Trying to Decide if FNA is Right for YOU?
By Erin Holt
I’ve been in business for over a decade, and in that time I’ve had to make a lot of big decisions. If you’re reading this, you’re in a similar place right now, trying to decide: “Is FNA the right program for me?”
To help you answer this question, I’m going to share with you the exact process I go through when I have to make a decision—in my business and in my life.
I run my business on a little bit of strategy and a whole lot of soul. It has served me well in entrepreneurship. Utilizing intuition above all else has allowed me to scale my business to a successful—and enjoyable—seven-figure company.
What I’m about to share with you are questions that you can ask yourself to access your own intuition. These questions have been really helpful for me—they are the exact questions I ask myself anytime I need to make a hard decision.
What do *I* want?
Ask yourself this. Don’t factor in what someone else is telling you to do. This isn’t about what your friend is doing or your colleague is doing or what someone you follow on Instagram is doing. Ask yourself, “what is right for ME?”
The truth is, nobody can give you that answer.
Learn with Erin!
This might feel challenging because we are SO accustomed to being externally oriented and seeking permission outside of ourselves. I’m sure you’ve seen this with your clients and food: What can I eat? What should I eat? Am I allowed to eat this?
What we may not realize is that we do the same thing in our life, in our career, and in our business: Is this program right for me? What do you recommend I do? Do you think I should do this?
The very first thing I want to tell you is that you don’t need permission from somebody else. I’m happy to write you a permission slip for you if you want one…
You are permitted to build your dream business!!
I permit you to do the damn thing!! Make your own hours! Have financial freedom! Achieve that work-life balance once and for all!
You have my explicit permission to live a happy, confident, and fulfilled life!
But my permission won’t change anything. Neither will anyone else’s.
The truth of the matter is, the answer comes from within. This comes from inside. YOU decide. You GET to decide for yourself.
One of my favorite hip hop quotes has been a guiding force for me in my career and business:
“
When y'all was askin' permission I just stepped up and took it.
— Mos Def
But what if you’re not entirely sure what *you* actually want?
In this case, you have to ask yourself some follow up questions in order to figure out if this is something you truly want—if it’s the right next step for you.
The number one question to ask yourself in this scenario is:
If I said no, where would I be 14 months from now?
Usually that’s a pretty easy question to answer. It’s usually, “Well, if I don’t do anything, I would probably be right here in the same spot.”
So then the next question becomes:
“Is where I’m at right now where I want to be?”
Is where you’re at satisfying? Is it fulfilling? Does it light you up? Do you feel so much excitement, confidence, expansion, fulfillment, accomplishment, pride, and purpose with your career and life right now? Is this the place you want to be?
If the answer is “no,” your next question becomes:
“What do I need to do to change this?”
Write it down.
(Don’t skip this!!)
For this, you’ll need a pen and paper. Write down the following questions, then spend as much time as you need answering them.
Where would I be in 14-16 months if I said yes?
If success was inevitable?
If I couldn’t fail?
If everything I hoped and dreamed came true?
If I got exactly what I wanted, exactly what I desired, where would I be in just over a year’s time?
Write EVERYTHING down. Get detailed. See yourself living that life. What are you wearing? Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? How do you feel? Get it ALL out on the paper. You’re writing out YOUR vision for yourself.
When you’re complete, look at your list. Take a step back and think about this:
What is your vision for yourself?
Most people come to FNA because they want to create or enhance their own career, their own private practice, and their own business. You cannot be a business owner without a vision. So what is your vision for yourself?
What’s your vision for your career?
What’s your vision for the world?
How does your work impact people?
When people find your work, how do you want them to feel?
While you sink into these questions, notice the brain’s tendency to cycle through thoughts of:
What if it doesn’t work out?
What if I don’t make my money back?
What if I’m not as good as everyone else?
What if people don’t like me?
What if I can never get the confidence to do it?
What if I don’t have enough time?
“I want this, but...”
The mind is great at coming up with a bunch of buts.
This is by design—our brain is trying to keep us safe in the comfort of our current beliefs.
The brain likes familiarity and comfort. The brain will tend to choose the path of least resistance—the thoughts you’ve thought a million times before. For many of us, the easy path is to think about all the things that can go wrong.
The problem with that is you cannot simultaneously argue for your own limitations AND effect change. The two cannot coexist. So if you want to reach your goals, you have to change the way your brain approaches challenges.
What we need to do—if we want to create something different—is we have to create new thoughts.
The thoughts we keep thinking reinforce our beliefs. We anchor into beliefs as though they are the ONLY truth. (I can’t do this BECAUSE…this isn’t available to me BECAUSE…)
We believe these things so deeply we think of them as truth.
But if we can create new thoughts—if we can create new pathways—we can create new beliefs.
An exercise in training your brain towards what you want.
Start to think about: What if it DID work out?
What are ways this COULD work out?
What would it look like if it DID work out?
If I said YES, and this was exactly the right thing I needed, what would this look like?
What would it FEEL like in my body if I said yes and reached my goals?
If we start to allow ourselves to expand into thinking, “What if this really could work out?”, we can stop crushing our dreams before they even start.
Ask future you.
The next thing I do—and this has served me really well—is ask: What would my future self want me to do?
Whenever I’m at a crossroads, whenever I’m not sure what the right choice is, my gut reaction is to ask somebody else. To outsource the answer. But when I come back to baseline, when I come back to ME, I ask:
What would my future self want me to do right now?
I then imagine my future self—the one that made the EXACT right choice—cheering me on.
What would she want me to do?
Think about the BIG PICTURE vision you have for yourself and ask:
What does that vision need from me right now?
What decision does that vision need you to make?
When you consider what your vision is, a really solid way to know if FNA is right for YOU, is to ask, “Does FNA take me closer to my vision?”
If it does, then chances are it’s a good fit.
These are the exact questions I ask myself and journal about when I’m unsure about a decision to make. THIS is how we start to change our brain chemistry and start to fulfill our goal.
Look to your catalysts.
For my last suggestion I want to tell a story. I was listening to a podcast and the host was interviewing Kelly Clarkson. Kelly Clarkson was talking about how she used to sing when she was younger, but in her hometown a lot of people sang, so she didn’t really think of herself as anything remarkable or special.
But she also had a singing coach. And this coach saw in her what she couldn’t see in herself. The coach saw the vision for Kelly Clarkson. So despite the fact that Kelly Clarkson wasn’t ready, and despite the fact she didn’t think she was anything special, the coach DID think these things. Her coach was the hand on her back, continuing to guide Kelly forward before she thought she was ready.
Have you ever had somebody like this in your life? I’ve been fortunate enough to have several of these people. I call them my catalysts. They spark something within me, and push me off the cliff before I’m ready. And then on the way down I realize I have wings on my back. They knew they were there all along.
Having someone hold the line for your vision when your own eyesight gets shaky is EVERYTHING.
My suggestion for you is surround yourself with people who will help hold the line for you.
Making big decisions can feel daunting—whether it be for your business or in your personal life.
What is right for YOU is a question ONLY you can answer.
The more you use this process and ask yourself these questions when you need to make a hard decision, the more you access your intuition, guiding you to a business and life that feels more balanced, more purposeful, and more fulfilled.
And if FNA is the right decision for you, you can count on the FNA program—myself and everyone else in it—to hold the line for you, too.
Ready to feel confident and build your business the way YOU envision for yourself?
