265. Thinking Big to Extraordinary Results with Andrea Liebross

This episode is for you if you are an ambitious entrepreneurial woman wanting to turn your BIG thinking into EXTRAORDINARY results, make sure you stay until the end so we can help you open some doors and explore what’s possible out there for you.

Guest Andrea Liebross is a Business Growth Coach & Life Integration Strategist | Keynote Speaker | Best-Selling Author of the book “She Thinks Big” | Host of the “She Thinks Big” Podcast

Things we talked about: 

• What “Thinking Big” mean?
• Why people think smaller than what’s capable?
• How to expand your vision to thinking big?
• Steps to take to thinking bigger?
• and so much more

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Hello, hello, beautiful souls. This episode is for you if you are an ambitious entrepreneurial woman wanting to turn your big thinking into extraordinary results. Make sure you stay until the end because we are going to help you open some doors and explore what’s possible out there for you.

For this special reason, I have my guest today, Andrea Libros. She is a business growth coach, life integration strategist, keynote speaker, bestselling author of the book, She Thinks Big, and host of the She Thinks Big podcast. Welcome to the show, Andrea.

Thanks for having me, Lucy. I’m happy to be here. So excited to have you.

I love your brand, She Thinks Big. You’re all about thinking big. So let’s start there.

What does thinking big actually mean to you?

Oh, it can mean so many things, but let’s just go with this particular meaning that I kind of really help my clients with. I really think that big thinking is the thinking that comes from future you, okay? So we have our past you, we’ve got the present you, but then there’s future you.

And future you is you a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, who has created the life or the business is in a place where they’re loving it. I always say she’s smiling. Future you is smiling and she’s showing up for herself and for others in a way that feels powerful, that feels good, that feels kind of velvety, I like to say.

So if you go talk to that future you and you ask her, what does she think you should be doing today or how you should be showing up today? That’s the origin of big thinking, right? So you can’t, big thinking is hard to come from, to be born out of your day to day.

It’s also hard sometimes to think about what you really want for in the future. But if you can access and kind of become friends, I call it meet your future you, then that’s where the big thinking comes from.

I love that answer. I’m smiling right now. I’m loving my life.

Good, say that again.Look at that. 

I love my life. Life is good, right?

Yes, yes.

So it’s powerful stuff. And this morning I was working with someone and she’s starting to put this down on paper. She’s like, I can’t believe I’m actually writing this down.

I can’t believe I’m verbalizing this bigger thinking. And then sometimes I’ll say to someone, you need to listen back to this recording because your whole tone, your whole demeanor, your whole, all your facial expressions just changed when you started to think bigger.

Was there a moment in your life when you realized you were thinking too small?

Yes, there, yes. There has been many moments. And I think this is also something too that we can kind of ebb and flow and go in and out of just on a daily basis in a sense.

I think the biggest, my biggest aha moment was about, and that’s been about eight years ago where I was working in a corporate role and I was doing recruiting and hiring and training for a company that was predominantly female-based actually. And what I was doing was recruiting women to start their own branch of the business or kind of like their own franchise, even though technically, legally, it wasn’t franchises. They were franchises in a way.

And I was helping them get their business off the ground and what they would call training them, which I really realized in the end was coaching them. And the joke became if I had one more great idea that I shared with the leadership, corporate leadership team that didn’t come into play or wasn’t acted upon in what maybe we would call a timely manner, but then eventually two or three years later, they did put it into action. That just needed to happen one more time and then I was out, quit.

So that happened. I realized why I had so much, I would say kind of anger and disappointment and frustration in that period of my life is that I was being kept in this very small thinking container and I wasn’t allowed really or welcomed. It wasn’t, this bigger thinking wasn’t welcomed.

So that me leaving and me just walking away, that was when I said I’ve had enough of the small thinking and I needed to think bigger. And I see that happen over and over again to women. You know, we stay in situations or because we think it can’t be better somewhere else or we stay in a mode of thinking because it feels safe.

And what I love helping women do is to get out of that cycle and to really dream. And dreams to me, I don’t know if you ever heard the expression pipe dream, like that’s a pipe dream. Well, the origin of that pipe dream is when, I don’t know, way back in the day, there were of course probably some guys sitting around smoking opium out of pipes and things felt kind of euphoric.

And dreams should feel euphoric. They should feel joyful. And big thinking doesn’t have to be dreamy but there is a component of it that is there.

And then we need goals to actually make it happen and we could have a whole other podcast episode on that. But when I wasn’t allowed to really dream, that’s when I was done with that situation. So yeah.

Love it. Why do you believe most people settle for less than what they’re actually capable of?

I think it really comes down to the motivational triad inside our brains that we wanna be safe, we want things to be easy, we want things to be efficient, we want them to be pleasurable and staying in the known, even if it is not ideal, is safer or is easier than the unknown or things that are uncertain. So I say, in order to be a big thinker, there’s five tenets of big thinking and I use the word trust as an acronym. And the U in trust stands for embracing the unknown or uncertainty.

And that is really why we can stay thinking small and what needs to happen in order to think bigger. You’ve got to get, you don’t have to love it, but you have to realize that part of this is part of the reality of all of this is that you’re not gonna know or things are unknown. So I see a lot in my world when I’m working on a consult call, for example, and I’ve talked to whoever this is on the other line and do you think I can help you?

Yes. We’ve kind of mutually agreed on that. And at the end of the call, they say, you know what, here’s what’s gonna happen.

I’m gonna think about this and I’m gonna get back to you. And I’m all about thinking clearly, and that is totally fine if you would like to think about it, get back to me. I get it, I get it, I do that too.

But I ask for permission to put my coach hat on and I say, can I just, can I put my coach hat on for one minute? And they always say, sure. And I say, what exactly are you thinking about?

Like, what are you trying to like determine or what’s going on? No one really has a great answer to that. There’s no like, this is exactly what I’m thinking about kind of answer.

Sometimes they bring up money or talking to their spouse or they’re not someone that makes rash decisions. That’s just not how they do things. And really what’s going on there though, is that their brain is kind of searching for evidence to make this feel better, to get them out of this place where there’s some uncertainty and into certainty to be sure that whatever they’re gonna do next or if they start to work with me, for example, like that’s gonna be exactly what they need.

It’s gonna be perfect. There’s nothing in the mental Rolodex that’s gonna give them that evidence that they’re looking for. So that’s where another example of, if you’re someone that says, I’m gonna think about it and then you kind of stay in this sort of, I call it you’re interested but not committed zone, you’ve gotta get comfy with the unknown.

I love the word uncertainty. I actually did a whole podcast episode prior in life, uncertainty is actually the only true certainty we have. It is, it is.

So it totally changed my life after I started embracing and loving uncertainty because we see it as a fear. We see it as something blocking us. That’s a different life you’re living rather than you see excitement.

You see what’s possible for you out there after the uncertainty, right?

Because that’s the whole fun of it. 

And I always say you’re giving equal air time to the amazing pieces of the puzzle that could happen or the greatness that’s ahead of you. We don’t give it equal air time.

Our brain wants to go to the things that won’t work, possibly won’t work or the things that you’ll fail or it will feel yucky. We don’t give equal air time to the other side of the coin. And I also, I listened to a podcast of yours recently about everything is temporary.

Yeah, everything like, we don’t know what’s gonna happen this afternoon. I mean, we don’t, right? We don’t know.

So even though you may have your whole day planned out, you really don’t know exactly how it’s all gonna shake out. So we do have evidence though that you can get through uncertainty. So that’s the good news.

Like the good news is that you do know how to do unknown and uncertainty and recognizing that should give you that power to move forward.

I love that. So uncertainty is a big mindset block. I’ve seen enough of, I’m not ready enough.

I don’t have enough of blank, fill in the blank, right? Or when this happens, then it’ll be the perfect time. Yes, yes.

We’ve all been there. We’re human, it’s normal. What are some other common mindset blocks or limiting beliefs you see from keeping people from thinking big?

I think one of the, kind of ties to this, but one of the things that keeps us from thinking big is this whole notion that it should feel great. So I think all of us, again, that’s part of the motivational triad. You want things to feel good, but big thinkers know that there really isn’t a problem.

The only real problem is that you don’t want to experience this negative feeling. So thinking that it’s gonna feel good is another thing that gets in your way of thinking big. So if you can just understand that the R in trust, which is, these are the five things that all big thinkers do.

The R in trust, I say stands for a real problem. And the real problem isn’t really a problem. That’s kind of like the good news.

It’s the problem is that you just don’t want to experience that uncertainty. So this morning I was talking to a woman who she owns two big hair salons outside of Boston. And she wants to open a third and fourth location.

And she knows that in order to do that, she has to kind of grow some new leaders within her team. And she said to me, this just doesn’t, do you think I can do this? I’m so like, I’m so, I’m all in.

And then I have these little moments of doubt. And I said, yeah, and how does that doubt feel? She’s like, it doesn’t feel good at all.

I said, okay, so that’s really the only problem. You just have to know that you’re gonna have moments of doubt. Like you’re human and those are just feelings.

And they’re probably not gonna like go away a hundred percent but we have to learn how to do doubt. We have to learn how to do, like we need to learn how to do the uncertainty piece of the puzzle. And when we kind of phrased it, like framed it like that, she was like, oh, I can do that.

You know, I’ve done a lot of harder things in my life. So big thinkers need to know the real problem is really just a negative feeling. And they also need to embrace that uncertainty.

Okay, so how else do you help someone expand their vision when it comes to these naturally feeling fear, doubt, right? It doesn’t feel real. Nope, nope.

Cause it’s out there, right? Yeah, in this lifetime. Yes.

Like before I started this podcast, I didn’t even listen to podcasts. I didn’t even know about podcasts. Yeah.

But once it’s in your life, it’s so real. It is. I love podcasting, I love podcasters and I love bringing value to anyone that comes my way.

But in the beginning, of course, it’s not that easy, right?

It’s not that easy. And I think that one of the reasons it’s not easy is because we get stuck in what I call passive action. Okay, so like you were like, all right, maybe I should do a podcast.

Maybe I should do a podcast. And I’m gonna guess, even if you hadn’t listened to any podcasts, you probably were like, I’m gonna listen to a couple. I’m gonna do some Googling.

I’m gonna ask some people, right? And then I’m just gonna dive in. So what happened there is you shifted from the place of just taking, of being in passive action into massive action.

And that’s a hard transition because we’re really good at passive action. Passive action is like, you feel like you’re doing things, you’re doing all the things, but you don’t have any traction. So you are listening to a podcast.

Now clearly you and I think podcasts are great. So I’m all about listening to podcasts, but are you doing anything with the information that you’re consuming? Are you just being a consumer or are you taking massive action?

Reading book, passive action. Even asking 50 million people that you know, passive action. Googling, chat GPT, all that passive action.

So you’re doing things, but it’s not the massive action. I even see this when people start businesses. So they start a business and they say to me, I need a website.

Like I need the website to make me feel legit. And until I have that website up, I mean, I’m not gonna go after any business, right? So like the website building in and of itself in a sense is passive action because it’s like serving as a roadblock or a bottleneck for them doing the harder thing, which is marketing, right?

Or selling themselves or making an offer to help someone. So I think another piece of the puzzle is helping people move from this passive action into massive action. And that last T in trust, I say, stands for take massive action.

I cannot agree with you anymore. I’ve seen the same. And what I just tell my clients to do is just to go pay up for your LLC now to get that website.

And now it’s because you’re thinking you need that, which like you said, you don’t, but just do it anyway. So now you already have what you think you need. Then you go do take action towards the next step, right?

And for me, in our podcasting example, for me, I was just, I set a deadline to launch a podcast in 45 days. So that gives you, working backwards, that gives you momentum to actually do the real work. After you take passive action, the planning, the business plan, then you actually take action, the real action.

And you also just shift your mindset there with like, I can get this thing launched in 45 days, right? Because you could have easily have just said, oh, I can’t, it’s gonna take me four months, five months, right? So you have to kind of also play with all of the possibilities.

And I call those thought options. That’s another piece of the puzzle. And I think finding all the thought options on your own sometimes is really hard because you’re sort of stuck in your own, I say you’re stuck in your own peanut butter jar and you can’t read the label.

So you gotta have some label readers out there helping you see what’s possible.

Exactly, I love that, I love that. So we are all about thinking big and taking action, of course. So to actually implement something you’ve been thinking about, if a listener has something on the back burner, what is the first step you recommend them to take?

The first step is to secure support.

That is your very first step. You cannot go it alone. You can go it alone, but I’m gonna say that it’s gonna be painful and it’s probably going to take you a lot longer and you’re gonna be searching, searching, searching through your brain to try to find answers which aren’t gonna be readily available.

So I don’t know any big thinkers out there and we could be very stereotypical and talk about big thinkers like societal big thinkers or think about characters in movies, right? There’s always a wingman, right? So anyone who is thinking big has support.

And the other piece of this is your family, okay? So your family, yes, they could be, because I may say, who’s supporting you in this? Oh, my spouse, oh, my sister, oh, my mom or whatever.

They’re such great cheerleaders. So you totally need cheerleaders, but your family’s job is to really love you. Like that’s their job.

So let them do their job. And then you seek the support you need to do whatever you are setting out to do. If it’s losing weight, like you need to find outside support to help you reach that goal.

If it’s starting a business, you need to find outside support to help you reach that goal. If it’s learning how to play piano, you could watch a hundred YouTube videos or you could hire a piano teacher and you’d probably be way better off, right? So securing support is really important.

And it’s, your brain wants to say, oh, you should be able to figure this out on your own. But should you? Like, who says that?

That’s not necessarily a truth. So I say secure support.

I love that. I always say this. Yes, our family loves us.

Yes, your friends are amazing, but they might not have the same goals as you. Right, right. And they might not wanna be willing to tell you like the hard things.

Mm, exactly. I always say to my clients, you’re not gonna like this. I’m not here to make you like me because you don’t have to love me.

No, exactly.

But I’m still gonna say it and give it to you straight. Yes, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. So I think that securing support is like the ultimate key to all of this.

Okay, so I’m all about confidence because we need confidence in order to do things that we truly wanna dream about. What role do you think confidence play in thinking big?

Yep, here’s how I define confidence. I mean, we could define it like a thousand different ways, right? But one of the definitions that I like to use is that confidence is really your willingness to feel all the feelings.

So just in the last few minutes, we’ve talked about the feeling scared, feeling unsure of yourself, feeling like you don’t know what the next best step is, right? So feeling doubt. So you’ve gotta be willing.

If you’re willing to feel all those feelings, then that is confidence. You know, if you think about very stereotypical, like you’re gonna get on a stage and you’re gonna be scared once you look at the audience, but if you can be, if you’re okay with feeling a little unsure of yourself and a little scared when you get out there, then you’re gonna go out. So confidence is not something that you can buy off a shelf.

I don’t think confidence is something you’re born with. I think confidence is just you. It’s not even like experience in a sense.

It’s just the willingness to feel the whole array of feelings. And the good news is we all can do that, like as humans.

Totally, the willingness to embrace uncertainty. Yeah. The willingness to experience this journey, even if you know you might fail, because that’s the fun of it, right?

Yeah, yeah. And I think that would lead to what I really wanna discuss is the time is now, because people are like, this is uncertain time. Recession’s coming.

I think it’s especially important now for people to think big, because this is your opportunity, because when other people might be shrinking, the world needs you to show up even more. This is the time. It’s not the time to play it safe.

It’s not time to wait until the recession really comes or goes. It’s actually more important now. What do you think about that?

I always say the time to do something is right now. There’s no better time. And that, again, I think is just our brains trying to think that there is going to be some ideal time.

And this client this morning who owns the salons, so she just turned 40, she said, oh my gosh, I can’t believe, like I should have been doing this way earlier. I should have been doing this 10 years ago. And I said to her, so this is interesting.

So she’s saying I should have done it 10 years ago. She’s not saying I should do it 10 years from now. So this is kind of like a little play on the same topic, but just slightly different.

I said, okay, but why is right now, why is age 40 the perfect time for you to do this? And she came up with a million reasons, right? And I said, all right, so let’s go back.

Let’s make an argument for 30, age 30 was the perfect reason, time to do it. And we could come up with a million reasons. And then I did say, okay, let’s go and say 50 is the perfect, you need to wait.

50 is gonna be a better time. Could we come up with reasons? Oh yeah, we could come up with reasons.

So, but no set of reasons was better than the other when we looked at them all on the table. So she’s going for it right now. Yes, I love that.

Okay, so if the listener feels inspired from our conversation today, what is one last message you want them to take away?

I want them to realize that, I mean, it sounds super cliche, but anything really is possible. Anything is possible. It’s a matter of how much you are willing to expand your thinking, like push yourself beyond.

I say something I say, everything you always wanted is on the other side of uncomfortable. So if you’re willing to expand and almost like, I picture sometimes a balloon like blowing up with air. If you’re willing to put more air in there and stretch, then let’s do it.

Like, let’s go, I’m in. So it comes down to decision. It’s a decision, it’s so true.

It’s really all of life is just a series of decisions. You’ve already made so many decisions today, no matter what time it is at your house. It’s just a series of decisions.

Yes, so we don’t want you to just get inspired and feel inspired from listening to us. We want you to implement your great idea and think big and really to go for it. And we’re rooting for you.

Awesome, well, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, Andrea. What is a favorite quote that you resort to when you need that extra push?

So since I’m in this entrepreneurial world, one of my favorite quotes is, being an entrepreneur is really a journey in personal development, disguised as an entrepreneurial adventure. So it’s supposed to be all adventurous and fun, but really what it is, it is fun and it is an adventure, but it’s really, you can only grow your business as much as you grow yourself. So being a business owner is really an exercise in you becoming a different version of yourself.

And I love that quote. I think it’s a great one to fall back on.

I love it, love it. This reminds me of another guest quote, which said that you transform the business of your life. That’s when you transform the life of your business.

Yeah, that’s perfect, love it, love it.

 So Andrea’s links will be linked in the show notes. Thank you again for being with us and all the blessings to everyone listening.