Ashton
This is the season of the comeback. This is the catalyst year. 2024 is going to unlock so many opportunities for you. And it's going to be so much greater than your setback ever was. Like who even is she? She's gone. She's dead. She's somewhere else. I'm Ashton Smith. And I'm Jordan Long. And we're coming in hot. We're seventh generation entrepreneurs with a passion for fusing creative expression and business fundamentals to help entrepreneurs powerfully expand their companies.
Jordan
Legacy Creator is a show for creatives, big thinkers, and visionaries who are doing business differently. Together, we unpack topics to help you embody your creative identity, develop as a leader, and powerfully grow your business.
Ashton
In a nutshell, we're calling you out and calling you higher. Welcome to season two of Legacy Creator. We are so excited for this season. We got together, what, a couple weeks ago now to outline episodes and
Jordan
We're coming in hot.
Ashton
Hot. Hot this season. Hot. Yeah. I mean more hot than ever. More hot. But this is really going to be an incredible season. We had such an awesome time with you guys last year for season one. And we were really finding our footing and our voice and what we wanted to like bring to the podcast space. And I feel like it might not be perfect, but I feel like we've got our style. We've got our flair. Like we know what we're meant to bring. And we also are more in tune with what our community needs and what they enjoy, what you enjoy hearing from us in a podcast setting. So we're so excited for season two. It's been a long time coming and we've got some updates. So, I mean, Jordan, I mean, she's here again. Like, are you tired of her yet? Yeah. Like why am I here? Why is she even here? Well, she is now an official co-host. I feel like the podcast came to life when Jordan came on.
Jordan
I feel like we just got into a rhythm. It's like, people can do solo podcasts for sure and do it successfully but I think that there's just something about like talking with someone and I think we just bring a certain energy when we're together and yeah I don't know I feel like uh with the what was the episode season one episode four I think was the creativity episode and a lot of people really liked that that was the one that like the first one I came on for to like guest star or whatever. And I feel like people really liked it and enjoyed it. So yeah, I'm here.
Ashton
I'm here to stay. She's here to stay. It's gonna be so so good. I mean, as you can tell, we bring different voices and skill sets and perspectives to the table. So It's going to be a lot of fun to continue that in season two. Um, we're also going to be airing season two episodes on Mondays so we can kick off the week together. We don't know why we didn't do that previously, but here we are making improvements and really just set the tone for season two. Our like mission, our commitment, we're here to call you out and call you higher. I mean, if you listen to later episodes in season one, I'm sure you can gather that like that's the heart. That's the mission. Like we're here to call you out in a very loving and empathetic way because we want to see you excel. We want to see you succeed. seed, but we also like, we're going to call you higher to like, we're going to bring that like fiery energy. We're going to light a fire under your butt. And sometimes like, you know, you might feel called out. And I think that's one of the powerful things about our style and this show. Like we want to have real raw, candid conversations that truly benefit you and help you develop and grow. And I know that sometimes like when I look at my own journey, the moments and times when I've developed the most, I was being challenged. And I may have even started that by being offended by something. Like, how dare they say this about me? Or how dare they have this perspective? But then I sit with that and I'm like, oh, I actually have room to grow in that area. And that's our goal. That's our heart. So season two is going to be amazing. And as you can tell by the title of this episode, we are kicking off real strong. We're bringing Rocky vibes, you know, like we are coming back strong for 2024 and we really wanted to kick off this season with this conversation around coming back after hard times. And I know if you listen to our recap episode from 2023, you'll know that we went through our fair share of stuff in 2023 behind the scenes. And the more that I've connected with people, talk to people behind the scenes in private conversations, like I've just discovered that we've all been going through stuff like 2023 was a rough year like there were so many ups and downs there were so many circumstances um and just hard times like maybe that was in your business maybe that was personal maybe that was family related maybe that was something you were going through internally but 2023 really like pushed us it really like presented us with so many hard times. And so I think as we go into 2024, people are craving this sense of, okay, I'm coming back. Like I'm ready for the comeback. I'm ready to feel strong. I'm ready to feel alive. I'm ready to feel vibrant again. But I think before we can move to that, we really have to look at the hardship and we have to reframe because hardship gives us an opportunity that bliss never can. Now, let's be real. Like, we all want the easy times, right? Like, we want the bliss. We want to be on the mountaintop. We want to be, like, reaching all of our goals. We want those moments that feel good. But Tony Robbins has this quote, and I might butcher it, but he says, when we succeed, we tend to party. But when we fail, we tend to ponder. And I think that that's really, really powerful. And there's something about hardship that is truly powerful. Like it refines you, it pushes you, it puts you through the fire in order to come out stronger, brighter, more vibrant on the other side. So we have to develop this new perspective around hardship and actually appreciating it, actually taking the time to go through the midst of it, learn from it, soak up all you can from it because that's preparing you for the next season. That's preparing you for the bliss. And one of the most powerful things about hardship is the way that it develops your character. Your character is defined as the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves. So if we think about like, how are you thinking? How are you feeling? How are you behaving in your business every single day? Well, all of those things literally determine all of the outcomes that you do or do not see. If you're sitting around thinking, poor me, I'm horrible. I'm not equipped. I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy. Well, how many of us know that that trickles into inaction, that trickles into kind of a shrinking that trickles into, okay, I'm going to hide. But if you have learned and developed your character to where you are thinking, I'm powerful, it doesn't matter what comes my way. I'm going to make it through. I'm strong. I'm equipped. I know what I'm doing. And when I don't know what I'm doing, I'm going to figure it out. Well, how different is your action going to be from there? How different is the outcome going to be? And so I personally think about one of I was going to say my most famous stories is not even famous, but it's just so integrated into our brand because it was such a catalyst moment for me. When I started the awakening in 2019 I was like, I want to get this thing going. Like Jordan, you know my personality. I'm like all in. all in like let's go i think about like i'm the one trip girl so like if i've got things in my car like i've got my arms like lined with grocery bags josh will be like oh we'll come back it'll be fine i'm like i ain't coming back so i'm like one i'm all in like let's get this done So same was true when I started my business, obviously I've learned so much since then, but I made this huge investment for me at the time because we were at ground zero. The big thing in the online space at that time was ads and funnels. And if you've ever invested in that before, you know, it's a high ticket investment. And so I spent $20,000 with a promise from this expert that we would at least make that back. Um, if not more, right. We were obviously hoping to profit on the investment, but we would of course make it back. Well, we didn't make a penny. We didn't make anything. And I put everything into that. Like I was recently married. I was not like, you know, living this luxurious life. I hadn't really taken the time to set aside funds in order to make this investment, which you know, first mistake, but I was a very beginner. And so that was like my rock bottom moment in my business. Like that was when I was like, dude, I don't know what I'm going to do. And I have to figure this out because now not only am I in debt, but also I have X amount of months runway in order to figure things out to generate more revenue so that I don't have to go and find another full-time job. And so you talk about the level of pressure, you talk about the level of like hardship that that was, that you're feeling and I'm sure you have a moment or you have multiple moments like that in your story that you can think of that moment. Although it was so hard and like I cried so much and you talk about the self doubt, you talk about like crippling anxiety and fear and worry. You're talking about sleep, sleepless nights. I mean that was me, but I would go back and I would do it time and time again if I had to because that was the thing that laid the foundation for the success of my company. Because it led me to this place of taking ownership of taking responsibility and ultimately developing my character as a person, becoming as a person, as a leader, as a CEO, so that I could continue to build my vision, my dream, and then sustain it. So as we often say, it's not necessarily about achieving. It's so much more about becoming because when you become, that is something that no one can take away from you. You know, economies change, algorithms change, buyer behavior changes, and there's some problem solving every turn to figure those things out. But like what you become, how you become and develop as a person, like your character, nobody can take that away from you. And so we really have to develop this ability to appreciate hard times, to look at hardship and to say, yeah, this, this sucks. This is hard. We have to add the, but we have to say, but I'm going to make it through, but this is serving me somehow, but this is leading me and guiding me to exactly where I meant to be. And I think back to like 2023, Jordan, what were some of the, maybe like the top one or two things that were just like hard that you were moving through behind the scenes last year?
Jordan
I feel like two of the biggest like themes, I guess, for me that I was struggling with was like, comparison and maybe even a little bit of like identity issues. Like alongside that, it was more like internal stuff that was going on for me, like mentally. But I felt like I just was focusing on all the wrong things. Like I wanted the growth. And to me, I was just, I was looking at like the vanity metrics and growth equals more followers, more this, more that. And I was just so focused on the wrong things, like analyzing our analytics and our data and trying to improve. And I know like there's always room for improvement, but I was putting so much pressure on myself and feeling really down about it because I could see other people's growth, like their external Growth I guess like follower count going up and more engagement and stuff like that and I was like I want that like they're doing this so maybe I should also do this and I just got really swept up and like looking at other people and I literally got to a point where I was like I'm muting a lot of people like I just for my own like space because I needed to do that I muted a lot of people's accounts not because I don't like them or I don't want to see their stuff their stuff is cool but I I had an issue internally myself that I was like I need to just not look at their stuff and I need to not think about it that way I need to like reframe it like and just because someone has like a certain amount of followers or they're gaining more followers. Like that doesn't diminish like the work that we're doing. It doesn't take away from that. So I just really had to like reframe it. But it was like, it was a weird little season there for a short while. I felt like I was just so distracted by like all the wrong things. And yeah.
Ashton
Yeah. I think what's interesting for us about the last year specifically is that we were going through a lot of hardships internally. There were a couple of outside factors. Like I think about myself with releasing relationships from my life or even like the process of trying to get pregnant, which if you didn't know, I'm pregnant. That's like a huge update since our last season. But you know, I think about, there were a couple of circumstances that were hard, but Jordan and I, like we really went through some internal stuff. and like developing our confidence, our voice, our identity, which developing and embodying your identity is an ongoing thing. And it's something we're really excited to bring into our newest product, Vivid Creative. But I think it is so significant that over the last year, a lot of our hardships have been internal because that is a direct sign of developing you and developing your character. And if you don't do that, then you can't have the mountaintop moments and then you definitely can't sustain them. So I think about how we've come into 2024 out the gate with like our most innovative, powerful, aligned and exciting like project ever like brand new product, incredible campaign, video, incredible marketing campaign. We've had so much feedback about that, but we couldn't do that if we didn't have the confidence in ourselves, in our voice and where we're going. And so you have to have perspective for the hardship is the whole point. And As we move ahead into better days, into breakthrough, into abundance, which we both believe for 2024, like this is going to be a catalyst year for so many people, what you have been planting, what you have been working on, like that is going to reap harvest and fruition this year. And it's going to be powerful. But as we go into that beautiful moment, we do have to look at How did that hardship serve me? How did I grow? How did I develop? Because you've got to know hardship is going to come again. It's never going to stop because if you keep growing, if you keep excelling, you're going to face hardship. There's going to be ups and downs. And so we have to figure out how to navigate those seasons. And then beyond that, before we can step into the more, we must take responsibility of what we currently have. This is a huge one. Yes. Like we're all ready for more this year. We're ready for more in the next couple of years. We're having these burning desires for breakthrough. We're ready for our best year yet. We're ready to leave behind, you know, the hardship, the pain, the struggle, whatever it was that you went through this last year. But before you can access more and before you can sustain that, you actually have to be able to take responsibility of what you currently have because how you manage the responsibilities that you currently have, it says a lot about how you will manage those that you acquire as you grow. And so I think about What was it, last week? We had a girl's night. And I just had a rough couple of weeks, just life, just adulting. Can we talk about adulting? You know, like when I thought I wanted a house, I didn't realize all the things that came along with that. When I thought I wanted to get married or I wanted a business or I wanted to get pregnant, I didn't realize all the things that come along with that. And that's typically how it goes. And so I found myself in this state. I was stewing, was driving in the car and I was just stewing. I was like, I am so mad about this and I don't want to have to deal with that. And that just sucks. And I was so pissed off. I'm like so mad at all of these circumstances around me. And all of a sudden I hear this noise on my windshield and I'm like, Oh my gosh, it's raining. Okay. But then a split second later I realized, Oh, in fact it is not raining. And a flock of birds just pooped all across my windshield. And we're talking about like 15 to 20 droppings of poop. And I kid you not, it disrupted my pattern, like hardcore. And I just started bursting into laughter to where I was like crying. Like I had tears streaming down my face. It interrupted my pattern so hardcore and for the rest of that drive and the drive back home, I was thinking about this concept of if you can't appreciate the responsibilities that your blessings have given you now, then how will you appreciate what is to come and how will you carry it, manage it and sustain it? And so often we are pissed off at the result of our blessing. we're mad, we're frustrated, we're overwhelmed by the blessings that we have stepped into, by the breakthrough that we have stepped into. And we got to cut that off. We got to like, we got to be done with that. We got to be done with that. And so I personally felt so challenged. One of those things was just annoying stuff with taxes. And if you're running a business, you understand that world. And the next, I think it was the very next weekend, I literally sat down and I took care of it. And I didn't complain about it. I said, this is a result of the blessing that I have. This is a result of the breakthrough that I have. I once dreamed of having a business like this. that could afford me to stay home, that could employ my sister. Like that was out of this world, like a fantasy. And so I'm not going to be mad about these blessings. I'm going to appreciate them and I'm going to take responsibility of them. I'm not going to avoid it. I'm not going to put it off. I'm not going to complain about it. I'm going to own it. And so that is just an encouragement for you. If you're finding yourself in this state where you're like, I want more, but you're like pissed off about certain responsibilities that you have, or you're not happy with where you're currently at. I think there is a beautiful balance where you can want more. Absolutely. But you also have to be able to develop an appreciation and a gratitude for where you currently are and realize that there's going to be some growing required in order for you to step into the more and sustain it.
Jordan
Yeah. And I think in addition to that, in addition to taking responsibility of what you currently have, I think in order to access more or enter a new season of life that you're really yearning for, you have to work through the season you're currently in. You can not get too far ahead of yourself. And like, I'm just speaking to myself here so much because I get caught up in things like that. And it's like, I have to be in the present and work through what is right in front of me in order to get to the other side of it. Like you can't rush that process. And if you try to it, it just, I don't think it works. And I was thinking about for myself, uh, just like a personal example, a very obscure example. I was thinking back to when I got my heart broken when I was like 20 years old. And I've always wanted love. I've always wanted that so badly. Like ever since I was a kid, as long as I can remember, it's always been something like I've always just desired. And when I was going through that heartbreak, I was like, when am I going to get to the other side of this? Like, I just want to get onto the next thing. I want to like heal. I want to be happy again. I want love again. Like I just, you know, I just wanted all of that. And I could not have that. I could not have that in that present moment. I don't think that I would have been able to sustain a healthy relationship in the state that I was in. I had to go through the healing process. I had, I had so much like internal work I had to do as a result of that. And I just, yeah, I couldn't get to the next phase yet. Like it just wasn't for me yet, but I, I just had to work through what was right in front of me and heal and get stronger. from that hardship because it was really hard. And through that, I did get stronger. And it was like throughout the whole process, my, our dad kept saying to me, like, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And seriously, like that got me through so much because I was like, it's so true. This is not going to kill me. I will just be stronger on the other side of it. And I think that's the case with any hardship you go through. You are only going to get stronger from it. You're only going to become more of who you're meant to be. You're going to become more powerful in who you are through the hardship.
Ashton
Yeah. And it's like, if you try to skip over that, you're doing yourself a massive disservice because you're taking away from the joy that you could experience on the other side. Like I think about Jordan and, and where you were at with that relationship and in that heartbreak, you had to come to this place of working on you, developing you and becoming okay with you. And now I feel like you are in like your era. Like this is like Jordan's era. She is thriving in like all areas of life. I just have seen her grow so much and you wouldn't be able to experience like the joy of that and be able to sustain that if you weren't willing to go through the process of, all right, I got to like look myself in the mirror. I got to work on myself. Like I got to do the hard thing. I can't just run into another relationship. I got to like work on me. The same is true with your business. You can't try to skip over the hard stuff. You can't try to skip ahead. You know, I tried to do that when I made that investment in ads and funnels and I had to very quickly come back to planet earth. in reality and realize, you know, I've got to actually put some skin in the game and I got to get scrappy before I can get fancy. Like I don't have the budget for that right now. Like at that time in 2019, that was not realistic. I had to get to a realistic level and really get honest with myself about where am I at and like, what do I have to break through? What do I have to press through in order to get to the other side? And I figured it out and you can too. We want to touch on this concept of positioning yourself for the comeback because it's so easy to say like, yeah, it's the comeback. Like it's time for the comeback. This is going to be the best year yet. How many posts, how many pieces of content have you seen? for people saying like 2024, it's going to be the best year yet. And I'm all for declarations like, yes, please bring those like positive declarations, bring that energy. But I really believe that we can't just say, okay, it's going to be amazing. We have to actually position ourselves for that comeback. First and foremost, you have to show up eager and ready to take action. It's not enough to just talk. It's not enough to say, this is going to be the comeback. This is going to be the best year. I really believe that you have to position yourself for opportunities, for connections, for leads, for breakthrough, for sales, whatever it is for relationships, Like you've got to put yourself in an environment to actually receive your breakthrough. It's like, if I'm sitting over here saying I want to have a hundred K month, but I just sit here and I never network and I never sell, I never develop leads. How successful am I going to be?
Jordan
Probably not very successful.
Ashton
Probably not. Thanks coach Jordan. Same is true with pursuing a relationship. You can't just sit in your room and say, I want a relationship, and it's going to come to me. You have to actually position yourself in a posture of action in order to receive the breakthrough. It's not enough to talk about it. It's time to get proactive.
Jordan
This is just making me think of Rocky because we were like singing that theme that song earlier and it like it just made me think of those movies and how he showed up ready to take action like he was in the gym like ready to like you know go into one of these fights and like you really do have to like position yourself that way you have to take action. And then, then you get the comeback, you know, then you actually get the fulfillment of that comeback.
Ashton
You can't just get that from doing nothing and sitting on your booty, you know, I'm saying that with all the love in my heart, because I was that person so long ago where I saw all these people having all the success. And I was like, ah, like I want that. But like, what am I doing wrong? And I was not positioning myself for the breakthrough, for those leads, for those sales, for the opportunities you have to put yourself in the room, like where you need to be. And then when you're there, you've got to posture yourself. Like think about Rocky, like bringing that energy, like using, you know, his body to like amp himself up. I'm not saying you have to do it that exact way, but you have to posture yourself. You have to get in the room and posture yourself for the breakthrough in order to receive anything. The second thing here is you need to exercise ongoing development in order to sustain the breakthrough. And I feel like the best example of this, at least for me, like the clearest example is working out or it's like a healthy lifestyle.
Jordan
Yeah. I, I always used to struggle with consistency with like pretty much anything. And I feel like that's just a little bit of my personality maybe. And like, I don't know, I'm very like head up in the clouds. Like I'll have an idea, but then like, maybe not like continue to do it. And that was an issue for me with like, with exercise. I would do it here and there. I would do it, you know, in these like bursts, maybe for like a few weeks, I would do it and then I would fall off and not sustain that. And I got to a point around that time when I was going through my heartbreak and all that, where I just was like, I had to make a shift for myself. And when I started working out again, I set a goal for myself to exercise at least three times a week. And it was something that I could actually do and maintain. And that's still kind of my goal to this day is like at least a few times a week, I need to like do something, you know? And even if it's like a shorter workout, maybe it's only like 15 minutes or maybe there's a longer workout or maybe it's like five minutes. Like I know that's like really, that may not be the most effective thing, But it's the idea of like consistency for me. And some days I really feel so lazy and I maybe don't want to work out, but I will like try to get up anyway and do something, even if it's like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, even if it's simple, because then that just reinforces for me. that like it's a habit and I'm doing this consistently. And nowadays if I fall off with it and I don't work out, I don't beat myself up over it. It's like, I'll just work out the next day or like I'll do something small in the afternoon or like go for a walk. I don't know. It's just all about like keeping the consistency, keeping the habit there so that you can sustain it, you know?
Ashton
And I think that that's such a beautiful connection to business because you have to have some semblance of consistency with showing up and specifically with this point, with developing you as a person, your character in order to sustain what you're building. And so does that mean that we're saying all in 115% Monday through Sunday? No. You know, Jordan just said three days a week is her goal for working out. that is an element of consistency. It's not daily, but it is still an element of consistency. And so you have to think about how are you consistently developing yourself as a leader, as a CEO, so that you don't just actualize these goals and hit these goals that you have for yourself, for your business, for your company, But you're actually able to sustain it. You're actually able to carry it, to withhold the weight of that responsibility when it comes your way. Because as we talked about earlier, you're going to unlock a whole new realm of problems the more successful that you get. Yes. Opportunity and joy and bliss comes with that, but problems do as well. And so you have to be ready. You have to be strong. You have to have trained for that. And I think the gym and like health and fitness is such a good metaphor for that. The final element here is I want to encourage you to posture your heart and your mind for the breakthrough that's coming. So you have to exercise faith when you can't see the fruition of what you're hoping for, of what you're desiring. You have to be the one, you have to be the leader in exercising faith for your vision. Like no one else can do that for you. And that is truly a part of your job description as an entrepreneur. Like you are building something, creating something from nothing. And there are going to be times where it looks like, things are bad. Like you ain't coming back. Like you ain't equipped, you know, but you have to have faith in those moments. You have to find a way to exercise your faith and to proclaim that which you are desiring and you want to see. And so I think there is this element of marrying action and development with positive declaration and affirmation. Jordan and I are huge on making declarations over yourself, over your life, continually embodying your identity. So how are you exercising faith in your vision, in your business, even when you can't see the fruition of it? That's something that you consistently are going to need to do as you come back stronger than ever. So we firmly believe that this is the season of the comeback. Yes. This is the catalyst year. 2024 is going to unlock so many opportunities for you. And it's going to be so much greater than your setback ever was. Like, who even is she? She's gone. She's dead. She's somewhere else. Maybe that was dramatic. but keep going position yourself for the breakthrough that is already in motion on your behalf. We are in your corner always. We're so excited to see what this year holds for you and we can't wait to share more on legacy creator. See you in the next one.
