Episode 11: Building Business One "Next Best Step" At A Time W/Julia Woods

My guest on today’s podcast is Julia Woods. Julia is the owner and founder of Beautiful Outcome, a transformational coaching business that specializes in helping couples communicate in a way that allows them to know and be known by one another so they can partner to build the life they ultimately desire. What’s unique about Julia is the story of how she came to building this business. In this episode Julia speaks to how she herself went through a season of realizing she was not happy with where her life was and where it was going. How she had everything she thought she wanted but wasn’t happy. And how in that season she began to learn the lessons and tools that allowed her to experience a major transformation inside herself and her family. She speaks to how the transformation she experienced and continues to experience birthed a passion for her to share this with the world. Julia explains how building Beautiful Outcome was a one step at a time process. How she and her husband would take the next right step and how that would lead to the next step and so on. These steps might I add were big “sell our business and move across the country” type steps. We talk a lot about growth and how we never outgrow growth. It is a daily choice and decision. And be sure to listen to the end when Julia describes how she defines success as who she is becoming, more than what she wants to achieve. This episode is jam packed with passion and nuggets of wisdom that anybody can apply to their life, relationships, and business. So with that introduction, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Self-Employment Success Podcast with Julia Woods.

LINKS

PeaceLink Financial Planning
Beautiful Outcome

TRANSCRIPT

Leland Gross (00:01.354)

All right, welcome Julia Woods to the Self-Employment Success Podcast. Excited to have you.

Julia Woods (00:06.651)

Thank you so much for having me.

Leland Gross (00:09.258)

Yeah, so I'm really excited to have Julia on the podcast for lots of reasons. Specifically, my wife and I have benefited from our relationship with Julia in multiple ways. And the fact that Lindy for a season actually got to work directly with and for Julia and her business. And then because of that, we got to be benefactors of it. And what she does, I'll let her kind of explain it, but it is a really powerful business. I feel like it's changed lots of lives.

for so many, I mean, not just the lives of people who interact with this business, but the people even who interact with those people. So, Julia, yeah, why don't you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do and kind of what your business is and does and where it stands today.

Julia Woods (00:56.183)

Yeah, so I'm a transformational coach and I specialize in helping couples communicate in a way that really allows them to know and be known by one another so they can partner in building the marriage they long for. And I do that through online courses and marriage retreats and one-on-one coaching calls and

My long-term desire is to own a marriage retreat center. Right now, a client has a beautiful property that we do the retreats on right now. The long-term goal is to have a retreat center where I can do the retreats year-round because that is my absolute most favorite thing to do. And so right now, I do three retreats a year and work with...

lots of clients on one-on-one coaching calls and many clients are going through my online course which is the three-part communication renovation system.

Leland Gross (02:02.094)

I love it. Okay, so you have your hand in a couple fires. You've got your online course, which anybody could go today and sign up and start going through. And then you have one-on-one coaching. If people want, hey, we are doing the coach, but we also want Julia to speak straight to our marriage and kind of help coach us through our transformation. And then we have the retreats year round, which are, my understanding is, you know.

a weekend long intensive, you're with other couples, but it's kind of a three day intensive transformation training communication weekend. Is that correct?

Julia Woods (02:47.147)

Yeah, it's, I don't know if intensive fits it. I think most people would say it's actually very relaxing and transformative. But it's, it's really each couple comes into the retreat with a specific conversation that they want to break through. So most couples have three to five areas of tension in their relationship, three to five topics that tend to, where they tend to get stuck and can't seem to break through to really understand or

Leland Gross (02:51.308)

Okay.

Julia Woods (03:14.887)

produce new results or come up with what they want together. And so they pick one and throughout the weekend, they keep coming in, gaining a new tool. Then they go out to their couple's connection where they work together to use that tool and break through to new levels in this conversation. So it's pretty powerful. Couples come through thinking, we have tried to break through in this conversation for years, we don't have a lot of hope that we will break through.

And by the end of the weekend, they're like, we are having conversations we've never had in our life that we didn't think was possible.

Leland Gross (03:45.869)

Mm.

Leland Gross (03:57.538)

I mean that it's just so powerful and maybe that's why maybe powerful is what I meant instead of intensive because When you hear that like hey you're coming in with these pain points that in your relationship you guys have hit a wall for years and you have very little hope and then we're gonna you know walk through that transformation together and You know in a matter of of days You're gonna have tools to be able to break through that and create new curiosity new results. I mean

Julia Woods (04:06.247)

Okay.

Leland Gross (04:25.846)

That sounds intense, like there's some intense results or like some powerful results. And I love that you can do that in such a relaxing environment and in a relaxing way because I know every marriage has those pain points.

Julia Woods (04:31.379)

I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.

Julia Woods (04:42.681)

Yeah, most people have said, we had no idea we could have fun having this conversation. All we've done is have tension when we have this conversation. And one of the things I wanted to create is often at marriage events, you go and you hear a couple who sounds like they have it all together telling you how you should talk differently or what you should do to improve your communication.

You think, okay, I've got it. I've got new hope. And then you go home and you have your first difficult conversation and you're like, uh, we'd, we'd, we're just not good at this. Right. And, um, so what I wanted was something where people could have practical application, they actually could apply them real time and get support where they get stuck. So when they go home, they've already experienced learning how to have a new conversation, a life-giving conversation.

Leland Gross (05:20.13)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (05:37.411)

So they just keep getting to work through the next one and the next one. So that's one of my favorite parts about it.

Leland Gross (05:46.198)

Amazing. So how did you get into this? I mean, have you been doing transformation coaching for years and years and years? I guess tell us, how did Julia Woods kind of come into this world and learn these tools and tricks to be able to then teach this?

Julia Woods (06:04.547)

Yeah, that's a funny story, kind of. So my husband and I were photographers and had a company in small town America and had worked together, raised our kids together. Well, we were raising kids together and the disconnection was growing bigger between he and I. And we both began to realize we were.

Leland Gross (06:09.227)

Hahaha

Julia Woods (06:34.067)

pretty distant, pretty disconnected, and overall unhappy in life. And so I decided to, I needed to find a way to, I wasn't willing, when I looked at the future coming towards me, it wasn't a future I wanted. And so I really began learning, seeking out, that looking at the relationship with myself. And so,

Leland Gross (06:40.075)

Mm.

Leland Gross (06:50.986)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (07:01.823)

In that, I came upon these transformational tools that began to transform every relationship I had, first and foremost with myself, and then that began to transform my marriage and my relationship with my kids. I was sitting in fall of 2013, September of 2013.

And I was talking to God one morning and I just said, you've taken the ashes of my life and you've created a beautiful outcome. And if there's any way I can stand with others to do the same, I would love to do that. And I went in and shared with Jeff what had happened. It was pretty emotional experience for me and I was sharing it with Jeff and he said, Jeff is my husband and he said, beautiful outcome, that is important. And he bought the domain name that day.

Leland Gross (07:35.661)

Mm.

Julia Woods (07:58.607)

And long story short, one thing led to another. I began to realize it was what I was very passionate about doing. And within six months, we had sold the photography business, and I was starting Beautiful Outcome and walking people through these tools that were changing my life, and I was watching it change their life, and that is where it all began.

Leland Gross (08:24.682)

I mean, your story is so powerful and there's so many raw aspects to it that I think any listener can probably relate to the moments in your life where you're like, I am not excited about this relationship I'm in. I'm not excited about this place I'm in. And that's not going away, that's growing almost. And it's just a really human place. And so oftentimes we get stuck in that place. And so for you, you are kind of...

working alongside your husband, disconnection is growing because probably of lots of reasons, but I'm assuming you're working, you're raising kids, there's less and less time, there's more and more pressure on the marriage and less time for just, let's just sit and hear how you're doing and hear what you're thinking about. And it kind of brought you to a place of, I need to inside myself find a change. And so you came across these tools, these transformational tools that

were transforming your life, and then from that, you kind of grew this business doing that with other people, which I think a really powerful thing about business, and small business for people who are doing something that they really are truly passionate about, is when it comes from yourself. Like, this has impacted me, and therefore, I have extra skin in the game and desire to be able to share this, because I've seen the results in my own life. There's just a powerful place in that.

That not all, some businesses, people just really love business and love selling their widgets. And that's good too. But I think the powerful service and coaching type businesses are just exactly what you said. Hey, this was my story, you know, and this is I'm not sitting here just giving you tools that I learned in school one day that I can regurgitate. I'm coming to you showing you my own scars and also the beautiful outcome that came from that, I think is just.

inspiring, truly.

Julia Woods (10:26.967)

Yes, well, I don't think we're, I mean, if the disconnect that was happening with my husband and I, what I began to discover, it was actually we didn't know how to resolve conflict, because we didn't know how to resolve conflict within ourselves. And life is a continual tension. Life is a continual conflict. You know, someone does something, we get offended, there's an internal conflict. We can either make the other person the problem or we can deal with the internal conflict in us.

Leland Gross (10:37.964)

Hmm

Leland Gross (10:45.678)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (10:55.215)

of what we're telling ourself that offense means and what it now means about who I am and who other people are. And so it's this beautiful experience of learning how to be in the tension in a way that it grows you rather than it squelches you. Cause up until that point, tension was just burying me under bitterness and resentment.

despair of what life really is if this is all it is, based on the hurt that I was feeling internally. But to really learn how to let that hurt grow you and develop you into who you want to become, that is something I want the whole world to have access to.

Leland Gross (11:26.166)

Mmm.

Leland Gross (11:43.414)

Mm. Amen. So you made a pretty quick transition, which I think is really, you know, a sign that you're sometimes on the right track of like, okay, this is revolutionary. You had an incredibly powerful moment. Jeff buys the domain name that day, which I'm just such a simmerer that I'd be like, well, we just moved really fast on that. And. You know.

Julia Woods (12:06.76)

Yeah, I was like, what are you doing? I love my photographer in this one. He's like, trust me, this is going to be something.

Leland Gross (12:13.982)

Yeah, so what was that conversation like? I feel like to sell a business that wasn't just your business, it was your family's business, you guys sold within six months. I mean, that is a quick turnaround to then say, hey, we're going all in on beautiful outcome. I just, and maybe it was this way, but I feel like so many people would say, well, I'll start taking one or two clients, I'll get my feet wet with beautiful outcome, I'll over time, we'll maybe phase it one way or another. So yeah, what would you?

Like, how would you speak to that? What was that season like of just the transition?

Leland Gross (12:59.442)

I'm showing recording, but I got the same message. What I'll do is I'll stop and restart and then we'll just splice the things together.

Julia Woods (00:03.388)

Okay.

Leland Gross (00:03.55)

Okay, beautiful. So what I had asked was, it was such a quick transition to say, all right, we're all in, we're not gonna do the trickle and phase, or maybe you did and it just blew up in six months, which would be awesome too. But what was that process of, hey, we're going all in, we're selling the one business and we're starting another.

Julia Woods (00:26.522)

Yeah. So my husband had left the photography business a couple of years prior to that and was really journeying into his own exploration of becoming a designer and things that he was exploring. So the photography business was really my thing and it was really, it was our main income. And so when I began to express to my husband, so there was some things that happened like a big tornado came through our town and took out.

thousand homes right by the photography studio and so it kind of was an altering life experience of sitting with clients and hearing how short life really is and how it can change in an instant. And so we decided that we really wanted to live the fullest life possible and so we decided to do this little assignment I had heard about and we kind of did our own little version of it but we called it the dash.

Leland Gross (01:14.665)

Mm.

Julia Woods (01:24.226)

And it's, in essence, you're born this year, you die this year. What's the dash look like in between? And so from my perspective, it was like, if I could envision my life lived fully alive, no stops, as a wife, as a mom, as an entrepreneur, what would that look like? And my husband and I did it separately. So we each visioned. And then in that, I think in following February, we went

on a romantic weekend and we shared our dashes with each other. And it was pretty scary because my heart was calling me to California, which didn't make any sense to me. It was calling me to move into this world of coaching and I was so scared to think about leaving the business because I really loved being a photographer. And I had no idea what Jeff was going to think about my dreams or what he had dreamed. And so anyway, we shared our dreams with each other and it was a very powerful moment for us.

because our dreams actually pretty much aligned. We both were feeling called to California. We were both feeling called to something very different in our careers. And so we just said to each other and prayed to God, like, there's no way we can make this dream come true on our own. This is far bigger than us. We're just gonna give this to you and if this is really what you have for us, you're gonna get to make it possible. And so...

Leland Gross (02:26.975)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (02:51.718)

We came home from that trip and within a week of that trip, I had a very deep knowing that I was to sell the business and sell our house. And I went to Jeff and he's like, what are you talking about? And I said, I don't know.

Leland Gross (03:05.058)

He's like, okay, we just had this conversation. I thought we'd have a little bit of time.

Julia Woods (03:10.314)

Yeah. And so I said, all I can do, I have one step in my heart that I think I'm supposed to take. Can you trust me to take this one step? If it goes nowhere, we know I really am crazy. And if it does go somewhere, then I think we'll just get the next step. And we'll just keep following steps and see what happens. And that's literally what we did. And within a month, it was actually just a couple weeks, I had a buyer for the business.

And completely out of nowhere, my husband got a job offer in California. And so it was a very like providential, one step at a time, major step, steps of faith and things began catapulting one after the other. And the craziest thing is once I sold the business, I entered into contract in March that year and actually finished the closing three months later.

Leland Gross (03:42.999)

Hmm.

Julia Woods (04:07.486)

And out of the clear blue, like almost the week I closed, people just started calling me asking for coaching. And I'm like, I haven't even told anybody I'm doing this. I had been a business coach for a long time. So they were calling out of nowhere, asking me to do business coaching, which is where I started and then moved into more of the transformational conversation. So that's the journey of how it came to be.

Leland Gross (04:35.446)

Man, and kudos to you guys for taking the risk. I feel like so many people would feel that inner prompting and almost just immediately limit themselves and say, well, you know, that sounds crazy or we shouldn't do that, or there's gotta be a more logical way to do this. And I just, yeah, kudos to you guys for saying like, no, this is the calling, this is the prompting of our heart. And so no need to dilly dally, let's just like.

Let's just go for it. And if it fails and it flops, great. We can turn and change the direction. That's kind of the beauty of life is we can, you know, stay curious, stay nimble. But so often I feel like people, and I'm sure you see this all the time, we almost like, if cement isn't still moving, it kind of hardens. And I feel like so oftentimes in our relationships and our business, kind of just in the world, we just slowly solidify and then it's hard for us to stay.

open to change and to growth and to, you know, shifting ways of thinking and being. And so I just think I just really love that. Not only was it, hey, you know, we're going to sell the business and with within six months, it's we're also going to sell our house. We're going to move and it's going to be OK. People started calling. Your husband got a job. And look at you guys now. You're doing wonderful, powerful work.

So you said it started with kind of business coaching, grew into transformational coaching. Did you always have a vision for the retreat center and the online course or were those kind of progressions as time came on?

Julia Woods (06:21.678)

It really began to progress. Like, I really believe life unfolds for us one step at a time. And so there was very important things that we didn't realize were important that were happening along the way. We were asked to speak at a marriage conference and we spoke there for eight years in a row. And that began long before I ever sold the photography business.

And so that really began to birth my desire and my awareness of how the suffering of my childhood and what I had watched my parents walk through actually could be used in beautiful ways if I was willing to be honest and vulnerable and share those experiences and Jeff and I's lessons learned the hard way. And so

It gradually began to happen. Couples at that event began to ask me to coach them in their marriages. And so it gradually became, it was kind of like, similar to just getting those promptings following my intuition. There was one couple specifically that I was just like, my heart was telling me I needed to ask them if they would let me coach them.

Leland Gross (07:25.568)

Mm.

Julia Woods (07:45.226)

And that felt very awkward to go up to a couple and say, I've been listening to you talk, would you be open to letting me coach you? But they said yes. And that couple has been very significant in inviting a lot of other couples to work with me and helping me grow my business. So I just don't think things happen by chance when we're willing to risk and take leaps and follow our intuition.

Leland Gross (07:46.049)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (08:16.937)

what we're created for and what wants to happen through us is waiting for us.

Leland Gross (08:23.126)

Mm. Wow, that quote, what happens to us and what's waiting for us is inside of us. Wait, say that quote one more time. Did I get that right?

Julia Woods (08:32.954)

What wants to happen through us is waiting for us.

Leland Gross (08:36.838)

Yes, what wants to happen through us is waiting for us. I feel like I could simmer on, that's my nugget for the weekend personally, just for where I am in my life and what Lindy and I are kind of processing through. What I love about the work you do, A, as a married couple, is it's been transformational for Lindy and I. I feel like we have a whole new language for working through things. And for us over the last year, many people who listen to this know we've had just an excruciating time.

having a son who's had some severe medical complexities and just all the emotions and decisions we've had to make and things like that have put us in situations where we're like, this conversation is, we just hit a wall every single time. And going back to a lot of these tools and what I said earlier on about, not only does the work you do impact the couples you work with, but it impacts the couples around them because we came to know Julia through other,

dear friends of ours who had gone through coaching with Julia. And so as we're kind of processing through our own traumas and issues in our story, we're learning this new language and we have other friends around us who have learned this language too who kind of are able to say like, hey, I think you're telling yourself a story that's not actually happening. And I feel like this is a racket that kind of comes up in your life a lot. And this situation is almost fueling that narrative.

what else could be true? What else could be going on? Like, just a reminder, just so many of these tools, I feel like I could go on and on. You have, I mean, it's not just one tool you have, there's a whole arsenal of them, but it really is just amazing the journey you've been on and the journey that, you know, you've said yes to and taken risks on and just seeing the success of it, both, you know, for you and your family and just for...

so many people around it who have been impacted by it. It really is so cool and inspiring, the work that you guys are doing and the journey you've been on. So for you, what would you say was the most surprising part about all of this? From beginning till present, what would you say surprised you the most?

Julia Woods (10:57.598)

I would say the analogy you just gave about concrete and how when we begin to just kind of sit in a position and we just keep doing the same thing over and over, it begins to harden and we get stuck. I think what surprises me is that's always sitting there. That's always an opportunity. And I've taken these big risks and I've done these big choices and felt that

Leland Gross (11:18.565)

No, no.

Julia Woods (11:27.658)

urging to do something and risk and done it. And as many times as I've done it, there's 10 times more I haven't chosen to.

Leland Gross (11:36.215)

Mmm

Julia Woods (11:37.914)

And it's that awareness that...

Choosing to be a becoming, choosing to let what wants to happen through us happen. It's a daily choice. And you never arrive. It is a consistent willingness and I think, you know, I'm in a very hard season at the moment of just wanting things to go faster and bigger and you know, and it's that willingness to recognize where have I gotten so focused

Leland Gross (11:51.082)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (12:12.418)

in the business that I've lost that connection with my heart that keeps me alive.

Julia Woods (12:24.786)

hearing that intuition that's so important, especially for how I live my life and how I see the world. And it just, it's such a beautiful daily opportunity that.

is never, growth never ends. The opportunity to grow never ends. We never outgrow the opportunity to grow. And that's, I think, what surprises me. I thought that such big risks, such big steps, in my mind, I wanted to have arrived. And it doesn't exist. And as much as I love, growth is the thing I'm most passionate about.

It's surprising how much there's still that inner part that wants to just get the system that works that I don't have to keep risking anymore. And that's where I get stagnant. That's where the concrete hardens.

Leland Gross (13:21.235)

Mmm. Oh man, even...

Leland Gross (13:27.818)

And so many, I'm not speechless, but I'm just moved by even just the passion in your voice, the tears in your eyes as you are saying this, and just how real it is. I mean, I feel like this is such a timely conversation. I woke up this morning was feeling like, man, in other seasons of my life, I was taking big risks and doing this stuff. And I thought I would have learned these lessons and I'm almost getting hit with the same lessons again.

Lindy and I over the last year have really been focusing on just, like you said, today. Just what are the choices we're going to make today and are we going to choose growth? Are we going to choose openness? Or are we going to choose to get stuck or be the victim of our circumstances or whatever it may be? But it's so easier said than done. That thought of like, it's just a daily choice. It's like, of course. And yet how often am I just getting...

I go through my whole day at work and I haven't even connected to my heart. I haven't even woken up really for the day. Like I get home and it's like, man, I'm still just sleepwalking through my day and letting it almost happen to me. And you're right, that is so surprising of just how, like, why do I do that? Why is it? But I'm a believer that, you know, you look at the world, you look at creation and it can tell you a lot of truths about.

Julia Woods (14:44.132)

I'm going to go to bed.

Leland Gross (14:55.834)

us as humans and you look at plants and trees and it's like they just grow until they die. Like they don't stop growing. They just keep growing and then they die. And we're the same way. It's not like you grow and just stop growing and then live the rest of your life as a fully grown being. It's like you just, if you're not, if you're not growing, you're dying. And it's one of those two things. But, and I think even inside of it, a single day, both of those things are happening. There's moments where you're growing, there's moments where you're dying.

Julia Woods (15:17.298)

Yes.

Leland Gross (15:26.762)

In some ways that feels exhausting and in other ways, like you said, it's really beautiful and it's, you know, but there's a part of us that just wants to cement. It feels easier to cement sometimes than just grow. Man, okay, so.

Julia Woods (15:37.834)

Yes, but the thrill of growth is so powerful it keeps calling us.

Leland Gross (15:46.482)

Mm. Yeah. You're like, yeah, we're such funny, finnicky creatures. No, you're right. It's like, I want to keep growing and I just want to be able to relax and rest and not grow. But like rest can be growth. I can grow and rest. But like my mind just goes in these kind of roller coaster circles.

Julia Woods (15:54.122)

He was.

Julia Woods (16:06.471)

We are talking about the internal tension within each of us that we often like to blame our spouse for or our children or our business rather than learning to be with that internal tension that's inside of us every single day.

Leland Gross (16:10.783)

Hahaha!

Leland Gross (16:24.002)

Mm-hmm. So for you on this journey, was there a low point or what was the low point for you in the midst of? You know your journey to becoming a transformation coach and building this beautiful outcome business

Julia Woods (16:40.794)

Yeah, I really think that we create most of our own suffering. So I think the low points are where I, um, go into autopilot and where I let the suffering of my past, I have a pattern where I can really drive myself really hard and work really hard. I, um, one of the, all of us tend to have three places, three areas that we numb.

Leland Gross (16:45.94)

Mm.

Julia Woods (17:10.27)

three forms of numbing and work is one of the ways I numb. So I, in those seasons where I'm not prioritizing my heart and prioritizing the things that I know keep my heart alive, like being in nature, regular connecting with Jeff and my kids, when I don't carve the time out for that because I tell myself there's just so much I need to get done with work, then I start going into autopilot.

and then things aren't opening up and new opportunities aren't unfolding and I'm feeling frustrated and stuck and you know, in angst against the tension of my heart saying, hey, you can't do this from your head. It comes from your heart. Will you get back to being grounded and remembering what this is all for and what this is all about?

Leland Gross (17:59.144)

Oh yeah.

Leland Gross (18:07.966)

Mm. And for you, I mean, so this is a podcast about success. But if you ask anybody, how would you define success? It means different things to different people. And something I've been thinking about is that really the question of success. How do you find success is really almost like, what do you value most? What do you want most out of life? And I know that that's part of your coaching is building the life you desire, which takes defining like, what is your heaven and what is your hell? And

and working to build your heaven now, working to build this life you long for. And so for you, how would you define success? What does that look like for you?

Julia Woods (18:53.246)

I think success for me, the biggest expression of success is my family really feeling seen and known. That those relationships, to me that's the greatest source of true feedback. Our clients can praise us, all these things can happen. But it's really what your family, how your family feels with you and what they know you as is really my true measure of success.

Leland Gross (19:04.652)

Mm.

Julia Woods (19:22.614)

And for me, that I have defined success for myself in who it is that I want to become. I want to become love, I want to become curiosity. I want to become self-controlled and empathetic and boldly humble. That is my passion of who on this earth I'm committed to become. And so success is growing towards that, growing.

Leland Gross (19:22.836)

Mm.

Leland Gross (19:39.168)

Mm.

Julia Woods (19:50.734)

each day in becoming who I'm committed to be as a person in every arena of my life.

Leland Gross (19:56.898)

Mmm. Gosh, those, that answer is so beautiful in the fact that it's also, there's no circumstance around that. There wasn't a, you know, it's being able to have so much more time or to be able to live in this way or in this place, it wasn't circumstantial, it was all the fruit of your heart and there's such an intentionality and a beauty there that breeds this idea of

of externally being content because internally I know who I am and I'm becoming more of the person I want to be and it really doesn't matter what my external circumstances are. I mean that is a definition you don't hear every day of success and I love it.

Julia Woods (20:46.862)

It's taken me a while to let go of the monetary or the physical, tangible things that I have used most of my life to define success by and realize that all those things fade away.

Leland Gross (21:04.526)

Mm-hmm. Amen. Can't take any of it with you.

Julia Woods (21:08.658)

So what is it that, right? What is it that is bigger than us? What is it that can live beyond us? And really call me beyond, because so many of the things I defined as success, I reached them and I got to them and then I'm like, I don't feel anything like what I thought I was gonna feel.

And that was a big part of what started my journey as I woke up realizing I have my dream home, I have my beautiful family, I have everything I'm supposed to want to be considered successful, and I'm miserable. And so through that suffering, I learned that success for me needed to be far bigger than any tangible thing. It had to be about

Leland Gross (21:33.847)

Mm.

Leland Gross (21:49.399)

Mmm.

Julia Woods (22:01.266)

who I was becoming and that's not contingent upon what I achieve.

Leland Gross (22:08.606)

Mm. Amazing. Well, Julia, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you for so much for sharing your story and your heart. I just love a chance to connect with you and love your perspective and your heart on this. And honestly, I feel like I just had my own transformational coaching session. I just feel like I have so much to think about. So thank you so much for being on the Self-Employment Success podcast today.

Julia Woods (22:37.25)

Absolutely Leland, thank you for this. This was a powerful conversation for me. I'm taking a lot away and appreciate just being real with you and you inviting me into this. So thank you.