Break the Hustle-Mold: Redefining Success & Joy in Business with Leanne Knight

From social media graphics to course workbooks , she creates visuals with a focus on impact , clarity and shareability . So today , on the Scenic Route Podcast , we have Leanne . I'm always doing this fucking singing thing . I have no idea why . Please slap me .

But so today Leanne told me like oh , she applied to be on the Scenic Route Podcast because she's like well , it's called the Scenic Route , I gotta fucking have to . Leanne , what does Scenic Route mean to how you approach life and business ?

And I had to like preface this by saying like I grew up as like a good student , good girl , like doing the right things .

They're like , oh , like you're really , or like they're like I didn't know you were so busy because you're not available for a call this week , and I'm like it's not that I'm busy , it's that I don't want . I don't take last minute stuff like that , I want the boundaries .

time , like to do nothing , not to be available to you .

You said , like you weren't , you weren't warned this way , which is really interesting because , like most of my clients weren't , most people here in the city group podcast weren't . Most of them were like good girls , high achievers , like so what was there ? Like a little moment or like something profound , that kind of like inspired you to shift your focus .

That was my community , like it was cool . And then I remember like going to this , like leadership conference or something , and I was like looking at the books and I was just like present and I was like , hmm , and then like one someone from my church walked up to me and was like Leanne , we're all waiting for you . Where are you ?

Like , what are you doing ? And I was like , oh , I can be doing all the right things and I'm still going to get in trouble , in trouble , quote , unquote like for not doing the right thing . And I think that is like started to set me on the path of like , oh , I'm not going to make everyone happy , so I need to make myself happy . Yeah .

But I mean it's really the case though , right , like I mean I , I tried for so long I mean I can so relate I tried for so long to make , like , specifically , my mom happy until realizing , well , it's never good enough . So I rather not deal with all the crazy and have like a peaceful , serene life . And I mean like be the damn child anyway .

So I mean , if I be the cursed child , then I rather have my peace than like not just doing all the things where I'm like no , I don't actually want to do that . Yeah , so tell me more like how .

Like for most of us , when we say we're on a scenic route and we're taking things slow , that usually requires a quiet , deep shift from looking away from to , let's say , traditional goals and traditional values or focus points in both kind of like how you approach business and how you approach life in general .

Right , Actually , I think , when it comes to money , right , like not saying the scenic route is a poor , you got to be poor at a scenic route . Absolutely fucking not .

I want you to have all the money you need or to keep whatever lifestyle you desire , but it's still kind of like how do we , how do you define success now in your business or in your personal life , when you don't prioritize money as the main objective ?

of it not , and like going down this journey . And then there's just I feel like I got bored of certain things early on , the like plan your content for the next year . I'm like why would I be planning what I'm gonna do 12 months from now ?

Like that's a walk up to me , but anyways , but that's turning up , like learning all the things and all of that , and then realizing that like being immersed in this productivity culture , and eventually I was like I don't wanna do things just to do things . I like to be organized and all of that .

Of course , like I said , I'm a good girl or whatever , but I mean ex-girl or whatever . So it's become , over the years , easier for me to spot the things like , or the tactics that are geared towards productivity for productivity's sake .

And this all has to do with living in capitalism and how everyone's life is from a child geared towards like make sure they're in a good preschool so they can learn and keep up and so they can get to a good college and so they can get a good job and so they can make money and function in the system .

Even before I started my business , I was a freelancer in live event production and I would show up to work and people would be talking about the other gigs that they are working on and I was so bored by that . I was like what do you like to do outside of work ? And of course I was .

You know , it just all comes like goes around in circles for me a little bit , because I'm like , yeah , well , I'm here to make money , but also my life isn't my whole job , but I'm here because of the system and because we have to . So let me get myself back on track .

Like if you were said kind of like okay , you have to . Kind of like you don't want to prioritize money , like can you share with us like an example of how this like actively decentralizing money has positively impacted , like how you do business , or like how you approach business .

So Can you share , like specific examples like that you do , maybe , when it comes to like how you actually set goals or how you do like you got to as long as I mean you , yes , you're , we're not focusing on money , but still we have a certain and that varies from person to person , but everyone has a certain need for financial stability . Right , and how ?

What can I like ? Like ? Can you like shoot out practical insights or examples that you're doing ?

Oh , that sounds like a lovely church , yeah . And so on the flip side , I'm like no , like my , I want to prioritize my body first . So some of the things that I do are one of my goals or values for being a business owner is to never set an alarm . Yeah , I also don't have kids , a side note .

And also , my best energy is not necessarily 8 am to 5 pm or whatever . So first thing is not waking up early . Not waking , it's not the , not it's the , allowing myself to sleep as much as I need to , and letting that be okay .

Yesterday I woke up at like noon , so every day is different .

What happens is there's like I see this in like stages sort of . There's a stage of like hustle . It's like work all the time , work a million hours a week , and then you're like , oh wait , I don't want to do that .

So you scale back and you're like I'm only or you're burning out , and you're really like I'm not , like I'm choosing the worst Because you don't . Yeah , but you might scale back and be like , okay , I'm going to work only nine to five every day because that's my working hours .

And then , when you're in that mindset , we often think like don't work on the weekends and don't work at night . And if you see someone send an email at 10 pm and you're like , oh my God , they can't believe they're working at night . And then the phase after that is realizing that time is made up and this nine to five structure although just side note .

Of course , that came from unions and we appreciate that the union is bringing in these like guidelines and stuff . And oh God , yeah , like people get overworked , yeah . At the same time , it's still part of capitalism . That's like productivity is the thing that we're striving for , to do more and more and more .

So it's like , oh okay , so the nine to five structure and beating myself in , that is still part of capitalism . And so to be anti-capitalist is to and this in this aspect is to be choosing when I want to work , when it works for me , and not what the clock says and not what someone else says .

So I could be working on the weekend or at night , I could be sleeping until noon and working , you know , two until midnight or something , if that's what I want , because I'm doing what's aligned for me , and there are times that we're doing things that we don't really wanna do , but we're making you know , maybe waking up early every day is not super what you

wanna do , but it's something that we're agreeing to because of the season we're in and what we're working towards . But just for me , I also feel like I'm like unemployable now , because I just can't have somebody telling me you need to be at this place at this time every day .

And I also like a lot . I've cut back on this a long time ago , but I don't like working at night because then you have to come back in after the concert's over and take it all down and like for years I've been like that is my bedtime , I'm not available , like I don't want to do that .

But I mean , if that's , if you know this is how it helps supporting you and feeling better and bringing you back into your alignment , then do that right , instead of but really pause and reflect and ask yourself , well , why am I doing certain things ? Why am I taking this to be like the silver bullet , like I always ask ?

Sometimes I have clients where they come with like , oh , I don't know , I've seen at one point or another , I've always come and talking about like online , like education , and should I do another program or course or whatever , from doing a PhD down to like a $44 online course , and it's always kind of like well , why do you want to do it Right ?

Do you want to do it because you have you're attaching hope that this thing will save you ? Or are you doing it because I know it sounds fun , you're curious , you're whatever , and just really think about that why you're doing certain things or why you're signing up , regardless if it's a small investment or a big investment .

Yeah , so , yeah , I really I can totally relate . So let's go to circle back again . You said you started your business in 2020 . So you have a couple of years now , I mean in your backpack , all the COVID years which were , yeah , anyway , let's not get into that .

But hey , what advice would you give someone who is also thinking about starting your own business or an early stage entrepreneurship , and who want to adopt a similar approach to doing , a more kinder approach to business , but kind of fear the financial caught back or instability of it ?

That is building trust , and then in the next few years I'm going to have to have to have some trust and then another . The next part of this is trusting that the energy and inspiration will come and so noticing when that does happen .

I do this with stuff around the house that I pile up the dishes all day and I feel bad about it , and then at the end of the day , in like 10 minutes , I just go through everything and put it all in the dishwasher or whatever , and I'm like I knew when it was time and I did it all at once , like it happened .

Whatever you're sitting down to do , and noticing if you're feeling resistant to it . And sometimes I'm sitting down to design something and I'm like , oh , I have no idea what to do , I don't wanna do this .

And I'm like , oh , okay , I'm not in the right creative space to do this , so I'm not going to make myself do it , I'm going to and some of that takes some work to find out when is your best energy and how do you give yourself the best chance , cause sometimes we are avoiding things that we again procrastination is happening for a reason .

So sometimes we're avoiding things that we're not ready to do , but we are also like I think we're I don't know what to call it like our wisest leader or whatever . We know what's right for us , so we know when it's like , okay , I keep avoiding this , I'm ready to stop avoiding it , I'm gonna make an appointment with myself .

So this is something that I try that I would suggest people like making an appointment with myself , that at this time I'm sitting down to work on that thing . And because I've built up self-trust by , when my body's asking for something , I pretty much always give it to my body , to myself .

So I'm gonna sit down and do this thing and I know that if it's not coming I can change my mind . And that's the self-trust . It's like I feel like this with like a kid and again , I'm not a parent but it's like you're not forcing them to try things , and so they know that they have the option .

And then when you give them the option to try something and they know that they can change their mind , they're a little more likely to give it a shot , and then they know that they can change their mind .

But again , maybe I think this will be also super useful for anyone thinking about figuring out how to do this online business thing . I remember , like back in the days when I started I think it was 2017 , there were so many things there's still so many things you could do , should do , must do , at all costs .

And you said before right , Like at the beginning , well , you really got to focus on what is like we're not focusing on productivity for productivity's sake , Well , so okay for saying that we kind of have to figure out what is really moving the needle in our business and what doesn't . And they ask that to cut out mercilessly .

So how did you approach this when you started that ? How did you test , experiment , find out what is actually moving the needle for your business , what marketing activity or what platform or ?

And it's like , oh , I don't like that company , I'm not going to work for them again . And I think in my business too , it's like , okay , people want to have meetings with me and people said I should do this and this and that . And I try that .

And it's like , oh , I don't like how I felt that day when I had all of these meetings and they were like good things , like coffee chats to connect with people , like networking stuff . That is an important part of my business , but I didn't like how that felt that day and so I'm not going to do it again .

So I think it's just like you have to try things and be open open to whatever comes of it and then gauge if , like , it's working for you . You go back and assess instead of just doing the same thing again and again because someone told you you're supposed to be doing that .

I see people who , like their schedulers , are like open all day , every day , and I only let people schedule with me two days a week , like , yeah , that's what I'm like I don't . I already know that that doesn't work for me .

And even if that's what other people are doing , or other people say you should do , or they have this mindset of like , well , what if they can't meet those days , what are they going to do ? Like they're going to ask you hey , I can't get those days .

And I know I don't want to have to be in the middle of the day because I don't know . Yeah , just without me , and yeah . So sometimes it works , sometimes it doesn't , and whatever comes your way .

And that's again trusting one , trusting yourself and trusting whatever you believe in , like God , greater power , timing , karma , whatever it is that it will all like show up on your doorstep and the most perfect timing of all .

And so I mean I think that I'm having slower growth than I might if I was hustling , but also , on the other hand , I would burn out and not be growing . So I think this is more effective , but also I just it comes to trusting that I can I know it's a little buzzwordy but be my authentic self and honor my energy .

So now I forgot what I was saying because you called me .

And I also wanted to add , like you said , well , you're kind of like you're at peace with a potential slower growth that if you were to be to hustle . But that's the thing . I think that's built on the assumption and the premise that the more I hustle , the more successful I will be .

Because this is what what Kevin does and tells us the harder you work , the bigger your reward . And for 99.9 of all people , this is just not fucking true . You're not more successful , or most likely you will not be . So rather like , not like work yourself to the ground and really focus on hey , how can I do this ?

They don't want to work . And I want to center in my life , like experiencing joy and having the rest I need and connecting with people I love and doing things that light me up . And so , yes , I will have a slower growth in my business . Maybe in some ways I will have slowly be , but why was that the priority ? To grow my business ?

And it all comes back around to . You know it was capitalism , but yeah it always does .

And maybe that was true for boomer parents , but most of us , and definitely Gen Z , like they know , it's just not fucking true . Right , there's and saying so is just neglecting that so many people in all parts of the world hustle to , the , hustle their body to death and not get anything for it . Yeah , right .

So in that , as said , right , you just you'd never know right . And also like the term slower growth you're at the growth you're at and you don't know if it could be faster or slower or whatever . You just you don't know right , whatever , if you could hustle more , sure . And but also I'm always thinking of okay , if I . That's also kind of like .

One thought of the scenic route is like , okay , I could take the highway to get to point B instead of taking scenic route , but I would hate the entire drive there . The entire way of going to point B would be just a pain , so why would I bother ? Yeah , and I mean , oh , this is not just occurring to me , I'm interesting .

I think of of that having a religious upbringing , right , I mean , I grew up Roman Catholic , not a super religious household , but still and it's more of a Protestant work ethic of the things like , oh , the harder I work , the greater the paradise will be .

It's not like a monetary reward , but it's kind of like the reward of spirituality and or being a good Christian and getting entry to paradise , whatever it's kind of like dangled in front of us . What do you say ? Is this something that is really deeply ingrained to from a religious point of view ?

It was taught in my upbringing to deny yourself pleasure and good things and just all of this brainwashing about that good things are actually bad . And then it's like and your soul or whatever ? Yeah , some of this is about the sex before marriage stuff that teenagers are taught and stuff like that . That's bad .

So it's like , this thing that sounds pleasurable it's actually bad . So you can't trust yourself . So , really , purity culture at its best . And then also this is not necessarily a religious thing , although definitely intertwined in that is food . If it tastes good , it's bad .

Or you're like , oh , this is my gutsy pleasure , I'm going to indulge in this chocolate or something , and it's all of this not trusting yourself and that things that you think are good you should feel bad about . So if I want to sleep in , I should feel bad about that .

It permeates everything that , everything that feels good or that my body's asking for or that I want or I'm afraid to want . Actually , it's all according to my upbringing . Actually , that's all bad for you . So if you want it , it's bad for you .

And part of that is a part of the answer is , at least like I mean , I come from a sociological perspective is that shame is such a great fucking mechanism of control .

If you shame people into how they feel about their body , how they feel about their religion , how they feel about themselves , you have way more means of controlling them and selling them whatever kind of shit they don't need . Right , oh , you feel bad about your body . Okay , I told you that eating this guilty food is bad .

So now you feel bad about eating the guilty food and you'll feel bad about your body . So , hey , now I can tell you something that will make you feel as bad about your body . So here's the latest diet , and it just on and on it goes . So which ?

Yeah , circling back to what you said before , what you touched upon too , right , there's nothing , ever , right , you know your body knows there will never be like an external force or anything that will tell you better , Ultimately , what is right , regardless of I mean sure you can .

It's valuable to taking consideration of people who have walked before you , of people who are expert in their fields , like I don't know , going from copyrighted to medical doctors but at the end of the day , it's your lived experience and you know , oh , this makes my skin crawl , or this is actually making me feel good .

And I think that when you realize that it really changes the way you market and on honestly , like I have felt so much more at ease in any sales call like quote , unquote sales call , because I'm really I'm not there to like convince them or to touch on their pain points or to what's the other term about like whatever , like blocks that they have like or they

don't have enough money , and I can like combat everything that they , every issue that they have or whatever like I'm not here to convince them , I'm just here to like I know what I have to offer , I know what I like to do , I have my systems like .

So you know if they bring something to me , I can see if it fits in my like , what I offer , in my methodology and if it works for them and if it sounds like they're interested and I don't have to like get a yes on the call or something like that . Or like sign the paper on the call . I can be like here's what I have .

Think it over about it Like yeah see how it feels .

Yeah , you need to trust that everything you're doing is kind of like compounding and it will pay off . You never know how , because the how is ultimately not in your control at all , but it's just kind of like gotta do . Gotta do , keep bettering what you love .

I can do what I can do and I can try to move in the direction I want to move , but I can't make anyone do anything and I can't make anything happen , which is like comes back to like is hustling going to really make my business grow faster ? Like I can't really make success happen .

hangups around it or whatever , if you can call it that . But also they were like then I got busy over the summer and I was like you know what ? I didn't want to do this over the summer either . So are we ready now ?

Like , and we like re-scoped the work and talked about whatever was misaligned and then we started and it was like this timing was way better than if I had like forced it , pushed for it , like pushed for it , or tried to get her to say yes or something like you know , say what I wanted , or try to make her to like want to pay the money that she didn't

want to pay , or what if I tried to cut my prices ? Or what if I tried to offer her like all of these like manipulation things to make it fit which , again , if I wanted to make those choices . They are choices I could make .

Actually , in this situation , I feel like it would make sense to like I have the boundaries in place and then I get to choose . If it's the right situation , that I want to do something different , but if I didn't have those boundaries , then like what would be happening ?

I loved how we touched on a lot of things , especially when someone thinking of starting out and giving this online business thing a shot . I loved how we cursed capitalism in every second sentence Always here for that . So if anyone is like listening and starting out , where I want to like hear more of you , leanne . Where can they find you ?

Where you're hanging out ?

I also am hosting every month a graphic design clinic and this is for like people starting out DIYing their stuff and then we'll come in a very , very like chill , relaxed , supportive way , like we'll look at stuff and see how you can be , have more brand consistency and have more of yourself , which I know you're kind of , jennifer have more of yourself showing up

in your branding graphics . Oh , I love the graphic clinic . I love that . Thanks , yeah , actually it's thegraphicdesigncliniccom , so good one .

So you can just kind of walk through that and see what things you have and what things you might be missing . So you know where to go from there . Perfect .

Yeah , I've done it for like a week and it's good .

Yeah , we had to get there , though we had to get there from the van trip thing .