AG #008: 12 Mantras That Built a Seven-Figure Business

AG #008: 12 Mantras That Built a Seven-Figure Business

Business tactics expire. These 12 mantras from 12 years and 10,000 clients never will.

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Anti-Generic with Anna Powers, host Anna Powers shares the 12 mantras behind her multiple seven-figure business - and why they matter more now than ever as AI disrupts entire industries.

You'll learn the most powerful reframe for any setback, why outgrowing your own strategies is a sign of growth, and discover why "sales is service" can transform your revenue.

Question of the Day

Which of these 12 mantras resonates most with where you are in your business right now? Drop it in the comments - I'd love to know.

Key Takeaways

• Asking "what does this make possible?" is the most powerful reframe for any setback
• What got you here won't get you there - outgrowing your strategies is a sign of growth
• "Make hay while the sun shines" is the most urgent mantra for the AI era
• Sales is service - that single reframe can transform your entire revenue
• Being resourceful like a Swiss army knife led to a $243,000 live event

Timestamped Outline

00:00 - Introduction - 12 mantras from 12 years
00:32 - Why timeless principles matter in the AI era
02:06 - Mantra 1: What does this make possible?
02:48 - Mantra 2: What got you here won't get you there
03:43 - Mantra 3: How people treat you reflects themselves
05:44 - Mantra 4: Make hay while the sun shines
07:26 - Mantra 5: Popular vs. respected vs. self-respect
08:06 - Mantra 6: 100% responsibility, 100% of the time
09:55 - Mantra 7: Sales is service
10:47 - Mantra 8: Get resourceful
11:35 - Mantra 9: People who pay, pay attention
12:30 - Mantra 10: Everything is always happening for me
13:26 - Mantra 11: Be like a Swiss army knife
16:27 - Mantra 12: Do unto others
17:39 - Closing and private advisory invitation

Links & Resources

• Anna's private advisory services: anna@saraannapowers.com
• Subscribe to The Anti-Generic with Anna Powers: https://www.saraannapowers.com/anti-generic

Connect & CTA

Subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Every week, The Anti-Generic shows you how to use AI to grow your business without sounding like everyone else. Human-first, AI-amplified. Subscribe so you don't miss the next issue: https://www.saraannapowers.com/anti-generic

Credits

Host: Anna Powers (c) 2026 Sara Anna Powers. All rights reserved.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

These are the 12 mantras that have helped me create a multiple seven-figure business over the last 12 years. Let's get into it. Hey, my name is Anna Powers, and you are listening to slash watching the anti-generic podcast. This is episode eight. And I thought I would really switch it up. A lot of times I'm taking a deep dive into one particular issue on these podcast recordings and in this YouTube channel. But today I thought as I was reflecting over the current business landscape, which has been so dramatically affected and disrupted by AI, which is something that we talk a lot about here on the podcast, I thought I would actually revert back just for this week to talking about timeless principles and 12 specific mantras that have helped me set my business up for success long term, no matter what kind of crazy market force is potentially coming in and disrupting the economic landscape. I trust that that's going to be really beneficial for you too, because I know that most of the people who are listening to the podcast, watching the YouTube, reading the newsletter that I send out every week are really thinking about the long term. You have a big vision, you're looking to grow your business in a sustainable way, and you understand that with every business, there's going to be challenges that pop up. And so you aren't looking for perfection, but you are looking for persistence and resilience. So what I'm going to do is actually share the 12 specific mantras that have worked for me to stay focused on the long-term vision and the long-term goal. And I'll start and I'll give you some examples about how you can apply them to your own business. So again, these are timeless and they're going to become more and more relevant as entire industries get uprooted by AI in the next three to five years. You want to be a business owner who ascribes to these principles so that you can grow your business over the long term and not be swayed as chaos increases around you. Okay, so mantra number one is actually a question. And the question is, what does this make possible? Now, my mentor Dan Miller, who is the best-selling author of 48 Days to the Work You Love, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago. But Dan is the one who taught me to ask this question whenever something unexpected or even unwelcome happened in the business. I continue to live by this question. What does this make possible? One thing that is certain in business is that there will always be unexpected challenges. Your attitude toward dealing with them will absolutely make all the difference in what you're able to achieve. Second mantra is what got you here is not gonna get you there. Now, this is one that many of my mentors over many years have said over and over, it's really been drilled into my spirit. And what this really means is that the actions you take to get to one level of success are usually not gonna be the same actions that you'll need to take to get to a higher level of success. This can be really confusing when you're going to a new revenue level specifically, because often you'll try to use the same old tactics and strategies that you've been using that have worked really well, but then they stop working to get you to that next level. So you have to switch gears completely and just embrace this, get it into your bones. What got me here will not get me there. The most successful business owners understand that it is critical that you stay nimble and flexible. The third mantra is however someone acts toward you is simply a reflection of how they feel about themselves. Now, over the years, when I've shared that particular mantra with clients, I've gotten a lot of feedback that that one in particular really resonates with people. So listen, after running a business for 12 years and serving more than 10,000 individual clients and customers, I have probably dealt with almost every personality type you can imagine. That means I have had customers who behaved in an absolutely lovely manner toward me. They were, they showed up appreciative of the support, they trusted me, they trusted the process, they did the work, they got resourceful, which we'll talk about here in a minute. They were just absolutely magnificent. And then I have also had clients and customers who behaved in an absolutely uh, and thankfully these are rare exceptions, but I've had them who behaved in in an incredibly poor manner toward me. Um and if you've been operating your business for any amount of time, you've probably had that same experience. So it is very easy to take it to heart when someone is rude or condescending, or even at times, again, this is rare, but sometimes people are just downright nasty. Really, their actions are just a reflection of how they feel about themselves. You've probably heard the expression hurt people, hurt people. And what I've seen in my own business is that when someone comes with a really poor attitude or they're very accusatory or again, just downright nasty, it's it's almost never about you. It is about how they feel about themselves or what's going on in their lives. So again, that third mantra, however, someone acts toward you is simply a reflection of how they feel about themselves. That one can really help you when you're navigating some tricky client and customer situations. Mantra number four is make hay while the sun shines. Now, I first ran across this one in my lawyer days. This one is incredibly relevant right now. So back when I was practicing law, because I practiced for eight and a half years, I'm still licensed to practice in multiple states. Um, I noticed that the practice of law is really cyclical. So there will be a certain particular trend in litigation and you will have more cases than you can even fit into a 40-hour work week. That's why as a lawyer, I was working 50 to 60 hours a week easily. But then that particular litigation trend will start to wind down. And before the next one picks up, you might have a little dry spell. That is where I learned how to make hay while the sun shines, because uh in the practice of law, you've got billable hours. So I learned when the work is abundant and plentiful, work extra, work 60 hours, work 70 hours, 80 hours, like work extra because you got to hit your billables for the year. And it may be that in two months from now, those cases are completed and you haven't gotten that big influx of the new trend, the new cases, and you never want to be stuck with your pants down when the tide goes out, right? So make hay while the sun shines. If you're doing something that's making you revenue and generating you profit right now, you need to triple down on it. There is no guarantee that the same thing is gonna continue making you the same amount of profit and revenue in the next three years, especially with AI disrupting so many industries. So do not get complacent when something is working. When it's working is exactly the time that you want to squeeze every last bit of juice from it. All right, mantra number five. Oof. It's good to be popular, it's better to be respected, and it's best to respect yourself. Now that was one that my father actually taught me when I was 15 years old. I did something really stupid. My dad said, Why did you do that? And I explained to him, I just wanted to be popular. And he said, Hey, it's good to be popular. Nothing wrong with that, but it's better to be respected. And the best thing of all is to hold respect for yourself. You have to have a standard for yourself and honor it. And that's gonna be so much more rewarding than just going along with whatever the crowd is doing. Mantra number six 100% responsibility a hundred percent of the time. This one is tough. I'm not gonna lie. Listen, if it were easy, everybody would do it, right? Running a business, growing a company, it is not for the faint of heart. It's not for the weak, but I don't think you're weak because you wouldn't still be even listening to this and paying attention here. 100% responsibility, 100% of the time, is a mantra I've lived, lived by in my business, particularly in the area of team building. It's a value that I do my best to instill into every single team member that we have. And it's uh it's a value that I also hold personally in my personal life. 100% responsibility 100% of the time means there are no excuses. So ultimately, all of the responsibility for my business rests on my shoulders. If a team member is underperforming, yes, of course, they individually hold the responsibility for that underperformance. And also, I hold the responsibility ultimately because I'm the one who recruited them. I'm the one who interviewed them, I'm the one who hired them, and I'm the one who continues to give them a spot on the team, even if there are performance issues. And I want to note here, I am not referencing any of my current team members who are all exceptional performers. But over the years, 12 years in running a business, I've had team members come and go that did have performance issues. And I ultimately had to embrace, look, 100% responsibility, 100% of the time. Um, it's very uncomfortable because the human thing to do is to blame someone else when things go wrong. And things will go wrong. Business is about solving problems. So you're going to have a lot of problems the more your business grows. As a business owner, you have to get comfortable with accepting that every single decision is ultimately your responsibility. All right, number seven, sales is service. I think that part of the reason my business has been so successful over the years is because I have always embraced the mantra that sales is service. I have always been thinking business is just about solving problems. So when we're selling something, the only way it's gonna work is if it's actually solving a real problem for a real human being and that that human being has real urgency, that they want to solve that problem, they need to solve that problem. So we need to make an offer that's gonna actually fix the problem for someone. And when we do that, that is of very deep and high service to them. Now, if you can adapt this one mantra in your business of seeing sales as service, it can absolutely revolutionize your revenue and your profit. Mantra number seven, sorry, mantra number eight, we're already on eight, is get resourceful. Resourcefulness is another one of our company's core values. And it's also a mantra that I've personally adopted that has helped me continue to grow even in tricky seasons. So getting resourceful means knowing in the context of business, it means knowing how every piece of your business runs, being able to jump in wherever you need to. It means seeing a problem and not knowing the solution right off the bat, but trusting yourself that once you've stepped back and looked at it from a few different angles, you will figure out something that can solve that problem. Being resourceful means you can always stay confident that you are going to figure it out no matter what. Mantra number eight is people who pay, pay attention. I learned this one from Michael Hyatt, who is a business owner I've followed. I actually was a contract copywriter for his company for a couple of years, learned so much working alongside him. So Michael taught me that when people pay, they pay attention because they're invested. So when they make a payment, they are now invested in the process of showing up and they want to get that solution and they're invested in getting that solution. Now, a lot of business owners think that giving away as many free things as possible in your business is really in service to people. But often when you're giving something away for free, people simply do not value it. So it's good to always remember that people who pay have skin in the game and they tend to show up for themselves at a much greater level than people who are just looking for freebies. All right, mantra number 10. Everything is always happening for me. So the distinction is our human tendency is to say, oh, this bad thing happened to me, or like this happened to me today. No, everything is always happening for me, for my highest good, for my benefit. I have repeated this statement to myself more times than I can even remember. This is one that I lean on every single week because every single week there's going to be something that happens that absolutely feels like it is not happening for you. When you believe, as I do, that there is a good God who is ultimately mapping out your steps and who has a good plan for you, who wants to prosper you, who does not want to harm you, then you can confidently state that everything is always happening for you. Even the setbacks are actually setups for your next success. Mantra number 11. Be like a Swiss army knife. Now, I really admire the Swiss. I actually spent a year in Switzerland right after undergrad as a rotary scholar and did a year of Swiss law school taught in French that did not translate or put me any closer to getting my law degree here in the States, but it was really fun and really interesting because their legal system is very different than ours. But I really admire the Swiss. And one thing that they have is that Swiss Army knife, and it has all these little different tools in this one little compact knife. You can use this one tool to do so many different things. So being like a Swiss Army knife in the context of your business means you're multifaceted in the skills that you hold and in your ability to jump in and exercise them. So as a CEO of your company, you need to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty in any department. I remember hosting my very first larger live event with around 50 of my clients in Atlanta back in 2019. I planned that whole event by myself. I did not have an event planner helping me. Um, I have no background expertise or frankly, even gifting or talent in event planning. I am not the person who's like really great at planning parties or events. The night before the event, I was personally setting journals on the chairs. I was stuffing the little plastic holders with the name tags. I was hooking the lanyards on. I was making out a playlist for the walk-on music for the stage the next day because I had forgotten to do that. Oh my goodness, we need walkout music. And I was finalizing the contracts for the offers that I was gonna make. It was an extraordinary amount of work. And that event also ended up being extraordinarily successful. We ended up generating $243,000 in sales over a 36-hour period from a room of, again, approximately 50 clients. The best successes in business will come when you're fully prepared to and committed to helping with every single part of the process. Listen, if I would have, you know, turned my nose up and said, look, I'm just here to, I created all the talks. I'm just here to stand up on the stage and deliver the content, like somebody else, figure out the journals, figure out the name tags, figure out the music. Like that's not my gig. It would have been a total failure. No, it was me saying, I am taking, and this loops back to the mantra 100% responsibility 100% of the time, but it was me saying, I'm taking full responsibility for this. And I am willing to stay up late, to do the contracts, to stuff the notebooks. I am willing to do that to make this event come together as a beautiful experience for all the incredible clients who had used their financial resources and taken their time to be present. So I think that those two really go hand in hand, being resourceful and then being like a Swiss Army knife. All right, and also 100% responsibility, right? Like just owning the responsibility for every facet of the vision that you have to create something great. Mantra number 12, to wrap it all up, um, this one's huge. So it's do unto others as you would have done unto you. So business is about relationships and people helping other people. It is critical for you to treat your clients and customers the way you would want to be treated as a client and as a customer. If you keep just that one thing in mind, you will set yourself up for extraordinary levels of success. And there you have it. There are 12 mantras, one mantra for every year that I have been running this company. I really trust that you have found some value in me just going through bam, bam, bam, these different principles. Different ones are going to resonate with you more than others right now. And then you may actually find that you want to re-watch this, come back, put it in your calendar for two months from now to re-listen to. Because a lot of times in different seasons, uh, you know, the ones that resonate with you most today, you may find others resonating more with you in a future season of your business. But these are the classics and these are the things that I come back to again and again and again. So I trust that they'll be helpful to you. I thank you so much for taking your time to listen and or watch. Um, if you're watching on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button. It just helps us reach more people. If you're listening on the podcast, same thing. I think it's not called subscribe on the podcast, it's called like follow, but that helps us um make the podcast more accessible to people when they're looking for a great podcast to listen to. And uh if you're interested in high-level one-on-one support, you want to learn from someone who has grown a company in the way that I've had, I do have a spot available for private advisory services, depending on when you're listening to this. As of the time that I'm recording this, I do have a spot available. Um, if you're interested in that or when you're interested in that, reach out to Anna at Sarah AnnaPowers.com. We'll have a personal conversation. I like to actually get on a call with you and learn more about your goals to see if it's the right fit and to see if I might be the right person to support you in growing to that seven figure mark. All right, have a beautiful day. Thank you again for sharing your time with me. I trust that it's been helpful and I will see you back next week on the anti generic podcast.