Keisha Blair: Welcome to the Holistic Wealth podcast. I’m your host, Keisha Blair wife, mother of three, author of Holistic Wealth and Founder of the Institute on Holistic Wealth. The show will showcase various experts in the key pillars of holistic wealth. Each week we deliver the best information on how to become holistically wealthy and live your best life.
Today, we have a special guest with us. We have Nastassia and she is the Founder of The Perfect Startup Incubator and the Mind Designer consulting. As an entrepreneur and a business development expert, she focuses on leading women through launching and finding joy in running their own businesses. She also has a new book out The Perfect Launch Plan, How to Get Out of Your Own Way So you can finally start a business. Nastassia, Welcome to the show.
Natassia: Thank you. Thank you for having me on I’m really happy to be here.
Keisha Blair: Yes, absolutely. And I would just love to start about hearing your journey and. What led you to start this business?
Natassia: You could say I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit. I tried many, many times working for others and working in the corporate environment and it always felt a bit constricting because I am an ideas person. So constantly trying to implement new things or try new ways of creating things or innovating processes that are already in place. And when you are in that big corporate environment, the processes are a lot slower, right? And there are so many hoops to jump through and you can sort of getting stuck wearing one hat, you know, like doing your role.
And I’ve always been really comfortable in stepping into multiple roles. Learning new things. I love reading different topics and finding out more about different departments. So even while I was in business development, I was always learning about marketing, you know, learning about media buying and learning, trying to learn a little bit about, um, engineering and software.
So it just always felt really natural for me to just sort of be to want to do more. And so when I finally decided that it was time, time for me to sort of step out on my own, I took nuggets of things that I knew I could do well and really found that there was a pattern in the way that our work, which always led people to seek me out for advice or seek me out for that kind of sounding board experience that they could talk these things through. So I was really drawn towards coaching. And so I left my industry. I became certified in coaching and because years prior to that, I had tried to start a business that was somewhat aligned with my passions, but ultimately not. And it actually did it didn’t go quite so well, you know, I considered it a failure, but what happened was, when I started getting into coaching, I really ran into the same mindsets over and over again with the women that I was working with.
And it was just. The idea that you know, that they sort of had to have this facade of being really strong or being able to do everything on their own. And I’ve really identified with that thinking back on that first failed business. And so I took that experience. Failing at business, couple that with the new experience of succeeding at business, and that’s what led to this book, The Perfect Launch Plan in that I go through the process of launching a business step-by-step, but which you can find in a lot of places. So just as you will learn how to write up a business plan or figure out your proof of concept and your minimum viable product and all the logistical things that go around launching a business.
I also walk people through fear of failure and imposter syndrome and money issues and all of those things that come up. And so these, these little fears and these insecurities and these doubts. Helped me mold, how I approach coaching and consulting. Um, because today I do both. So I consult with diversity, equity and inclusion, but I also do lead women, specifically women who come from underrepresented backgrounds. Through this process of launching while co-designing with them, the mindsets that will get them to get to where they want to be.
Keisha Blair: Okay. No, that sounds good. And it sounds like such important work that’s needed, especially with underrepresented women. And I was telling you about this Instagram post that you had. I think it’s really just one and I just wanted to read a portion of it because. Resonated with me. And I’m sure it would resonate with so many people. And I just want to get your views on it because I thought it was really deep. So in the post, you say “I never had a coach or mentor who could relate to being an immigrant, a person of colour. The years of conditioning I had been through to become a nice girl or how childhood trauma shame or a low self-esteem could hold someone back as an entrepreneur”. And I thought, wow, so many women could relate to that. And it’s so true that when, you know, you’re an immigrant, a woman of colour, a person of colour, there are so many obstacles.
And then of course you couple that with that childhood trauma that you mentioned, the shame or low self-esteem, and of course, you know, that has impacts on entrepreneurs, but I really, really want to get. Your insights on this. And you mentioned in the book, and of course in your own coaching, too, that you peer this, this type of mindset work with the, you know, kind of business launch practice. Could you give us some tips, but also how has that played out for you in your own life as an immigrant and as an entrepreneur?
Natassia: So there’s, there’s just so much to unpack there, right? Because there are so many different experiences. Speaking specifically to the immigrant experience for me at the age that I moved to the United States, you know, I was 12 years old. It’s that very fragile age. Going through puberty, but you’re also stepping into that space where you’re trying to figure out who you are going to become as a person, and to couple that with not speaking the language, being a completely new environment, a completely new culture. What that did for me is it made me feel like I had to diminish myself and made me feel like I had to sort of disappearing and become invisible. Just that idea of having to diminish yourself in the moment where you’re trying to figure out who you are, it can be so damaging, right? Those feelings can last for years and years and years, you know, this idea of assimilation, then it depends on, on the background that you’re coming from.
You know, I think now a lot more immigrants are more open to the idea of holding onto their culture. And we don’t see so much of that mindset that we had a few years ago, but still, there’s that feeling of assimilation of like, catch-ups speak the language and sort of figure out what the culture is about so that you don’t feel like you’re being thrown to the walls because 12-year-olds can be brutal.
So yeah, so that experience really shaped a lot of who I became later on in life, you know, and it took a long time for me to be okay. Being the outspoken person that I am naturally would be okay with standing out. And it was through different ways of exploring, like sort of dipping my toe into the pool of like, what does it look really look like to be me? that I am now able to identify with a lot of my clients that I coach, right. So, because I do work with immigrants and I do work with women of colour. And so I think women in general, have certain things as sort of like, we, we kind of have, you know, hammered into our brains, you know, obviously a lot to do with body image and a lot to do with that. At least coming from the background that I came from in South America, that I can add the, of the nice girl of like, you know, don’t speak up too much. Don’t rock the boat too much. So being able to understand that, it makes it a lot easier for me to guide my clients through the process of first identifying it.
I think a lot of us are still walking around without being able to name it without even realizing that we’re doing it. So we walked through that process. First of identifying that that’s actually coming up because I see I come across so many women who have so many incredible ideas. But they get paralyzed by the fear of exposure, right?
Because if they put themselves out there, they’ll feel like, you know, they’re stepping out of that role of being nice, but being quiet of not rocking the boat. So we really have to identify it first, name it as a theory or as a limiting belief. And then we can figure out the best steps for each individual. Slowly step away from that process, or maybe bringing that experience into whatever their product or services do, maybe help their own customers in turn. Right. But definitely having that experience helps me connect with and reach my customer where they are first, rather than just throw them into the deep end and say, go launch a business.
Because if you just launch a business, sure. You can have all the steps laid out for you, but the moment you get there and all of a sudden you have these issues coming up. Not being too outspoken or money issues because of what you grew up listening or fear of, of failure. I mean, your business has no legs. There are no legs to stand on because those things will be empty. Your personal security that has a founder and CEO, they’re inevitable, they’ll come up. And so you either can let them stand in your way, or like I did with my first or you can find ways to work through it. And I think that had, I had a coach had I had somebody who could hold my hand and go, no, this is normal.
You’re you can get through this. Let me show you how I know I would have done things differently. So this is kind of me stepping into that role for other people. Well,
Keisha Blair: And that’s so interesting because you mentioned the first launch as well. Potentially that things didn’t go right there. And I’m just wondering if you could share with us, what are some of the things that could potentially go wrong in a launch and any words of wisdom that you may have?
Natassia: Well, so there are two sides, right? So one is that very business strategy, part of the business launch and the other is this mindset or personality that one must sort of be aware of. So on the personality side, there were so many things that got away from me. There definitely had a lot of things I didn’t know, my money story, I hadn’t had time to sit down and go with one of my beliefs around money.
It turned out that I had a fear of actually being successful, turned out that I had that thing in my head that told me, well, if you do get money, you will know what to do with it. Right. So I had all of these limiting beliefs that got in the way of me making smarter decisions and smarter choices. I definitely had a fear of exposure. I knew I wanted to launch something, but I didn’t want my name to be attached to it. I didn’t want people to know who I was. You know, there were all these little things that crept up and I obviously couldn’t tell that that’s what was happening. There were personal fears and personal limiting beliefs that got in the way.
And then on the logistical more business tactical side, I think one thing that I didn’t know then, and I loved to spread the word because you don’t have to hold your idea of your product or service as so precious, you know, a lot of people sort of stay in their little mind or their lab or their little space creating this quote-unquote perfect product or perfect service.
And then they put it out there. But let me tell you, it’s so much easier to let your customers build your product for you, right? So when you know who you want to serve and who you want to reach. Just go and talk to them and have them co-create that product for you. Because then by the time you’re ready to launch, you’ll know, there’ll be people out there who are ready to run towards you with money in hand, ready to buy your product rather than finally, putting something out in the world that you think is perfect and everyone’s looking around, like, we didn’t ask for this and you don’t have any customers.
Keisha Blair: That’s true. I completely agree. And there’s so much you said there that I want to ask about. I’m hoping I remember it all, but, you mentioned the money story and how that can impact us, you know when launching a business. And I really wanted to hear more about that because as you know, and I want to ask you this too afterwards about, you know, that personal financial identity quiz, but I’ve been doing a fair bit of writing around that too. So I’m eager to hear about that whole money story and how not knowing that money story can really impact us.
I think many people will be like, well, what would my money story be? You know, so people are listening and they’re going, I don’t know what that is. So can you tell us a bit more about that and the potential negative impacts that could have when we’re not self-aware or when we don’t even know what our money stories are?
Natassia: Well, we all have one, right? We all have a money story. I think that you know, whether you come from a really financially secure background or whether you come from a lot of struggle, those are two different stories, but they’re stories nonetheless, and they each create or build certain beliefs in you. And so I think that to take some time in to sit down and really just think about it.
I’d have to think back and remember, like, what are the things that I’ve always heard about money? What were the people around me saying about money? What was, what were their actions around money? When was I introduced to it? And when I was, what was it like, did we ever really talk about it? Was it talked about it all the time?
So you want to just sit down and take stock of the things that helped shape your view. I mean so many women that I’ve. You know, we are getting into the nitty-gritty of things and, and next thing you know, they are not willing to do something or willing to just jump into quickly into something else or invest too quickly.
And we have to take that moment to pause and go what’s going on here. Right? Why are you so afraid of making this investment? Or why are you so eager to keep throwing money at this thing or whatever falls in between and what happens a lot is that we end up uncovering. Truths that or uncovering beliefs that are no longer true for them.
I’ve worked with someone recently who had this mindset of like, you must constantly work. You must constantly be available. And 16 hour days are normal because lots of work equals more money and more money is the basis for success. But when we broke down what her ideals really were and what her ideal lifestyle look like and what she was really after, money didn’t come into it until sort of like way down the list.
She realized that, you know, I have been working all this time, but the more time that I put in didn’t necessarily equal more money. And even if this money were to be gone, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. And you start breaking the beliefs down and all those walls start crumbling. And then you can look at it with a fresh view and go, what story do now, do I want to create, now this was my story.
Then believing that it was, there was never enough believing. It’s the hard work, those, the norm, believing that you must hoard it and put it away and never touch it. That was then what do I want to believe now? Right. And so in that case, the new belief was, I want to believe that me putting some money into my business, it’s going to come back to me and I’m going to invest it in this way so that it can come back in this way.
And the new belief that I’m starting a business because I want more freedom to spend more time with my kids at home. And if I believe that 16 hour days are normal, then where is that freedom? Where does that funding going to come, come into play? So figuring all that out and like studying new, new sets of beliefs and obviously being really gentle with oneself because those things changed overnight. Right? It’ll creep up again. You’ll find yourself going there again, but having that awareness makes it so much easier to stop you, help yourself stop in your tracks and go, wait a second, Am I acting like my old story? Or am I moving towards my new story?
Keisha Blair: Very wise words. And so I have to segue into the next question, which is on the personal identity framework. Because in my book, Holistic Wealth, I mentioned that each one of us should know our personal financial identity. And we need to know how to harness its strengths. So I’m wondering if you could share with us your results from the quiz and any insights you may have in terms of your own money story. I think that would be amazing, especially because. We just spoke about that. And in terms of the old money story and the new money story and how you’ve seen yours play out in launching your business and making your business thrive and making your lifestyle thrive for you, any insights around that would be great.
Natassia: I took your quiz, and I’m a what do you call it a Maximalist? And so I was really, really excited by that because I feel like that wouldn’t have come out that way previously, my old story,
Keisha Blair: I throw it back to like really tell me
Natassia: I’m really excited because I feel like the knee jerk reaction to getting that result is, oh no, I’m frivolous with money. That’s not good. But that’s not how I see it at all, because I feel like in the past, let’s say for example, building up some debt, right. I feel like that have made me break out because you feel this sort of heavy burden sort of always haunting you. Right. Whereas now, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship, I’m much more relaxed if that were to happen, because I know that’s an investment.
It’s putting something in so I can get something out. So if that’s the resource for me at the moment, then great. I’ll use that resource. And I’m really grateful. I’m actually in the beginning when I was changing my money story, that was a big thing for me is to, if I were to accrued debt, look at it. Thank you for having been available to me when I needed it, because that’s what that really means. Right? You were, you were in a tight spot, you needed something. And somehow that was there. And so my long journey with my money story is changing that mindset of from scarcity to plentiful and always available.
And it’s always coming in. It’s always flowing in and through, right. So it’s not as precious as it was before. There is more of an idea of a flow. It comes in, it goes out, it comes in again, it goes out again, it keeps coming in. It keeps coming and keeps coming in. So when I saw that Maximalist. I was like, Ooh, I know I would not have liked this before, but now I’m I really embrace it.
Keisha Blair: Yeah, absolutely. And I wanted to tell you, I interviewed for the podcast and another Maximalist, you’ll hear her episode, her name’s Polly and she’s a coach as well.
And she got her result of Maximalist and she was just over the moon and she said, this is me to a T. And she did mention yes. That when she was in her twenties, like she had, you know, certain amounts of. But she’s realized that, and it’s so aligned with what you were saying that because she’s invested over $80,000 in her own personal development, in terms of coaching courses and all these courses, and she has used, that money to invest in herself, invest in her business.
And she’s seeing huge rewards now. t’s amazing Ijust to hear the insights that come because I loved your insights on thinking about gratitude for that debt, because it took you out of that tight spot that you were in. And having that access and having to be able to pull on that is just tremendous because you’re right. We should have a certain amount of gratitude for that. And then, you know, in the midst of that. Okay, well, yeah. How can I pull myself out? But that is absolutely true. You know, it’s so funny. I love hearing from the Maximalist because as I said, normally the Maximalists have the biggest hearts in the room.
They’re so interested in making others happy. They’re interested in the lives of others. I mean, she gave me the example too, of having her first live event and even serving champagne because she just wanted everyone in the room to feel special, she wanted everyone to be happy. And she said, ultimately it all paid off in dividends.
I mean, well, her business is just super successful, so I’m always happy to hear from Maximalists because I know that, you know, people will look at that and think, oh yeah, I know that’s, you know, kind of like the lavish spender, but there’s so much that they bring to the table and in terms of how they can succeed within that framework.
It’s just amazing to see. So, yeah, absolutely. And so I’m wondering if in terms of your business, because you know, we’re talking about the book and the launch plan, and I’m eager to hear about that. Is there anything that you can share in terms of how to launch? Because I think many people trip up on that as well, how to launch and you know, it’s so funny because I know it varies from industry to industry, business, to business, and even on our personal story and our personal money stories. But I don’t know if you can share any insights from the book, any tips on strategies for the audience?
Natassia: I can, I just want to touch on one quick point that you made here from, from your guests and it’s this idea of investing in yourself. I mean, anytime that I invest in myself. It has always paid off. Of course I’m completely biased because I also do coaching, but I continue to invest in coaching for myself. I have from day one. And if it weren’t for the coaches that I invested in, I would not with a hundred percent. But I would not be here today.
Those are the people that got me to find those nuggets of figuring out, Ooh, there’s a new belief that I can adopt, or there’s a new strategy or there’s something else that I can learn. So I’m a big proponent of investing in yourself, whatever way that looks like for you. It could be as small Investment of time in yourself and allowing yourself this luxury of listening to a business podcast every day or every week. Right? So the little investments that you, that you put in yourself, I mean, pays back. So I just wanted to point that out, but yeah, in terms of how to launch, like I said before, letting your customer build your product is one of the major things that a lot of people sort of missed out on, but something else that I do a lot with my client, And it’s extremely helpful for them to be like realize what kind of business they actually want to launch is to figure out the lifestyle that you want.
I am huge on the idea of ease and joy and bringing into your life, the things that you want to bring into your life via your business, or via becoming an entrepreneur from day one. I don’t like the idea of having to wait for lots of things. So I want myself and my clients do from day one, create the business that’s going to bring them the things they want to have in their life. I hear a lot of things as, as themes, right? So I think I mentioned before freedom, freedom is usually one of the first things, freedom to run things your own way, freedom to create your own schedule, freedom to be as creative as you want, whatever way that freedom may look like for people.
So freedom is huge. Time management is huge. Obviously financial security is huge, but where we start really. Before we talk business at all, we talk about lifestyle. So I actually have my clients sit down and write their ideal day to day, like their schedule. So I ask them to go into specifics. Hour by hour of your day. What time are you waking up? When you wake up? What are you doing? Do you have time to have a relaxed breakfast? Are you exercising? Are you just getting your kids ready to go to school? Are you the one dropping them off? What do you wish you could do with your day? And then what we do is we take that ideal lifestyle and new look for the gaps in that day, where the business can fit.
Not the other way around. I don’t want people to fit their lifestyle around their business. I want their business to be an addition to their life, not a detriment, right? So we create that that’s lifestyle, ideal lifestyle. And what comes up from that is you create your own custom launch plan from that. Because if you are someone who has loads of time and you just cannot wait to be working on your business every single day, and you just want. Be in there like six hours a day. Great. Your launch plan will be dictated by a bag availability of yours, right? However, if you’re a mom of four or six that I’ve worked with before, you don’t have that much time.
So your launch plan rather than being a three-month launch plan is going to be a 18 month launch plan or a year launch plan. And that should be okay with you. And if it’s not. Where do you want to compromise? And does that compromise worth, you know, taking some of that time away? Is it great? Let’s figure out how to make it happen.
It isn’t perfectly fine. Let’s put that timeline back the way it was. Right. So I’ll use myself as an example. When I was first starting this business, this consulting firm, I had just had a baby then, and I really could only work in nap time. So I had these like little periods throughout my day of 30 minutes, 45 minutes an hour.
And that’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t want to be stressed out as a new mom, figuring out how to do it all. I knew that I wanted it to be this process to be filled with ease and to be filled with joy and to really feel that freedom from day one of going, you know, waking up every day and going, wow, I’m starting again.
And I get to enjoy the time that I want here with this new precious being. So that idea of crafting the ideal lifestyle. First I’d say is one of my biggest tips. So then you can sort of again, create that lunch plan around the ideal lifestyle and not wait until your business is three or 4, 5, 6, 10 years old until you can get that lifestyle.
Keisha Blair: Absolutely. And as you’re talking, I’m just thinking about even book launches, you know, which is quite similar. I remember when we launched Holistic Wealth, I saw other established authors doing round the world book tours, like literally going around the world.
You are up everywhere every single day, you know, talking about their books to massive audiences and as a mom of three, I just felt just exhausted, just even looking at that. And it took me a while to, you know, to come to terms, with well, you know what, it’s not my ideal launch plan. And even if somebody gave me a ticket around the world now to go, you know, every night, every night to audiences talking about what I want that for me, And the answer is no, the answer is simply no. I have kids in school and they’re my priority. I hear you speak about values and crafting your ideal day and your ideal launch. I mean, that’s something that I talk about too, in Holistic Wealth, personal workbook. It’s just amazing because it’s true because you know, there’s the temptation to think. This is the way I should be doing it. But as you mentioned, if you’re comfortable with an 18 month launch or a two-year launch, you know, and just taking it one day at a time, one step at a time and doing whatever you need to do over a longer period of time, because it fits your life and it fits your plan, then there’s no need for the guilt.
There’s no need for the worry and there’s no need, to be thinking well, wow, I should be on a World tour talking to audiences every night and it’s a journey. And I think life is a journey. And we’re all different individuals and nothing works for everyone the same way. So I think that’s amazing. So can you tell the audience where to find you your website and social media?
Natassia: Sure, absolutely. I’m on Instagram and Facebook at the mind design. Yeah. And my website is the mind designer.com. And there, you can find more information about how to work individually with me. If you still have space, those spaces are limited or join our group sessions and our group programs, um, or join our private online.
And that’s where you can also find the perfect launch plan book.
Keisha Blair: Okay, perfect. And thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. It was amazing having you here.
Natassia: Thank you so much.
Keisha Blair: . Thank you for joining us this week on holistic wealth with Kesha Blair. Make sure to visit our website, www.Keishablair.com, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify, or via RSS. So you will never miss a show. While you’re active. If you found value in this show, we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes.
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