Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I talk to renowned Hay House author, serial entrepreneur, business growth strategist specializing in mindset and messaging and mom of three, Suzy Ashworth. 

We discuss: 

- how she finds balance between being a mom and devoting time to her successful business

- why mindset is such a huge part of her success

- why it's so important for her to have an impact goal and how she's made it as a part of her business

Ashworth has been featured in Forbes, The Guardian and on the BBC and she helps her global client base create powerful messaging that converts browsers into buyers and builds a tribe of super-fans for their businesses.

She first started her career off in business as a HypnoBirthing practitioner. 

"My books I wrote with Hay House is called The Calm Birth Method and it was all around helping women have calm, positive and empowered births. I loved what I was doing there, but what I really loved was the marketing and working out how to create a business and working out how to build a global brand and how to connect with people. So, people started asking me, "How are you doing this?," which is how I moved into business coaching and I did very well at that, so well, that three years ago, my husband decided to give up his job as an assistant head teacher, and he became the primary carer for our three kids who are nine, seven and four, and I decided to go all in with this work, which was really scary." 

Ashworth knew it was time to start a new chapter in her life when she hit three 10K months. She said, "When I hit three, 10K months, which is often the goal for so many people, hitting that 10K, I was really like [to my husband], look, you don't like your job. I love mine. You're working 70 hours a week. I'm trying to fit mine into 12. Like, let's swap and he was available for that, he was scared, but available. So, we did that and then just over a year and a half ago, he said, 'do you fancy going traveling for a year?' and I was like, 'we can't really travel with three children, but we can do a gap year.' And so, we just kind of finger in the air. Where should we go? The finger landed on Mexico and we decided to go there and ended up being there for 16 months." 

Pushing Through Doubts 

I asked Ashworth if she's ever had any doubtful thoughts as she embarked on a new stage in her business and traveling and what were some of the things she did to overcome those thoughts and get to that point where she was able to get to that 10K month and talk to her husband about swapping.

"I think that one, I don't overthink things and I have never really been the type of person to overthink things," said Ashworth. "I think that probably the longest I've ever taken is when I was deciding to leave my corporate job. So, I got pregnant with my first child and immediately something changed within me and I knew that I wanted to be able to say to him, I didn't know it was a boy at the time, but I knew I wanted to be able to say to him, 'you can do whatever you want.' I was working at The Guardian newspaper, I was in advertising sales, and I just thought, this is not what I want to be doing. I knew that I needed to make the leap, but I didn't know what the leap looked like. Then, I waited until I got pregnant with my second child and then I was like, you know what, it's now or never. So, that decision, it took me two years, but really ever since then, when I have the thought, I trust the thought and then I take the step. I think that that's why my business has seen accelerated growth over the last six years."

"I think that I have developed a mindset where I'm not worried about failing," added Ashworth. "I really genuinely believe that every single step that we take is designed to help us get to the next step. Even when we feel like we're in chaos, even when we feel like we're massively challenged or it's all going wrong, you always look back and say, 'Wow, what a gift. Wow, what I've learned. What did I learn during the situation?' It always makes you stronger. And so, when you have that attitude towards life, the fear of failure, which is why I think many people overthink, it kind of disappears. Or, you're just a bit like, 'you know what, this might not work out and it's all okay, because it always all works out in the end.'"

How to Cultivate a Mindset to Stop Overthinking 

"I would say the first part of that for me, environment is everything, and being surrounded by amazing examples and people who are inspiring me every single day, that really helps me," said Ashworth. "Like, I just look at people who are doing amazing things and I always say, 'if they can do it, I can do it. What's the difference between myself and them?' And, I often tell the story, and anybody who's into mindset may have heard this before, it's the Roger Bannister story. He was the first man in the world to do the four minute mile and up until he did it, everybody believed that you would die if you ran as fast as that, and then he did it and that year, four other people did it. It was just that switch in mindset to know that if he can do it and not die, then so can I, and I feel that that is really the attitude I have with everything that I do." 

Limitless Live 

Ashworth hosts an annual one-day event called Limitless Live, which connects, inspires and motivates women into taking themselves and their businesses to the next level of success.

She talked about the breakthroughs she goes through and facilitates in these live events. 

"I love doing live and in person [events]," said Ashworth. "In fact, I have just announced my kind of highest level mastermind which is all in person next year, which feels quite radical, particularly with everything that is going on, but I think that as much as we can do incredible things online, there is a difference when you get to stand eyeball to eyeball with somebody [and] really invite them to sit with themselves, really invite them to open themselves up. So, I use a lot of energy work in the work that I do with people and allow the tools of the energy work to work their magic." 

"It's all about being able to face shame, guilt, fear, worry," added Ashworth. "The ultimate place to be is really in that place of full illumination, so that you are shining so, so brightly, you can't help but attract and magnetize your dream clients. When I have the honor of working with people in person, that's it, it's embodying that inner leader by letting go of the stories... that keeps you living a limited life and showing up in your business in a limited way." 

Finding Balance Between Being a Mom and Having a Successful Business 

"In all honesty, it is the most challenging bit really honoring who I want to be as a mom, while honoring who I am as a woman and an entrepreneur and somebody who loves her work," said Ashworth. "I feel so fortunate. I couldn't do what I do without my husband. The biggest thing that's always on my goals lists, that's always on my intentions list, is to be more present. I work Monday to Thursday, nine to five, occasionally I'll have calls in the evening. But, once it gets to five o'clock, then I'm like, you need to put the phone down. You need to turn the computer off and you need to be with your kids. Sometimes, that works really, really well and other times, I'm not as present as I want to be. That's what I work on... I feel so lucky, while we were in Mexico, I worked UK hours, so I worked from about seven in the morning to two in the afternoon, and then every afternoon, we would go to the beach, or we would hang out at the pool, and that was a really incredible balance for my work/home life... It's really down to business structure..."

Having an Impact Goal 

"Ultimately, I want to earn enough money to set up my own foundation," said Ashworth. "I want to have charities from all over the world to be able to say, 'This is what we're doing. This is how we are helping the planet. Do you want to support us?' I really want to be in that position to make a positive difference. Now, at the moment, I probably donate around 8,000 pounds a year and I feel excited to increase that level of donation, again, to different charities."

"So, I have been working with a charity called Love Support Unite for the last two years and they get all of the proceeds from my Limitless Live and they get regular donations every month," added Ashworth. "It feels really good to be able to support them in that way. I talk about a limitless life and I talked about it from the perspective of, I want you to be able to do whatever you want. But, I also know because of what has happened in the world this year, that the universe needs a different type of leader, and I believe that the leaders that are going to make a difference for the next generation are women. I also know that in order to really hold the reins and the power, that we need to be earning good money, like money is leverage. That empowerment piece around our financial freedom and knowing that you can create wealth so that you can have choices and freedom for yourself but also do really good things in the world is absolutely fundamental to everything that I teach and I share and who I am."

Listen to the full episode here: 

Watch the Masterclass

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Listen to Previous Episodes: 

Brand Deals 101: From Collabs to Sponsorships

How to Start Your Influencer Business from Scratch

The Dos and Don'ts of Working for Free

Let Your Menstrual Cycle Guide You featuring Cassandra Wilder

How to Use Astrology in Business featuring Tarra Lee

Connect with Suzy Ashworth

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                     Connect with Gwen Lane

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