SPEAKER_00 0:14

We bring you incredible guests to create your real life experiences of being an entrepreneur so you can have your whole life work. Now, here's your host, Amber Howard.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to What Would Amber Do? It is my privilege and pleasure this morning to be speaking with Willow and Raven, who are co-founders of Hardcore Money and their flagship program, the Prosperity Project. Raven and Willow are two entrepreneurs who came together driven by their passion for educating and empowering people around money. I'm just thrilled to have you both on the show this morning. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

We're excited to be here. Yeah, so good. So talk to us a little bit. You were you're actually the first kind of duo I've ever had on the show. I had Jolene and George, but they're kind of a couple. So how did your partnership come about? What what was your, you know, your individual journey to becoming an entrepreneur as well as your collective journey to to creating hardcore money?

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Well, let's go uh short story, because uh we could be here for a while. Um really my journey to entrepreneurship was I just I just knew that there was something more than punching a clock at from nine to five. And you know, I had ideas for the company that I was working for, and they were just like keep answering the phone. I just didn't feel appreciated, I didn't feel valued, I didn't feel like I could really express all that I had in me that would make a difference to other people. And um, you know, so what else, what other options do you have? Okay, I've got to be an entrepreneur, but in what? And um, you know, I just I asked the universe and I waited patiently for uh several months, and the answer came to me. So I began my career in the financial services industry and um, you know, started off in insurance and investments and just getting to know people and their stories and and what's behind their financial decisions and how they manage their money, you know. I really just learned that there was so much more going on than, you know, putting insurance in place or making investment decisions. There was so much more going on underneath the surface with people's relationship to money. And I really, really started to study that and what what where did it come from and and um you know what impact did it have? And how do some people become so successful, but they still don't feel satisfied? And how do other people really have, you know, freedom? And and you know, how do other people never have it and always always struggle and and suffer and you know, feeling this pain. So um, you know, and that it was along that journey of uh, you know, one's relationship with money that I met Ravens for a mutual friend, and you know, she was just in the same discovery, and I'll let her share her side of the story. Um, you know, so we've known each other for a couple years. We, you know, she participated in some of the programs that we were running at the time. And uh and then uh it was kind of I think it was like right before the lockdown happened, I was, you know, the programs that I was running before, my partners said, okay, we're going different directions, and it was just me. And I was like, okay, well, you know, and I and I had a one-year-old, so I wasn't gonna continue running live programs. It was just a lot of work, the setup and the takedown, and you know, it was just really like a lot, very laborus to do these live in-class programs, and then it was limited. Whoever, you know, if you lived within an hour's drive, it was available to you. But I had people from Hawaii contacting, people from Alberta, you know, it just wasn't accessible to people outside of the GTA, let alone another country or a province. So um, you know, I thought, let me, you know, recreate this whole thing from scratch, make it bigger, make it better, make a huger difference. And who could possibly partner with me? And then we can do this thing online. Um, and the only name that came to my mind was Raven. And it was just like, I couldn't not call her because she was just like the perfect person to have as my partner. So I called Raven and she was like, definitely a yes. And from there the rest is history, but I'll let Raven um you know share her side of the story now.

SPEAKER_04 4:44

So good when you like what I heard, and love to hear Raven's side in a moment, but like Willow, really trusting your intuition, right? And just like being open, and it seems given COVID happened, timely to be moving, you know, more to an online model of be delivering your programs to people. Really great. Miss Raven.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, so I mean, Willow covered a part of it, but um, you know, it's been an amazing journey together. And you know, my journey from to entrepreneurship really happened um not like unexpectedly. I was never really taught about like how to be a business owner. I never even had it in my mind, but it was really when I had been let go of a another job at a creative agency. I had the option of, you know, revamping my portfolio, finding another job in the similar field, which would have been the very easy option. But I really stopped and asked myself, if I didn't do that and I could just create anything, what would it be? And I just started to like meditate and like sit on things about, you know, what I'd be good at, what contribution I would want to be to people, you know, what what there is a need for. And it kind of happened organically where things came to me and uh things opened up, opportunities opened up, just like uh with what with Willow. And um, yeah, so her and I really connected because we really do share the same passion for educating people and really sharing our own stories with money. And um, I know that I had a big interest in creating workshops for teens and young adults, and she had a very, you know, similar interest in educating people as well. And she came to me with an idea to create an online program. And I was on board right away because I always admired her the way that she really um taught about financial practices and financial management tools that were like so foreign to me. And I really felt like confronted about trying to understand how money worked and not having really been taught it as a kid through parents or through school, I really felt like at a disadvantage around money and taking some of the programs and interacting with her, I really felt like I could I could do it. And um, it's been an incredible learning experience for myself and my own finances and just what's able to open up for people in terms of freedom, in terms of self-expression, and um just to be able to let go of all their past-based money conversations and blocks and all that stuff has been awesome.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

It's so good. And it like it invites the the inquiry, the question like, given we do such a poor job of educating our children about money, what is at the source of like, why do we? You know, why do we as human beings? And I can't speak for other places, but I know here in North America, especially like we have so many limiting beliefs and blocks around money. I started can you know really confronting mine last year when I participated in Bob Proctor's Thinking into Results program and really getting like um the relationship that I had to money? And uh, you know, it's evolved over time, but based on your experiences and and either of you can answer or both, like working with the people that, you know, the clients that you've worked with and and your various different experiences, why do you think you know money is such a thing for human beings? Like what is that about?

SPEAKER_02 8:23

It it's interesting because you know, I mean, there's just so many angles to to come at that question from. And, you know, on one hand, it's it's answering the question of why, you know, can be can be kind of a rabbit hole. Um but on the other hand, we can just look, you know, and we can make some some educated guesses based on patterning and and things that we see in our own, um, you know, like certain things that get passed down from our parents, right? It's money is this thing that we we live in the society where it's financial. Everything is based on the economy. We trade our time for money, we require money to trade for our food. It's it's everything comes back to money. And so if you don't have it or you feel like you're lacking, you know, there's this, you know, sometimes it can feel like you're physically suffocating, like you don't have oxygen. Right. So the same experience, like not being able to breathe, is you know, many people experience the same thing around money, right? And and these emotions around it get programmed, and just like anything else that that gets programmed is gonna is gonna come through your parents' genetics and it's gonna get encoded in their DNA, and it comes through you too, it comes through your parents and it comes into you as a baby. Just like any other traumas, just like anything else, it gets passed down, right? One on the physical plane through DNA, but then two on the emotional plane of just how do you how do you be around money? Like children, you know, like my son is you know just over two now. So watching him learn is so fascinating. And you know, I'm very careful like how I be about certain things around him, especially because he's not listening to what I'm saying most of the time. He's he's watching for who am I being? What's my energy? Do I feel safe? Do I feel comfortable? If I'm safe and I'm comfortable, he will feel safe and he will feel comfortable. Right. And so the same way we be, you know, at the grocery store at the you know, wherever we are and we're about to pay for something, and oh, you know what? Like, are we counting the are we counting the tally before we get there? You know, is that kind of the programming of how we do grocery shopping, or do we just get to the register and pay for whatever it is and not think about it? Right?

SPEAKER_04 11:01

So it's like that scarcity shows up in your behavior, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Yeah, and it's very, it's very small, it's very delicate, it's it's difficult to pinpoint unless you study someone, you know, many times over, perhaps, to see the patterns and see their behavior, but but you can definitely see how the children pick that up. Well, that's just how we go grocery shopping, right? And it just becomes the way it is. And um, you know, I'll get into the soul of money later, but one of the great myths, one of the three great myths about money is that's just the way it is. But when we're growing up and we're and we're modeling our parents, things are just the way they are. That's just the way we go, grocery shopping, that's just the way money is in our household. That's just that's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_04 11:51

Yeah, I really, I really love that, Willow. I, you know, I've come to believe for myself anyway, that like when we talk about generational curses, you know, what we're really talking about is beliefs that get passed down from generation to generation. And often it's like it's not con, it's not at the level of consciousness, right? It's um, and unless people have the tools to even know that they could be interrupted, right? Back to your point, that's just the way it is. Like there is a way the world is, there is a way we are, and things are fixed. And and many human beings don't have that. Like we're we're not aware of the fact that, well, no, hold this, hold on a second. Like I could quite I could stop and ask that question. Like, is money really the root of all evil? What is that? Where did that even come from? Right. And I remember this is a great conversation that Bob Proctor has on one of his like uh it's uh on it's on um Apple music. This like it's quite old, but he's like, your parents told you those things because they didn't want to give you money and they didn't want to answer your questions about money, right? So they like, you know, because they had whatever they had going on about money, right? So they they, you know, we pass on these notions and these ideas. And in doing so, we also like this is like, you know, I'm so interested in shame and how shame shows up in in life and and and how we deal with shame as women, in business, like dirty words, the things that we can't talk about or are inappropriate to talk about, this idea of appropriateness. I'm discovering that I'm doing this course called wisdom, and I've discovered that I have this very young conversation that's tied to being a bad girl that's about like being appropriate and like making sure I'm appropriate, and then like that I'm saying appropriate things and how often that shows up in my thinking, in my speaking. And I think part of the challenge is the way we engage with money at such a young age, then like it we can't talk about it. It's like it's a topic that we can't talk about, either with our peers because we're afraid of looking bad or being judged, if we're not managing money well, if we don't have it all together. Um, even if we, you know, some people, even if you are doing well and you're successful, you don't want to make other people feel bad. Like it's like there's this whole inability to communicate about money. And and to your point, it's so you know, and I think we'll get to it a little later in the conversation because I don't think it really is about money at all. But at the same time, money is so influential in the way we live our lives, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Yeah, yeah, and it's and it's just that inability to have the conversation and to, you know, why can't you sit down with your parents or your friends or your colleagues and say, like, you know, I feel like this with, you know, when I see my paycheck. Is that normal? How do you feel? Why can't we have those conversations? And it's, you know, and it's not being able to have those conversations that just has it become more and more per pervasive and why it keeps getting passed down generation, like these generational curses that you talk about, right? And then it really does feel like the root of all evil, even though in you know hermenindic lessons that I've sat through, that's a completely misinterpretation of the text. But nonetheless, it it just further programs that belief. Right, because there's shame around it, because we can't talk about it. Well, it must be evil, right? We can't talk about sex either. So then what's your relationship to sex? Right? Do you you know, and and so if you look, there's you know, sometimes it's you know, how you feel about money well may have nothing to do with how you feel about sex, a lot of um, you know, the two are completely unrelated, but a lot of similar feelings will show up, and your ability to communicate them even to your intimate partner, to your spouse, you know, it becomes so difficult. You can't even talk to your spouse about it, right? I can tell you how many couples, a lot of couples, the numbers would surprise you. They just don't do their finances together, you know. Like, yeah, me and my wife, we go Dutch, we split the kids, we split the house, you know, and to me, I think that's like nuts, but I get it. Like I really do get it. And I know from you know, my husband and I, we put our finances together like six months into the relationship, like very early on, and you know, and it just opened up a whole world of communication for us and and intimacy for us, and you know, and it really was scary, and it really took a lot of trust in one another and taking that leap together, and you know, knowing that it might get ugly. And it did spark some fights, and we got to work through it, and we got to discover things about ourselves and our relationship with money that we got to heal because we did that together.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

It's beautiful, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

And going back to you know, the conversation about shame and how it's such a taboo topic. Um, yeah, I think as children, we really observe the people around us who are very influential. And if no one else is talking about it, then we don't talk about it. And there's a lot of significance and heaviness that we bring to the realm of money as well. And I think that's part of the ingrained, you know, thing that we're born with or that we grow up with. And um, it's just not a topic that's easy to talk about, whether it be, yeah, how much you make, how much debt you're in, you know, like what have you said, Amber, how you're managing your finances. It's just not something that's like easy for people to express out of fear of being judged or that or made wrong.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

Yeah, and I think especially as entrepreneurs, right? Like, I mean, everyone knows that entrepreneurs, like when you're starting a business, like you're going through, like it takes a lot of courage. You incur risk, like, and it takes time to build a business. And yet at the same time, I feel a lot of entrepreneurs like have this need. And I know I've experienced this myself, especially as a coach. You know, you're coaching people on how to have a great life. And and then to be willing to be vulnerable and share the struggles, maybe, you know, that living month to month, you know, like whatever that looks like, right? Um, and it's interesting because I just was at the Global Conference for Transformation. Sorry, the Conference for Global Transformation, which is like all these wisdom graduates from around the world get together once a year and inquire into things and and share about the transformational work they're doing in the world. And the um the theme for the core, the conference was registering accomplishments. And we were looking at like where don't you acknowledge yourself? Like, where don't you register that you've accomplished something? What are the accomplishments that you ignore or you've forgotten? And so it's so fascinating to me. I'm just getting this in this conversation with you both that instead of celebrating, wow, like I just started a business and I'm making it month to month and I've still got a roof over my head and food off my table. It's like there's shame and I've got to hide the fact that I'm living month to month, or that it's a struggle some months, or that I have to borrow money, or you know, whatever that is. It's like, how about celebrate that you're on the cord of your life, like really playing your heart out for something that matters to you and that you believe in? You know, I think that's um it's like shifting the conversation and the focus, right? From like, what don't I have to to to what what have I created and like really celebrating. Um, and there's this great book that that my book club is reading called Evolutionary Love Relationships, which everyone on the show is probably so they've either all gone out and bought the book or they're sick of hearing about it because I literally talk about it every week. But in the chapter on celebration, like part of what Chris and Andrew talk about is celebrating the defeat. Because they're as much a part of the the creative process as the the results that we cause and the the so-called wins, right? That you can't have like it's in a painting, the darkness, you know, the contrast. And and um so one of the people in my group joked that they were gonna have like an incompletion party to celebrate all of the things that they hadn't completed. I thought that was really great.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

That'd be great because then they'd be complete.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

I know, right? Yes, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

What you what you talked about, Amber, like it, you know, it would it would be so great. And it just comes back to um in the soul of money, Lynn Twist. This is a book that we reference a lot um and then we use in our program, but in the soul of money, Lynn Twist talks about the three great money myths. And one of them I mentioned already, which is it's just the way it is. The other two are uh the first one is there's not enough. And the second one is more is better. Right. And so, you know, especially as an entrepreneur where we don't have a glass ceiling where you know it's unlimited, it's all available. Like I I think that as an entrepreneur, we deal with those myths of there's just not enough and more is better, no matter how successful we are. And you know, and for me it really, it really shifted and like I totally get it. Like I, you know, like yeah, I've been an entrepreneur for seven years. And like when I take when when I have a look back where it's like, damn, I'm doing pretty good. Right. I support my family, like I, you know, I get I have the freedom to kind of plan my life and my day according to how I want to. I get to be of service to other people. Like I've accomplished many financial goals in these last seven years. Like, this is freaking awesome. And at the same time, it's like, yeah, but. Because there's no glass ceiling, because there's no cap, well, then it's not enough because more would be better. Right. And so, you know, really, really doing the work to um untrue those myths for myself, you know, in the last year or so has given me the freedom to, you know, be where I'm at, and it's okay. And to celebrate wherever it is. And some, you know, some months are really great and some months aren't so great, but either way, I stay the same. I stay balanced, I stay neutral, I stay, you know, grounded and grateful. And you know, who I get to be and how I get to show up in the rest of my life is just the same.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

It's so great because I can promise you, and for anyone listening, I invite you just to look in your own experience of life. There is no correlation between feeling secure and how much money you earn. I didn't feel secure when I earned a hundred bucks a week at the beginning of my career as a technical writer. And I was, you know, even when I was earning six figures, uh, you know, I didn't feel secure either, right? Until I dealt with the limiting beliefs that, you know, scarcity, that mindset, and you know, there's so many things like um I've been playing with lately this idea of like, you know, I'm writing a book called Yard Sticks, and it's an inquiry into um the measures of success and happiness and where do they come from and how do we create our own, and how do we create a life that we love based on our own measures for success and happiness? And I really have come to believe that in North America, especially, and I can't speak for the rest of the world, I actually think it's different from some of the conversations I've had with people who live in Europe and and and other places in the world. But in North America, the definition of success is achievement. You're successful if you achieve and you have to keep achieving bigger and better things. And if you stop, then you're not successful. And because our our value, because our self-worth is so tied in to this idea of being successful, happiness is tied into being successful. It's like you must be successful in order to be happy. If you're not successful, you you don't, you know, you haven't earned the right to be happy. So it perpetuates that idea that you must have more and more and more and more. And I, you know, I instruct at the University of Toronto and I was having a conversation with one of my students this week. I started a new course on leadership, and I have a call with each of them to get to know them. And one of them was saying, like, he works for this company that's based in Europe and like he's got all of these ideas for growth, and he wants to encourage them to build and grow the company, and he's meeting resistance. And I said, Well, consider that you know, and they're already a successful company, and he sees the potential for more and how it could be even bigger. And I said, Well, consider you may not be in their world because maybe where they're at, they're perfectly happy. Like they feel like, and and I'm not saying that you can't keep continuing to improve things, but I think it's really important that we we step away from this notion that there's one definition of what it looks like to be a happy and successful human being. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

No, that's that's amazing. And I think you hit the nail on the head when you when you mentioned the correlation between self-worth and success and and money. And that's a big thing that I'm you know discovering for myself is how much I, you know, used to and still do on occasion, like make decisions um based on you know how much is in my bank account. And then that directly correlates like how I'm feeling that day, or you know, the actions that I need to take, or you know, what I'm not doing. So it's it's there's so much, you know, pressure that I put on myself based on, yeah, like what's there, what what the what's so is, versus like being in a space to create from from nothing and create what it is that I want instead of making decisions on, okay, like this is how much I can afford right now. But if I could actually choose anything, if I if I didn't have that limitation of money or time or energy, like what could I really create? And it's my it's a much more inspiring and like energetic conversation when I don't equate my worth and who I am as a person and my contribution based on how much money is in my account or how much money I'm making currently.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

That's beautiful, Raven.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Yeah, I think you know, we society, whether it's our parents or our teachers or our friends or our media, you know, the definition of success is already defined for us. And you know, I really just believe that the it's it's actually personal. Your definition of success ought to be different than my definition of success. We're at different stages in life, we've got different things going on, different obligations, different desires. You know, like our no two lives are the same. Why should any two definitions of success be the same? And why does, you know, why do we have to use a social benchmark for what success is? Why don't we get to determine what it is for ourselves and just focus on that? And you know, social media is definitely no help in this kind of conversation. But I've, you know, I personally have been doing the work to um, you know, to look at like, you know, where you know, like how my life is structured in certain ways I'm living my life, like where does it come from? According to who was my life supposed to look this way, or this area of my life supposed to look this way? And I'm discovering like sometimes it's family, sometimes it's you know, grandparents and or teachers, or you know, sometimes it's society, and and then looking for myself and well, what do I want? If I don't need to live according to their definition of what success looks like in my whole life or this area of my life, well, what do I want for my life? And and really getting the freedom to choose what it is I've always wanted, but I've probably buried for a long time because you know, I had to live according to someone else's definition. And and it's not like they forced it on me or I did so consciously. These are the things that happen unconsciously, and you know, you might spend 20, 30, 50 your whole life, you know, how many years or just your whole life living according to someone else and then and then not knowing and chasing this happiness or this freedom, but really it's just within you, and it's turning the question around instead of what does success look like out there? Well, what does success look like in here in my heart? And what do I want? And and you know, just living according to that, and that's all, you know, really that's the pursuit of happiness, just turn that question around, and and there's all your answers. They're all within you, and so they're never gonna be the same as anyone else, and nor should they.

SPEAKER_04 29:29

So great. I heard this quote once that tradition is peer pressure from dead people.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

And everything that's about perfect.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

And look, there's give me some great traditions around, like, I mean, I love our traditions around holidays and and what we do as a family, and you know, that we all share what we're grateful for, and um you know, and the kinds of food that we eat. And so, but even that, like it can become like this thing that we must do versus like an opportunity to celebrate our heritage, where we come from, you know, our family's history. Uh, but yeah, tradition is peer pressure from dead people. So we're clear that human beings have a lot of stuff about money, right? Limiting beliefs, blocks, shame, inability to communicate about it. It like we overly focus on it, we have our lives be about money. Um so talk to me about you know the Prosperity Project and how does your program help people deal with all of the stuff we have about money?

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Um yeah, so our our project is our our program is really is really special to us because it really came from pulling from our own experience with with money and just really wanting to share that with other people. And we've all we've had our our own individual like struggles and triumphs with money. So we kind of like took all of that and packaged it in and really and we've done a lot of work on ourselves. We've learned from amazing teachers, mentors, and we've realized that we there there was a balance needed between um knowing about like financial principles and like budgeting and and management of actual finances versus um looking at you know the subconscious money blocks, what what we take from from our past, from our parents, from the people that raised us. And it's like, how do we clear those first and then actually implement the financial tools and principles? Because some most programs focus on one or the other, but not both at the same time. So I think that's really how our program is unique, is because we we look, we do the deep dive into you know, money fears, I mean, we do like mind-body techniques on how to clear those like energetic blocks and to really make room for like what you can actually create, because we can positive think our way, or we can try to positive think our way into a lot of things, but if it's not getting to the root of the cause of like what your actual belief systems are, then the results actually don't change on the surface. So that's I think a big part of like what sets it apart and why it's really special.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

Yeah, I love that, Raven. You know, well, I believe that we're never gonna outperform our beliefs and you know, not the ones that we espouse out of our mouths, but the the deeply rooted ones that run the show in our subconscious mind, right? We're in our subconscious mind 94 to 96 percent of the time. So like we're not choosing from some conscious, like aware, enlightened place. Everything that we do is governed by patterns in our, you know, in our brain. And so uh it's great to hear that you work with people because we can, we can reprogram our subconscious mind. We can create you know new neural pathways and new program, you know, we can new patterns in our brain, and as a result of doing that work, have um have new results and and new actions to take, which is and and in and with that a new experience of our lives.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Yeah, it's really about you know unearthing what is going on in the subconscious around money. And you know, what a lot of our um participants find is is how it's interconnected to their self-confidence and their belief about themselves, and just you know, really what they say to themselves about themselves because of what they've got going on in the bank account. And you know, and so it's it really is a personal journey. And you know, it's it's a guided personal journey to take you by the hand step by step through every single exercise and and unearthing those things and just bringing consciousness to what's going on unconsciously, you know, and so that you can be free of it and and um you know, and and so it's really um that person, it's just different for everyone. Right? No two prosperity projects, the course is the same, the program's the same for everyone, but no two journeys are gonna be the same because you know what I've got going on with myself about money, while it might look similar, it's definitely gonna be different from what you say to yourself about yourself, right? You know, with what you've got going on around money, and it's being able to heal your relationship with yourself, and you know, so that at those at the core of who you are and what you say to yourself, you know, somebody someone in our program, you know, she she mentioned that uh one of our participants, um, you know, my finances are crap, so I'm a crap person. And that's what she says to herself, right? And you know, and witnessing her turn that around and do the work to say, I'm an amazing person, period. My finances are there and they are what they are, but I am great, you know, and then showing up in your life as a great person because you are a great person, not because of how you your money defines you, but because you define you, and then showing up in the area of money, showing up in business, well, guess what kind of results start to get produced? If at the core, you know, you tell a child, my like I mentioned, my son is too, if I wake him up every morning and say, Hey, you're a crap person, you know, it's not gonna be very long before we start having behavioral issues, anger, rage, you know, and and we see what that looks like in teenagers and young adults, and it's not pretty. But when my son wakes up every morning and I say, You are beautiful, you are lovely, you are special, you are wonderful, no matter how he behaves, he only gets to show up one way from now on. Because that's what I'm feeding him, that's who he is. That's the only thing that he can repeat to himself, because he gets his language from me. Right? So, no matter, you know, of course, he's gonna misbehave somewhere sometimes, right? Things that are undesirable, he might throw something, you know, but I'm very careful in how I respond to him so that he doesn't internalize that as being a crap person. He gets to be amazing even if he does things that aren't amazing. He still gets to be amazing. And because of that, despite you know what he does, he gets to um, you know, heal from that. Like, you know, he's not stuck with it, it's not something that he has to take with him for the rest of his life. It's not, you know, snowballs build, right? Because they keep getting rolled. You hang on to that thing and it's gonna build bigger and bigger and bigger, right? And you and you see what that looks like in a teenager and a young adult, and it's not pretty. But you know, so when you can when you can have that be, you know, have that root core of your subconsciousness and and who you are for yourself and what you believe about yourself be positive, that can only snowball into something great. And we see what that looks like in young adults, teenagers and young adults who go to produce amazing things and be really, really extraordinary human beings. You know, and that's really what Prosperity Project has to offer. It's healing that relationship with yourself. And we do that through money because money is so connected to how, you know, what we think about ourselves, what we believe about ourselves. Whether we're successful or not, there's still something going on. Whether we're successful financially, you got a lot of money, not a lot of money, there's still a relationship with money that that ties back to who you are for yourself, that there's there's something to heal there. And when you get to heal that within yourself, it just transforms your whole life.

SPEAKER_04 38:04

Yeah, it's so great. And it's like an evolution, right? Like if I look at my journey around the conversation that I've been or have had ongoingly about money, it it's evolved over time, and there are layers to it. And so, you know, you deal with one layer of it, and then it's like, yeah, you remember towards the end of the program that I did in January, I got like I broke through this idea that like, you know, I started from this place of like, you can either make money or you can make a difference. And I didn't want to be someone who didn't make a difference, so I couldn't be about money. And I think that's a very typical kind of mindset for people who are, you know, it's like demonizing the wealthy and wealth and people who have a lot of money. And, you know, I was very self-righteous, not gonna lie, about the wealthy. And, you know, and so like moving from that to this idea of, yeah, like I can be someone who makes a profound difference in the world and I can have nice things, and I can want nice things, and I can want to be a pilot and have my own jet, and I'm gonna use that jet. I am a great person. So of course the jet's gonna be used to like contribute to other people as well. And it's, you know, it's like whatever I want, I can have. But the the final evolution of that conversation, and you know, not gonna say that there's still not work ongoingly. I don't think we ever arrive anywhere about these things, is like I got that I could want nice things just because I want them, not because I'm a good person and I do good in the world. And that was a real break, you know, breakthrough for me because it was like, well, as long as I'm doing good and helping people, then I somehow deserve to have nice things. It's like, no, I can want the nice things just because I want them. I don't have to justify or defend why I want to live in a nice home or drive a great car or any of those things. And just because I want those things doesn't in some way invalidate the commitment that I am, the stand that I am, that we transform this planet or that we make a difference for people, or that people have any of the things that I say are important for humanity.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Yeah, it really is um, you know, just an evolution after evolution after evolution, but that's just how life is. That's just what life is. And so, you know, it's just what evolution are you, you know, are you creating in your life, is the question, right? Because life is evolving anyways, and your life is evolving anyways. So it's just, you know, how do you participate in that evolution? Are you an active team player? Are you, you know, are you on the court and and causing a specific evolution, or are you just sitting back and letting life evolve for you and then it just evolves however it evolves, right? And you know, we always encourage our participants, you know, once they um participate in Prosperity Project, they have lifetime access to the program and any updates that um get created in the future. And so we tell them do it again, do it anytime, do little pieces, do the whole thing, you know, because you you you do it once and you know it completely transforms everything. And then you do it again, and it completely transforms everything again because there's there's just layers, right?

SPEAKER_04 41:21

Well, and we're not the same person, right? We're not the same person when we come back to something, right? It's like you do something for the first time, and then who's coming back to do it a second time is a whole new human being, right? With the the life experience and the awareness and the you know, because when you went through it the first time, it made a difference. And so I I I love that. I think that's great. And I love that you do that for your, you know, the people who participate in your programs. So what's on the other side for people? Like what becomes available for people out of, you know, transforming these money blocks, these limiting beliefs on the other side of doing your program, you know, what does this make available for people?

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we could share, we can share personally because you know, what's available for sure? There's there's definitely some common threads. Um, you know, but of course it's gonna be, you know, different. Everybody's journey is their own and it's all it's all unique. Um, you know, but really for me, you know, because Raven and I have participate in Prosperity Project each round, and as we're creating it, and it was all just, you know, and it's the work that we've done for the past however many years. Um, you know, but we also participated in it as it was designed. Um, you know, and and really what came came for me after Prosperity Project um is is really that ability to just be be detached from my money. And what I mean by that is my money is what my money is, but I am great and I get to show up happy and fulfilled every day in my life completely separate from what's going on in my finances. I I'm not, you know, feeling good because my finances are good and feeling bad because my finances are bad. I'm feeling good, period. And then my finances are either good or bad, or they just are what they are, right? And at that point in time, you know, but the ability to show up every day consistently and feeling good because I feel good, you know, it just like I used to have bad days. You know, you wake up sometimes and it's going okay, and then the day just turns to crap, right? I don't have those anymore. Like I was trying to think, I thought about it the other day. I'm like, I really like I cannot remember the last time I've had a bad day, but it was definitely a long, long time ago. Like, I haven't had like definitely before Prosperity Project, I had bad days, and definitely after Prosperity, I just don't. Have bad days anymore. Things don't always go my way. Nothing's perfect. But I'm the same. Regardless of what's going on. And you know, what's that what being that way every day in my life, in my business, with my son, with my family, it's like I have produced more in the last year financially with less effort and less time and less stress and less everything. Um, you know, I produced way more than I produced in like the last three years. In the last year, just from, you know, and like it's not effortless because it requires effort, but it feels effortless because I'm not stressed and I'm not worried and I'm not um you know, beating myself up every day about it. Right. So of course it's not effortless, it requires effort, but emotionally it feels effortless. Right. And so, you know, for me it's just it's just, you know, being happy and you know, having the freedom to, you know, make life decisions and then organize my finances around it instead of let's see what my finances look at so that I know what life decisions are available to me.

SPEAKER_04 45:24

It's so great, Willow.

unknown 45:25

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

Um, and I would say, you know, what's on the other side of it is is anything that you want. We really at the beginning of the program, we really get clear on you know what the participants' goals are and we go through like a a really um like extensive exercise on goal setting and like proper goal setting. And whatever people want to bring out of the program is available, whether that's you know confidence not only with their finances but with themselves, you know, it could be starting entrepreneurship, it could be learning how to price your products and um things like that, but but through the conversation, so much opens up in other areas of life. And for me, it's just like uh doing the program and implementing the the strategies and and the things that we do, like budgets and and you know how to set up bank accounts and all that stuff. It really provided me the confidence that I can that I can do it and I can set up my the flow of money in a way that contributes to my future, but also contributes to you know the things that I need today. And like everything is accounted for. So it just it really provides a sense of like security and freedom and confidence in in oneself about that money can actually be used as a resource to, you know, for whatever your life is for, as opposed to this like, you know, invisible force that gets that makes decisions for you. Um, it's really like a partner and a tool and a resource to like create the life that you want.

SPEAKER_04 47:06

That's so beautiful. So for anyone listening, if you are interested in finding out more about what Raven and Willow are up to or about the Prosperity Project, and uh you'll be able to find out all of the information about how to get a hold of them in the show notes. Ladies, I have loved dancing in conversation with you this morning. Just thank you so much. Thank you for the commitment that you are to people that they get these tools and this awareness that, you know, they really have freedom to be able to create the a life on their own terms. And because that that is my commitment too. And even though we we come about it in different ways, it really does take an army. So thank you for being part of the group of human beings that are really out for people to be able to create a life that they love. And um, I look forward to having you back on the show at a later date as we progress. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Thank you so much so much. It's really our honor and our privilege to be with you today.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode. For show info, visit whatwoodamberdo.com. And for information about Amber Howard and Associates' offerings and services, visit amberhowdenc.com.