Have you ever signed up for something anticipating one thing but getting something completely different instead? Sometimes that can be a negative but when it goes over and beyond anything you could have ever expected, that’s the best-case scenario right?
For years I’ve heard about masterminds, but each time I looked into them they were more expensive than I was willing to invest, and the timing never felt right.
I am so glad I waited because when the right opportunity arrived, it was the best investment I ever made.
Let me start by saying this is not an endorsement of any kind for any particular mastermind group. I’ve just realized that my being part of this particular group took part in some huge changes for me that drastically changed my 2024 like I’ve mentioned in the previous blogs and on the podcast.
Before I explain more, I’m going to rewind a little bit. Back in our mid-to-late 20s (a time I’m realizing is much further behind us than my “fun times memory bank” would like to admit), we were down back in Baton Rouge visiting friends for the weekend. We were having dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and apparently having a very adult-ish conversation.
Mandy, our most adult-like friend, and her new husband (probably our least adult-like friend) were reading a book together. It was Dave Ramsey‘s, “Financial Peace.” I’m not sure if it was margaritas or maturity, but we all agreed that this debt-free life was a very smart thing to do.
Come to find out it was, and it set us up for some pretty great moves in our future that Smith (husband) and I could’ve never imagined had we not gotten in the right financial mindset.
Because of the success, we naturally became fans of Ramsey and eventually, the different personalities he brought in to his company.
One of those people was Christy Wright. She lead The Business Boutique for Ramsey Solutions. I stumbled upon her podcast years ago and became a pretty regular listener. She had a great personality, and I loved her frankness. The entrepreneurial side of me always enjoyed hearing her take on business, time management, and parenting and how to balance it all when life mixes it all up together.
Many years later, as I was finishing up my first season of the podcast, I had the opportunity to go to Nashville and interview Sarah Sloyan, at the time she was the VP of Ramsey’s EntréLeadership program. I interviewed her while we were both at Christy’s Business Boutique conference.
In my book, this was a pretty big damn deal. Ramsay himself had a huge impact on our family’s life, but these other two ladies had become people that I admired from afar and never thought that I would get to know in person.
The interview with Sara went great. I loved every minute! But if anyone in that fall of 2020 had told me I would soon call Christy Wright a friend and she would be a person who guided me not only in business and life but would have a huge impact on my spiritual growth, I would’ve never believed it.
I feel like I could go down a huge rabbit hole at this point with so many great stories, but I’ll save you the extra reading for now.
But, here’s a glance at how I’ve noticed that God’s timing all stacked up…
- ‘20 – After fighting against it, I gave in to creating a podcast. Yep. I launched that thing right in the middle of the pandemic.
- Fall ‘20 – Because of said podcast, I scored a great interview with Sarah in Nashville and met my future business partner (Jess) through Instagram because of Christy‘s conference.
- Fall ‘21 – Jess and I finally met in person, and the idea to create The Collective came soon after.
- ‘22 – The Collective was launched and took off in a big way.
- Late ‘22 – Jess and I decide to invest in Christy‘s upcoming mastermind.
There were a dozen or more of us in this group, and by the beginning of February all of us, Christy included, realized that this was so much more than a mastermind for entrepreneurial women.
We could all feel a spirit current moving, and before we knew it, our group was connecting on more of a faith journey than a business development journey.
We all learned a mind-blowing amount of tactical practices for our businesses through our bi-monthly meetings. The personal guidance we got from Christy was priceless for both Jess and me individually but for The Collective as well.
Now, this was Christy’s first Mastermind, and part of me wonders if she’ll ever do it again because I’m pretty sure what we all experienced will never be able to be recreated.
Christy decided to connect everyone through an app called Marco Polo. If you’re not familiar with Marco Polo, it’s like a group chat but with videos. I get that might seem completely overwhelming for some people but for us, it connected us in a way that let us do life together, intercede for each other, and pull each other up by the bootstraps when needed.
This was by far unlike anything I have ever experienced before. I knew I had a strong faith before joining this group, but through this group, I felt like I got to see the Holy Spirit move in real life and through these women in ways that I didn’t know were possible.
It helped me learn how close we can actually be to God and how accessible His Spirit is to us.
Have you ever heard the phrase “co-labor with the Lord”? I’ve heard it said from time to time, but it never truly made sense to me. This group of women showed me what it was like and how to experience a relationship with the Lord. It made me realize obedience was something I actually craved. And, that craving made me want to work alongside him in every single thing that I did. Working with Him, or “co-laboring” with Him, just meant talking with Him about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g and linking arms with Him.
It made me realize just how much I had been trying to figure things out on my own, needing help like my life depended on it, and when all the while He standing right next to me just waiting to be asked.
I told you that these first three blogs were going to fill you in on the three things that I experienced in 2023 that changed my 2024.
That trifecta for me was…
- Investing in a life coach who helped me understand myself in a totally new light.
- Surprising myself by going through the Bible and one year, again.
- And, my business leading me to an unexpected faith journey.
Looking back, I can see the tremendous amount of work the Lord had cut out for himself. But can I tell you how thankful I am that He is unbelievably patient with stubborn redheads?
It took time, but these experiences led me to a whole new way of thinking, working, following Him and doing life with Him.
In the podcast, I referenced how I felt like God was telling me this past January that life was going to start looking a lot different if I would just fully trust him.
And oh, it’s different all right – not always easy, of course, but better for sure. And, there’s no way I want to go backward.
In the Bible Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. I thought a lot about that story earlier this year, and it’s made me realize that I’m so glad I don’t have a desire to look back. At all.
My only hope is to let my “conversations be full of grace and seasoned with salt so that I may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:6)
This is going to sound crazy, but bear with me here… Imagine if you were sitting on a bench on the edge of a park, it’s cool, the leaves turning color and falling around you, and a car pulls up. Imagine the passenger side door opening and Jesus reaching out and asking you if you want to go on a wild ride.
With no more details than that, what do you think you would say?
