Ep. 121: Lauren Schwab On Christian Entrepreneurship, Is It Doable? Jesus Loving PMU And Beauty Professionals Listen Up!
Can Christianity and entrepreneurship mingle?
I am a Christian, okay? I love Jesus. For a lot of Christians, it can be hard, like, can I be rich and Christian? Is it sinful to make a lot of money, is it sinful to want to make a lot of money?
It's a tricky subject. But I brought the best person on the podcast to help me dive into it. For this episode, I brought in Lauren Schwab, creator of the Business Baptism and Unplugged Mornings. I feel so connected to this girl. I feel so connected to her and I feel like she helps me feel so much more connected to God. We all feel connected to Him in different ways, right? I feel like her and I just really align spiritually and mentally.
If you're a Jesus lover and you're an entrepreneur and sometimes you're just filled with doubts like "am I doing the right thing?" "is this in line with my faith?" we're here to help you dissect those thoughts and hopefully guide you to the right path.
So no more waiting! Let's get into it.
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [06:20] First, let's intro Lauren with some rapid-fire get-to-know-you questions.
‣‣ [11:41] Here I ask Lauren to tell us more about Unplugged Mornings and what it's really all about.
‣‣ [09:08] Here's how I like to show people in the DMs WHY they need my PMU services straight up. It's all about that BDE.
‣‣ [18:19] I'm going to be vulnerable for a moment and admit that it's hard for me to unplug and connect. It really is. So I want to pick Lauren's brain and try to really understand this nine-step process to unplugging and connecting to God.
‣‣ [21:24] Lauren walks us through her typical morning routine.
‣‣ [28:04] Okay, so let's dive into the meat of the podcast - entrepreneurship and God. What does the Bible say about money?
‣‣ [32:40] Lauren shares the story of how she had to live in a cave with no technology and none of her "essentials" for 60 days - and how that shaped her view of life and showed her the concept of unplugging.
‣‣ [44:41] Here Lauren shares another story of the time she signed up to hike Kilimanjaro. Yeah.
‣‣ [48:42] Let's talk about how we pay for pain because we know that growth comes from pain.
‣‣ [55:11] Finally, Lauren shares her advice for how to live a pretty rich life.
SHOW ME HOW TO SLOW DOWN, UNPLUG, AND CONNECT! (Listen Here)
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
Pretty Rich Bosses
Microblading Sales Script
HYVE Beauty *Code SHEILA15
Text me! (310) 388-4588
FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy this podcast by downloading it on iTunes here.
(Life Hack: Subscribe to Pretty Rich Podcast to get the LATEST EPISODE downloaded to your phone AUTOMATICALLY)
FOR MY READER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
How can you be a Christian and an entrepreneur at the same time? Isn't it bad to chase money if you love Jesus? We are going there. We're going there. What? On today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast I have the amazing Lauren L Schwab. She is the creator of something called Business Baptism. She's an expert in health, wellness, mind-body connection, and she's also the creator of something called Unplugged Mornings. Are you ready to get real? Let's do this. Pretty Rich Podcast, here we go.
Welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast, where you're totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella, and I've built a seven figure PMU beauty biz and a seven figure online biz without a degree, without a fancy website, or a sugar daddy. If you and I hang out on here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it too. How about that for a side effect of listening to this podcast? Because you really can. I know you think I don't know you, I have no idea who you are, but I do, I really, really do because I am you. I was you, and I believe we are all on the same journey together. My perfect job didn't exist, so I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring me, wanted nothing to do with me, so I skipped the line and hired myself, a CEO, just like you can. So consider me your secret beauty biz BFF, in case you need to be reminded on a weekly basis that power is never just handed to you, you have to take it. Are you ready beauty boss? Let's jump in.
Okay, how do I start this episode? Okay, well all I got to say is we have been through it, America. What a crazy season finale this week has been, and who knows what's going to go on this season in the United States, the series. For those of you who maybe are listening to this recording later, or maybe not earlier because that would mean that you're Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. So for those of you who are listening to this recording later, the date is November 7th, 2020, and the media has just announced that Joe Biden has just pretty much won the presidency, and this week has been insane going back and forth, and back and forth. I am not somebody who knows a lot about politics, but I feel like my feed is just full of people's opinions and people's feelings, deep feelings that are tied to this. The American people are literally disowning one another because of their political differences. I understand there's a lot of things to be angry about, there definitely is.
I hope it's over, now that it's pretty much over I hope we can all just heal, and regardless of how you voted, I want to remind you that what will forever matter way more than who lives in the White House is who lives in your house. Don't forget to love and dote on the people who are closest to you. The media doesn't deserve your attention as much as the people around you do. I think it's important to stay informed, I think it's important to vote, but not if it's going to cost you your home, not at the expense of your purpose. The media is really toxic. You can spend so much time just feeling things about people that you've never met, having strong opinions about individuals that you will never ever talk to ever in real life. Don't allow a politician, any politician to take up space in your mind and in your heart. That space should be reserved for those who actually love you back. Remember that you become your thoughts, so guard your thoughts, guard your heart, because everything flows from that.
With that said, I think it's no coincidence that this episode is releasing at this time because I feel like a lot of people are going to need it. If you're feeling a little congested emotionally, mentally, spiritually even and you need to recenter, you need to unplug, you got to shake it off, Lauren Schwab is the creator of Unplugged Mornings. You guys know how much I love my early mornings. So she's going to be sharing her golden nuggets for how to have a better, clearer, more grounded start to your day. And not only that, like I said, we're going to be chatting all about Christianity and entrepreneurship, and can they even coexist.
I'm so excited to bring this episode to you, but before I bring her on I want to do something a little fun. If you're somebody who's been listening to this podcast for a while but never took the time to write a review, you should write one today. Yeah, write one today because I've decided that once a month I'm going to be going through all of the reviews from this podcast on iTunes and I'm going to be choosing one lucky winner to win a free online course. Obviously, a shout-out here and a shout-out on Instagram, and all you have to do is go on iTunes, click on the name of this podcast and write me a review. To make sure I can actually contact you that you've won, go ahead and include your Instagram username so we can notify you at the end of the month. Got that? [Spanish 00:06:05]. All right, here we go.
Lauren L. Schwab. Hey friends, ooh, I got a good one for you. Ugh, Lauren Schwab is on Pretty Rich Podcast. Hello.
Lauren Schwab:
Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited.
Sheila Bella:
I'm really excited to be chatting it up with you. Now, okay, so as I said in the intro, Lauren is the founder of Business Baptism. Say what? Okay, so yeah. So today we're going to chat all about - is entrepreneurship godly. Okay, for those of you guys know, I'm a Christian, I'll shout it from the rooftops. I love me some Jesus, right? So is entrepreneurship godly? How can the two things exist together? Your love for God and also your chase, I guess, your hunger for success, you chasing the dollar, the almighty dollar, as they say. How can those things coexist? Are you sinning because you're doing that? I just wanted to get an expert in there, such as Lauren, on her perspective on all of those things. But before we dive into today's topic, I wanted to get to know Lauren a little bit better.
So, I do like to do a little bit of rapid fire when I bring a new guest on. So just a couple of questions, okay? We're going to start out easy. First question. Where are you from and where did you grow up?
Lauren Schwab:
So I'm from a little town in Kansas called Valley Center. I love that I grew up in the Midwest because I have these Midwest morals and manners and I brought them all the way to California with me. Followed the yellow brick road from Kansas to California almost 11 years ago, but the cool thing is so many people will always say you haven't changed a bit, and I actually like that, right? There's parts of me of course that's changed and evolved, but just that like I'm still that kind of home town girl from the Midwest.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. Oh, that's awesome, that's awesome. So you are who you are now, okay? So you're an expert in health, wellness, mind-body connection, you're this amazing mindset coach with this awesome Instagram page, you're the founder of Business Baptism. That's who you are now, but tell us about Lauren Schwab 10 years ago.
Lauren Schwab:
Oh my goodness gracious, Lauren Schwab 10 years ago, that was just a year into me living in California. I would say that was definitely a time where I had completely lost my identity. I had no idea who I was anymore, because who I was growing up was an athlete. I played every sport you can probably name because there isn't anything else to do in Kansas besides play sports. Honestly if you stepped on a curb, you were hiking. So I grew up playing sports, that was my identity. I was the team captain. My grandpa was my biggest supporter, my number one fan, my coach, my hero. He was literally everything. I credit all of my success today to my grandfather.
So moving away from my grandparents who I lived with and coming to a state that was very different than Kansas, and trying to make it, right? And I no longer was a part of a team. I remember my grandpa always saying, "Together everyone achieves more, together everyone accomplishes more." And all of a sudden I was this lone wolf, just trying to make it in a big city. So I felt like I was spiraling out of control, I was starting to party a lot. I was just going down a really interesting path, and from the outside people would say, "Oh my gosh, her life is so amazing. She's having so much fun." But the fact that my name was party in people's phone, right? I was like, "That is wild. What do you mean party?" But so it was like to everyone I was so fun, right? But to me I was like, "Who am I? What has happened to the Lauren that I know and love, right, myself?"
So it took this ... Actually, I remember one of my friends, his name is Michael Oliver, I haven't said that name in so long, but he invited me to play on his football team, in his football league one day, and it was when I was really contemplating moving back to Kansas because I thought I don't think I'm cut out for this. I don't like the person that I've really become. He invited me to play on that football league, and that changed everything. I would literally say I'm still in California because of Michael Oliver inviting me to play on his football team.
So once I started playing again and it gave me this sense of purpose, and I felt like I was starting to get my identity back. What I realized is that community was the most important thing, and to this day everything that I do centers around community. If you ask anyone to probably describe me they would be like, "Oh, she's a human connector and she loves bringing people together."
So, that's who I was 10 years ago. I was trying to figure it out. I was really seeking and searching, but it really took an invitation, right? And I think that happens a lot in life, just sometimes we need to be invited and we need to say yes, and that really changed my life, and I started playing. I got in a football league, and a softball league, and a volleyball league, and I started playing every sport again, and it was like Lauren was back and ready to go, and it was a different kind of party.
Sheila Bella:
Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. That's great. Okay, so before we get into our topic of godliness and entrepreneurship, I want to talk to you about one of your main pillars, which is Unplugged Mornings. Tell us a little bit more about that, and I know we were chatting before we hit record, and you really called me out. You really called me out, to the point where I was like, "Stop talking, Lauren. Stop talking." And I want you to do it again. I want you to [inaudible 00:12:19].
Lauren Schwab:
When I'm calling other people, I'm really calling myself out, right? I'm always talking to myself, it's the take your own advice. So as I was just kind of saying, during that spiral out of control I was seeking and searching, became a part of a team again. I actually started training people on the side. So I used that fitness background and that sports background to become a personal trainer, and then I ended up actually opening a couple gyms, and doing the whole gym owner thing, which was really cool. But again, there was a little bit of purpose that was missing, and I realized it was because I would wake up in the morning and I would first reach for my phone before anything, and I was truly plugging back into the world before I was plugging into myself. I really don't think that if we're not filling our cup up with love, and abundance, and gratitude, and all of these things, that we're not going to be able to pour into others. We're really going to serve from our overflow. So it's either going to be that love and abundance or it's going to be doubt, and fear, and judgment and all of that. No matter what, we are serving from the overflow, so we want to make sure what's flowing out is the positive things.
So I have this kind of like an energy healing one day after a workout, and I had this visualization, and I started seeing all of these outlets in the wall, and I imagined these outlets as comfort zones that we plug into, right? So that might be my fan, which you can probably hear in the background. I call it my biggest fan. It travels everywhere with me, but it's a comfort zone. I need it to sleep, I think I need it, right? But I take my NutriBullet with me to make smoothies, and we have our computers, and technology, and all these things that we plug into, these external comfort zones that we think we have to have to survive. Even beyond that, looking back at 10 years ago again, I was plugging into alcohol, or retail therapy, or if I get this, or when I get this then I'll be happy, and relationship after relationship. All these things that weren't serving me, but it was this temporary pleasure that would kind of make me forget that I wasn't 100% happy.
So I saw all of these external outlets, whether they were the ones I was currently using or in the past, and I thought, "I have to unplug from these." So I saw my hand reaching for this chord, unplugging from these external comfort zones, and plugging into my internal comfort zone, and for me that's God. I just took that plug and I plugged it right in, and I was like, "This is it. Everything in my whole life makes sense now. I can connect all the dots." It's like my life kind of flashed before my eyes, and it was like that's why that relationship failed, that's why you didn't get that job, that's why you moved across country, that's why you met this person, that's why you didn't move home, right? Everything just made sense in that moment. When I kind of came, woke up from this visualization, I thought, "Everyone needs this. Everyone needs to unplug." I'm going to use my grandpa's acronyms that he used to teach me all the time, and I'm going to come up with a nine step process using the word unplugged to help people truly disconnect to reconnect back to their true self.
For me, again, that's God, right? Connecting back to God, that's always within us, always accessible, always available, it's free. We get to go right in there, go within and access that, and I believe that's where all the answers are that we're seeking every single day, is they're within us. We just don't get quiet enough and still enough to listen, to hear that. So I decided I was going to come up with this nine step process, and I was going to share it with everyone that would listen, and I was going to help change their life, right? By changing their morning first. So starting with the first thing that happens in the morning, and then kind of moving on from there. So that's where that was born, and yeah.
Sheila Bella:
A visualization.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes.
Sheila Bella:
A visualization, seeing all the outlets on the wall. I completely relate with that and I am completely challenged by that. Gosh, I don't really talk about this a whole lot, but whenever I feel super connected to God it feels so good, everything is so clear. There is a spiritual romantic high that is very similar to when you first fall in love. It's hard to explain, and for anyone who hasn't experienced it you might think I'm a load of crap, right? But I mean, I feel really grateful that I was ... I feel like it's the sixth sense, and not everybody gets to experience, or people don't know what I'm talking about, not everyone knows what I'm talking about. You know how when I feel the closest to God is when I'm listening to worship music.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes.
Sheila Bella:
And that's how I found you.
Lauren Schwab:
(singing).
Sheila Bella:
Okay, so fun fact. So how I found Lauren was I was surfing through Instagram, I was watching a common friends of ours' stories, right? And I was just searching through, and then I went over on her stories and then I thought that she had used that worship song, which is one of my favorite worship songs, Another in the Fire, in her stories, and I was surprised because I didn't think that this person even listened to worship music. I was like, "What? Oh my gosh." And I realized no, it wasn't from her, it's from Lauren Schwab. Who is this girl? And I just felt like an instant connection with her, and I was like, "Okay, we need to talk. We need to talk." I saw God, and entrepreneurship, and Business Baptism on her Instagram, and I was like, "I need to pick this girl's brain. What's going on, right?"
That's really interesting how we met. So back to unplugging and your realization that everything we need is already within us because that's God, that's Jesus for me and for you as well. It's so hard for me sometimes to get rid of the distractions and to quiet my mind and all of the things, because the world is fighting for our attention. We are so plugged in, freaking ... What's her name? I don't want her to know, A-L-E-X-A, because I don't want her to start talking. She's always listening, and it's creepy, and this Edward Snowden stuff is for real, right? That's another topic, that's not this podcast, that's my husband's podcast, not this podcast. But yeah, so it's really difficult for me, especially now, to get there, to get to that point, to get to that quiet, that feel so good and feel so connected, where nothing else matters except me, and Jesus, and where my trust is beyond my borders, as the song says.
The way I get there is through, it's got to be deliberate. I don't get there easily through just reading, and that's hard for me to admit. Because everyone says, "Do your quiet time, do your quiet time in the morning." And I do it, but why am I not feeling more peace? But when I listen to Another in the Fire on Instagram, when I came across your stories, I was like, "Oh, let me go here." Yeah, that's how I quiet down.
That's so beautiful. Did you know it was a nine step process? Because you're like, "I have decided I'm going to come up with a nine step process to unplug." Why nine?
Lauren Schwab:
So just using the letters unplugged. So there was nine letters [crosstalk 00:20:35].
Sheila Bella:
Oh, cool.
Lauren Schwab:
Nine steps, it was that simple. Because I feel like God will just download whatever it is, right? It could've been unplug, U-N-P-L-U-G, right? Six, but God was like, "Unplugged." Right? Because it's like it happened, we unplugged so we could plug into the word, plug into ourself, right? Unplug from the world, plug into the word. So I just looked at those letters and I'm like okay, U, union, prayer, breath work, because you were even saying too, the reading part is not as easy. Usually that's because we have so much on our mind that we're like, "I can't concentrate on this book right now because I already looked at my phone and I saw this text, and I forgot to message that person back, and I have this interview coming up. I should probably get back to that email." Right? So our mind goes wild because we looked at our phone.
When we wake up in the morning, it's the most sacred time before we look at our phone. I'm peaceful, I'm still cozy. I'm like, "This is great." If I look at my phone and even see how many messages I have or the notifications, I'm done. Cash me outside, I'm done. So I'm like okay, I can't look at that, I have to have it on airplane mode so I don't see anything. That's the moment that I start with prayer. So I start praying and then I start breathing. I do box breathing, so I do like the five, five, five, five, inhale for five, hold for five, exhale for five, hold it out for five, and that makes me really calm and really peaceful. Then I'll kind of go into like what's next, the nourishment for me. So I will drink water because I think that it's really important, we're dehydrated after eight hours, because you should be sleeping for eight hours, right? There's the water, we got it, we got our water.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for reminding me.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah. So it's like do that first, because a lot of times people think they need to drink coffee to go to the bathroom, and I'm like actually it's the opposite, that's dehydrating you even more, which will make it hard for you to go to the bathroom. But nourish your body, mind body soul relationship. Sometimes I'll take this time right then to write a thank you card to somebody, or write a thoughtful card to somebody. So now I'm writing, I'm in this really good place, then I kind of go into play, prayer, learning. So the reading might not be 20 pages or 30 minutes of reading. It might just be the Bible verse of the day. Which so cool, today I got the alert for the Bible verse and it is my favorite, Philippians 4:13, which is my LLC, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." So, that's what I think about any time I'm in any situation. I'm like, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." It's on my Bible, it's engraved in there. It's everything, and I'm under the umbrella I can do it all.
So I kind of just go through those steps, and it can be a really quick process, it can be a longer process, depending on what you have going on that day. Whether you have kids and you have things that you got to get up for and get doing. If you can, try to just get up 10 minutes earlier, this whole practice can happen in 10 minutes or less. You can also just pick one of the steps that you want to do and not do all nine steps, right? Hey, I'm just going to [crosstalk 00:23:38]-
Sheila Bella:
That's nice.
Lauren Schwab:
... breathing.
Sheila Bella:
[inaudible 00:23:39] It's customizable. Going back to the verse of the day, I feel like we have the same Bible app.
Lauren Schwab:
We do. Is it the Holy Bible in One Year?
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Lauren Schwab:
[crosstalk 00:23:48].
Sheila Bella:
Hold up, let me see. It is Philippians 4:13, there it is.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes, yes.
Sheila Bella:
I have it set to go off at 7:30 AM.
Lauren Schwab:
Mine goes off at 9:00.
Sheila Bella:
[crosstalk 00:24:01].
Lauren Schwab:
Again, as we discussed, I don't have kids. So I usually don't take any meetings, any clients, anything before 10:00 AM. So I do my morning routine, I do my workout, eat, all that kind of stuff, then I start my day at 10:00 AM.
Sheila Bella:
Amazing, that's great.
Lauren Schwab:
So it kind of depends. Again, customizable.
Sheila Bella:
So going back to this Bible app real quick.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
So the Holy Bible app, right? Do we pay for this? Did we pay for this?
Lauren Schwab:
I think it's free. It's free.
Sheila Bella:
Okay, maybe I paid for the ... I feel like I paid for it. I feel like I paid for the pro version or something like that, the one without ads. So baby steps, right? I tell myself not to get on the phone first thing in the morning because whenever I don't do it, I do feel better. But then lately my devotional has been through this app. So I've disciplined myself to only go on this app, and I love their ... Guys, you have to check it out. I love their devotional because they make it look like Insta Stories.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes. Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
[inaudible 00:25:07] Sorry. So yeah, I was like, "Oh my gosh." So you think you're on Instagram but you're really, because Instagram is super addicting, right?
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
But you're really just doing your quiet time. Yeah, I love that.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, it's such a great app. That's why I have it go a little bit later. So I read Jesus Calling, I have Our Daily Bread. This is the one that my grandpa reads all the time, so I have [crosstalk 00:25:33] there. Then our Daily Bread and whatever I'm reading at the time. I'm in Mosaic College right now, so it's Bible study, scripture study, ministry skill building, character building. So I've been having a lot of assignments and homework for the first time in 15 years, so I'm reading a lot.
Sheila Bella:
I love it. Thank you so much for remind us to put ourselves first and that yeah, you can only pour from overflow.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, okay. And serve wholeheartedly from the overflow.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
I got to take your course or something because [inaudible 00:26:11].
I know this episode is just getting to the good part, but hold on a second. I wanted to stop and ask you if you ever feel like a brow or lash robot, are you constantly grinding but you're never ever free? You're the slave girl to your own business. Listen, you and I both know that the reason why you got into the beauty business to begin with is so that you can be your own boss, but if you're slaving away as a solopreneur, you're basically a slave to clients. Maybe you know that you need to scale, maybe you know you need to grow and expand, but you just don't know where to begin. The three things that every business owner needs in order to grow are strategy, systems, and support. You can't grow without all three, strategy, systems, and support. Enter Pretty Rich Bosses, my one-on-one coaching program that helps beauty entrepreneurs just like you scale their businesses. So if you feel like a factory worker, brows, lash, brows, lash, brows, lash, and you know you're just surviving but not really living, I can help get you there with just a little bit of guidance.
We are offering complimentary 60 minute strategy calls. All you need to do is go tosheilabella.com/apply. That'ssheilabella.com/apply. Do something the others aren't doing. Invest in yourself, invest in your business. Stop asking for advice from people who haven't done it themselves. Super easy, type in your information and someone from my team will get back to you and set up that free call right away. Mentorship is the closest thing to a shortcut. You can't Google your way to success. You could, but it's going to take a while. Take a leap of faith, go to sheilabella.com/apply.
Okay, so I wanted to chat a little bit today about godliness and entrepreneurship. So yeah, it's a strange thing because I think the idea is you can't do both because that's what the Bible says. It could be misconstrued. You can't chase both money and God at the same time, but the Bible is very practical and it does talk a lot about money. From what I gathered this morning, because I did a little bit of quiet time, is that we are given money and it is used as a test. Are we going to be good stewards of it? And those who are good stewards of money get more.
Lauren Schwab:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Sheila Bella:
Also, this brings up to me the idea that somebody, money is a form of power, right? It's a form of power in today's day and age. What kind of power? I don't know, but it has influence.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
So, the way I've always looked at it is if you're one of the good guys, isn't it your obligation to gain power because you know you'll be a good stewards of that power? Because someone has to have it, right? I think the good guys don't have it because they think it's evil to chase it. Yeah, I think that that is a mindset block that a lot of Christians have. Maybe that's why a lot of Christians stay poor and don't live up to their fullest potential, they exchange their purpose for complacency.
Lauren Schwab:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Sheila Bella:
But I want to hear your personal thoughts on that.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, so I think where we run into trouble is when we make money our idol over God, right? God should be our number one idol, the person that we look to, that we put above everything else. But it's my belief that when God is your idol, money flows easily and effortlessly to you. The thing is, like you said, we want the good guys to have the money because they're going to be the ones that go and help heal the world, change the world, help the world, right? So in the right hands, money is great. Money is energy, money is a tool. You can do so much good. The more money you have, the more you can help people, right? So it's like if I have an abundance of money, an abundance in my bank account, then I can go on mission trips around the world. I can help people in my city and I can volunteer more, right? If I have enough money to take care of my needs, my basic needs and my family, then I get to go out and volunteer more of my time. If I'm always just kind of in the rat race of I have to make this and I'm paycheck to paycheck, then I'm not going to have time to go out and volunteer, and offer my services.
I think so many people, yes Christians, are afraid to charge for their services because they think, "Well, if this is faith based then I need to give it away for free." But here's the cool thing. When you're doing the things in life that you would do for free, you're in your purpose and you can get to the point where you are charging for those things because you know you're going to do the right thing with the money. I think that that's the most important thing, is for people to know that again, the more money you have, the more that you can make an impact in this world. I think your income and impact are directly related.
Sheila Bella:
Is that one of your biggest motivators for wanting to gain wealth?
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, absolutely. I love the ability to not have to raise money to go help people, right?
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Lauren Schwab:
I like being able to make the money and get on a flight and go to Africa, go to the orphanages. Because here's the thing too, not only are we helping people when we go do that, but we're also gaining perspective on life. These kids are the happiest kids I've ever met in my entire life, biggest smiles on their faces, and so many people would say that they're lacking, but I think they're in abundance, because they know what actually matters in life and they have what they need, right? A lot of times that's just family.
Recently, and I think a part of the whole unplugged thing came from an experience where I lived in a cave for 60 days, and talk about quarantine, right? Living in a cave, stripped of every worldly possession, everything. I didn't have one thing on my body that I owned. Everything was taken away and I slept outside in the dirt, with minimal amounts of-
Sheila Bella:
Was this a mission trip?
Lauren Schwab:
Do what?
Sheila Bella:
Was this a mission trip?
Lauren Schwab:
No, no. This was actually a reality show, which is so crazy, and it was the most real thing I've ever experienced in my life.
Sheila Bella:
Oh my god.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
What show is this? Is it available on Hulu?
Lauren Schwab:
Yes, it is. Yeah, it's called Opposite Worlds and it was in 2014.
Sheila Bella:
Wow.
Lauren Schwab:
Which I totally believe prepared me for a time such as this, 2020. Kind of like what we talked about before we jumped into this interview, is that I feel like back in the day our parents would send us to time out and take away our devices so we could just be with ourself, and during that time you would self-reflect, and you would say, "Oh, maybe when I said that it affected this person and I'm going to go apologize." And you'd come and you apologize, and you're closer, and everything is great. But 2020 happened and we all got grounded and sent to time out with our devices. So in a time where it seems like we're more connected than ever, we're more disconnected than ever. So it's even more important now to be able to take that quiet time and take that time to truly self-reflect.
So yes, I've been in these situations. It's a good perspective shifter for sure.
Sheila Bella:
Wow, I'm going to watch that tonight. What was it called again?
Lauren Schwab:
Opposite Worlds.
Sheila Bella:
Opposite Worlds, in a cave for 60 days. Opposite World. Okay, thank you very much. I will be binging that and I'll be messaging you. Oh my gosh, that's no wonder. So that's one of the experiences that really shaped you.
Lauren Schwab:
That totally shaped me, yes. I actually know what it's like to live without any outlets, zero outlets, nothing to plug [crosstalk 00:34:53].
Sheila Bella:
For 60 days.
Lauren Schwab:
And you realize during that time who you are. I thought you had to be a professional athlete, professional musician or God just did not give you talent, he didn't gift you. In that time I realized that my gift was to facilitate relationships so we can live in a more connected world. I'm like that's it, that's what you're good at. You want to bring people together and connect to them. You just are in this place of ... And that's what I was taking that back to Africa, right? I'm like that's kind of the way they live, you know what I mean? They don't have doors on their houses, they kind of sleep outside, they have minimal amounts of food, but they're so happy, and the biggest smiles, and they're so grateful. That's how I came out of that cave. The biggest smile, so grateful. Literally the most happy I've ever been in my life. People would think that's so crazy, but I didn't have anything but I had everything, right? We had our little tribe that was in there together, surviving together, living together, and I was just like, "Man, the emails don't matter, the text messages don't matter." All these things. The only thing that matters is my family, my community and connection. That's truly it, and I would've never had that perspective shift had I not experienced that.
I truly thought I was the most grateful person on this planet. If you've ever received an email from me, it's like, "With gratitude, Lauren." But I was not grateful to brush my teeth. We didn't get to brush our teeth for 60 days, we didn't have pillows, we didn't have blankets, we didn't have any of these stuff. I'm like oh my gosh, I took all that for granted. I took brushing my teeth for granted, I took getting to pick what I wanted to eat for granted, I took my 11 pillows and my bed for granted. All these things, I'm like ... The answer was no. I felt like I was a homeless person and I was also in jail at the same time. It was just such a interesting social experiment, I think. But yeah, I've never been the same. That experience changed me and I've never been the same.
Sheila Bella:
Cool. I wish I had an experience like that. I don't think I want an experience like that now having two kids and everything, I can't leave for 60 days.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
But good on you for getting it out of the way, right?
Lauren Schwab:
I knew that's where I needed to be. I told God, I said, "God, if I'm supposed to be here, have me here. If I'm not, then send me home." Right? Because there was a whole process leading up to that and I just kept being like if I'm there, there's a reason, there's something I need to learn, and I really want to be present and learn all of it.
Sheila Bella:
That's amazing. Yeah, my husband and I come from very different backgrounds, right? So I come from an immigrant family. Yeah, I'm an immigrant, I came here when I was eight years old. So I saw my dad hustle and grind, and go from poverty, and we lived in a two bedroom apartment with 10 people, poverty to middle class, and then upper middle class. So I know what it's like to be poor, so I think that's why I'm always go, go, go. That's why I'm always in kind of like crisis mode, because I think it can be taken away at any time.
Lauren Schwab:
Absolutely.
Sheila Bella:
So my husband did not have that experience. He had a very stable upper middle class life. He's from Pennsylvania. His parents and his parent's parents were part of country clubs and things like that. So I feel closer to God at Nordstrom. He feels closer to God when he's in nature. Then there's a joke, I don't know, I'll say it, I think it was Chris Rock. I'm going to repeat a Chris Rock joke, I'm going to do it. So brace yourselves, kids. So Chris Rock says that only white people like camping because they like to pretend to be poor for fun.
Lauren Schwab:
Oh my gosh.
Sheila Bella:
That's what Chris Rock says. So my husband and I bring it up all the time. He thinks it's so funny because he thinks that's the story of his life. So that's why we argue about camping, because I'm like, "Why would I want to pretend to be poor for fun?" And he's like, "It's so beautiful." So anyway, 10 years together, I now see the beauty in unplugging. I crave it myself, I get it, but yeah, that's the cultural difference, right? So yeah, I definitely understand it now and see the value in it, so that's what our family does on our down time, is we camp. We pretend we're poor for fun.
Lauren Schwab:
Well, something that you just said was one of the biggest lessons I learned in the cave, is that nothing in this ... We don't own anything in this life, it's all borrowed.
Sheila Bella:
It's all rented, it's all borrowed, yes.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, and it can be taken away at any second. I think that's when you're like, "Whoa, my family is borrowed. In the blink of an eye they could be gone, my friends. These clothes, these cars." All these things, it's just borrowed. I also take better care of things that are borrowed I feel like. I'm like, "Okay, I have to give this back so I really need to take good care of it." So I think about that all the time, that every single thing is borrowed. Take good care of it and realize that it could be gone, and I think it's just you become way more grateful in life.
Sheila Bella:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. So it's not like he's correct or it's not like either one of us is right or wrong. It's just how we're shaped. We have the same goal, it's just that how we get there might be slightly different. But yeah, that's such a great reminder. One of my really good friends who used to be my photographer and then she moved away, took our ... I remember I just had my first baby and he was like 10 days old, and I remember having those first mommy tears because you have the baby blues a little bit, and also it was so overwhelming that now that I had so much more to lose. There was more at stake because I love something more than myself for the very first time. I remember she was taking our newborn photos and I was like, "Melissa, I don't know how you do it." Because she has like four kids. I was like, "I'm so scared." I'm crying because I'm just scared now, right? And then she reminded me, she was like, "Our kids are just leased, they're not ours. He's not yours, he's God's. Ultimately he will be God's in the end."
Lauren Schwab:
Yep.
Sheila Bella:
So appreciate this, and it was a light bulb moment and it was an aha, and that was the first time that that message really sunk with me.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
My kids, you're hanging on so tight to whatever it is that you love, and you're like, "Wait a second, that's not yours."
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
It's not yours. It's for you to enjoy now, it's a privilege. Such a privilege.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, that gave me the God bumps all over. It's just that we think we can control everything and we really can't control anything. We don't really know what's happening in the next minute, so that's such a great reminder. Such a great reminder, and I'm sure it gave you so much relief and permission to breathe.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, and the fact that it's not yours was actually a release. Because what we do is we hang on so tight to all of these things that we love, whether it's our success, or our stuff, or our loved ones, and we're like, "No, no, no, no." I'm just so paranoid about anybody in my family getting hurt or getting sick and everything, and it's just like, come on, Sheila. They're not yours, you don't own them, they're God's. Let go, they're God's. Thank you for that reminder.
Hey guys. Do you want to know the number one tool that I use for business? I pretty much use one tool to do everything. To access my website, my products, host my online courses, do my marketing, build my email list, and to stay in touch with my community, and I even use it for payments and recurring payments. That tool is Kajabi, Kajabi. Kajabi, K-A-J-A-B-I, like wasabi but Kajabi. Speaking of wasabi, one time I thought it was guacamole and I ate a bunch, and it went up my nose. It was not fun. They were both green, okay? But let's go back to how Kajabi is this simple, seamless integration with all of your payments, to host all of your online courses, and do your marketing for you and your website all in one place. Guys, I've tried other platforms that wasn't as good, wasn't as good. It ended up costing me more time and more money. So take it from me. If you want to make more money and keep more money you got to go to sheilabella.com/Kajabi with a K and see what it can do for you. And oh, you're welcome in advance. Back to the show.
Okay. So what is, to this day, what is the most difficult thing you've overcome? Switch gears a little.
Lauren Schwab:
Wow. Well, that experience in the cave was a very difficult thing to go through and to overcome.
Sheila Bella:
I'm so glad I get to watch it.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you [inaudible 00:44:36].
Lauren Schwab:
You're going to have to message me after you watch it.
Sheila Bella:
I will.
Lauren Schwab:
[crosstalk 00:44:40] because you do. So I started after that I wanted to create more experiences where I was unplugged. So I ended up after that, that same year I signed up to go hike Kilimanjaro in Africa. So it's funny because we pay for pain. We pay for pain, but it's in the pain that we grow, not the pleasure, right? So we're actually paying to grow and to expand. That was not a cheap adventure to Africa to hike Kilimanjaro. It's wild. It is probably to this day the most I've ever spent on an adventure, and it was the hardest thing I've ever done and ever overcome. Phones were off, we didn't even take them. We had a full month in Africa, but hiking Kilimanjaro, the last day, the summit day.
So we had basically hiked all day. We went to sleep for about two hours, from 8:00 to 10:00. Got up at 10:00 PM and started hiking, and it was the slowest snail pace, one foot in front of the other, you're freezing cold. Kilimanjaro goes up to 19,336 feet, and you just every step you thought, "I can't go. I can't go another step. I can't breathe." Most people have to get oxygen at that height. So we thought we're not going to get the oxygen because we don't want it to make us dizzier, right? So we just kept going and I thought I was just praying every step of the way, and I'm like, "God, if this is it, I guess I went out on a high note, literally, climbing mountains."
So it was difficult, and it was mind over matter. My body did not want to cooperate with me at all. One of the girls that was with us had to go back down for a while because she was completely blue in the face and she had altitude sickness, and it gets scary at that point. You're like, am I pushing myself past the limit? Past the point of return type of thing, or is this just my edge and I can go a little bit further?
So yeah, I would say that was one of the most difficult things, getting to the top. It was such a short lived I guess celebration, because you can only stay for about 10 minutes with that level of oxygen and then you will not be able to breathe anymore. So it was like get to the top, you're so cold, only your eyeballs are even showing. You're like, "Get a picture. If we don't get a picture it doesn't count." So it's like basically you're there, you get a picture, and you start going back down and the down was harder than the up.
Sheila Bella:
Really?
Lauren Schwab:
You are just toast, there's nothing left. It's like now it's 8:00 in the morning, you started at 10:00 PM, you don't stop for more than a minute or you literally will freeze, so you just have to keep moving or your body will jump clam up or cramp up. So then there's ice and you start slipping and falling. Your legs are gumby and you just slip and fall, slip and fall, and you just got to keep getting back up. I'm thinking, "If this isn't the biggest life lesson right here of when you fall you just have to get up, you just have to get up and keep going." And then your toes don't function. I mean, it was wild. But that mentally I think, it wasn't even the physical, it was mentally what I overcame during that hike. So yeah, I'd say that was definitely one of the experiences that again, shaped me, and it was an unplugged experience.
Sheila Bella:
How long did it take?
Lauren Schwab:
It was seven days from bottom to bottom, right? Bottom all the way to the top and back down.
Sheila Bella:
Did you have to train for it in any way?
Lauren Schwab:
So we didn't really train. I happened to, in that same month, hike Mount Whitney, which is a 14,500, and Half Dome. So I just hiked all those in the same month, in September of 2014. So yeah, that was kind of my ... I don't know how you even prepare for that. It's like so high you either can breathe or you can't, and you either get altitude sickness or you don't. There's no way to train yourself to not get altitude sickness. You just kind of have to acclimate at each level and hope and pray that you make it.
Sheila Bella:
Oh my god. Something you just said just really struck a chord with me. It's like we pay for pain.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah. How many times in life do we do that? We sign up for things, we literally pay for pain.
Sheila Bella:
So okay, I'm thinking. People pay for plastic surgery, people pay for [crosstalk 00:49:01].
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, pay for [crosstalk 00:49:01].
Sheila Bella:
What else do I pay for? Personal trainer.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
A program, a business course. Yeah, I guess we pay for pain because you know that that up levels you.
Lauren Schwab:
Oh my gosh, yeah. We invest in coaches and programs, and it's like [crosstalk 00:49:16].
Sheila Bella:
Or you should, you should invest in coaching.
Lauren Schwab:
They call you out, they're a mirror for you, and they all of a sudden show you your reflection, and that's painful, to face yourself.
Sheila Bella:
Therapy is like that too.
Lauren Schwab:
Therapy, you pay for the pain, yes. I mean, all of these different physical things too, right? We pay for a marathon. We pay to go run a marathon. You pay for trying out all these things, they're extremely excruciating and extremely painful, and we pay to sign up for these things. So it just shows me that we want to expand, we want to grow, and we're willing to pay the price for that pain to move through that.
Sheila Bella:
Do you know David Goggins?
Lauren Schwab:
He wrote a book, right? And he kind of-
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
You Can't Hurt Me.
Lauren Schwab:
He hurt you?
Sheila Bella:
No, You Can't Hurt Me is the name-
Lauren Schwab:
Oh, You Can't Hurt Me.
Sheila Bella:
... of the book.
Lauren Schwab:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm with you now.
Sheila Bella:
Have you read it?
Lauren Schwab:
I haven't read it, no.
Sheila Bella:
It sounds like it's right up your alley.
Lauren Schwab:
I'm sure. Yes, I believe he's the one that will do literally pushups for 24 hours or something crazy.
Sheila Bella:
He has like the world's highest pull-up record.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, okay, that was it. I was thinking pushups, but pull-ups.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. Pull-up record. Then he'll do these mega marathons, these ultra marathons that are like 100 miles or something like that.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
And he'll do it without shoes. He's crazy.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
He's really inspiring. He's a little much for some people, but I like him.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, I get his point, right? Of it's that thing again where you physically think you can't go anymore, but you can. It's all a mental game.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. He talks about his rule, which is the 60 40 rule, and he says that most people when they think they can't go any further are actually only at 40%.
Lauren Schwab:
Wow. I believe it, I believe it.
Sheila Bella:
I know, this is right up your alley. Go get it. I'm going to watch Opposite World, you should listen to You Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins and then we should compare notes.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes, I would love it. I'm so in for this.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. So I mean, it sounds like you've discovered, you've been able to tap into the other 60%.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, oh my gosh, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, because I don't think I can go any further when my husband takes me on a hike up in the neighborhood.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes, we can. So it's cool to put ourselves into those positions, into uncomfortable, right? Push into the discomfort to really see how far you can come, how far you can go.
Sheila Bella:
Competence, the times that I have done it and paid for pain, and then come out stronger, competence, the feeling of competence isn't something you can put a price tag on.
Lauren Schwab:
Ever.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, you're like, "Dang, I know this now." Or I did that. That's so priceless. Knowing that your body is that way and it can do things you never thought it could do, and your mind now works a completely different way, and now you feel so competent. Feeling competent, I feel like that's really underrated that word, competence.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah, and you'll never be the same, right? You are changed forever because of that experience, and that's what I'm saying. I will pay a lot for experiences. I truly will pay a lot for experiences because you can't put a price tag on it.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Lauren Schwab:
The person that I become in that process, and how that inspires other people to become, right? And it's like well, if she's doing that I can go do that. All these people start doing this and they start doing these things they said they could never do, but they did it. It's a belief switch, right? You literally believe you couldn't and now you believe you can because somebody else has went before you, they made it possible. I'll never forget the first big hike I ever did was in Colorado called Longs Peak and it's the first time I'd ever been at that altitude before, and I could go about 10 steps before I'd have to sit down, and there were these bull's-eyes toward the top of just get to the bull's-eye. There was this guy and he had this red helmet on, and he had the biggest pack ever. It was like he was carrying a couch on his back, and he was hurling himself over these boulders. I started talking to him and he said he was from Iowa, so I called him Iowa. He said, "It seems impossible, but I see people up there, so I know it's possible." And I was like, "That's right." We just need to see that there's someone that's done it, they've gone before us. We can get up there, it's possible because we see people doing it [crosstalk 00:53:55].
Sheila Bella:
That's so good. Thanks Iowa.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah. Thanks Iowa. This is like 11 years ago, Iowa, I'm still talking about him.
Sheila Bella:
That's so good. That's how I feel too about shining your light. I'm not afraid to look like I'm bragging, I guess. I just want people to know what's possible for them if you never know that this is possible for you to be in the freaking permanent industry, which is this humongous industry that I'm so blessed to be a part of. If you don't know that you can be this successful in it and create this kind of income for your family and for those around you, why would you ever even try? Why would you try? You think you're capped at like $20,000 a month, that's the peak.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
But why would you try, you know? Yeah, that's why I talk about it.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Oh my gosh, it's been so amazing talking to you. So last question before we sign off, second to last rather. What is your best advice for how to live a pretty rich life? The name of this podcast is Pretty Rich Podcast, and now I know that the term rich and wealth it's not just financial.
Lauren Schwab:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
It's spiritual, it's emotional, it's mental, it's all of the things. So can you sum it up? One piece of advice for how to live a pretty rich life?
Lauren Schwab:
Relationships. I am a relationship millionaire. I have such an abundance of amazing people in my life and I think that that's the most important thing, is for people to be rich in relationship, to know that kind of the level of your success is based on the people that you keep in your circle and around you, and really focusing in, because we talk about money and being rich and things, it's just a trust factor. It's like how much do you trust this person? Are you willing to invest in them? Because it's energetic, right? I invest in you, I trust you. Energetically that helps you and it kind of just moves around in that way. So I think that yeah, my best advice is to just be really selective with the people that you allow into your life and become a relationship millionaire.
Sheila Bella:
That's true, and everything else is a byproduct of that, I believe it.
Lauren Schwab:
Yes.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, love it. Where can we find you and how can we work with you?
Lauren Schwab:
So I'm on the gram, Instagram, Lauren L Schwab and I post all about all the upcoming stuff, so with Business Baptism, with the faith-based retreats, and those are really awesome. We do water baptisms, and worship, and all the fun things at the retreat. So yeah, so just on Instagram I'm always posting whatever is coming up. So you can definitely find me there.
Sheila Bella:
Awesome. I will link her Insta in the show notes.
Lauren Schwab:
Perfect.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you so much, Lauren. You're awesome.
Lauren Schwab:
Thank you for having me.
Sheila Bella:
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If you want to continue the conversation longer, check me out on Instagram. It's my favorite place to connect with you guys, @realSheilaBella. I'm happy to answer any of your questions or simply to chat and get to know you better. If you end up doing something super awesome like screenshotting this episode and reposting it on your stories, that would put the biggest smile on my face. Don't forget to tag me. I appreciate every share and love feedback from my listeners.
Also, do you have my number? Do you have my number? Because if we're going to keep hanging out, you should probably have my number. So you can actually text me, that's right. You can text me at (310) 388-4588. And if you're sick and tired of doing business alone and you're interested in accelerating your success by hiring a business coach or joining our mentorship program called Pretty Rich Bosses, go ahead and just apply. Why not? Check it out. Go to SheilaBella.com/apply and we'll schedule a free strategy session with either myself or one of my advisors. Of course, I got to include my kids. So here to send us off are Beau and Grey.
Grey, say share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
[inaudible 00:58:32] Mommy iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
Thanks for listening.
Sheila Bella:
Hey Beau, can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
Yeah. I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Good job, buddy.
