So often we start a business out of passion or a desire to have more flexibility with our time—and money is a good and often necessary by-product of our hard and fun work. But seeing ourselves as a CEO, for many (myself included), wasn't a role I fully understood I was signing up for when I first registered for that LLC and launched my website.
This year, after nearly a decade in business, I’m recognizing my own limiting beliefs and working hard to step up to the plate as CEO. That’s why I was beyond thrilled to meet today's guest!
After building a successful business in the health and wellness industry, surpassing 7-figures of annual revenue and leading more than 10k people, Liz launched the Luminary leadership Company to help other entrepreneurs feel equipped to step into their roles as leaders.
Today we are talking all about why becoming a great leader is so important to a company's growth, how to integrate life and business well, and the positive impact involving your kids in business can have on their lives.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/elizabeth-hartke
So often we start a business out of passion or a desire to have more flexibility with our time—and money is a good and often necessary by-product of our hard and fun work. But seeing ourselves as a CEO, for many (myself included), wasn't a role I fully understood I was signing up for when I first registered for that LLC and launched my website.
This year, after nearly a decade in business, I’m recognizing my own limiting beliefs and working hard to step up to the plate as CEO. That’s why I was beyond thrilled to meet today's guest!
After building a successful business in the health and wellness industry, surpassing 7-figures of annual revenue and leading more than 10k people, Liz launched the Luminary leadership Company to help other entrepreneurs feel equipped to step into their roles as leaders.
Today we are talking all about why becoming a great leader is so important to a company's growth, how to integrate life and business well, and the positive impact involving your kids in business can have on their lives.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/elizabeth-hartke
Liz Hartke (00:00):
I have memory, Shanna, of being four or five years old, and my mom was the type that was at everything. She was homeroom moms. She'd be bringing popsicles in the summertime into our classroom back before these bougie kids have air conditioning in their schools. Now, that was not a thing. So we would be studying and she'd be bringing us popsicles and she'd take us, she'd be at every sports game and she'd make dinner and put us to bed. So she was a super present mom, but she was the primary provider for our family through her business. And I have memories being my daughter's age, getting up to go use the bathroom at midnight or something, and seeing the dining room light on just dimmed so it wouldn't disturb anybody that was sleeping. And there she was with her briefcase open and all her papers strewn across the dining room table because she had to make up for that time that she was present with us. And that always stuck with me because that's kind of the story of many of these entrepreneurs, like what I call an old school entrepreneur or someone who opens a shop or has a service-based business. They're not just primarily online. And I started to learn these skills both in marketing and scalability that could take them from having to just have flexibility, which my mother had into having more freedom.
Shanna Skidmore (01:18):
You are listening to Consider the Wildflowers podcast, episode 24 Confession. It wasn't until this year that I recognized some pretty big limiting beliefs in myself. You might find this surprising, but I actually never set out to be the c e o of a company. In fact, when I started my consulting business back in 2013, I was just hoping to support our family financially. Until Kyle finished school, God had different plans and I'm so grateful for what this business has become for our family and the thousands of entrepreneurs we have had the honor to work with. But I never set out to be a C E O and seeing myself as a C E O owning the fact that I am the C E O hasn't just happened automatically for me. It wasn't until this year that I recognized I was holding back the growth of our company because I wasn't owning the role I've been placed in.
(02:05)
I am the leader of this company and ultimately the company needs me to show up as such. That's why I was so excited to be introduced to today's guest, Liz Harkey. She is the founder of Luminary Leadership Company and her entire mission is to equip entrepreneurs in becoming the leaders they can be. If you dig professional bios, here it goes. Elizabeth Hartke is an international business and leadership strategist and founder of the Luminary Leadership Company and podcast. She works to help entrepreneurial parents integrate success in business with legacy at home and believes you can do both. Without filling split into through her mastermind's, mentorship, and signature programs, Elizabeth has shown thousands of entrepreneurs across the globe how to shift from just building a business to creating a legacy she brings with her 10 years of leadership experience and has built two growing and successful businesses.
(02:55)
Her expertise has been featured in media outlets, including Forbes, entrepreneur and Fast Company, and on stages throughout the world. Elizabeth and her husband live on their hobby farm with their three children soon to be four in Wisconsin. Okay, formal introductions over, let's dive in. Hey, it's Shannon, and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor, turn business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the reel behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life and business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Hey, Liz. Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today, especially after we got to hang out last week. And so now I'm just pumped that way we get to talk all things life and business today, so hi.
Liz Hartke (04:14):
Hi. What? Perfect timing, right?
Shanna Skidmore (04:16):
I know. I feel like, so for everybody listening, Liz and I just met in real life last week and got connected through friend of ours and somebody who used to works for Liz and used to work with me. So I just feel like we're kindred spirits and I mean, not to be like, Hey, let's be best friends, but hey, let's be best friends. So hey,
Liz Hartke (04:35):
I've already been blasted it, so I'm on board with this a hundred percent
Shanna Skidmore (04:39):
Girls trip to Tennessee happening. We're going to Dollywood.
Liz Hartke (04:44):
Of course. I
Shanna Skidmore (04:45):
Know. Okay, so thanks for coming on. I am just so excited to hear more of your story and your journey in business and talk about all things life and being a mom. So I just wanna dive right in and tell everybody who you are and then I would love to hear you share about your earliest days as an entrepreneur. How did this all come to be?
Liz Hartke (05:12):
It was ugly back then. I'm Liz. I'm the founder of the Luminary Leadership Company, and I run our company alongside my husband Michael, and we have three little ones. And at the time of this recording, I am, I don't know, I don't even, when you have your fourth kid, you don't know how many weeks pregnant you are. I'm in my third trimester and I'm like a month and a half away. Oh my goodness. So we have the joy of raising up our kids alongside our company, and our company specializes in leadership for both entrepreneurs and the leaders that they're raising. We create raising luminaries curriculum that is for basically parents that want to give their kids the best shot of success in a world that's not going to do it for them. So we kind of have the two branches of our business where we're supporting entrepreneurs and growing and scaling and leadership, and then kids as well.
Shanna Skidmore (06:13):
Yeah, I love that. But that's not how you started. Tell me No about <laugh> your first businesses.
Liz Hartke (06:22):
So I grew up steeped in entrepreneurship, both my parents. My mom still runs her business to this day. My dad recently retired in his early seventies. My grandfather worked up until he passed running his own law firm. And so aunts, uncles, that was just kind of the norm. So of course I wanted to go in a different direction than what I was raised in. I thought I did
Shanna Skidmore (06:46):
Naturally. Yeah,
Liz Hartke (06:47):
Yeah. Natural. No, I'm not doing this. I want, I'm competitive. I wanna climb the corporate ladder. I wanna make predictable income and all of that good stuff. And I went into corporate marketing and I landed myself a job after college at a global, one of the largest global liquor companies and in their marketing department. So I was working in corporate and I had all of my accounts, which were bars, restaurants, clubs, everything in Boston. So it was the perfect fresh outta school. Here's your corporate card, here's your corporate car, and go spend a ton of money with your clients at these establishments each week. And so all my friends loved me because I was the girl paying for the drinks. And it very quickly you learn, okay, this is not exactly a savory industry. You start to see the behind the scenes of the liquor industry too. My friends were getting real jobs and didn't wanna go to the bar on a Tuesday night at 11:00 PM So it's kind of depressing sitting there with your clients and when it's not exactly the crowd that you wanna be around. So anyway, I started to build this wonderful rapport with a couple of these accounts in the city, and basically one realized I was completely unemployable.
(08:14)
Anything my bosses told me to do, I was like, all right, I'm going to do it differently just because you told me to do it. I did not want to be pigeonholed into one way of doing things. I wanted to be creative, and they just wanted me to do what my job description said. So once I started building this connection with some of these owners in the city, I thought I could do this for you, not under the umbrella of this liquor company. So I started having these conversations and said, I'm going to break out on my own and I wanna do your marketing for you. And that was how I got my start. Probably, I don't know, maybe 11 years ago now, maybe more. And I forget how old I am, so we'll just, we'll say 11 or 12 years ago,
Shanna Skidmore (08:57):
<laugh>, third trimester brain,
Liz Hartke (08:59):
Third trimester brain. That's how I got my start. And it was very time for money. It was very scrappy, grassroots, but it was immediate that I knew, oh, I am not intended. And my dna n a, is not designed to work for somebody else. I have to create something on my own. So obviously my business has evolved a bajillion times over. I don't do anything in that realm anymore. But it gave me a taste of I love that the, it's on my back. I have to become the person I need to be to carry this thing forward. I'm not getting a predictable paycheck. I've gotta go earn it. I've gotta figure it out. I've gotta encounter major challenges. I have to face my own demons and my own insecurities, and that's on me. And I loved that, and I got hungry for it. And so over the last about 12 years, it's evolved immensely. But that was my first taste.
Shanna Skidmore (09:58):
So when you were like, wait, I am an entrepreneur, how did you feel <laugh> about that moment? And it's like, oh, darn it.
Liz Hartke (10:07):
Well, apparently
Shanna Skidmore (10:08):
All my family does.
Liz Hartke (10:10):
Yeah. I was like, all right, they're right. Per usual. My mom's always right. Honestly, I adapted very quickly. <laugh> probably too quickly. I was the type that was like, I am going to leap long before I have wings. I am less risk averse than many other people. I think especially now having the juxtaposition against my husband who's very analytical, where I was like, what do I need to survive? And as long as I'm making that, I'm outta here. So I think quickly I got over the fact that it was under my nose all along and just jumped in with two feet. And it's been a rollercoaster ride. There have been so many failures, so many ups and downs, so many moments where I was like, this is it. I finally hit the pinnacle only to come stumbling down the mountain bloodied and beaten up, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Shanna Skidmore (11:11):
Yeah. Tell me about those early days with marketing. So were you creating packages for people? How did you figure out your pricing and then how did you market yourself? Were you knocking on doors? I mean, tell me about that early season of your marketing business.
Liz Hartke (11:31):
Yeah, back then, I think my currency was having my ego stroked. I don't think I price things according to my time. I just wanted these people to say yes. And I, I didn't know how to charge. So for some clients it was basically I'm like, I don't know. What do you think I should pay me? That's literally how I got this thing outta the gate. So some people took full advantage of that and they're like, oh, we'll pay you hourly or we'll pay you. And they had really low numbers or other people would kind of set up almost like a consulting type package where it was retainer. But then they'd totally abuse me on hours where I'd be working crazy hours and at their beck and call. But I didn't care because first of all, back then I was single. I didn't have kiddos yet, and I was just coming alive with the idea of building something of my own and starting to see it take shape, even though it was kind of ugly in those earlier days.
(12:28)
Then soon I realized, okay, this is not really that sustainable this, so I am going to set up consulting packages that have some kind of boundaries around them and actual structure to them. And I still was way undercharging, but I was at least able to calculate, okay, if I take on this many clients, I'll be able to make this much money. And I was scraping by. I had some savings. I worked full-time in college as a journalist, which you don't make bks like nothing. But I was good at saving. My mom's a cpa, so she was good at reigning me in on that over the years. So I had some money to fall back on. And then I was picking up odd jobs on the side cuz I was a writer by trade. I was freelancing. I was freelancing as a sports writer for a newspaper up in Manchester, New Hampshire. And then I was taking on some freelancing, writing gigs down in the city and I was just, okay, whatever I have to do to ensure that I don't go back into a cubicle, I will do it.
Shanna Skidmore (13:30):
Yeah, yeah. Aren't you so glad? I'm just so grateful that I had five years as a financial advisor, but that's 100% commission based. I mean it's basically, yeah. And I'm just so grateful I did that while I was single because you can just grit it together and make it happen. I'm grateful that I was able to start then. And you learn so many lessons in those just hustle, just straight hustle years.
Liz Hartke (13:59):
Yeah, you really do. And you can't trade 'em for anything. And it's hard to fully embrace those hustle years when you have babies. I know a lot of the people that I mentor, they don't have that situation where maybe they got a business off the ground when they were a new mom or they had kids or their kids are in middle school or whatever. And it is a different dynamic. And what I always try to teach them is your timeline has to be your timeline and your goals and your vision have to be really exclusive to you and the stage of life you're in and the family that you're raising first. So yeah, maybe I did it did what you're looking to do in two years I was 22, 23 and could risk it all. And you are, yeah, 38 and you've got three babies and you've got to take a different path and have the courage to say, I'm not comparing my journey to somebody else that doesn't have kids or that is in a different stage of life or a different financial situation. I'm going to cultivate and create my own path forward based on what's true to me right now.
Shanna Skidmore (15:01):
And it's so good to recognize that because it can be built in so many different ways and in some ways good and bad. I could work all the time if I wanted to, and that's a habit you can get into that you have to break then when you have your family or have time constraint. So I love that you said that I am grateful I had that hustle season when it was just me and my friends were like, Hey, do you wanna do wine night? And it's like, cool, let's do that. But right, there's pros and cons to all the seasons, so that's the good. Okay, so tell me how it went and what happened next.
Liz Hartke (15:39):
So I have a kind of unusual background <laugh> in my entrepreneurial journey. So I had gotten that marketing business off the ground and then I was a dabbler because I wasn't in love with what I was doing. And I think that's my mo of I am going to test all the waters until I find my thing. I'm not the type where I'll say, oh, well I committed to this so I have to be in this forever if it's not in alignment with where God's calling me to go. I'm like, all right, how do we evolve up out of this? So I knew I was still in that liquor industry and it was so draining and it was just not where I wanted to be. And at the same time right around, I think it was 2011, my health started to really take a turn for the worst.
(16:24)
And I'm like, I'm young, I was an athlete, what's going on? And I was feeling so sluggish to the point where I'd pull up at these accounts in the city outside and I'd have an officer knocking on my car door because I'd fall asleep in the middle of the day. And it wasn't like I was partying, I was working, but I was so depleted. I had nothing in the tank. I was gaining weight, I didn't feel good. I had a lot of inflammation in my body. So at right around that time I was like, okay, I'm not living. This is miserable. Basically I'm one move shy of having an IV drip of caffeine directly into my veins because I'm drinking so much coffee to just stay alive, even including at night. It was just terrible. So I started to take my health really seriously and I ended up losing over 50 pounds and really starting to understand how the body ticks once you go down the rabbit hole of how jacked up our food system is and how terrible the things that the medical system in the western world are doing to us when they're people in the eastern world, curing diseases that we're dying from.
(17:34)
It's just a crazy spiral. And I learned so much about my health and I became really passionate about it. So I ended up losing that weight through an online fitness company, fitness and nutrition company, and I joined their team in the network marketing space. And that was not something I ever thought I'd do. I'm like, I'm a real entrepreneur, I have a real business. But it was just kinda a thing I did on the side out of passion. And it really started to bloom because I was essentially a walking billboard. I had done the thing and I had lost the weight and people wanted to know. So what I loved about that model that I ended up bringing back into my entrepreneurial journey was the leadership that was required in order to be truly successful. A lot of people in the network marketing space for anyone unfamiliar, they think the way that you become successful is you sell like a maniac.
(18:30)
And I had the blessing of having a mentor in that space who said, no, no, no, you do not sell yourself up as a leader. And then you elevate other people as leaders too. You help them become the person they're called to be and you teach them how to lead. You don't teach them how to sell. So I learned how to duplicate myself in that industry through leadership. And that's when I became insanely passionate about leadership. And I had a team of over 10,000 people, we had built over a seven figure income stream that was completely passive and residual. And it allowed me to have this kind of mega investor, my own network marketing business to really funnel into the work I was doing in entrepreneurship. And that's when I started to tip the scales from like, okay, I'm not just a marketer. I wanna take these leadership skills that I've been developing and I wanna pour 'em into entrepreneurs because that is the actual key to success.
(19:24)
It's not another strategy, it's not just more money. You have to be the person required of you in order to believe you can do the thing, actually achieve the thing, receive the thing, hold onto it, and then sustain it for the long term. So that was kind of the evolution. I don't actively work in that business and I haven't for a few years now or for several years now, but it still is a just kind of current of income for our family that was birth out of that passion that I thought was going to be like, oh, I'm going to be in the health and fitness space. Little did I know that was, it was really about leadership. It's about who you're becoming. Even my health journey was about who are you becoming? How are you honoring your body? How are you taking care of yourself? How are you fueling the machine that's then going to allow you go to go out into the world and make the impact you're really being called to make?
Shanna Skidmore (20:14):
I mean, that is such an incredible journey. I did you stop doing the marketing and really just put all of your energy into the network marketing business that you were growing or how?
Liz Hartke (20:28):
Yeah, I did for a few years because I didn't stop the marketing. I still kept a few clients, but I think it was the liquor industry that was dragging me down, keeping me from being passionate about it because I really still love marketing. I still teach a lot of marketing strategy, but it was in that space that I'm like, I feel like there's a black cloud over me over here. So I started to take, at the same time I was growing my network marketing business. I was still running my marketing business, but I was getting out of the liquor industry and applying it in other industries. And I found I really loved to work with in the earlier days. I had a special place in my heart for brick and mortar operations because yeah, that was my whole family. Everybody had an office and was either service-based or product-based and I saw them or their blood, sweat and tears into their career, but to never gain any freedom from it, they found some financial success and stability, but it was always because they were actively having to work.
(21:30)
And I started to learn some strategies being in an industry where you can actually create some residual income that I could apply to them and help them start to get up out of the weeds of their business a little bit. And that was such a blessing because all I could think about were my family members. I worked in the summers in high school at my grandfather's office and saw how he poured into people. And I worked at my mom's c p a firm for years and I worked at my uncle's chiropractic office and I saw how they poured into their people, but never fully were able to access a level of reward that many online business owners can access through having different income streams. So I kind of shifted gears, lived many lives. I think I'm a cat, I've shifted many times and I still have a special place in my heart for them cuz I have memory Shanna of being four or five years old.
(22:23)
And my mom was the type that was at everything. She was homeroom moms, she'd be bringing popsicles in the summertime into our classroom back before these bougie kids have air conditioning in their schools now that was not a thing. So we would be studying and she'd be bringing us popsicles and she'd take us, she'd be at every sports game and she'd make dinner and put us to bed. So she was a super present mom, but she was the primary provider for our family through her business. And I have memories being my daughter's age, getting up to go use the bathroom at midnight or something and seeing the dining room light on just dimmed so it wouldn't disturb anybody that was sleeping. And there she was with her briefcase open and all her papers strewn across the dining room table because she had to make up for that time that she was present with us.
(23:12)
And that always stuck with me because that's kind of the story of many of these entrepreneurs, what I call an old school entrepreneur, is someone who opens a shop or has a service based business. They're not just primarily online. And I started to learn these skills both in marketing and scalability that could take them from having to just have flexibility, which my mother had into having more freedom. So there was a stint in there where I was really serving that population a lot. And now I find that for the most part, I serve any type of entrepreneur, but I tend to attract a lot of online entrepreneurs.
Shanna Skidmore (23:50):
I love Liz, what you just said, taking it from flexibility, which basically all entrepreneurship gives you flexibility to actual freedom. And that is so good. I'm like, I need to write that down and put it in front of my face every day. That is a major shift. And building your offers is a key piece in that because service based only, like you said, will likely always provide flexibility. But n until you build a team, maybe never freedom. Would you share more about in your network marketing business, did you think, oh, this is going to be huge? How did you become the leader that maybe did you have to learn some skills? Do you feel like it was naturally in you that just kind of walk through, you built a seven figure business, you had 10,000 people under you. I just wanna hear more about that journey and what you learned and what you feel like are the key takeaways for others.
Liz Hartke (24:52):
Yeah, I feel like there were elements that were naturally in me, like my willingness to take risks or to work hard or to get over quickly the emotional drain of entrepreneurship or the failures or the rejection. I mean, in the early days it would hit me really, really hard. I w if someone would say something about me not having a real job or whatever you name it, you know, hear all the things. I would take it so personally, but I feel like I had a level of resilience that was like, yeah, I feel that pain and I'm going to pour it into what I'm doing next because they're not paying my bills, they're not married to my husband, they're not living my life. I have to just keep going. I didn't know it was going to be huge, but because the first three years of it, you put in so much time and energy and you get almost no reward.
(25:52)
Everybody thinks you're nuts, but you start to tip the scales when you start to see that other people are being developed into who they need to be in order to grow a business of their own. And that's where the duplication happens. It's why so few people ever find true success in that field is because they don't know how close they are to striking gold and then they never stay the course because they're putting so much time in and not seeing the rewards. So I was always of the mental, I wasn't motivated by money, I was motivated by my own growth and seeing wins in other people. And I think I learned early on that I'm not going to find success unless other people are finding success with me. And the health of a entrepreneur is not necessarily determined by their own financial status, the health of their team, team or the people that they're bringing on the journey with them.
(26:45)
And I don't mean physical health. I mean their potential is being met tapped into and they're stepping into who they need to be and they're growing something. And I still live by that today in my regular business of, I look at my team members and I say, I'm not going to base the success of my company just on our profit alone. I have to look at each of the members, are they evolving? Are they growing? Are they joy-filled, living their purpose through the vehicle of our company and really just learning to invest in others because then when, when you invest in others, then they pour right back into the machine they want, they're so invested in the mission and they get invested in you and where you're guiding them. So I think I just learned that through that process. It was so invaluable. I never had any interest, I had every judgment about network marketing and I knew it wasn't going to be my long-term thing. But I can't even begin to describe all the lessons I've learned. I mean, I learned about owner taking ownership and I learned about resilience and I learned about just being smart in business versus just being productive, which I feel like everybody today loves to preach about productivity. It's like you can be really, really productive and have nothing to show for it. So how are you focusing on the things that you're doing and ensuring that they're moving the needle and taking you where you ultimately want to go.
Shanna Skidmore (28:11):
Yeah. Do you feel like, it sounds like you had a mentor in the network marketing space that really helped you develop. Do you think that was a key component in moving that business in the right direction? Cuz it sounds like you never even maybe even meant for it to necessarily become a business you were just really passionate about. It
Liz Hartke (28:31):
Started as a passion. And the funny thing is, I would blanket him as one of the most profound mentors I've ever had in any area of my life because he's also someone that I respect as a, he's a father of six, so I, he's living a life that is in alignment with the life that we're creating and how he treats his wife and how he lives his faith. When I have a mentor, and I've made this mistake before too many times where I think, oh, I can just compartmentalize. They're really smart in this area, but their marriage is falling apart and their kids hardly know 'em and they're 200 pounds overweight and on the brink of a heart attack, I can ignore that stuff because they're brilliant in this and I'll just cherry pick that. And then I started to really understand who I was and what my values were.
(29:20)
And I realized in any category of my life, I need to ensure that the mentors that I choose are the people that I'm essentially striving to become in some capacity. I would be confident stepping into their shoes and feeling like I'm living the life I'm meant to live. And he was one of those people. So he was never really teaching me about network marketing. He was teaching me about leadership and that has been priceless, a priceless thread that's tied through every opportunity I've had, every win that I've gotten in business and in my life. And it taught me really the way he ran his business. A lot of people get into that industry and it's all about the shiny objects. Go for this goal and then you'll be recognized on stage or go for this goal and then you'll be called this, you'll have this ranking.
(30:13)
And he told me from day one, which I thought was standard, but I came to realize years later how many people didn't even know this. He's like, you do not go after those things. Those are vapid metrics. They will never serve you and they will not build a sustainable business. And what he taught me in network marketing is true for any business. You do not go after those vanity metrics. You build something that stands the test of time. And you do that one by becoming who you need to be to lead a business that stands a test of time, which is very difficult. And two, you bring people along with you and you serve them really well and you continue to develop yourself and you focus on the numbers. You don't focus on the shiny stuff, you look at the data you measure appropriately and you say, is this trending in the right direction or am I having these random bumps in the network marketing industry?
(31:07)
It might be sales where you're like, oh, this month I sold a ton. Well, what happens next month if you don't sell a ton? There are so many people that get burnt out because they think selling is the magic, but how do you build something that has a gradual upward trend, continuously weather or not you're selling? And that's true to entrepreneurship too. The people that I coach and mentor now, it's like you do not wanna feaster famine business. You do not wanna ride the waves of launching and taking client after client after client after client. And then where are you in 10 years when you're exhausted and you haven't even had the capacity to become, to evolve as a human being. You're not even ready for your next level of business because you didn't put any effort into that piece of it and now you've gotta keep this machine going or everything falls apart.
Shanna Skidmore (31:56):
Yeah, yeah. Ugh. So good. Yes. I am so interested in growing this network marketing business with residual income. PA sounds like truly passive income, which is quite hard to get to seven figures. At what point were you like, but this isn't my forever?
Liz Hartke (32:18):
Good question. I'm trying to think of a timeline. I think it was, so my son is seven and he's my oldest. And I think it was right around then I had hit every goal that I had ever set in that business. And I mean, keep in mind I was still running my other business the whole way through and I was becoming more and more passionate about that. Again, passion is a big driver for me. If I'm not on fire about it, I burn out pretty quick. I'm like, man, what am I doing this for? I don't feel aligned. I don't feel like God's really nagging at me to do this. Why am I going to do it? So I kind of had hit that, I don't know both the metrics that mattered to me in the network marketing business. And I felt like I had seen it through and really raised my people upright where I could kick them out of the nest and they could go be the leaders.
(33:10)
Now that probably about seven years ago or so where I started to shift my focus almost primarily and now solely back to the business you see today, which still has evolved a lot over the last seven years because my heart was in it. And anytime my heart's out of something, I'm not the type that can ride that wave for very long. I've gotta go where my gut is leading me, otherwise I die a slow death. And so it was, I would say probably seven years ago, having kids, seeing a new possibility for our future, wanting to really, I like being challenged. So you have your core motivators and when you were at our retreat, you were going through those. It never registered to me. So all this time I thought I was motivated by freedom of time, which I am. I think that's huge. I don't want anyone else telling me what to do and where to be and any of that.
(34:06)
However, I am in it for the challenge. I mean, I think of those early days in business, they weren't even really paying me and I was showing up because I was being pushed and challenged and growing and overcoming that lights my soul up and I felt like this was my next challenge. Leadership and really changing the industry. There is so much toxic crap happening in entrepreneurship where people are being told so many of the wrong values and messages. It's the same thing, the same reason I was compelled to do something with kids because I feel the same way. I look at what the school system or what society or TikTok or all these different things are telling our kids and I'm like, this is a travesty. There needs to be voices out there teaching them how to become the leaders who can withstand all this garbage and do it differently.
(34:54)
And so that's just been my driver and my husband's the analytical one, so thankfully he's the one looking at the numbers being like, okay, you know, can't just give this away. We have to, we gotta do this. I know you're feeling challenged, that's great, but we need a structure, we need a plan. So I have team to keep me in check from just being in the clouds all day. But yeah, probably about seven years ago it really shifted back because it was really sustained. The other business was so sustainable and it just could exist on its own, which is very rare. People knock network marketing. I'm like, well we have a seven figure investor in our business every single year. So that's pretty good.
Shanna Skidmore (35:33):
That's pretty good. Yeah, PR just pretty good. Steve Decent. Yeah, decent. I mean I would take it. That's fine. Was that when Luminary Leadership was born?
Liz Hartke (35:45):
No. So it wasn't called Luminary Leadership. I was all things scaling up. So my company was called Scaling Up. I had a podcast called Scaling Up. It still exists today. You can listen to all the episodes. And I was still in strategy mode. So I loved teaching people about business strategy, but I naturally always wove was weaving in leadership because that's just who I am. It's the same way. I'm not a faith-based business, but I don't know how to talk to somebody without sharing that. I believe we're being guided you. It's just kind of a piece of my framework of how I teach. So leadership was always in the equation. So in those middle years, we'll call them seven years ago, for the last maybe seven to, I don't know, up until maybe three or four years ago, it was all scaling up and I was strategy hungry.
(36:39)
And it's almost like, I don't know if I'm a late adopter or if I have to be hit by a two, two by four 50 times before it registers, but I always will hear a message over and over and over and ignore it for a year or two. And I was hearing this message over and over and over of Go all in on leading entrepreneurs and teaching them that it's leadership first and then strategy leadership first, and then strategy. And I ignored it. I found the notebook, Shanna, where I, God literally gave me a direct download. There was no thinking, this wasn't a brainstorming session. I just wrote what was plopped into my head over five sheets of paper in a notebook and then closed it and put it away for two years. And then finally, oh man,
Shanna Skidmore (37:25):
Pulled it back out
Liz Hartke (37:26):
And was like, it's time. And so luminary leadership was born about, technically the company name was born about three years ago. But everything I've done, which has been kind of interesting, has naturally woven into the next thing. So it wasn't this hard line, oh, I'm shutting down, scaling up and opening up luminary leadership. A lot of my same clients are with me cuz I'm still teaching a lot of the same stuff. We just, it's almost like a rebranding and a refocusing for us.
Shanna Skidmore (37:53):
Yeah. So it's almost like looking back now, I see the same thing of finance and money and numbers woven since my childhood. And even in all the paths that I've taken, it's like the sky giving gift that keeps coming back. And sometimes you have to journey through a lot of figuring it out moments before it finally clicks for you. Leadership is in your dna, like leadership is your call. And I love hearing you talk about becoming a leader in your business. And because I think so many, maybe listening, and I know myself, it's like, well, I'm good at this craft. This is the thing that I do. But I never even pictured my like a C e o Shannon is a different picture. It's something I had to learn to picture. And I'm still learning to picture myself as the leader. And so I think the work that you do is so incredible and your story is so amazing. I would love for you to share when did family come into all of this journey?
Liz Hartke (38:59):
So I seven-year-old bought in the oven. And at that time when my son was born over seven years ago, my husband was still working full-time in a very demanding corporate career. So he went to school for actuarial science, which nobody knows what that is, but it's for really smart, analytical number driven people. And he was hired by a very big global company in downtown Boston. So we lived in the city and we were gearing up to have our first baby. And I mean, you know how this goes. You have all these ideas of what it's going to be like becoming a mom, becoming parents, how it's going to weave into your world as it already exists. And then you get hit by the beautiful bomb of motherhood and you're like, oh, everything that I thought, this is so different. So I was home by myself with my son and still running my businesses and it was it, I was like, oh my, how is this going to this going to work?
(40:05)
So it was very stressful, but at that point my network marketing business was so sustainable that financially it wasn't stressful. But the challenge in me, I was like, I need to still be growing. I feel so called to the work I'm doing. So yeah, it took me a few years and a few kids to realize how much one, I have a propensity for work addiction. That did not equate in my brain. I didn't know that. And two, how much of a gift entrepreneurship was to me as a child through my parents and my family members. I totally took that for granted that so many of the lessons that I learned and the wonderful experiences I had and the struggles that I got to face to become better and to grow and the values that were instilled to me in me were through just being along for the ride with my family.
(41:05)
And it wasn't super intentional. It wasn't like my mom was like, oh, I'm going to raise you in entrepreneurship and we're going to spend this many hours and you're going to sit next. It was like, all right kid. Mom's gotta work. We don't have a nanny. You're coming with me. And it was so cool. So it took a few years for me to realize, man, entrepreneurship, running a business, small business, what a gift we're giving our kids when we're intentional about it. And how can we integrate our family and our business instead of having these crazy boundaries where we don't let our kids see the work we're doing or don't. We don't let them understand the impact we're seeking to make or the vision or the mission that we have. And we keep everything separate. And I see that being preached a lot right now, especially in online entrepreneurship because we can do that.
(41:58)
Cause we close the laptop and it shuts down where it's like, oh, have your business hours and then you're a hundred percent present with the kids, which I believe we need that present time with our children. We need to turn our brains off from work. However, I don't necessarily subscribe from to these really strict boundaries because I think we're robbing our kids of an opportunity to have access to something that they don't get access to in the schools they don't get access to in society, which is witnessing what it looks like to follow your heart, to take responsibility for your own life, to take responsibility for your finances, to learn how to manage people and lead people. All these things that I, again, totally took for granted. When I think back, my mom, we always joke that she's a psychologist and a CPA's body because even though she's a cpa, she's doing taxes.
(42:49)
I think of you this way too, Shanna. Yeah, you might be talking numbers, but you're doing so much. You're doing something so much deeper and your mission is so much greater and the ripple effect is so much more profound. So anybody that came into my mom's sphere would be positively influenced and she'd end up talking to them about their childhood or helping them through a crisis. I can't even tell you how many elderly clients she does end of life care that she doesn't get paid to do it. They don't have family around. So she's the one going to the nursing home just to visit with them and spend time with them. And every Saturday morning when I was a kid for probably eight or nine years, Saturday mornings were Mrs. Snow's morning, we would go visit my mom's elderly client, Mrs. Snow. She was a shut in because she couldn't leave her home.
(43:35)
And we would bring her cookies or we would make her breakfast and we'd spend two or three hours just visiting with her. I learned all these things through the gift of entrepreneurship, and I don't want my kids to be void of that. I want them to have the challenges that come with it and the glory that comes with it that they don't get access to elsewhere. So once I woke up and realized, one, you're a work addict, you better get your ish together. And two this is a gift for your children. Do not rob them of the opportunity to turn your business into a classroom and let them learn all the beautiful lessons and wisdom and values that you learned as a kid. And I got intentional about it. No, I don't have my three year old sitting next to me as I record this podcast because it would be a disaster.
(44:24)
So I have boundaries, I have structure <laugh>, but I also, around our dinner table, we're talking like, Hey, we encountered this challenge. How would you guys handle it? Or one of our clients is really hurting right now and they can't make payment. How do you think we should do? The industry tells us we should send it to claims. What do you think we do should do? How would you wanna be treated if you were in that situation? Just bringing these things to our children and knowing we're doing business very differently than what is standard, but also knowing we're raising our kids very differently than what is standard and leveraging it as the tool to raise these little leaders of our own.
Shanna Skidmore (45:02):
Yeah, this has been such a mindset shift for me, Liz, just getting to know you. And even last week when I got to come to the retreat for your students and clients, it was this beautiful picture when you shared the story of your mom and your family members and how you were involved in it. Because so often I can feel guilty, oh, I have to work and this is Madeline time, or she's here and I need to shut it all down. I'll just work tonight. And finding this harmony, I think between life and raising kids and business and you bring such a beautiful perspective of how it shaped you into who you are. Would you say though that there are, what are your hard and fast lines? What are the boundaries that keep you in check? If you're prone to working a lot, how do you make sure it's in a healthy way that you are representing entrepreneurship and not like mm-hmm. Just at all meshing together?
Liz Hartke (46:04):
Because that can get ugly too. I am. So the big thing in our home is how we use technology around our kids. So when I come out of the office at the end of my workday, my phone stays in the drawer. So people are like, how do you get pictures of your kids? I'm like, I have a real camera that sits on my counter. Well, what happens if your family members need to reach you? I asked for a landline for my birthday a few years ago because I wanted my mother to be able to call if there was an emergency, but I didn't wanna have to have my phone on me because these tools, they're no longer tools. They're straight up addictive things that, yeah, I believe in discipline, but is it really fair to stock an alcoholics liquor cabinet and then be like, just avoid it.
(46:53)
No, these are things designed to make us addicted. So I am like, yeah, I'm all for discipline, but I need the temptation's too. Great. I'm too human. So what are the things that I can instill into my life that they don't bleed into my family time? And I don't do the, oh, well mommy's just gotta do this. How often do, oh, just one second. I just have to check this email. I just have to see if this post went live or whatever. So I had to remove the temptation when it came to technology because maybe other people are way stronger than me, but I felt like I can't fight this battle. I need to just remove it. So I leave. I don't have my phone and my husband doesn't have his phone in the main spaces of our home. Typically the things we're integrating them into are things like events.
(47:38)
Last summer we had an event called Camp Luminary. Mm-hmm. That was for entrepreneurs and their children and to bring them together out of work mode to cast a vision as a family and to make sure their business aligned with it and all that stuff. And raise the kids up in leadership and entrepreneurship. And my son was there working that event with us and having a ball, but he also had to participate in the behind the scenes stuff where was like, oh, I don't get to just play with these other kids. I actually have to carry this thing and set that up and go talk to a vendor and make eye contact and do the thing that makes me really nervous. So we bring them into the things that are appropriate. I feel like people have to use discernment as to what's appropriate at what times.
(48:19)
And based on ages of kids, like I said, I have a three-year-old, she's not sitting in on things that I'm recording, but she might be sitting on my lap when I have a meeting with a client. I might have a coloring book out and she's sitting there with me. So I pick and choose accordingly. And yeah, we're actually walking into a very new season of life right now. As baby comes, I feel like sometimes God strips away the things that we are, we're not courageous enough to do on our own. That would catapult us into what's next. So we stay comfortable in what is. And what's been comfortable for us is we've had childcare, we have, so we homeschool. So our kids are home with us all day every day. But we do have a nanny. And our nanny gave us her notice recently cuz she is moving.
(49:05)
And my husband and I were panicked. We're like, what are we going to do? Because as much as I preach, preach integration, I still need time to do the things that I do. Sure. And we both had this crazy moment of calm and clarity where it wasn't this panicked, we gotta find someone else was, this is our job, we, it's time. We are called into this season of more time as a family, more connection, more integration, less structure, and more scalability that gives us the freedom to be able to do it. So we're stepping into the season where we're about to add a fourth child to the mix still homeschooling. And we will be doing it totally on our own as we're growing our business. And we have a lot of fear and a lot of like, oh gosh, how, you know, always lean into the how when you're scared of something.
(50:03)
But it's more so the why that we're focusing on and the fact that we feel a lot of peace and calm around it. So we know that we'll be carried through it, even if it's quite the growing pains in the beginning. But I think also just a really key thing to note is be conscious of the conversations you're having around your children. When it comes to entrepreneurship, I think the tendency is we vent, right? The end of the day comes, we're at dinner. Hopefully most people are sitting around the dinner table as a family. But I know that's not always the case. And it's like, oh gosh, here are the stressors of the day. And we kind of just vent. And we're not intentionally having conversations about the amazing pieces of the process or instead of venting, how can we present the challenge and involve them in a conversation so that they know life comes with challenges, business comes with challenges, and we are going to step up to the plate and overcome them a bajillion times over until the day we take our last breath. And it's a mentality and a perspective shift that can be so powerful for them. So I think being intentional and conscious of how we present our businesses to our kids can make a really big impact too.
Shanna Skidmore (51:10):
Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. This is a kind of constant thought and conversation with having Madeline who's 19 months and we also went through a season where we really were struggling to find childcare. And I really feel like it was just a moment of, I think she's just supposed to be here with us, and what a gift that it's been. While it's definitely presented its challenges and we had to get creative with work time because we all need that dedicated work time. But I'm just honestly so grateful that we did not find dedicated childcare because I wanted this season with her. So I'm excited for you guys, even though I know it's probably like, oh, how is this going to work to figure that out? And I'm just so grateful to hear your story. Thank you for sharing the amazing lessons that you've learned through these different stories.
(52:06)
And I did want to kind of shout out to everybody listening, I love Liz, how you said, I think we always say, well maybe I'm just not strong enough, or I'm just not disciplined enough with this addictive of device that is our phone <laugh> in social media. And I've said that too. I guess I just wasn't strong enough because I had great boundaries. And it's like, no, actually, you know what? I don't think it's about us not being strong. I just think it is created to maintain our attention. And so you all listening, I no longer have Instagram. I haven't since 2017, and Liz and I did a podcast episode on her podcast, which I'll link in the show notes all about how we use our devices and still grow our business. So I just loved that conversation so much and thank you for sharing how you use your devices in your home and your business. Cuz I just think that's so helpful.
Liz Hartke (52:59):
Yeah, of course.
Shanna Skidmore (53:00):
But I totally noted when you said maybe I just wasn't strong enough or disciplined enough. Yeah. Because I'm like, I said that too. And it's like, no, it's not us. It's not us.
Liz Hartke (53:10):
No, I mean not. Yeah, it's how it's designed to wire our brains. We have to give ourselves some grace there, but also not allow it to be an excuse. I'm willing to, I'm the type with everything that I've realized, I will go to crazy lengths to do what I think is right or in alignment with my values to the point where people think I'm nuts just with my health stuff. You should see how much time, money, whatever we've invested over the years to get to the root causes of things. And people are like, you're not even living, are you even living your life? And I'm like, this is so important to me. I will go to these links. So when I told my friends, I'm like, yeah, we have a house phone. They're like, what? I'm like, well, I couldn't, couldn't risk not having my family there. And the easy thing to do would be like, oh, well I'll just leave my cell phone out because then my family can call. But I knew that would be a gateway into me going on my phone and doing other things. So I'm like, all right, what's the extreme measure I can go to that will allow me to get what I want without it tanking me in the process.
Shanna Skidmore (54:14):
I went to the cell phone place and was like, can I please have a flip phone? And they were like, well, no you can't. But yeah, so it's just like, no, that it isn't you. It was designed to literally rewire your brain. So y'all listen to that podcast episode, it's so good. We can talk so much more about that. But as we wrap up, I wanna go into this kind of quick fire round.
Liz Hartke (54:38):
I'm ready.
Shanna Skidmore (54:39):
Okay. You ready? Hot seat. You're in it Liz. Tell me one thing. You would be embarrassed if people knew
Liz Hartke (54:46):
<laugh>. Okay. So I was literally having this conversation yesterday because a friend of mine, her daughter just got mono for the first time. The kissing disease co spreads around colleges. And in college I got a really bad case of mono. I missed almost a full semester. I got really sick. I was hospitalized, and I would love to say that I got it from Smooching, the captain of the basketball team or something. But there was this sweet little elderly man who worked in our cafeteria. He had to have been like 80. He was as wide as he was tall, maybe like four foot nine, and same across. And he was in charge of the crispy chicken wrap station, which I frequented quite often in college when I weighed quite a bit more. And he came down with a case of mono <laugh>, and I got it through the crispy chicken wrap aisle from this sweet little old man not making out with them, just eating his crispy chicken. And I always was jealous of all the other girls who had these fun stories about the boy they got to kiss. And I'm like, Nope, I got it from Ronnie. Ronnie and the Crispy Chicken Eye.
Shanna Skidmore (55:56):
Ronnie. Thank you, Liz. Just thank you for the pleasure of hearing that story. I just, that just made my life face. Okay. So you're welcome. Done. Yeah. Podcast over. No <laugh>. So good. Oh my goodness. Okay. Do you have second question? Any wish you could do over moments other than Ronnie and the Crispy Chicken? Yeah.
Liz Hartke (56:22):
Story. I would've saved myself a lot of heartache had I avoided those crispy chicken wraps, but they were very good. I have a lot of regrets, and I am always curious when people say they have none, because I don't know if it's just kind of the cliche they like to hang onto, but you're telling me, and I believe that everything leads into the next thing. And I get that the ripple effect all whatever. But there are so many things I've said and done in my life that I look back on oftentimes losing sleepover and say, man, I could have been a better version of me. So everything from those moments as a mom where I yelled when I could have handled it better. And then just decisions in, I don't worry so much about the bus decisions in business because it's less emotional. It's more like it led into whatever was next.
(57:15)
Even the bigger failures or struggles, it's hard to even name 'em because I feel like I have a scroll a mile long, and I just think it's crazy when people say they have no regrets. It's like, yeah, I would've spent even more time with my grandparents. I would've done even more for the charities I worked alongside, or big brother, big sister, missionaries of charity. I would've done more. I would've given more. I would've handled situations differently. And the biggest one I would say is I would've lived in integrity with who I was earlier, because I spent a lot of years, especially in business trying to be what the market told me to be, or looking at my competitors and being like, oh, this is how they dress. Oh, this is how they run their social media. This is, and I was so busy looking left and that I wasted so much time if I just had let my heart guide me, even if it made me so different than everybody else. And I feel like it would've propelled me even faster and further and saved me a lot of pain. I'm feeling like, why am I not enough? Or why is this not working for me? Well, because I'm not living my life. I'm trying to live someone.
Shanna Skidmore (58:24):
Yeah. I'm so glad that you said that because this is a great question. I love asking it, but you're right. There are things I wish I could do over. Oh, absolutely. And maybe that's just the perfectionist in us. I don't know. So gotta turn that around and use it for good. So thank you for sharing. Yeah, I hear that. I hear it. Okay. Third question. What is a big win or pinch me moment?
Liz Hartke (58:47):
Ooh, natural childbirth was pretty cool. I mean, it's not fun, but I've had all natural births and every time I feel like <laugh>, the champions should just start playing in the background or something. It is just quite the feat. And so that's one that comes to mind. And another one, just career-wise, and this is probably my own ego talking, but there were two times in my career where I had certain people in my life, close people in my life who kind of never fully recognized my crazy unconventional path or thought I was a little nuts where they actually acknowledged it. And one was when I spoke, I was asked to be a closer at an event on stage in front of 10,000 people. And the other was when I was published in Forbes for the first time. And what's funny is even saying that aloud, I roll my eyes at myself because I always tell my clients, if you are doing something to prove something to someone else, you're doing the wrong things. So I recognize my hypocrisy in that, but it did feel kind of good, and it did lead into other wonderful opportunities and growth opportunities for me.
Shanna Skidmore (59:57):
And I love that you can recognize what a vanity metric or something and hey be like, Hey, that felt good. Mm-hmm. Cool. But also to recognize that in some ways, and I heard this in our conversation, that you needed for yourself to be like, this is like you said, Quinn, what? This is a real job. There's been moments for me where it's like, even I know this sounds well horrible, but it's like, well, it's okay. I make more money than you. And that's not braggy or it's for my, it's my own insecurity that needed to be like, I am going to take myself seriously. And why is it that we don't sometimes? So, and those are big wins, even for just your own self. Yeah. Okay. Fourth, what is best advice or really good advice you have received?
Liz Hartke (01:00:46):
I have it up on my mirror in my bathroom. It's something my mother has said to me. I don't know, countless times in my, she's a huge business mentor. She's just the mentor. She's like the og. She's my Yoda. She's so brilliant. She's so wise, but she's also a entrepreneurial powerhouse that you would never know if you asked her, but you look at all she's accomplished. So anyway, she's the one I turned to for so many things. And she's a cpa, so she handles numbers. And the things she's told me since I was a kid is, it's just money, honey. Don't let it take a pound of flesh. And there were many times over the years where maybe a deal fell through or a client screwed me, or a vendor got screwed up and I ended up paying double, or I lost money, or I took a risk that certainly cost me or whatever it was.
(01:01:40)
And it was eating me alive. And the only way you move forward from that is that attitude of it's just money. You do not let it take a pound of flesh. You look at the data and you do it better the next time, but you don't let it carve out a piece of your soul and you don't hold a grudge, and you always gotta keep moving forward. And I keep that up on my mirror because there's so many things in life that money can be the driver of, and you, yeah. Can't let it in that driver's seat. It can be a wonderful thing. It can be something that really messes with you, but when you don't let it rule your life, I find it, it flows more too when you release that emotional aspect of money.
Shanna Skidmore (01:02:22):
Yeah. Ooh, that's so good. I'm going to put that up on my mirror. Okay. Last quick fire question and then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource you would like to share?
Liz Hartke (01:02:32):
Ooh, I have a resource I'd like to share because it was okay. In the early days when I created it, it was not pretty or refined, but the process really helped me because as a three on the engram and someone who wants to come up with ideas all the time, and a chall, someone that likes challenge and all that, I find that I can get really frazzled and I can lose focus. And I'm not a finisher, which is why I have team members that are finishers that take me to the finish line, cuz I'll throw new things at them all day. And I go into seasons where I lose my clarity. And when you lose clarity, you naturally lose confidence, which means you're not clear on your vision, and then that affects your team. It affects the development of your business, it affects your confidence.
(01:03:14)
All that's just like this negative ripple effect. So I created this tool called Frazzled to Focus, and I've gifted it to so many of my clients and it's been so powerful. It's just kind of a little workbook thing you can go through. So I'll pass that along to you as a gift, but I use it all the time. So anytime I'm feeling flustered or oh, what should I be doing next or stressed out, or how do I lead my team? Well or you know, name it, I just pull this workbook out and I just go through it and I get tons of clarity. It only takes maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour to do. But you come out with essentially your roadmap of, okay, how do I handle what's coming at me next? Or where am I called to go? And you just get crystal clear and then the confidence comes, and then the creativity comes. It's like the positive spiral that comes from that clarity and that focus. Yeah. So I'll happily pass that along to you.
Shanna Skidmore (01:04:10):
Oh, thank you, Liz. I'll definitely link that in the show notes and frazzled to focus. I like how you said if you lose clarity, you lose confidence. And that's so true because you're like, I need to chart a path forward, but I don't know where I'm going. Okay. Thank you for sharing that resource. That's so helpful. All right, let's send it off with, if you could tell yourself something on day one, going all the way back to launching out on your own in the marketing business, what would you tell yourself on day one?
Liz Hartke (01:04:42):
Just do the right thing. That has been my compass, and in the seasons where I haven't done the right thing, I've done the thing that chased the money or the clients or the notoriety or the shiny thing. It's always taken me in a detour that cost me money and time and energy. So any challenge you encounter, any opportunity you're faced with, if you kind of pin it up against to, am I doing the right thing? Am I in alignment with my values? You're going to ultimately be guided down the right path. It might be a hard path. I'm not saying it makes life easy doing the right thing. Yeah. I actually think it kind of makes it harder sometimes when you're choosing to continually live in integrity with your values, but it'll always be in alignment with who you're being called to be, which means you'll always be on the path towards where you're ultimately called to go. So yeah, just keep doing the right thing. Don't worry about what other people think or tell you. Be courageous enough to say, yeah, that's good input, but that's not the right thing, and I'm going to choose differently. Yeah.
Shanna Skidmore (01:05:46):
Liz, this has been so much fun. Thank you for being on the podcast, sharing more of your story. I am loving, as our friendship develops, getting to know you and can't wait for you to come to Tennessee, and we'll hang out more in Dolly Country, <laugh>
Liz Hartke (01:06:00):
Telling you, I'm like, it's, it's happening. It's happening. I
Shanna Skidmore (01:06:03):
Know. Seriously, but for real. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's been so fun. You're the best.
Liz Hartke (01:06:10):
Ditto right back at you. Thank you for having me. This was so refreshing.
Shanna Skidmore (01:06:14):
Hey, wildflower, you just finished another episode of Consider the Wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Liz. One of my favorite quotes on leadership comes from Brian Tracy. He says, become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily even if you had no title or position. I love that. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.