Welcome to What Would Amber Do with your host, Amber Howard. Each week, Amber dances in conversation with inspirational leaders out to make a difference for what matters most to people. She brings you incredible guests who share their real life experiences of being a leader and what it looks like to live a truly created life of service to others. And now, here is your host.

Welcome back, everyone, to What Would Amber Do? It is my honor this morning to be speaking with Andy Monet. Andy Monet started her first business at 16 years old. She has spent decades providing hope, inspiration, motivation, strategic tools and tricks to small business owners. Andy is the CEO of Strategic Solutions and Development International and a couple of other companies as well. So Andy is a serial entrepreneur. Andy believes that when we use our gifts to support the world, we can uplift entire communities and the world. Andy, it's so great to have you on the show this morning. Thank you for being here.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me. So excited when I can speak with people like you and just, you know, bring information and just love into the world.

I love that. I love love. I know I love love too. It's so funny. I was like doing this like, you know, Facebook thing yesterday where someone was like, Betty White died, right? So there's someone was like, create a, you know, create a Saint Olaf story using predictive text. And I so I was trying to create a story, but literally, like every time I would type a word, the word that would come up was like love. And then I was like, it was just gonna be like back in St. Olaf. Love, love, love, love, love. And I was like, okay, that's boring. Uh anyway, I um I love that you said that. Thank you. Yeah, you know, it um people really need that, especially I think at this time of year, you know, um coming into the new year. I know you're in Texas, we're in another lockdown here in Canada. And so I I think it the more we can kind of spread kindness and love and and just be a force for that in the world. Um, and and I can present to that in in in your content and how you speak about your journey and and who you are, that that, you know, that is what you get out of the bed in the morning for. And so tell me a little bit about what led you to get to here today, Andy, because you have a pretty, you know, a pretty amazing story that that got you to where you are today.

Yeah, it's uh, you know, it's it's a it's a funny thing because I I didn't early on, I didn't really realize how much my my personal journey impacted my business, not in a good or bad way, just that it did, right? And and um long story short, I really had to do a lot of you know digging deep into what made me different from a marketing standpoint. And then I realized how important it was for me to make a difference. I mean, I've always wanted to make a difference in the world ever since I could remember. But how would that look like? You know, what would that look like? How would I do it? And, you know, at the end of the day, there's two reasons why, well, there's three, but one of them is, you know, I want to be the person that I never had when I started my business. Whether you're 16 like I was, or whether you're 20 or 50, like it doesn't really matter, right? There's there's this there's this unknown, and which in a way it's in twisted way, it's kind of good because if you knew kind of what you were getting into You might not do it, you might not do it, right? But there's this other piece where you're excited and it's still terrifying. But how do you go about it? And what information is good and what information's bad, and how do we make good decisions and like all of those things are are just you just don't know. And so, and there's just there's so much content online. And do you hire somebody? What do you do? And so, you know, there was no Google when I started my business. There, you know, and so it was really, really you know, you know, as they say, hard knocks of learning, you know, things that you just even didn't know existed. And it's it's a much it was a much different world then, where you know, there were only business books which only catered to corporate, and no, there was really no startup information available, and it really was from scratch. And it was a really, really long and hard journey, right? For I mean, for any business. And I just there's there's so much that so many little things that small businesses can that make such a big impact that they just don't know about. And that's one of the things that I love bringing to people is those little tips and tricks and and things that can really make a big difference, not only, you know, obviously financially, but also mindset-wise. Like, you know, the first step is I think a lot of small businesses have have heard is it's 80% mindset, 20% business, right? Because if you don't, if you're not strong enough inside, you can't be strong enough outside.

You you said a lot of really beautiful things there. I think. I mean, like who does that? Who starts a business at 16, right? Like, and and I got, you know, we um, you know, we deal with circumstances in life that kind of force us, I think, sometimes to have to show up in ways that we didn't even imagine that we might have to. And in hindsight, I share this quote often because I just think it's so profound by Soren Kierkegaard, where he says, you know, life can only be understood in the rearview mirror, but how often we lived forward? Like we we don't have, you know, we don't have the benefit of hindsight at the time. And when you talk about sometimes it's better that we don't know because if we knew we might not take the actions, it's like knowing, and and even the knowing doesn't make a difference, right? Like I, you know, I worked in corporate for decades, helped build massive business solutions for corporations. And then when I started out on my own as an entrepreneur, you know, there were lots of things that I knew, but didn't really apply to me as a small business owner or or starting out. Um, and all of the having Google at your disposal is, you know, is can be very helpful and powerful. And at the same time, there's so many different possible answers to the questions that you might have that I think sometimes starting out, it can be really challenging because you're like, well, I don't know what's right for me. And what I what I hear on what you're saying is, you know, is the importance of having guides, is the importance of having people along the way like yourself who can point you in the right direction or help you find the simplest solution versus, you know, I mean, I know for myself, I've invested a lot of money in technology solutions or things that I I didn't need at that phase, or you know, they so it's like um I think having coaches, having guides, having people to support you is just hugely valuable. And it leads us to one of the the the paradoxes or challenges perhaps of leadership and of entrepreneurs is we tend to like to go out alone. Absolutely. We tend to think we have to do it all on our own. Yes, right?

Yes. So true. And you know, and it's it's so it's just so funny. I mean, I the things that we go through. And you know, me specifically, it was hard because I mean, first of all, I think it's hard for everybody, right? But for me, I just didn't have anybody else. You know, I had, you know, I didn't have family, I didn't have friends, I didn't have, you know, there was nobody. And so it was a habit that I got into is to figure it out myself and to to, you know, as I say, you know, stand up and dust your knees off and wear your big girl underwear, right? And and it just that's just the way that I always was. And it obviously that was a benefit, right? But at some point it becomes a deficit, you know, it becomes a weakness. And I didn't realize that until I was was several years. I mean, I'm in my 50s now, so I was in my 40s, and somebody told me that they said, you know, if you can't ask for help, you'll never be successful. And my course, my first response was, you don't know what you're talking about. Because I didn't I didn't get myself this far by by you know asking for help in the traditional sense of the word asking for help. And I really reflected on that because the person who told me was relatively successful. I mean, it she wasn't making, you know, a billion dollars, but she was, you know, she was comfortable. And I always like using resources that I have to see how that works, because that's just naturally the kind of person that I am. So I really reflected on this, and then I realized not from a business standpoint, but from a personal standpoint, that I don't ask for help and I know that I don't ask for help, and I'm really uncomfortable about asking for help. So why don't I just try? Because at least it'll expand my personal life, right? But long again, long story short, that it really did make an impact in my business because then I started forcing myself to ask for help. Not ask for help in the sense of um, well, in a lot of ways, but like if there was something new, like social media is totally new for me. I was anti-social media, I'm old, I don't get it, I don't care what people have for breakfast, you know, right? But but I've realized the the powerful, the how powerful it can be in trying to build relationships with people. And so that was one of the many ways that I had to ask for help, right? I, you know, how does it, how does it work? How is it helpful? And really ask for guidance in social media and other things too. But, you know, joint ventures, collaborations, um, hey, this is what I'm doing. Is that, you know, I see that you're doing that too. Maybe we can find a way to work together. Like those end up becoming really, really powerful relationships. And and it's from your heart, though. It's not just about the money. It's like this is this is deep inside of me that I want the world to know. And sometimes you just need more than one person to share that that vision, that passion that with you, you know?

I remember back in January of last year, I discovered that I had a hidden, a hidden belief. You talk about the the importance and power of mindset. You said 80%. I actually think it's higher. I think like it's like more like 95% of the mindset, you know, because this is my truth. We're never gonna outperform our beliefs. And not the beliefs we espouse to people, like we say, oh, I believe in you know, X, Y, or Z, but the ones that are hidden in our subconscious mind that are actually running the show.

Absolutely.

And I had a hidden view that my asking for help was shameful.

Absolutely.

That view served me when I was a 10-year-old little girl. And I didn't, you know, I had my mom, my mom was a is my biggest, I'm her biggest, like she's incredible. I don't even have words for who my mom is. She's been through so much in life, and she will tell you herself, she put a roof over my head and food on the table. But because of the trauma that she was working through, she was not emotionally available for me. And so from a very young age, I decided I had to, you know, I couldn't rely on anyone else to take care of me. So when you're a little girl and that's your view of the world, it's good, it's safe. It's a good idea to not rely on people. But as you point out, it gets to a point in time where that view is a lid. It's not wrong. It and and it like it served me until it stopped serving me. And then so that now it's like it's been like, oh, the asking for the help. And so well, what do I want to believe now? Right. That's what I believed up until you know the beginning of 2021. What do I choose to believe? Now that I'm adult, I'm not that little girl, I can create my life. And well, I choose to believe that what you know people want to and love helping me because when they help me, they serve humanity. Absolutely. And guess what? Just because I say that belief once doesn't mean that that's what's embedded in my subconscious mind. Like I've got to take action from that place. I've got to keep putting myself out there because it's not it, it that's not who gets out of bed in the morning. Who gets out of bed in the morning is someone who is a martyr, gonna do it all on her own, you know, not gonna ask for partners, not gonna look for partnership for lots of various reasons. So I get to now keep creating that. And like 2021, I have 2022, I have a journey I'm on every year where I'm out to discover something. And literally 2022 is my journey into partnership. And like, how could I, how could I, as a business owner, as a mother, as a partner, as a daughter, how can I be a demand for partnership? Like one, how can I discover partnership newly? And then two, how can I be a demand for co-creation and partnership everywhere in my life, whether that's around my physical well-being or my business or or any of the things that I'm out to create this year. So um thank you for being a partner for small business owners, because I think this is something that's really close to my heart. There's lots of big consulting companies that are out there serving the the big companies, right? The you know, there's the Deloits and the Accentures and all of them. Oh, yes. And there's nothing, you know, I don't I don't have anything going on about them, but they're the solutions that they offer are not accessible for small and medium enterprises. So it's important that there are people out there like you and and me, Andy, who are who are saying everyone, this this kind of information, these strategies, these tips, like it's important that everyone, especially given the proportion of companies that that are actually the majority of companies in the marketplace are small and medium enterprises, and the failure rates for these companies are huge. So they need you.

Well, and that's really, I mean, I do have Fortune 500 clients, right? But but they, you know, honestly, they pay the bills and it's great, but that's not where my passion is, you know. They, you know, money and people are just a number to them, generally speaking, right? And how do we really empower people and empower small businesses and empower, I mean, that's not just small businesses, it's employees. Like the way I the way I see what I do is yes, I'm empowering empowering small businesses for the business owner, but also for the employees and also for the community and also for the economy. Like it goes way beyond just I help people, right? Or I just help small businesses. Like it's not about the money, it's about how we how we and then this, you know, I this is not a common belief, but like, how do we love people? Right. And I know we talked about that in the beginning, but for me, this is okay, I have strengths, I want to use them, I want to empower people, but I want to empower them in part because I love them. How do I love people? And and for me, in my in my business and my personal life, of course, too, but in my business, I want people to just be the best person that they can be and give them opportunities and have a flexible life and and live the life that they want to and and employ more people and to, you know, uplift, uplift everybody. I mean, I'm just one person, but as we all come together and really share the gifts that we have, well, no matter what that is, I think that we do make a big difference. And whether, you know, how many people, like even in a podcast, how many people can I give information to that I will never meet?

Right.

And or whether it's a business tip or motivation or inspiration, or just, hey, you know what, owning a business is hard. So don't try, know that you're not the only person going through this. Like, I for me, that was really important. Like, I loved hearing the stories of multi-billionaires that were, you know, had $5 in their pocket and it was important enough for them to figure it out. Like those were really empowered me to get day by day on the hard times. They're gonna be the you're gonna have the day that you're just crying on the floor, like, what do I do next? It just it's inevitable for most businesses, but they become less frequent, right? And they become less dramatic because you have the because as you, you know, owning a business is a journey, you're gonna learn tools, you're gonna learn, you're gonna have experiences, and all of those things that build up are going to help you, you know, do better and not have those same experiences as time goes on.

So great. When you go back, like if we circle back to what you were saying about like if you knew you might not, you know, one of the things that I know from the work I do with people around my mindset and stuff like that is what stops human beings oftentimes from really going what, you know, because my big commitment is people live created lives, like that people really get that they can create whatever they want for their life. And one of the things that stops people from being really authentic about what they want is we get caught up in the how. And if we can't figure out how to have something, we won't even be honest about wanting it. And so, but like you're I'm thinking in this conversation, I'm just getting knowing the full how probably isn't even helpful. It's a really powerful how we might allow whatever, you know. If we if if I knew everything that it was going to take for me to get to where I am today, I may have faltered because there were some really tough moments, right? And I'm so grateful for where I am today and for everything that I've been through that that led me to this moment. But if you knew all of it up front, you know, you might be like, I don't like that story.

Well, it's like it's like having children. I always tell this story, though, although it doesn't really work for people who don't have children, but like when you think of having children, you know it's going to change your life. It just it's inevitable, right? But knowing it logically and living it are two completely different things. You know, when you're when you have your first baby the first year, like you're just barely surviving mentally because there's so little sleep, for example, you know, and you know you're gonna have lack of sleep, but living with a lack of sleep and functioning on lack of sleep is different, right? Doing it and knowing it are two different things. And businesses is off owning a business is often the same thing. And um there was something else I was gonna say that I don't remember now, but it's it's I think, you know, like we talked about briefly, knowing that it's going to be a journey, oh, the how, that's what it was. How, you know, out of all the you know, 35 plus years I've been doing this, how is the least important. It really is. And it's hard to tell people that sometimes because that's what people latch on to the easy, you know, the most, because they feel like if they have the how they'll succeed, when in fact, not knowing how is your biggest benefit as over as an overgeneralization. Because now we can just focus on what's really important. Like, why do we want to do this? I mean, sometimes it's just money, and that's okay. Like if you're especially during the you know, COVID, so a lot of people just could couldn't work, you know, the restaurants were closed, uh, traveling was was shut off. Okay, well, you still have to feed your family. How do you do that? And sometimes it comes from a place of necessity or even panic, right? And again, that's okay, but that panic will get you through the how, right? And whatever that priority is in your life, it will get you through. I almost 100% of anybody I've ever met, if that's been the case. And one lady in particular, um, she she had she her husband had recently died. They were both retired, and she had she had been a homemaker all of her life. And when he died, she got his life insurance policy. And she said, Well, I've always wanted to have a boutique in this really fancy part of Virginia, and she just she spent her money and she opened a store and she created it from scratch, and within a few years, she was bankrupt, almost literally bankrupt. And that's when I met her. And she said, I want you to help me file for bankruptcy. And I said, Well, why do you want to do that? Well, obviously, I know why, right? She doesn't have any money, but she's like, Well, I don't have any money and and I don't know what to do. And and I said, Well, what made you start your boutique in the first place? And she told me, Shake, this was my life's dream. I've always wanted to do this. I figured now that I had the money, I was going to do it. And I just don't know how to do it. And I said, But do you still want it? Is this something that you would still that you do want? And she said, Yes. And I said, then why claim bankruptcy? Let's figure it out together. And we did. And she and the business is still in business, which um is great because then she passed away and her daughter took over. So now this is a legacy for her family, and she just didn't have the tools to reach her dreams. And we did it together. And I say that because it doesn't matter how, because that's why you bring other people to help you, hopefully the right people, of course. But nevertheless, it's always possible. I don't care how destitute your business is.

destitute your life is i don't care what is going on there is always a way and i know that by the way from experience so it just it can be done so many things i want to talk to about what you just said um it's like what are you gonna fight for being right about you know as a human being right like we could we can be right about and we can find evidence for whatever point of view we want to be right about and it's like what I hear in what you're saying is like I like what do you what do you choose to be right about that it can't work and that you can't have it okay well there you go you're gonna that's right we'll never outperform our beliefs or do you choose to fight for in a world where anything's possible other people have done this the answer is available you know it's out there and even if I don't have the answer right now I'm open I'm open to having the answer be provided and then you know and when you're in life like that Andy like things just show up you know I I was driving to pick my son up last night we we had COVID over the holidays so I didn't get to see my youngest son for the for Christmas yes um and and I'm grateful because uh it could have been much worse than it was so as much as it was not my ideal Christmas and what I wanted um there were some beautiful moments I got to quarantine with some really zany incredible human beings so I love it um we had a a lot of fun together and you know I just I was going to the elevator to to drive it's like an hour and a half to his dad's house to pick him up and my friend this my friend Kate came into my mind and and my first thought oh she's probably not going to be the available don't you know don't worry don't bother her don't call her right and then when I get in my car I tried because I I like to it's a long drive I like to make calls and catch up with people when I'm driving so I called another friend who didn't answer and then again I had the like intuitive hit call Kate and I'm I'm I'm trained enough now that like I I don't normally need more than two times right it's like okay fine call Kate right and we just had the most beautiful conversation got reconnected this is a friend I haven't like really touch base with in quite some time and like she's gonna help me around my my health and my well-being goals for the year I'm gonna support her with stuff that she wants to do in her business. And it's like you know again partnership just showing up right but when you're those synchronicities right when you're open when you're coming from that place of like as you said like I don't care what it is like you know there's an answer out there. We can we can sort this out we can you know and and it it's like um I don't know why you would want to fight to be right that it's not possible.

Well yeah I you know I've I've asked that question a lot of people and what's so sad and it just breaks my heart honestly is that um you know some of it comes from parents or or quote unquote friends that you've had you know they were great friends at the time but sometimes we outgrow them and that's not an easy thing for a lot of people who have had friends for you know 10 20 30 years right but it has happened and if your as one example if your friendship is limiting you and your friendship's more important than you succeeding in whatever it is that that means to you then that's a choice that people make and they don't realize how powerful making the wrong choice is and I don't mean powerful in a good way but really powerful in a bad way. I mean having things that make us feel safe right whether it's emotionally or financially or physically not oh don't always work for us forever. Right. And we have and once we're able to if we're able to grow past that wherever that is wherever that safety net is we become better at whatever it is that we're becoming better at and and growing is not is it can oftentimes be painful. And that's why a lot of people just it's hard for them you know especially like for example and I don't mean to get too personal but like my daughter's 20 something and she has a really hard time making decisions because she's like okay well if I do this and this will happen and then this will happen and then this will happen. And she's like 20 steps down the road and I'm like baby like none of those things may ever happen. So you still have to take that first step and and what's terrifying for a lot of people is that growing and being better again whether it's financially emotionally spiritually physically takes effort and sometimes that effort is painful and some people are just not ready for that. But I will I do feel that once you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you'll do it. But you usually just have to get there.

The change equation right your dissatisfaction with the the current state of your whatever the issue is you know once it gets to the point where that's greater than whatever right resources pain is involved in going through the change then and only then will yeah it's interesting because uh we're kind of dancing around this conversation about struggle and I I remember when I was looking at your posts uh in preparation for the interview there was this like this quote that and I can't remember the exact words I wish I wrote it down but it was like kind of this idea that like basically struggle is is necessary for success. And it it gave me kind of pause and I my brain was like because I'm I'm all about the philosophy and the inquiry I'm like you know because I believe we get what we say. So if we say that things are hard it's gonna be hard. And I can look back at my life now in the rear view mirror and I can see all of the different ways including not asking for help by the way that's probably the biggest way of making life harder but you know even in in more recent years like I I I did go through a lot of struggle in life and so I became someone who had a worldview that life was hard. And and and then as my circumstances improved in life if the circumstances weren't going to make life hard Amber was going to make life hard because I expected things to be hard. And and so I'm I'm interested in talking with you about this because I I I mean I do like I look back at my life I was a teenage mom I you know was on my own with two kids by the time I was 20 um dealing with my family's and my mom's challenges around mental health I can see all of the ways that the the circumstances of my life have have caused me to be who I am today. And at the same time it's like is that necessary is struggle necessary for us to have great achievement uh I I don't know that it is and I don't know that it isn't I know that you and I both have been through great struggles in life Andy I'm curious to know kind of your thoughts on that and kind of at what point do we need to move beyond the struggle because perhaps the struggle in and of itself stops serving us.

For sure. And I think part of the answer to that is struggle circumstances that we that we just happen to be in versus creating it ourselves are two different pieces of struggle, right? And so like for me for me specifically like we had the 16 year old thing my mother had mental health challenges and you know and and I had to deal with that. But I also married um a man who I didn't know at the time had drug problems. So you know he he embezzled money out of my company and my clients and I had to go do all that piece and and come to terms with that. And I've been homeless more than once and you know and during that time I had to give my daughter to her dad which was not the alcoholic father and you know there's just challenges right things happen and and and you know I for me personally I always try to look at what I learned or what good came out of it and and that's just the way that I am but when we talk about struggle being necessary in the sense of okay I don't know how to do something I have to figure out how to do it. Like that is a healthy struggle where you're learning to specifically grow. Whereas struggle in the sense of all this SHIT has happened to me and that's just the way life is and I mean I have a ton of stories and I'm not the only one I know but when it that's more of a mindset right and but you this is my opinion because this is my experience but no one can help you out you have to have outside forces and outside support for you to get beyond your own mindset. And whether that's a book or a podcast or a loving friend or a business owner or whoever right somebody else has to give us that vision like oh my gosh is that's really out there.

Right.

And then and realizing that the struggles the way we perceive our struggles or any it doesn't even have to be struggles but the way we our own perceptions are only going to grow as outside influences come in.

I I could I couldn't agree with that statement more. I think because we only see what we see from our point of view of the world right and we never see you know from the work I've done in neurolinguistic programming our map of the world is not the territory it's not everything that's out there. It's it's a slice and unless there are things and I think we attract those things when we're ready for them whether it's because we reach a certain point where we're so sick of the way things are in our life or so frustrated by a pattern that repeats over and over again that we we're open and willing in a way that we might not have been before to see something new. And then all of a sudden it's like oh you're ready for the you know there's this great like Sanskrit saying the lessons of life and you know the rules of being human. And one of them is like you know you're enrolled in this in voluntary school called life and as long as you're living there's going to be lessons and guess what the lessons keep coming and you're gonna keep getting the same lesson over and over again until you learn it. And when you learn it there'll be another lesson because as long as you're breathing there will be lessons right so I think when you're ready for that next lesson something's gonna show up whether it's a person, a book you know Bob Proctor talks about you know just being in his early 20s no education you know in in debt earning $4,000 a year and this random human being shows up in his life and gives him a copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, right? Like if he had never gotten that new awareness because it wasn't inherent in him wasn't available in him it was available in the world like in the world of everything that's available that knowledge that book was there. But it was he had no access to it until he was ready. And then when he was ready it showed up I believe that and I've seen evidence of that over and over again in my lives and the lives of my clients and just you know the people that I surround myself with.

Absolutely and I think that that's so important. And again going back to bringing love into the world you know again whether it's on the radio or a podcast or a book or walking by a newsstand or wherever like there's there's this there's this world of information and I don't mean like information just in data but information of of life right that um that exists and when little pieces just start appearing in your life and sometimes you recognize it and sometimes you don't and somebody told me once and and I it was really cute. It was like lessons are are not taught they're caught so I can say one thing to you or one thing you know the same exact everybody in the room can hear the exact same thing and get out something totally different because it's where they are at that time in their life or that time in their business or that time that that that you know whether you know somebody who's a parent may hear it differently than if you're not a parent may if you own a business versus not a business if you're a man versus a woman like you take in that information differently right and and it's still a lesson but the lesson that you might hear are just different. And we're ready when we're ready to hear I mean it may be a year down the road and they go oh my gosh I remember Andy said that and now it makes total sense right I still do that now you know with things that I've heard well we're that map that I was just talking about is we're we're filtering our experience of reality absolutely through the map.

So this is exactly what you're talking about a hundred people can hear the same thing and they're all going to get something different from it because they're they know two people have the same map. And and it like that analogy I think is so powerful especially for those of us that are out there in the world trying to affect change um whatever that is in in our leadership because it's not about getting people to understand the world from your map. I think leadership is having the tools and the willingness to get on someone else's map, try and understand, even though you'll never 100% be able to understand the world from someone else's map because you're not them with their lived experience but that willingness to get over there and see the world from their map and then build the bridge back for them right in order to help them move to seeing something newly but in a way that's accessible for them. Because if I keep trying to explain the world to you from my map you're not there are going to be pieces that you won't hear or things that you won't understand or see because you just don't view the world the same way that I do.

Absolutely and that brings up another point that is really that I love so much is that you know there's a difference between a manager and a leader, right? I mean I can people can manage somebody manage what they do you know how much they get done how you know uh you know the processes the procedures the logistics of it right but leadership is a completely different ball game where I feel a true leader brings people up into a higher version of themselves you know helps them reach their goals whether they're business or personal it doesn't matter right for me to me that's just my opinion and and really speaks to them in a way where you're empowering people to just see even if it's just a little bit more of the world or a little bit more of their role or a little bit more of I mean again it doesn't have to be business but um you can be a leader as an employer you can be a leader as a coworker you can be a leader as you can be a leader to your boss I mean then which is not I don't think naturally a common belief but you can like I've I've helped people that are much more successful than I am be better versions of themselves even though I'm not financially necessarily where they are. And we can all be leaders I mean and then of course the traditional we can be leaders for our children not just parents but actually actual leaders to our parents and my friends' friends my not my friends' friends my children's friends right I mean there's there's so many ways that we can really just empower people to be better versions or learn more or have better vision or whatever that case might be and and leadership you know is such a cliche word but it's so powerful if you really know what it means.

I I I completely agree I actually and in one of the founding principles of of of who I am and my my you know being about facilitating other people's greatness is the idea that we're all leaders. We all leadership isn't about titles or or layers in an organization leadership is about ways of being and acting in my in my view. So I think we're very aligned there. Andy I think that's a perfect spot to leave this conversation on um you know and an invitation perhaps to the people who are listening to this conversation where you know like like doing a look right it's the beginning of a year we're looking out to 2022 where is your leadership showing up in your life and where are there gaps? Where where are the areas of life where you're not being a leader in your own life and you know if if one of those areas is your business and you're looking for support or like I I it's funny someone made this distinction for me earlier a couple of episodes ago on the show between support and care. And you know like I think care like support kind of implies that people there's something wrong whereas like this idea of care, you know, like to me I think is more representative of that love. Like we're just caring for each other. So if you need some care in your business, all of the information you need to know about Andy and what she's up to and how to get a hold of her and connect with her will be available in the show notes. Andy I just really want to acknowledge you for being someone who was willing to to get in the trenches to learn everything that you needed to know so that you could become someone who could really be a profound contribution to other people and thank you for being and bringing your love and your leadership to to others and to the world it's just been such an honor to have this conversation with you this morning. Thank you. Oh of course and thank you for your kind words I'm excited for the new year 2022 I think that that it's going to be an amazing year for everybody honestly and it's just there's going to be so many blessings and and just amazing work that comes this year I think for so many people it definitely does feel it's funny the year started a little melancholy for me but over the last kind of I've felt like actual a real shift over the last 24 hours into like this space of oh it's just going to be a lot of creativity and fun. Like I just really I so I I I agree with you. I think um there's a lot of wonderful things that are emerging and I look forward to continuing to watch your journey as you continue to grow over the next year and beyond.

Wonderful I do you too I think we all are going to have a wonderful journey this year. Thank you so much Amber I really appreciate it.

You're so welcome for everyone listening to the show have a great week and we will see you next week.

Take care thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode for more information on the show and our extraordinary guests check out whatwoodamberdo.com