Bella Liu: From Business Success to Spiritual Fulfillment

In this engaging conversation, Bella Liu shares her transformative journey from business success to spiritual fulfillment. She discusses the importance of self-discovery, the role of spirituality in personal and professional growth, and the healing power of the body. Bella emphasizes the need for emotional and financial security to foster creativity and risk-taking, while also highlighting the significance of listening to one's inner wisdom. The discussion culminates in a powerful reminder that true fulfillment comes from within, and that life is about embracing the present moment.

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It takes a brave and independent mindset to go tiny. If you are trying to figure out your tiny pivot, this podcast is here to inspire and connect you with the other unconventional, gritty, inspirational people within this community. I am Laura Lynch, your tiny house friend and host. On this show, we are always going to come back to money because as a financial planner, this is the question I hear the most. How do I make this work for me financially?

Well, that's my jam, so jump in, let's go. New episodes drop every Thursday.

Well, Bella Liu, thank you so much for joining me on Less House More Moola podcast. I'm super excited that we get to have this cross ocean conversation. Yes, me too. I'm really happy to have been introduced to you and a recent congratulations on the 5,000 downloads. That's super exciting. So yeah, really excited to be here as well. Thank you. Well, you have such an interesting story. I will let you kind of introduce yourself and talk to us about the work that you bring to the world. Awesome. So my name is Bella. Nice to meet you. And I've done such a big variety of I've been dabbling in a lot of different spaces. 

So I kind of started in the coaching space online and then did really well in that space for a couple of years, doing it full time and really reevaluated my life, you know, and found more balance and, you know, spirituality and calmness went into spiritual health and holistic health and Chinese medicine and pimpasana. And then more recently, I've been doing a lot in the wellness and creative industry spaces. And recently, I've taken a deep dive back into coaching. So that's been awesome. It's been really fun. And I focus on four main topics of business, spirituality, relationships, and finance. So it is a bit of everything. But why I feel it works is because

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it's all to do with the self, you know, like you're the thing that stops you from achieving all these goals. It's really about you at the end of the day. So it really resonates into all these different categories and bleeds through. yeah. Yeah. Awesome. It's so interesting as we go on this self-development journey to start realizing where we are holding ourselves back and what areas that we can make, you know, small bits of progress in.

definitely a lifelong journey though, sort of figuring out all of these growth opportunities and finding the right people to support us on that journey. But I want to go back because this hasn't been always your perspective. You had a whole different life at one point. So tell us a little bit more about your backstory. Yeah, yeah. So I think because of my backstory is why it's felt so important to really align with my values and

check in with myself constantly because I was quite young when I first started. first business was, you know, to be honest, I was starting even when I was 14 or 15 because I had design and marketing businesses, even though at the time I even realize that was business. I was just having fun and charging for my services. And then, you know, when I started my first business, I was only 17, 18. And then I was doing that full time for like four or five years. And when you're at that age, like you haven't experienced that much. So

really it felt like, well, the next step is just more money and more success. And like more money will give me more success and more fame. And, it was just about more, more, more. And it got to this point where I was making all this money and like, it was great for, you know, a good six months, nine months to a year. And I was just really getting disillusioned with myself and, you know, why.

Why was I doing what I was doing? Like I started the business to be really accessible and then I found my place, in a place that wasn't really accessible because I was charging thousands of dollars for an hour and it was awesome. Like it was, you know, really good things, but I was like, why didn't I feel fulfilled? Why do I feel so empty inside even though there is money? And it made me really reflect and, you know, discern what was actually going on and what's like deeper than just like that surface.

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everything looks great on the outside, like really tapping into what makes me me and like what actually makes me fulfilled and the type of life I want to live was really, really important questions to ask myself. there any particular like thing that happened that sort of triggered this reevaluation of who you are and, and the life you wanted to live? Oftentimes we have sort of a moment where

shakes us up and we kind of think differently about things. The pandemic did that for a lot of people. Was there anything that caused this reevaluation in particular or some moment that you can identify? Yeah, so I remember, you know, on this journey, I rose my prices from, you know, say $50. At one point, I was charging like 5,000 US an hour. It was just like this insane evolution of over many, years, but just like, you know,

Constant building and building and wanting more and more and more and I just remember You know, it was already starting to dawn on me, but not enough. I guess like I'd really Said to myself, know I'm charging all this money because then I can Put more time aside to my podcast my book and all these things that I wanted to be more accessible or free and there was this one moment where You know a lot of my work at the time was to word of mouth at the point at that point so a lot of like I was

finding myself in these circles, like these really wealthy circles where people are just referring me to like their friends or their business partners because they really love the work I was doing. And there was this one client in Singapore who was wanting to pay me like 20,000 just for a retainer. And I just remember thinking in that moment, like, this is not a good decision. And it wasn't like anything super...

clear, it was just a feeling, it was just like intuitive, but I just remember thinking like it was going to be, if I signed that contract and like accepted the money, it was going to be, I was going to be stuck in something that I wasn't really sure of. And for me needing to take that step back, that was a really big moment where I was like, okay, like even though it doesn't really make sense, I don't even know why I feel these things specifically, like I just need this break and I need to really decide if this is what I want to continue with.

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you know, that contract, even though it wasn't set in stone, it could have been for the next like six or 12 months or something like to continue working with them on whatever they were doing. And like, I didn't want that. So I really started like waiting for my contracts to end with people. And then that's kind of like when I was going through this whole thing with beauty and identity as well. And I shaved my head and I went to Duba Paso, which is like a 10 day silent meditation retreat in the mountains. And I

really did a lot of like self-reflection then there's so much time just to be with you and your thoughts and yeah it just made me think about like who am I like where did I come from what what what is my thoughts and not anyone else's you know I realize a lot of that societal expectation and you talk about this a lot on your podcast about you know you need to do this because this is what we should be working towards but now really coming into

my own energy and finding my own balance, which is very different for every single person. And being very confident in that and feeling quite assured in my own journey and not being distracted or swayed by, you know, what other people are doing, because I'm very, very confident and feel very safe in myself and my body that this is the right path for me. And that feels like just

you know, being more rich than any amount of money could give me. It's just this feeling sense of like peace and calm with my everyday, which is really, really special. Yeah, I love that. There's this theory around the utility of more money that we reach a point where we have enough to take care of all of our needs. And then every incremental dollar after that has less utility than the original dollars that made sure that we had enough to

you know, put a roof over our head and take care of our, you know, basic needs and lifestyle. And so there comes a point where more money is not the answer, but more time and more authenticity and more peace maybe is the answer. So I love that focus. And it seems like you've really made spirituality a key component of this. talk more about

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You know, a lot of people talk about mental health or peace or, you know, coming to be, you know, more authentic with themselves. How did spirituality kind of really you focused in a good bit on that? So share with us why that became a key focus area for you. Yeah, spirituality is very interesting because I think a lot of people hear that word like meditation or yoga. Like it gets very boxed in, but

my perception of spirituality is just a deeper connection with yourself and what makes you you and that's very different for each person. So spirituality is like connecting in with your higher self or your path on this journey of life and really tapping into like what that could mean. And I've always been like somewhat spiritual but definitely like through business, know, even when I was charging all that money and

you know, like what I was offering was business coaching, but every single time, like without a doubt, was always, it would always go into spiritual, spiritual coaching, right? Because, you know, I would, I would chat to people and then you can just feel the energy and the, you know, where someone's head is at from the way they speak and the, the, the energy they give off. And like, I would be very blunt. That was always my style. And I guess still is quite direct. And I would say to these people, like,

Do you even like yourself? And it was often just like a very big like shock. And it was like, my God, like I've never asked myself that question. I don't know if I do. You know, I've just been searching for the money and that, you know, these people, like I was working with where it were millionaires and high net worth individuals. had 20 to $50 million houses and all of this stuff, but they were so unhappy and I could just see that and seeing that at my young age was really beneficial for me to be like, okay, I don't want to be that person. I know.

I could continue on this path and like be there, but it doesn't look like somewhere that feels fun to be, you know, like I'm not going to be proud of that person if I, if I turned into that. And that's how like it seemed to be headed. So, you know, seeing people work on like, like, of course you can still make money and have it mean something, but a lot of the people I was interacting with, it was like, we have like a, $1.2 billion project. And it's like, why are you doing it? And it's like, because I can, it wasn't coming from love. wasn't coming from.

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a space that felt fun anymore. that was a deep question that I ended up asking myself as well. It's like, does this fit in with my own spiritual beliefs or my own beliefs about the world and how we're all meant to work together and be there for each other? Like, you know, all of that, you know, what's the point of getting to the top of the mountain if you're there alone? Right. Like, the point is to really help people up and work with the other people you meet on the way to make the biggest impact.

the biggest difference as well. And I wonder from your experience, how that clarification about a person's deeper spirituality when they're making business decisions, how that may influence their success or the impact that they're able to have people that are just chasing the very surface elements. How do they differ from the people who are

are really focused on the deeper spirituality of their connection with their work in this world? That's such a great question. It's so important because I found a lot of people who aren't happy with themselves, they'll put themselves in really self-sabotaging situations or they might do ethically, they'll be in a lot of moral, ethical dilemmas and they really aren't living in integrity with themselves often.

there could be, you know, like cheating in the house or there could be corruption in the workplace. Like there was a lot of stuff that the way that it materializes is quite clear. But then if you're not reflecting on it, it just kind of feels like why is things not happening in the way that feel great to like my highest self. And, you know, when I started shifting and making changes in my own life, I remember thinking, wow, like everything comes from love. Everything comes from the space of like,

freedom, peace, like I feel grateful all the time, know, like joy is something that comes is in my life very often. And I feel grateful for negative emotions as well. Like I feel, I feel like it's all just meant to be. And I feel a lot of peace with like the fact that life is full of ups and downs and it's going to be okay. Whereas like when you're always hustling and I was working in startups and tech and Silicon Valley too, you see how much greed really

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gets to people, know, a lot of people in the space, like they'll be wanting investors. But then you really have to think about whether an investor is what you want, because they will come in with their KPIs and their, you know, goals of you need to reach this by this year. And if you don't then, and it stops you making your own decisions because you have to make decisions for shareholders. and it's like, you need to understand that every single thing comes with a sacrifice. Like the way you want to live your life, there is

there is always going to be consequences and there's always going to be reasons and whether you know it or not, whether that's conscious or not, like you doing something with intention makes all the difference of like how that is going to affect you later on in life. And I've seen that play out so much and I've seen that, you know, positively, negatively, mutually, like there's just so much that we don't fully understand, but it's always, always happening. Like

something they say about manifestation is like people think manifesting is just positive things but if you're not in a good headspace you're actually manifesting negative things when you're in an anxious you know when you're very automatically anxious what actually ends up happening is you start believing that will happen and then that's what ends up happening because your headspace is in that so much even if it's not an active positive manifestation you're actually doing the opposite of that.

in effect as well. So it's very interesting, the power of the mind, right, the power of the energy that we hold, because everyone is full of energy, everyone is full of power. And it's how you utilize that and how you hold that within a conversation, within an interaction within your own world that makes so much difference to what is really played out in effect in reality. Yeah, it's

It's so interesting because I feel like that when we are, you know, stuck in negative spaces or stuck in places where we don't have the freedom to make choices about things because we've, you know, kind of lined up different elements of taking on investors or, or, you know, having other inputs that are distracting us from the deeper

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expression that we're trying to get out in the world, then we're stuck in a space where we're not being able to produce what is the best work or the best and most creative contribution that we could make. And I'm curious about your thoughts around the interplay between that positivity that you mentioned, that joy, that spirituality that you have and how it

allows you to take risk with your business or take risk in your voice in the world or, you know, move beyond the safety net of I'm just doing what I have to do in order to keep myself safe. Like, I wonder if you see a sort of a correlation there between that positivity and being able to take risk in this world. Yeah, so I definitely want to, you know,

note the importance of emotional and financial security and safety. I think that is 100 % the best place to start. And I feel very blessed because of, you I can go into it a more about my journey. And it's always been very important for me to have a balance of stability, a foundation, you know, financial, whether it's financial, emotional, whatever my environmental safety looks like, so that I always have a bit of time and space to be more creative and fun and

do things that really mean a lot to me. And often the things that mean a lot to you will grow very quickly and well, but it's always been important that I'm not sort of relying on that income or on that payment for me to feel safe because that's when things get a bit hazy because that's what I used to do. that for me was like, OK, well, that wasn't really working. So it's like finding a good balance. Like I have investments in property that do give me

a certain income and I have businesses that are a lot more like solid and, and, you know, low key in terms of my participation. But then I have like really big creative projects where like we won't be running like a festival or like a big, like massive things with like lots of people, which can get a lot. And you kind of need to be okay with like, working with the interplay of that. Because it's really important that you're doing what works for you. And, you know, I've

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plenty of times gone back into full-time work because I felt like that stability was really good for me at that point in time, like my mental health or me just feeling like, you know what, like I feel like learning a bit more. Like I want to be in a team. Like I'm really tired of like making my own decisions. You know, some points in life, like it's okay to go back and forth. Like you don't need to really hold onto one identity for like your whole life and be like, well, I'm this positive person. So I'm always going to be positive.

It's totally fine. Like, you know, I have moments for sure. And there's periods of my life where I'm like, well, like that was crazy. Like looking back and like, I went through a really dark place, but always just believing like, you know what, there is always going to be a way. I recently talked about this on a, on a different podcast and it was about, you know, no matter what, when you feel lost or stuck, there is always a way. It's just about like how you see it or like what you see. There's

always things, there's always signs and symbols from the universe that are telling you what you are capable of, what your inner miracle and power is, but it's like we often don't look at it in the same way that it's being presented to us. We see it in the lens of how we are feeling at that time. So just opening up the mind to what we are capable of and what

is really there for you. Like so many of my most successful businesses have come from redundancies or breakups or like, you know, this kind of space that's not the best you would think, but I see them as such an opportunity now, you know, and I actually always have like when something negative happens, it's like, it's like created space for you to explore a different side of yourself that you might have really been holding off because you have been in this full time job or you have been in a relationship that takes up a lot of your time and

and being like open to exploration and the opportunity of it all is actually where some of the best answers come from. And, you know, I found myself in a lot of these spaces and, even as recent as like last year, I was working production and like a big contract ended and I was like, what do do now? But I was kind of just like taking it easy. And I ended up like starting four jobs in all different, completely different fields. Like it was just like fun jobs.

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I ended up going to NASA in the US and running personal development workshops. was doing outdoor education for high school students and doing scavenger hunts and glamping. It was so random and I'd never worked with high school students. I'd never worked with people with disability in certain communities, but it's been the best time. I've had the best year working alongside my own projects, alongside more stable things as well. So it's been like, I really...

like that, like that variety, but that's what's worked for me and my personality. So everyone's different and like tapping into your own magic is the most important thing I'd say. I love that. I wish all of us could fully understand the magic that we have within ourselves and the magic that comes out of failure and the magic that comes out of serendipity.

I am like always tracking the serendipitous encounters that I have, like I had with you, right? You just never know what, you know, your next conversation or your next interaction or, you know, some random thing that happens in your life that turns into something magical. you definitely have a lot of, of great work going on in the world. And I wonder if you have like a core message.

that if you had to leave this world with just one thing that you wanted everyone to feel deep in their soul, if what that would be. Wow, that's a great question and really, really gets me to like go quite deep. A big thing that has been very top of mind for the last year or two for me, going on a wellness journey and opening wellness studios as well is the ability of our own bodies to heal.

So like listening to the wisdom of the body and listening to what is happening inside. That is all we need. Like I feel like this has been so healing for me and my experience because I never feel alone. I'm like my body holds me and so much is happening in the body to protect you and to keep you moving and running and working that we just take for granted. And coming back to like

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nature and this sense of safety, like we always will have ourselves and, you know, really improving that connection that we have to nature, source, universe, but also to our own bodies is like the answer, I think, to everything, you know. I've been going deep into somatic therapy and art therapy and, you know, Chinese medicine and reiki and all these different practices, but health is like so important, right? Like that's what we really have.

So yeah, doing things that are good for our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health. Like it's really the main thing that matters at the end of the day. You hear about so many people who work until their death bed and then they have all like a whole mix of tumors and cancers and you know, so many things wrong because it's like they've always been ignoring what their body needs and your body does keep the score. Like we are full of stored.

stored traumas and stored aspects of our life, even whether we know it or not. Yeah, think that's really important because we all know stories of people who were doing all the things they wanted to do, whatever that was, and the minute that your health slips, nothing else matters. And so we all have to remember and feel grateful when we are in

good health and work really hard to hold on to that because it is foundational to the ways that we want to influence the world or the good that we want to put out or the life we want to create. It's really at the very basics of that. And I think we spoke about this briefly, but around the fact that

you know, whatever you want to achieve in the future, like you can access that now. Like if it's joy, happiness, abundance, like there are ways to really build that into your current life. in, terms of the feelings and, it's like, it's like life is happening right now, you know, like that's, that's what it's all about, right? Like so many people would get stuck in this like, in future, I'll be happy right now. I just can't be.

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But like there are reasons, there are ways to find the happiness and the joy and like, you know, enjoy what you're doing right now, even if it doesn't feel like you're fully where you want to be. Yeah, it's like, it's okay to just accept and embrace being happy and that you don't need necessarily like that next thing to, it doesn't need to be conditional, right? It's like, you just allow yourself like.

Well, I'm happy that's cool. Like, that's great. You know, it's like, it's like, like kind of simplifying it and peeling it back a bit. It's like, we live in such a world where it's like, I need more and I need this. And like, it's so capitalist and more, more, more is always the answer. But like, when we actually tap into ourselves and it's like, I'm already so abundant. Like the fact that I'm alive is a miracle, you know, one in 400 trillion chance that we are exactly the way we are. It's just, it's just so magical.

I love that. I'm so glad that we were able to talk about, you know, the spirituality element, especially in from the notion of kind of being in touch with ourselves and the fact that we have all the wisdom and all the healing within ourselves. And oftentimes people are kind of looking outside for that and seeking it from, you know, from others. And I read on a

in a book or in a podcast at some point. Like I know when I have questions, sometimes I'm like, well, what can I Google? Where can I research? What can I look outside myself? And really, we can learn so much from ourselves. And if we can just hone into our own voice and our own instinct and our own wisdom and our body's own ability to heal itself and for us to know how to take care of ourselves by listening to ourselves.

And very often, I think we've been taught to just look outside for someone else to tell us how to live our lives and take care of ourselves and what we're supposed to aim for. And yet, if we listen deeply to ourselves, we might hear something completely different. And I think it's totally OK to look for answers elsewhere, but then still reflecting back, it's like, what did I learn from that interaction? Like, often I have a course on intentional social media use, and a lot of people will

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go into a comparison trap with things they see online. And what I like to say is, if you do feel envious or jealous of something online, use it as inspiration and fodder for this is what I want to achieve in life. And what is it specifically about that photo or that video or that person that is resonating with you? actually asking those questions and exploring that rather than just leaving it. There are so many ways to learn from the world around us. It's not about

fully, you know, like going to the mountains, even though that's what I did, like doing your own thing, but like using what we experience as like lessons and, and teachers to know more about ourselves is, is like such a beautiful task and can, can make all the difference. Yeah. Well, Bella, for folks that might want to find you, your coaching, all of the ways that you're out there.

spreading your message around the world. Where can they find and follow you? Yeah, definitely. So Instagram is probably my most active platform. I'm at Invincibella. There's an underscore, but if you type Invincibella, it should come up. And my wellness pages, ZenFX Flow. I'm also on LinkedIn or Facebook, all the things really. And I have my own podcast called How to Be Invincible and a book coming out shortly as well.

Yeah, but Instagram is the best place. So hopefully look forward to seeing some of you there. Yep. The book project. That's a great thing. Definitely something to keep people following you to find out more when that is getting close to publish. Yeah. And you too, right? I think you also had a book coming out. Yeah. Don't tell anybody. Yes. I'm working on a book project too. But yeah, it's like, you know, I love like finding what

feels good for you, like that's been a big part of my money journey is like really doing things because it feels fun, you know, like when I first got into property, it was like just curiosity and like so much more will come from that because yeah, learning should be enjoyable, you know, like all of it, it's going to come to its ups and downs. But like, if you're if you're having fun learning, then everything's fun. Everything's good. So yeah.

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Awesome. Thank you so much. really appreciate your time and thanks for having me on your podcast. Yes, thanks for being here. Hey, thank you for taking the time to listen to Less House More Moola. I have another free resource on my website for you, the Unconventional Values Quiz. In just two minutes, you can pinpoint your style of freedom seeker, security guardian, adventure enthusiast, or community builder.

Check it out at thetinyhouseadviser.com. one more thing, podcasts don't have algorithms like social media does. They only grow by word of mouth and reviews. If this podcast is helpful to you, would you please post a review on your podcast app and tell a friend who is trying to live a values-based life? It would totally make my day.

Please see the show notes for important disclosure regarding the tiny house advisor LLC and this episode.