ep125 Lauren Gartland

Show Notes

Today’s guest is an absolute firecracker in the salon industry and you’ll feel it the moment she starts speaking. Her systems, strategies, and no-nonsense approach have helped salon owners hit seven-figure success and service providers reach six-figure incomes—without burning out.

She has empowered thousands of professionals to break through their limits, boost their profits, and build thriving businesses. She is a dynamic speaker, master transformation coach, and true industry disruptor, and as the founder and CEO of Inspiring Champions, one of the most respected coaching companies in the professional beauty industry, she’s here to help you unlock the champion within.

So let’s dive into this week’s Headcase—the incredible Lauren Gartland!

6:05 Lauren’s Personal Story and Early Career

21:25 Rebuilding and finding Personal Purpose

31:40 Overcoming fear and embracing failure

1:00:12 Practical Steps for Success

Chris Baran 0:00
How great would it be to get up close and personal with the beauty industry heroes we love and admire, and to ask them, How did you learn to do what you do? I’m Chris Baran, a hair stylist and educator for 40 plus years, and I’m inviting all our heroes to chat and share the secrets of their success. To well, my friends, welcome to another episode of head cases, and today’s guest, as you’ll figure out from her passion and energy that she is truly a firecracker of the salon industry, the system strategies and support she shares have helped owners reach seven figure success and the service providers achieve six figure incomes without getting burnt out. She’s empowered 1000s of professionals to shatter limitations, skyrocket income and profit and build thriving, freedom based businesses. She’s a dynamic speaker, Master transformation coach and an industry disruptor. She’ll share with you how to unlock the champion within yourself. She is the founder and CEO of inspiring champions, one of the most respected and influential coaching companies in the professional beauty industry. So let’s get into this week’s head case. Lauren Gartland, Lauren, it is an absolute pleasure, and we’re honored to have you on here. And like I said earlier, we feel we’re not worthy because I, I want to let the listeners and viewers on to know that. I mean, firstly is, we just met at Premier Orlando, and I just found you, you know, so captivating that I just had to have you on, on head cases and and it was so, number one, it’s a real pleasure.

Lauren Gartland 2:02
Wow. Thank you, Chris for the incredible introduction and for those kind words. And I want you to know it is i that is truly blessed and honored to be here with you today and all your amazing champions, listeners. And I’m so excited to talk about what I truly believe is today one of the most relevant and vital topics of our time, and it’s how to unlock the champion within especially when we’re paralyzed by fear or we’re at the risk of failure, and we try To hold it’s just going to hold you back. And I’ve seen it over and over with all my coaching clients, with so many of our clients that I’m on the phone with every single day. And so to me, I’ve never seen this at such epidemic heights. You’re right. And I think that if we can just be honest, that when any of us really even think about stepping outside of our comfort zone, that inner critic just starts going crazy in our head, and it is loud and it is fast in being able to tell us all the things we don’t want to hear like you’re Not good enough, you’re not smart enough, you’re too old, you’re too young, you’re not qualified, you’re over qualified. This will never work. You’re going to fail. Blah, blah, blah. It’s that inner critic just going crazy in our head. But too many of us are listening to this are probably very familiar with exactly what I’m talking about. We’re talking about that voice, the inner critic. It is one of what I believe the biggest obstacles any of us will face. Yeah, it’s not the failure itself, but the fear before we even begin, the voice in our head. So today, what’s really important to me is I want to show you all your listeners, how you can quiet the voice, how you can rise above the fear that you can rise above your past failures and that you can step fully into your calling.

Chris Baran 4:22
Yeah, thank you. And you know, and I have to, first of all, I think that for the listeners and viewers right now, you’ll know why. You can already see with the energy that, I don’t know where you get all your energy from, but I want to, don’t lay this down first. I’m trying to be really cool. I’m laying this down, I think it goes, you’re supposed to pick it up or something like that after. But you know, what I think is so remarkable is how you’ve and these are, I want people to listen to these figures first is how that you’ve helped owners get seven figure success. Yes, and, and as importantly, the stylists that are working for them, the service providers that are working with them, each and every day you’ve helped to get them to six figures. And you know, which I think is remarkable in our industry. And one of my pet peeves is two things. Number one is, sometimes we get them to six figures and then they burn out. You know, people get burned out on the second part is, is just when, when parents come into schools and they look at because their kid has wanted to become a hairdresser all their life, and they they wanted to be a hairdresser, and then their parent says, no, no, no. Or the acquiesce and just said, Well, I’ll let you do this till you get a real job, and they don’t understand if people could listen as an owner, seven figures, as a stylist, six figures, taking home more than they’re probably some of their doctors and lawyers and other professionals that are out there. That’s a hell of a feat. That is one hell of a feat, and I want to go there in just a short bit. But could you just, I think that if people can relate, if they can understand your hair story, and I loved when you and I had that conversation, you related to me, could you just give them just a brief history of how you got involved in hair?

Lauren Gartland 6:16
Absolutely so really, before I can share the tools to overcome fear of failure. I did want to take you back to the most painful chapter in my life, my own personal rock bottom. We’ve all had a rock bottom, but I will never forget mine, because this is the story of my greatest failure, and it’s how God turned my pain into purpose, from being completely homeless to transforming 1000s of lives, this journey started in the most unexpected way. So I’m going to rewind the clock and go back 30 years. So 30 years ago, at this point in my life, I literally had no passion, no purpose, no direction. I was just trying to figure out who I was, where I belonged in the world. And to be honest, I felt completely lost. And so I did what I guess a lot of people do when they’re searching. I decided there’s no place like home. So I decided to fly from where I lived in San Diego to my home in Minnesota to visit my family and with the hopes of gaining clarity and me, maybe even a sign of what direction my life was supposed to go. But nothing life shattering happened. There was no lightning bolts, there was no revelation. It was just the same quiet confusion until the last day of my trip. And I remember thinking, Well, I came home hoping to find my purpose, and I still feel stuck. And then everything changed. That morning of my last day, my best friend Corey, she called me and said, Lauren, it’s your last night in town. Get dressed up, girl. We’re gonna go out to the hottest spout in town. So I got already, still unsure of everything in my life except that I loved a good girl’s night out. So Corey picked me up. I jumped in the car, off we went, and she pulled into the parking lot of, okay, wait for it, tgi fridays. Yes, tgi fridays. It was the hot spot in the 80s. And so as we got out of the car, I remember she looked at me and she said, All right, let’s go have fun and let’s meet some hot men. And we were both laughing and but what I didn’t know was that one small decision, that one ordinary evening would be the first step in a life I never could have ever imagined it was the beginning of a journey that would take me from being completely broken broken to fund founding a company that has literally transformed and changed 10s of 1000s of lives. But first I would lose everything, and so that night, when we walked into TGI Fridays, we were not even in there for a minute, and my friend Corey saw something in the distance, and she started running through Fridays like a deer in headlights. And she didn’t do it quietly. She was screaming and yelling, and her arms are flaring, and the entire restaurant stopped looking at this crazy woman, and she ran across the restaurant, and she grabbed this man, and they were jumping up and down. They were hugging, they were kissing. And I walked over there, and my first thought was, my gosh, she has not wasted any. Time. But I was like, Who is this man? So all of a sudden, she takes her right hand, she puts it on my shoulder, and she said, Lauren, this is Michael, my hairdresser. And I thought, I don’t know who Michael is, but I want what he has I had never, ever seen someone get so excited about another human being. I love the fire she had when she saw him. And I thought, I have got to have that. So there I am, all of a sudden, talking to her hairdresser, Michael, and in less than three minutes, a complete stranger that I have never, ever met before, that I have never seen again, said something that not only changed my life, but an entire community, because all of a sudden, Michael looked at me, Chris and he said, you should sell hair products. I would love for someone like you to come in my salon, I hear they make really good money. You have the greatest energy for it. You need to sell hair products, and oh my gosh, I felt it. It started in my little toes. I felt it move up my entire body, and it erupted out of my skull, like, Yes, I was born to sell hair products. And those are the moments of magic. Those are the moments you never forget, because it’s a fire is lit in you that no one can describe. It’s like in that moment I had a passion, and that moment, I found my purpose, and I looked them, I was like, Yes, I’m gonna sell hair products next day I get on the airplane, and I quickly realized, okay, you have never been a salesperson. You’ve never been in the salon industry, and I don’t even know if you’ve ever used a professional product. So I sat there thinking about it, and I went, Wait a minute. Yes, I have one professional product. It was a white bottle, black letters that said, for reason, shine, by Paul Mitchell. And in 1985 Paul Mitchell was a brand new company, and all I knew was, yes, I have got to sell freeze and shine. So I go back to San Diego, I find out this little, tiny blonde named Jeannie bra, which, at the time, I did not know this, but Jeannie was one of the top five women hairdressers in the world. She was a icon, she she was a game changer, she was a difference maker. But I didn’t know this about her. We didn’t even have computers then to go on a website and look anything up. So I just call up Jeannie bra. Never met her. I go, Jeannie, you don’t know me, but my name is Lauren Gartland, and I’m going to be your number one salesperson. And she was like, that’s fantastic. Do you have your license? I go, absolutely, I’ve got my driver’s license. And she did. She laughed like you, Chris. And I thought, why is she laughing? And she goes, No, your cosmetology license. In that moment, Chris, the great majority of people would have stopped, yeah. And I said, Jeannie, no, I don’t have it. I go, in fact, I don’t need it. I go, you just need to put me out there. I am on fire to sell this. I’m going to be your number one person. And Jeannie said, No, I’m sorry. You need a license. And that’s where most people stop. They take no as permanent. They take no as forever. And I had this fire. When you got the fire, there’s no stopping you. I mean, everybody and everything better get on your way. So I decided, okay, I’m just going to stalk this little blonde. I’m going to call Jamie until I wear her down. And I literally called her day after day after day after day for weeks, and it never changed. Jeannie, it’s Laura garland, your number one salesperson. I’m ready, Jeannie, let’s get out there and sell freeze and shine. And she’d say, did you get your license? No, but I can do it. You know, in life, when we have a dream, when we find our passion, you’ve got to believe you’ve already gotten to your finish line, you’ve got to already believe you’re at the top. You got to believe you brought it to fruition, even though it hasn’t even started. I could see it, I could feel it, I could taste it. It was like standing on the podium getting a gold medal. I wasn’t going to give up. So I got off the phone that day and I thought, Lauren, you need to re. Strategize woman. And so I called Jeannie up the next day and go, Jean it’s lauren Gartland, and today is going to be your day. Well, she had never heard that that was new, and so she said, Great. Why is that? Now, I hadn’t really thought it out that far, so I wasn’t quite sure what was going to come out of my mouth next

Lauren Gartland 15:22
but I said, Jeannie, I’m going to work for you for free for three months, and if I’m not your number one person, you don’t have to fire me. I’ll just leave. And there was that moment of silence where you’re paralyzed. And finally she said, how can I say no to that? That was a start of a journey I could have never foreseen. I got into an industry, and as I started going out into salons, I realized I found my tribe. I have found my community. I really connected with these people. I felt like I belonged. It was the most amazing, exciting journey. And I became not only Genie’s number one person, but in the entire nation, I was their first million dollar sales consultant. Wow. And at that time, the average product sold from our distributor into their salon for $1.80 to $2.10 that’s a lot of product, you do the math. Yeah, everybody in San Diego was buying freeze and shine. But to me, it was the greatest adventure. I loved every moment of it, and then I really wanted to go to the next level and become a manager. And that was I just want to,

Chris Baran 16:49
I want to stop you there just for a second, because you said something that was so profound that I really want the listeners to listen to. And that was the sometimes, the power in the word no and how you said, and I love this. It no is not permanent, and it’s not forever, and and even in just in sales in general, this is where I want, whether you’re an owner that’s listening to this stylist behind the chair, newbie starting out, etc, is in sales, there, people will often say no 12 times before they say yes, yes. So if you, if you say, if you just take the no as Listen, they’re saying. They’re not saying no. They’re just saying Not right now, exactly, and you just have to wait for the next one, and eventually, you know, like you can say, if you can imagine the the fervor that you had, the excitement, that you had, the belief and the trust that you had in what you’re selling, because that’s where true sales come from. Yes, not that in, and I love that you’re saying. I’m, you know, I want to be the best salesperson, but it only happens when you believe and you trust in what you’re selling

Lauren Gartland 18:04
Absolutely. You know, the most important thing for all of us to remember is a no is not final. A no today can easily become a yes tomorrow, but often it’s our strategy that we have to change. Yeah, and most people in our industry would rather die in a fire than ever be perceived as a pushy salesperson. And so a no to them, is permanent. Yeah, it’s permanent, and it should never be permanent. They just haven’t learned the skills and the tools, the communication skills and the scripts and the proven systems on how to do it, so they would never, ever feel pushy. And you know, I really saw that in being out in the salons every day. So it started with Genie bra. But where it got interesting was I then took on working for a distributor as a sales manager, and he said to me, Lauren, all you have to do is increase our business by 50% and anyone who knows anything about distributorship, that is a huge increase in a year. And so I just looked at him and I said, we can do it, but what I quickly realized is that I could no longer be the superstar. I had to take everything I have learned on my journey, and I needed to teach his 12 people how to duplicate it, how to replicate it, how to go out there and be unstoppable, how to open doors, how to expand the business they had, and in one year and two months, we did not have a 50% increase. I increased his business by 269% and it was so much fun because I was living my passion. I was out. Their being with the community I loved, but what I realized is my passion wasn’t managing people. So I said, I love you, but this isn’t my passion. And I think some so often, people sell out in life and don’t follow their calling. They don’t follow their passion, they give into something too easy just to get by instead of doing what they were put here on this earth to do. I truly believe every one of us were given God given gifts and talents that we are supposed to give back in this lifetime. And when we don’t, we go to our great feeling like a failure. When we do, we go to our grave, leaving a legacy, and knowing that who we are made a difference. And so I got approached by a manufacturer, and they said, Lauren, we want you to take our we want you to have a distributorship in San Diego, if anybody can put our product on the map in San Diego, it is you. And so of course, I was like, yes. Well, I had never owned a business. I knew nothing about it, but I had that passion. I was in the community I loved and I had a lot of raving fans. So to me, this was going to be easy, breezy, but to own a business is a huge risk, risk that most people won’t take. If owning a business was easy, trust me, everyone on the planet would own one only 3% make it past 10 years. And so I was willing to take the risk, because they said, all you have to do, Lauren, is increase by 100% and I knew what the starting point was, and I knew I could blow that out of the water. They said you have nothing to worry about, as long as you increase by 100% in the first year. So off to the races. I went. I sold everything I could think of. I closed out all my savings accounts. I closed out my 401 K, paid the penalties, borrowed money from a couple people, and off to the races. I got all the money I needed to start open. They had me sharing a warehouse with another distributor to save on expenses, and that could help me a little bit, since this was first for me. Well, eight months into that journey, I showed up that day, and when I put my key in the door, it did not open. The other owner of the distributor I was sharing the warehouse with, he showed up, put his key in the door, and it opened. And I could tell by the look on his face that something bad was about to happen. And when he opened that door, and I looked across the room, and I saw my desk, I could see it was empty. I could see the boxes piled up around my desk. And so I walked over, and on my desk was an envelope. When I opened it up, all it had was one sentence, and that one sentence said, You are terminated, instant terror. And I remember in that moment, I knew I had just lost all my money. It was a brand new company. Everything was going back in to build it, and I knew all my money was gone. I left there feeling so much shame, feeling so much upset, so much burden, thinking, How did this happen? I did everything right. How did this outcome happen? I increased it by 800% eight months they wanted 100% a year, your mind starts to go crazy when failure happens, and you start to make a lot of stuff up. And I got in my car and I drove home, and I got in my bed, and I laid there for a week, paralyzed by fear. I couldn’t even breathe. I was paralyzed like how do I start my life over from here and after the biggest pity party of my life, that voice inside of me that we all have, it’s that champion within it was soft, but I heard it. It said, Lauren, get up and finish your race. And I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew that I had to get an action because action creates momentum. And so I said, I gotta go find a job, a, J, O, B, and so off I went to find a job, and I have this amazing resume. Interestingly enough, no one would hire me. I couldn’t even get a job at Denny’s. It was the craziest thing, because. My mindset was so screwed up, people were feeling my energy. But there was actually a bigger reason. So weeks turned into months, and I couldn’t pay any of my bills. I didn’t even have $10 to put gas in my car. I remember someone handing me $20 I wish I could give you more, but use this to at least put gas in your car. And that day, I remember that $20 it felt like 20,000 and I just kept going out there trying to get a job, and it wasn’t happening. And finally, I had to file bankruptcy, which was one of my greatest failures, because integrity is my core value, and that, to me, was such an out of integrity. But I remember the day coming back to my house for looking for a job and having the eviction notice on my door, saying, You have three days to get out. And the shame grew stronger, the hopelessness overcame me, the

Lauren Gartland 26:11
bitterness was unbearable, the pain. I could hardly stand it, and all I could do was go to a neighbor and say, I don’t have any money, but can you please get a U haul and help me put my things into storage, which he did. And so I put all of my things in storage, and I lived in my car, and I went to the beaches in San Diego, and I had to go in when my whole world had fallen apart, I’d lost all my money, I lost my home, I had filed bankruptcy, and I had to put on my Happy Mask. My life’s working. Nothing’s wrong. Everything is perfect. When my entire world had fallen apart, and one day, my church found me and said, we have a home for you. Oh, wow. And that day, it felt like I had been in the ocean during a storm without a lifesaver. But that day, when they found me, I felt like they put a lifesaver on me. I felt hopeful. I felt like I can start over. And I was so excited. So I went to this home, and I just said, Please, can can you take me to my storage unit so I can get all of my belongings? And they were like, yes, of course, we will do that. So off we went to the storage unit. And I will never forget. We threw that big steel door, we opened it up, and I looked inside, and I could not believe my eyes. Everything from my entire life that had been in there was gone. It was empty, except for one box, one container that had my IRS files in it. That was the only thing left behind. That was a devastating moment, because now I’ve lost all my money, filed bankruptcy, lost my home, and now I’ve lost all my personal belongings. It’s as though a tsunami went through your life a firestorm. And so when I see all these disasters and I see people losing everything, I know what it looks like. I know what it feels like, and I’ve been there, and it is not easy. That is a failure you don’t ever forget. And I went back and I thought, I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t even know what to do. And a week later, I’m standing there in the kitchen at six. It was like a little after 6am and that day, I felt God just took me by the hands. I felt his presence like never before. I felt him holding my hands, and I could almost feel his breath on me. It was the most incredible moment. And he simply said, Lauren, everything you have done up to this moment is for right now. You’re going to start a company called inspiring champions, and you’re going to transform 1000s of lives, and you’re going to use your pain to bring gain to others. And I was like, No way has the cheese slid off the cracker? No, I’m broke. I’m broken. I’ve lost everything. Who is even gonna. Listen to me, are you crazy? But God will use the most ordinary people to do the most extraordinary things. He already knew my calling. He already knew my purpose on earth. And so I finally gave in, and here we are. This year we celebrated 30 years Wow, after heartbreak, after massive loss, after rebuilding and after relentless faith, we have transformed 10s of 1000s of lives. And if I had given up, if I had remained homeless, if I had let my pain become my scars, if I had just given up, none of this would have happened. So what I can say is, if I can do it, anyone listening can do it. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I promise you, you have a calling, you have a purpose, and when you tap into that, and that’s what I love, helping people with you will change your life and 1000s of lives too. And one of my favorite quotes that I say for myself is I lost everything except my calling, and that calling is what actually saved me, and it will do the same for you, because you’re not here by accident. You’re a champion, and your next chapter starts now. So Chris, I want to see if you have any questions, and then I want to get into the truth bomb about failure. Yeah, well, firstly, actions.

Chris Baran 31:51
I bet we have something in common. I have this love hate relationship. I hate paying for something that I’m not using. I hate working in a small, cramped box, yet, I love working in a cool salon that impresses my clients, and I love the culture and synergy of a team while enjoying the freedom of being my own boss. You too. What if all that was available to you at the salon you rent from? Meet artist on go, a game changing way to rent salon space. With artist on go, you only pay for the time you’re behind the chair. You can choose a salon that fits your vibe, location and amenities. With artist on go, you’re a part of a stylist community, not hustling alone. Plus, you get to enjoy perks like clean towels and back bar supplies. Check out artist on go built for stylists serious about their clients and growing their brand without the hassles of managing a space. Here’s the kicker, you can save more than 50% on your rent to find out more. Go to B I T, dot L y slash artist on go. CB, that’s B I T, dot L y slash artist on go. CB, what I’m hoping that people are taking away right now is that, excuse me, what I want people to take away from right now is, is, I think, to be a good leader, first you have to have some failure, and then you have to have some vulnerability about you to be able to share it. And what I’m loving that you’re saying is that, when you talked about all that failure, I don’t know about the other people that out there, but I felt like a connection, because I’ve had failures in the past. And I think that if you’re going to be a good leader, that helps to grow. Number one, you have to have the failure. Number two, you have to have your growth. That’s where your 30 years came from. And then number three is you’ve got to systematize what your what your success was based on, and I loved when you were talking about entrepreneurship and because it’s not for the faint of heart. So I’m hoping that what we can do in this is when, and I’d love you to be able to say, if, what are some of the steps that they have to do in order to get that championship mindset and to unlock that championship with that champion within them. And if you could give us, not only for like owners, but also stylists and the newbies starting out, because the owners might have had some of that, but we’ve gotten all these other people that can relate, or maybe can’t, because they’re just starting off. So what? What would you say? What? What would be the number one thing that we have to shift when we’re when we’re going through that failure, when we’re going through that hard time, when you want to curl up in your bed with a wubby, put your thumb in your mouth and not get out of bed for two or three years, right? What? Tell us? What? What are the champions do in that case? All

Lauren Gartland 35:02
right, well, I love this part, and you know, what I’m going to be sharing is for anybody, a child, a teenager, an adult, someone in the industry, someone out of the industry. What I’m going to be sharing today is for anyone and everyone, because let’s just talk real about fear. Failure isn’t the opposite. Failure isn’t the opposite of success. It’s the pathway to it. Every one fails, and the key to that is to learn to rise and get up to to the resilience is about avoiding pain. It’s about standing up again after you’ve been knocked down, even over and over and over. Because some people keep getting knocked down, but we’re not learning from it. So because fear is one of the biggest forces that keep people stuck, not just in their life, but in smallness. Here’s the truth. Fear is not your enemy. It’s a signal. It’s a signal that’s often pointing you and directing you towards where you’re meant to grow. I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to learn. Failure always leaves signals. It always leaves signs, if we’re willing to listen. So let me give you an example. Earlier, I shared about everything that happened to me and how I started inspiring champions, and when I shared this, I actually can look back and I can see what a blessing all of it was. And so here are some life changing lessons that I learned from my greatest failure. And I believe each of us must embrace these lessons on our own journey. I’m going to get into many different things, but I’m going to start with these three. Number one, you, every one of us, have experienced some type of success, and you’ve got to if you’ve made it to the top, once, twice, twice, three times. You must believe you can do it again. You must develop an unstoppable spirit your comeback. It’s never canceled. It’s just in process. And so remember those victories. Go back to those moments, and we must remember them and relive them and what it felt like and what it looked like. And then you got to find that champion inside of you know, if you can do it before you can do it again. Number two, you can lose everything the world says matters. You lose your money, your home, your belongings, but what no one can ever take away are the lessons we learned, because there’s no such thing as failure when you choose to learn from it. As I said earlier, I don’t see failure as failure. I see it as feedback, and see most people get so paralyzed by the failure, their brain shuts down and they don’t want to look at that’s the time you have to look at. Wait a minute, what do I learn from this? It’s the fuel to grow, to evolve and to rise higher than ever before. And number three, what I learned is what sometimes what we think is meant for harm is actually meant for good and to heal us. What can feel like destruction might actually be a divine redirection. We just can’t see it and fill it in the time. And so these are the times that shape us. They prepare us for something greater. We just don’t see it while we’re in the thick of it, while we’re in the storm. We have, well, let me reframe how I want to say this, had I not lost my distributorship, if I had not lost all my money, if I had not lost my home, if I had not filed bankruptcy, if I had not lost all my personal belongings, I can tell you without any uncertainty, I would have never, ever started inspiring champions, yeah, I would have gone in a different direction. And I truly believe now that God was smart enough to know that he had to keep plucking these things from me until I would say yes, I would have missed my true calling. And I think many listeners are missing their true. Calling, because they don’t embrace the growth in the learning. So what do you do when you’re paralyzed by fear, because we’ve all been there? I want to share what I call five powerful frameworks that all of us can do. So step one, you got to name it, to tame it. You can’t overcome what you’re unwilling to face. You’ve got to push the pause button to life, and you got to sit down, and you got to have a come to Jesus meeting with yourself. And you’ve got to identify the fear, and you got to write it down. What is it? Once you can see it, you can’t unsee it. Now you get to face it head on, and you can go after the shift. So when you write the fear down, really go, what is it I fear most? Is it the fear of failure? Is it fear won’t work? Is it fear I won’t have enough money? Get specific. What exactly am I afraid of? And then you got to flip the script. Step two, you got to flip the script. What if failure was just feedback? We’ve been conditioned to see failure as the end of the road, but what if it’s just a sign post pointing us forward to something we need to learn or change? I want you to imagine while we’re in the heat of that failure, if we could begin to see it that way, oh my gosh. This isn’t the end. This is a sign point, a sign post. This is pointing me towards something bigger, towards something greater, to something I need to learn or change. Failure doesn’t mean you’re done. It means there’s data to grow from. It means that every mistake, every mishap, every no is feedback. So something needs to shift, something can be refined. You’re being redirected, not rejected.

Chris Baran 42:22
You know, I love what you’re saying. There is because, you know, I think that there’s, it’s cultural with us about, about fear and failure. You know, it’s, it’s built into our cultural system. Our culture is the fact that, you know, we’re pack animals, and we’re so afraid that we’ll get left out of the group or will be ostracized or whatever, and that is was, as Maslow always said, that that’s one of the human needs that people have. And to your point is that, you know, the weird part of it is that we’re seen higher and when we do things right in society, and then we’re viewed as lesser when we make mistakes. But the reality is, is that learning means you’re going to make mistakes. That’s what learning is, is making the mistakes you’re never going to do it perfectly the first time. And so what I what I love, what you’re saying, and I’m hoping, I’m hoping that all the people that are out there right now say, Do I have to go through all of that bankruptcy and losing my job and losing my home and living in my car? Do they have to go through that in order to get this and to get the aha moment that you had to go through? So do they? How would you like if somebody is out there thinking, God, do I have to go through all of that before I can find my calling? What do you say to them?

Lauren Gartland 43:50
Well, I all of us have a different calling, and I think what I was called to do in this lifetime meant I needed to experience what all the people that were going to come into my world. I had to know everything they could possibly go through. I had to experience it. So when I coach people, when I work with people, I whatever they’ve been through, it’s very, very I can tell you, I probably have been through it. I have had more trauma, more pain, more failure than most people could ever imagine. But now I get to use that pain and turn it into gain. I get to take those scars and turn them into stars. There had to be a lot of healing. And so for me, I think I had to go through all of that to be able to do what I was put here to do. I hope no one has to go through what I did. I mean, that would be my wish. I. But if we do, it’s because it’s going to be used for a purpose. And so I always think we have to reframe fear as a teacher. So instead of asking, and this is a normal place for us to go when failure happens, and it can be a little thing. It could be a child getting a C on their report card when all when they know they’re going to get grounded and they’re going to be reprimanded because they didn’t get an A. That can be a failure. Failures can be what might look small to some of us, but huge to someone else, and so where we go is, why did this happen to me? Why is this happening to me? That is not the question to ever ask. Don’t ever ask yourself that there is a reason. The question you want to ask is, what is this? How is this fear? How is this failure trying to grow me? What is it trying to teach me? It’s there for a purpose. Now, some people just make stupid decisions. They just make decisions they should have never made, and now they got to get themselves out of the mess. And so that’s a whole different thing. I’m talking about, when people do I did everything right and had bad things happen. I’m talking about I made the right decisions but didn’t have the outcome I wanted. And that’s going to happen to all of us. So fear is often showing us the exact place where we’re being called to be. So if someone’s really afraid to speak, maybe they’re being called to lead. If someone’s afraid to fail, maybe you’re meant to build something bold and outrageous. If you’re afraid, you’re not enough. Maybe you’re being invited to remember who God says you are, not who we say we are, or the world says we are, or our inner critic says we are. When we see fear as a teacher, not a tyrant, we shift from paralysis to power, we’ve got to replace the fear story with our faith statements. So when fear says, I can’t handle this, I can’t take anymore, Faith says God has already equipped me for this, when fear says I’m going to fail. Faith says, Even if I fail, I will rise stronger. When fear says this is too risky, Faith says if God brought me to it, he will bring me through it. When fear says I’m not enough, Faith says I am called. I am capable. I am chosen for this moment. I am chosen for this task. And so I want to give everybody your first vital I’m going to call it success work. And here’s what I want all of you to commit to in the next 24 hours, I want you to take a piece of paper and I want you to write down I am statements, or you can call them faith statements. And here’s why, our words shape our world. Your words shape your world. When you speak, whatever you speak, you will believe, and what you believe, you begin to embody. So when you speak lack, you cannot expect abundance. You can’t speak about how sick you are, how tired you are, how overwhelmed you are, and expect to have extraordinary mental and physical health. It is not going to happen, and that’s why the words I am, these are the two most important words, because whatever follows I am is who you become. It is who you program your mindset. And if you grew up with a Family With Parents with mentors, with teachers, with coaches that always broke you down and said you and you start to believe I am stupid, I am not worthy. I am enough, you live that out in your life, and the only way to change it is, you got to change the programming with the items that speak who you want to be. The ions are among the most powerful words you will ever say, because they’re giving permission to become your truth. So whether it’s I’m not enough or I’m. I am unstoppable. Your subconscious doesn’t argue. It simply receives it and becomes it. So today, I want you to take your power back. It is your time. Today is your moment, and the first amazing step, this is what I I fight with, this every day, the demons in my head, the inner critic in my head. There isn’t a day that I do not start with my M’s, and I say them throughout the day. So your task, Your mission, should you accept a champion, is you’re going to write down 25 a minimum, I don’t care, right? 50, right, 100 that reflect not who fear says you are or who someone else said you are. Don’t ever let someone else’s opinion become your reality. But I want you to write down who God says you are, speak life, speak truth, speak identity, because the more you declare it, the more you will begin to walk in it. So I can just tell you on my I am I am blessed, I am favored. I am a victor. I am unstoppable. I am courageous, I am abundant. I am effortlessly able to pay all my bills and much more my bank account is overflowing. I am profitable. I am loving. I am respected. I am an extraordinary leader. Wherever your disbeliefs are, you can shift them. You can change your mindset by changing your items. And I will tell you I have coached many, many people through this, and they struggle greatly. They carry their negative I am like a badge of honor. I’m not letting go with them, and they will live a life of misery. You’ve got to let go of the past, and the first step to start changing it is to change your I ams change the movie in your mind. And you got to Sam start every day, you get up and you get on your feet, and you say them out loud, and at some point you will have them all memorized. Yeah, I need you to say at least 25 on your list.

Chris Baran 52:32
Yeah. Think you know what I love you’re saying. And I think that the one of the things you really makes me reflect on. I’m not sure if you ever remember Dr Mark Victor Hansen. He was the he was the one with others that started the chicken soup for your soul and all of those books Mark Victor Hansen, and I remember him saying this at the time. And I remember when I first read that book, I was probably on the mid 70s. Was four, but I was a very early reader. But I remember inside there. I remember inside that he said that it’s not only physical mental, but it’s physical. And what he said was, this is your brain doesn’t know the difference between imaginary and real. So if whatever you tell yourself, and what you’re saying, in a nutshell, is, if you say that I’m not wealthy or I’m lacking or I’m whatever, then that’s what your brain says. That’s if you if you shift the script as you said, and I’m going to quote you on that, is that if you can say, and this is what he said, that stuck out in my mind, and we still use it to this day with my wife and I. He said it’s physical as well. He said there was proof that if you get sick and you and if you say I’m sick, then you stay sick. But if, and this is where he said they did studies on it, that if you say I’m healthy, and you take a breath and you say it like you believe it, I’m healthy, is he said that there was a massive rush of white blood cells that came out through your body, which helps to destroy the sickness. So it’s not only what you’re saying is that it’s that mindset, because it’s what it is, it’s hardest thing to do is James behavior. Behavior is your is shortest live and the but it’s the physical side as well, that when you say it long enough, it becomes reality, not only from what your mindset is, but in physically as well. And that’s always stood out in my mind and I and we’re getting where I can you believe it, we’re almost at an hour of this now, but I what I want is very briefly, I remember you and I talking, and I wanted for you to talk just for a minute, on on mindset, because I remember when you were talking. Talking about helping people get to become six figure earners or seven figure success owners. And you talked about that they were in a slump, you know, you said that they’d be there, and then all of a sudden they were going it there. Was going like crazy, and then all of a sudden they’re back down in the dumps again. Can you just quickly say how? What’s the shift that they have to do?

Lauren Gartland 55:24
Okay, well, that was interesting, because while I coach people, some people just like they skyrocket and they and they keep going. But I saw too many people that I would grow them very, very quickly to the goals they had, to the dreams they had. We would get them there quickly, and then I would notice they would go down at their numbers. Numbers would go then I’d sit there and think, What the heck just happened? And then we’d go back up again. I’d get them back up, and then all of a sudden, they go down. And as I started to see this pattern, not with one person, not with two, but several. It hit me, oh my gosh, their mental thermostat is set at 65 but they want to be at 100 and wherever your mental thermostat is set, you can never go above that. And so I work with them on things to do to get their mind healthy. Until you get your mind healthy, it’s impossible to go to the next level. And you know, social media is really it can be good, but it can be devastating. What it’s doing to our our earlier generation, our younger people, and the anxiety and the depression and all it’s causing and you know, the gaming and what people are watching on video, the messages and sending and the music, the words in the music, we are getting program with devastating messages, or we’re getting program with unrealistic things. We’re looking at these people on social media and thinking, Oh, my God, what a loser I am. Look what they’re doing. I should be doing that. And I’m going to tell you I’m guilty of that. I go on and look at people who are doing what I am. And I think, wow, I should be doing so much better. And then I have to catch myself and go, No, you are not them. You are who are put here to be you be the best version of you. So I really started working. I said, You know what? We can’t work on your business right now. We’re pushing the pause button. Yep, this isn’t working. And let’s work on your mindset. Let’s shift your mindset. And so a couple, I’ll share a couple of the things I do with them. And one, the first thing is the I Am. We have to reprogram their thinking. When you change the way you think, you change everything. And as I said, it’s very difficult for people, and you have to do it consistently every day. The next thing, one of the most powerful ways, and this is a hard one for people to grasp, is the power of gratitude. Gratitude is more than a feel good emotion. It’s a force that rewires your brain. It calms fear and it builds resilience. So when we focus on what we have rather than what we lack, our entire perspective, it can shift. So fear and gratitude, they cannot coexist together, because gratitude brings you into the present. It grounds you in the truth, and it reminds you that even in the storm, there is still something good, where fear will just paralyze you and take you out. And so gratitude doesn’t ignore pain. It empowers you to rise above it. When you’re feeling stuck, when you’re feeling overwhelmed or afraid, gratitude is often the fastest way forward. So the next success work I’m going to give all of you is I want you to write a minimum of 25 things that you’re most grateful for, because on your journey to the top, nobody climbs Mount Everest in one leap for mankind, of course, it’s micro movements. It’s just one step at a time. So courage is built in motion. We have to be in motion. We have to do things that will take out distinct and thinking that will take out the negative. And the two most powerful things are to speak the I ams of who you truly are, who God says you are, who you want to be in the world. And. And say them. You got to catch yourself when you’re saying, Oh God, I’m so stupid, you got to catch yourself. And it’s like a computer, push, delete, and you don’t have to figure it out all. You just have to move. So I want to talk real quick and end with morning rituals, five steps to win your day, to reposition your mindset. Because I said it earlier. When you change the way you think, everything changes. And here are, if you want to win your day, you got to win your morning. It’s not about getting up and pushing the snooze button five times, it’s about you getting up and preparing, putting on your shield of armor and preparing to go out and win your day no matter what happens. So number one, I always begin my day with prayer. There’s no better way to overcome fear than with faith. Can’t have both. So start your day getting grounded in your whatever it is for you, your dying, divine connection and confidence number two, and get a journal to write these in. Put down what are the top three things I most want to achieve today and make them goal achieving, not stress relieving, choose actions that will move the needle and not just manage chaos. So pray, write down. Here’s the three things I’m committed to today, and put them in order of priority. Most people have, and I’m guilty of that, I’ll have like 30 things on my to do list. But I look at it and I go, Wait a minute, but what of all of this? What are the top three things I’m going to really focus on and make my top priority? Number three, don’t skip this. Read your I Am list outline out loud and read it with purpose and with conviction, this will quiet the inner critic, and it’s going to reprogram the stinking thinking into intentionality and powerful self belief. Number four, read your gratitude list, say it out loud, if you can. You can’t stay discouraged when you’re focused on what’s good and what you already have, because all of us have something good. And number five, I love this one. It’s the one sentence you say every morning. You can I say it before I even get out of bed, and if I miss that step, I say it when I get out of bed. And if I miss it when I get out of bed, I say it in my morning rituals. And it is this. I want you to hold your arms up in the air, and I want you to declare something great is going to happen to me today. And I want you to visualize it. I want you to feel it. I want you to speak it. But most importantly, expect it. Expect that you are a magnet, attracting only the highest and the best. Focus on what you want and not what is. And remember, surround yourself with champions. You can’t soar with eagles if you hang out with chickens, surround yourself with champions, high achievers, winners, people who are living the kind of life you want. We are all smart enough to know that proximity is power. So get around people who call out your greatness and not your excuses.

Chris Baran 1:03:44
Love it. I love it. And, you know, I just, I’ve got one. I want to ask you, how do people get a hold of you? Just in a second? So, because I’m sure that people are going to want to go for you, for advice or for coaching or whatever. But what I love that you were saying was, is that if you’re, if you’re whether you’re just starting out in our business, whether you’re an owner that’s been around for a good deal of time, is that there’s two sides to everything that we do. You’ve got a you’ve got a business side that you’re thinking about, but you also have to have that, that personal development side and the spiritual side that goes along with it. Now, for some, spiritual might be that that it is their faith, but spiritual also means the emotion that you bring and the way that you set your body into motion in the daytime. And the reality is is so many people always think about the abundance side, the business side. But you can’t have all that unless you have the, excuse me, but you can’t have that unless you have the personal development and that emotion that had that charge that brings you forward as well. So I just want to say, Lauren, thank you so much for being here and for. Sharing. We all see your energy and the passion that you have, and before we say final goodbyes, is, how do people get a hold of you? What do they what do they need to do, to say, to get a hold of you, to be coached, advice, whatever that might be, what

Lauren Gartland 1:05:15
that would be great, because my greatest passion and calling in life is helping people reach their full potential. And you know, we are more than a program. We are life changing, we are transformation. And you said it best you you have to have the heart and the mindset of a champion, but you need the business skills and tools. And I will tell you here we are, 30 years later, and every one of our graduates sets and we have 1000s of graduates. Nobody has better, repeatable systems and inspiring champions to quickly grow people in our industry. I can take someone new in the industry and get them to 100,000 in the first year, because it’s repeatable, it’s scripted. So they need that if they want to contact me, I would love that they can, and I’m sure you’ll have this somewhere for them to see. But my email, it’s Lauren l, a, u, r, e n, Lauren at inspiring champions with s.com you can also go on to our Facebook page, onto our Instagram. You can go on to our website, inspiring champions.com and you can get all of those and put them on so people can see that. But if you’re looking to change, if you’re looking not just to grow your business, but for real transformation, inside and out, I’m your woman. I’m the queen of inspiration. I’m the queen of inspiration. I’m the transformation coach. And I hope that today’s message that it lit a fire in your heart, and that it gave you the tools to rise higher than ever before, and thank you for the great privilege I just can’t thank you enough, Chris, what an honor, and I am cheering every one of your listeners on to their grandest goals and dreams.

Chris Baran 1:07:16
Thank you and Lauren, that honor has been ours, and we thank you so much for taking away from your busy schedule and being on and sharing with us. So I just want to say one more time, thank you so much

Lauren Gartland 1:07:28
my pleasure. Bye, okay,

Chris Baran 1:07:32
and take care everybody. Bye. Bye, thanks again for watching this episode, and if you liked what you heard, remember to smash that like or follow button, depending on your preferred platform, and make sure to share it with anyone you know that might be a fellow head case. Head cases is produced by cut action media, with Marjorie Phillips doing the planning parts, Lee Baran on the video bits, and Adrian Taverner mixing the audio jazz you.