daily greatness training journal review

hi everyone and welcome to aq's blog & grill. we're excited today to have natalie macneil here. natalie is one of the most fabulous entrepreneurs i know, and we're going to chat a little bit about what makesher so fabulous, including her new book which will be out at the end of december, called "the conquer kit". so let's go talk to natalie right now. hi natalie. hello. great to see you again. thanks for having me. it's been a while. it's been a while, i know, but you've been been busy. you've been building. i mean you've got one bestselling book out there, "she takes on the world", you've got this one coming out in the end of december. wow. and you've been building a newenterprise called the conquer club. tell us a little bit about the conquer club concept. so the conquer club is she takes on the world's

flagship program and product and theconquer club is a twelve-month virtual business incubator mostly geared towardswomen entrepreneurs. men are more than welcome, but we do have a female majorityright now. and we have a whole team of mentors that help you to bring yourdream business to life because i think you need many different perspectiveswhen you're building a business. you can't get all of your information from justone person. i think it takes a whole village to bring your boldest goals anddesires to life. and this is what you're calling a virtual incubator so tell us alittle bit more about how that works. yes so i've been in the acceleratorprogram which you are a mentor in now,

and i think in the waterloo region we do a great job of incubating businesses. that doesn't happen in every city aroundthe world and there are so many people globally who need those kinds ofexperiences who don't have access to them. and that is the void, if you will, that we help to fill in the marketplace. well so now i am a member of the conquer club and i am a male and i'm in the conquer club. and so what is it that you're finding when you've been out there now for a while doing this, what are thesenew entrepreneurs telling you? what are you hearing back from them about what it is they love or what they needed that you're now providing. i think for a lot of people it's the community. it's having other people

walking the same path as you. you know this as an entrepreneur. it can be so tough when you are surrounded by people whoaren't building their own businesses as well. you need people to raise you up. andi know you are all about that with your barn raising initiatives. you need peopleto raise you up. that's such a core part of being an entrepreneur is having thatstrong support system. i think it's what allows you to succeed in bigger andbetter ways. so number one it's that community, it's that support system. the other thing is access to theknowledge that you need to take the best next step. i think people struggle withthere being information overload and they

need to know how it applies to them andso the question that we're asked so often is what's my next best step? and thatis what we help people to figure out as well. so we believe in just taking those baby steps forward every day. i've had my businesses now for almost ten years andi've got to where i am now - even though there are so many more things i want to do - but i got here because i just took little steps every single day. and youhave because i've followed your career. you've been there since the beginning. and i've always been impressed by how considered you are. i mean you take risks. this isn't about not taking the safe route, but you take a considered

approach to how to build your businessand i've just loved watching you consider, i could do this, i could do this, i'mgoing to do this. and then you set your mind to it. you're a very determined young woman. has anyone told you that before? i like to believe that yes. there are a lot of ambitions that still need to be filled in mylife and then many more that have already happened and started to come true including, you know, the conquer club and now "the conquer kit". tell us a little bit about "the conquer kit" because this is a pre-publishing copy so i'm not going to open it. and the cover's going to be a little bit more colorful. but i ordered two of them online yesterday so i know when the publishing date is. so why did i buy it? what's in it for me?

so i think what's missing very creative and intuitive way to plan a business. 99.9% of entrepreneurs never have to raise investment funding. theydon't need to take out loans in order to build their business. most entrepreneursactually run micro businesses. that doesn't mean that you don't need abusiness plan. it doesn't mean that a business plan is not valuable. howeveryou don't need the kind of business plan that apple would be using to build theirempire. you don't need facebook's business plan. you need to develop a business plan thatworks for you, that you are going to want to look at every day, that is going to bea gorgeous and creative reflection of what you really want and why you really want it. so "the conqueror kit" is a creative

business planning workbook. it's colorful. it's fun. it still takes you through all the steps, all the strategies that youare going to need to take things to the next level, but you get to color. you get to draw. you get to play with your plan. right. and i think it's reallyimportant that we stay tuned into that sense of play as we're building a business. it has to be fun. if it's not fun, i don't think you're doing it right. there you go.my first three marriages were based on uh. no, i'm only kidding and we'll of course cut that out. won't we guys? yeah, we'll cut that out. so the business planning process. and i know you're very big on mindfulness. you're a very mindful person. so what are you bringing from that philosophy of life and business into "the conquer kit"?

that's a great question. i strive to be present in everything that i do. i think we live in a society that is not very mindful, notvery present because we're so busy and there's so many things going on and it'svery easy to get distracted. and so even being here right now i focus on beingvery present here with you, here with the crew that we have, with the audienceknowing that i have something to share and i'm here to share it. i could besitting here distracted by my to do list and my schedule and all this stuff thatneeds to get done today but i'm not. and that is part of my mindfulness practice as well just being present in everything that we do and just settingthose intentions at the beginning of the day.

i also have a very deep meditationpractice. there are some meditations for entrepreneurs in this book. i hope so. so i have the conquerors meditation album as well for entrepreneurs. and i just believe that you need to figure out who you really are why you're really doing what you'redoing, and i think if you can carry those intentions into everything that you do,you can create a really beautiful business and life for yourself. andcombine them because they're not really different. no, it's all one. it all comes together. i think when we are building a business, our personal lives, our business lives, they're all intertwined and interconnected and we need to just stayin our truth and in the present moment always.

and so that's sort of woven into the whole book as well with a lot of elements of play. sure. now you're also a yoga practitioner.yes. yoga, mudras, meditation. all of it. and so how much of that has played into the current natalie macneil? i think it's everything. i think you are someone who's known me for a reallylong time. that practice has really deepened over the last few years. as things have got more hectic, as things have started to grow to a point where i'mserving so many more people, we have an enormous community now that spans theglobe and that is what keeps me rooted. and i always carry this visual of beingthe mighty oak tree. so if you can wake up

every morning and you can visualizeyourself being fully rooted i like to visualize it as being fully rooted intothe soul of the earth and letting that really feed me and fuel me, it doesn't matter what comes my way, it doesn't matter what rustles my leaves and tears off someof my branches sometimes, i know that it's not going to take me down. when i can stay rooted in the reason why i'm doing everything that i'm doing and doing itreally for the audience that i want to be serving, for the women that i want tobe working with. so that is a practice that just continues to deepen and iwould say that it is a huge part of my success and woveninto everything that i do now. including

into this book. it's a business planningbook but also packed with mindfulness and meditations and i think, you know,that's a direction that i want to see leadership go in. i want to see moremindful leaders in the world. and i want to see more women leaders in the world.it's so good because i know that you practice and you practice and youpractice. it's not just about you found something to preach about. this issomething that you practice and then you're sharing that knowledge and thatexperience with your "conquer club" folks. and with others. well isn't that what life is about? probably. we find things, practice things, share them. that's what it should be. so how many people are involved now in the conquer club?

how many members do you have? we have a few hundred of our core members and then weserve tens of thousands more through our larger community, the free events that weput on. and we do a lot of video content, a lot of free training that we offer. the"she takes on the world" community is quite large now. and then we have thissmaller core group which is the virtual incubator. there you go. okay, great. and that makes sense because you've got to spend some time with those people and even though its virtual there's acommitment and a correspondence and

communication as necessary. and then outside of that you've got the she takes on the world audience. yeah and we have to nurture that community as well, right. these entrepreneurs may not be at astage where their business is fully formed yet so maybe they're not readyfor the virtual incubator but we really believe in helping them to reallyignite that spark within them that drives them to actually create thebusiness, to make things. right. and that's just as important to us, to nurture thatthat larger community because we've seen the power of that in the past. we've seen people in our community do really amazing things

in the world and a lot of them do havevery socially driven missions in their businesses as well which is somethingthat i love to see because that is baked into everything that we do at she takes on the world. there always has to be a cause or a bigger part of that why. that's really what drives me, more than any other metric of success, more than the money, it's the impact. that's what i'm chasing right now.and return on impact is something i know that's important to you and it'sgoing to continue to fuel your success forward. so you're inspiring others. who's inspiring you? i find inspiration everywhere. i think my biggest inspirations actually come from my travels.

not from the people who you see on tv,who you see in the media. not the big, famous, successful entrepreneurs. i helped tobuild the conquer academy in tanzania using profits from the conquer cluband i had a chance to visit in may. and the inspiration that i drew from thosestudents chasing their dreams so eager to be there getting an education - momentslike that inspire me. being in remote places in the world where they are notvery connected through all the technology that we have, but the way theyare fully present in their lives the happiness that i see among peoplewho don't have as much as we have from a material and economic point of view, idraw a lot of inspiration from my travels.

from everyday people who are not the ones we see in the media. not the icons but the actual people you'reworking with or that are helping you build the concept of conquer club and you're helping them better their - . yeah. our members, people in our community, women that i've met all over the world. those are people who i really look up toand admire, people who chase their passions and their dreams no matterwhere they are and just sort of stay present in all of it, stay present in a personalpower that you just don't always see among some of the people who we look atas being the most successful, wealthiest people in the world. i define success alittle differently than some other people.

and how would that be? what is your definition of success natalie? well, there are a lot of different metrics. for me how much of the world i get to see throughmy own eyes, the places i get to visit. that's a huge success metric to me. i've been to over 80 countries around the world. and those experiences have taughtme more than a lot of other things. i define success based on how much of animpact you make, how much you are giving back. how your success contributes positively to other people'slives and to the world at large. if you are using your success to, you know, justfuel a very egocentric lifestyle i don't

think that's a very successful life at all. you may look like you're a big successfrom the outside. you may make those billionaire lists, and i couldn't care less. yeah, you wonder about what's thehappiness quotient? yes it's happiness. it's what are you doing to leave alegacy, to impact lives beyond your own and if that isn't factored into what youare building and creating in the world then you're not someone i'm inspired byand you're not someone i consider a big success. that's just my own personalopinion. lots of people would like to argue with me on that one. well thank you

for sharing that and i am not one of those people who is going to argue with you. so let's talk about you moving to the united states of america. why do you think it's necessary for natalieto be in the united states? from a business point of view. well the majority of my audience is there and if i want to be able to continue to serve my audience inthe ways that i want to serve them i need to be able to be where they are. that was one of the main reasons. there are also a lot of opportunities there that i will haveaccess to because i am in the u.s. and it's something i've known for a verylong time would happen. it was a matter

of figuring out when the right time wasfor me to make that decision and to make that move. it's a lot of work moving to another country even if that country is a neighbor that you know i already visit quite often. ithink, natalie, this is a north american economy. it's not just about the u.s. gets to here then it stops and then you go into canada and it's a totally different country and economic situation. no. it is north american and i thinkyou're making a very wise move because it's about the customers. and isn't this about a customer-centric universe? that's what it's all about. and i would say too that the global economy is so connected, we are all so connected now and we need to always be looking at thebigger picture of our businesses and you

and i have talked about dreaming reallybig. i remember having these conversations with you at the very, verybeginning stages of my business when most of what i'm doing now was just a big dream, not a lot of it had happened yet. and youalways have to be looking at what is the bigger picture? what is your nextbest step? and i just got to that point where i knew my next best step was goingto be making that move to the u.s. right. what kind of coaching would you give a north american young woman, nineteen, thinking about college, thinking about university, thinking about their lives, what would you share with them in termsof moving forward? i have a steve jobs

quote on the front of my journal thatsays "never let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your own inner voice.never let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your own inner voice."i've had that on the cover of my journal for years and for me that has made thebiggest difference because when i wanted to start my own business, when i was thatnineteen-year-old saying i think i want to do things this way. i want to dothings my way, there were so many naysayers. there were so many peopletelling me "why would you do that? why don't you go and get a real job out of university instead of starting your own business?" people would tell me "youshould go and work for two years or

three years or five years" and i'm like where are you pulling that number from? why do i have to go work for two or three or five? likewhat difference is that going to make? and it wasn't until i took a trip bymyself, i did a little solo trip through europe, that i really gave myself thetime and space to hear my own inner voice. away from all the noise. awayfrom the opinions of my teachers and guidance counselors and even family andfriends. it's a path that i felt i had to walk and it wasn't until i gavemyself the space to hear my own inner voice that i decided i was definitelygoing to be an entrepreneur. and if you can find the space for yourself to beable to feel not just, like, up in your

head, we spend a lot of time in our heads,but feel in your body, feel into your heart space what you really trulywant to do, that is what i wish every nineteen-year-old would do - is to justfind that space. that you can hear your inner voice. and it will not steer you wrong. ever ever ever. it's always right. one of the more moving parts that i have read on your blog is just that trip and that self-discovery and the aha moment when you decided i'm going to be natalie and i'm going to play this my way. i just thought "yes". so many people, myself included, didn't do that early enough. but you can do it at any stage. you can do that at any time and i think a lot of people. so can i tell this story quickly? so on the trip in europe what ended up happening was

i'm driving through the czech republic andi'm listening to david guetta's song "the world is mine". it's like a dance anthem. and i'm driving and i see this giant globe that's like two storeys high that says "the world is yours". yes. that was the only sign that i neededbecause in that moment i felt so strongly what i needed to do i justtrusted that feeling. i listened and then i created from that space. and i think whatoften happens is 1) you don't get a big sign like that. so i got this big sign andas crazy as it sounds that's the only sign i needed. i was like okay, i've got it. i get it. i know what i'm going to do. i know what i have to do. your lifeis always whispering to you. i believe in

trusting those whispers and i think somany people are so busy in their day-to-day lives that they don't givethemselves space to hear the whispers. and this goes back to, you know, being able to hear your own inner voice. you need to create that space. my meditation practiceallows me to do that. stopping in the middle of the day. one ofthe things i love to do in the morning is set an alarm for 1 or 2 p.m. in theafternoon. that's usually when things get really, really hectic because i've had meetings or calls and now it's time to spend four solid hours doing the work i need to bedoing and i'll set an alarm because i know i'm going to be a little stressed outaround that time and it just says like

stop, take a moment, tune out. put the phone on airplane mode for a minute. take a few minutes to meditate. and i just send myself these littlereminders and these little notes throughout the day to just stop and take it all in and toremain present in all of it. that's always the main intention for me. isn't thatsomething. and you're making it work. and i make it work. and i realize that we'rebusy and it's hard to find time to meditate but i see meditation as solvingmy problems. i can sit in meditation for 20 minutes and solve a problem that it may have takenme two hours to solve when i'm not in meditation. so i actually believe meditation can save you time. there's no

excuses for why you can't fit into yourday. you're investing in yourself. yes. in that twenty minutes. yes, and you have to. i think every amazing leader in the world invests in themselves in some way. youneed to. you need to invest in having the energy to be able to go out and be ofservice and do the things in the world that you want to do. if you have no way of harnessing that energy and recharging and then protecting it, you're going to get drained. you're going to get burnt out. it happens all the time. people who would be quite amazing leaders if they had just stopped and were a little more mindful. there you go. wow. natalie. thank you.

thanks for having me, alan. always a pleasure. right back at you. thanks for joining us on aq's blog & grill. we certainly enjoyed our visit with natalie today and subscribe to aq's blog & grill. you push a button that's right around here, and you'll get allthis great information and more from aq's blog & grill. thank you.