250: Passive Income and Side Hustles with Sadie Smiley

We all have our “beyond our wildest imagination” dreams that we never realistically hope to achieve. This is not true for today’s guest. She truly is living her dream in a place she never thought possible, and she’s teaching others to reach for the unimaginable also. Join us to learn more!

Sadie Smiley created Passive Income Pathways, where she gives expert advice about online businesses and how passive income can help achieve your wildest goals. She pushes people to learn how to make full-time money with part-time work, teaching them to “create, sell, kick ass, and repeat.”

In this episode with Sadie:

  • Why Sadie is intensely passionate about helping people make money beyond their wildest dreams
  • The key to Sadie’s success: networking with others with different superpowers as a trade-off for the things she doesn’t love to do
  • How Sadie’s personal brand of intensity in being “too much” means that she submerges herself 100% into whatever she does
  • Why a time audit color code can be a game-changer for entrepreneurs
  • How to charge your “happy price” and feel good about it
  • How Sadie, with ADHD and autism, was a gifted student with good grades who had problems following rules
  • How Sadie helps clients make money, no matter what barriers they have
  • How Sadie learned where she was “masking” herself and learned to feel loved, cared for, and respected through the love of her husband
  • How Sadie’s intensity has felt out of control many times because of her neurodiversity and personality issues, but she has learned to “grow through” the intensity
  • How Sadie uses her fire for good in channeling her intensity into coaching and helping others
  • How Sadie feels safe in her life now and doesn’t worry about doing things wrong “according to the experts”
  • Why showing up consistently for her family, clients, and readers has helped Sadie manifest everything she has achieved
  • How to focus on something small that is within your control when you feel the “shame spiral”
  • Why Sadie loves helping others identify their passions and interests to give them what they need
  • Sadie’s parting advice: “Work hard on showing up authentically and with consistency. Do something every day to move your business forward, and success will be the only option. Picture your wildest, craziest dream–and then work backward from it to show up every day to make it happen.”

Resources for Sadie and Aurora:

Connect with Sadie at  www.sadiesmiley.com or here to learn about the Passive Income Pathways membership program.

Visit www.embracingintensity.com/community for more information and to learn about future events!

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* Rough Transcript *

 

Ep. 250

Sadie: I’ve always been told, you know, I’m too much for people I have for years and years. Let that hold me back because when I’m interested in something, I just like will go all in on it. I dive in head first. I don’t look around. I don’t wonder what the risks are. I literally will just dive in head first, and I don’t come up for air until I’m an expert on the topic.

I will find out everything. See me reading like reports and research and, and just all of things.

Aurora: Welcome to the Embracing Intensity Podcast. I’ll be sharing interviews and tips for gifted creative, twice exceptional and outside the box thinkers who use their fire in a positive way. My name is aurora. Remember Holtzman, After years of feeling too much, I finally realized that intensity is the source of my greatest power. 

Now, instead of beating myself up about not measuring up to my own self-imposed standards, I’m on a mission to help people embrace their own intensity and befriend their brains so they can share their gifts with the world through the Embracing intensity, community coaching, educational assessment, and other tools to help use your fire without. Earned. You can join us@embracingintensity.com.

Welcome to Embracing Intensity. Today I am super thrilled to have Sadie Smiley who runs Passive Income Pathways, and if you have. Any thoughts of doing anything online or starting a side business, I highly recommend it. I wish I had found her way, way sooner, , to start laying some groundwork for passive income along with all of the active stuff as well.

So I. Super excited to have you and I discovered Sadie through Renee Brooks because she was a mentor to her, and everything she does is amazing, so I was super glad to have her on the show. Welcome, Sadie. Thank you so much. So tell us a little bit about yourself and what you are intensely passionate about.

Sadie: I am intensely passionate about a lot of things, but for the most part, I love helping people make money. Beyond what they even thought were like, was possible. I, I came from literally nothing. I was homeless, I raised on food stamps, all of the things. And now I have, you know, manifested and worked very hard to achieve everything that I’ve wanted in life, like, I, I just can’t even think sometimes about what more I’m wanting in life because I just love everything that I’m doing and I love that I did it now instead of waiting for like, quote unquote retirement age, whatever that is, and I’m, I’m intensely passionate about helping others do that exact same thing.

Aurora: Awesome. Awesome. And I think it’s super timely right now because what I’ve come to realize is that, you know, when we think. Making money online. You know, when I first started there’s all the like focus on one on one focus on the big ticket things, focus on these big things. And even though I love doing those things, I also love creating it.

I love having the time to create and I love doing those things. And most of what I create has been just free content. And so I wish that I had had that kind of laid that foundation of the things that you do that help. Anyone can do, even if they’re working or you know, And obviously it takes longer if you have less time.

But one of the things I’m noticing, especially now after the pandemic, is how many people are questioning what they’re doing right now and how many people are really looking for an exit plan or an exit strategy, but they’re not necessarily in a place financially to. Quite yet. And so it takes time. It’s not like it’s suddenly gonna have, you know, they’re gonna, But one of the things that I’ve noticed is if you have something to work towards, something that really is meaningful to you, sometimes it can be easier to get through the more mundane stuff that you.

Aren’t as excited about because you know, you have this thing and this goal and this more meaningful thing that you’re working towards. So that’s why I think it’s especially timely now. 

Sadie: Yes, absolutely. And I know that with my ADHD brain, if I don’t love something, I, it’s like my brain just doesn’t wanna do it no matter what the reward is.

Mm-hmm. so, I’ve found that networking with other people who have different superpowers has really helped me a lot because I, for example, hate creating Pinterest images. I just hate it. I don’t know why they’re pretty, you know, they’re cute when they’re done, but I hate doing them. So I have someone who hates writing blog posts.

She’ll do my Pinterest pins and will trade, and I’ll do a blog post for a certain number of pin. So we both can move forward in our businesses because she lets that, you know, no blog post thing that’s kind of gonna hang you up when you’re a blogger. Right? And then I was letting that, the no pins thing, I had so many posts that needed to go out and they couldn’t go out cause they didn’t have pins.

So finding people that you can rely on, that you can like trade services with and network with, that has definitely been one of the keys to success 

Aurora: for. Awesome. Yeah, that’s something I’ve thought a lot about myself because yeah, the, it’s, for me, it’s the, the maintenance part. I love the creation stage. I love coming up with new things, but then maintaining it, marketing it, all of that stuff is a lot more difficult.

So. So tell me a little bit about your own personal brand of intensity. What does intensity look like for you? So, 

Sadie: I don’t know. You can probably relate, or somebody listening maybe can relate, but I’ve always been told, you know, I’m too much for people I have for years and years. Let that hold me back because when I’m interested in something, I just like will go all in on it.

I dive in head first. I don’t look around. I don’t wonder what the risks are. I literally. Dive in head first, and I don’t come up for air until I’m an expert on the topic. I will find out everything. You’ll see me reading like reports and research and, and just all of things signing up for funnels, the whole nine yards so I can learn everything possible about it.

Because of that and because of the way that I switch a lot, like I’ll have one intense focus and then another intense focus. Because of that, Unfortunately, over the years, I have not been able to steadily grow a brand like a lot of people have. So instead of allowing that to be my excuse, to be my roadblock or to stop me, I just started doing things the Sadie way.

And as you know, I’m pretty much pointing everything the Sadie Way now because. I’m not coming at you as an expert who knows the exact best way to do it for everybody’s business. I’m coming at you from a point of, I know this process, my process, it worked for me. I’ve RINs and repeated it. It’s worked for others, and I’m very intense the whole time that I’m doing this.

So I don’t think everyone’s really used to that . And sometimes that has created a, a hindrance and people understanding why my brand is as intense as 

Aurora: it is. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, totally. I could see that. Yeah. And what’s one of the things I think for me like that have all these little. They’re, but they’re all connected, so they’re all under the same kind of umbrella.

But this year I’ve let myself just sort of work on whatever creative project I feel like in the moment because I’ve been in burnout mode at my work, and so I haven’t been as. As directed in my business end of stuff. I’m working towards that now. Just joined your vip, so that’s my, so that by the summer when I actually have help, I’ll be able to be more, more.

I’ll already lay some groundwork for that. So I’m excited about that. But one of the things that I started to realize is I was just doing my own projects, just working on whatever I felt like is. There’s different levels of brain capacity that each activity requires, and so depending on where I’m at, mentally I can do things, which is why I started doing these, these Etsy digital mock up and scene creators because that level of mental, there’s a lot of attention to detail and I’ve.

Created a process. It’s very refined, but the process is kind of repeated and, and doesn’t take a lot of mental effort now that I have it going. And I realize that that’s just because I don’t have a lot of mental energy right now by the time I’m done with work. So it’s, it’s kind of nice to have varying.

Things you can work on, but then getting systems in place to get the consistency is kind of the next step. Yes, and that’s 

Sadie: exactly why I have every single VIP start with a time audit. Because once you can not only track your time, but track and color code your time based on your energy. that is a total game changer because then you know, these are the tasks I have to get done in the green level and then, oh, if I’m feeling I’m having a red day that I can do these tasks like That’s absolutely perfect.

And you had mentioned kind of just like working on your own creative projects. and so many people discourage that, and I think that’s how people get burnt out. For me, that’s exactly how Pips was born. Like passive income pathways is a conglomerate, like it’s, it’s all of my courses put together. And yes, they’re in an umbrella like you were talking about.

But there, some people will probably look from the outside looking in, like, how in the world is that connected in any way? And it is in my brain. It is. Mm-hmm. . So I take everyone down this path, and by the time they’re, you know, a few steps into the path, they’re just like, Oh wow, this really does work. And I’m just so thankful that people are starting to see kind of how I’ve seen things for a really long time.

It seems like everyone who comes in and. Do the process, they work through it. It’s almost like their brain is opened up before. It’s kind of like closed because we’re taught, like so much stuff is thrown at us. Like, you can’t do it this way. You have to charge more. Or people aren’t gonna trust you. You have to do this, you have to do that.

No, you don’t have to do anything except for what you want to do. So for you to work on those creative projects and then hopefully tie them together and make yourself a bunch of money, like that’s exactly how. I did it, and that’s how I teach people to do it. I don’t want anybody, It kind of sounds spoiled, but I don’t want you to do anything you don’t wanna do.

Mm-hmm. , like, I want you to enjoy, I want you to wake up every day and enjoy the tasks that you work on to build your business and trade or hire out for those that you 

Aurora: don’t like. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, totally. And I think that’s, I, that’s the thing that really attracted me to. After I started following you was that you had made a post about, you know, the, I, I don’t know.

There was some charge. Charge what your Worth debate. And, and you were just like, charge what you want. Like, And that’s kind of where I’m at too. It’s. I, Accessibility is such a huge priority of mine, financial accessibility, and I do, I charge a decent amount for my one on one time. That’s, and I feel good about that, but I don’t do as much of the one on one because I love to do the creative stuff as well.

So I have both. Yes, 

Sadie: that’s exactly it. If, if I could just like brainwash everyone to have that mind, that thinking, , that’s exactly what I, I feel, I feel if everyone charged their happy price. Just picked a price. If you like the number nine a ton and you wanna charge $29 instead of a hundred, that’s okay.

Whatever your happy price is, the happy price is like what you, what makes you smile when you see that price and also, You know that you’re over delivering. You know that your people are getting 10 times the amount of value that they’re paying for, and they’re going to be thrilled over the moon. That’s how you create cheerleaders and also, of course, sensibility.

Financial accessibility is super important to me because if Sadie from 10 years ago had a. To have access to what I provide access to now, oh my goodness, sad from 10 years ago, would’ve been a millionaire at no time. You know, I had to learn everything slowly through trial and error, and I felt like I was always fighting up against basically everyone because all of the business advice that we’ve been getting is it’s just so stringent.

and it makes you feel like you’re in this box and then all of a sudden you’re charging $300, $500 and you’re like, That really doesn’t feel good to me. When you tell someone that, they’re like, Oh, you just need to shift your mindset and charge what you’re worth and know what you’re worth. And I charge less than $200 a month for my v i p coaching, which is affordable to most people that are in the position where they need the VIP coaching cuz they’re already, you know, making money online.

So I make sure that it’s affordable and. I make a bunch of money in the process and I only have to work part-time. I don’t know how much better it can get than that. Like, it, it makes me so much happier than charging a thousand dollars for my product. And if someone’s listening and they wanna charge a thousand dollars, I’m not saying you shouldn’t.

If that’s your happy price, charge, whatever makes you smile and, and you’re able to sleep at night and it keeps your people happy. 

Aurora: Yeah. Yeah, I definitely agree. So tell me a little bit about how your intensity affected you growing up. Let’s see, 

Sadie: In every way, shape and form, probably I, I was a really good student as far as grades go on the gifted spectrum to where I, I didn’t really have to pay attention, just kind of had it and, and got the A’s.

But I wasn’t a very good student in the way that I didn’t like all of the rules that I felt were dumb as a child and still as an adult. I think a lot of them are dumb , like expecting kids to sit in this classroom, you know, however many hours a day. It just, all of the rules that they put on us still as an adult that they don’t make any sense to me.

So I think that my intenseness probably got me in a lot of trouble as a kid, would be the way to sum it. 

Aurora: You mentioned your adhd, you have some other neuro divergence as well, 

Sadie: right? Yes, I am autistic, which I did not know until I took my son to get, figure out what was going on. And the, the doctor said that he was autistic and basically every single thing that he was, you know, judging the autistic factors on were me.

So I ended up going through the process as well and finding out at, I guess I was probably like 34. For something that all of my quirkiness and my differences and all of my rigid things that I just didn’t understand why my brain was so different than everyone else’s. All of these things just started becoming super powers instead of hindrances.

Everything that I had struggled with in the past. That was because of adhd, because of autism. I started being able to almost see it and, and just start grabbing those different things and turning them into superpowers until I, you know, I was able to create pips and this is literally me living my dream because I’m able to just throw all of my, I’m sprinkling my ADHD and autism all over the place and nobody cares.

like everybody’s totally fine. Most of my clients are neuro. So, yeah, it’s just, I don’t know. It’s just amazing that you can work on all those random projects that they seem random to everyone else, and then pull them together and make money and help a bunch of people. 

Aurora: Mm-hmm. . Yeah, totally. And I think that’s also a factor for the financial accessibility piece is that both of us speaking to mostly neuro divergent audiences, like, because we tend to kind of be fractured off at all these different places.

Some have the financial accessibility, but some don’t. And so you wanna be accessible to more people that way, so I 

Sadie: appreciate that. Absolutely. If someone is willing to put the work in, I have even had people that, you know, I, during my launches, they’ll say, Oh, I wish I could afford it. , and I’ll say, Do you really want to, or are you just, Is that just your barrier that that’s how you’re pushing it off?

And sometimes people wonder, whenever I’m asking, is that just your excuse or is it really a true reason? Sometimes people will get offended, but. Once they answer me and they say, No, really, I don’t have the money. I’m like, Hey, message me. I walk them through exactly how to not only make money for my membership, I, they don’t even, it’s not even tied to that.

At that point, I will message them or have them message me and I will say, This is where you start. This is what you do. Step 1, 2, 3. If you decide that you want to be a v I. Go for it. You know, I’m happy to have you, but even outside of v I p I want you to be making money and this is exactly how you can do it.

I, I can’t even count the number of people I’ve said that to over the years. I will tell someone exactly how to make the money. They just have to put the work in. 

Aurora: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. That’s awesome. So were there any cultural factors that affected how you expressed yourself growing up or in 

Sadie: general? No, I don’t think so.

I , I pretty much raised myself. I didn’t have any sort of family and I, I never really had a group of any sort religious, cultural, anything that I fit into or belonged to. So I don’t think that those were any of my factors. Did you ever. 

Aurora: Try to tone yourself down or tune yourself out. , 

Sadie: Yes. Up until last year.

Yeah, I have, and I learned that it’s similar, like the, I learned the phrase masking and that’s kind of what, in my brain, kind of the same as like Tony yourself down. And I did that until I met my husband. When I met my husband a few years ago. He just, This is gonna sound so mushy man, and this is being recorded

He just made me feel so loved exactly how I was. I wasn’t, I was in such a bad. Spot from past trauma that I didn’t have it in me to mask or tone myself down. I was completely 100% me. Good, bad, and otherwise, I remember we were dating only a few weeks and he walked in the room after we had gone to the grocery store and I was.

Hiding in the closet on the floor because I had been so overstimulated from the grocery trip, and anyone else in my life would’ve been like, What are you doing, yo weirdo? Like, they would’ve not understood at all. And he laid down next to me and was like, Do you want me to be here or do you want me to leave you alone?

Like, like, what do you need? And I had never experienced anything like that before. So him showing me that I could be loved, I could be taken care of. I could be respected. That is really important to me as well. I could be all of these things, even without masking, like that was a, that was a game changer.

My entire life changed for the better in that moment, and it’s just gotten better since then. 

Aurora: That is so awesome. Yeah. It’s amazing how one relationship can make that shift, just knowing. One person. Can you think about a time when you felt like your intensity got out of 

Sadie: control? Along with my NeuroD diversities, I also have borderline personality disorder, which I don’t really talk about a whole lot, but whenever you asked if my intensity got out of control, it kind of pops up in my head.

It has gotten out of control many times. Thankfully, I’ve always been able to reel it back in and fix whatever my intensity whatever problems my intensity had created. One problem that I think my intensity has created, not from a business standpoint, but but personal and business, is I am very quick to.

Cut people off. And I’m learning that that’s not always the best answer. Like there’s a, there’s a balance between, there’s boundaries and then there’s letting people run all over you, and then there’s cutting people off. And I always just cut people off. I don’t set boundaries, I just cut them off. And that’s my boundary.

So I’m learning that even though I’m just naturally very intense on all these different levels, I’m learning that I can grow. And when my intensity does feel like it’s getting out of control for whatever reason, I’m able to kind of talk myself down and grow. I, I’ve been growing through all of this past year.

A lot of things have come up that have, I normally would’ve just completely gone off the deep end about it. And a lot of things have come up that I’ve been able to work through. So I guess this is just a season in my life for. Growing through the intensity instead of letting the intensity control me because that’s what I’ve done for a long time.

And 

Aurora: you know, it’s interesting cuz I’ve heard some theorizing that that BPD and other things often can be a trauma response to unmet neuro divergent needs. I don’t know if that’s something you’ve experienced. 

Sadie: I would absolutely agree with that. . Definitely. Both of those things, trauma that has happened and also.

The unmet needs due to the adhd, autism, those kinds of things, I can definitely see why there would be a correlation . 

Aurora: Mm-hmm. Totally. You know, and it’s interesting to me to see like my own kid is, has kind of changed environments and is now with me full time. And it’s so interesting that like certain things I just saw as their personality, their rigid, the rigid part of them was, turns out that’s actually not an innate part of them because the more they’ve been full time here, the more the less rigid they have been.

And so it’s interesting to see like how much of. How much of our things are coping mechanisms and how much are just innate parts of ourselves and sorting that out. That 

Sadie: is absolutely a great point. I have always been, Very rigid with times. I’m always like 30 minutes early somewhere. I’m, I’m just very, very rigid with times, not with anything else in my life at all, , but being on time.

And I do think that that has lessened lately because of my husband, like I explained, but also because we moved to Mexico and everyone here is on Baja time. So when someone invites you to an event and you’re supposed to be there at six 30, it’s really like seven 30. I thought I was showing up late and doing the Baja Time theme the other day, and I showed up at seven o’clock and I was the first one there, , and it was six 30.

So I was a half an hour late and I was still a half an hour early. So, I’ve been able to, Loosen up a little bit, but that’s because I have accommodations in place for myself and I also feel safe here. Mm-hmm. , I feel really safe in Mexico, safer than I felt anywhere, and I feel safe with my husband. So those things combined have made me to where I don’t have to be so rigid.

So yeah, I can definitely see that. 

Aurora: Mm-hmm. . Totally. And actually I grew up in San Diego, so I spent a lot of time in Baja too. . 

Sadie: Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah, it’s, it’s amazing here. I still can’t believe it. I’m, I mean, I look at the ocean all day, every day when I work, and this has been on my wildest dream list forever.

I had no idea that I could even do it. So yeah, I’m very appreciative. 

Aurora: That’s awesome. So tell me a little bit more 

Sadie: about how you use your fire for. Awesome. This is my favorite thing to do. So you know how I said I like making, helping people make a bunch of money. That’s exactly how I channel my intensity and my fire into my coaching.

So, I do the v IP group coaching, but we also have one-on-ones. And whenever I have a one-on-one with someone, it’s like, it almost feels like an out of body experience because it’s so cool. They come to me. And it’s the same almost every time. They have a huge load of problems that they have just been saving for me, and they’re just like, ready.

Kind of like if you go and see a psychiatrist, like you’re just, or psychologist, I guess you would just dump on them for the week, right? So I see my VIPs once every four to six weeks. So they’ve got a lot of stuff saved up, ready to dump on me, right? And so, They dump it all on me, and as they’re dumping, I’m just writing, taking notes, taking notes, and then by the time they’re finished talking, I have the answer to every single problem that they just dumped on me.

I don’t have any idea how I do it, it’s just their problems come in my brain and my brain translates out an answer to their problem. It’s like if someone was speaking English and you had to speak Spanish to translate it. It’s the same thing if you bring a problem to me. Even if I only know a little bit about your business to start, like my brain just starts spitting out the answers.

It’s the coolest thing. It’s the coolest thing. And I even posted in the group this past week, some of my new VIPs were kind of worried because my calls are only 20 minutes, and they’re used to coaches that have hour long calls. Most coaches do. I, I understand that. I said, Just gimme a chance. You trusted me enough to sign up.

You know, and I even posed in the group and. 20 minutes is enough with me, right? You guys. And every single VIP that’s been on a call with me is like, Yes, please do not give me another minute. Like, I have the, I have the answers to your problems and I have a load of homework to keep you busy for the next six weeks.

That, and that homework is gonna help you grow your business. So I think that I’ve been able to channel that fire so other people can. Their fire. Because when you’re carrying all of these problems, they feel so big. And then when you’re able to just dump them onto someone who understands and can help you pick up the pieces and move forward, like, then all of that weight is off of you.

And then you can use your fire to help your 

Aurora: people. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, totally. And with what you charge too, that that’s, you know, your one on one time is super valuable, so I, I get that . Yes, 

Sadie: I do wanna keep it accessible, but I also don’t wanna spend hours and hours on calls. Mm-hmm. , I only do four to five hours.

Four or five hours a week of coaching. Yeah. And I have, I have I think 80 ish VIPs, but it’s enough because I can get three done in an hour. Mm-hmm. . And that’s enough to keep them busy for six weeks. . 

Aurora: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So what do you think has helped you the most with harnessing the power of your intensity?

Sadie: I think that, Hmm, that’s a great question. I think that I finally just got to a point. When I felt safe enough in my own personal life, like when I met my husband, is about when all this started happening. But once I started feeling safe in my own life, I was able to stop caring that I was doing everything wrong.

According to all the business experts according, according to all the blog gurus, according to all the coaches, I was doing everything the complete opposite of them. And I just didn’t have the confidence to come out and speak that and say, Yeah, that might be working for them, but that doesn’t feel good to me.

That’s icky. I don’t want to charge that much, or that’s icky. I don’t wanna have fake timers on my pages. That’s, you know, I have all of these things and. Totally. I felt like an outcast for not wanting to have all this fake scarcity stuff. I, you know, in masterminds, people would make me feel dumb. I allowed people to make me feel dumb because I didn’t wanna do all of these sales tactics.

They’re like, Well, that’s just how it is. So I quit going to all the masterminds. I quit all the coaching, I quit everything. And finally it was just like, you know what? I’m doing it the Sadie way, and that’s what I’m gonna teach. And people did it, and it worked for them too. And that gave me the confidence really to be like, okay.

Now y’all don’t have anything to say to me because I’ve shown that this works. So I, I went full steam ahead at that point because for two years my processes were working for people. And so that’s when I was like, Okay, Pips is ready. Like I can do Pips. It was a, it was a last minute pivot as you know, but it was just beautiful, perfect timing, and I didn’t have.

Hide anything. I don’t have to mask anything. I am who I am and people accept me or they don’t and that’s okay. 

Aurora: Mm-hmm. . Totally. Yeah. No, and I, I love that cuz I’m, I’ve been the same way. Like, I invested a lot in coaching early on and they were nice people. They had, you know, but, I was on the wrong track and myself, so I, because I kept listening to the conventional wisdom and I knew from the start that accessibility and group things and like that sort of thing was more resonating, more.

And, The one on one is kind of a bonus on top of that. So, but I would rather get the foundation of accessibility there first. So it’s kind of backwards from what everyone else. Yep, 

Sadie: exactly. Everything I do is backwards. Everything I do is, is considered backwards to what the, you know, the gurus and the coaches say, Absolutely.

But if it works for you and it makes you happy and your people are happy, like that’s, that’s really all that matters. What I worry about is, are my people happy and am I able to, Feed all the kids that we’re feeding. Am I able to help women start their businesses? You know, I have my checklist of are these the things that are happening?

And if those are the things that are happening and I feel good about it, what everyone else says truly just doesn’t matter anymore, but. It, it takes a while to get to that point in your business. I don’t want you to feel like that. It’s just like this switch that magically happens. It grows slowly because each client that you help gives you a little bit more momentum to be like, Screw what all these supposed gurus say.

But you, you’ve gotta definitely take it one step at a time, especially if you’re doing it. The complete opposite of everyone else. It can be very scary and it’s like one shaky step at a time, but it builds up and then it’s a much more solid foundation than theirs are because they’re just going off what everybody tells ’em to do.

On the other hand, we’re over here doing what we know is right to do in our hearts, and that’s a much more solid foundation than me setting up a sales page based on a formula that some rich guy told me that I should. 

Aurora: Yeah. Love that. So are there any personal habits that have helped you to use your fire in a positive way?

Sadie: That’s a wonderful question, but I cannot think of a single thing that has helped me as far as a personal habit goes, other than just like showing up, like showing up consistently in my life, showing up. For my family, showing up for my clients, showing up for my readers. Just showing up I think. 

Aurora: Well, and I know this morning you were the call on the Mondays of around the manifestation aspect of things and it, do you ha.

Have any habits around that that you’ve, because you, I know you guys were talking about that. 

Sadie: Yes, absolutely. I can do a whole session on manifestation . We’d love manifestation. My husband and I have talked about it at length because everything that we have in life, we have manifested and then worked hard for to make sure that it was achieved.

He mentioned on the call this morning, three sixty nine meditation. I until today had only heard of that from Taima, from Poor and a private plane.com. She has a 360 9 manifestation journal and workbook, but I didn’t even know what it was until on the call today, Kevin mentioned it and said Oprah did it.

So I went and looked it up, and I’m gonna buy a tamas workbook or journal, whatever it is, because it’s like you do your manifest manifestation three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon, nine times in the evening. That’s more than I’ve ever done manifestation ever, and I can only imagine the results if you manifest that.

Much like when you’re showing up for your business, create that habit with the manifestation as well, and try that 360 9, look it up, figure out what it’s all about. But I’m diving into it because that’s way more manifestation than I’ve ever done, and I’m really excited to see what happens. 

Aurora: Awesome. Well, and one of the things I appreciate about your approach and just in general because the, the concept of manifestation to me from a psychological perspective makes sense because what you focus on grows and what you focus on, you notice opportunities for, and so you’re more likely to find the opportunities because you’re looking for them.

And so from just a purely psychological standpoint, it makes sense, but also it’s. The, the work aspect as well. It’s not from a privileged spiritual bypassing kind of perspective of just, you must not be having the right thoughts if you’re having negative things happen in your life and that sort of thing.

And so I do appreciate that approach. 

Sadie: Yeah, we have been through way too much stuff in our lives, each of us individually and together. I got cancer as soon as we met. That’s how our , you know, serious relations started off was him taking care of me and, and me getting surgery and all these things. So we have definitely been through way too much to think, Oh, well you just didn’t think positive enough thoughts.

That’s why this happened. You know, that’s why that happened. And we’ve seen the result of our positive thoughts paired. Hard work, and you’re totally right that when you’re manifesting and you’re, you’re going to see the opportunities when before it’s kind of just like opening your eyes, like before you’ve got these blinders on almost because you’re just trying to dig through everyday life.

Pay the bills and pray and wake up that you don’t have a red in your bank account. Like I still in my head, can picture when my bank account was negative before because it was just so traumatizing to happen over and over again whenever I was broke. And so I would never be like, Oh, pick yourself up, dust yourself off.

Everything’s fine. Like, we’re very realistic about all of it. Like life is going to suck sometimes no matter how much you manifest, no matter how positive you. Stuff is going to get thrown at you. It’s how you take it in stride. It’s what you do with it. It’s when something’s thrown. Like when I started Pips and it was a pivot.

That was a lot of crap that had been dumped on me and I could’ve just given up. A lot of people would’ve, but I didn’t have it in me. That fire, that intensity, it was still burning no matter how down I was. So that’s where the pivot came in. So whenever you are experiencing those hard times, don’t feel like, Oh, I’m just not manifesting it, right.

I’m not doing this, I’m not doing that. Instead of focusing on that and you know, wearing yourself down and having that shame spiral. Just think about, okay, what can I do? This is outta my control, but what is in my control? Even if it’s something small and the world is burning around you, there’s something small you can find that’s within your control and that’s where you’ll 

Aurora: start growing.

Yeah, totally. Totally. And I actually, that. Minds me of someone in, in, I think your main community that was talking about starting a business when there’s so many fires in the world and you know, as I observed in many others, like we’re in a time where people need those positive things. They need the, that sense of meaning and purpose and, and so having those things is actually, you know, helpful out in the world.

You’ve already shared quite a bit, but tell me a little bit more about how you help others to use their own fire. I 

Sadie: like to meet with my VIPs and talk to them about what they like, what they’re passionate about, and also learn if they are autistic or they ha are ADHD or, or, or there’s a plethora of.

Things that different VIPs deal with. I have a lot of VIPs that have mental health issues, like I’ve got some that are finding depression and anxiety, so I try to learn all of that about them so I can make sure I give them back what they need as far as my coaching goes because. When they’re nurtured in that way, even though I’m not a nurturing person, don’t get that, don’t get that twisted.

I’m not gonna, you know, use, I’m not gonna baby anybody. But I do know how to use the soft gloves, but I need to, even though I’m pretty hard hitter otherwise. So I just absorb all of that and then giving them back what I intuitively feel that they need has really helped. Them see that they have a lot more to offer than they realized before, and then they’re able to use that to help 

Aurora: their people.

Awesome. So is there anything else you would like to share with the embracing intensity audience? 

Sadie: I think if I could share anything, it would be just to work really hard on showing up consistently and authentically. I know a lot of us, especially with adhd, have a very difficult time with consistency. I.

Guilty. Guilty, guilty. But when I finally started showing up every day doing something to move my business forward, even though I’m just working part-time still, I showed up every day and I, I showed up for my people and I showed up in an authentic way. I stopped trying to hide so much. I stopped trying to mask mute myself so much.

Once I started doing that. Everything started rolling, Rolling, rolling. And if you can do that, if you can just show up as yourself, then any business plan that you have, any life plan that you have between manifestation, working hard, showing up every day. Success is the only option there. There’s nothing else that’s going to be able to stand in your way because you’re going to use that fire and that’s going to be your goal is to.

Whatever your goal is, that fire is gonna help you reach that goal. Like we’re now feeding the kids. I think when we started we had maybe 30, 40 kids to feed and now we are feeding over a hundred people every week. If I didn’t have the fire to show up every single day, I couldn’t afford to feed. All of those people we’re doing that from Pips.

So showing up is what has helped me afford that. So think of whatever your wildest, craziest, most amazing dream is. Picture it. What does your day look like? Your day to day? What does it look like? How is your time spent? and then work backwards from there to manifest, to work hard, to show up every day for your people and to attract your people.

A magnet has two sides. When you are your true, authentic self, you are going to have so many people coming to you. You’re also going to have people repelling away from you, and that’s the point. , that’s the point. So don’t, don’t water yourself down just to collect more people. Be your true, authentic self.

Have that magnet point in the right way, and you’re going to find the right people that will become cheerleaders and will stick with you through all of your wacky changes and new, different intensities. And whatever you’re wanting to talk about at the time, you’re gonna have cheerleaders that will follow you and help you grow your business.

Aurora: Mm. Awesome. I love that magnet image, , and it’s funny that you brought that up because actually my next big project that I’m doing as a collaboration starting this summer, is gonna be a membership to help creators, neuro divergent creators with their consistency on social media. So she’s doing some writing stuff, and I’m putting together some tools for like helping with repurposing and your own content and all of that stuff.

Repurposing my own content has always been a challenge. So I’ve been collecting stuff and you know, to help with being more consistent with our own content as well as, you know, other things. So that’s very 

Sadie: important and I love that you’re doing that topic. I’m gonna have to watch or take it or whatever you’re, do whatever version you’re doing.

Because I just started repurposing. I always felt like it. I, I was afraid people would see the same stuff and it would look like I was a broken record, but now I realize I say the same thing 10 times and people still don’t see it. So, Yeah. I think repurposing is, it’s really the magic and I can’t wait for that.

That’s exciting. 

Aurora: Yeah. Awesome. Well, and Renee Brooks is, is a master at that, so that’s one of the the people that I’ve, I’ve, that encouraged me to realize that, saying the same thing is, You know it is, does have power, so it’s awesome. 

Sadie: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. 

Aurora: Well, thank you so much. And how can they find out more about you?

Sadie: You can go to sadie smiley.com and if you wanna learn more about the Pips membership, go to sadie smiley.com/membership and you can find out all of the information of what’s included in the Pips Plus membership there. 

Aurora: Awesome. Well thank you so much.

Looking for ways to embrace your own intensity. Join our embracing Intensity community@embracingintensity.com where you’ll meet a growing group of like-minded people who get what it’s like to be gifted and intense and are committed to creating a supportive community as well as access to our courses and tools to help you use your fire without getting burned.

There’s also a pay what you can option through our Patreon. Where you can increase your pledge to help sustain the podcast or join us at a rate that better fits your needs. You can also sign up for my Free, Harnessing The Power of Your Intensity, a Self-Regulation workbook for gifted, creative, and twice exceptional adults and teens.

All links can be found in the show notes or on embracing intensity. Dot com.

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