Episode Two: An Interview with Brittany Horn

Founder of Unleash Your Shine

“What could be possible if you played full out with the level of courage you have never had before?” - Brittany Horn

Brittany moved from food stamps and an eviction notice to becoming a nationally acclaimed author and speaker. Brittany shares her strategies on how to find your shine.

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Welcome to and then it's a podcast we look at what comes after the struggle, a tough season or a setback. My name is Suzie Chafin. I'm mom for a wife Kota, an author, a business owner and a coach. But what I'm most passionate about is helping people transition from struggle to striving to absolutely thriving. Today, I had the honor of interviewing Miss Brittany horn, who is the founder of the unleash your shine movement, and creator of the unleash unleash your shine mastermind for high impact female entrepreneurs. Brittany certainly knows the struggle guys. And just to give you a little sneak peek, she went from eviction notices, food stamps, and nearly $250,000 of tax debt to becoming a nationally known speaker, award winning entrepreneur, and peak performance coach for female entrepreneurs all over the country. Nothing lights Brittany more up than activating untapped potential and others, and helping women create success in their business. So they can increase her influence, increase their income, increase their impact, and become the women God created them to be. We are so excited to have Brittany. Brittany, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. I so appreciate you hopping on this podcast to share your story of the struggle, very big struggle, actually two struggles that we're gonna dive into today. How you found you're surviving, and then absolutely right now you are in the thriving, you are doing fantastic. And it's so fun. It has been so fun to know you all these years and watch you grow and develop into this nationally acclaimed speaker and author and all the crazy things that you're doing now. So congratulations on your success. And thank you for being here. Absolutely. Well, I just have to first say I'm so delighted to be here, Susie. And just what an honor and gift it is to know you and to be a part of your podcast. I just honored you for the mission. And really what you are creating in putting this together you're going to be changing so many people's lives through is this as you share stories of where people have been giving other people hope. So I just want to acknowledge you for that. So she so what were things like for Britney when they weren't so pretty so right. So we have a couple, you know, I want to take you back to there's really when I first became an entrepreneur, it was 2012. And I was in my early 20s. I had never launched anything before. I'd never been a business owner before. And I really had no idea how to sell had no Omkar at this point, but a lot of ambition and decided that I was going to find a way to make this succeed. And so there was I said yes to launching a neighborhood franchise magazine. And went off, I was so certain that it was probably going to take me maybe, you know, three months to create this product from nothing. But there I was Suzy after nine months of doing this. And I will take you to exactly the moment where I was sitting on my couch in my, in my apartment where I was, I remember looking at my phone and there was an eviction notice from my landlord that said, you know, Brittany, if you have not paid you have not paid your rent for two months. And if we don't get some cash here really fast, you're not going to be living here any longer. And so there I was, just the day prior, I had missed my bus. I was running down the highway, yes, holding my heels in my suit and all trying to get get to this meeting. And then which I did make it to my meeting, everything worked. And then that night, I went to my serving job that I remember falling asleep standing up. I was so tired. And in the bathroom that they had to come in and wake me up to tell me a table was there. Oh, there was no Can you imagine? It was about 100 hours a week when I had added it all up between the magazine I was trying to launch in the serving job. I remember I'm sitting on the couch and looking at this text, my food stamp money for the week it was about to be finished. I remember I had 27 cents in my bank account. And there I was, and I was like God, how is this going to work? But I made a decision. I said, if I'm committed I know I will always find a way if I'm committed I will find a way and therein entered my very first business coach. So at that point, I had someone come in that said you know Brittany, and they started speaking life into me when I didn't see it in mice. So all I saw was what was in front of me. And I felt like I was failing, I felt like it was never gonna work. If you're listening to this, maybe you've been at that place sometime in the past. Or maybe you're there right now where you're where you're, you're you find yourself saying, I thought I'd be farther along right now, I thought things would look different right now, I didn't really fit, I thought this would be a little bit easier than what I'm seeing right now. And that's where I was. And so this coach came in and said, you know, Brittany, this is who I see you to be. And they started reminding me of who I was. And they said, We're going to just take it one step at a time, I'm going to take you under my wing, I'm going to teach you how to sell I'm going to teach you how to run a business, I'm going to teach you how to grow and build a team and your staff. And I said, you know, I don't really believe you right now, because I don't see it. But you're gonna I'm gonna go on this blind faith, I'm gonna let you be the flashlight for me. And because all I saw was darkness, that there's only black in front of me. But I said, you know, I'm gonna let you be the flashlight. And so I'm just going to take this next step, you told me this, and I'm just going to trust that it's going to work. And Susie, you would not even believe it, they were right. And So lo and behold, there it was, a few months later, I baby step by baby step one step at a time, I ended up having a magazine, and no longer needed to run down the highway with the bus anymore. Because I did get my first car, I no longer worked at the serving job, because I was able to support myself moved out of the apartment, and didn't have to do food stamps any longer. And it was just it was such a gift to know that I could have not done it if somebody else hadn't painted the way for me. And I said yes, to just that baby step and going on that teeny, tiny piece of faith. And I'll tell you, Susie, the next time I saw my coach in person, you better believe what I gave them as a present. And it was a flashlight. That's awesome. Because they were the flashlight for me. And so that was my very first foray into entrepreneurship. And, and and, and the learning piece of the curve of what it means to be a business owner. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Really, the transformation started with that one decision that you made to be committed. I mean, even though the circumstances around you looked completely impossible, 27 cents in the bank account. No more food stamps getting an eviction notice. I mean, how making that decision? I think everybody in that place, it's like, we've all would have been like, Oh, I get it. Brittany, why you would have quit? Yeah, I understand. That's hard. But you didn't quit. You push, you push through, you made the decision. And you leaned on the help from a coach who spoke life into you. I think I think that's so powerful. And that was just really the kind of the foreshadowing of what was to come next, right. Mm hmm. You know, and it is it being an entrepreneur has so many different chapters to it. And it's like, I like to call it the roller coaster, you know, we're up here. And then we have another little dip and then we're going up again. And you know, as long as you keep your seatbelt on Brittany horn, then you're not going to fly off the roller coaster. So I went on a roller coaster of an adventure. So I launched my magazine, and within a year had built up to a six figure plus profit over 10k plus a month, I had been given the opportunity to start leading and overseeing other people and helping them build their business and kind of our Midwest region. And I loved it. It was so much fun to see other people and pulling out that potential in them. Then I like to have a I like to call what I had my year of Ryan when I met my wonderful husband Ryan. And during that point, when we after we had gotten married, we both had assumed about a quarter of a million dollars in tax debt. So that's a to about $250,000 of tax debt that we owe to the IRS. He was a business owner, I was a business owner. And we both had a that's what we brought to our marriage and our six months after we got married. I will never forget the day Suze it was a Wednesday afternoon and I remember it was I had just got my hair done that day. And it was like this nice spring day and I'm walking into the grocery store and I can still feel the the the wind like whipping across my face. And I was like this is such a great day. It's awesome. I was just like on you know, on and I got all the groceries and I'm checking out in the conveyor belt is right there, put my card in the slot all the groceries are back in my cart, I'm ready to go to the car and my car declines. Like what is going on? There's money in my bank account. Why is my car declining? And the wonderful lady is like, you know, your card didn't go through let's let's put this let's put this put this in again. So I put my card in again, and it's still declined. So pull up my phone and looked at my banking app. And in that moment, it read IRS tax levy, and there was read negative $100 Oh, Ah. So in that moment, I looked at all of our accounts, every single penny that we had was gone. Every account, every savings, every checking, and it was all gone. So there, I was walking out of the grocery store. And I remember I left all my groceries right there on the side, I had to tell them, hey, I'm so sorry, I can't pay for this. And I walked out. And it was like, I felt like everything. It was like there was like, someone must have felt if they had a fire, and they lost everything they had. But yet there was in inside of me this piece of God, I'm yours, and I trust you, you're going to, you're going to take care of us, and it's going to be okay. But even in that moment, I remember sitting in the car in the parking lot, and gripping the steering wheel. And it's like, I've all like, I felt this, it was like this gorilla was sitting on my chest, and I could barely even breathe. And I was like, we're going to find a way. It was like that same resolve when I was sitting on the couch with the text from my landlord. I don't know how this is going to work. But if I'm committed, we're going to find a way. And I called my wonderful husband who sits there and starts praying on the phone as I'm crying. I'm like, Well, we're going to do this. And we came home. And the first thing he said was Brittany, how can we make this fun? What did you make us what an amazing husband I have losing. And so we sat there, and we laughed a little bit, cried a little bit, and said, Okay, God, what's our next step. And there in suddenly was the next piece of my entrepreneurial adventure. And what that we what that looked like to rebuild a business completely from scratch. At that point, I remember, it was May 31. So all of our bills, everything we owed was due the very next day. And I can tell you, Susie is only by the grace of God one step at a time, that we ended up going from that place to rebuild a business back. But it didn't, it wasn't easy. It didn't just happen. And I'll tell you, there was another moment, it was probably maybe four or five months after after this had happened. When I remember, it was three o'clock in the afternoon, and I am in my bed in my pajamas, and I'm on him What do you know, another coaching call, and this this, and I am on the phone, and I remember, I mean, my pajamas, okay? Like having, you know, and, and all I remember saying was I am such a failure all I'm failing at everything, I cannot do this, there's no way this will happen. And, and I'm literally like yelling into the phone. And this wonderful person on the other end of the line, once again, starts speaking life back to me, Brittany, you haven't failed, you're just not finished yet. You haven't failed, you're just not finished yet. This is what I see in you, you can do this. Remember where you've been. Remember what you've already overcome. If you're listening to this podcast, remember what you've done. Remember what you've already overcome, you can do this, we're just going to do one little piece at a time, you're looking at everything right now. That's why it seems impossible. But all we're going to do is we're gonna focus on the next right step. So girl, you're gonna go, you're gonna take a shower, and then you're gonna call me back. Now we're going to do the next step, like, Okay, let's start there, then I'm going to make one phone call, then you're going to call me back, then you're gonna go to one meeting, and then you're gonna call me back. And then through that Suzy, baby, step by baby step by baby step. Within nine months, I had rebuilt the business from a $1,500 profit, one month away from completely losing my magazine and everything I'd worked for, to a six figure plus profit, and then building from there. And there is no way that that would have happened, if it wouldn't have been for those coaches that came in and spoke life to me. And so that is part of my mission now, to be able to pay it forward into that flashlight to be that voice of hope to pull out that potential and other people as a coach. And it's one of the things I do on coaching calls, or when I'm on my mastermind with the different ladies that I'm with so that they can start shining out what's already inside of them. That's so powerful. And it's I just think about how I can't imagine being in that line at the grocery store and looking at your phone and seeing the negative 100 and then realizing that you had nothing. I mean, I can't even imagine the amount of fright that you had at that moment how scared you must have been how paralyzed I'm imagine that you probably just didn't even know what to do next. How did you find even that inner energy to make the decision that we're just going to continue to move forward? We're gonna just continue to make the next right step. You know, I think it's I think it's really a great question. I think in those moments in those moments, sometimes I've found it comes down to my prayer. The only thing I can say is, is God Help, Help. Help. It's a one one word prayer help. And what I heard from someone years ago that I've never forgot and is my favorite prayer is God, I'm yours. And I trust you. Like, I don't understand. This doesn't make sense to me. I'm terrified out of my mind right now. I have no idea what to do. I don't even I feel so unsteady, so uncertain, so shaky on the inside, but I know I do trust you show me the next right step. And I, I will pray often God, what is my next right action? What's my next right action, show me the next right thing to do. And I will tell you, in that going through the tax levy, it was another layer of having to get really honest with myself, I remember feeling so embarrassed, I felt so humiliated, I felt like all I wanted to do was, was when I wake up in the morning, Suzie, and all I want to do is throw the covers back up over my head, stay there for a long, long. And it's like, I just wanted to hide, because I had made up all of these things that would happen if I started sharing about it. And sometimes when we're in those places, the most healing thing is to share. Suddenly, when I started sharing and talking about my story, in my experience, it's like that 1000 pound gorilla that was sitting on my chest was gone. And I was free. And then when I started owning where I was, here's what happened, looking at it as just is a fact, I was the one that was creating the meaning or the story of what happened, you know? And then I could say, wow, look at this experience. How, how do you want to use this god to fuel me forward into this next chapter? Oh, that's powerful. Yeah, so the I love the one one word prayer help. I mean, sometimes that's all we can muster. But that's all. That's all that's needed. Right? It's just to, to really surrender ourselves and ask that I love that. The god I'm yours. And I trust you. And I love that those words of truth that your coach spoke up spoken to you, you haven't failed, you just aren't finished yet. And I think for people who are in the struggle right now, like, it's hard to believe that this is not the final chapter, but you're just not finished. It's just part of the story. And I love that your story, you came to such a drastic blow. And you've made the decision to just keep making the next right choice, whether that was taking the shower or making a phone call something so small. And you use something that I've heard you say before is tiny is mighty, could you kind of really elaborate on that concept of tiny is mighty. Yes, I love that. And what I love about it is tiny is mighty. It's like the tiniest decisions, the smallest things have so much power. It's if I am it, what's the what's a great way to explain this. So if a plane if if a pilot is flying a plane, and you're and you're on the way to go to Hawaii, did you know that if they're only I think it's two degrees off of what they're doing, they're going to end up in completely the other direction, which is their course correcting? I believe it's over 95% of the time, they're course correcting. The pilot knows what they're doing. But they're in their in their course correcting, they're changing. They're making sure. And so tiny is Mighty, the tiniest things that I can do the tiniest things, if you're listening to this that you can do can have the biggest shift consistency is undefeated. Consistency is undefeated. So there I was when I was when I was in bed, saying how much I was failing. And the very wise coach on the other end of the line was like Brittany, all we're gonna do is these teeny tiny things you're going to do, you're going to do, and here I was, I'm going to need to do 20 meetings a week and never gonna ever be able to do that my whole life. It's gonna be paid, paid, paid, paid, paid. They're like, that's not actually true. Why don't we start with like, five can you do five a week and we're just going to do five and I want you to take time off during the week. I'm like, You're insane. This will never work. And they're like, we're just gonna do five and I will tell you Suze? I did when I looked back at it. Over nine months. I did 5.4 meetings a week was my out. And I took off. They told me to take one day off I said, You know I don't think I can do that. But we're gonna start with like an hour and we're start with two hours. Then we're gonna like maybe do half a day but I did get a couple full days off in there I will say and looking back on it, I actually did that, completing 5.4 average meetings a week, my number one goal at the beginning of that year, when I was about to lose my magazine was to take the month of December off, whole month seemed absolutely impossible. But I believe in setting a vision and declaring it of what I really want, it's part of my framework. And what I do on my coaching calls with with the women that I coach today, is really getting clarity on your breathtaking future. And so what I did is I laid out, I'm going to take off an entire month at the end of the year. And Suzie, my vision was, once I hit that 10k, again, which I did in September, I did actually take the month of December off from all active sales appointments, it was a true miracle, something I never thought was would be possible. And it all came down to that tiny is mighty and doing the teeny tiny little things over and over and over. That's so that's so amazing. And I know that part of your transformation and all of this in achieving that goal and achieving that month off was that you quit looking in the rearview mirror, and you quit looking to what could you know, maybe the failures and the successes, and realizing that that had nothing to do with what's in front of you. And I know you talk a lot about your amazing windshield, but you want to dive into that a little bit. Yes, absolutely. And so, you know, I remember this one day, I was driving Suzy and I was looking at the rearview mirror that was in front of me. And then looking at this big breathtaking windshield, and it was as if God was like Brittany, do you not see? All you're doing is looking at this teeny, tiny rearview mirror? Like you're living your life? looking in the rearview mirror? So why do you think you keep crashing all the time? Driving looking in your rear view mirror? And it was like God was like pretty? Do you not see how big it is? It's literally like, teeny tiny, little. And then do you see this big, breathtaking windshield in front of you? And it was like Brittany, do you not see, this is where you're going? Why do you think your windshield is so much larger than your rearview mirror. This is where you're going this is where I want to take you what could be possible. If you stepped into the vision that I've already created you for that's already inside of you, will you let me have the steering wheel and the brakes, all you need is to put your key in, and the gas pedal, I'll do the steering, I'll tell you when to stop, you just got to put your key in and you got to just put on the gas. And we're gonna go in this big breathtaking windshield. And it was like I sat there in the car. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's why I feel like I've been crashing all the time. And it was like God is like pretty your rearview mirror is there to keep you safe. You know, you're gonna glance in it and you're gonna learn from it, you're going to ask yourself, How is this a gift? What are the things from the past that you've learned? So that, you know, there's this cop that's fine by there's this accident, you're being careful so that you're not so you know, moving forward, like that'll never ever, ever happen again with the IRS, or whatever it is so that I can have that breathtaking future. But in that moment, Susie, it was like this huge, like, huge aha, because I didn't see the breathtaking windshield in front of me. One of the pieces of my framework today, with the ladies that I coach, the first piece is you have to really own your awesome, you have to remember what you've already done, what you've already accomplished all the things, because so many times these wonderful high performing entrepreneurs, we forget those things, we forget what we've already done, we forget all of the things that have already taken place. So that has to be the first piece and getting into that powerful state of remembering that then number two is create your breathtaking future, what is it that you really want. And one of the ways they do that is what's called a declaration letter. And what I love about this, this is one of the most powerful letters that I've ever written and for my for my clients, it's where you're writing a letter to yourself in advance. So if I was writing this letter, I'd be writing it to myself, as if it is a year from now 12 months from now, or you could do a six month letter, and you're looking back and you're saying all the things that you're so grateful for that have already taken place in your life. It's like God, thank you, Bernie, I'm so proud of you. Like look at the things that you've done and accomplished and you're writing out the vision. So for example, that was part of what I did when it was let's take a month off. Okay, let's bring the publication back it's it's that letter and speaking those things out. So it's another way of living in what that breathtaking future really is. Of that big windshield of what's in front of me and so those are a few of the different pieces that really got me to how do I how do I continue having that power that comes because I so believe I mean I see I had all these fuzzy goals and fuzzy targets Just don't get hit. They should No, you're right. Absolutely right. They just don't get hit. It's like, I got an Uber and I said, Hey, you know, you want to drive around a little bit, I'm like, no, like, I wouldn't do that I'm gonna get an Uber and say, Alright, we're on to the airport, I know, there's a lot of paths to get to the airport, but I know I'm gonna get to the airport, because i that is the target and where we're going. So I had to get absolute clarity on what it is I want. So if you're listening to this, and you're like, I don't have the clarity, I'm not quite sure. Give yourself the gift of writing that letter, take 15 minutes, take 30 minutes and just write from your heart. You know, what could be possible? If you really played Fallout, with a level of courage that you may not have never had before? Not what in the past of all the things that you feel like you haven't done or? Or is this like, this is a new slate, like, what do you really want? What can be possible, I mean, I'm getting excited for you even just thinking about it. And what I love about that, too, is that when you're writing that letter, you're in a place of gratitude. And I know that I've heard you say before, that when you're living in gratitude, you can't be fearful gratitude and fear cannot coexist. And so you're really making this very compelling vision of yourself. You're creating concise and clear goals, you're figuring out a way to get there. I know the declaration letter is just one of some of the tools that you use to help really go after those goals. What are some other things, other strategies or tools that you used during that time as well? Yeah, absolutely. And so I think that really gets to the third piece of my framework. So the first one is, is own your awesome. The second is create your breathtaking future. And then the third one is really be unstoppable today. So how do we live out our unstoppable, like, what does that look like, in the middle, like when things happen? So number two, creating our breathtaking future. So what what we've done at this point is you have a declaration letter, you know where you're going. So another way that you can live out you're unstoppable is to record your letter, and to listen to your letter, which is something I love to do it, when you're working out when you're doing the dishes, when you're getting ready in the morning, you're listening to your letter. And so it's reminding you of where you're going what you're grateful for in advance. That is one way. I also have what I call a yes board. So some people call it a vision board or a prayer board or but I like to call my yes board like this is what I'm doing to say yes to in advance. I'm looking at it here is we're talking in my office right now. And these are pictures on here of things I'm believing God for that I'm saying yes to in advance. I also do what's called Future gratitudes, which is what I say thank you for in advance. And what I do, I do one of these every night before I go to sleep, I used to put them on sticky notes on the back of my door. Now I just put them in a notebook. So I've evolved from the sticky notes to the notebook. But it's saying I'm so grateful for I'm so grateful for whatever it is that you're believing God for that, whether it's in your business, or in your family or in your personal life, but those are little things that help create that breathtaking future and to stay into that place. Then when what do we do when things happen that we can't really control? And how do I get back on track when that happens? So one of my number one hacks in tools I love to do is what's called Book ending. So the way book ending works just like a book and on a shelf, you have your book end, you have your book, and then you ever book, another book end. So if there's a little task, you feel like you're losing momentum, how do I get back on track Brittany, when things are going crazy, like I just feel like I want to go hide back under the covers again, like what do I do? So the way you book end is, what I like to say is you just text somebody and say, here's the action, I'm going to take the time, I'm going to take it and then you text them once it's done. So if you're listening to this, and you're like, well, Brittany, I don't have any accountability partners, or I don't even know who I would text. So my, what I might invite you to consider doing is just pick one person, say, Hey, I'm gonna text you. And I really need to do this thing that I keep putting off and telling myself I'm going to do that I don't do and at four o'clock today, I'm and I'm going to do it, you don't even need to respond to this text. I'm just going to do this to put it out there. And then I'm gonna text you when I'm finished. That's it. And you're done. So bookending is one of those tools. The other thing I would say is what I like to call the power of three. So after, you know they've done neurologic brain research to show that your brain really thinks in threes and after three, it's like 123 Many. So that's my way of explaining. So we focus on three. So when I'm on a coaching call, we will focus on the top three things, the top three goals for 2022. We'll focus on the top three things you're working on for the quarter, then we'll look at the top three things for the month, then we break it down to the week. So my question for you if you're starting to feel super overwhelmed, or I like to call overloaded. If you're in a place where you feel like your brain is just spinning, can you stop? Can you grab a sticky note and write your three things for the day? These are the three things that I'm going to focus on for today. And I know I'm winning by the end of the day, if I've done those three things, so getting its book ending power of three. And then the last thing is what I like to call my weekly meeting with myself. And so this is where I will take, you can take 15 minutes, you can take 30, you can take an hour review the week, here's wins, here's three wins from the week, here's three special moments, things that happened, like being on this podcast right now would be a special moment. Or if you're listening to this, and it's, it's, it's touching you in some way, that could be a special moment. What I learned from this week, what I what I where I struggled this week, what I would say to someone if I was coaching them, and then the decision I need to do to move faster this next week. And so in doing those little things helps me then I can look at my week, then I can see what my goals are for the following week, where do I need to go? And then that momentum is back. So if you're in those place, those are a couple of little hacks that you can do at any time to move yourself forward.