How to Stop Setting Goals You Don't Hit with Alden Mills

Alden Mills - 0:00 

I want to be clear with everybody. To be unstoppable means, you first have to have been stopped. Once you learn how to get unstuck, going from stop to go, now you've learned the gift, in your words of antifragility, that you start to turn the problems into possibilities that the obstacles become opportunities. Alright? The struggle builds strength for you; there's an advantage to the adversity. We could go on and on and how important dealing with the obstacle is because it unlocks your gifts on how to move forward.

Courtney Elmer - 0:46

Globally ranked among the top shows in business and education. We're known for helping overworked online entrepreneurs, business owners navigate the ups and downs on the way to seven figures. Each week, you're going to learn how to get the right systems structure and support in place. So you can build a self-sustaining business that thrives in a rapidly changing digital environment and grow through what you go through to create the greater income, influence, and impact you deserve. This is AntiFragile Entrepreneurship.

Welcome back! You're listening to another episode of AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™. This is episode 172. And here's the thing, if you're like most online entrepreneurs, chances are you've probably set plenty of goals that you haven't hit, am I right? Probably more than you can count. 

Courtney Elmer - 1:35

And I know this because I have been in that boat more times than I would like to admit. But the one thing that I noticed in the entrepreneurial space is that somewhere along the way, online entrepreneurs start to believe that their setting goals aren't worth setting because they struggle so much to hit them. Or maybe one time they went after a really big goal, something that was really important to them. And they failed. And landed flat on their face.

And right then there, they decided there was no point in setting goals. If I'm not going to hit them, why set them? Why waste the time and set them if I'm not going to hit them? So, they stop setting them. And they grow lakhs, and they move about their business from one day to the next. But they never really accomplish anything. And then they lay awake at night wondering, why am I working so hard? It feels like I'm not really accomplishing anything. 

Courtney Elmer - 2:31

Let me ask you this, has there ever been a time when you have hit a goal that you said maybe you hit a goal and you surprised yourself that you actually hit it? Or maybe you set one, and the whole time that you were working toward it, you just had this inner knowing that it would work out. And sure enough, it did. Think of a time like that when you set a goal. And you actually hit it. For me, was my first six-figure year. Now for whatever reason, something clicked that year. And even though I had aimed for that goal and didn't hit it for over four years prior, that was a year that happened.

Courtney Elmer - 3:07

So think of a goal like that in your experience. And notice what was different about it. What made you hit that goal versus maybe previous attempts where you didn't hit it or other meeting goals that you set and didn't hit? I'd be willing to bet there were a few invisible elements at work that you didn't even know were working in your favor. But that made it possible for you to hit that goal. You see, the reason that some people hit their setting goals and not others is because most people don't know what these invisible elements are. But it's kind of like how once you see something, you can't unsee it. 

Courtney Elmer - 3:50

Once you know what these invisible elements are, you're going to find it hard not to hit your setting goals. In fact, hitting and setting goals you set will likely never be a problem for you ever again. And that is why today on the show, I am joined by a very special guest and my friend Alden Mills, who is going to reveal to you exactly what these invisible elements are. The hidden things when you discover them and learn how to use them to your advantage will allow you to hit any goal that you ever set for yourself. 

And I know this because I know Alden and Alden knows about setting goals and hitting them. Why? Because he knows about setting goals and not hitting and meeting goals. And by learning what hasn't worked. He now knows exactly what to do to hit any goal he sets for himself, and he's here to help you do the same. In fact, the frameworks that Alden is going to hand you here today have helped him find multiple businesses and become an Inc 500 CEO. Become the best-selling author of not one but to be best-selling books. Command three Navy SEAL platoons become a nationally recognized rower, a TEDx speaker, and the creator of an app designed to help 100 million people become absolutely unstoppable in the pursuit of their setting goals. 

Courtney Elmer - 5:20 

And today, he's going to teach you how to apply these exact same frameworks to your setting goals so that you can start experiencing the same kind of success.

Alden, it's an honor to have you here. Thank you for making the time to be with us today.

Alden Mills - 5:45

Courtney, I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you.

Courtney Elmer - 5:50 

Well, you know, Alden, as I was reading, all of your accomplishments, everything that you have achieved in your life, you've achieved so much from leading Navy SEAL platoons to founding successful businesses to becoming a nationally recognized Rower. I'm curious just to dive right in with you and ask you, can you walk us through what is your personal approach to setting goals and meeting goals in your life?

Alden Mills - 6:21

No, I've created a framework over a long period of time, I'd say this framework started when I was 14 years old, and I'm now 54. So we have 40 years there. And I have to really thank my mom for part of this framework. And the framework was, I know, this is gonna sound so simple, and almost trite. But you can't stop dreaming. And when you go through the process of the dream, I think of it in four stages, there's a dream, the dream then comes, which is nothing more than a figment of your imagination, a snippet of a longer movie clip that you want to star in, to a vision, to a goal to daily action. And if you break that down even further, and say, hey, I'm gonna start a rolling process of 10, three in one-year meeting goals. And I started doing that.

Alden Mills - 7:22

Originally, when I was young, I did five, three, and one. And as I started to grow and push that barrier, I now do ten, three, and one-year meeting goals. And I do them personally and professionally. And I break out physical as a separate one. And I constantly continue to look at ways to push the boundaries to never just say, okay, this is enough. Because you're after fulfillment, that gives you the energy of the things that you go after. Now, yes, you listed a bunch of the things that I've succeeded at.

But I want the audience to know I have failed way more than I've succeeded. And I would argue that those failures, in large part, weren't really failures; they were lessons learned that helped me build the strength to go on and find those setting goals that I really want to accomplish.

Courtney Elmer - 8:19 

I'm so glad you brought that up. Because especially in today's day and age, with social media, we look at, we see everyone's highlight reel, and we know this. We know we're looking at others' highlight reels, and yet still, we see the highlight reel. And for some reason, it just completely blinds us to the fact that there was probably a lot that whatever that person is that we admired, whoever it is that we look up to, or maybe aspire to be like that, there's a lot more that we don't see. So, let's dig in there. 

Courtney Elmer - 8:54 

Alden, tell us about first of all a goal that you set. And then the fact that it didn't work out. So, maybe something that you said, maybe in one of those one, three, or five-year setting goals, or 10 years that you thought was you were on track, and then all of a sudden realized you weren't. And what did that look like? How did you navigate through that?

Alden Mills - 9:16

Well, everybody is familiar. Well, I shouldn't say everybody but so I created this business to create the world's greatest fat-burning device. Okay, I raised a million and a half dollars from 37 of my closest friends and family only to learn $1,475,000 worth of ways not to launch a product. I was sitting with less than $25,000 in the bank account, which was really my wife's credit card. And I went to pitch some investors on this new product idea because I've now I think finally gotten them a message after four years and burning through so much money. You know, I think I had a total of about $400,000, in sales to show for the $1,475,000 we spent.

And it became clear to everybody in that room except me that it was over. All in your only option is to go bankrupt. You don't have enough money to pay the lawyers, the accountants, the manufacturers, there's no sense whatsoever for you to go and try and launch this other product because you couldn't even launch one with a million and a half dollars. That was a massive transition point. I had a very small team. Four other people sitting in an office, asking if I got the money back, and or raising some more money. I was like, no, I didn't. But I, I have something else for us. And I'm offering this to all of you. Give me 90 days, and imagine what it would be like if we launched this next product and went after something that could be like a phoenix rising from the ashes. 

Alden Mills - 11:14

And of course, they weren't so thrilled about it at first, and having to let go of something that I thought was a great idea, which really came to the point of okay, I failed, and I failed miserably at that. However, you know, the outside investor said, well, you failed, you didn't make enough money. What I had experienced was, no, I have learned all these ways to launch this next product. The next product we ended up launching 87 days later, was called the perfect pushup. You know, to date, 15 million people have seen that product, for sure I know that.

Alden Mills - 11:56

And those pivotal moments where you just think you're on the brink of complete disaster. It's like the darkest before dawn, you're right at that moment where actually you're going to break through to the other side. And that's how I want to encourage people to think of dealing with failure. That is the moment where you have a pivotal opportunity to go and try for something even greater than what you originally started out for. 

Courtney Elmer - 12:27

I'm like hanging on the edge of my seat with chills. This is, this is why this show exists all in this idea of antifragility, which, you know, if you're just joining the show for the first time, or you haven't heard me talk about this before, AntiFragility really goes a step beyond just being resilient. You know, we can be resilient in the face of stress or pressure, or the unexpected or chaos, but antifragility is to become truly antifragile mentally and physically. To build an antifragile business means you grow through what you go through. And what you've just said there about that darkest moment before the dawn.

Courtney Elmer - 13:06

You have such an opportunity, but Alden, I think so many people miss it. When they're in those dark moments, they don't know how to seize that. They don't know how to see it, like you did, as here's, you know, all of these ways not to do this. And here now the path is becoming clearer for me on how to go and launch this next thing. You took those lessons, and you did something with it.

But a lot of people just find themselves back in the same situation. They find themselves and say, how did I wind up here again? Why does this keep happening to me? How do I seem to always wind up in these circumstances? I've been here before, I don't know how to break this cycle. What would you say to those people who are listening? What would your advice be? For in the moment that is the darkest for us? Where do we look for the light? 

Alden Mills - 13:56 

I use this idea of positivity as a gym. And I want everybody to realize we have this personal positivity gym inside each and every one of us. There are very few things we can control in life. But those few things that we can, do can totally change our direction in life. Those three things are how we think the thoughts we attach to, where we put our focus, and the beliefs we choose to accept. Now all three of those fit in a loop. We don't have enough time to go through all those nuances of each thing. But I will tell you, it's your thoughts, your focus, and your beliefs. Those are it; boil it all down. That's what we have to control.

When we think about positivity gym, and I'll save a series of these different exercises. But the one exercise I encourage people to do is I call it playing the opposite game. When you're in your gym, you have to do a push in a poll routine, I want you to push away that negative thought and know for every negative thought, there is an equal and opposite positive thought. It just comes in a different wrapper. And you must take a moment. And I want you to do the polar opposite of whatever that negative thought is. And I'm going to ask you to do two of them.

Alden Mills - 15:33 

Now I do this for my coaching clients, I'll do this for my boys who are out on the sports field. And they'll be like, look what's happening to me. And it's right, it's this reactive moment. And I want them to see how you got to shift your weight from the heels to the balls of your feet. Now, I want you to be proactive. Now you tell me two reasons this is a positive. Force yourself to look at whatever that situation is. And give yourself two positive reasons. In the case of switching from what looked like a four-year disaster, and burning through nearly all the money we raised, we came up with a series of positives.

And it was a lot more than two, like, hey, we now know the entire supply chain. We just didn't have the right messaging. Nor did we have the right product. Ours was too complicated. We could make it simpler. Let's re-position what we were after. And because the manufacturer already knew who we were, we were able to use equity, we were able to use equity for our other key consultants to help us with that. When you start to look at it from a totally different perspective, which requires you to shift your focus, playing the opposite game can be one of the simplest, quickest tools to help you get over that momentary weakness, where you're like, I've lost all hope.

Alden Mills - 17:02

You know, hope is a really important thing, Courtney. And I call this the Human Trinity that all of us humans run on. It's almost like if you've watched the movie Iron Man, and he has that triangle of power stuck in his chest. We all have that. And that requires three components. Hope, Faith, and love. Now, you may say, Alden, this isn't a religious show. Why are we talking about faith? The faith I'm referring to is the number one definition. In the dictionary, the number one definition of faith is to have complete confidence in someone or something other than yourself. Number two is about religious doctrine. What we're after is learning the art. 

Alden Mills - 17:54

When you talk about AntiFragility, you need to have that faith, that hope, and that love. And when I say love, it's the passion and the purpose. When you put those two together, that forms the core seed to grow the love of what you're doing that gets you up day after day, to keep walking through that deep, dark shadow of doubt that everyone else is saying like, I can't believe Courtney, you're gonna go out and try this podcast? Why do you think people are gonna listen to you? What do you know about it?

And, you were driven because you had a passion and saw purpose and helping others. And you could connect with others to help them get the most out of their business and become unstoppable at what they're trying to do. You get these moments. We're all weak at these moments. We're all imperfect. And we all need to learn how to find the light in the darkness. And to do that starts with looking at it from an opposite perspective, playing the opposite game. 

Courtney Elmer - 19:09 

That's such a practical tool. I've not heard of that before. And all of my coaching training experience, shifting beliefs, learning our limiting beliefs, how do we begin to see those? How do we shift that and all that what you just shared is such a gem, and I want people to listen to you. If you're listening, write down something that you're struggling with right now. If you're driving, don't write it down. But think about something that you might be struggling with. What are two things that are positive about that, do it right now. Like don't, don't wait, don't delay, don't say, well, that's a really cool thought, and then go back to your life and not do anything with it. And as you were sharing all that, you know, it made me think of something that my therapist years ago once shared with me, and I give her credit. 

Courtney Elmer - 19:49 

This is probably an old story that came from legend. I don't know where this comes from. But I give her the credit because she's the one that told it to me. And she said you know, Courtney, in your life at all times there are two wolves that are fighting. And the two wolves can represent anything you want, really. And in this case, you're talking about faith. And I always see the two wolves in my life as being faith and fear. And those two wolves are fighting, and she goes, which ones are going to win? How do you know which one will win? And at the time, I was like, well, I don't know, the one that's bigger, the one that's stronger? 

Courtney Elmer - 20:27 

It's like, yes, she said, the one you feed, which, of course, will be the bigger one, the stronger one, which will win. So I bring that up because about five years ago or so you gave a TEDx talk, very moving, very impactful. And about a third of the way into that talk, you started talking about something, a connection that we all have, between our head and our heart, which I almost could go so far as and you might correct me and say, no, Courtney, that's not it. But to say that's, that's the faith and fear in us, right? The heart leads with that faith that you just described, the head, the head can get caught up in that fear. Then you talk about how we have to have a connection between the two. Can you unpack that for us?

What is this concept that you shared in that talk? And why is it so important for us, especially as online entrepreneurs, when we face these dark moments in our life? 

Alden Mills - 21:27

 That connection, I call the conversation, I've written about it extensively in my second book, unstoppable teams. It's the first chapter about leading yourself; I think of leadership in three levels; the number one and single most important level is leading yourself. And I'd like all the listeners for a moment to imagine they're standing in front of a beautiful reflection pond that's dead calm and then dropping a pebble into that pond. And these three concentric rings radiate out from the disturbance of the pebble that dropped into the clear water of your reflection pond.

Those three rings represent the three levels of influence as you, as a leader, break, everybody listening, know this truth. We are all leaders, you had to lead yourself to turn your radio on or your iPhone or smartphone to tune in to this podcast. You've had to lead yourself every morning to get out of bed and go to work and do the things that you've been looking to do. And God forbid you have been an amazing leader to start your business and grow it. Even if you feel like it's not growing right now, you're stuck in this plateau; you're a leader.

How many people will follow you - different conversations. But understand this, first and foremost, you're a leader in how you lead yourself. The second ring becomes the team or teams that you lead; those teams are nothing more than a reflection of how you lead yourself. 

Alden Mills - 23:11

The third ring, the largest ring, becomes the culture of your organization. And the culture of your organization is nothing more than a reflection of those consistent actions taken by your team. So if you look at everything, it comes back to how you lead yourself. Now you brought up the wolves. It's a great metaphor. I love that example. And that is an example of where you put your focus, right? Which one do you feed? Focus is nothing more than a funnel that funnels your energy into the decision of making an action.

The conversation that I'm referring to is really a conversation between the yin and the yang inside of you. And now, what I talk about are two key voices. The voice up here that I call the Wiener, the Wiener, this looking in your rearview mirror of life, and I think of my Wiener, speaking like Alden talking to his mom when Alden is about eight years old. Why do I have to do that? Do you know how hard that is? No one else has done that before. Why do I have to do that? Why do I think I can do that? You know, when everyone else says I can't do that. 

Alden Mills - 24:30

We all have a whining voice. And the whining voice - it comes from up here, in our heads. And it's really based on our negativity bias or negativity bias that comes pre-programmed for all of us, where we put a higher emphasis on negative than we do positive. It's a survival mechanism that neuroscientists today have determined we've had for a couple of million years in our human brain.

On The flipside, we have another voice. And that voice whispers to us, that voice is a quieter voice, and I call it the winner. And the winner will say things like, Get up, try again. You can do this. Keep going. But it's so hard to hear the whispers of your winning voice over all of these thoughts, both internal and external, telling you why you can't, you shouldn't, you wouldn't. Because our brains, our logical processing area, they're looking in the rearview mirror, deciding all the things to keep us out of harm's way. And this friction that goes on back and forth between the whiner and the winter is where our strength or antifragility gets built.

And how we make that connection, in large part, from my perspective, goes back to how we make those setting goals. And then how we build the goal team, to help us keep our focus, feeding off the wolf, on that winning mindset of where we want to go, and making sure we get up day after day, keeping commitments with ourselves and taking those actions to make things better. That is the conversation we need to continually lead ourselves on. 

Courtney Elmer 26:41 

Truly powerful stuff. You wrote a book; you wrote two books about this idea of unstoppability. Be unstoppable, building unstoppable teams. And at the core of this is what you have, the gem of knowledge that you have just shared with us here today. And it starts with leading yourself. I'm curious, taking us back to that moment where you realized you lost all of the money that you had raised, trying to launch that product. What were some of the mental blocks? Where did you notice your own negativity bias popping up? Rearing its head, right, the whiner that voice? What was it saying to you? And then what did you say to it? In order to move through and beyond it?

 Alden Mills - 27:34

Well, first, for everybody out there, my theme is about helping people be unstoppable. And I want to be clear with everybody to be unstoppable means you first have to have been stopped. Once you learn how to get unstuck, going from stop to go. Now you've learned the gift. In your words of antifragility, you start to turn the problems into possibilities that the obstacles become opportunities, right? The struggle builds strength for you; there's an advantage to the adversity; we could go on and on and how important dealing with the obstacle is because it unlocks your gifts on how to move forward.

In the case of dealing with a perfect pushup. I will tell everybody I battled multiple conversations every single day. Wait a minute; we can even cut steel in 90 days. And I've only asked everybody to stick around for 90 days because that's all the money I had to pay for their health care benefits. Because I couldn't pay for anything else. How are we going to cut steel and steel was the injection molded steel to try and to make the perfect push-up? We had to fly over to the manufacturer, and we had to just start knocking this down. Like there had to be a way, and if you continually keep your focus on feeding the wolf, that's going to teach you, okay, there's another way to do this. We just haven't uncovered it yet versus hearing all the reasons why it can't be done.

Alden Mills - 29:23

I'll give the listeners the next important tool that I use in the positivity gym, which is asking myself this moment where I'm putting my focus. Is it helpful or hurtful to what I'm trying to get done? That's a simple question. You know, bring it out to any of my boys. All four boys play all kinds of different sports, and some of them become quite competitive and have gone on to college and play in college. And they'll say, well, you know, look at that team, Dad. They have all these great divisions one commits, and we only have one or two. And, you know, I'm like, okay, great. Is that helpful or hurtful to try to win?

Well, I guess it's hurtful. Yeah. Let's start focusing on the great things that you can bring to bear and be a team player versus those individuals. The same thing is true with an online entrepreneur; as you're going out and building your business, helpful or hurtful to wake up going up well, off to the mind today, it's just going to be a repeat of the same thing that no, okay, so we're, we're plateaued right now. We need to be stuck.

Because when we need, when we get stuck, that's where we find the innovation. All right, we've been doing something repeatedly for a while; let's switch it up. What is something that could be helpful that we haven't been able to take action on yet? Asking yourself helpful or hurtful will also be another tool in your toolbox to help you get unstuck and be unstoppable at moving forward.

Courtney Elmer - 31:07

I love what you said a moment ago; we need to be stuck. And you know, it's so interesting because so many of us in business, we don't want to be there. We don't want to be in that pit or in that valley, right? Or the wolves are fighting, and the war is raging. And it's like, no, no, no, no, I want to be at the peak, I want to be at the top, I want to be at the place where everyone recognizes my success and sees how I've earned that, you know, it's been one but how do you win it in the pit? In the valley, where the battle is fought on the battleground.

And that, you know, I think is such a valuable frame of mind to go through life with is that you know, yes, the obstacle and the opportunity and the struggle and the success and the adversity and the advantage. But I actually need this obstacle. I need this adversity. I need this struggle. Because there is something here for me that it's teaching me that maybe I don't see yet, but I will. And to hold on to that hope, as you mentioned earlier, and how important that truly is.

Alden Mills - 32:14

You know, Courtney, you just got me thinking about this. This really brings you back to your original question. And that original question was, hey, tell me about how you set these goals and what's your goal process. And because as we get older, we can inherently become lazy. Because we really enjoy what I call this harbor have familiarity and will start to develop beliefs that at first they'll seem innocuous, but over time, if you think of yourself as the captain of your own ship, and your next goal is crossed us horizon, those little beliefs of Oh no, we'll just stay in the comfort zone and mediocrity, can act like an anchor and drag us and make it exhausting.

We have to learn ways to cut those anchor chains of limiting beliefs to move forward. But the key piece of this is continually dreaming about where we want to be and where we want to go. You know, you mentioned reaching the summit and everyone wanting to be at the summit. When I turned 40, I got so burned out of just doing push-ups and pull-ups, and sit-ups. I mean, here I am, you know, doing all these fitness products. I decided I was going to start climbing mountains with some good friends. And we had this wonderful climbing guide that we have used for many years.

Alden Mills - 33:48

And he would often say, gentlemen, as we were about to climb this mountain, and some of these mountains would take weeks to get up. I want you to remember the summits for the ego. The hike, the journey, is for the soul. That's what we're after here. And as each of us struggle to grow, what we're seeking to grow is to go after that dream. Don't you dare give up on that dream, but also know the gifts or all those struggles along your journey.

Don't ever stop dreaming of what you are capable of doing because I'm here to tell everybody there you are more capable than you realize. And that unstoppable is a choice that you have to make every day. A choice when you setting goals, build a goal team, and create those commitments for yourself and your team to take the daily action every day.

 Courtney Elmer - 34:55 

Alden, this is a perfect segue into your mission. To help 100 million people be unstoppable. And I'm curious just to hear from you what inspired you, first of all, to set that goal. And then, how are you applying everything that you've taught here so generously and shared with us today? To achieve it? 

Alden Mills - 35:17 

Well, I will tell you, I, you mentioned, you know, I've done all kinds of different things in the commonality of everything that I've done. My only special goal or gift, I'd say, is that I just keep trying. Right, I would put persistence, and inspiration as my gifts, has been setting goals, and learning how setting goals and accomplish all kinds of different setting goals. And that process began so long ago that I was like, you know, how do I scale this? And how do I give this to other people and help them on their journey because that's been the greatest gift for me, are people calling me back and saying, Alden, I just did this thing. And getting them to realize that they are so much more powerful than they realize.

That they can do much more than they originally thought possible. That gives me energy. And that's what I've been after, is getting that energy. And so, at launch pace, it's been kind of a selfish thing, helping people meeting goals because it gives me energy. And that led me down the process of teaming up with a dear friend of mine, who's a great software expert. 

Alden Mills - 36:31

And we created an app called goal bud that helps people do the three most important things of goal achievement. Make a goal, build a goal team, and create commitments that you then report to your goal team on a free app called goal bud that people can download and build out the winning mindset Goal team. To go out and intentionally build people in their network to help each other achieve more together. That, to me, is what a real social network should be about, not just about highlighting, look at me, and how wonderful my day is because we all know we have all kinds of struggles, but a network that's here to catch you, as you are daring to do something that you don't know if you can even do. And watch what happens when people help each other do that will make the world a better place. 

Courtney Elmer - 37:34

The thing that just popped into my mind is the network to support you in your soul journey. Yeah. Fantastic. Alden, you've shared so much with us here. Thank you for being here today. For our listeners who want to continue learning from you and connect with you beyond this interview, where can they go to connect with you?

Alden Mills - 37:55 

They can go to my website. And I highly encourage them to download GoalBud app. And they'll come to see us at goldbud.org and learn and achieve greatness together as a team. 

Courtney Elmer - 38:12

Fantastic. We will have all of that linked in the show notes for you guys. All done. Thank you again for being here with us today.

Alden Mills - 38:19 

Thank you, Courtney. 

Courtney Elmer - 38:21 

And thank you so much for joining us here today for another episode of AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™. And if you want to connect with all then make sure you head to the show notes right now. So don't forget and download the gold bug app. And start surrounding yourself with a community of people who are all pursuing their setting goals and getting the accountability that you know you need to hit yours.

Now, if you loved what you heard in today's episode, it would mean the world to me. If you tap the Share button and send this episode to a friend, that five seconds that it takes for you to share this episode might just be the thing that changes someone's life. And if you've been a longtime listener and you haven't yet left a review, let today be the day that you leave one. Why not? Here's the thing. Most people who listen to podcasts don't realize how much of a review actually matters. And it's not just to inflate the host's ego, I promise you that is not why I read the reviews.

Courtney Elmer - 39:18

Although if I'm having a really bad day, sometimes I do read those reviews, and it reminds me why I do this podcast for you each week. But what it really does is two things. Number one, it helps Apple understand that this is a show worth listening to. So it shares the show with more listeners who need to hear it, and it helps new listeners find us. But number two, it is the channel of communication through which you can let me know if this show was valuable for you. If there's a topic that you want to see covered here, if there's a question that you have that you want me to answer, even just one sentence helps.

So if you would take 30 seconds today, scroll down in your Apple app, Tap the five stars, write a sentence, and let me know how the show is impacting you. I would be forever grateful. And if you want to connect with me personally, Instagram is my social media platform of choice. I'm on all the platforms, but that's the one where I hang out the most you could see the behind-the-scenes of my life as a mom, as a business owner, as a top-ranked podcast host all that fun stuff. I'm over there on Instagram @thecourtneyelmer. I promise it will make it worth your time. Come connect with me there. And I hope to see you in my DMs.

Courtney Elmer - 40:31 

Now listen, next week on the show, we are going to be talking about one of my all-time favorite topics. No, I'm serious. We're talking about the missing piece to your massive audience growth. And I'm going to have a special guest joining me who's going to show you the exact thing that you need to build what I call an antifragile marketing strategy. One that can generate leads and income for you 24/7 without you having to pump out content every day and do it at scale. And here's the best part when you set it up, right? It's not going to cost you a dime. Okay, so join me back here next week, and until then, let's go out and grow through what we go through. Together.