72 | Your Business Doesn’t Have to Carry It All Yet

First Light Access to Cosmic Currency: https://cosmicb.link/currency

What if the most radical thing you could do for your business isn't scaling faster, but stabilizing yourself first? In a world obsessed with 10K months and seven-figure years, we're skipping right over the most crucial step – getting your business to actually fund your real life.

Today we're talking about the gap that nobody admits exists. The space between those first few dollars trickling in and having reliable revenue that covers your actual bills. If your business isn't there yet, this isn't failure – it's just the beginning. And there's a smarter way to bridge that gap than white-knuckling your way through month after month.

In this episode...

🎯 Why most revenue goals are rooted in comparison instead of your actual needs and how to shift into truly personal targets

⏳ The real reason your flowy income vibe might still be leaving you scrambling and how rhythm and structure become allies to your flow

💜 The emotional turning point of finally seeing if your income is reliably funding your life and what to do if it isn't

🗺️ What nobody admits about the earliest stages of building a business and why bringing in other income streams isn't a detour – it's strategy

🪄 Lauren's vulnerable story of taking on contract roles post-pivot and how they shaped her path more than any launch could

🌉 A practical, aligned way to manifest your own bridge job by calling in exactly what you need while developing skills for your business

Whether you're avoiding looking at your numbers or constantly stressed about making ends meet, this episode will help you normalize the gap, get crystal clear on your "enough number," and create the infrastructure to support yourself as you build. Because your business doesn't have to carry it all yet – and that's not only okay, it's actually the smartest move you can make.

🎙️ Brought to you by Lauren Poppins Raye

Find out your Cosmic Money Style: https://cosmicb.link/quiz
Align with your Cosmic Currency Codes: https://cosmicb.link/currency
Leave a Cosmic Coin Drop review: https://cosmicb.link/review

Connect with Lauren on Instagram: @laurenpoppinsraye

Transcript

0:58

They say chase the dream, quit your job, go all in. But they never say how to survive, while you begin. You light the match, the fire's slow, the income's not enough to flow, and month by month you patch the leaks, make magic stretch, then rinse, repeat. You feel the pull of scaling soon, but skip the root beneath the bloom. The part where safety seeds the shift and clarity becomes the lift. Where bridge supports not shame or lack, but power placed to fill the gap. Because being real about what's true is how you choose what next to do. This isn't failure, this is form. This is the way we build that warmth. So if your business isn't there quite yet, let's talk about what gets you set. This week I want to talk about some things that do not get talked about. When it comes to the online space of business, we hear so many people talking about their 10K months, their six figure years, then seven, then eight. Everything is all about scaling. We hear about that all the time, and some people fall into the trap of trying to set their revenue goals based on comparing themselves to these other people that are more well-established in the space. We'll get back to that. But what happens is we're inundated with those reflections so much, particularly because the algorithm shows people to us who are more established and it ends up really skipping over or minimizing or essentially not mentioning at all, the crucial first step before you get anywhere near actually scaling, which is getting to the point where your business, the money coming in from your business, funds your real life. Funds, your current bills, your current financial responsibilities. Even the part before that, right? The very real starting point that happens before you get to those big, dreamy revenue numbers, that everybody brags about, of just getting to a point of bridging the gap between the very small amount that comes in at the beginning, when you first put your shingle on the digital door, to getting to a point where you have reliable revenue coming into your business so that you meet what I call your enough number, that very clear amount that covers your current bills and financial responsibilities. I want you to know that if your business is not there yet, if you are not covering that amount yet, or if you don't even know what it is to know clearly if you are or not, that one, that's not a failure, that's just being at the beginning. And that it's a signal to you to get really clear what that amount is, if you don't already know, and to get creative in how you support yourself to meet that number, to meet that need, that basic financial need, so that you can continue working on your business and get to a point where it is bringing in that revenue and bridges the gap. In this episode, I want to talk about this topic and also share a personal story, get vulnerable with you, because again, this is not something that people actually talk about. So I'm going to talk about it with you in this episode and share with you, for the first time, what this has looked like for me since selling my tax practice, plummeting my revenue, starting back at square one, and having to call in and embrace bridge jobs. Gigs like contractor positions to be able to bring in the money that I need while I'm building my business up. I want to share with you candidly and honestly about what that has looked like for me, post pivot. Then I'm also going to talk about how to magnetize something that, if you need that, that doesn't just bring in the extra funds that you need to bridge that gap, but actually ends up being like a crucial stepping stone in your path to developing your business and developing yourself to be able to steward it. And how a decision like this is, not only strategic, but can be more aligned than you're probably even imagining. But I want you to know that it's not failing. You're not quitting or being non-committal to not fully focus on your business if it's not bringing in the revenue that you need. This is about being smart and stabilizing yourself to be able to sustainably get to that point in your business, so that you can support your business so that your business can support you. So let's dive in. We're going to look at why most revenue goals are rooted in comparison and how to shift into truly personal targets. The real reason your flowy income vibe might still be leaving you scrambling, the emotional turning point of finally seeing if your income is reliably funding your life, and what to do if it isn't. What nobody admits about the earliest stages of building a business, and why it's not a detour, but a strategy to bring in other streams of income. My story of taking on contract roles and how they shaped my path more than any launch could inside my business. And lastly, a practical aligned way to manifest your own bridge job, if you need one, by sharing with you exactly how I've called in my dream gigs. Let's start with the"comparinitis" that is so prevalent in the online space because we are just inundated with, not only reflections of other people, but many of them screaming from the rooftops, bragging about their 10K months, their 7K yearly revenue and why those numbers don't actually mean anything, first objectively, but second personally, as far as you're concerned. I want to offer you the shift of what it looks like to set revenue goals that are deeply designed with intention from your own needs and desires, and your own energetic design and makeup, instead of comparison. First, just really practically speaking, when you hear people talk about their 10K months, their 7 figure years, they are usually, almost always, talking about their revenue amount. I just want to remind you that that number means almost nothing. It's the biggest one, it's the most brag worthy one. So it's the one that we hear from other people most often, but it's not what the bottom line is, right? The magical, simple accounting equation is revenue minus expenses equals profit, so their expense number is just as important to understanding the actual picture of their business, because that's what results in profit. I'll give you the example, maybe you have somebody that is hitting 10K months, but they're spending like 8K on ads, so they only have 2000 left after that to cover all of their other expenses. And they're only maybe profiting a G, right? You never know the full picture just by hearing somebody's revenue. I want to remind you that because it's the most practical reason why you should just disregard hearing that if you have fallen prey to comparing yourself to those income claims from other people. But I don't want to dwell there because the point is that you really are not doing yourself a service by doing that anyway. That is not, it's a shallow, empty, baseless goal. There's no emotional investment, it's not rooted in anything that actually matters to you except maybe envy, jealousy, things that we do not want to root our goals into. The other thing I want to speak to here is something that is so common with people, business, self-employed people in the business space that are spiritual people that describe themselves as"in the flow", that have a relationship with magical money. There's actually a trap here for many people with a spiritualized vibe around their income and their earning. Often the way that this shows up is that you always have what you need when you need it, for sure, but you don't have a consistent or sustainable or reliable income stream. So there's definitely some stress and anxiety around it. You never, it keeps you on your toes, right? You never really necessarily know, am I going to have enough this month? I mean, a part of you does,'cause you always make it work, that's that"magical money in the flow" side of things. But it's not structured, it's not intentional and it's more like wishful magical thinking that manifests and provides what you need when you need it. The money sometimes shows up, there's like boom and bust. It's kind of a surprise maybe when the money's going to show up. I really want to frame for you and remind you how important rhythm and structure are as allies to your flow. Oftentimes people in this camp have come to me avoidant of structure and rhythm and having a consistent money practice that they show up, for because I think that it's going to get in the way of their magical relationship with money or their flow. I just want to highlight for you and remind you that just like a river flows, just like your currency wants to flow, it needs the banks of the river. It needs the structure, it needs the consistency to be able to grow, essentially. Whether that looks like growing to the amount that you need, the enough number to pay your current bills, or continuing to grow to scale, to meet whatever that next level is that you're aiming for. So often people in this camp as well avoid looking at their numbers, they don't have the structure, the systems in place, they don't have the regular money practice. So it often ends up being a confronting thing, although also a very empowering thing, when you actually look at and really see your numbers. This is often the emotional turning point for people in Cosmic Currency. They're able to actually see what that number is down to the penny that they need to be bringing in to be able to fund their life, to pay their bills, to meet their expenses, their financial responsibilities, both business and personal. Oftentimes, this can be a very confronting moment, particularly if the amount that reliably is coming in does not meet that number. If the amount of income that you know is coming in every month is less than what you need, and there's a gap there that you always have to kind of scramble to be able to come up with. Seeing that and knowing that oftentimes can bring up anxiety, feelings of failure and shame, but the cool part is on the other side of this, of really being able to face both that number and potential gap, but also the feelings that it brings up in you and move through those honestly, and with compassion with yourself, which is a lot easier when you're also doing so in a container, with a commitment to doing the work to establish that structure and those practices that have been missing for you. This is the turning point where any shame that you carry around that dissolves and directs you into really clear decisions that you need to make. Once you can see it, once you know exactly what that gap is, exactly what that extra amount is that you need to be bringing in in your business, on the other side of any emotional upset or arc that that may put you through, on the other side you're just really clear. It's a prerequisite, it's an important piece of the puzzle to know, to be able to very clearly call in exactly what you need, to get to that point of nervous system calm. Which is not anti-magic, it's actually a quite powerful, magical place to be in yourself, to know with certainty that you have the amount that you need reliably coming in, and anything else that you work toward is just extra. This is the first thing that I want to do in this episode, one of the takeaways. If you remember nothing else, I want to normalize that gap. That again, is really common for people to notice and feel comfortable with, normalize for themselves. I want you to know how common this is, that naming that bridge amount shouldn't be some shameful secret, especially at the beginning of building a business or however long you've been in the game. If you are not to a point of feeling sustainably abundant, there's going to be a gap there. And if you haven't been looking, it is not unusual that there ends up being a gap there when you do look. It's not a shameful secret, it is a opportunity to bring in clear support. And doing so, figuring out what you need to call in, whether inside or outside your business at first, to be able to bridge that gap, is not a detour from your business. It's actually a super smart move to create the infrastructure to support you, as you build your business. This brings me to the personal share that I want to offer you in this episode around my experience with this. As you may or may not know, I was a tax preparer for almost a decade. I was at the point where I was making really good money. Almost six figures a year and without having to work all that much, just seasonally. I let that go. I let it go after becoming a mama and realizing I did not want to be in that seasonal hustle and grind anymore. I needed something that felt more sustainable and ultimately felt more aligned with my purpose, my passions, which that did not anymore. So I let it all go, and that also brought with it a complete crash dip of revenue and starting over from square zero. So what that looked like for me was immediately calling in something that would bring me a reliable paycheck each month. Because I knew that my business wasn't to that point yet, and I didn't want to put the pressure on it to get there immediately. I was pivoting to really prioritizing my purpose and my passions, and those aren't things to shove into a pressured box of needing to bring in any amount until that time came in its own timing. So I'm going to tell you at the end of this episode exactly how I called in the perfect situation for me, for the first about year and a half of post pivot, post becoming a mama, post letting go of my tax practice and just starting to get my business back off the ground. Joining a mastermind program to re-envision and really take my time and do it right. And that's my point. It's so smart and strategic. I wanted to take my time and I want to normalize that. I want to normalize the sacred process that it is to pivot in your business, to build a business from the ground up. That is not something to be rushed. So bringing in something to support you while you take your time around whatever your business is asking from you, or life in the universe is asking from you as the boss and the CEO to become the person that you need to be to best build and steward your new business. It is a really smart move to call something else in. Not only that and something that I really want to highlight in my own story is if you do this right and you do it coming from this reframe and this right place that I'm talking about, you will call in a situation that basically pays you to learn skills or missing pieces, missing skill sets that you don't have, that you need to get to wherever you're trying to go in your business. The first position that I called in y'all, it could not have been more perfect. Let me just paint the picture for you to set the stage of where I was at when I landed this position. I was a new mama, I felt super isolated. I went from working with so many clients to talking to like no one. I didn't have anyone that I was serving. I'm a solepreneur, I now have a team. I was, at the time, I didn't have anybody that I was working with and it was a lonely place. That and I really craved, I was deep in breastfeeding, postpartum and was really craving the balance of my professional side and self. And I knew that, besides the money part, I just wasn't at the point with my business, there wasn't the momentum and the clarity to just be able to switch to that hat very easily. I remember part of my call out that attracted this to me was like, I just want someone to tell me what to do. I had the total new mom, mushy brain. It was really hard for me to be thinking straight and clearly to be directing myself inside of my business. That was a little slow going and sputter starting. So I just wanted someone to tell me what to do so that I could get in my flow in terms of what makes me a business owner, all these things that I love to do, right? So I did and I found a position working for a small marketing company that was all women and most of them mamas as well. There was so much camaraderie, I felt so connected with them. It was women in a similar stage of life to me, there was the flexibility that I needed at that time in my life to work when I wanted and needed to. Who are we kidding, that always matters to me. And it was working for a marketing company, so I ended up learning from somebody who is very successful in the marketing space, how to market for their clients. And I learned, I just, I mean, I can't even tell you I'm so grateful how many things I learned and practiced and iterated on that I now use. I'm not working for that company anymore, but I took so much with me that I now use in my own business. I grew so much as a marketer, that and I had never really worked on a team before, so there was definitely some like crunchy growing pains around that. But ultimately got to a point where I felt so comfortable working as part of a team, which has helped me enormously, both in setting the stage for the next contractor gig I would land, which I will tell you more about that is even more aligned than that one is. Of course tis the game of continuing to let our alignment be our guiding light. As we move forward, we should be refining our understanding of and aligning even more deeply with what we need and what works for us. In any case, this position at the time could not have been more perfect. I got the team group dynamic vibes. I'd meet with them every morning, felt like I was something other than a milk production machine when I would meet with them and do the work. I learned to be part of a team. I learned to be a badass marketer, which was just a skillset I didn't even know I needed. And of course, I had the regular revenue flow coming in so that I didn't have to stress about money and put any kind of pressure on my business at that beginning super delicate stage. It's just like a little fledgling or a budding flower, it needed nothing but space and grace, and I was able to give that to it, and myself, because I had landed this other gig that I didn't even work that much. 10 to 15 hours a week I would work for this company and it did all of this for me and more. So that's my first example and story. I also want to speak really briefly, circling back to the second one, oh my goodness the magic y'all. I dissolved my relationship with that company. Not three days later, one door closes, another door opens. An opportunity came into my field that when I saw it, I was like this can't even be real, this isn't real life, this is too perfect. This is a position? It bridged two of my most favorite things and it was real and I put in an application and I ended up landing the gig. It is so much more aligned. I make more, I do things that could not be more aligned with everything I'm geeking out on right now in my own business. I still pinch myself. I'm working with the most incredible team, the hours also are super flexible. It's so easy to fit this in alongside everything else that I'm doing. I want to share so much more about this new thing I am involved in now, but I'm going to save that for a later episode where I can just feature exclusively and gush to you about what this new thing is. Because I actually want to tell you all about it, but I would not be doing a service just to speak to it briefly in the scope of this episode. So putting a pin in that for now, stay tuned in a future episode for me to tell you all about the side gig I'm involved in right now, which I am just beyond obsessed with. However, in this episode, I do want to tell you exactly how I called in and manifested these situations. So that if you're in a situation like I am, you can do the same. You can call in something that ends up paying you to do something you love on the side or develop a skill that you need, while bringing in the revenue to meet that enough number that is going to fund the current bills and responsibilities in your life. If you don't know what that amount is, if you don't have crystal clarity on exactly to the dollar or penny, how much you need to be bringing in right now to cover your current subscriptions, recurring expenses, on the personal and business side. Or if you do have a clear picture of what that amount is and you're sitting with the uncomfortable truth, that what you're bringing in is not reliably funding your life right now by meeting that amount, and you're ready to stop white knuckling and stressing your way through it to have to magically manifest that gap every month. If you've been secretly carrying shame for not being further along in your business or more on point with your money game, or just wondering why the money side of things seems so fragile or difficult or inconsistent in your business, let me be the one to tell you, I've said it before, I'll say it again, it's not because you're behind, it's not because you're bad at this, it's because one, you weren't taught this stuff, and two, it's kind of a good thing that you weren't, and why you are listening to me right now, not having been taught this before, because you would've done yourself a disservice and an injustice not to learn a way that's designed for you. The way the world does money is not designed for everyone and is not designed for spiritual entrepreneurs. So simply put, you don't have a system yet to work with your money in a way that fits you and your design and what's going to work for you. That's why inside Cosmic Currency, we start by getting super clear what that enough number is, what your life actually costs you. We support you through whatever emotions might come up around that, because that is the ripe, fertile space for transformation around this. We do this through a tool that I've created called your WPS Tool, Wealth Positioning System like GPS, but for you to get super clear where you are right now, how much you need to be bringing in to cover your current expenses, what your next level is that you're aiming for, exactly how much you want to be able to bring in to invest in that next lifestyle upgrade or business investment, and to be super clear what the gap is between what's coming in and what you need right now and what's coming in and where you're headed next, so that you can name that enough number, that stretch number and your current position to be able to navigate with crystal clarity to be able to call in whatever streams of income you need to be able to put your nervous system at ease and know that you are able to make those numbers meet. We really demystify and take all of this out of the realm that you may have put it in, around your self-worth or what you deserve, and we make it a simple balancing act, getting clear how much you need to bring in, and making sure you have that amount coming in reliably. And of course, all along the way as we're getting clear on this, using the WPS tool and putting all the pieces in place that you need, what you need to be tuning into regularly, to craft a currency practice, a money check-in that is designed around you by bringing in your Cosmic Currency Codes, the part of your astrology chart that reflects how you were designed to do things differently. So the way you earn, price your offers, structure your money flow in all of the different ways finally aligns with you and your unique design. This isn't about budgeting harder to have more of what you need, it's about creating a money flow that you can trust because it was designed for you and you know exactly how to show up for it. Right now we are in the final moments of First Light Access for this new version of Cosmic Currency that integrates those astrology codes. So if you've been circling around this decision, if you know that this is the time to finally get your money shit together, then this is the moment to go claim your spot inside Cosmic Currency at First Light Access before things shift, the bonuses go away, the price goes up. It will never be the price again that it is right now. You can do that by going to cosmic b.link/currency. Go ahead and do that now. Get it up in your phone or on your browser so that you can circle back to it when you have a moment to really lean in and take a look at all of it. Feel into if now is the time to finally turn things around with the money side of your business, that's cosmic b.link/currency. If you know that it is time to call something in and this episode has you excited to call in something that is actually going to turn you on to show up for and is not going to feel like a distraction from your business, but actually enhances how you're able to show up for it. I want to tell you the part of the story that was me calling in both of these situations. That both at the time were or are in the case of the current one, exactly what I needed, both financially and beyond. So the first thing that I did was just got super clear again, how much do I need to bring in? Exactly how much do I need to bridge that gap? So important. The second thing was exactly how much time did I have available? And then that of course illuminated how much did I need to make per hour? What would all those pieces need to look like so that I knew what I was available for time-wise and what I needed to get in return money-wise. The next thing I did was thought about all of my skill sets, all of the things I'm great at, all of the things I love to do, and I wrote it all down. What are the ways that I am available to support somebody else? What are the kinds of positions that I could call in? The next thing that I did was reached out to the first person that came to mind. I asked myself, who is somebody, what is a woman who I am just a total fan girl of her and her business that I would just be ecstatic to be able to work for? I reached out to her. I let her know what I was looking for, the piece around just wanting someone to tell me what to do. I let her know what my skillset was and I asked her if she had any room in her company. You might think you know where this story is going. No, she is not the one that hired me. However, she gave me a lead. She let me know that she knew somebody else that was looking for a similar skillset to mine, and she made the connection, she introduced us. That's the woman that ended up hiring me. I already told you the part about how I landed the second one. It was such a magical portal that opened, it felt like the reason the previous situation dissolved was because this next one was coming. I'm sure you've had moments like that where the universe just clearly redirects you, that was the case of the second one. But I really wanted to tell you in detail how I manifested that first one, because that's how you can too. So it's a three part process. Get super clear on all of the details. How much time do you have available? What are your skill sets? How much do you need to make to bridge the gap of what you're currently bringing in to meet the expenses of your life? That's step one. Step two is to make a move. Whatever you feel inspired to do next, whoever you feel inspired to reach out to, I definitely suggest going about it the way I did. Think of someone you would love to work for and just start there. Reach out and see if they need any help with anything. Then step three, while trusting that the perfect position is on its way to you, start following the breadcrumb trails and see where it leads you. The universe wants you to bring in enough to meet your needs. It's a simple balancing act. Like I said, the universe loves balance. It's not that you deserve to make a certain amount of money, it's that of course there is a way for you to bring in what you need to fund your life, of course there is. I want to make sure to keep that vision even more expansive for you, that it could be something that you are just stoked to do and that you learn amazing things from, maybe you network or connect, make connections with amazing people. Y'all, the possibilities are limitless. If you get stoked, get clear and call it in. Again, I want to acknowledge that if this episode met you in a tender spot around that gap that may be present for you between your income and expenses, you're not alone. So many of us have had to get real about the numbers before we could free ourselves from the trap that they seem to be keeping us in. That sometimes, and often, the bravest, smartest first move isn't scaling faster. It's stabilizing yourself first. And taking the pressure off of your business so that it doesn't have to carry it all for you yet. But of course, you do deserve to be carried and to feel carried by clarity of your situation, by the support of other income streams if you need it, and by a rhythm that actually works for you around your money flow. If you know you are ready to build that rhythm for yourself, I would love to walk with you inside Cosmic Currency, which is not just a money program, but a full on relationship reset. One that holds your real life needs and responsibilities, your core desires around where you would like to get to in your life, and your unique design at the center of it all. You can find the link in the show notes. Until next time, be gentle with yourself at the beginning and crystal clear about what enough looks like for you so you can make sure to bridge any gap you have between where you are now and what it looks like to meet that number as a new normal.