The Effortless Life: How to Stress Less and Live More with Courtney Elmer

Christine Li  0:01  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode 79. Get ready today to take a good look at your life and your business because Courtney Elmer is here to teach you how to get serious about getting streamlined. Courtney Elmer is the founder and CEO of The Effortless Life. That's a company dedicated to helping visionary leaders get the right systems structure and support in place, so they can scale to seven figures while spending more time in their zone of genius. Courtney is a corporate escapee, cancer survivor, and host of the globally ranked podcast Systems Made Simple. Courtney's expertise on business systems and podcasting has been sought by leaders and teams, for Forbes, business news, Daily Pop Sugar, Buzzfeed, and many more. She's also the creator and founder of the fast growing Effortless Podcasting Formula, the step by step framework to create, launch and leverage a profitable podcast that positions you as an authority in your niche and drives traffic and sales to your business on autopilot. She has been an amazing source of support, knowledge and wisdom for me, and I am completely honored to be able to introduce you to her and her work today. Let's go listen to the episode together now.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important, and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the make time for success podcast. 

Hello, hello my friends. Today I am very happy and my heart is happy because I am looking at and talking with Courtney Elmer today. She is my friend. She's my colleague, and she is my mentor. We will explain later on in this episode, in what section of my business she has been a mentor. But I want to introduce her to you now as the CEO of The Effortless Life. I think she's got so many different things to teach us today. So I'm excited for this conversation. Courtney, welcome to the show.

Courtney Elmer  2:47  
Thank you so much for having me here. It is truly my privilege to be here. And I've just been looking forward to this conversation. You are such a delight, Christine, I'm excited just to be able to be here and support you to get to know your audience and to serve really in any way that I can.

Christine Li  3:05  
Thank you so much. You have helped me so much in my journey, as a businesswoman, as a speaker. And just as a colleague, you have helped me so much. So I too, can't wait for this conversation. And all the juicy bits that are going to come from it. Could you explain and describe pieces of your journey so that my audience can get to know where you're coming from and that base for your business and life? salutely?

Courtney Elmer  3:33  
Yes, so as the founder of a company called The Effortless Life, really the thing that we're known for, is helping visionary leaders get the right systems and support in place in their business, so that they can thrive as the visionary leader of their business. And for you listening, if you own a business, maybe you don't, but maybe you've seen this, you know, with other business owner friends that you might have, as a business owner, we can really quickly get bogged down by all of the day to day of running a business. But it takes us away from the thing we often got into business for in the first place, which is usually some version of helping people right and bringing our expertise to the table to help make the world a better place. And so really where the idea behind the effortless life, you know, we believe that building a business is hard enough as it is, and that you shouldn't have to work harder than you were at your old job or harder than you really need to be in order to have the success you deserve. So that's where we come into play and help people get those systems and structure in place, whether that's with their marketing, whether that's with their operations, maybe it's their sales systems or the way that they're delivering their programs. Really there's four main systems that we help people with, so that they can thrive as the leader of their business because we've noticed this link where if you are not thriving as a human, as a person in the various aspects of your life that make you who you are, then your business will have a very hard time growing and thriving, as well. And so we often expect our businesses to thrive because we're putting so much work into them and our heart and our soul and our blood and our sweat and tears, when really the truth is that we have to be thriving first ourselves, and taking care of ourselves first, as that leader of the business so that the business by extension, can thrive too. 

Christine Li  5:25  
How did you come to that awareness that the focus needs to be on the overall well being of the leader or the visionary or the owner, before all of the nitty gritty stuff needs to grow and get handled and managed?

Courtney Elmer  5:44  
Well, I had to figure it all out the hard way, quite honestly. So in the past, you know, I come from a corporate nine to five background where I was working for someone else, and often working within as a manager for other businesses that were not functioning to the degree that they could be, you know, and as a person working within that business, I could see the holes and the gaps and the places where these business owners were struggling. So often, I would come in as like an operations manager and really helped to pull that together streamline things. At the same time, I was working myself to the point of exhaustion, you know, and at that point in my life, I wasn't married, I didn't have children. And so that work was really the only thing that I was focused on. And so I would wake up early in the morning at work through my lunch breaks, I take work home with me at night and on the weekends. And work really was my life. And so fast forward about five years, I fell in love, I got married, went on my honeymoon had gone to the doctor a couple of weeks before the wedding, because just you know, to have a general checkup make sure health is healthy and all this and the doctor said, you know, let's come back for follow up. When you get home from your honeymoon, you know, we ran some tests and different things, checking in on everything. And he said, We'll do your follow up, then go enjoy your wedding, and have a great time. So I came back home, went into that follow up. And I will never forget, sitting in the doctor's office that day, what it felt like and you know, you know how a doctor's office can be you're sitting there, it's kind of cold, it's sterile, there's usually this fluorescent light flickering or buzzing overhead, this is exactly me in this room. And it's tiny little cube of a room, sitting there. And the doctor had just walked out after telling me that I had cancer. And I was 25 years old. This was two days after we got home from our honeymoon. And in that moment, I knew that I needed to make some major changes in my life, I knew that I couldn't keep working at the pace that I was working. And what I didn't say was that during those five years where we fast forwarded, I had started my own coaching practice alongside the nine to five that I was working. So I was essentially working two jobs, and knew that really, I needed to step away from both of them for a while in order to refocus, to heal myself, to get my mind right to get my body healed, before I can even think about, you know, serving or giving to others. So that's what I did, I took a really big step back and really had to examine what was important to me and what I valued. And then in moving forward through treatment through recovery, and then launching my business thereafter. That's really the key piece is that, you know, if you are not healthy, what do you have? You know, and so often we take our health for granted. And, you know, as someone who suffered with chronic migraines through the years, I would always get so frustrated, because I was like, oh gosh, if I didn't have to suffer with these migraine headaches for three days, and, you know, take off for three days, because I had this headache for three days, then I could get so much more done, right. And it was always that mentality where I was approaching it from the wrong perspective of you know, the more I worked, the more successful I would be. But going through all of that really taught me that no, your success is not dependent on how hard you work. It's dependent on you, your health, the systems that you have in place, the support that you have in place to allow you to thrive and to do what you've set out to do. And so essentially by reverse engineering the process and making a lot of mistakes and doing a lot of the wrong things. I figured out that that really truly is the secret to success and not success in the way the world might define it. But success as you define it, because we all have a different definition of what that is.

Christine Li  9:51  
Thank you for describing the harder path to these realizations. I'm so glad you are well. And thank you for sharing your story. Hurry, I am left thinking, what about the listeners who are really listening to your background story really thinking, This resonates with me, I'm working much too hard. I'm spending too much time and too much energy at work or concerned about work things. How do you encourage people that it's actually wiser to release that hold that work has on us? And what things can people tell themselves? In that disconnection process? What does that process like, in your view? And in your experience?

Courtney Elmer  10:41  
Hmm, this is such a good question. It's a difficult one to answer because the answer is going to be unique for each individual. But what I would suggest is really exploring your motivations. And what is it that's driving you to work to the degree that you are? And what are you afraid of will happen if you stop working? Or if you were to let your foot off the gas? And sometimes just asking ourselves, those simple questions can be very revealing. And when I asked myself that question, what am I afraid of what happened if I stop or if I let up. And it really boiled down to this fear of failure on the surface, but failure wasn't the root for me, the route was looking like a fool. And being rejected and being made fun of almost for failing. And that was the thing that I was afraid of. And growing up through my life, I had experienced, you know, as we all do various levels of rejection and various scenarios and situations, but that that had become a part of my identity, this fear of being rejected. And so I had built my identity around being someone who had it all together, and who was the picture of success, and who was polished and poised, and who knew what she was talking about, right? There was no way that you could refute me because I had it all backed up, and I had the facts. And I had it all laid out. And I had it together. And that was the image that I presented to the world. But that wasn't the reality. And the reality was that I was someone who was so afraid of being rejected. If that was the thing I was running from, that was the thing that was causing me to work to the degree that I did. So I share that to say that, you know, when you ask yourself this question, don't be afraid to get quiet and really sit with the answer. And some of you might know, the answer right away, might come to you pretty quickly. For others, it might take a while to develop, but allow it to develop. And just ask yourself, you know, if I were to let my foot off the gas, what am I afraid of what happened. And that could be very revealing, and also help to illuminate what some of the first steps might be to take in order to be able to take the step back and gain perspective to kind of detach, you know, as you said, Christine, to detach from this idea that we have to work this much or this amount of hours to be successful.

Christine Li  13:23  
Yes, it seems like if you stay in the original path where work means everything, all we do, then, if we're intending to improve or make a difference, or change things, is to add on more hours, more stress, more obligation, more of a feeling of fear, because those are are indicators of change. When you're caught in that attached relationship with your work. And I'm here listening to your descriptions of what you can discover. When you ask those deeper questions. I'm fascinated because you you speak with such authority and rootedness in what you've seen and what you've gone through that you can really see the better things, the better options, the easier ways, when you know why you're operating the way you are? Did I summarize that? Well, yes, so

Courtney Elmer  14:19  
beautifully. And you know, as you were, well as seriously, as you were talking to another thing that came to me is that, you know, kind of a next step from there, I would start with those deeper questions. And I will say this because I feel it's of equal value, is to also ask yourself, how would I define success for me? How do I define it for me? And that is so key because no two of us have the same definition of success and what you might realize when you ask yourself that question and spend some time with it again, journal, let go for a walk and just ask yourself that question. Notice what comes up is that you might have been Chasing after someone else's version of success, you might have adopted someone else's definition of success. Maybe it was someone's version of success that you look up to, because in your career path you felt that's what was required. Or maybe it was a parent or a mentor or a teacher who might have instilled those ideas within you, at some point, and that you just simply took at face value and never really questioned them for yourself. And what you might find, which is what people most often find is that they've never stopped to consider their answer to that question. And how would you define success? How do you define it, and then define it for yourself. And what you might notice is that not only does that relieve the pressure, if you have been chasing after another version of success, that's not truly yours that helps to remove that friction. And it helps you to realign with this idea of what success means to you. Because for me, when I put my head on the pillow at night, and I know that I've done three things that day, number one, taking some time for myself, whether that's 10 minutes in the morning to meditate, or a quick walk, or whatever it might be, but some personal space for myself. Number two, I've made a point in a very intentional effort to connect with the people who I love, which is my husband, my son, clients who I work with and made that intentional connection. And then number three just did one thing, no matter how small it was, to further the growth and development of my mission in my business. And I know that that day was a success, I can check that box. And does it mean I check that box every day? No. But with that as my guidepost, that is the thing by which I measure my success. And so it's no longer about how much money is in the bank, or how many new clients we enrolled at our last launch, or you know how many people's podcasts we've helped launch or or whatever it might be whatever those other metrics might be. It's really just truly an internal definition that I can go to bed at night, knowing full well that I did what I needed to do today. And that was enough, because that was what success was for me.

Christine Li  17:12  
Thank you for describing that. I'm thinking here that your body when you hit the pillow at night must be so much calmer than it was when you were in that corporate cycle of your life, that period of your life, that there's a real difference with how we exist day to day physically, when we've got these questions examined and sorted out and worked on in little bitty steps every single day.

Courtney Elmer  17:44  
Yes, that's really the key to exponential growth. And you know, I find it so interesting is, and this is me. So I write I journal a lot. And a lot of the things that I share in my business, you know, or on social media kind of these insights into business are things that I've learned along the way, because it's things I've had to learn the hard way. And one of those things is this idea that, you know, growth we often think of as about adding or learning more, or do we more or evolving or changing growing in some way, right? When really, I believe growth is about stripping away to reveal what's already there within you. The things that are written on your heart, that maybe you haven't taken the time to ask yourself these deeper questions and to ponder and to consider, but that when you do, like you said, you have so much clarity from that, and so much peace and just a groundedness knowing that you're on the right track. Okay, so

Christine Li  18:47  
let's go a little bit deeper here, because I'm going to bring up the topic of stress and the fact that Courtney and I just before we started recording, we're talking about the past couple of years since it's been a while since we've connected and how stressful they have been. How have you used your model of the effortless life and effortless living to manage the stresses that we've been under? In the past few crazy years?

Courtney Elmer  19:15  
Yes. Okay. So first, I have to share a really funny story. But when I first launched my coaching practice, my tagline was stressed less, live more. And what I was noticing at the time, and this was over five years ago, but I was noticing this trend of business owners people in general as well, who were struggling with the degree of stress in their life and the root causes of what that stress was from and how to navigate that and how to manage that will come to find out in the business world that that wasn't very marketable, because most people believe that stress is a normal part of life.

And that was what I kept encountering with people was that they didn't think the stress they had was a problem. Because it hadn't taken them out of the game yet, right? They hadn't had the wake up call the cancer diagnosis, the auto accident, the autoimmune disease, whatever it might have been, they didn't have that wake up moment yet, because the stress hadn't gotten that bad yet. So I was on a mission really determined to help people before it got to that point. And in realizing all of that, you know, and as I've shifted, and since our focus is on entrepreneurs within my company really shifted to helping put the pieces of the puzzle in place that were missing in terms of systems and support, to help alleviate some of that stress, your messaging has changed, our marketing has changed, but at the heart of it, that was what we set out to do. And that is what we continue to do. So the reason I bring that up is because how we got from there to the effortless life, all boil down to a trademark issue, because apparently that tagline was trademarked, I didn't know it. And I had to come up with something else to really describe this idea of the vision that I was trying to help people create the movement that we're out to create within the world, this idea that you don't have to work so hard to the degree that you're working right now in order to have success, and to really make business and life feel effort less. And in that really this idea of effort, less effort, right? It's truly effortless, right? We think effortless light and easy and flowy. And enjoyable, which yes, it is that but it is also less effort. So that's just a little insight behind the name there. And so that all came to be and then the pandemic hit. And we've had all of these issues come up, you know, from that point forward between the pandemic, and the quarantine, and the demands that have been placed on us. And the racial issues that were brought up here within the US, at least, then to worldwide issues such as the war right now going on in Russia and Ukraine and, and the emotional weight that we all carry now on top of the stress we were already dealing with in our life prior to 2020. And so to answer your question about how do we begin to navigate that and to really shift out of that it's really complicated to answer because the truth of the matter is that those stresses of life will always be coming, there will always be something going on. And right before we hit record, I was telling you how I feel like it's always something pristine, there's always something we're always something someone's getting sick, or someone's out of school, or there's a work issue, or there's a team issue, or there's always something. And I was like I don't know how much of that I'm actually manifesting, right. And I think we've kind of come to believe this idea that cash is always life at the same time. That's life. And I'll share a little something here is I haven't really talked about this very publicly, but I'm working on a book right now. And the idea of the book, really, the driving force behind it is this idea of how to navigate life in times of adversity. Because yes, on the one hand, life will always be coming at us. And as of recent years, it's been compounded like 20 fold. But at the same time, we can learn to be resilient. And we can learn how to navigate through these challenging times. And so the best way I can describe this is this idea of a valley. And if you think about, you know mountains and they have valleys, and how so much of our life, we can have a tendency to focus on being at the top of the mountain, we want to be at the top, we want to have that clarity, we want to be able to see to have perspective to feel like we've made it to feel like we've achieved something you know, the journey has been is complete, like we are there at the top of the mountain. So so much of our life, we strive to be at the top of the mountain. Yet really, when you look back through ancient history, people civilizations didn't settle at the top of the mountain. They made their camp and their home in the valley. Because the valley is the most fertile ground there is. And so in our lives when we can relate this metaphor to our life, the valleys are those things every day that come at us left and right and up and down and flip us around and we have no idea which way is up anymore because there is so much coming at us at one time. And those are the valleys and the valleys that our life can last years they can last months maybe it's just the little valleys and dips in every single day.

And the stress comes from trying To escape the valley, it comes from trying to get out of the valley. And what I would challenge you to think about is not so much about getting out of the valley or trying to escape the stress that's coming at you the stress that you might be feeling. But to notice what value is there for you in the valley, what is in the valley, that you need to learn? What is there for you that is literally building and forming your character right now so that you can be equipped to move through the valley. And you know, the title for the book. And of course, this a lot of this will wind up being up to the publisher, and then this might not actually be the title, but it's the title that I feel it should be. So if you heard it here, you heard it here. First, even if this is not actually the title of the book, this is the thing that I think and it's this idea that the way out, is through the way out is always through. So for what that's worth, you know, I don't have a very clear concrete answer to say, Okay, here's a system which, you know, systems girl, it's kind of funny, but here's a system for getting rid of stress, do step one, step two, step three, boom, done, eliminated, it would be so nice if we had that. Unfortunately, we don't. But what I can invite you to do is to look at the valleys in your life right now, what are those things that are weighing you down? Emotionally? Where have you been resisting those things? Because what we resist persists, right? You might have heard that old adage before, I don't know who originally said it. But what would happen if instead of resisting, you simply allowed it, you simply put your stake in the ground, set up your teepee, or your hut or whatever it is, and just lived there for a while? And what might you learn, that would then equip you to be able to move through? So it's kind of a philosophical answer to your question for Steve. But I hope that that makes sense. I hope that that hope that that makes sense.

Christine Li  27:07  
I love this conversation. I thought we were coming here to talk about podcasting. And we're getting a whole lesson here. Thank you, Courtney. And I'm thinking that part of the stress also is feeling like we need to rush through to the escape of the valley that there's like, why isn't it happening yet? There's also that time factor of were really screwed up if we're still in the valley, when really, maybe we're supposed to be in the Valley for a little bit longer. So thank you for that beautiful lesson. And for that great introduction to your new book. Congratulations. I didn't know that was happening. That's great. And I love this. I love this about you. I would like to if we can shift into the podcasting focus of our work together how you help me so much with the launch of this podcast? And just I'm curious about how did podcasting become a particular pocket of your expertise? And please describe your podcast to us as well. That's like four questions all in one.

Unknown Speaker  28:11  
Yes. Okay. So I'll start with the last one first. So my podcast is called Systems Made Simple. You could find it everywhere podcasts are found. And on that show, you know, yes, we talk about systems, but systems for your business systems for your life systems for simplifying whatever it is that you're currently doing, or trying to achieve systems for helping you thrive as a visionary leader of your business as a visionary leader of your life. So I invite you to come check that out. And you know, when I think back to how I got into podcast, and you first of all, it was never something I saw myself teaching Not in a million years, because kind of the conversation we were having is where I really, really love to spend my time is on the philosophical side of life. But with podcasting, you know, I had really been frustrated in my business, because I have all these deep thoughts and things to share. Social media just wasn't cutting it for me. I would post and I just felt like there was no engagement and I was trying to grow a business and to reach people. And to really help them think and change their mindset and all these things in it. It would just fall flat and a 500 word social media posts, you know, if I were to have written everything that I just shared five minutes ago, in a social media post, you probably have been like, scroll past, you know, too long, didn't read. And so that was the frustration that I felt like I was doing all the quote unquote, right things to grow my business. But the thing that was missing, which happily actually happens to be a deep core value of mine was connection. It was connection with my audience, with my people, with my person who was on the other end of that screen, freezing, whatever, whatever I was posting. And so, at the time in my business, I had just had my son and I was working in all Have a nooks and crannies of the day. So he would be napping and I would hurry up and do a little bit of work, and then you wake up. And so the only time that I would really get time for myself in the day was to go for a long walk with him. And I would strap him in the stroller and I'm like, Okay, hands free, here we go. And so I would push him through the neighborhood, and we would walk for miles. And during those walks, I would just binge listen to podcasts. So I was trying to learn as much as I could and grow as quickly as I could. So kind of holding on to some of those old beliefs of mine, I got to work hard and learn and grow fast. And so one day, it just dawned on me and I said, you know, instead of listening to these experts, week after week after week being in their audience, what if I could start a podcast and actually build a stage of for myself, built my own audience where I could share my expertise and wisdom and maybe in connect with people in a different, more meaningful way and go deeper on things, you know, instead of trying to like fit it into a little Instagram quote. And so that was the impetus for me starting my podcast, and launched it in February of 2020. Right before the world shutdown with the pandemic. And never did I imagine how quickly a podcast would transform the entire trajectory of my business. And so just to give you a couple of quick stats, you know, with my own show, we launched February of 2020. Within the first month, we'd received almost 105 star reviews, we had ranked on the podcasting charts, people were reaching out saying how impactful the show was for them. Other friends and colleagues were reaching out saying, What did you do when you launched your podcast? Because I've never seen a show get that successful that quickly. So I started sharing with them that it wasn't a formula at the time, it was just Well, here's what I did. Here were the steps is what I did, you know, and I had friends that would take that advice. One friend in particular Joey, I was thinking of him, and he was like, Okay, I'm gonna launch my podcast, Courtney, what do I do? I literally gave him like these steps. He went and did it, he got better results than I did. And I'm like, Hmm, okay, maybe I'm really onto something here, you know, and he came back and he was like, corny. This podcast launched, it was the best month in sales we had had in our business, you know, and so people were just coming out of the woodwork asking me all about podcasting. So I was like, let me just put a focus group together and teach people what I know about podcasting. And if this turns into something great, if not, no big deal, but at least I could help these people get their voices out into the world get their message heard. So Christine, you are in that focus group, we had so much fun, it's such such a blast. And I just discovered how much I enjoyed teaching podcasting I never knew. But really, I think what it is for me is again, going back to that value of connection, and it's helping other people develop a platform where they can actually use their voice, where they don't have to worry about being shut down or shadow banned, or censoring what they say or fitting it into a 200 word little post, you know, a 500 word blog post or whatever it might be. But to have these deeper conversations, and it created, or it fulfilled, rather this need for connection, that since then, you know, that was pre pandemic, and that was just a personal value of mine. But now post pandemic, we are struggling to connect, we are struggling to get the attention of the people who we want to reach, and to truly connect with them. And we things move at such a quick pace now. So I just find that podcasting is one of the fastest, most effective ways, not only to grow your platform, it can quickly become a lead generation machine, particularly if you're in business, it can drive traffic and sales to your business virtually on autopilot. But it's a way for you to kind of look at it like the final frontier, it's

Courtney Elmer  33:34  
like, you know, it's really the only place that you can go to have conversations just like this, to share your true opinions, your thoughts, to not be censored forum, or to have people commenting and heckling you, you know, I can't believe you said that. And this and that. And of course, I encounter that on social media all the time. And I just have fun with those people and kind of spit right back at them, you know, but not in a mean way, but just in a fun way. But you know, on a podcast, it just goes so much deeper. And because of that, it really collapses the amount of time that it would normally take someone to build that know like and trust with you. And that's why it's so impactful for business in particular. But even if you don't have a business, it can be a very impactful way to reach people with your message because of the level of trust that you can build with someone so quickly.

Christine Li  34:25  
Yes, thank you. That was a great description of the value of having your own podcast. I think Courtney got me through the building the bridge of the podcast, which was I have to share terrifying to me and I'm sure I'm not the only person in that group who was terrified of really starting something in this way because podcasting is very personal. It really is just your creative act. And there's no basis of saying well this is definitely going to be a success. You don't know, you just have to trust that if you build the bridge that some people are going to want to go on your bridge and go along with you. And I also have to share, it has quickly become my favorite thing to do. It's so much fun to talk with friends on the podcast and to think of new ideas, to share and to build a community via the podcast and the ideas that are shared there. So I want to recommend Courtney's amazing teaching abilities and her abilities to collect a group of people who are interested in the same act of creating and building a successful podcast. He's a wonderful leader, I remember the first thing she did in the program was something fun, it was like kind of a challenge for the first few steps of building the podcast, identity or brand. And I thought, I'm a games person, this is totally for me, this is exactly the way I learned the best. So I knew I was in with the right teacher. And she's just so knowledgeable too, we could go on about that, as you've heard in this interview already. So Courtney, could you share with us how people can work with you learn with you join this podcast formula course that you have?

Unknown Speaker  36:18  
Yes, absolutely. So the best thing to do, and this is where I would recommend you start is, you know, it's one thing to think, okay, podcast, that sounds so exciting. And you know, a lot of people take that idea, and they run with it. And I really recommend you don't do that. Because there are three big mistakes that a lot of people make when starting their podcast that will cost you in the long run. And it's the number one, these three mistakes are directly related to the reason why most people will stop recording after episode six. And I think, you know, if you're listening, and you're thinking, Gosh, podcasting, this is very timely, because I've been thinking of doing this for a while, right? Maybe this is the sign I've been looking for. Maybe you haven't thought about it. But now you're kind of like, Oh, if I'm curious, then what I would recommend is downloading a free guide that I've created, which is what are these three mistakes and how to avoid them. Because avoiding these three mistakes will already set you lightyears ahead of most people who just set out to create a podcast. And so these three mistakes are actually the mistakes that you know, I also they they directly line up with what I teach inside of the podcasting program. Because really, there's three components to launching a profitable podcast, and it's all in how you create it and structure it. It's all in how you actually launch it, you know, we'll note to self here hitting publish on your first episode is not the same as a podcast launch. And a lot of people make that mistake, right? And then learning how to leverage it. And by leverage what I mean is yes, monetization. Yes, taking your listeners, converting them to customers, and particularly coming at that from you know, business angle, but also learning how to leverage your message to reach a wider audience. How do we do that? How once the podcast is launched, how do we begin then to grow it, and to scale it and to continue reaching new audiences? So with that, what I would recommend is starting with that guide, which Christine, I believe you're going to link in the show notes, is that correct?

Christine Li  38:16  
Yes. We've got the link ready, it is maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/effortless. So again, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/effortless And then you can get that guide.

Courtney Elmer  38:32  
Perfect. Yeah, I would say that's the best place to start by learning what not to do, right? I don't know, I wish I had something like that. In the beginning, where I was like, Wait a second, well, here's what you should not be doing. But that will absolutely help set you you know, if you're even just considering launching a pot, like maybe you're not even there yet, where you're like, Yes, this is something I want to do, maybe you're just kind of in that like I'm curious I'm considering Is this for me, this will also help you to figure that out and have clarity. And then beyond that, I do have a mini course that I offer, which is how to start a profitable podcast and of course, the full program which precede your part of the complete formula, which we call the effortless podcasting formula. But that's what I'd recommend. Start with that guide, you'll get an email from me, you can reach out to me with any questions that you have, you know, go through that guide, follow the action steps, and then really determine if that really feels like something you want to move forward with and reach out. We can talk about, you know, the different programs what would be a best fit for you.

Christine Li  39:25  
I love it. Thank you, Courtney, for sharing and reminding me of your talents, both on the left side of the brain and the right side of the brain. I think you're so lovely. And you're such a great speaker too. You're such a great teacher. Thank you for teaching us today on the show. It's been a pleasure.

Courtney Elmer  39:43  
Oh, thank you for having me here. This has truly been an honor for me. Thank you.

Christine Li  39:48  
All right, everyone. We have wrapped up another episode of The Make Time for Success podcast. If you liked this show and this interview, please leave a five star review for the podcast. I would appreciate the help in getting this podcast to more listeners so that we can create an even bigger and more lovely community. Thank you so much for listening. I will see you next week. Bye. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. Talk to you soon.

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