Ads Expertise Meets Personal Growth with Julie Lowe

Julie: [00:00:00] I think the big thing is if you dive into ads straight away and you're not super clear on your message, you're not super clear on who you're serving, how you're helping them, what do they really care about, and you're not able to speak very clearly to them, that's where a lot of times.
Julie: People kind of get into trouble and they, and they can waste a lot of money. So if a new entrepreneur comes to me and they're like, yeah, I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm like, don't do ads,
Dustin: Welcome back to the seven figure leap. I have another amazing guest today on another person that comes from my network, which, as you've probably picked up, if you listen to many of these episodes, that's where all of my guests typically come from. And so I met Julie through a really close friend, Cassie Shea, who actually interviewed me on the very first episode of this podcast.
Dustin: Cassie has been a great demonstration to me of the power of, being intentional and nurturing relationships, and then connecting people. so I was really grateful when Julie and I connected, I guess it was last year. we've stayed in contact and I finally had the [00:01:00] opportunity to have her on, my show and, learn.
Dustin: very excited to learn from her today about high performance habits and some of the things. that she will teach us to help us grow our business in a very unique topic for this show. So Julie, please take the opportunity to introduce yourself and let our audience know what you're all about.
Julie: Oh, well, thanks so much for having me on. my name is Julie Lowe. I'm an author, speaker and high performance coach. And my focus is really around helping entrepreneurs and high achievers reduce overwhelm, find clarity and really step into the fullest version of themselves. most importantly, avoiding that burnout along the way on an entrepreneurial journey, especially.
Julie: Yes.
Dustin: it. So I'm going to go straight into like personal stuff and then we'll go to your entrepreneurial journey. But. I don't meet a lot of people, with similar circumstances, but I know you've been married quite a long time. Probably. I'm assuming maybe more than half your life. Cause I've been married more than half my life at this point.
Dustin: and, your husband have been together since you were teenagers, right?
Julie: Yeah, yeah, we actually met freshman in college. [00:02:00] it's kind of a funny story. We went to different colleges, but my college roommate that the school just randomly picked for me is my husband's cousin and she introduced us freshman year, dated through college and yeah. So we've been together for going on 27 years and
Dustin: more than half your life.
Julie: we've been married since 2000. So yeah, long, long time together.
Dustin: Found that as a fun fact and like clambered to it is my wife and I were high school sweethearts. So I was a junior. She was a sophomore. and it was a funny story for us because she actually was in driver's ed.
Dustin: They realized she was like the youngest one in her class and they didn't have space. So I kicked her out into my PE class. And then I started flirting with her and you know, the rest is history. So yeah, married in 2001. but we dated obviously for quite a few years. Cause that was like 1995. So, yeah, really fun stuff.
Dustin: And the other fun fact about Julie, before we get into entrepreneur stuff is, uh, you still live in Lexington, right?
Julie: do. Yes.
Dustin: And Lexington is like one of my favorite [00:03:00] towns I've been to Lexington, Kentucky, beautiful horse country. And my wife and I actually spent our 20th anniversary there in a cabin on a horse farm.
Dustin: And I also, uh, And there's like no better place to go for bourbon. So, lots of fun stuff here, but let's, talk about what people actually want to hear, uh, which is, your entrepreneurial journey. So like maybe, give us a bit of your background and where your career is taking you.
Dustin: You know, in a general sense up to what you're focused on today.
Julie: Yes, I actually started my business in 2013, and career before entrepreneurship was in marketing. And that's where I really kind of, grew up is in that marketing career and graphic design even. I started the business in 2013 cause I wanted to help more people. I realized like, Hey, actually, instead of just helping this one company, I could be helping a lot of people.
Julie: so I really started kind of diving in there, ended up quitting my job in 2014, went full time into my business and it's been amazing. the thing that I love the most about helping entrepreneurs with their marketing is specifically at this [00:04:00] point for the past seven or so years, I've been helping with Facebook advertising.
Julie: the thing I love is that it really helps entrepreneurs grow their business in a very sustainable way. And it was something that I was finding a lot of entrepreneurs had these amazing businesses and they were so heart center, but they just didn't know how to get the word out. Yeah. And advertising can be really overwhelming.
Julie: Marketing can be really overwhelming. And I really went into it honestly with the heart of just wanting to serve and take, something off their plate that was really overwhelming and was holding them back in their business. And so even though it's pretty analytical work, you know, in advertising, especially Facebook ads, that's really where I came into business was just wanting to help entrepreneurs because I, fell in love with the entrepreneur community.
Julie: I just loved, love the idea of helping them and didn't necessarily see myself ever being an entrepreneur, to be honest. I kind of fell into it.
Dustin: that's funny. See, I see you have more of a corporate marketing background. You're like, I really like these entrepreneurs. I'd like to work with more of them. So I guess I'll like, go do [00:05:00] that full time. in doing that, you became one, right? He became an entrepreneur. picked up on, Heart centered or like you would say mission driven.
Dustin: But are you drawn to working with a certain type of entrepreneur, like a certain industry? Is it like coaches or is it, e commerce? I'm just kind of curious who your favorite clients are.
Julie: Yeah. It's mostly been coaches and consultants. That was kind of the world I fell into whenever I got online, and it was such a supportive community. It was really amazing to me. most of the work I've done has been online. Entrepreneurs that are coaches, consultants, very little econ businesses.
Julie: where I came in at. and I'm still, you know, 11 years later serving that community. and it's been fantastic. And then of course, as you know, it's evolved over the years. Yeah,
Dustin: version of what you're doing and then your coaching and speaking and the new book that you wrote. but I am curious because actually the majority of our audience would say they're in that online coaches, consultants, business.
Dustin: And I think a lot of people are very intimidated by paid ads, especially, Facebook, meta ads. a lot of [00:06:00] people that I've run into are like, yeah, I tried that, for like a month and I wasted money or whatever. Like I didn't get anything out of it. So this is kind of a sidebar, but I'm curious. In doing this successfully and sustainably for 11 years and maintaining a lot of the same clients, obviously, that means they're successful. what do you find in maybe in today's environment? Because I'm sure it's evolved. What's a good ad? And I know that's like a general, but like, do you call people to a lead magnet or do you call people straight to a call or some sort of content? do you find works the best for coaches and consultants?
Julie: honestly, I've, done a little bit of everything. I think the big thing is if you dive into ads straight away and you're not super clear on your message, you're not super clear on who you're serving, how you're helping them, what do they really care about, and you're not able to speak very clearly to them, that's where a lot of times.
Julie: People kind of get into trouble and they, and they can waste a lot of money. So if a new entrepreneur comes to me and they're like, yeah, I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm like, don't do ads, which sounds funny. That's what I do for a living, you know, right. It's helping with ads, but if they're not ready for it [00:07:00] yet, then they could potentially waste a bunch of money on Facebook ads and if they're trying to do it themselves and they really have no clue what they're doing again, they could end up wasting money.
Julie: So that's, that is common. But I think number one, getting very, very clear on who you're talking to, how you can help them, what they actually care about. And you know, the whole axiom of tell them what want and give them what they need. Like, if you understand that, so having that really clear understanding of your market and how you can help them, I think really helps. I think the thing that's going to give you the biggest bang for your buck most of the time is going to be some sort of lead magnet. So it could be just delivering something to them. I have a lot of entrepreneurs that run webinar funnels to
book a call for high ticket coaching programs. I coached inside of a large program for many years that that was the setup and that can work very well.
Julie: It still does. People, a lot of times they'll say like, ah, it's such, this is dead, right? Like emo's dead,
Dustin: Right. Right.
Julie: things are dying all the time. and I think, it can all work. I think it's a matter of finding the way you love to run your business, [00:08:00] the way you like to conduct things, and then just finding that offer that really resonates.
Julie: all of it works, honestly, if you can just find, the right thing for you.
Dustin: Great. I love that. And I'm just nodding the whole time and smiling. Cause like, I'm not doing any marketing with paid ads as far as like a service for clients. we focus on podcast guesting, which, is organic. And so in a sense it's quote unquote free, but it does require your time and energy and effort.
Dustin: Sure. so you want to, do it well. And so what's really funny about what Julie shared there about, Hey, to do really well with paid ads, you have to get really clear on who you want to serve your message, and what they actually want, That's exactly where we start with podcast guesting too, right? Like first, we have a five P framework and the first P is purpose. It's really getting clear on why you want to be a podcast guest, who you're going to serve with it, what transformation you provide, so that you can like set yourself up to have a very effective interview. So. I guess if you're listening, the takeaway is whether you think you want to do paid organic interviews, whatever you like, first of all, you have to get really clear on who you serve and what they care about and like what transformation you actually provide them at the end of the day.
Dustin: And what's really cool is once you have [00:09:00] that, you can do like podcast guesting, you can amplify that with ads. You can do joint webinars. I'm actually, I'm doing a partner webinar today with self publishing. com about growing your business with the book. what's cool about that is like, They have dialed this in because, they've been doing this for like 15 years in their case.
Dustin: and I do joint partnership. Trainings with other people too, about my area of expertise. And it works universally because I know what I'm talking about and I know what people care about after having, you know, a hundred plus clients, go through this accelerator program that we run. So I love that.
Dustin: That's a great confirmation. I think for people that you can't skip that part, it's, it's the most, it's the most important part.
Julie: Yeah.
Dustin: You're still running a marketing agency. it sounds like it's in a large way, kind of a self managing, company.
Dustin: Obviously, you're still involved, but it's 11 years. It's got a track record heavily based on referrals and lots of Ongoing work, which sounds like has freed you up to be a little more creative with your own time as an entrepreneur. So once you fast forward to like present day and how you love to spend your time, as an entrepreneur in your current business.
Julie: Yeah. So like you said, the ad business is still going great, but what kind of happened was in 2020 when the world was on fire, I realized that I really needed. To find a way to run my business, to live my life and burn myself out. My anxiety really hit a peak in 2020, which I think is maybe not surprising, but I am somebody that's dealt with anxiety my entire life.
Julie: and it really just came to a head in 2020. Had the business, things were going really well for me, but I was just honestly kind of falling apart with the work hours, having The kids at home, you know, for an entire year doing school on Zoom. and it just came to a head. And honestly what happened was I was like, okay, I know somebody else has figured this out.
Julie: This is not a a new problem. Who has figured it out? In my mind, it was coaches, probably from working with them for so many years in my business, I thought, okay. Coaches have figured that out. So if I become a coach, if I went through a coaching [00:11:00] certification program, then I'd have all the answers.
Julie: I didn't necessarily at the time think I would become a coach, but I thought like, Oh, if I took a really good certification program, I'd get the answers. So like you do, I joined this massive nine month long coaching certification program in the middle of the pandemic. Well, I was overwhelmed. It seems kind of nonsense.
Dustin: We're overwhelmed. Uh, I have too much going on. I think I'm going to go get a coaching certification for nine months on top of everything. I, it was funny when you say it now, but. It totally makes sense in that you saw, you're probably seeing, like a bias, right?
Dustin: Like you're seeing the best parts of these coaches, businesses, they seem to be thriving through the pandemic. Everything's online anyway for them. And you're just like, I may not want to be a coach, but if I could market and sell services and do things like they do, then maybe it would Address my anxiety.
Was that sort of the mindset going into that coaching program?
Julie: I mean, like I said, the ad business was doing really well. It's more of like, I think that somebody has the secret to how can you be a high performer? How can [00:12:00] you be a successful business person and not be constantly stressed, not have anxiety and, and work yourself into the ground. And I thought like, okay, the mindset work that I'm doing, cause I can be into personal development.
Julie: studies in 2013. Before that, it was new to me when I, just told a friend yesterday. I think entrepreneurship greatest personal development journey you could ever go on. It makes you do your own work. So I've been doing, work on myself for seven years, but I just felt like I was missing something.
Julie: And I thought, well, the coaches. They must know what it is. So I joined this, like I said, it was like a 500 hour coaching certification program, definitely added something to my plate, but I'm so happy I did it because I did learn a lot and my side benefit fell in love with coaching. You know, turned out that I think I'm in a natural coach and I loved coaching people and so it really started helping me and it really did help me get my anxiety and my stress under control, even though I was adding something to my [00:13:00] plate honestly, I fell in love with coaching and so it's something that I ended up exploring even once I got my own personal benefit out of it.
Julie: And started to get my life back under control again. it's so different from running an ad agency, marketing and advertising and, you know, I spend time in spreadsheets and like analyzing numbers and stuff with the ad work and then coaching.
Julie: It's just a whole other side of my personality, the whole other set of skills that I can use. And I just, I honestly fell in love with it. I also started really geeking out on the neuroscience behind things. that's one of the things that really got me involved in, going down kind of the rabbit hole of research that ended up leading to the book.
Julie: actually took a coaching certification program with a neuroscientist, Shante Taylor. She's a UCLA trained neuroscientist and she has this amazing coaching certification program. And it's all about using brain science essentially to understand how to best coach someone. [00:14:00] And it was just fascinating to me it changed my life.
Julie: I mean, I went from somebody that's been stressed out since preschool, that really, for the most part, I have my stress under control and I feel so much more resilient now that I And like I can handle whatever comes up did not, feel that way before. And that's where the book came about a few good habits was really looking back at that journey from where I started to where I got to the place where I feel like, Hey, I'm in a, much better place now and really distilling everything I learned because.
Julie: It took me a couple of years to figure everything out and figure out what worked and what didn't. And I read so many books. And like I said, I took multiple, multiple coaching certifications. And I was like, it shouldn't be this hard. People are so stressed out, especially now. And I'm like, it shouldn't have taken me thousands of dollars of coaching certifications.
Julie: hundreds of hours of study to figure this out. So it was really just me taking everything I learned and distilling it down into the simplest form I could [00:15:00] and writing the book.
Dustin: Yeah, no, definitely unpack the book and we're going to let you kind of teach our audience about some of these core habits, specifically through the lens of entrepreneurship and how that can help us reduce our stress grow. But there's a couple of things I just want to. Point out or pick on in a good way from what you shared in your own journey.
Dustin: there's definitely some parallels with mine. one thing I heard is just this mindset of openness and experimentation kind of like there's something good over here. I'm not really sure exactly what it is, but I feel like I should go explore this coaching program. Right. And then I like, Then you got curious about neuroscience.
Dustin: I'm going to go explore that and like work with a neuroscientist. And it came also out of a bit of an internal, itch that needs to scratch. for me, like I was an engineer, so very analytical, running teams, working in spreadsheets and software, and then I had this itch for creativity. And so I got in for me, it was like marriage ministry. And then we, I created a marriage website and wrote a book on marriage stuff. That is way back in like 2009. And it was like the beginnings of I didn't even use the word entrepreneur.
Dustin: Like it wasn't something I was [00:16:00] exposed to growing up, but I had no concept of it. And I did this totally as like a side hobby. And then it became a business. I'm like, actually, I really like this stuff. so it took me a while. It took me like eight years. And then I was like, okay, I'm like quit engineering and become a marketer and an entrepreneur.
Dustin: and then in COVID, I was running a company and I was doing trade shows and I had all my kids at home too. And my wife's a special ed teacher and she was teaching, trying to teach special ed from home on zoom in the same office that I'm sitting in. It was like maddening.
Dustin: And I'm like, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? Because I was traveling to trade shows and everything. And that's what pulled me into podcast guesting. It was like, I just going to try this because it seems like I could do it at home and then it like took off. from there, people started asking me how to do it.
Dustin: And then like, I became a coach, right? Like it was totally accidental and was, just scratching my own itch. so I just totally like relate to. What you shared, and I just hope it's really encouraging for people listening that what you're doing right now isn't necessarily what you'll be doing in a year or three years.
Dustin: And it's okay. And like, you may not be able to predict it. And as a planner, that's really hard for me to accept. But in reality, as I look back and like these weird [00:17:00] dots cannot connect in the rearview mirror, I could have never predicted them moving forward. But like Julie, my encouragement to the audience is like, I was open and I was like, I'm going to try this.
Dustin: You know, if I try it and I don't like it, that's okay. but yeah, maybe I can invest some time, money, energy here and explore it and see what benefit it provides. So for you, at least for now, and of course, you know, we talk in a couple of years, I'm sure you'll have evolved even further your journey.
Dustin: But today, the culmination of this work so far, at least has been this book, right? A few good habits. You shared, kind of how you got into the book, was a culmination of not only your marketing background and then exposure to coaching and then really neuroscience, what I heard, I think, is you wanted to, like, take all this stuff that you had learned and experienced through your own, like, anxiety and things that you've dealt with over the years and just really simplify it.
Dustin: I mean, is that, would you say, like, simplification is sort of like the main theme behind what you wrote? Yeah.
Julie: It really is. it was partly born out of the fact that I was seeing all of this honestly terrible advice online where I was getting really frustrated and I read all of these really great books, but so many of them I didn't feel were practical and practical, especially for working moms. I would see things where I would talk about like.
Julie: Well, just sleep until your body is ready to get up. And I'm like, what are you living on? Cause number one, if you have kids, they're not going to let you sleep in. And if they're in school, you you gotta get a pretty early for school in most cases. And unless you're an entrepreneur, you don't have that kind of control over your schedule.
Julie: And it was just like some of this advice. I just thought like, it's not practical to have a two hour long morning routine or to sleep and not use an alarm or whatever it may be. And it was just like, this is not the real world that most people are living in. so it's really frustrating.
Julie: And I thought, you know what? That and sometimes I would read a book and it would give a lot of random good tips and tricks and things, but I wasn't really clear what I needed to focus on that would really kind of give me, the biggest bang for your buck in terms of, you put the effort [00:19:00] in and you're going to see the best response in terms of feeling better, reducing your stress.
Julie: Increasing your, productivity or feeling more like you're a high performer it was really interesting because sometimes people say like, well, you started learning about reducing your stress. What is high performance have to do with that? Because it sounds like the opposite. A lot of people think about somebody being a high performer and they think about, hustle culture and just working nonstop and that kind of thing and doing, whatever you have to do to be successful.
Julie: But it was really interesting. I started studying high performance from Brendan Burchard, and I love the way he defines high performance because the way he defines it is. Yes, you're successful over the long term, but you do it in a way that protects your mental and physical health and protects your relationships.
Julie: And if you are super successful, but you've wrecked your relationships, you've ruined your health, you have, a ton of stress and anxiety, and you're wrecking your personal life, you're not a hyper for you might be a high [00:20:00] achiever, you're successful, but you're not really a true high performer.
Julie: Transcribed If you're doing it in an unhealthy way, and I kind of realized like, Hey, you know, actually high performance habits are also the habits that reduce stress, right? They help your mental and your physical health. it all kind of clicked into place at that point where I thought like, Oh, actually, there's a few things that you can do.
Julie: That are going to help with both. They're going to help you think more clearly, have more energy, be more creative, be more productive, more focused, and they're going to reduce your stress at the same time. And you're not going to be biting the head off of your spouse because you're strung out on stress and you don't have any energy or patience left at the end of the day. because that's usually what ends up happening as we, kind of give it all to work because we do care about being successful and doing our best and serving our. Our clients, and then unfortunately our families tend to get the worst of us in that scenario. and that's what I was trying to get
Dustin: and we're going to unpack some of these [00:21:00] habits so people can sink their teeth into the practicality. I know that they're in them and they're very simple, but profound, the most impactful things are always the most simple. They're always the things that are really easy to do and the things that are really easy not to do.
Dustin: And so we tend to just not Do them. But, I think there's so much value in what you shared there through this lens of like, when you, when people say high achiever or high performer, at least in the entrepreneurial circles, they're immediately like, Oh, they make a lot of money. Right? Like they have a big business. what you just shared those, like so important, you can chase that and you can get that, but if you do it and then you like have a heart attack, what was the use? So if you do it and you get divorced and you you actually wanted to have a spouse for the rest of your life or your kids hate you or don't know you, like What's the point?
Dustin: and I love what you said from Brenda Michard, that's actually not success, right? that's chasing one quadrant of, this part of your life to an extreme that actually makes you a loser. Like at the end of the day, you lose. Right. and it's funny, I'm not going to share like the specifics, but I'm holding up a little post it for people on the audio. I'm a big believer in having like a keystone goal for the year. [00:22:00] And what's funny about what you just said, and what's on this piece of paper, that is my keystone goal is it's both a revenue goal and a health goal combined. Like it's a resting heart rate goal along with a revenue goal, because I want to be very conscious of, yes, I want to grow my business, you know, seven figure leap people that have heard the story behind this brand. that is important, but not if it stresses me out and like makes me have, anxiety and makes me have some of the, some of the things I've experienced in the past when I got completely out of whack and was so focused on just business growth. so yeah, all about, let's Do it all, but do it all in a way that is sustainable and makes us feel good and that we can celebrate the success with a good conscious because, it's not only business success, but you know, it's well rounded.
Dustin: So, before we get into the specifics on the high performance habits. I'd love to just take second here and talk about your vision for like where you're going with this. it's very successful agency, wrote the book, doing coaching, doing speaking. the three year vision for Julie, is it, much more heavily in the speaking and coaching realm or where do you see [00:23:00] yourself really focusing over the next several years?
Dustin: No, to the point where it, isn't something that is, a full time job essentially. And so, bringing on some more help there, I think, so that I can really oversee things and take myself more and more out of the agency side. And then growing more and more in the, coaching space, I'm speaking some locally now and want to do more of that. And then, you know, who knows, maybe I have another book in me, but the thing I love most is honestly the coaching, if I could coach. Every day I'd be thrilled. I just really enjoy that having that interaction, really seeing people having the aha. And I think the biggest thing is people, because so many of my clients are especially female entrepreneurs that come in and they're so overwhelmed.
Julie: And to see them at the end of the call, sitting up a little straighter, smiling and just feeling like they have the sense of relief because they have clarity now and they feel like things are doable. and I don't think that'll ever get old. [00:24:00] So
Dustin: and that creates such a cool ripple effect, Because I'm sure some of them are also coaches or they run companies with employees and by helping them, empowering them to have peace and calmness and less stress. it unlocks. All this goodness that then flows into all the other people in their life, you know, the family, their employees, their, business partners or whoever they're interacting with their clients.
Dustin: so that's really cool. So do you mostly, is your coaching business mostly focused on female entrepreneurs? moms, does that matter? I'm just kind of curious who you really love, who you get the most charge out of helping and then the what, as far as, is it all about like high performance?
Dustin: instilling these habits and helping them, have balance or like sort of what's the focus of your coaching.
Julie: Yeah. I would say the majority of my clients are female entrepreneurs, but I do work with some people that are leaders in the corporate space, men and women. I do both. I would say the majority of my clients have always been, female entrepreneurs though. Some, some are moms, some are not. it's funny [00:25:00] because I had found myself at some point feeling like, you know, it's kind of a marketing thing, right?
Julie: we have the marketing brain. And so we always are told to niche down. And, and in terms of coaching, even I felt like, oh, it's got to be one thing and, high performance coaching the way I was taught through Brennan Burchard, there's actually a very specific structure to that, you know, to call it certified high performance coaching, you follow a particular format, and I have other coaching certifications as well.
Julie: And really, the place I've gotten to is, lightening up in terms of what I define as coaching. So I would say I do a mix of coaching and consulting because somebody that's been in business for 11 years, grown a really successful business, my marketing and advertising background. I am a mom, you know, and I have been, you know, like you said, married for over 20 years.
Julie: So I have family kind of background. I have all this neuroscience background and, tons and tons of research that I've done and habits at the business background. So it's really interesting. The calls, the coaching sessions end up being a mix. Like sometimes we'll [00:26:00] start off and we'll be talking about, business and how to market something and messaging and things like that and somebody's offers.
Julie: And then next thing I know we're talking about how to regulate your nervous system and how to reduce stress. And now I'm having this issue with my child and how we interact and right. And so it kind of runs the gamut. So, the marketer side of my brain is like, You can't be that broad, but honestly, that's where it ends up going.
Julie: I would say, finding clarity and reducing overwhelm are the biggest areas that we talk about and then business, of course.
Dustin: And it's funny, like as a marketer too, it's like, you niche down, it's so much easier to sell stuff. And, one of the things I teach people from my own experience is we think of target markets as niches as either like, we think of heavily as identity, a female entrepreneur. She's 40 years old. She's got three kids, whatever. Like have these like avatars. However, just as important and sometimes more important is like intent, you have a very diverse mix of types of people you work with, but if they have a common intent, like that could be your niche.
Dustin: , and [00:27:00] then, the easiest thing to market is a combination of both, like an intersection. Like I only work with 40 year old women who want this intent
Dustin: and some people do that. And it makes their marketing way easier because you're know exactly who you're talking to and what they want.
Dustin: However. I purposely don't do that because I think it'd be super boring. So like in my, groups that I run, I purposely have people from all different industries. it's totally a mix of male and female, sometimes majority one way or the other. some family and people, some single people, some younger, some older, like, and that just creates a great diversity in this setting that I'm creating, which is group, masterminds.
Dustin: It just creates so much diversity of thought and like experience and point of view, but they all have the same intent, right? Like, they all want to use podcast guesting to grow their business. Many are coaches and consultants. Some are agency owners. I think that's what I picked up with yours is like, they all have a common intent.
Dustin: I need to reduce my overwhelm. I need less stress. I need more clarity. and so there, Yeah. Particular job or business or gender or whatever. It doesn't necessarily matter. Right. Cause they all have a common intent. so I love that. And I love that you recognize [00:28:00] that and like, lead with it, most people would be like, this is my ideal client. But you're like, yeah, I kind of work with everybody and I kind of do everything. But I think the key with the marketing And you've been nodding along. So I think you'll agree is like, well, that's all true. I'm sure you still lead with in a conversation.
Dustin: Like, here's like the main three outcomes I can provide you because you have to be able to name the intent. now you get in there and it's like, talk about my offer. Talk about my kids. You said it earlier. So what they want, give them what they need. sometimes those are different things on the front end.
Dustin: And happens when you're actually working with someone? So. Yeah. Love all that. Love the vision. I love where you're headed and like continuing to lean into speaking and coaching and maybe writing another book. But for the rest of our time, Julie, I would love sort of hand the mic to you and just let you do sort of a mini training or an overview.
Dustin: what you think is most pertinent from your book and from your coaching for that matter, around high performance habits. So, entrepreneurs, the people that you work with, uh, basically are listening, , overwhelm stress. Like I'm growing my business, but I also got a family and like dealing with all this stuff.
Dustin: What are like those [00:29:00] keystone things that people can do to really make a difference as possible?
Julie: Yeah. So in terms of the book, you nailed it earlier when you said, we're not doing the simple things. We're not doing the things that are really common sense. It's one of my favorite phrases is it might be common sense, but it's not always common because that's what I really feel. And when I looked at what worked over the years of me trying to dial all this in, I was like, It's not the fancy stuff, right?
Julie: It's not the two hour morning routine or whatever. I don't need some fancy app to help me with a routine. It's really the common sense practices that we're ignoring because we think we need some fancy system or we think it's got to be complicated. But then, I talked to somebody and be like, were you getting enough sleep? Well, no, like I have a glass of wine and I'm up till midnight because finally the kids are in bed and I have time to myself. So no, I'm not
really getting enough sleep. And are you moving your body? Are you getting any exercise? No, I, you know, I'm kind of chained to my desk all day and. I don't get up enough and I [00:30:00] never work out whatever, but I don't know why I'm stressed and I don't know why I'm tired and I don't know, right. You know, it's those basic core foundational things that sound like so boring and so simple. you tell somebody, well, get more sleep, at least seven to eight hours of sleep and make sure you're moving your body every day and maybe actually get outside in the sunshine every once in a while, that's like, well, yeah, duh, me something I don't know.
Julie: Right.
Julie: And are you doing it? That's the thing. Like we're ignoring these just core foundational pieces of self care and then expecting ourselves to be able to be at our best for our brains to be, clear and sharp and for us to be able to really analyze a situation or come up with something really creative in our marketing.
Julie: But we're not doing basic self care. That's really where the habits in the book come in and I've named
Julie: two, two of the four.
Dustin: and exercise are two, I guess.
Julie: Yeah. And I really, get into the neuroscience and the science behind like why they really matter. Because I knew for me, like I would hear it and I would be one of those people that would be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:31:00] Morse, like whatever. You gloss over it. So I really kind of needed to know the science behind it and how it was really going to benefit me in my business and in my day to day life. And then once I started really, really understanding what was happening, like when you sleep and the fact that brain's doing a lot of.
Julie: cleanup processes when you sleep and it's really consolidating information and just how important it is and that I was doing things that I thought would maybe help me sleep and unwind, but it was really like the opposite of good sleep habits, like having that glass of wine at night. Thank you. Like, well, it's a depressant.
Julie: It's going to help me sleep. Oh, you mentioned earlier your heart rate variance score, you're really messing up your recovery when you sleep, when
you do this and you know, I was doing all these little things that were just adding up into these bad habits that were making things worse for me.
Julie: and I was definitely the person chained to my desk. Not getting up, not moving enough and I'd be like, [00:32:00] I've been with my husband like 27 years, he doesn't care, like it's fine, like I don't have to look in a bikini
Dustin: The bikini body. Well,
Dustin: I understand. No, it's not about that. Right. It's actually about how you feel your mental health, your anxiety or stress. sure you might get into the other two, but even with like sleep and exercise, let's just say exercise just to keep it as simple as possible. I know 100 percent personally, like I took a walk before we got on this call.
Dustin: I try really hard in the afternoons cause I'm on zoom all day, between coaching and calls and interviews and all that stuff. I call them God walks, I'm a Christian. So. For me, it's like I leave my phone at home, and it's literally a 15 minute walk around my neighborhood with no phone.
Dustin: it's just kind of an active walking thinking prayer sort of time. makes such a difference. It's only 15 minutes, especially if it happens to be sunny and nice out. But even if it's not, makes a big difference. So for me, like, the way to incorporate that it's always right after lunch.
Dustin: And I like have that time on my calendar that I don't schedule meetings. not perfect with it. And I was sick for a couple of weeks and I kind of got out of that routine and I started to feel more miserable in part because I was sick and I was like, well, it's really [00:33:00] cause I'm not moving my body and I'm getting new aches and pains and anxiety sets in.
Dustin: So it's like super easy to get out of it. So I guess my core thing here is just with exercise, are there. Best practices or triggers or something that we can as entrepreneurs use to make sure we're actually doing it. And it doesn't just like, well, I'm too busy. I got too many clients today. I'm just, I just won't exercise.
Julie: Yeah. I think number one, like understanding just how much of an impact it does have on your mood and your performance. because like you said, when you are doing it, you may notice like, Oh, this is helping, but really when we notice that the most is when we get out of the habit and they're like, why do I feel so bad?
Julie: Okay, moved and gotten out of my desk chair in a week, so I think just really understanding how big of an impact it does have and knowing it doesn't have to take forever, the 15 minute walk is perfect. You're moving your body and you're getting outside. Literally, just being outside in nature can reduce your stress on its own, even if you weren't moving.
Julie: a lot [00:34:00] of entrepreneurs, the biggest objection they'll have to exercise is, I just don't have time. But if you even do two minutes of intense exercise a day, number one, it's going to reduce your stress, and number two, it can actually help your lifespan, your overall health span, and longevity. So it's not even just good for stress reduction.
Julie: There has been some studies in the past couple of years that show even just two minutes can have a positive lifelong impact on your health. So take home exercise snacks. They're these little bite sized workouts, two minutes, five minutes, get your heart rate up. That's the main thing. It's going to burn off the stress.
Julie: It's going to make you feel better. It's one of the number one things actually you can do to reduce your stress is to move your body. In terms of like making sure it happens, like you said, put it on your calendar. You actually have to schedule this stuff in and you link it to your lunch, which was really smart too.
Julie: Anytime we're starting a new habit, if we can link it to an existing habit, makes it so much easier. Again, so [00:35:00] much research on this. If it's something new, you don't want to have to think about it any more than you possibly, have to. So linking it to something that's always going to happen. So sometimes people say, well, I've got, um, vitamins and stuff, but I never take them.
Julie: I know they'd help, but I forget to take them. Do you make coffee every morning? Like vitamins? You're never going to forget, right? So link it up to something that already happens. James Clear calls it habit stopping.
Julie: That definitely works. And just having the plan. so apparently only 3 percent of people actually write down their goals and make a plan when they want to do something, but you're three times more likely to actually do it and actually follow through if you have a plan.
Julie: So it can be super simple. It's called an implementation intention. you need to know when you're going to do it, where you're going to do it and what exactly you're going to do. So for example, I'm going to 15 minute walk. Right after lunch, five days a week, and then, you know, exactly when it's going to happen.
Julie: It doesn't become like, Oh, do I do [00:36:00] it before lunch or after lunch? No, it's after lunch. Am I walking or something? No, it's walking, right? Like, you know, exactly when it's going to happen. There's no like, wishy washy ness of like, Oh, did I do it? Oh, did I do it later? It's like, you know, and when you're really clear on what you're going to do, you're way more likely to follow through.
Julie: same thing that applies in our business. If we don't have a really clear plan and really clear goals, we're less likely to hit them because it's all too vague. So same thing applies to, to healthy habits, like exercise, make sure, you know, when and where you're going to do it, what the schedule is, and then really importantly, I think is having a backup plan because things don't always go to plan that's just real life.
Julie: You know, there's going to be a day when you go to walk and it's snowing or it's raining and you're like. Yeah, I'm not doing it today. Like I'm getting into that. That's okay, but you need to know what you're going to do instead. Because if you don't have that backup plan, you're going to go like, maybe I'll just scroll on Facebook for 15 minutes instead, right?
Julie: won't necessarily pick the healthy choice, but if [00:37:00] you're like, anytime I go to walk and the weather is just terrible and I'm not going to get out in it, I'm going to do this instead. I'm going to pull up a YouTube video and do a HIIT workout or I'm going to, dance to a song in my office for five
Dustin: Jumping jacks. I mean, just something basic, but like Dustin: knowing you have that replacement. So that's awesome. And I'm sure this is universal to all the habits, but. I think one of the key things that differentiates your approach to this, and what I love about it as someone who likes to understand the reason behind things, is the why, like you said, first of all, if you study the neuroscience or let, you distill the neuroscience for us and basically you understand why things are so important, then you won't want to skip your sleep or you're like, even in our conversation, you've, even though I kind of knew this, and I'm sure you hear this a lot, like you've really crystallized that.
Dustin: Exercise is not just about looking good or whatever, it's actually by investing 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever in exercising, you'll actually multiply your effectiveness to where you actually get more business stuff done. And I think the same is true of sleep. It's like, well, I to sleep, that extra hour.
Dustin: Well, if [00:38:00] you sleep another hour, you're actually going to be way more alert, productive, clear headed throughout the day. Cassie, who I got to open this with, yeah. she's kind of been at my side through what I've described in the episode with her, which is like a 10 X leap in my coaching business that happened last year.
Dustin: She's still constantly reminds me, you know, the more you grow, the more rest and space Non work stuff you need to be doing like more recreation as an entrepreneur, I'm, not always the best at self control with that stuff. But, so even those two, like with sleep and exercise, there's super clear lines to productivity in your business.
Dustin: And so it's actually the opposite. Like, I don't have time for that. actually don't have time not to do it.
Julie: Exactly. Yeah. Cause like you said, it wasn't motivating to me to do the exercise for weight loss purposes or fitness purposes. But what was motivating is when my stress was at its worst, I was really, brain foggy. Like I would, I'd even be like, I couldn't find the word and I would get so frustrated because I'd be like thing, you know, it would drive me nuts.
Julie: So I just wasn't really as clear headed [00:39:00] and I definitely wasn't creative. Yeah. Because I was too tired to be creative. So when I realized like, oh yeah, I may not necessarily care about this from a fitness perspective, but it's going to actually enhance my learning because I'm always learning something new. Julie: It's going to help me be more productive because I can actually focus and I'm not tired and scattered in, those kinds of things. So I think it is important to find your motivation so that you care enough to start getting into action. And then beyond that, having these triggers or these reminders and these plans, because the other thing I will say is motivation and willpower, I don't think they last they're good to get us started to know like what our motivator is, then we need things to keep us going.
Julie: Because then, otherwise life is going to happen. We're going to be like, Oh, is it that important? Right? We're going to, we're going to scroll Facebook
Dustin: Instead of going for the walk. So we have to have these routines and these habits that we start building into to make it easier to follow through.
Julie: Because sometimes people will be like, well, I tried, I tried, but like, I don't know why it worked. It's [00:40:00] like, well, did you schedule it? Did you have some sort of like a clear plan or did you just say, I'm going to start working on it this week?
Dustin: We started with why. And then, yeah, and the other things I wrote down were what, when and where. Right. So it's like the why will get you moving and get you like committed to or at least deciding to do something. Right. But to stay committed to it and actually have it work, you have to be really clear on what you're doing when you're doing it and where you're doing it.
Dustin: So that there's just really specificity. And I think we have a really busy schedule. Know, I'm sure everyone does, but especially entrepreneurs. If you don't have clarity on when, where, and why and what, like those are the four big things. think, it will like inevitably slip off, but like, if you do have those things, then you can be very consistent.
Dustin: As you said, like a little every day when I make coffee, I take all my vitamins and, you know, a couple of supplements, whatever it's like, I don't even think about it. I could be half asleep. I still do it because it's got that trigger. It's got that defined time. I know exactly what I take, and why and, and where, like, you know, in the proximity of my kitchen.
Dustin: So that's awesome. So, yeah. We're running out of time here. [00:41:00] So, real quickly, do you want to share like the other two habits? Just we don't have to get into them in depth on the other two core four habits, out of your book. And then I would love for you to share how people can get the book and, get more of your resources because I just love your approach to this.
Dustin: Really important topic.
Julie: Thank you. Yeah. So sleep and exercise are the first two. And I think if you start anywhere, I start there and actually say, start with exercise. If you have to pick one, because if you are exercising, you're probably going to sleep better. You're going to burn some of that energy off and it's going to help you sleep.
Julie: So work on exercise first. And then I would say sleep. The other thing is meditation or mindfulness. And I tell a story in the book about the fact that when I started meditation, I was told that the purpose was to clear your mind. And then I thought I was a terrible meditator, but when
I started, right. I was like, this is so frustrating. Like, this is impossible. Well, it literally is impossible to clear your mind completely of all thoughts. That was my problem. It's like telling your heart to just stop beating for a little bit. Like it's not going to happen. So, I really [00:42:00] started to enjoy meditation more whenever I realized like, Oh, actually in some ways It's a willpower.
Julie: It's a practice in getting some control over your thoughts, letting things come up and then choosing a better thought. And whenever I started to really understand the purpose of meditation, that really helped in mindfulness practices really helps reduce my stress and my anxiety. So, that's another one.
Julie: And like I said, I really, the focus, I'm not like a meditation teacher or anything, but the focus in the book was really to, explain it in the way that made sense to me in terms of like how it can be helpful and what it is and what it isn't because like I said I was totally led astray when I started and then got super frustrated and gave up on it.
Julie: So that is something that I definitely work in especially for stress reduction. The thing about the habits in the book, they're good for all areas of your life but I picked these four specifically because they all help reduce Stress.
Dustin: Okay.
Julie: So that was one of the micro criteria for choosing the four habits in the book.
Julie: Fourth one is intention or intentional planning. So [00:43:00] something that I have found is that if I'm not intentional about how I'm showing up in my relationships, I'm showing up in my business and how I'm planning my days. I can't expect things to go the way I want, right? And so the intention that we bring to things is honestly the most important bit.
Julie: You know, if you come into a conversation with no intention for how you want it to go, it could go sideways on you really quickly because you didn't bring that intention. So I talk a lot about, that, like intention and your habits, intention in your relationships and the impact that can have.
Dustin: I like that a lot. I, And it's different than the others, Because the others are seem more physical, right? It's like one physical, there are things. To do you can plan and schedule your sleep exercise and meditation practice, but like intentional planning.
Dustin: That's more like the constant thing, right? you're saying it's not even just your business, but like your family, your friends, your relationships, and being intentional about the desired outcome from a given event, I guess, is that kind of the
Julie: Yeah. it's a couple of things. So [00:44:00] it's like the energy that you bring to things like, okay, I've got a meeting starting. What energy do I want to bring? How do I want to show up? Do I want to come in, really in authority and leadership because we're going through a tough time and I want to show up strong as a strong leader, or do I need to come in with a lot of empathy and caring and be getting really curious here, you know, stuff.
Julie: So that can be in a business setting, it could be with your family, , but just really having that intention and how you're showing up, it also, like I said, means intentional planning, like having that plan for your habits and the things that you want to accomplish in a day and a week and really planning ahead and not just like kind of showing up and winging it, right?
Julie: Because sometimes that's what we do. We just think like, Okay. I'm just going to start, working out and stuff and like, we'll see what happens. Right. And then we're like, we don't know why we got a bad result. And we wouldn't do that in our business. So something that really hit me was when I realized.
Julie: In my business, I felt like a high performer. I felt like I was showing up, I was giving my best, and I had plans and structure and I was very intentional, but I [00:45:00] realized I wasn't necessarily doing that in my personal life. And when I realized it's really all about bringing that same intention to my mental and physical wellbeing and my relationships, that's where I can really have the biggest impact.
Julie: And. I realized I was being incongruent when I wasn't doing that. thought of myself as a high performer, but if you're doing it at work and not at home, you're not really a high performer. So. That really helped me. Yeah.
Dustin: that's awesome. think that's the one that I'm going to ponder the most is like, how can it be a more intentional planner? Like, I'm pretty consistent with exercise. I think my sleep's decent. meditation is something I've a few times. I kind of had the experience of before state of like, I can't turn my brain off.
Dustin: So this doesn't work for me. But, so I'm definitely interested to, to dig into that, habit with your, yeah. Framework. but the intentional planning is the one I think I really want to focus on it and ponder the most because I think of something that we did last year. We repeated this year as a family, which is.
Dustin: We don't necessarily have the specific locations in advance, but we block off times for trips. And like [00:46:00] quarterly trips with my family are like a big rock that I did last year and I want to do this year. And then that intention. Planning then allows me to have the freedom to be like, say yes to a conference or no to a mastermind.
Dustin: Cause it conflicts with those weeks that we've already blocked off. And some of those weeks are obvious because it's like spring break and fall break. Right. Um, then there's like winter and summer. And so, getting the others, a family, and then that creates that intention. It creates a lot of like.
Dustin: Motivation for the family, because we have something to look forward to. And then we get input from the kids and where do they want to slot in different things. So I think like that, but expanding that into other aspects of my life, like that's really exciting for me. And I even talking about it gives me energy.
Dustin: Right. And I'm like, that's pretty cool. , Well, Julia, this is awesome. I mean, we could obviously talk for like two hours, just about one of these habits, probably, which is why people need to go read the book really dive in, in a bigger way to this really cool intersection that you've created of your own experience, your coaching experience, neuroscience, marketing, like.
Dustin: That's what's so awesome about mission-driven entrepreneurs like you is you really get the whole mix and then [00:47:00] like that creates a unique gift. You know, lots of people have written about habits, but not in the same way as Julie, right? Because you've distilled it down in a way for people, to really go take action with it and be high achievers. also just want to say, I really love that your emphasis is not getting more. It's really like less stress and like, because if by getting less stress in your life, you'll get more, right? love that all four of these. Yeah. Are all about stress reduction. , so with that said, I'm assuming you have a great call to action here.
Dustin: And then, then, then like a great next step for people, , that want to dive deeper into high performance, installing these habits, learning from you, maybe coaching with you. so what's the best way for people to get into your world in a deeper way?
Julie: So if you've enjoyed the conversation today and you want some more tips specifically about how to implement the new habits and how to actually make them happen, I have a free guide called the five rules of habit creation. So it's sort of a cheat sheet from the book, in terms of how do you get started and how do you make sure you're successful with your habits?
Julie: if you go download that at [00:48:00] coachjulielo. com slash rules, you also get the first chapter of my book for free. and that's the introduction chapter where I really kind of tell my story and set the framework for the whole book. So if you're interested in the book, go check that out.
Julie: You can get the download and you can get the free chapter of the book. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, most of your booksellers and then you can find me online at coach Julie low. com and that's my, handle everywhere on social as well.
Dustin: That's awesome. Yeah, I'm definitely grabbing this guide. So the five rules of happy creation, it's coach Julie low and low is L O W E like the hardware store. So could Julie low. com slash rules is the place to go get this really cool free resource. The first chapter of your book. I don't see how anyone couldn't benefit from.
Dustin: being in your universe and learning from you on this, really important topic. So Julie, thanks so much. told Julie we'd talk for like 25 minutes and it's been 55. So I appreciate the extra time because just was very much enamored with this topic and your approach to it and your [00:49:00] unique, history with it and personality that you bring to it.
Dustin: So thanks for bringing so much energy, great insights, coach, Julie, low. com slash rules for the freebie. Julie, it was great to catch up with you and thanks so much for sharing with the audience.
Julie: Thanks so much for having me. I had fun.