Finding Your Best Path in Business and Life with Kristin Morrison

She lives an adventurous life in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the big island of Hawaii . Kristin , hi , welcome on the scenic route .

We decided to kind of like let our intuition run the show , so we'll see where that gets us . I'm sure we're going to get somewhere juicy anyway . And before we dive right in , christine , give us like some idea of who you are , like what were the major crossroads that got you to where you're today ?

I had never taken a business class , had always actually kind of secretly despised business owners and thought they were too straight laced and not creative , and I just had all these preconceived notions of business and business owners which were totally inaccurate . And I discovered that as I became a business owner .

What I realized is that I needed to educate myself in order to create a successful business Because , like I said , I had no idea how to get clients , how to keep clients , how to market my business , how to create profit in a way that actually worked for me and helped me work smarter rather than harder .

And so I began enrolling myself in my own business course . At night I got books from the library . That's how long ago it was .

And one of the books that I really that had a really big impact on me was the email , and it was about creating passive income . It was about really running your business in a way that could eventually run without you , and that was really revolutionary to me . And I also read hiring books that helped me hire really wonderful people .

But in the beginning I did not know what I was doing and I hired pretty bad people who had I kept them would have caused my business to really suffer , but I was able to let them go pretty quickly . And then I had someone contact me about five years into my business . I had a website .

I had somebody find my website and she was a pet sitter in New York City and I was in Northern California running my business and she said I don't know how I found your website , but you look like you're very successful . Would you be willing to coach me , and that was in the year 2000 . And so I began Coaching wasn't a thing .

It wasn't a thing in the year 2000 . And I said I'd love to help you , and so she hired me to be her coach and within a few months her business began to grow and become successful in a way that she had always longed for .

And her pet business community the pet sitters and dog walkers she knew in New York City noticed it and they said what is your secret sauce here ? And she said , pristin .

And so they began working with me and this West Coast girl , me , all of a sudden had all these kind of tough New York City dog walkers and pet sitters and they were pretty badass and they were really able to succeed .

And what I looked about these New York City business owners is that they all had the same business but there was collaboration rather than competition . It was so heartwarming .

I mean the fact that she shared me with her pet business tribe said a lot but then the fact that they told their friends and gradually I had pet business owners from all over the country working with me and eventually all over the world .

So within five years , from 2000 to 2005 , I had hundreds of pet business owners that I was coaching all over the world and they said I would love for you to write a book . Would you be willing to write a book so that I can read you at 3 AM when I'm spending in my business ? And so I said sure , and I wrote a book .

And I actually wrote that book 70% of that book in two long weekends no way . I sequestered yeah , I sequestered myself in my little cottage in front of my fireplace , sat on the floor with my back to my sofa and began to write out a book .

Yep , it just downloaded from spirit like 70% of it , and then I hit writer's block after two weekends and I just had a really hard time kind of filling in the missing pieces . And so I began working with a writing coach who helped me really figure out what needed to be in there in order to create a really succinct , comprehensive book or pet business owners .

I've since written six books for pet business owners , wow , yeah , and five of them are audio books , because a lot of people these days prefer listening rather than reading , which is such a great way to work .

So I just finished my newest book , which is going to be out early next year , in 2024 , which is for all types of business owners .

And also , what began happening with the pet business owners is they began either retiring from the pet business and starting another business that was unrelated to pets or they told their family and friends about me , who then contacted me to help them in their various businesses , and so now I was a very organic branching out .

It really was , and that's the way I've always run my business , and that's the part of business that I really love is like listening deeply to the soul of the business and what the business wants and what I want Right , and a lot of times those are in alignment .

It's like my soul lines up with the business soul , the soul of my business , and when those two are compatible , there's magic , yeah , and it flows , there is synergy and it's just effortless , easy , smooth and delicious , yeah , yeah .

how you . I think one of his main pieces in the book is that you have to work on your business and not just in your business . Yes , and how many ? So many of us , right , we start our businesses because we are good at something , we have a skill that we do incredibly well Help you , writing , taking pictures , designing websites , whatever .

And then we're like , oh , okay , so I can do this as a business . And then you're like , oh , oh , and you start getting a few clients , all as well . Then it comes like the value of despair and you're like , oh , something this is not . Oh , this is not what I thought it would be .

You know one way to fast track that is sorry .

They all have this like this would be so cool if you could do that . It's really the thing of like okay , you hear it , it's dear . Are you going to go act on it ? Not saying you have to like chump ship , abandon everything and act on it , but how can you maybe get like a notch , like notch closer To even see if that's what it is , you don't know .

Right , like yeah , maybe .

Do we need a billboard ? Right , that could be the billboard . Yeah , yeah , but that could be the billboard that we're looking for . But , you know , if there's a number of messages that we're getting and if our inner self is feeling excited , enthusiastic , inspired , then you know we may need to do some research on how to do this .

If it's something we've never done before , yeah , and so that can be a process . We could hire a mentor who has done it before , whatever the it is , whether that be creating an online course , creating a podcast , whatever it may be , writing a book , yeah , anything . So the fast track can often be having somebody help you .

I mean , you can do research to like how's come home , but that could cause you to not move forward in a way that you know be accountable to somebody like a coach , like a mentor , like a friend who has done what you got to do and aspire to do so , and the capability , I think , is a big piece of it and taking it down to small pieces rather than looking

at the whole pie and often when we look at the whole pie of what we need to do , it's overwhelms us in but it's really what's the first micro step you can take to create what you want to create , and that can sometimes free up the energy to move forward even more , even more , even more .

They're like it's a lot of work , it is a lot and it brightly , so right , yeah . And then it's like , okay , how can we break it down so you're not like getting completely overwhelmed before we even started .

That isn't for the faint of part , but what's on the other side of that is liberation , freedom , beauty , yeah , in your case , what you're creating for your clients , right , and it's a clear message , yes , yep .

We want to evolve , we want to do better , we want to be better , but and then , when we're actually moving the hearts and doing the transformation you share , it feels scary and it makes you uncomfortable as fuck . It really is . You're feeling uncomfortable . You're like this is not . No , I don't like this .

Nope , your survival ego brain is like Gary , move away back off . So how can we , or how do you , or how do you , or for your clients to this period of this feels uncomfortable .

It's like constant reminders , even if we know we need to do them and we've known it for years . So what I will do if I can sense or see anxiety in my clients , or fear or you know , any number of reflections of overwhelm , I say , okay , let's take a pause here .

What I want you to do is just take a really deep breath and I breathe with them for just a few moments .

And what begins to happen , with the simplicity of the breath and bringing life force in , is that the neural pathways , which we're beginning to get really charged up and anxious and go to that fight or flight , are then beginning to calm down , beginning to soothe . We can self soothe ourselves in the most kind of scary of circumstances , right , we can .

Like the breath is something that is always wet you and it's so simple that people forget it too , and so , remembering that if you're going through a really challenging time , you know , take some deep breaths and your mind . What may happen ? As your mind may clear , new ideas may begin to form .

But there's no way that can happen when we're holding our breath in , because our body then feels like we're not flowing . It's not flowing and you know . What it says to the body is I'm dying because I can't breathe right now , or I'm not taking the full breaths , and so I'm sending a message to our brain I'm dying . Oh my God , you know , get scared now .

It's like if you want to fast track fear , stop breathing for a bit or hold in your breath , you know , for a bit , or don't breathe deeply , because that signals I need fight or flight to get out of this situation .

But what can remedy that is just taking some deep breaths , and so that's what I do with clients when they're moving through , excuse me , some kind of transformational experience . That's an opportunity to just get still and quiet , and it's counterintuitive .

That's when a lot of people get busy doing something else . Yeah , or they veg out , you know scrolling or drinking alcohol or you know any number of things that cause them to numb out out of . Everyone has their like pattern of whatever it is . Yeah , eating , drinking coffee and getting really any shopping like anything .

That's the problem , right , like there's no problem with drinking alcohol when no , when you're , I don't know , feeling festive , whatever if you want , absolutely , but if you're drinking too black , something out , get it too unsafe waters .

So I really like the like they could peek under the carpet and if you see like some pink minorish that you feel you can take , take on today , start with that .

I don't put it to treasure it is . And I've also had a thought of like , oh my God , I don't want anyone to be able to see these , like when I'm gone . So I don't know exactly what I'll do . I may have a big bonfire someday with them , I don't know , but for now I know , let it go in that way , but for now I love knowing that they're there .

I don't actually look at them very often , but I have at certain points in my life when I've needed to kind of remember who I was when I was younger , and because there's a wisdom that comes from any age . A lot of people talk about millennials . They don't have a hard work ethic or whatever preconceived notions about , and that's ageism of another kind .

Right , we think often about ageism with really having beliefs about people that are older like negative beliefs , but it can be about people that are younger too , and when I have read my journals from when I was in my 20s .

I feel such a bondness for that me that was pretty wise beyond my years and a lot of people I would imagine that listen to this podcast in particular can relate to that , because if you're on a spiritual journey that didn't come lightly Sometimes that call comes from a response to trauma in our childhood , having to deal with really difficult things that arose when

we were kids that we had no control over . And also what I've found is , since I work with so many business owners , is a number of them have also had childhood trauma and running a successful business has been a way to kind of alleviate their fears , like being in control of their destiny , being self-avoid rather than working for someone .

Having autonomy is often a response to childhood trauma not wanting to depend on anyone else , right yeah .

It's an ability to reclaim all parts of ourselves , right .

Before others told you who you are right , and especially as business owners in the online business world , when we start , we look up to these mentors or gurus , whatever , and looking at them as like as they got all the answers because they found a way that works for them and also sometimes because they marketed the way that they have to , they're the only ones

who have the answers . But that's another and like , and then you take on so much stuff until I mean , I've been there and I've built a business and I was like I hate every single thing of this business . I'm just going to more or less burn it down . I'm like never think very much Um , to kind of like remember , oh , who am I ?

And for some people and for me in business it doesn't go as far back as like in other regards , but if you have childhood trauma or something it has . Sometimes it goes back to your reverber .

has been . For me there've been another number of correlations , not necessarily to childhood trauma , but to what I made something mean when I was growing up . That from my earliest role models , which were , of course , my parents , which are most of our early role models are parents , your caregivers , you model , yes , exactly .

And so one of them was and I was so glad to really discover this kind of early on in my business was I was making money at a certain point and the profit was coming in . It was great and I was feeling very successful in a lot of ways .

But what I realized is I wasn't truly successful in my own eyes because I was working all the time , I was exhausted and I realized that I had a belief of making money is hard . Making money is hard . A lot of us share that one , right , right . And so I thought , well , that doesn't feel like me , actually who I am .

Is that really one of my beliefs , or was it one that I picked up in my childhood ? And I began to kind of unravel that belief to the root of where it originated and what I discovered was wow , my dad was a fantastic provider for us financially and he didn't like his job . He worked for his father .

He was a pretty tough guy and I mean very much an entrepreneur my grandfather but not a very nice man I would imagine to work for Very perfectionistic , and so that's the way I worked the highway .

Pretty much , yeah , and my dad worked for him for many , many years and he would come home exhausted and then he would , I think , probably to deal with his feelings about his work . Perhaps he would do house projects when he got home , even though he was so tired .

And then the only time I really saw him still was when he was taking a nap , just out of sheer and utter exhaustion . And so I realized , wow , I think , through seeing my dad just exhausted and happy with work , making money , he made money .

This is something that kind of grew within your spirit , but you can pull it out and then begin to work with it . And so I began to see okay , where in my life has making money been easy ? Because if you just say , oh , making money is easy , and create an affirmation , that doesn't- .

Even if you find out you were three ways of making money is easy in your past , then you can begin to convince your brain and then you can begin to be in alignment .

I like that what you said , like think about , if you want to lift the carpet , your money carpet think about , think back to the earliest memory you have of money . What is the earliest memory you have ? It doesn't matter how old you were at the time , but what's the first memory that comes to mind and everyone will have one instantly light up .

And then they get out and just look at it . We're not saying something bad came out of this or whatever . I mean my first money story is quite literally magical .

But you just have to kind of look at it and just be curious and be like , ooh , what happened and how did my brain make a connection and how they maybe support me or not support me in my journey .

There comes the point where you do this , when you do this work , and I'm sure you're like , yep , you got to be careful . There will be a point where most people will have the tendency to kind of like crap on their past self .

Maybe you stayed in a job for longer , an appropriate job . That was completely wrong brain . You left , completely exhausted , most burn it , but the money was good , so you stayed whatever . And then you look now with your knowledge . Now you look back and say I'm smart , I should have known .

And then you kind of like , with your current knowledge , you start on healing . You start to like Crap on past past . Yeah , like I should have known . Or you should have Done better . Yeah , whatever .

So the best time to plant an oak tree was 20 years ago . The next best time is now .

Darling takes one to that , exactly , exactly , yeah , and so also , you know , part of going back to evolution and growth and transformation . So all of those require being in one state and moving to an entirely different state . Yes , that the rarely , if ever , happens overnight . I mean occasionally , there will be people who have , like Byron Katie .

You know I'm thinking of a wonderful friend of my teacher . Yeah , yeah , it happens Pretty much in a moment for her . She had an epiphany and it was transformative instantly . Rarely does that happen to us . We actually have to go through the hallway of discomfort to get to .

It's actually picking up skills , it's being able to be with discomfort , which , if we can do that , that's a big part of evolution is discomfort , and that's what I think Is discomfort , and even suffering to some degree . Yeah , because not that I Want to say you know , we all need to suffer . Because I really believe Very pointless then .

I know , but I think if we're wanting life to be happy , joy , it's a humanity all the time of humanity it is .

It is and part of evolution too , typically , is going through that discomfort to get to the other side , and that then creates the contrast to where we can see oh my god , I've come so far and the , the inner pride , the Compassion for others who are perhaps in the hallway , that are suffering or in despair or Thinking it's never gonna happen for them and we

can offer them comfort and support Because we've been there . That's where they can rise for others , empathy for ourselves , compassion yes , all of it , and also really cultivating the skill of patience .

right , hi , how are we ? How the f are we trust , how can we trust the timing of banks ? We don't have 150 years here .

Because it does require income producing activities , and and marketing can be an income producing activity , doing the actual services or creating the products , whatever it may be . Showing up to work each day can be an income producing activity . Whether it's you wanting to create a side gig , you know how are you working on that .

So I had a coaching client who worked in a job and she really wanted to create a certain side business , but she wasn't doing anything for it . It's almost like she wanted it to magically appear , and it's like , and to earn her money so that she could eventually quit her day job and Can't be a very vicious cycle , I know . And she was exhausted .

And well , it's like I hear you're exhausted . So Are you perhaps working harder than you need to in your main job , maybe out of guilt that you have the side gig because you eventually want to quit your day job ? I mean , that might be something to look at . Yeah , are you working more than the 40 hours a week that you were expected to ?

Yeah , and you , you know you may begin to want to step away from that . Or if there's a way that you can begin to delegate more .

If you had an opportunity and then to begin to really Figure out , when can you work on your side gig business , and not only that , but when do you begin to bring money in so that you can begin to see that , oh , this isn't just some dream that I have , this is actually something that can produce income .

Will it produce enough income for you to quit our day job ? That's yet to be known in the very beginning . But you won't know unless you try . And if you have a business that's struggling , what are you doing that are Income producing activities ?

And to really make a list of everything you know , what you could do is set a timer for 20 minutes and just write down what are all the income producing activities I could do , not today , perhaps , but in this next week or month and Just brainstorm .

Or if you have a really creative friend who comes up with good ideas , you know , and have a zoom call and you both can set the timer and he or she can help brainstorm . Yeah , yeah .

And then I I got an app , it's called pick me . It's kind of like one of those fortune wheels , oh cool , and I put every one of those activities , I put it on my wheel of fortune and then I just spin it and Whatever it landed on , that was the activity I had to do for today .

Or sometimes I even feel like hey , you know what , like I don't know if it's a past client I'm really , I really like working with . I like you know what . Here's like my link , my calendar for like 30 minutes meeting , whatever , like pick one , just like I don't know , let's have a coffee chat .

Or if you have like something particularly you're working on , like bring you to the table , it's yours , nice , nice . And then you're like coming something from that . Yeah , yeah , I just trust more insight into my ideal client's mind or where they're at . They're at the stage of business , their journey , super valuable for my marketing . Right Link , that's right .

There's always something if you're willing to kind of like just try , even if you're like I don't want to reach out , it feels like whatever . Then again , what are you telling yourself ? It means that's right . Exactly that's the story you're creating .

Until you start , until you decide I'm not going to complain for a week . See , that is you know , oh , yeah .

Just a really loved Christina was sharing about like , pull it out that thing you do not want to look at . Pull it out the day tomorrow , the next time you feel it's time , trust your timing on that . When you're ready , whenever you feel ready to pull it out , pull it out and just look at it with curiosity and see what kind of stories it reveals .

I really love that . So anyone that's saying that's your homework , yeah , christine , like . So to kind of like wrap , wrap things up , because we're I don't know we could talk for another hour . At least Let us know what where people can find you online . If they want to know more about you , want to hear more from you , where can they do that ?

You know , my very brave clients agreed to be coached on the podcast . Some of them I'd never worked with before Actually , I never worked with them , yeah , and that is a deep dive into the unknown , for sure .

Oftentimes I don't even know what they're bringing to me in their session , and so we're both grabbing each other's hands and just jumping off the cliff and seeing where we end up and it's magical , actually , where we end up , both from their vulnerability and willingness to open up and share .

And because I've been coaching people for over 20 years , it's relatively easy for me to really hear what they're not saying as well as what they are , and to help guide them into where they might need to go for their next step in their evolution , both as a business owner and as a human being . So the Business Pathfinder it can be found on any podcast app .

It's also on my website , if you go to my website , and I have webinars and workshops that I do monthly , so that's something that I do and I'm also a business and life coach .

not accomplish in the last 12 months , what would you like to accomplish or create in the next 12 months , both personally and professionally , and what might you be doing now to hold you back from that ?

What steps could you take to create these accomplishments that you'd like to achieve Again , both personally and professionally , because who we are is what we bring to all of our facets of our lives , and so that is the workbook that they can find on my homepage of my website , so if you scroll down , you'll be able to find out more and click on that and

download it , and it's just a lot of business owners and just people in general have used that with great success , and you don't have to do it in January . A lot of people have this oh yes , this is the exception about our goal setting . Yes , you're welcome . Oh yeah , so you're doing it in January ? Yeah , but really you can do it at any point .

I mean we can change at any point in our lives , so why can't we set goals at any point in our lives ? So I really encourage you to start now , and writing your goals and your desires down is a great way to begin to achieve that . It's really , you know , when we're entering an address into our GPS , we are beginning to move toward that destination .

It's the same with goals . So writing them down is like entering the address and the GPS . That's the beginning step to getting to where you want to go .