. Now, I personally thought I was let down. Like I was disappointed because I had a plan. But if my plan came to fruition, I would have never been able to experience his plan, which was a thousand times greater and bigger and better and more beautiful and fruitful and more positively affecting others than anything I could have manufactured for myself.
So I wish I could have had clips of like the moment where I’m like so defeated and at my breaking point and then the moment where it was revealed to me of like, oh, this was the plan all along. Because it just generates a level of, like, faith and confidence. Really, I know that everything is going to be okay.
Even if it tangibly becomes so ugly. In that period, I know it’s going to be okay. I know it’s going to be used for good because that has happened every single time my entire life, but especially my entire career. So I would kill to have that, like just chopped up into video that I could just watch it over and over and over and just see like, Oh, there he was again.
Oh, that’s, that’s why this happened this way. Oh, that’s my suffering was so horrible. And it was to teach me this or that. That closed door opened this door or that person was never really the person but they introduced me to that person that led to this like every single time I know it’s not me like I know he’s rolled this out ahead of me and like gone before me and yeah that’s what I’d want.
Quianna: Oh my gosh, I’m already watching your life like a little video like, Oh yes, that’s when you met this person or that’s when you were, you know, introduced to this next opportunity. And I feel like this is why I am so personally passionate about behind the scenes and documenting your journey and just taking those extra moments to just kind of piece together.
Almost as if one day you can envision yourself on a documentary and your people just want to actually learn from you, whether that’s an autobiography or your book, right? We can’t wait to read your book. This is why behind the scenes is so powerful. And like you mentioned too, it builds that faith. It builds that trust in yourself and in your business and in your mission.
I just love that so much. Thank you for sharing that. Well, I would love to pivot and this is one thing too. With the power of behind the scenes is it allows you to gracefully pivot and start new niches. And right. Even if you feel like you need to burn your entire business down and start over, like that is the power of bringing your family, friends and followers along with your business journey.
And I do notice this shift and it may just be because of my close friends and industry peers and business besties that are growing up. I think in our businesses. A lot of us are still kind of dappling in the service based business and a lot of us are getting more online. We are offering online coaching.
We’re offering, you know, masterminds and workshops, retreats, all these really fun things that maybe start online and then maybe end up in person. But I would love to know from you, Liz, what advice do you have for someone that is ready to stop trading their time for money? Where do we even get started with that?
And what does that online space look like for you today?
Liz: Yeah, I think a lot of people get tripped up in the how. So if you know that, if you know that you have value that you can add in some way that takes you out of the time for money model. Then go add the value first. Like don’t try and formalize and perfect the sales page.
Don’t try and get the copy just right before you do anything like get, find out what your people need from you and that you’re qualified to serve them in and the transformation that you can get them and then go give it to them. And I think that’s the key is like, you don’t need to have it perfected first.
In fact, I don’t recommend it because chances are, it won’t be right the first few times you do it. And it’s, and it’s really about iteration. So we have a saying within our team that we say pretty much every day, which is tweak your way to victory. And the idea is that like, it’s never just the launch or the book.
It’s like one of many iterations. And we’re going to collect the data and get the feedback and get the answers that allow us to go tweak it and do it a little better the next time. So for your listeners, it might be more service based and you want to develop something online. It really all is a test.
It’s like, pay attention to what feels right for you. So if you would hate creating a course, don’t just go create a course. Cause everyone else says, Oh, create a course. You will hate it and it won’t sell and it will suck. But if you’re like, I could totally go from one to one. To one to many in some kind of group coaching format or host events.
Like I’m a live in person type of person or like go where you’re being guided in regards to that. And then find out what that, that’s the modality, that’s the vehicle. And then you find out what’s the transformation I’m offering through this. And then you just speak to that. Like you, you put that in front of the right people and, and.
I have a client, Rosemary, who’s amazing. And she was having just like this stuck moment where she’s like, ah, I don’t know, like, how are we going to launch this? And she was, we were going back and forth. And she’s like, I think I just need to serve the people. Like, I think I just need to go give them what they need.
And I’m like, yeah, I think you do. And then it like blew up. I think like releasing the overthinking and having to get it just right. And, and being willing to iterate and tweak your way to victory and test and not perfect the first time.
Quianna: I love that so much. So I need to ask, what did Rosemary do? And what I mean specifically is like, how did she make that buy button?
And what exactly do you mean when you say like, just do it? Is it simply just like, I mean, obviously we’re workshopping here. We’re like, Hey, what does this look like? Is it’s a course? Is this an in person event? All those things. But what would you advise for someone that is ready to scale, ready to just, like, what does that look like to just do it? I’m so curious.
Liz: Let me give you an example. Let’s say someone is, they teach some kind of marketing strategy, right? Like they teach, are service based, you hire them, you get them for X amount of calls typically, and it’s one on one, and they’re teaching you how to build your funnel, okay? And you’re like, this is killing me because I’m maxed out in my time.
Now that the same thing could apply, like you’re a chiropractor and you give treatments, you’re a whatever. And you you’re, but your time for money or one to one. And you’re like, okay, instead of just teaching this one client how to build their funnel, and then this one other client, how to build their funnel, I’m going to take 10 people and.
I’m going to teach all 10 of them the principles that are going to help them build this funnel. And if you have the skill set and the time to like, go create a sales page that talks about the transformation you’ll offer, you go from best kept secret to a thousand new converting leads. Like that’s the transformation, throw it on a sales page and allow a way for there to be a transfer of that money.
Or you can literally open a Google doc and type out what are the deliverables in the program? What’s the duration? What’s the transformation? What’s the promise? What’s the price? Create a loom going docs. It’s talking all the things, Hey, this is gonna be a six week program throughout these six weeks.
You’re going to get this many calls. But on these calls, I’m going to teach you these six little known secrets to creating a funnel to convert your first thousand leads and generate your, you know, a hundred thousand dollars in your business. It’s first come, first serve. There are only 10 spots and the price is 5, 000 and there’s a loom and it’s to a Google doc.
You didn’t have to hire a designer. You didn’t have to do anything fancy if you don’t have access to that. And then you go send that to the people that would potentially be interested, Hey, I’m running this program. I’m beta testing it. It’s typically going to be 5, 000. If you want to be part of my first 10 people that I run through it, it’s 3, 000.
Are you interested? Let’s hop on a call. And then you have sales calls. So that’s like, this is just one way. So for Rosemary, it was, I believe for her is it was a, it was a group coaching type program and she was, you know, finessing the language and the, the messaging and the design. And it was like, I think I just need to go tell them like what I’m doing and how it’s going to change their lives and like put it in front of them.
And then she had a wait list. She couldn’t even like, she filled all the spots. So that’s what I mean by doing it. It’s like. What is the, what is the lowest barrier to entry to just do the freaking thing? Like, because a lot of people will be like, well, I don’t know the tech and I don’t have anyone to design my sales page and I don’t want to spend 10 grand on someone doing it.
And I don’t want to have to do it myself. And it’s like, we stop ourselves before we start. Well, don’t everyone knows how to open a Google doc and type the crap that you’re going to, people just want to know what is it, what’s in it for me? Like, how is this going to alleviate my pain and get me to the other side of my struggle and get me closer to my desire?
Tell them,
Quianna: Oh, I love this so much. And I feel like that’s, that’s been the missing piece for me personally. I’m like loving this time with you because I feel like, I feel like I’ve not quite bridged the gap yet between doing in person photo shoots to now offering more online coaching, especially for my marketing for my behind the scenes B roll stuff.
I love it. I’m so passionate about it, but. I really haven’t hit a stride with either a high ticket offer or just something that’s maybe a little bit more affordable, but let’s go because this transformation that I’m creating and these tidbits and these just helpful tools to market your business are just, it’s like I haven’t created that buy button so easily.
It’s been kind of like, Oh wait, I’m not quite too sure what she’s doing over here. Like, Oh, she’s living her best life, but I don’t know. She’s too busy to help me. And that’s not, that’s not the vision. Like that’s not what I’m trying to do. Thank you so much, Liz. So what do you see personally for like a forecast for 2025 when it comes to the online space?
Are you seeing this huge uptick in retreats and in person events? Are you, you know, are you seeing any success in more micro courses? The digital products are things that may be 100 bucks or less. Like where are you putting your time and energy for this next 2025? So, what
Liz: we’re seeing that’s tracked by the data that we pull is that consumption is king.
And what I mean by that is, it’s not that courses are dead, but the open, even like the open rate of a course after someone buys it. So, I’m not talking completion rate, like they actually did the course. I’m talking like that they ever even open it. So freaking low. It’s lower than 20%. So we’re, as creators, we’re spending all this time when you create a course and then you create the launch behind it, and then you spend the money on ads, and then you hire the team like you’re expend a ton and the return is low.
Because even if they do buy it, let’s say you create this virality around it and they get into the pipeline and you have a funnel and they purchase. If they never consume it, they are not a believer. Not to your fault. Like they didn’t just didn’t do it. So they’re not a lifer. They’re not coming back for the next thing.
Like they’re not, you know, subscribing to your teachings because they never even consumed it. So what we’ve Shifted to as a consumption model, we’ve been doing this privately with our clients for, for years and years where we run like intensives, where they’d come out to our property for two days and we just like, there’s something about being fully immersed and like completely removing the distractions.
We call it being in the visionary CEO seat. Like all of us are in the operator seat. We’re all in the business. We’re all in the busy entrepreneur seat. Well, your business, going back to your original questions, your business will stall out if you’re constantly just in the fulfillment. Yes, totally, exactly.
So what we’ve done is we’ve created space for an accountability and a process for busy entrepreneurs to get into their visionary CEO seat every single quarter. So our intensive model, it’s virtual because we wanted it to be accessible to anybody, anywhere, and not have to have a higher price point because it’s in person and they have to travel.
And then we have to make up for expenses and all of that. So for two days, Every quarter we have an intensive focused around a specific benchmark that you have to focus on as a visionary CEO to grow exponentially. So what happens is over those two days, they’re not just gaining more information. First of all, they’re there live, so they’re consuming it.
But second of all, during those two days, there’s implementation time. So you’re coming out with the work done. And I think that’s the problem. When you do a course, you’re learning something, but you, if you happen to watch it, which a small percentage of people do, you don’t actually apply it. Versus, Hey, come spend two days.
You’re going to be the veterinary CEO of your business. And you’re actually going to like do the things that are going to move the needle. So by the end of those two days, it’s complete. So we’ve shifted to a consumption model and we’re seeing it. One, it’s incredible for the users, like they are having massive growth and shifts in their business and we’ve made it very affordable.
But then at the same rate, we are seeing massive shifts because they’re like, give me the next thing. Like I’m ready, I’m here, I’m ready to consume. How can I, how can I step into my visionary CEO seat again? And what does it look like? Okay, now I’ve done it for my, the first one in the new year is Vivid Vision where we’re crafting the Vivid Vision and we’re literally building the two year roadmap.
to that vision so that you know exactly tangibly what you’re doing. When am I hiring? What offers am I launching? What things are going away? Like all the stuff we talked about today, it’s done. But then the next one, it’s like, okay, now, all right, now I’m ready to make that hire. What does it look like to have the team and the onboarding and the systems and the things to get my time back?
Cool. Two days, we’re going to have that done. So it’s like block your calendar, go all in for two days and progress. And I, so to me, it’s consumption. I think courses, Are great, but not when people aren’t utilizing them and events are great, but they’re a huge expense to the creator. So I see a lot of people where they’re like, I’m going to host events.
And they’re like, Oh my gosh, it’s going to cost me 150, 000 to host this event. I’m going to lose money. And they, like, they haven’t wrapped their head around that. And it’s just harder, right? Like the barrier to entry is, is higher because not everybody can hop on a plane and travel and you’ve cut out like.
You know, the people on the other side of the world that maybe can’t get to you versus something virtual and consumable. And I think low, like, easy to, to do. I think we have a tendency to want to give more and more and more and more and then people, everyone’s overwhelmed. So how can you chunk it down?
And make it digestible for people so they get a result.
Quianna: I love that. And I love that concept of consumption. Because I feel like that’s where a lot of us are. Where we’re either in that boat of like, Wait, hold my hand, do this with me. So I leave with action items. I leave with things already complete.
Versus like the service where people, they don’t even, they just want to pay someone to have it done, but there are, but this is why I feel like you are just a continued success with endless abundance because you’re, you’re teaching people to get in their own driver’s seat, right? Like get into that sweet spot and only they can do it.
So they can’t. They can’t throw in a social media girl or they can’t throw in a marketing guru guy to come in and fix things for them. It’s them. It’s their vision. It’s their legacy that they’re creating and I just, I love that spin on consumption marketing or like consumption education. That’s what it is.
I love that. Yep. I think that’s where it’s at going into the next year. Oh my gosh, Liz. Well, I can just talk to you for days and days. I appreciate your time and your energy and all of your education and inspiration for this chat. There’s one last question I love to ask every single guest and that is what is your key tip?
What is something that you wish you knew sooner or something you’d like to leave entrepreneurs and business owners with today?
Liz: Yeah. I think I wish the thing I wish I learned sooner was that. You can make your schedule like a deadly weapon for growth. So show me your schedule and I’ll show you your trajectory.
It’s so correlated. It’s not even funny. So one of the things that I do personally, and then I, that I teach is this idea of there are seven specific blocks of time that should be in every founder, entrepreneur, visionary CEO schedule. each week. Now, it’s not every day and it’s, there’s a way that you can kind of craft it, that it fits you and your life, whether you’re part time, you’ve got kids, you’re in it full time, you’re looking to, you know, grow exponentially, whatever it is.
And I wish I understood how much I could leverage my schedule for the growth that I was craving instead of trying to just like grind my way through hard work alone. So I teach this process in a free workshop. So if they come to my Instagram at E Liz Hartke, E L I Z H A R T K E. And they just DME CEO.
I’ll shoot you the link so that you can participate in the free workshop. But this, that’s my tip is like, if you’re not figuring out how to streamline your schedule and put the right things in it that are going to move the needle, it’s going to be a lot harder for you to see the growth and the tangible evidence that what you say you want is actually going to come to fruition.
Quianna: Yes. I love that. And I am so grateful for that thought that, Hey, you actually are in the driver’s seat. Like the choices you’re making today are going to reflect your future. And it even brings me back to the beginning of the conversation where you were tested. Like, wait a second, look at your schedule and show me your priorities.
And if you’re not scheduling in there, just simple things that we can relate to, like our family time, our self care and things that are actually moving the needle in our business. Then what the heck are we doing? We just have a very busy and expensive hobby instead of a productive business. So I love that so much.
Um, so it’s been such a joy to talk to you and I, I appreciate you having me on. Yes. Thank you. And what is the best way to contact you? So we will for sure be adding your links. Um, I know we are all excited to hop into your DMS and to have access to these guides, but where can we find you, Liz? And how can we be your BFF?
Liz: Yeah, I think Instagram is probably the best place and if you want to hear more content like what we talked about today, I update the Luminary Leadership Podcast weekly, so just come subscribe and that’s where I have the most candid, uh, real and I think impactful growth solutions for, for busy entrepreneurs and leaders, so.
Quianna: That’s probably the best place. Amazing. And I’m going to make sure to add a couple of my favorite episodes of your Luminary Leaders podcast because I’m obsessed and I do. I listen to that every time it drops. So thank you so much, Liz. Thank you. Holy smokes. I told you that was going to be a good one. I’m so thankful for this interview and can’t wait to start fine tuning my calendar and laser focusing on my sweet spot for the new year.
One of my gifts is to help others feel seen, appreciated, and encouraged through content coaching and photography. I’m finding alignment by working with passionate business owners like you that are making an impact, helping others, and answering our true callings. Just because we happen to be really good at a lot of things, it doesn’t mean we need to spend our time doing everything.
I need to repeat that. Just because we happen to be really good at a lot of things doesn’t mean we need to do it all. Cheers to 2025 finding clarity, taking action, and scaling to the moon. Oh my gosh, I love you so much, but I am so excited for this new year. If you found this episode helpful, please Educational and inspiring.
Please share a screenshot and let us know what your sweet spot is. We would absolutely love to reshare and help support you any way we can. Sharing a review helps this episode be heard by those that need it. And sharing a review and shooting it over to a friend, it makes our heart so happy. So if you happen to know A business bestie, a friend, or maybe an old high school student or someone that you connected with at maybe starting something new, and they need to hear this.
They need to be inspired by this education. Oh my gosh, it would be the biggest gift for me if you can share this episode with them. It really just takes a couple seconds to copy and paste, send a text, send a DM, you know what to do. Make sure to follow along with Liz @elizhartke
And if you love this conversation, you’re going to love her podcast too. It’s literally in my ear every single week. Check out Luminary Leadership Podcast to hear more coaching, scaling, and growing your legacy with Liz. Always cheering for you, babe!
May 2025 be filled with abundance, good health, new opportunities, lots of financial growth, and spending more time in your sweet spot, making an impact by actually doing less.
Whoop! Doesn’t that sound fun? I’m here for that type of energy. Can’t wait to chat soon! K Love you. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast
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