speaker-0: Would you believe me if I told you that someone who once couldn't walk into a grocery store without having a panic attack is now standing on stages in front of 10,000 people and getting paid five figures to do it? Well, that's exactly what today's guest did. Kim Strobel is a motivational speaker, happiness coach, and author of Teach Happy: Small Steps to Big Joy. She's been featured in USA Today, Business Insider, and Success Magazine, speaking for Fortune 500 companies and even the FBI. And in today's episode, she's going to show you exactly how she did it and how you can too. Welcome to Energetically Speaking. Okay, hello Kim. Welcome to Energetically Speaking. How are you today?
speaker-1: I'm doing great, Claire. Thanks for having me here today, honey.
speaker-0: This is like a full circle moment. Isn't this kind of weird? Like for those of you who don't know, Kim was my fourth grade teacher. And so it's a really wild full circle moment that I guess you did you ever expect me to have a podcast one day? No.
speaker-1: I didn't know you were this wonderful spiritual woo-woo-ee being that I was too, even when I was your teacher, but you wouldn't have known that. But interestingly enough, that is how your mother and I became best friends is we happened to be in a vehicle together with a group of women who were traveling to see a psychic in Bardstown, Kentucky. And your mom and I just completely hit it off because back then when nobody was talking about this stuff. And I actually felt such a connection to your mom. first and then of course I had you in my classroom. So it's delightful to have watched even the last two years your kind of growth and metamorphosis of this new chapter you're stepping into.
speaker-0: ⁓ thank you. I appreciate it. And I can remember like they're like growing up and like, you know, hanging out at your house all the time. I can remember like the conversations here and there between you and my mom of like talking about like spirituality trips and like ⁓ I think Sedona was an option at one point going to Sedona. So I can I can remember having like all of those conversations or like listening to them and being a part of them. So it's really cool that it's come like so full circle in this moment. So ⁓
speaker-1: Yes, it is, indeed. So
speaker-0: I was in fourth grade. I did the math. It was like two thousand seven, two thousand eight, I believe. So how long after that did you leave the teaching world and go into coaching educators?
speaker-1: My gosh, Claire. So, okay, so even to back that story up even further, I went to college and I quit after a year because I had severe panic disorder and I did not know that was what was wrong with me. I just thought something was wrong with my brain. And so I went to work as a secretary and then I went back to college. So I worked full-time as a secretary, drove 90 minutes to USI three days a week and worked into or went to school till midnight, got my teaching degree, but then when I got out, there were no teaching jobs available, believe it or not. So I stepped into a teaching assistance job and I made $8 an hour. And I was a single mom trying to make it on my own for the most part. And so I actually rode the special needs bus in the morning for an hour and in the afternoon for an hour because it generated 16 extra dollars a day for me. And in the year 2000 That happened to be exactly what it cost for Spencer's daily daycare. So then when I finally got my teaching position, I was just so delighted to have my own classroom. I remember I felt like I was making so much money. $29,600 was gonna be my yearly salary. And ⁓ I just loved teaching so much, but I always just felt this call to move into leadership. So from there I went on to become a literacy coordinator, then I was a curriculum director. And I had worked for one year for a consulting company where I was delivering professional development. And I was just not aligned to the same value system that they were. And so I remember I was 39 and I quit. I quit Claire and I kept saying to myself, I'm 39 years old and I don't have a job. Like I don't have a job lined up for next year. I'm 39 years old and I don't have a job. And I remember thinking that I've had a job since I was in fifth grade. Since fifth grade, I've had a f job. I babysat and you know, all kinds of stuff. But I read this book from Joel Olsteen and he told me I have to rephrase that. So I started saying, I'm 39 years old and the right job is headed my way. I'm 39 years old and the right job is headed my way. So I ended up getting this curriculum director's job for two and a half years. And I planted the seed inside my subconscious mind that someday I wanted to launch my own business. And I don't know. I would say that probably from the time you were in fourth grade, I think it was probably about six years later. I think I launched in 2016 Strobel Education full-time. I quit my curriculum director's job, study paycheck every two weeks. Free insurance, wonderful insurance, and I launched Strobel Education. ⁓ and there's just the whole story to how that came to be. So much I can say just about that topic.
speaker-0: Wow. So how are you even able to tell yourself that you were able to take that leap of faith and quit your very structured, very predictable job to go all in on yourself and on showable education?
speaker-1: Even now, Claire, I look back and so many people say, like, how did you start your own business? And how did you create this very successful, you know, now you're a motivational speaker and you step on these stages all across the country. And I will tell you that my answer now to that question is I utilized the law of attraction. I learned how to become a manifester and a co-creator with God. And that is how. The majority of how I launched my business, which is not what most people expect, like a business plan, like you created a business plan. For me, I just have always had this tiny whisper in the back of my brain of how wonderful it would be. But I I never at that young stage thought I could do anything like that. But from the year 2013 to 2016, I'm an avid runner, Claire. I was running 40 miles a week. And I will tell you, on every single run I took for two and a half years, I built my business visually in my brain. I saw the people in the crowd. I saw myself on the stage. I saw myself having the words that they needed to hear to be uplifted. I saw myself loving them. I saw them loving me. I created a vision board. I had been doing vision boards for several years, but I literally created a vision board that had pictures of me on giant stages where and I had never stepped onto a giant stage. I I printed out fake registrations. I printed out fake paychecks that had the numbers on them that said this is what I want to earn. And so I feel like because I saw and felt the motion of the business in my brain on every run for two and a half years. Then I started just like, I guess I started to believe in my ability to do it more because I was running those tapes in my head. So then the next thing you knew, I bought strubbleeducation.com as the domain. And then I bought Kim Strubble.com because I knew I wanted to do stuff outside of education. And I just started doing these like little right actions, you know? And I think All of that energy that I was putting out there was just, it's like, you know, Gabby Bernstein talks about this, like the universe has your back. And I feel like it really saw that like I believed in myself and I had so much courage and so much faith. And I had a wonderful therapist and life coach, Charlie Martin, who helped me believe in myself too. But it was a very risky thing, it felt like to do at the time. And I thought that I might be risking my family's financial future.
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And I can see like how difficult that would have been and how like scary that would have been. But it sounds like you literally you visualized so much that you started to become the person who was doing all of those things, even if you maybe you didn't know it at the time, but you really were. You were becoming that version of you who was on the big stage, who is getting the big paychecks and doing all the things. So when you took that leap of faith. Were there any voices, anything holding you back, any like negative talk, self-doubt, anything like that that was like, Kim, what are you doing? Don't do this. It sounds like you followed that intuition, like that inner guidance, but were there other voices that was like, Kim, stop, don't do this, don't do this?
speaker-1: ⁓ my gosh, yes. So my husband, which Claire, you know him, he is very laid back. He's a complete follower. And I always say the man's only stood up to me twice in his whole life. And one of those times was when I told him in September of 2015 that I wanted to quit my curriculum director's job and launch Strobel Education full time. And he about had an attack. He was so scared around money. He really did feel like, you know, like, how are you gonna find these people? Like I I I know you're really good, but like, how are you gonna find people? How are you gonna get yourself in schools? How are people gonna find you to hire you? And so that really scared me because, you know, he he is a very sound and grounding voice in our relationship. But when I tell you that the intuition was so overwhelming that it was as if I could not not do it. And I think that's kind of been my secret sauce. Like even now we're getting ready to launch an entire new leg of the business. And I don't know if it will generate a dollar, but I have these like strong intuitions that this is how we need to show up now and serve our educators. And I'm I think I'm really good at following and listening to that very intuitive guidance that does guide me.
speaker-0: Would you say that has been the most important part of this whole journey, following that inner guidance that inner and that intuition?
speaker-1: ⁓ my gosh, Claire. Absolutely. And I think that I'm an action taker. So I hear the intuitive thinking and the voice, and it fires me up and it fuels me. And then I start taking a lot of right actions, you know. And I even remember like the first year we launched, I thought if I can just make 30,000, we can sustain our house payment. I was lucky. I had a husband who did generate an income. So we needed both of my incomes, but we could still live if we, you know, didn't have mine. And so the first year, Claire, we we brought in 150,000 in revenue. Okay. But I'll show you how my brain can still get hijacked to this day. So Gay Hendricks writes in his book, The Big Leap. About how we all have this upper limit problem inside of us, which is an internal thermostat. And that internal thermostat says Kim's only comfortable making this kind of money. She's only comfortable having this much love in her life. She's only comfortable having this much peace, this much happiness. And whatever our internal thermostat that was set inside of us at a very young age from our parents, our caretakers, and our environment. So You know, the fact that I made $8 an hour and then thought I was really bl knocking it out of the ballpark at 30K. And then I have this first year and it's 150K. And Scott and I, we had always just done like really cheap vacations. Like we were so thankful when your mom invited us to go to your parents' condo in Florida and Spencer and I stayed for a week and didn't have to pay anything. I mean, those are the types of vacations we took. And so we treated ourselves to what would be considered a luxurious vacation. It was probably 4,000. And we were sitting on the beach. And I happened to be reading that book. And I remember sitting there and I was looking at the beautiful ocean and I was like, this is incredible. Like Strobel education showed up and served all these schools and it generated a hundred and fifty like that's wild. Look at us. And then all of a sudden, Claire, my brain went. That's not normal. That's an anomaly. You will never be able to sustain that. You actually probably are going to be lucky next year if you even make 30K. Like my brain automatically started sabotaging my ability to enjoy my success because I had not operated at those higher levels. And so I didn't have an internal blueprint yet to to do that. So I knew from that book that I had to up-level my internal blueprint. So that that became the new normal. Otherwise, I was going to sabotage myself with this, these thoughts of, ⁓ you know, it's just an anomaly that that happened and I'm going to be lacking, lacking, lacking. So I got to work on downloading those new money blueprints that said, absolutely, you're not only 150K maker a year, you're a 300K maker a year. And so what I have found is even now in my business, anytime we up level. I have to really go to work and make that the new normal.
speaker-0: So how did you how did you do that? How walk us through like how did you what did you say to yourself to be able to say, okay, I can actually sustain 150K or more a year.
speaker-1: So I'd already have the vision boards going, which you know, I'm looking at my most up-to-date one. It's about three years old over here, and I put little check marks on everything that I've accomplished. And then I've always really been into affirmation work. And so one of the things that you said earlier, Claire, that I kind of reiterated is you cannot base your potential, your ability of what you want to manifest if you base that. On where you currently are, you're never going to get there. So you said something like, You have to live the bigger version of yourself right now, even though you're not there, you're living it as if you are, which means the thoughts I'm pouring into my subconscious mind all the time, through, I will tell you, I'm an avid reader like you. So I read a ton of books that download new beliefs. I read books about prosperity. I read books about wealth. I read books about, you know, attracting richness in my relationships, richness in my joy, richness in my happiness. And yes, I'm not afraid to say it. Richness in my money. I read a lot of books that have shown me, wow, Kim, what you were taught about money isn't right. And what you were taught about your potential to earn money. So constantly personal development reading is always up leveling me. And then I write affirmations and I've been doing it for years. And so you know this, but you know, 5% of how we show up in life comes from our conscious thinking mind. That's the prefrontal cortex. And it's where you plan, it's where you think, it's where you execute. It's all the thinking that it takes you to get through the day. Most of it's going on there. But we all have this subconscious part of our mind, which as you know is the dark recess part of our mind. But what the research shows is that 95% of how we navigate life, Claire, comes from our subconscious mind. And that's where our beliefs about ourselves, our values, those types of things are housed there. So there's really like this back kind of software system that's actually running everything, but we're not aware of it. We don't even know that we're showing up with those beliefs of scarcity and lack and our. Inability to achieve what we want. So for me, I have like a lot of morning energetic practices that I do. So if I run you through my morning, this morning I woke up, I did my 22 minutes of transcendental meditation. I end that by saying some Catholic prayers that I grew up with. And then I repeat to myself five times: money circulates freely and abundantly through me, and there's always a divine surplus. Money circulates freely and abundantly through me, and there's always a divine surplus. I say that five times when I come out of my meditation. And then at night, when I do my night meditation, same thing. Then I go to my deck and I write my five gratitudes, what I'm thankful for, because gratitude is one of the highest vibrational frequencies that we can hold and put out into the universe. And that's the law of reprocity, as you know. So what we're putting out is being multiplied back to us. And then I write, I have 10 affirmations that I write right now, every single day. I've been doing it for years. Sometimes they change. And so you can see that just in my morning routine, you know, ⁓ and as soon as I get out of bed, I say, today's gonna be a great day, and I'm going to be lavishly prosperous in all areas of my life today. So, you know, these are the messages. And then on my like right now in front of my computer, it says, You deserve this because Couple of years ago, we really up-leveled the business and I almost doubled my revenue and I was like really shaky about it. Like, who am I to be this kind of earner? And so I wrote this note that says, You deserve this. Like I see it every day. Like, you deserve this, Kim. You've worked for it and you deserve it, you know? So I think for me, it's it's not like it's just an a a fabric of every part of my being.
speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. And I I refer to it as my programs, those programs we had as a child that we that were programmed into us. And a lot of the work that I do is help people program out those old beliefs and program in those new supportive beliefs. But the topic of money is a really big and really touchy subject to a lot of people. So how You know, we you walked us through kind of how you do your work and how you had to do this money kind of mindset work. So if you were speaking to someone who feels really uncomfortable talking about money, what would you say to them to help them feel more comfortable with money and to help them feel like they are better able to receive and look for ways in their life that they are better able to receive?
speaker-1: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that is we've that's a service that has ⁓ been done wrong is like there are certain topics we've been told you don't talk about money, you don't talk about sex. And in fact, I think we should be talking about all of those topics. ⁓ and so there's this idea like, okay, you need to like be humble and you should but it's really not about that. To me, when I can say to somebody like I did recently, like, I honor the woman who had to ride the special needs bus to make 16 extra dollars a day. And I want you to know the same woman steps on a stage for 60 minutes now and may make 12 to 15,000 for the 60 minutes that she's up there. And that doesn't mean that like that person is better than the $8 an hour Kim. But what it does show is that I was able to step in. To a way that I knew that I could show up and serve in a in a way that felt more alignment to me. And that if I can do it, the girl who had severe panic attacks and couldn't even walk to the grocery store or walk in the grocery store, then maybe you start to see that you can make, if you want, that kind of money too, or you can attain these types of goals or whatever it is. But you know, Sean Acre says that most of us are only utilizing 10% of our potential, Claire. There's 90% left, but we don't believe in ourselves to go out there and get it. And so for people who have trouble, I mean, I have a list of 20 money books. I mean, I think you and I send back and forth, right? I know. And it's like, read this one, read that one, because that's how you start to get comfortable. And I don't, you know, even on a sales call, sometimes I can feel myself nervous to say, okay, they want to book me. What's your price? 12,000.
speaker-0: Probably have all twenty.
speaker-1: And I'm like, I get a little nervous a little bit, but but I've even learned to just hold that. Like, my gosh, Claire, if you take 25 years worth of courses I've taken, books I've read, I am worth every bit of that. This is an expensive brain, you know? And so I think a lot of that is not seeing it in a boastful way or in a like she's bragging way, more of like, can you just own the light that you hold and also can you talk a little bit about that so that it creates a pathway for others to realize they can step into that too.
speaker-0: Yeah. And I I took a course actually through it's the yes supply method, which is where I learned about mindset coaching and all of the programming, subconscious programming. And one of the things she says is, and she's the founder, her name's Reese. She says for every dollar she puts into her continued education and knowledge, she expects from the universe. I can't remember if it's double that back or triple, I can't remember. But she said that's what she tells herself. every day is everything I put into myself in my education, I expect to have that doubled, if not tripled or more. So I think that's something too that I've kind of adopted that I'm not wasting money. I'm not spending, you know, like crazy amounts of money. I am pouring into myself. And then therefore I can give to others in a way that I wish I would have had when, you know, when I was first starting. And that does come with a with an expense or an investment, but it's because we are pouring into ourselves a priceless amount of money. So then you can therefore go and share, share that with others and help others better their lives too.
speaker-1: Exactly. And I think that, Claire, you're a very I mean, I've watched just I would say in the last two years, I feel like you have recreated your life. And I think it's when you started to own that you do have this special gift about you that you were afraid for a long time to acknowledge or talk about. And then the more you became Aligned to that, the more that it lit you up and the more that it allowed you to hold space for that version of yourself. And so I think that, you know, for me too, even spending money, like my husband grew up in a very, very frugal family. And so a lot of money mindsets have had to be busted there. And so, like one of the things that we're doing right now is we're building a big garage. And he also bought a try tune this week, Claire. And so he's like, wow, we're spending a lot of money this week. And I'm like, honey, we are putting money like that's paying people. It's putting money back into the economy. It's putting it into the universe. It's circulating. And we want to send that money, not with like, ⁓ we're, you know, we have it. It's there. It's been set aside for this. And now we're going to spend it joyously and we're going to know that it also benefits other people. So just kind of Seeing that, yeah, that that really, I think, Claire, the biggest investment one can ever make is in themselves. And and this is the other thing I was gonna say about you. I've watched you do that really hard inside work. And I will tell people all day long, I've had to work so hard, and to this day, I still do work hard on the inside of myself because that's what's always going to be reciprocated outwardly. And so if I don't have this in alignment, then I can't expect the reality that I want. And so I've watched you continue to do that. And I think that's really helped your efforts now to know, okay, you know, damn, this stuff works. It's worked on me. I've seen how I can change my life. And now I want to show other people the pathway of how they can do that. And I think that's where your special What you offer is very unique and special is that you've lived it. I mean, you and I even had a conversation like six months ago where you were going through a really hard time. And you even said, I think the universe is having me endure this hardship so that again I have the evidence of how I've been able to build myself back out of it. Right. Yes.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. It's been a very interesting journey. I didn't in the beginning, I didn't recognize how much work I would have to put in on myself and continue to put in on myself. But the one thing I noticed was the more I did, that stronger the stronger that intuition that we were talking about earlier kept coming through. And it had a louder voice, almost in a louder voice. And so I just simply kept following that nudge wherever it would lead me. And it helped me in so many ways. I've I've done so many incredible things that I never, never thought I would do. I actually I I took public speaking, ⁓ like the class in high school, like everyone else. And I've shared this story before, but I I worked really hard on a speech in that class. I was very, very proud of it. It was, for those of you who don't know who's listening, I used to breed Labradors and my speech was over the different colors of labs and everything about labs. And was so proud of it. I was so proud. I worked so hard. And I gave my speech and I was a little nervous. My voice was a little shaky. And I don't remember if it was that class or after that. But I got my grade back and she gave me a C minus. And I could not understand for the life of me. I had put so much work into it. I was so proud of the work that I did. And I didn't understand why I got that grade. Why was I graded on something that I was so, so proud of. And I think instances like those accumulate over time and they start wearing you down and pushing you down and making you believe you can't do it. Because one of the things I wanted to mention that you had said earlier, that you used to visualize yourself on stages or talking to people. And that's something I do. And I could never understand why. I see myself on stages talking to people, talking to large groups of people. And I always go back to that instance where I got a C minus in that speech class. And I it almost created this like disconnect, but I realize now, looking back, that that C minus had nothing to do with me. Why she gave me C minus, I'll never know. It you know, her choice. I don't know why she did it. But it doesn't diminish the work that I did and how proud I was of that speech. Even if I delivered it with a shaky voice or I was nervous or I talked too fast, which is something I naturally do, it didn't diminish my My passion, my purpose, it didn't diminish me.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I will say, Claire, so I always joke that in my high school speech class as a sophomore, out of 27 students, I was either the second to the worst or the worst because I also had panic attacks and did not know it. So there is nobody in the 1990 high school speech class at Tel City High School that would say, ⁓ wow, that girl is such an amazing speaker that she's gonna stand on a stage with 10,000 people. Nobody would believe that, right? And so I think the thing that we sometimes do, which is natural, is we look we do have these, this, what we think is evidence, right? Like I failed at that, that didn't work out. You know, I worked for that company for a year, that wasn't in alignment, but that didn't mean that I wasn't serving the way I needed to. I just needed my own business. And so I think we have to be really careful with the older versions of ourselves or the so called evidence that That says you really don't have this skill set because again, I'm gonna go back to the there's 90% of the potential there for you if you're willing to tap into it and and work at it and follow that gut instinct. And Claire, the number of, you know, I've learned manifestation now for 20 years. And I mean, I took a course before like five years ago that completely up-leveled. Me again. And so like I feel like my ability to constantly invest in myself, it ⁓ it almost always has like that's my super sauce. Like if you're gonna spend 5K on this course, Kim, Claire, I'm getting way more than 5K usually, you know, unless it's just a terrible course. Like the work I'm doing is like up leveling me. And so I feel like I'm I've always been somebody who is not afraid to invest in myself.
speaker-0: Yeah. Hey.
speaker-1: We can't figure this shit out on our own. No.
speaker-0: And that's honestly, I would I would have to agree that that is probably that was my answer. That was the answer I needed because we all have the answer within us. Like that is like something like we have the answers within us. And when I learned to start putting that work into myself and putting that effort into myself and not shying away from who I was always meant to be, I grew grew in you know, prosperity and I grew in so many ways that I never expected. I have I have g grew grown in friend groups, I've gained new friends, I have met new people who align with me and who aren't hoping that I don't succeed, if let me put it that way. Yes. I have found, you know, incredible, incredible people, people I never imagined I would have met. who want to see me succeed and grow. And I swear to you, that has it's almost like this frequency. When you meet people who are on the same frequency as you, you really start to act like them and become them. That's a very known thing. And I I recognize when I started growing and when I started meeting people who were also growing, I started growing even faster. I started going even further. And that, you know, believing in myself, putting the work in myself, it almost like opened this door For me to meet new people and to have new opportunities. And one of my favorite things to say, you know, the saying, knowledge is power. So I like to rephrase that. And I like to say, knowledge in action is power. You can have the knowledge all day long. You can have it. I could have all the answers in my head right now, but if I don't share them, they're not doing anything. So putting that knowledge in action, that's where the real power is. That's where that real
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: special, like all of all of this magical stuff comes to play and you that's where you create your life is putting and you know, when you work on that or you when you live your passion is when you put that knowledge into action and and do what makes you feel lit up inside.
speaker-1: You're you're exactly right. And I think like, you know, there's yeah, there's so many fears that can kind of come to the surface, so many of those like limiting beliefs. But one of the things that when I look back, you know, now that you're asking me these questions, I feel like I can kind of tell people how I did it, but it's just not gonna be your typical business one-on-one class. It's gonna be actually more spiritual based. But one of the things that I've always enjoyed doing is I wanna be around people who are so much better than me. And so some people get really triggered when they're around people who are smarter or more successful or more talented or higher earners. And they don't want to be around that because they they it makes them feel bad. I'm the opposite. So when I landed my first teaching job, I told the principal, put me next to the very best teacher in the school. And so when I got into this work and I started to be in courses with other people. Who at the time were like million dollar plus earners? I I think that you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. So when I'm around people who are so much more successful than I am and they're knocking it out of the ballpark, I'm not nice. Now sometimes, Claire, I do feel a little there have been times, like I caught myself in the last year where I got really triggered by Mel Robbins. And I was just like, why has Mel been able to figure it out? Like I'm so much further behind Mel. And I kind of was like, even her voice is getting on my nerves. And I was like, I could tell I was just really triggered that like Mel was having all the success that I wanted. And I'm not normally threatened. I'm usually motivated. But I I I kind of went down that track. And then I thought, ⁓ my gosh, Kim, okay, you can be where you were, but why don't you use Mel to motivate you? Like how can you now go back and what can you do different? So I then changed it to how can I be motivated by what that person is doing. And so when I put put myself in these masterminds, I get around people who are doing so much more than me and I feel excited about what is possible for me. And then all those people are downloading blueprints, new blueprints in us, Claire, new software systems, right? Because you're kind of like, if they can do it, well, I think I can do it too.
speaker-0: Yep. Yep. And you're gaining a new perspective while you're doing it. You you're you're seeing what they can do. You're seeing what's possible for you. Instead of staying in this space of I can't do it. No one, I don't know anyone who has done the thing I want to do, so therefore I can't do it. If you just reframe it just a little bit, just just tweak that phrase just a little bit. It can open a whole new perspectives for you.
speaker-1: Yeah, it it's interesting, Claire, because I was telling Scott that our son Spencer has grown up with a totally different money mindset. So when we were young, we, you know, didn't have a lot of money. We lived paycheck to paycheck. I bought his clothes at yard sales when he was little. And I have no shame in that. Like it was fun to go to those. But when my business started to take off, we did start to live. a very different life when it came to money. And so he was kind of young yet when that happened. And so he's had, you know, 10 to 12 years where he just thinks the sky's the limit. Like he has such a ⁓ a blueprint of success in him that he's like, he absolutely believes he will be a million dollar earner by the time he's 30. He absolutely believes he's going to achieve and all the like he has almost no Inhibitions about his ability to do this. And I told Scott it's interesting to see, because he was raised in an environment like I taught him about the law of attraction when he was in second grade. So he's heard all of that talk, even though we might have been living paycheck to paycheck. He saw a mother who was constantly putting images on a vision board, who was constantly talking about the words that we use and what we attract. And so it's kind of neat to see that. his downloadable blueprint and where he is starting from, I'm sure he still has work to do, but he's a lot further ahead than like my husband and I were at that age.
speaker-0: Yeah. And it's, you know, and that was programmed into his subconscious when he was little. And so he he in a sense does have a head start or a ⁓ a better understanding, let me put it that way, of money and how it works. And it can only benefit him going, you know, going forward. Yeah. So that's I think it's really I admire that 'cause that's something that I want to do with my son is instill that in him from an early ha age that he can do what Ever he sets his mind to. I I accredited that to my parents a lot. They instilled in me from a very young age that I could do anything. I could do anything. And I think I take that, and it almost doesn't matter to me what obstacles are standing in the way sometimes. I'm like, I will break through these obstacles. I have to, because I know there's something on the other side for me. I know there is. I believe it so wholeheartedly that I know there is something. better on the other side or more expansive, more abundant, I guess, let me put it that way. So
speaker-1: And honestly, like, so your I'll just be honest, like, you know, your mom and your Aunt Laura, they did come from a different financial background, so to speak, than what I came from. And I have ⁓ so much respect for my parents, but you know, they didn't have this very, you know, successful business. And so I found it interesting that when I started to hang out with your mom and Laura who did have different ways of living. I believe that that affected me. And like even last week I called your mom because your mom's very business savvy and she does know a lot about how to build and grow. And so I still reach out to her because she ha she grew up with that like entrepreneurial spirit and what to do. And so like she's kind of an example of that, you know, and I'll still play ideas, but like I other than I love the friendship that I have with your mom, I also see that she has helped me elevate, you know, like it it and by the way, she's one of my biggest, like when I I can actually call your mom and I can say, friend, I can't believe this, but this is what I get paid, you know, now. And she is 100% the most happiest, like strubble, gosh darn, I knew you could do it, you know? Like how many people do you have like it that in your life that could see that you're not just boasting that you're just super grateful because you came from really hard times at one time?
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And I I do say in more ways than one. I was I was very fortunate growing up. I was fortunate in a lot of ways, ⁓ financially. But, you know, I was able to even more so than that, I was able to see both of my parents and both parents have different backgrounds in growing up around money and how both worked so hard and And grew that the way that grew the way they did. That business mindset really has run deep in my family. even for that, like I'm so fortunate. So it's been really interesting to see how different parts of my life have really played into like parts I didn't even really expect would play into it, but how these different parts I mean that I learned over the years that I ⁓ just learned by modeling or by watching and observing. So one thing I did want to ask is. How are you able to continue on in those early, early stages, if there were any times that were that you struggled with visibility? Visibility on social media media. Like how did you find the people to to come and to pay you to to give speeches, to, you know, to talk to their educators? How did you find the people? How did they find you? And did you struggle with that visibility?
speaker-1: Well, first of all, you know, twenty twenty hit and I had, I don't know, like a lot of gigs booked and then all but four were wiped out. So I was like, ⁓ my gosh, how am I gonna survive? I have, you know, like I'm I'm w we're not in schools, we're not doing keynotes, we're not doing professional development. And believe it or not, Claire, so money is my income is greatly lowered. And guess what I did? Spent two thousand dollars on a course, a money mindset course, because I thought This is when you need the mindset work right now. So I went through a money mindset course. I worked a lot on forgiveness in that course, which I didn't realize that the bitterness and resentment that I'd been holding on to from some people in my life was actually causing me to not be able to achieve what I wanted to manifest. And so interestingly enough, then that next year is when I doubled my revenue because I had gone through that course. And so going back to Your question, one of the things that I am uninhibited in is I am going to show up on social media as the biggest damn version of myself. And I'm gonna promote the heck. I'm gonna show everybody every stage I'm on. I'm gonna show them what the back end stuff is. And I always tell people that you need to always hold and portray and embody a bigger version of yourself on social media. Then maybe like I'm not saying you make stuff up, but like, you know, I'm saying, who knows if a video I posted is something from six months ago or she was just on a stage yesterday. I'm showing people all the time, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm out there achieving, this is what how I'm out there serving, this is what I'm doing to help people. And I am unafraid to do that. But I have learned that many people are super scared to put themselves out on social media. So then I would say. Once again, you cannot have this goal of how you want to be and not hold the vibration of that. So if your fears are trumping you, then you simply need to understand you probably won't be able to attract what you want unless you can overcome that fear.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, that's so true. So final question. Say a long you have lived a long, happy life. Many, many years go by. You have lived a beautiful, beautiful life. And on the last day, someone brings you a book and asks you to write down the three most important things that you have learned to give to future generations. What are three things that you would share with others that you have learned along the way to believe in yourself? to take the risk on yourself, what would you say?
speaker-1: I think the first one would be to learn to love yourself. I actually think that self-love is the root of all of our problems and we don't realize it, but we are afraid to pour into ourselves. We are, we feel guilty about spending money on ourselves, investing in ourselves, giving ourselves the time and the space we need to replenish ourselves. And so I think that the biggest gift that you can give someone is the day that they've learned how to really love. themselves, regardless of any of their failings or misgivings. The second thing I think would be it, and by the way, I think that like love and relationships, there's no greater wealth out there than having people in your life. You know, I I mean the relationships that you have in your life with the people that you love, there's no better richness than that out there. The second thing I would say is. Chase after your dream. If you feel it, go for it and know that you are very capable of probably achieving it. And I always tell people, dream way, way, way bigger. I some people say like, well, I don't want to be disappointed if I don't reach that goal. I'm the opposite, Claire. I'm like, the goal is so damn big that even if I fail, I'm still gonna be so freaking delighted because I'm gonna be so much further than what I thought. And then I think the third thing would just be understanding that you are a co-creator of your life and you are 100% responsible for your life. Like bad things happen. I've had a lot of crappy things that I think are unfair or whatever. But at the end of the day, there's one person and one person only along with God that creates my life. And when I'm in partnership with God on that and I know what my responsibility is. Then I feel like then I'm taking complete ownership and I'm not slipping into victim mentality.
speaker-0: Wow. Thank you. Thank you. I I love those. I think the self love and the having your own the ownership of your life and being in authority of yourself is so incredibly important. So thank you.
speaker-1: Yeah. I'm watching you and I'm really proud of you. I'm watching every little step that you make.
speaker-0: ⁓ well thank you, Kim. Thank you so much for being on today and hopefully sometime in the future we could have you back on too. So thank you.
speaker-1: Great Claire. Thank you so much.
speaker-1: I'm doing great, Claire. Thanks for having me here today, honey.
speaker-0: This is like a full circle moment. Isn't this kind of weird? Like for those of you who don't know, Kim was my fourth grade teacher. And so it's a really wild full circle moment that I guess you did you ever expect me to have a podcast one day? No.
speaker-1: I didn't know you were this wonderful spiritual woo-woo-ee being that I was too, even when I was your teacher, but you wouldn't have known that. But interestingly enough, that is how your mother and I became best friends is we happened to be in a vehicle together with a group of women who were traveling to see a psychic in Bardstown, Kentucky. And your mom and I just completely hit it off because back then when nobody was talking about this stuff. And I actually felt such a connection to your mom. first and then of course I had you in my classroom. So it's delightful to have watched even the last two years your kind of growth and metamorphosis of this new chapter you're stepping into.
speaker-0: ⁓ thank you. I appreciate it. And I can remember like they're like growing up and like, you know, hanging out at your house all the time. I can remember like the conversations here and there between you and my mom of like talking about like spirituality trips and like ⁓ I think Sedona was an option at one point going to Sedona. So I can I can remember having like all of those conversations or like listening to them and being a part of them. So it's really cool that it's come like so full circle in this moment. So ⁓
speaker-1: Yes, it is, indeed. So
speaker-0: I was in fourth grade. I did the math. It was like two thousand seven, two thousand eight, I believe. So how long after that did you leave the teaching world and go into coaching educators?
speaker-1: My gosh, Claire. So, okay, so even to back that story up even further, I went to college and I quit after a year because I had severe panic disorder and I did not know that was what was wrong with me. I just thought something was wrong with my brain. And so I went to work as a secretary and then I went back to college. So I worked full-time as a secretary, drove 90 minutes to USI three days a week and worked into or went to school till midnight, got my teaching degree, but then when I got out, there were no teaching jobs available, believe it or not. So I stepped into a teaching assistance job and I made $8 an hour. And I was a single mom trying to make it on my own for the most part. And so I actually rode the special needs bus in the morning for an hour and in the afternoon for an hour because it generated 16 extra dollars a day for me. And in the year 2000 That happened to be exactly what it cost for Spencer's daily daycare. So then when I finally got my teaching position, I was just so delighted to have my own classroom. I remember I felt like I was making so much money. $29,600 was gonna be my yearly salary. And ⁓ I just loved teaching so much, but I always just felt this call to move into leadership. So from there I went on to become a literacy coordinator, then I was a curriculum director. And I had worked for one year for a consulting company where I was delivering professional development. And I was just not aligned to the same value system that they were. And so I remember I was 39 and I quit. I quit Claire and I kept saying to myself, I'm 39 years old and I don't have a job. Like I don't have a job lined up for next year. I'm 39 years old and I don't have a job. And I remember thinking that I've had a job since I was in fifth grade. Since fifth grade, I've had a f job. I babysat and you know, all kinds of stuff. But I read this book from Joel Olsteen and he told me I have to rephrase that. So I started saying, I'm 39 years old and the right job is headed my way. I'm 39 years old and the right job is headed my way. So I ended up getting this curriculum director's job for two and a half years. And I planted the seed inside my subconscious mind that someday I wanted to launch my own business. And I don't know. I would say that probably from the time you were in fourth grade, I think it was probably about six years later. I think I launched in 2016 Strobel Education full-time. I quit my curriculum director's job, study paycheck every two weeks. Free insurance, wonderful insurance, and I launched Strobel Education. ⁓ and there's just the whole story to how that came to be. So much I can say just about that topic.
speaker-0: Wow. So how are you even able to tell yourself that you were able to take that leap of faith and quit your very structured, very predictable job to go all in on yourself and on showable education?
speaker-1: Even now, Claire, I look back and so many people say, like, how did you start your own business? And how did you create this very successful, you know, now you're a motivational speaker and you step on these stages all across the country. And I will tell you that my answer now to that question is I utilized the law of attraction. I learned how to become a manifester and a co-creator with God. And that is how. The majority of how I launched my business, which is not what most people expect, like a business plan, like you created a business plan. For me, I just have always had this tiny whisper in the back of my brain of how wonderful it would be. But I I never at that young stage thought I could do anything like that. But from the year 2013 to 2016, I'm an avid runner, Claire. I was running 40 miles a week. And I will tell you, on every single run I took for two and a half years, I built my business visually in my brain. I saw the people in the crowd. I saw myself on the stage. I saw myself having the words that they needed to hear to be uplifted. I saw myself loving them. I saw them loving me. I created a vision board. I had been doing vision boards for several years, but I literally created a vision board that had pictures of me on giant stages where and I had never stepped onto a giant stage. I I printed out fake registrations. I printed out fake paychecks that had the numbers on them that said this is what I want to earn. And so I feel like because I saw and felt the motion of the business in my brain on every run for two and a half years. Then I started just like, I guess I started to believe in my ability to do it more because I was running those tapes in my head. So then the next thing you knew, I bought strubbleeducation.com as the domain. And then I bought Kim Strubble.com because I knew I wanted to do stuff outside of education. And I just started doing these like little right actions, you know? And I think All of that energy that I was putting out there was just, it's like, you know, Gabby Bernstein talks about this, like the universe has your back. And I feel like it really saw that like I believed in myself and I had so much courage and so much faith. And I had a wonderful therapist and life coach, Charlie Martin, who helped me believe in myself too. But it was a very risky thing, it felt like to do at the time. And I thought that I might be risking my family's financial future.
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And I can see like how difficult that would have been and how like scary that would have been. But it sounds like you literally you visualized so much that you started to become the person who was doing all of those things, even if you maybe you didn't know it at the time, but you really were. You were becoming that version of you who was on the big stage, who is getting the big paychecks and doing all the things. So when you took that leap of faith. Were there any voices, anything holding you back, any like negative talk, self-doubt, anything like that that was like, Kim, what are you doing? Don't do this. It sounds like you followed that intuition, like that inner guidance, but were there other voices that was like, Kim, stop, don't do this, don't do this?
speaker-1: ⁓ my gosh, yes. So my husband, which Claire, you know him, he is very laid back. He's a complete follower. And I always say the man's only stood up to me twice in his whole life. And one of those times was when I told him in September of 2015 that I wanted to quit my curriculum director's job and launch Strobel Education full time. And he about had an attack. He was so scared around money. He really did feel like, you know, like, how are you gonna find these people? Like I I I know you're really good, but like, how are you gonna find people? How are you gonna get yourself in schools? How are people gonna find you to hire you? And so that really scared me because, you know, he he is a very sound and grounding voice in our relationship. But when I tell you that the intuition was so overwhelming that it was as if I could not not do it. And I think that's kind of been my secret sauce. Like even now we're getting ready to launch an entire new leg of the business. And I don't know if it will generate a dollar, but I have these like strong intuitions that this is how we need to show up now and serve our educators. And I'm I think I'm really good at following and listening to that very intuitive guidance that does guide me.
speaker-0: Would you say that has been the most important part of this whole journey, following that inner guidance that inner and that intuition?
speaker-1: ⁓ my gosh, Claire. Absolutely. And I think that I'm an action taker. So I hear the intuitive thinking and the voice, and it fires me up and it fuels me. And then I start taking a lot of right actions, you know. And I even remember like the first year we launched, I thought if I can just make 30,000, we can sustain our house payment. I was lucky. I had a husband who did generate an income. So we needed both of my incomes, but we could still live if we, you know, didn't have mine. And so the first year, Claire, we we brought in 150,000 in revenue. Okay. But I'll show you how my brain can still get hijacked to this day. So Gay Hendricks writes in his book, The Big Leap. About how we all have this upper limit problem inside of us, which is an internal thermostat. And that internal thermostat says Kim's only comfortable making this kind of money. She's only comfortable having this much love in her life. She's only comfortable having this much peace, this much happiness. And whatever our internal thermostat that was set inside of us at a very young age from our parents, our caretakers, and our environment. So You know, the fact that I made $8 an hour and then thought I was really bl knocking it out of the ballpark at 30K. And then I have this first year and it's 150K. And Scott and I, we had always just done like really cheap vacations. Like we were so thankful when your mom invited us to go to your parents' condo in Florida and Spencer and I stayed for a week and didn't have to pay anything. I mean, those are the types of vacations we took. And so we treated ourselves to what would be considered a luxurious vacation. It was probably 4,000. And we were sitting on the beach. And I happened to be reading that book. And I remember sitting there and I was looking at the beautiful ocean and I was like, this is incredible. Like Strobel education showed up and served all these schools and it generated a hundred and fifty like that's wild. Look at us. And then all of a sudden, Claire, my brain went. That's not normal. That's an anomaly. You will never be able to sustain that. You actually probably are going to be lucky next year if you even make 30K. Like my brain automatically started sabotaging my ability to enjoy my success because I had not operated at those higher levels. And so I didn't have an internal blueprint yet to to do that. So I knew from that book that I had to up-level my internal blueprint. So that that became the new normal. Otherwise, I was going to sabotage myself with this, these thoughts of, ⁓ you know, it's just an anomaly that that happened and I'm going to be lacking, lacking, lacking. So I got to work on downloading those new money blueprints that said, absolutely, you're not only 150K maker a year, you're a 300K maker a year. And so what I have found is even now in my business, anytime we up level. I have to really go to work and make that the new normal.
speaker-0: So how did you how did you do that? How walk us through like how did you what did you say to yourself to be able to say, okay, I can actually sustain 150K or more a year.
speaker-1: So I'd already have the vision boards going, which you know, I'm looking at my most up-to-date one. It's about three years old over here, and I put little check marks on everything that I've accomplished. And then I've always really been into affirmation work. And so one of the things that you said earlier, Claire, that I kind of reiterated is you cannot base your potential, your ability of what you want to manifest if you base that. On where you currently are, you're never going to get there. So you said something like, You have to live the bigger version of yourself right now, even though you're not there, you're living it as if you are, which means the thoughts I'm pouring into my subconscious mind all the time, through, I will tell you, I'm an avid reader like you. So I read a ton of books that download new beliefs. I read books about prosperity. I read books about wealth. I read books about, you know, attracting richness in my relationships, richness in my joy, richness in my happiness. And yes, I'm not afraid to say it. Richness in my money. I read a lot of books that have shown me, wow, Kim, what you were taught about money isn't right. And what you were taught about your potential to earn money. So constantly personal development reading is always up leveling me. And then I write affirmations and I've been doing it for years. And so you know this, but you know, 5% of how we show up in life comes from our conscious thinking mind. That's the prefrontal cortex. And it's where you plan, it's where you think, it's where you execute. It's all the thinking that it takes you to get through the day. Most of it's going on there. But we all have this subconscious part of our mind, which as you know is the dark recess part of our mind. But what the research shows is that 95% of how we navigate life, Claire, comes from our subconscious mind. And that's where our beliefs about ourselves, our values, those types of things are housed there. So there's really like this back kind of software system that's actually running everything, but we're not aware of it. We don't even know that we're showing up with those beliefs of scarcity and lack and our. Inability to achieve what we want. So for me, I have like a lot of morning energetic practices that I do. So if I run you through my morning, this morning I woke up, I did my 22 minutes of transcendental meditation. I end that by saying some Catholic prayers that I grew up with. And then I repeat to myself five times: money circulates freely and abundantly through me, and there's always a divine surplus. Money circulates freely and abundantly through me, and there's always a divine surplus. I say that five times when I come out of my meditation. And then at night, when I do my night meditation, same thing. Then I go to my deck and I write my five gratitudes, what I'm thankful for, because gratitude is one of the highest vibrational frequencies that we can hold and put out into the universe. And that's the law of reprocity, as you know. So what we're putting out is being multiplied back to us. And then I write, I have 10 affirmations that I write right now, every single day. I've been doing it for years. Sometimes they change. And so you can see that just in my morning routine, you know, ⁓ and as soon as I get out of bed, I say, today's gonna be a great day, and I'm going to be lavishly prosperous in all areas of my life today. So, you know, these are the messages. And then on my like right now in front of my computer, it says, You deserve this because Couple of years ago, we really up-leveled the business and I almost doubled my revenue and I was like really shaky about it. Like, who am I to be this kind of earner? And so I wrote this note that says, You deserve this. Like I see it every day. Like, you deserve this, Kim. You've worked for it and you deserve it, you know? So I think for me, it's it's not like it's just an a a fabric of every part of my being.
speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. And I I refer to it as my programs, those programs we had as a child that we that were programmed into us. And a lot of the work that I do is help people program out those old beliefs and program in those new supportive beliefs. But the topic of money is a really big and really touchy subject to a lot of people. So how You know, we you walked us through kind of how you do your work and how you had to do this money kind of mindset work. So if you were speaking to someone who feels really uncomfortable talking about money, what would you say to them to help them feel more comfortable with money and to help them feel like they are better able to receive and look for ways in their life that they are better able to receive?
speaker-1: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that is we've that's a service that has ⁓ been done wrong is like there are certain topics we've been told you don't talk about money, you don't talk about sex. And in fact, I think we should be talking about all of those topics. ⁓ and so there's this idea like, okay, you need to like be humble and you should but it's really not about that. To me, when I can say to somebody like I did recently, like, I honor the woman who had to ride the special needs bus to make 16 extra dollars a day. And I want you to know the same woman steps on a stage for 60 minutes now and may make 12 to 15,000 for the 60 minutes that she's up there. And that doesn't mean that like that person is better than the $8 an hour Kim. But what it does show is that I was able to step in. To a way that I knew that I could show up and serve in a in a way that felt more alignment to me. And that if I can do it, the girl who had severe panic attacks and couldn't even walk to the grocery store or walk in the grocery store, then maybe you start to see that you can make, if you want, that kind of money too, or you can attain these types of goals or whatever it is. But you know, Sean Acre says that most of us are only utilizing 10% of our potential, Claire. There's 90% left, but we don't believe in ourselves to go out there and get it. And so for people who have trouble, I mean, I have a list of 20 money books. I mean, I think you and I send back and forth, right? I know. And it's like, read this one, read that one, because that's how you start to get comfortable. And I don't, you know, even on a sales call, sometimes I can feel myself nervous to say, okay, they want to book me. What's your price? 12,000.
speaker-0: Probably have all twenty.
speaker-1: And I'm like, I get a little nervous a little bit, but but I've even learned to just hold that. Like, my gosh, Claire, if you take 25 years worth of courses I've taken, books I've read, I am worth every bit of that. This is an expensive brain, you know? And so I think a lot of that is not seeing it in a boastful way or in a like she's bragging way, more of like, can you just own the light that you hold and also can you talk a little bit about that so that it creates a pathway for others to realize they can step into that too.
speaker-0: Yeah. And I I took a course actually through it's the yes supply method, which is where I learned about mindset coaching and all of the programming, subconscious programming. And one of the things she says is, and she's the founder, her name's Reese. She says for every dollar she puts into her continued education and knowledge, she expects from the universe. I can't remember if it's double that back or triple, I can't remember. But she said that's what she tells herself. every day is everything I put into myself in my education, I expect to have that doubled, if not tripled or more. So I think that's something too that I've kind of adopted that I'm not wasting money. I'm not spending, you know, like crazy amounts of money. I am pouring into myself. And then therefore I can give to others in a way that I wish I would have had when, you know, when I was first starting. And that does come with a with an expense or an investment, but it's because we are pouring into ourselves a priceless amount of money. So then you can therefore go and share, share that with others and help others better their lives too.
speaker-1: Exactly. And I think that, Claire, you're a very I mean, I've watched just I would say in the last two years, I feel like you have recreated your life. And I think it's when you started to own that you do have this special gift about you that you were afraid for a long time to acknowledge or talk about. And then the more you became Aligned to that, the more that it lit you up and the more that it allowed you to hold space for that version of yourself. And so I think that, you know, for me too, even spending money, like my husband grew up in a very, very frugal family. And so a lot of money mindsets have had to be busted there. And so, like one of the things that we're doing right now is we're building a big garage. And he also bought a try tune this week, Claire. And so he's like, wow, we're spending a lot of money this week. And I'm like, honey, we are putting money like that's paying people. It's putting money back into the economy. It's putting it into the universe. It's circulating. And we want to send that money, not with like, ⁓ we're, you know, we have it. It's there. It's been set aside for this. And now we're going to spend it joyously and we're going to know that it also benefits other people. So just kind of Seeing that, yeah, that that really, I think, Claire, the biggest investment one can ever make is in themselves. And and this is the other thing I was gonna say about you. I've watched you do that really hard inside work. And I will tell people all day long, I've had to work so hard, and to this day, I still do work hard on the inside of myself because that's what's always going to be reciprocated outwardly. And so if I don't have this in alignment, then I can't expect the reality that I want. And so I've watched you continue to do that. And I think that's really helped your efforts now to know, okay, you know, damn, this stuff works. It's worked on me. I've seen how I can change my life. And now I want to show other people the pathway of how they can do that. And I think that's where your special What you offer is very unique and special is that you've lived it. I mean, you and I even had a conversation like six months ago where you were going through a really hard time. And you even said, I think the universe is having me endure this hardship so that again I have the evidence of how I've been able to build myself back out of it. Right. Yes.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. It's been a very interesting journey. I didn't in the beginning, I didn't recognize how much work I would have to put in on myself and continue to put in on myself. But the one thing I noticed was the more I did, that stronger the stronger that intuition that we were talking about earlier kept coming through. And it had a louder voice, almost in a louder voice. And so I just simply kept following that nudge wherever it would lead me. And it helped me in so many ways. I've I've done so many incredible things that I never, never thought I would do. I actually I I took public speaking, ⁓ like the class in high school, like everyone else. And I've shared this story before, but I I worked really hard on a speech in that class. I was very, very proud of it. It was, for those of you who don't know who's listening, I used to breed Labradors and my speech was over the different colors of labs and everything about labs. And was so proud of it. I was so proud. I worked so hard. And I gave my speech and I was a little nervous. My voice was a little shaky. And I don't remember if it was that class or after that. But I got my grade back and she gave me a C minus. And I could not understand for the life of me. I had put so much work into it. I was so proud of the work that I did. And I didn't understand why I got that grade. Why was I graded on something that I was so, so proud of. And I think instances like those accumulate over time and they start wearing you down and pushing you down and making you believe you can't do it. Because one of the things I wanted to mention that you had said earlier, that you used to visualize yourself on stages or talking to people. And that's something I do. And I could never understand why. I see myself on stages talking to people, talking to large groups of people. And I always go back to that instance where I got a C minus in that speech class. And I it almost created this like disconnect, but I realize now, looking back, that that C minus had nothing to do with me. Why she gave me C minus, I'll never know. It you know, her choice. I don't know why she did it. But it doesn't diminish the work that I did and how proud I was of that speech. Even if I delivered it with a shaky voice or I was nervous or I talked too fast, which is something I naturally do, it didn't diminish my My passion, my purpose, it didn't diminish me.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I will say, Claire, so I always joke that in my high school speech class as a sophomore, out of 27 students, I was either the second to the worst or the worst because I also had panic attacks and did not know it. So there is nobody in the 1990 high school speech class at Tel City High School that would say, ⁓ wow, that girl is such an amazing speaker that she's gonna stand on a stage with 10,000 people. Nobody would believe that, right? And so I think the thing that we sometimes do, which is natural, is we look we do have these, this, what we think is evidence, right? Like I failed at that, that didn't work out. You know, I worked for that company for a year, that wasn't in alignment, but that didn't mean that I wasn't serving the way I needed to. I just needed my own business. And so I think we have to be really careful with the older versions of ourselves or the so called evidence that That says you really don't have this skill set because again, I'm gonna go back to the there's 90% of the potential there for you if you're willing to tap into it and and work at it and follow that gut instinct. And Claire, the number of, you know, I've learned manifestation now for 20 years. And I mean, I took a course before like five years ago that completely up-leveled. Me again. And so like I feel like my ability to constantly invest in myself, it ⁓ it almost always has like that's my super sauce. Like if you're gonna spend 5K on this course, Kim, Claire, I'm getting way more than 5K usually, you know, unless it's just a terrible course. Like the work I'm doing is like up leveling me. And so I feel like I'm I've always been somebody who is not afraid to invest in myself.
speaker-0: Yeah. Hey.
speaker-1: We can't figure this shit out on our own. No.
speaker-0: And that's honestly, I would I would have to agree that that is probably that was my answer. That was the answer I needed because we all have the answer within us. Like that is like something like we have the answers within us. And when I learned to start putting that work into myself and putting that effort into myself and not shying away from who I was always meant to be, I grew grew in you know, prosperity and I grew in so many ways that I never expected. I have I have g grew grown in friend groups, I've gained new friends, I have met new people who align with me and who aren't hoping that I don't succeed, if let me put it that way. Yes. I have found, you know, incredible, incredible people, people I never imagined I would have met. who want to see me succeed and grow. And I swear to you, that has it's almost like this frequency. When you meet people who are on the same frequency as you, you really start to act like them and become them. That's a very known thing. And I I recognize when I started growing and when I started meeting people who were also growing, I started growing even faster. I started going even further. And that, you know, believing in myself, putting the work in myself, it almost like opened this door For me to meet new people and to have new opportunities. And one of my favorite things to say, you know, the saying, knowledge is power. So I like to rephrase that. And I like to say, knowledge in action is power. You can have the knowledge all day long. You can have it. I could have all the answers in my head right now, but if I don't share them, they're not doing anything. So putting that knowledge in action, that's where the real power is. That's where that real
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: special, like all of all of this magical stuff comes to play and you that's where you create your life is putting and you know, when you work on that or you when you live your passion is when you put that knowledge into action and and do what makes you feel lit up inside.
speaker-1: You're you're exactly right. And I think like, you know, there's yeah, there's so many fears that can kind of come to the surface, so many of those like limiting beliefs. But one of the things that when I look back, you know, now that you're asking me these questions, I feel like I can kind of tell people how I did it, but it's just not gonna be your typical business one-on-one class. It's gonna be actually more spiritual based. But one of the things that I've always enjoyed doing is I wanna be around people who are so much better than me. And so some people get really triggered when they're around people who are smarter or more successful or more talented or higher earners. And they don't want to be around that because they they it makes them feel bad. I'm the opposite. So when I landed my first teaching job, I told the principal, put me next to the very best teacher in the school. And so when I got into this work and I started to be in courses with other people. Who at the time were like million dollar plus earners? I I think that you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. So when I'm around people who are so much more successful than I am and they're knocking it out of the ballpark, I'm not nice. Now sometimes, Claire, I do feel a little there have been times, like I caught myself in the last year where I got really triggered by Mel Robbins. And I was just like, why has Mel been able to figure it out? Like I'm so much further behind Mel. And I kind of was like, even her voice is getting on my nerves. And I was like, I could tell I was just really triggered that like Mel was having all the success that I wanted. And I'm not normally threatened. I'm usually motivated. But I I I kind of went down that track. And then I thought, ⁓ my gosh, Kim, okay, you can be where you were, but why don't you use Mel to motivate you? Like how can you now go back and what can you do different? So I then changed it to how can I be motivated by what that person is doing. And so when I put put myself in these masterminds, I get around people who are doing so much more than me and I feel excited about what is possible for me. And then all those people are downloading blueprints, new blueprints in us, Claire, new software systems, right? Because you're kind of like, if they can do it, well, I think I can do it too.
speaker-0: Yep. Yep. And you're gaining a new perspective while you're doing it. You you're you're seeing what they can do. You're seeing what's possible for you. Instead of staying in this space of I can't do it. No one, I don't know anyone who has done the thing I want to do, so therefore I can't do it. If you just reframe it just a little bit, just just tweak that phrase just a little bit. It can open a whole new perspectives for you.
speaker-1: Yeah, it it's interesting, Claire, because I was telling Scott that our son Spencer has grown up with a totally different money mindset. So when we were young, we, you know, didn't have a lot of money. We lived paycheck to paycheck. I bought his clothes at yard sales when he was little. And I have no shame in that. Like it was fun to go to those. But when my business started to take off, we did start to live. a very different life when it came to money. And so he was kind of young yet when that happened. And so he's had, you know, 10 to 12 years where he just thinks the sky's the limit. Like he has such a ⁓ a blueprint of success in him that he's like, he absolutely believes he will be a million dollar earner by the time he's 30. He absolutely believes he's going to achieve and all the like he has almost no Inhibitions about his ability to do this. And I told Scott it's interesting to see, because he was raised in an environment like I taught him about the law of attraction when he was in second grade. So he's heard all of that talk, even though we might have been living paycheck to paycheck. He saw a mother who was constantly putting images on a vision board, who was constantly talking about the words that we use and what we attract. And so it's kind of neat to see that. his downloadable blueprint and where he is starting from, I'm sure he still has work to do, but he's a lot further ahead than like my husband and I were at that age.
speaker-0: Yeah. And it's, you know, and that was programmed into his subconscious when he was little. And so he he in a sense does have a head start or a ⁓ a better understanding, let me put it that way, of money and how it works. And it can only benefit him going, you know, going forward. Yeah. So that's I think it's really I admire that 'cause that's something that I want to do with my son is instill that in him from an early ha age that he can do what Ever he sets his mind to. I I accredited that to my parents a lot. They instilled in me from a very young age that I could do anything. I could do anything. And I think I take that, and it almost doesn't matter to me what obstacles are standing in the way sometimes. I'm like, I will break through these obstacles. I have to, because I know there's something on the other side for me. I know there is. I believe it so wholeheartedly that I know there is something. better on the other side or more expansive, more abundant, I guess, let me put it that way. So
speaker-1: And honestly, like, so your I'll just be honest, like, you know, your mom and your Aunt Laura, they did come from a different financial background, so to speak, than what I came from. And I have ⁓ so much respect for my parents, but you know, they didn't have this very, you know, successful business. And so I found it interesting that when I started to hang out with your mom and Laura who did have different ways of living. I believe that that affected me. And like even last week I called your mom because your mom's very business savvy and she does know a lot about how to build and grow. And so I still reach out to her because she ha she grew up with that like entrepreneurial spirit and what to do. And so like she's kind of an example of that, you know, and I'll still play ideas, but like I other than I love the friendship that I have with your mom, I also see that she has helped me elevate, you know, like it it and by the way, she's one of my biggest, like when I I can actually call your mom and I can say, friend, I can't believe this, but this is what I get paid, you know, now. And she is 100% the most happiest, like strubble, gosh darn, I knew you could do it, you know? Like how many people do you have like it that in your life that could see that you're not just boasting that you're just super grateful because you came from really hard times at one time?
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And I I do say in more ways than one. I was I was very fortunate growing up. I was fortunate in a lot of ways, ⁓ financially. But, you know, I was able to even more so than that, I was able to see both of my parents and both parents have different backgrounds in growing up around money and how both worked so hard and And grew that the way that grew the way they did. That business mindset really has run deep in my family. even for that, like I'm so fortunate. So it's been really interesting to see how different parts of my life have really played into like parts I didn't even really expect would play into it, but how these different parts I mean that I learned over the years that I ⁓ just learned by modeling or by watching and observing. So one thing I did want to ask is. How are you able to continue on in those early, early stages, if there were any times that were that you struggled with visibility? Visibility on social media media. Like how did you find the people to to come and to pay you to to give speeches, to, you know, to talk to their educators? How did you find the people? How did they find you? And did you struggle with that visibility?
speaker-1: Well, first of all, you know, twenty twenty hit and I had, I don't know, like a lot of gigs booked and then all but four were wiped out. So I was like, ⁓ my gosh, how am I gonna survive? I have, you know, like I'm I'm w we're not in schools, we're not doing keynotes, we're not doing professional development. And believe it or not, Claire, so money is my income is greatly lowered. And guess what I did? Spent two thousand dollars on a course, a money mindset course, because I thought This is when you need the mindset work right now. So I went through a money mindset course. I worked a lot on forgiveness in that course, which I didn't realize that the bitterness and resentment that I'd been holding on to from some people in my life was actually causing me to not be able to achieve what I wanted to manifest. And so interestingly enough, then that next year is when I doubled my revenue because I had gone through that course. And so going back to Your question, one of the things that I am uninhibited in is I am going to show up on social media as the biggest damn version of myself. And I'm gonna promote the heck. I'm gonna show everybody every stage I'm on. I'm gonna show them what the back end stuff is. And I always tell people that you need to always hold and portray and embody a bigger version of yourself on social media. Then maybe like I'm not saying you make stuff up, but like, you know, I'm saying, who knows if a video I posted is something from six months ago or she was just on a stage yesterday. I'm showing people all the time, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm out there achieving, this is what how I'm out there serving, this is what I'm doing to help people. And I am unafraid to do that. But I have learned that many people are super scared to put themselves out on social media. So then I would say. Once again, you cannot have this goal of how you want to be and not hold the vibration of that. So if your fears are trumping you, then you simply need to understand you probably won't be able to attract what you want unless you can overcome that fear.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, that's so true. So final question. Say a long you have lived a long, happy life. Many, many years go by. You have lived a beautiful, beautiful life. And on the last day, someone brings you a book and asks you to write down the three most important things that you have learned to give to future generations. What are three things that you would share with others that you have learned along the way to believe in yourself? to take the risk on yourself, what would you say?
speaker-1: I think the first one would be to learn to love yourself. I actually think that self-love is the root of all of our problems and we don't realize it, but we are afraid to pour into ourselves. We are, we feel guilty about spending money on ourselves, investing in ourselves, giving ourselves the time and the space we need to replenish ourselves. And so I think that the biggest gift that you can give someone is the day that they've learned how to really love. themselves, regardless of any of their failings or misgivings. The second thing I think would be it, and by the way, I think that like love and relationships, there's no greater wealth out there than having people in your life. You know, I I mean the relationships that you have in your life with the people that you love, there's no better richness than that out there. The second thing I would say is. Chase after your dream. If you feel it, go for it and know that you are very capable of probably achieving it. And I always tell people, dream way, way, way bigger. I some people say like, well, I don't want to be disappointed if I don't reach that goal. I'm the opposite, Claire. I'm like, the goal is so damn big that even if I fail, I'm still gonna be so freaking delighted because I'm gonna be so much further than what I thought. And then I think the third thing would just be understanding that you are a co-creator of your life and you are 100% responsible for your life. Like bad things happen. I've had a lot of crappy things that I think are unfair or whatever. But at the end of the day, there's one person and one person only along with God that creates my life. And when I'm in partnership with God on that and I know what my responsibility is. Then I feel like then I'm taking complete ownership and I'm not slipping into victim mentality.
speaker-0: Wow. Thank you. Thank you. I I love those. I think the self love and the having your own the ownership of your life and being in authority of yourself is so incredibly important. So thank you.
speaker-1: Yeah. I'm watching you and I'm really proud of you. I'm watching every little step that you make.
speaker-0: ⁓ well thank you, Kim. Thank you so much for being on today and hopefully sometime in the future we could have you back on too. So thank you.
speaker-1: Great Claire. Thank you so much.
