What it REALLY Means to be a Heart-Centered Entrepreneur w/ Anna Frandsen

You’re Listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast, Episode #43! Our special guest with me today is here to share her tips with you on how to cultivate your entrepreneurial mindset and work smart not hard so you can build a thriving, profitable business without losing sight of what matters most. Plus, she’ll show you why doing the same old thing as everybody else on your entrepreneur journey isn’t the proven path to success, and where you should focus your time and attention to bring in the most revenue. That’s coming up next, so stay tuned!

[INTRO TRACK]

You’re going to walk away from this episode with a ton of practical tips on how to work smart not hard and master your entrepreneurial mindset so you can grow your business and your community!

My special guest is the lovely Anna Frandsen, who is a business coach for heart-centered entrepreneurs who want to learn how to work smart not hard, get more visible, make more sales and do it all in the most authentic way. The term “heart-centered” gets thrown around a lot in the industry, and it’s one of those terms that is pretty nebulous and unclear. But don’t worry, Anna is here today to show you what it means to work smart not hard on your entrepreneur journey, strengthen your entrepreneurial mindset, and lead your business from your heart. She has a community of over 10,000 women who she mentors and coaches to help them enhance their entrepreneurial mindset for ultimate success, and what she’s going to share with you is going to help you simplify your efforts, focus your attention, and start bringing in more revenue into your business by working smart not hard. You’ll walk away knowing exactly how to attract more customers and clients in a compelling, genuine way.  

No need for further ado, let’s dive into this conversation with Anna Frandsen. 

Courtney Elmer 5:32  

Anna, welcome! I'm so excited that you're here today to share more about your entrepreneur journey with us, and how you help women work smart not hard and develop the entrepreneurial mindset to succeed in business.

Anna Frandsen 5:32  

Thank you for having me, Courtney!

Courtney Elmer 7:47  

It's so great to connect with other like minded women who are also dedicated to working smart not hard, and who have been on an entrepreneur journey of their own and who have taken steps to strengthen their own entrepreneurial mindset along the way. I can't wait to dive into your story. Before we do, why don't we start by having you tell our listeners who you help, and how you help them? 

Anna Frandsen 8:16  

Yeah! My name is Anna Frandsen and I'm a business coach for heart centered entrepreneurs. I've been on this entrepreneur journey for about four years now, and in that time I've grown a Facebook community of over 10,000 women where I help them learn how to work smart not hard, master their entrepreneurial mindset, and make money in a heart centered way. I help women of all stages in their business get more visible and make more sales.

Courtney Elmer 8:36  

That's something we all want: visibility and money! So I've heard the term heart centered thrown around so much in the industry, and it's become a buzzword but few people understand what it means. What does that mean to you to be on a heart-centered entrepreneur journey?

Anna Frandsen 8:58  

I love this question. For me it means getting clear on what you value as a human and as a business owner, and living in integrity with that while on your entrepreneur journey. For me and my community, this means working smart not hard and learning how to master your entrepreneurial mindset so you can express the fullness of who you are online, in an honest and compelling way. 

Courtney Elmer 9:44  

That's so needed! Once you get started on this entrepreneur journey, you quickly discover it can be a steep learning curve. The natural thing to do is look to other influencers and other people who are a few steps ahead of you, and try to duplicate what they're doing. But when you adopt their methods and compare your entrepreneur journey to theirs, there's a piece missing: you! Copying what everyone else is doing is the quickest way to get overlooked in this industry. But when you step into your power is the person you've been created to be, and allow her to shine authentically, it's riveting. People can't help but be attracted to you and follow you. That's one of the secrets to working smart not hard, because there are so many things you could spend your time on and stay busy with, when all it boils down to is cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset you need to succeed and embracing who you already are. Tell us, what inspired you to start your business?

Anna Frandsen 11:02  

Four years ago, I was working as a mental health therapist, while pregnant with my daughter. Now my kids are three and five! I loved therapy, but I felt like I needed to do something more. I started dabbling in life coaching and that was the start of my entrepreneur journey. From there I launched my first online group coaching program which was how I wanted to work smart not hard and leverage my time with little ones at home. But it felt foreign, because even though I'd worked as a therapist, I'd never directly received money for my services. In those early months of my entrepreneur journey, I learned so much about developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Soon after that, I started offering business coaching and quit my job as a therapist.

Courtney Elmer 13:06  

It's amazing to think that you started your entrepreneur journey back in 2016, here we are in 2020 at the time of this recording, and that's not that much time: four years. But when you're embarking on your entrepreneur journey, especially in the early days, it feels like forever, right? I know there's a lot of people listening who are probably in a similar situation where they're still working a full time job, and starting their entrepreneur journey on the side, building a business. They want to work smart not hard, they want to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, they want to make that leap into the world of entrepreneurship full time. But it feels scary. What would you tell them?

Anna Frandsen 14:01  

Sometimes you have to let go of a good thing to have a great thing, right? There's no perfect decision. Recognizing this gave me so much freedom to say, "I don't want to burn myself out. The whole reason I'm doing online business is so I can work smart not hard and be present with my family." So I had to give up something I liked for something I loved. It was a total perspective shift inside my entrepreneurial mindset and I knew in my heart it was the next right step on my entrepreneur journey.

Courtney Elmer 14:59  

Yes. There's no reward without some risk. On your entrepreneur journey, there will be risk. But it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing where you lay everything on the line and put all your eggs into one basket. It's the little "risks" you take each day, the choices you make to cultivate your entrepreneurial mindset and step outside of your comfort zone, and take a chance on yourself. It's asking yourself, "What's the best decision in this moment?" That's one easy question that helps you work smart not hard. It takes great courage to lean in and to not be afraid of giving up good for great.

Anna Frandsen 15:46  

When I first started this entrepreneur journey I was doing all the things and it was a discipline to hone my focus. But I'm so grateful to the 2016 version of myself because I can look back and see all the other hard things I had been through. And I can say to myself, I'm tough. I can handle this. And I can rely on my own resilience and the work I've done over the years that laid the groundwork for me to work smart not hard and develop the entrepreneurial mindset I have today. I wouldn't be on this entrepreneur journey otherwise!

Courtney Elmer 16:21  

That's so important, to notice all the times that we've overcome obstacles in our life. To say, "I've done it before, I can do it again." Every situation might be new and different, but if you've overcome difficult things before on your entrepreneur journey, surely you can navigate through anything new that arises. And when you do, you strengthen your entrepreneurial mindset and learn from your own experience. So once you embarked on this entrepreneur journey and started building up your coaching business, what were some of the ways you learned to work smart not hard, and what were some of challenges you faced in those early days?

Anna Frandsen 17:07  

One of the things that was the most challenging at the start of my entrepreneur journey was narrowing down where I was going to show up. I wanted to be everywhere at once.  But that's literally the opposite of working smart not hard. A lot of my entrepreneur journey along the way has been asking myself, "How do I allow my creativity to go deeper?" Instead of seeing boundaries as a limitation, seeing them as a portal of freedom for me. It's the same thing with blocking my time: I've had to retrain my brain to look at it differently and notice how putting these boundaries in place gives me freedom, and that freedom is such a priority to me. That's one way I've shifted my entrepreneurial mindset. So instead of being on every social media channel, I decided I'm going all in on my Facebook group. But looking back on my entrepreneur journey as a whole, I notice that at every level in my business I've struggled with remembering that simplicity is what brings the fastest cash. That's one of the ways I'm able to work smart not hard, by keeping things simple. And little shifts like these in my entrepreneurial mindset have helped me take the right action steps and not waste time on busy work or trying to be everywhere all at once, which is what most people do but is again, the opposite of working smart not hard.

Courtney Elmer 18:25  

Yes, it reminds me of something I heard once on my own entrepreneur journey: In structure, there is freedom. That's part of working smart not hard. You can look at it one way and see boundaries as limitations. Or, you can shift that entrepreneurial mindset and look at it from another perspective, that those boundaries are what's allowing you to design the life the way you want to and end up in alignment with your priorities. With that heart-centeredness, with what you truly value and with how you want to show up in the world. You're walking your talk, and with 10,000 people in your Facebook group, that's clear! Let's talk about your Facebook group too, because I imagine for some of the entrepreneurs listening, they're asking that same question: How do I show up effectively on social media? How do I know what social media is right for me? Maybe someone listening has started a Facebook group, tried giving it their all, and it still feels dead, like crickets. So maybe they think it's not working and jump over here to something else. But the opposite of working smart not hard is spreading yourself thin and far and wide. What advice would you give for someone who is wondering, "How do I show up online in an authentic way? How do I figure out which platforms are right for me, with where I am on my entrepreneur journey?"

Anna Frandsen 20:06  

It helps to know who your ideal client is, and where they are showing up. That's number one. You want to be where your people are, and meet them where they're at on their own entrepreneur journey. If there are multiple options, like a lot of people are on Facebook and Instagram, I recommend picking one as your content home. This is how you work smart not hard when it comes to social media. What I mean when I say content home is that's the place where people know where to find you. This is where they'll get all the latest goods from you, and the other platforms are an 'echo'. It helps to know you can show up in multiple places, but that you're going to establish one as your home that you're inviting people to.

Courtney Elmer 21:17  

I know a lot of people listening can relate to having so many ideas but not knowing which ones to focus on that are going to bring in the revenue. It's easy to get shiny object syndrome, spin your wheels, then feel frustrated because you're doing too many things. Learning how to work smart not hard and focus well is a skill you must master as part of your entrepreneurial mindset. This is also part of working smart not hard. So if one of your clients were to come to you at some point along their entrepreneur journey and say they're struggling to focus, where would you recommend they start?

Anna Frandsen 22:19  

Yes! Cultivating your entrepreneurial mindset is so key and it's the work that most people aren't doing. First you have to figure out where the block is, what's the REAL problem? You have to make sure you're solving the real problem. So asking yourself, "Am I consistently visible online? Am I selling? Am I being direct about my offer?" A lot of people come to me on their entrepreneur journey, wanting to grow, but struggling to figure out how to work smart not hard and getting in their own way. The two biggest areas we look at are visibility and sales.

Courtney Elmer 23:27  

On the show I talk a lot about limiting beliefs and blocks, which can work against you on an unconscious level and keep you from working smart not hard. One of the most important things you'll ever do on your entrepreneur journey is cultivating your awareness and enhancing your entrepreneurial mindset by learning how to notice where you're blocked. You have to take a step back to see what's working and what's not. Then you can see what needs to be tweaked and fixed. Many people fear being too salesy, and coming across as slimy and in-authentic, which is the opposite of what it means to be a heart-centered entrepreneur. What would you say was one of the biggest entrepreneurial mindset shifts that you've had in your own business? How did you overcome it?

Anna Frandsen 24:48  

I love strategies, I love marketing, but more than half of work is working on your entrepreneurial mindset, right? It is so important, and it's one of those counterintuitive secrets to working smart not hard. I've had so many blocks along this entrepreneur journey of mine! The first good entrepreneurial mindset book that I read was The Big Leap. I realized, I'm the one holding me back! Another big block I've experienced was with selling. I had to learn how to recognize that I wasn't bugging people; these are grown women that can say yes or no. My job is simply to show up and be clear and honest. If I don't think I'm a fit for someone, I tell them. If I think my services will help someone, I feel it's my duty to offer an invite, and then trust that they know how to say no.

Courtney Elmer 26:45  

Yes! Detaching is one of the key skills you have to master on your entrepreneur journey when developing your entrepreneurial mindset. That helps you work smart not hard too, when you're focused on serving the people who are for you, and not worrying about the ones who aren't.

Anna Frandsen 27:19  

Yes! If we're going to make up a story, let's make up a good one. Right? That's part of cultivating a strong entrepreneurial mindset.  Let's not make our entrepreneur journey about us and our shortcomings. Let's believe in our community and understand they're making a healthy choice for themselves.

Courtney Elmer 27:33  

Yes, we all have the power to choose. On this entrepreneur journey, you have to be so careful of assigning meaning to things that it doesn't mean. Like you said, that entrepreneurial mindset work is more than half the battle, because when you start to become more aware, and can release those blocks, and shift those stories, it allows you to operate from that place of authenticity and heart-centeredness which is what most people want in their business. Working smart not hard is not about doing what everyone else is doing. It's about identifying your priorities and working in alignment with those. The last question I have for you is this: what's your definition of success?

Anna Frandsen 29:41  

For me, it's two-fold: Part of it is being on an entrepreneur journey that gives me both freedom and stability. It's also to make an impact. When I'm able to do purpose-filled work, continually cultivate my entrepreneurial mindset, and also be a mom and be present for my family, I feel my best.

Courtney Elmer 30:42  

I want to be the best mom that I can be too, and for many women, like you and like me, it does include doing something that lights you up so that you can show up for your family and have the energy and zest for life. It also means working smart not hard. There's a fine line between working too much which would take you away from your family, and working smart not hard which gives you energy to be there for your family. You have to define what that looks like for you, and you've done that beautifully. Thanks for sharing. Where can our listeners connect with you?

Anna Frandsen 31:17  

The best place to find me is my Facebook group, at heartcenteredcommunity.com. I also run a free visibility challenge that you can go through as you enter the Facebook group, which is a great way to assess your current entrepreneurial mindset in terms of how you're showing up for your audience and getting visible!

Courtney Elmer 31:34  

That is awesome. We'll link up to that in the show notes as well as to that book, The Big Leap, because that's a quick and easy read and a great way to develop your entrepreneurial mindset. Anna, thank you so much for your time and for coming on the show and sharing more about your entrepreneur journey with us and how you've grown and developed your entrepreneurial mindset over the years — it's been such a pleasure to have you!

Anna Frandsen 32:10  

Courtney, you are a delight and you're the real deal. I'm so grateful.

Courtney Elmer 32:17

Isn’t she a joy! Make sure you look Anna up and join her community. At the beginning of this episode, I promised you more info on how to get my step-by-step plan to create, launch, and leverage a profitable podcast of your own. So if launching a podcast is something you've been dreaming of doing on your entrepreneurial journey, then head to courtneyelmer.com/effortlesspodcasting and enter your info to be first to find out when doors open next.

And assuming you’re listening to my voice right now on your mobile device, open up your Instagram app and come follow me @theeffortlesslife.co where I show you my secrets for working smart not hard. I’d love to hear from you especially if you’ve got a topic you’d like me to cover in an upcoming episode especially as it relates to cultivating your entrepreneurial mindset, working smart not hard, or anything you want help with on your entrepreneur journey. 

Next week we’re talking about 7 of my favorite hacks you can steal to work smart not hard and streamline your digital workspace. With more and more people working remotely, it’s so important that a) you're continually strengthening your entrepreneurial mindset and b) you know how to stay focused and get real work done without all of those annoying distractions that suck your time and attention. That's coming up next week right here on the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast. Until then, go live YOUR EffortLESS Life®!