Chill & Prosper with Denise Duffield-Thomas

How long it really takes to get to 7-figures+

People ask me all the time, “Denise, how long does it really take to make a million dollars?”

 

For me, the magic number was five years. 

 

Five years from starting my business to pushing over the threshold of $1 million in annual revenue. 

 

But that’s not the whole story.

 

Because truthfully, I was waiting in the wings for years before starting my business. Listening and learning – gathering all the information I needed to be successful.

 

I didn’t wake up one day and think, “I’m going to make a million dollars!” and then five years to the day later had a huge check in my hands.

 

But maybe that could be your journey. 

 

Today on the Chill and Prosper podcast, I share the struggles I faced when scaling my business, from my first try at nine years old to everything I have today.

Copycats, jealousy and being original

Small words of wisdom for this week:

 

Just because someone is succeeding in addition to you, doesn’t mean they are succeeding instead of you.

 

There’s nothing new under the sun, right? It can be nerve wracking to put your ideas out there because what if it looks like you’re trying to copy someone else. 

 

Or even worse, what if someone ends up copying you and making even more money. 

 

How can we be original when the world around us is moving a mile a minute? 

Let me tell you a story … 

A few years back, I published a blog post about spotting money leaks in your business.

 

I had batched the content months before, but it just so happened that the week I picked to publish that post, a peer of mine published the exact same post!!

 

Was it just a coincidence? 

 

Today on the Chill and Prosper podcast, I’m talking about copycats, making your own path, and being original in your business (plus what happened with that blog post). 

Ask Me Anything: How To Protect Yourself From Negativity

I am doing another episode of Ask Me Anything. 

 

It keeps me on my toes because I’m answering a question every couple of minutes!

How decluttering helps you attract more money

Let’s be real: the physical space around you can really impact your mindset. 

 

Clutter can clog you up. It impacts your ability to focus and nags at you when you have a million other things to do.  Kind of like having 50 tabs open on your computer and you can’t figure out which one the music is coming from … 

 

It’s simply overwhelming.

 

When you have a lot of stuff, it's really hard to appreciate what you actually have in your life.

 

I’m a big fan of Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method. Marie’s instructions are that if it doesn’t spark joy, it has to go. 

 

Because a build up of junk in your workspace can actually spark a lot of negative outcomes instead … 

 

… stress because you can never find what you need under the mountain of mess on your desk.

 

… procrastination because you’ve been meaning to clean out your refrigerator for a while now and just got a whiff of death while getting a snack, so now you have to drop everything. 

 

… frustration because you are working all day every day … but nothing in your business or home ever seems to get done. 

 

It doesn’t have to be like that. 

 

Today on the Chill and Prosper podcast, I share how decluttering your space and mindset once and for all, can help you make more money.

How to avoid scheduling burnout in 2023

Can you believe we’re already in the third week of the New Year?

 

Have you flown into January and already have multiple new projects up and running? Or are you just getting round to opening your emails and working on your plan for the year? Either way is totally fine. 

 

The perfect time to plan out your year is whenever you actually do it! 

 

Mark and I like to start planning things out in December to give ourselves space for the year ahead, but if that’s not your vibe, don’t force it. 

 

You can make your plan any time. Sometimes, we don’t really get to it until February, which is Lunar New Year … so it totally still works. 

 

At its core, our planning process is very simple. 

 

Listen to this episode, where I share how to avoid scheduling burnout without compromising my goals.

How to stop worrying about money

Welcome to another year of the Chill & Prosper podcast!

 

We’re diving right into the big stuff: money worries.

 

I’m ready to stop worrying about money! 

 

Let’s face it: there are so many things happening in the world right now that can make us feel unsure. The last couple of years especially have created a lot of money worries for a lot of people. 

 

And let's not gaslight ourselves:, there are real economic pressures that are happening right now.

 

So that's my disclaimer straight off the bat, today’s podcast episode is not about loving and lighting our way out of money worries. 

 

And I’m also not pretending that those things don't exist - that the economy is perfect, there's no poverty in the world, and we're just going to ignore all of that. 

 

No, I’m talking about what you can personally do when you're feeling worried about money, as everyone can have money worries at any level of income. 

 

You might think that when you have a particular amount of money, then you'll never feel fearful about money again. 

 

And that's absolutely not true. 

 

You can feel good at any income level, and you can also feel not so good at any income level. 

 

You might think, "Oh, Denise, she's the chillpreneur. She's so lucky. She must never worry about money." 

 

And you know what? That is true a lot of the time. 

 

So I want to acknowledge my privilege here.

 

I'm a very wealthy woman, and I absolutely have a lot of privilege and wealth in my life now. 

 

But that doesn't mean I still don't worry about money sometimes. 

 

I worry about my responsibilities. 

 

I worry about being able to take care of all of my employees, my family, and my assets. 

 

So I do a lot of the things I share in today’s podcast to help me when I feel scared.

My biggest mistakes and successes from 2022

I don’t know about you, but January 2022 feels like another lifetime ago.

 

I feel like I’m a completely different person from who I was at the start of the year. 

 

But on the other hand, it feels like the year has flown by and I’m still working on things I was frustrated by a year ago! 

 

If you have had a whirlwind year and you’re thinking about how next year can be different, then today’s podcast episode is for you.

Ask Me Anything - Getting unstuck and staying motivated

I’ve a pick and mix of juicy goodness for you today.

In today’s Ask Me Anything episode I’m answering some beauties, including:

• How do I stay motivated as a multi-millionaire? 
• What to do when you feel like you're doing all the work and you're still stuck?

And more!

My Marie Antoinette photo shoot and the unexpected mindset lessons

You may have noticed a little video I shared on social media recently of me dressed as Marie Antoinette.

 

It was part of a very luxe, beautiful photo shoot I did that brought up SO many layers of feelings for me.

 

So much so that I knew I had to record a podcast episode about the experience and my reflections. 

 

This is a vulnerable share but such an interesting episode. 

4 things I HATE to see in business

I can't bite my tongue anymore!

There are four things I repeatedly see in business, and today I'm going to have a little rant about them.

I hate them, so let's get right into it!