Ep 23 Scaling Isn't Always the Answer: Miranda Gwilliam's Intuitive Business Journey

Summary

Locally Owned – Episode 23
Scaling Isn’t Always the Answer: Miranda Gwilliam’s Intuitive Business Journey
Host: The Street Smart Entrepreneur
Date: June 4, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this insightful conversation, The Street Smart Entrepreneur sits down with Miranda Gwilliam—entrepreneur, intuitive business guide, and founder of Manifest Mountains—to explore the less-discussed side of business growth: the choice not to scale. Miranda shares her evolution from a brick-and-mortar carpet cleaning business with her husband to developing a mentorship and coaching practice focused on alignment, intuition, and building a business that fits your life. Together, they dissect why scaling isn’t always the right answer, the power of giving yourself permission, and how real breakthrough can come from listening to your inner voice.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Miranda’s Journey: From Corporate to Local Business (03:25–08:25)

• Background: Miranda shares her transition from a psychology graduate and corporate sales job into partnering with her husband, Scott, in their carpet and rug cleaning business.
• Learning Curve: She began in an admin role, knowing little about the industry, learning through "trial and error":
  • “It was like most things in my life where I was kind of just thrown to the wolves and I had to figure it out.” (05:23, Miranda)
• Teamwork & Ownership: Early on, Scott told Miranda to “take some ownership,” which became a pivotal moment, giving her the confidence and permission to make business decisions.

The Power of Permission and Taking Ownership (06:05–10:04)

• Subtle Truth: The host reflects on the need for permission in building confidence—a defining growth point in Miranda’s story.
• People-Pleasing and Service: Miranda discusses how her people-pleaser tendencies were suited for running a service-based, referral-driven business.

Choosing Alignment Over Scaling (15:14–23:31)

• Manifest Mountains Leadership: Miranda describes the origins of her coaching practice, born from frustration with traditional industry advice focused exclusively on scaling through volume and hiring.
• Defining Her Path: Rather than scaling up, Miranda and Scott chose to niche down:
  • “We organically grew our business the last several years through niching down instead of scaling up.” (23:31, Miranda)
• Alignment Over Ambition: Growth strategies must reflect your own values and lifestyle, not just industry dogma.
  • “My life wouldn’t fit into that scale model and the scale model wouldn't fit into my life.” (21:29, Miranda)

How Miranda Coaches: Mixing Strategy With Intuition (25:33–38:41)

• Business Strategy with Mindset & Energetics: Miranda’s approach blends practical strategy with mindset, energetic work, and intuition:
  • “I'm really building these hybrid sessions, which are a mixture of strategy and energetics.” (33:07, Miranda)
• Client Process: Free initial Zoom interviews and intuitive business assessments help Miranda identify client needs before formal coaching.
• Course Creation Journey: She initially aimed for online courses but found one-on-one coaching invaluable for tailoring to client needs.

Embracing Energetics and Intuition (34:09–38:41)

• Not Just Business Coaching: Miranda describes herself as an “intuitive business guide,” emphasizing that people don’t have to be experts in energetics—just open.
  • “I speak now with different terminology… that a few years ago I would have been like, what is she talking about?” (36:41, Miranda)
• Processes Include: Visualization, EFT tapping, and Akashic Records journeys; flexibility to adjust for client immediacy and intuition.
• Intuition and Expansion: Miranda believes that leaning into intuition and energetic alignment allows for more authentic business decisions.

The Real Value of a Guide: Permission and Belief (41:47–45:18)

• Moving Beyond Information: The host and Miranda discuss that information alone doesn't spark transformation. True change often comes from receiving and granting oneself permission.
  • “You don't need outside sources of permission, but we're programmed that we do from such a young age.” (43:12, Miranda)
• Overcoming Blocks: Awareness is key—once a client recognizes their limiting beliefs, the act of giving themselves permission allows progress.

Practical Coaching Outcomes and Examples (50:23–53:58)

• Tailored Journeys: Every coaching path starts with in-depth questioning to find the true areas of focus, sometimes uncovering deeper money or mindset issues even if clients didn’t initially identify them.
• Money Mindset: Miranda’s favorite topic is untangling limiting beliefs around money, which often trace back to childhood:
  • “With the programming, we have to do a lot of thought monitoring… change them. That is a longer grind.” (53:05, Miranda)
• Incremental Progress: Miranda values small, cumulative wins as much as the "aha" moments—consistent movement over time leads to big shifts.

Integrating Internal and External Strategy (57:15–61:31)

• Brand and Client Cohesion: She helps clients create consistent, intentional branding/marketing focused on the ideal client, not just the business owner.
• Masculine vs. Feminine Energetics: Branding and messaging can be tailored energetically to call in your dream clients.
• Clarity & Action: “Clarity is so important…It helps you stay on track… We need to take action at some point.” (60:59, Miranda)
• Intrinsic Motivation: Miranda teaches clients how to move from external to internal motivation by understanding and trusting their own intuition.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Permission and Ownership
  • “He just… was like, you need to take some ownership. And that was such a pivotal moment for me in our business journey.” (06:05, Miranda)
• On Alignment vs. Scaling
  • “My life wouldn’t fit into that scale model and the scale model wouldn't fit into my life.” (21:29, Miranda)
  • “I wanted people to first of all know that there are options.” (23:31, Miranda)
• On True Value in Coaching
  • “What actually moves people and changes them is permission. Permission to believe in their idea and to follow their intuition and to do what works for them.” (45:18, Host)
• On Information Overload
  • “If somebody just wants information, then they can find that from books and podcasts and YouTube... If somebody’s paying for an online course, you really need to get in and give them exactly what they need that they can’t find anywhere else.” (41:29, Miranda)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Miranda’s business origin story: 03:25–08:25
• The power of permission & taking ownership: 06:05–10:04
• Referral-based, intentionally smaller business: 10:04–12:28
• Why Manifest Mountains?: 15:14–16:00
• Scaling vs. alignment & niching down: 19:58–23:31
• Miranda’s unique coaching approach: 25:33–34:09
• Integrating energetics and intuition in business: 34:09–38:41
• How mindset and belief blocks keep us stuck: 41:47–45:18
• Practical client journeys and money mindset: 50:23–53:58
• Aligning branding, messaging, and energetics: 57:15–60:59

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How to Connect With Miranda

• For Business Coaching/Mentoring (Service-based businesses only):
  • Instagram: @ManifestingwithMiranda
  • Email: [e-mail]
  • Rug Cleaning Business: @rugworks (RUGWORX)

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Takeaway
Miranda’s story is a powerful reminder to local business owners and entrepreneurs that conventional growth models aren’t the only path to success. Trusting your intuition, giving yourself permission, and building a business that reflects your life—rather than dictating it—are just as important as strategic systems and goal-setting. Whether you scale up or niche down, the most vital component is alignment with who you truly are.

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Listener Reflection Prompt:
“What part of Miranda's story spoke to you? What insight can you apply in your own journey? Whether it's how you define success, price your services, or just how you trust yourself—it only matters if you do something with it.” (66:09, Host)

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For more, explore earlier episodes, including Miranda’s first appearance with her husband Scott.

Transcript

[A]

What if scaling your business wasn't the answer? What if real breakthrough came from slowing down, tuning in and aligning your work with who you really are? In today's episode of Locally Owned, Miranda Gwillim, entrepreneur, intuitive business guide, and founder of Manifest Mountains, shares the powerful moments that reshaped how she runs her business and helps others run theirs. From taking ownership to giving yourself permission, from untangling business beliefs to defining success on your own terms, this conversation is full of unexpected insights for any business owner ready to grow with intention. Let's get to it. Hey, welcome back to Locally Owned, the podcast that gets behind the scenes with small business owners who are building something really meaningful. Today, I'm talking to Miranda Gwillim, an entrepreneur, intuitive business guide, and founder of Manifest Mountain. You may know her from her viral content on TikTok and Instagram, but her journey started long before social media. Alongside her husband, Miranda built a successful rug and carpet cleaning business. But over time, she discovered that there's more. And she has a deep passion for helping other other businesses align with who they are and what they're truly called to do. In this episode, Miranda shares how she made that leap from a brick and mortar business to mentorship, from operations to intuition, and what it means to manifest a business that fits your soul. Miranda, so glad to have you.

[B]

Oh, thank you so much. That was quite the intro to all of that.

[A]

Well, I did have a little help from AI so.

[B]

No, that was great. It was actually. It can be kind of difficult to explain, and I feel like you did a good job of explaining it.

[A]

Good, good. All right. Well, yeah, we've had a few conversations and I really, you know, with the goal setting, work that I do and help other businesses with, with their goal setting, you know, there's an element to it of manifestation that, you know, that takes place and that's part of things that you have to learn. And so, you know, the conversation that you and I had out in San Diego when we were working together at the Masters event, you re it. I was really intriguing to find out that you do a lot of visualization, you help people with that. And so I really wanted to get you on the show and find out, you know, just, just how you go about doing that and how that, you know, reached out to you and manifested itself in your life. And, and, and that that's an incredible thing to be able to share with our listeners. So really excited. But before we get into all that, why don't you take us back a little bit to the journey of, you Starting out with your husband, because I know you, you. You came out of the corporate world and then you, you became a part of a husband, wife team in business. And walk us through a little bit of how that happened.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I married a carpet cleaner, right? And he was very much a carpet cleaner and had been at a. Since a young age. And he had just started his own carpet cleaning business when I met him. And so he was about a year in. So that was about 20 years ago or so. I think we've been together for 20 years now.

[A]

And nobody can accuse you of marrying for money, that's for sure.

[B]

Exactly, exactly. It was like it was him in a van and that was it. Right? And he was doing carpet cleaning and some carpet inspection and correction work at the time and kind of flying around and doing all of that, which I knew nothing about at the time. And I was just kind of finishing up college at asu. I got a degree in psychology and decided that I didn't want to go to school anymore. And so I kind of abandoned any. Any thought of having a career in psychology just because I didn't want to keep going on to get my master's or doctorate. And so I wanted. I was eager to kind of get to work. And I ended up in sales and working in what I thought was going to be my dream job, which. Which wasn't. And everything changed when I got married and had kids. Right. Everything changes when you have kids. Things that you thought were important are no longer, you know, are somewhat meaningless, really. And so I just kind of stayed home with our. With our first snow son. We have. We have two boys. And I started helping Scott with, like, admin stuff, and he wanted me to prepare the taxes. And I'm like, I don't know anything about taxes. Like, if you want me to pay the bills, I can pay the bills. I can, I can, you know, I can email people.

[A]

I can spend money, right?

[B]

I can email people, I can call people. But I really didn't understand carpet cleaning either. So it was kind of funny when I first started talking to the customers, I was like, they would ask me questions, and I really didn't even know how to answer basic questions like, oh, how long does it take for the carpets to dry? Like, I had had no idea how to even answer basic questions like that. So it was like most things in my life where I was kind of just thrown to the wolves and I had to figure it out. And there's lots of trial and error. So that happened. And we've Always just been such a good team, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I did, like, we've always liked working together, but I do think an important. An important piece of our story of working together was I kind of drove him crazy in the beginning because I realized I was running every little thing by him and asking him a million decisions because I felt like it was his business, and I was just kind of helping. Well, there's a lot of decisions that you have to make all day, every day as a business owner. And so I was supposed to really be taking things off of his plate. And I don't think that I was in the beginning, because I was like, oh, what do I say to this person? Or, how do I do this? Or is it okay if I schedule this job on this day? You know, And I'm just running these little tiny things by him while he's, you know, doing all of the work. And one day he kind of. He just. He kind of stopped me and was like, you need to take some ownership. And that was such a pivotal moment for me in our business journey, because it was. I. It was a realization that I needed that I could go ahead and make all of these little decisions, and I needed to take ownership, and I needed to help him instead of just, you know, kind of be in the background. But more importantly, I think I needed permission. And so we kind of do that, and we kind of do that in a lot of areas of our life. And you know what? You can give yourself permission or some. You don't have to always be kind of seeking outside permission to do things. But it was kind of what I needed to really run with things. And ever since then, it's been great because, you know, it's his passion and his expertise. But I've been able to have no limits on how I can grow the business. And it's been really neat to kind of actualize his strengths with my strengths and just kind of see where everything took us. And it's been. It's been quite the journey, for sure.

[A]

You know, Miranda shares this key moment early in the business when Scott told her that she needed to take ownership. And it's such a crucial turning point for entrepreneurs who start by helping a spouse or a partner. And what I love about this is that it highlights a really powerful but often subtle truth, that confidence often follows permission. You know, when somebody speaks into our life and says, you know, hey, you need to get this done and you need to be the one to do it, or, hey, that's a great idea. I think you should go for it or hey, this is yours, you handle it the way you think is best. It somehow unlocks a whole new way that we contribute to a business or really even to our own lives. I could see that being the case for just about anybody, you know, because I would feel that way if I was married to somebody and this was their business and I, I was now recruited to, you know, help, help them out. I would feel like, you know, if I don't know much about it, I want to make sure I'm doing it right. And, you know, so, yeah, you wouldn't see it coming that like, you know, you're making it more difficult, you know, or putting more on their plate by once you get past the initial feeling, a little stunned that, oh, I'm not helping, I'm, you know, actually making it more difficult. I bet that was kind of freeing to be able to go, okay, I can make decisions here and you know, and control part of this.

[B]

Yeah. And I think I've always been a little bit of a people pleaser and so I just wanted to make sure that Scott was happy with what I was doing in the business, but also make sure that the customers were happy. And so I think I'm definitely wired for running a service based business. I'm very in tune with the clients themselves and I'm also very in tune with Scott. And so I think we've been able to make organic changes and kind of drive this ship in the way that it should, should have unfolded, which is the way that it did unfold. And we've basically had, I like to say we've basically had a referral only business for 21 years just because we don't do paid ads. And we can talk about this later. I have nothing against paid ads, but I think it was really important for us to start as referrals and build with those referral sources. And then we, we just keep doing it and we didn't really need to turn to the paid ads and we're just very intentional with who we work with and how we work with them and how people find us.

[A]

Yeah, that's a, a slower way to build things, you know, but it's got its advantages. It tends to be a lot more solid and, and hard to, to.

[B]

Yeah, we don't, we're not really reliant on outside sources, which is what I like. And we've, we've been able to kind of keep it smaller and more attainable and also build really not just the business that we want with the clientele. That we want, but also the life that we want. And so I now realize that none of those are separate. It's all one. But we do love having a referral based business rather than lots of ads and scaling and bigger and more volume.

[A]

Yeah. Now, how, how long have you and Scott been working together?

[B]

I mean, I've been around for 20 years, but our oldest is 14. He's almost 15. So I think I probably, you know, dove into the business about 14, 15 years ago.

[A]

Okay. All right. And so, you know, you know a lot now.

[B]

Oh, yeah, I, I know a lot now. It's very rare that I, that I need to actually ask Scott something technical about the cleaning process or how to handle a certain situation. I can pretty much answer most of the questions. I, I tell people I pretty much do everything except for clean the rugs, right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

But I'm around a lot when they clean them, so I do, I do understand the process. And I have cleaned, cleaned a rug before. It's been years, but I mean, I have, I have done it before.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. It can actually be kind of fun and rewarding to, to do that kind of work.

[B]

I love cleaning. I like cleaning the house and cleaning the shop and stuff. I think turning something from dirty to clean is, is definitely rewarding, for sure.

[A]

Yeah, there's a, there's definitely. I know one time the, like I've got this freezer, you know, deep freeze, and it, the defrost on it stopped working. And so, but you know, I, I felt like, but it's still doing its job and so I'm just gonna have to defrost it every once in a while, you know, and, and so I let it go too long one time and it was really bad. Like you couldn't even know. You couldn't even tell what I had in there. I mean, if I took a picture of it, I could have a close up. I could have told you it was that this was taken in Antarctica and that's a crater there. But really it was just a chicken nugget that was stuck in the. Oh, no. But, but once I defrosted it, like, I think I went back and just opened the door and looked at it like five more times that day just to go.

[B]

You're like, oh, look at, look at how nice and clean this freezer is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Sometimes I'll clean out a closet or the bathroom and just like take everything out, reorganize it all. And I love doing projects like that.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So there's something intrinsically satisfying that you just want to look at it, you know, go, yeah, for sure. That looks so good. Yeah, I think the worse it was, the more satisfying it is to look at when you get it cleaned up.

[B]

Oh, it definitely is.

[A]

So you've got this really successful business that you and Scott have grown and you do a lot of education and you're involved in the community, which is amazing. You, you guys have continued to find ways to serve your clients and create new revenue streams. But this is something really meaningful to you. The birth of Manifest Mountain. How did that get started for me or for you?

[B]

You know, I wish I knew, you know, the exact moment, and I totally don't, but I, I think some of it came out of frustration and then also out of our love and passion for.

[A]

Let me, I'm sorry, our listeners are probably going, what is Manifest Mountain? So we should probably, probably ought to define what it is. What. So Manifest Mountain is you. You've become a business guide to help people design their business around who they are. And I love that. So, so you're a guide, you're a coach, and your practice is called Manifest Mountain, or is it Mountains with an s?

[B]

Yeah, it's Manifest Mountains, but I honestly don't even refer to that a whole lot because my, my Instagram handle is Manifesting with Miranda. So a lot of people just kind of, kind of roll with that. But Manifest Mountains, there's a, there's a, there's some different hitting, hidden meanings there. I, I think the birth of it was kind of out of frustration because I, you know, I had to learn everything. I felt like I had to learn everything the hard way in this whole carpet cleaning industry, which now we have a rug cleaning facility and it's a little bit different, but it's still under that umbrella of a cleaning business and also under an umbrella of a service based business. And when I seeked out education that was affordable to me, it was like a private consult back then because there weren't a whole lot of online coaches. Right. So it was either a private consult or an online course of some sort, or traditional business course courses. Well, a lot of it was too big and a lot of it was built on the scale method, which is what most of our cleaning industry is taught, which means high volume of jobs, you know, more volume of jobs, more vans, more technicians, and which ultimately leads to more gross revenue and more profits, which I understood. But it just didn't feel like that was the right path for us. It never did. And we were even in the middle of like Our own version of a scale up method, which was we were doing residential and commercial carpet cleaning. We were doing residential carpet cleaning, tile and furniture cleaning. We had opened the rug cleaning facility. So we were cleaning rugs a few days a week. We were also doing rug pickup and delivery, so two to three times a week. We're a team of seven of us, which now there's five. And so we were kind of in the midst of this scale. And I'm telling you, I. I just didn't like it. And Scott was getting pulled in too many directions. And our high end residential customers and our interior designers wanted Scott on the job or on the van. And I was kind of like, well, we need Scott here at the rug shop. Because we were, you know, we were working on so many area rugs here, and it was just, it just didn't feel right. And there were things that would go wrong here and there. And I think it's because ultimately we were out of alignment with where we needed to be. And so I think it's real easy when you're on the right path with your business and your life and everything just kind of lines up and is easy and it all flows and you allow these synchronicities to happen and one good thing leads to another and the doors keep opening. Well, the opposite is true if you're on the wrong path and you're kind of fighting it and you're just doing what you're told, but you're not truly in alignment with what you want or what you need. And so it was just. There were some breakdowns and we just, instead of continuing to grow everything and buying another van and adding two more technicians, we. We started having really hard conversations of what our life and what our business would look like if we stopped cleaning carpet and focused on the rugs and focused on fiber protector. Because we were also launching fiber protector services at that time as well.

[A]

You know, you mentioned scaling, and that's a word that it's used a lot in business. And so but for just a real quick definition for anybody listening that doesn't quite understand what that is, that's basically you create a model that you can scale. You can say, okay, it works with one person doing this, three people doing this, and you know, one person doing this. So if we double that, you know, then we get, you know, we can double the amount of business that we do. And, you know, so it's a model that you can grow to scale. And that is almost seen as the only way to, to grow your business and that's why I feel like getting you on here to talk to people about how you help them grow a business that's aligned with who they are is so important because it's not the only way. And as a matter of, and I had mentioned this on the interview with you and Scott, is that you can get sucked into that and feel like that's the only way that that is that the definition of success is how big you grew your business. That, that the def. That's, that's how you're being defined as successful when that's such a poor definition. Because in the end, you might have grown this thing to 10 times what it started as, and, and it is seen as very successful. But you have a business that you don't even like. It's, it doesn't work for who you're

[B]

miserable or you're working so many hours that you can't enjoy your life, right? Or you're neglecting your family or you're, you're neglecting something else. And so it's a very extreme model, right? And, and for me, my priority was always as a wife and as a mom. And I wanted to raise my kids. And so I wanted to, I wanted to take my kids to school every day and I wanted to pick them up from school every day. So that means I'm leaving the rug shop at 2:30 Monday through Thursday and I'm leaving at 11:30 every Friday because they have a half day, right? And so my life wouldn't fit into that scale model and the scale model wouldn't fit into my life. And I had, I realized I had all these different hats, right? So I got my, I got my mom hat and I got my business hat and my, you know, my, my baseball mom hat and my employees hat, right? And really there is no separation now. Now everything is cohesive and everything flows because I'm, because my life and my, and my business are all in alignment with what I actually needed and what Scott needed as well.

[A]

Miranda talked about scaling their business and how it just didn't feel aligned. That's something I think every business owner, owner needs to hear. Growth for the sake of growth is just not success. If scaling pulls you out of alignment with your values or your lifestyle, it's just never going to be sustainable. What stood out to me was her ability to recognize this misalignment. How they were growing as a family was what dictated how they would grow as a business. And too many times we get it the other way around. We somehow falsely believe that this Thing that's becoming a wedge between us and our family life, that somehow if we grow it even bigger, that's going to solve the problem. Success isn't about how big you can build something, it's about how well you build it.

[B]

And so, yeah, I think I don't recall like the exact pivotal moment that I decided that, oh, hey, I'm going to go help other business owners and coach them. Because I didn't really feel called to coach others on business. But it was just these little hits of intuition that I kept getting that was, there's a better way, there's a different way, there are options, you know. And so we organically grew our business the last several years through niching down instead of scaling up. And so now I don't really have a preference, to tell you the truth. Like, obviously niching down made sense for me and it's what Scott and I wanted for our life and our business. But I don't necessarily think that it's better than scaling. I think it's just different. And so I wanted people to first of all know that there are options. But also I do like to work with people who are planning to scale, but maybe they need to work with me before they do that because I do so much. I do some business strategy, but I do a lot of mindset work and energetic work. And so that's the other thing. I actually love being organized and I love systems, which is a big part of scaling. You have to build the systems, right? And so I don't knock other people's systems. I just think it's really important that we come up with our own systems that fit our businesses and our dream clients. And so I think that we need to be looking within instead of seeking outside help and taking, you know, a system that someone else has built and try to fit it into our business and our life. Does that make sense?

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.

[B]

It's kind of funny because I think I originally wanted to start with online courses and it very quickly kind of turned into something else. And it's also interesting that I had to learn a whole different industry, right? Because I've been so immersed in the cleaning industry and the service, you know, running a service based business. Well, now all of a sudden I have to learn the coaching industry and then the online coaching industry, like that was, that was like a total fish out of water situation. But I've learned a lot and I actually really like it. And I still still want to have online courses. But I. The reason why I started Offering private coaching was because when I was, I was getting so many ideas for some of, for some of these online courses and I was like, I need to like narrow it down so I need to, to talk to the people and see what they need and what they want. And so I started doing these free zoom interviews with people, which I still do. So if anybody wants to do a free zoom, they can find me. But I started doing these free zoom interviews where I would just interview business owners, a lot of them in the cleaning industry, but couple of photographers, couple of interior designers and things like that. And I actually went and met with people here in town in person as well. And I would just interview them and then I'd give them what I would call an intuitive business assessment afterwards, which kind of is trying to like point them down like one little path. Because I think that one path leads to another which leads to another. Right? There's not one. I think that there's a really big misunderstanding where, you know, we have to be on this one perfect path because that's not, that's not how life goes. Right. It's very windy and we need to make mistakes and we need to go through hurdles and problems so that we can overcome them and learn. And so I think all you need is the next path and then the next one after that will reveal itself. So what happened was I would, I would connect with these people one on one and learn all about them and their business and their life. And I would, I felt like I was looking, I felt like I was outside of the box looking in and I had a better perspective than some of them because they're kind of like in the box. Right? Right. When you're in your own life and your own business, you're in the box. So I was able to get that aerial view and I would be done with the zoom and then I would be done with the email that I sent them and then I would get all these ideas on what they could do in their business or suggestions that I had, or I would actually get downloads for them that I wanted to give to them. But now I'm not working with them. Right. And so my instant gut reaction was, well, why don't you look into, you know, a one on one private coaching platform? And it was like, nope, my ego just tried to shut it down right away. Right. And, and so since I was doing a lot of inner work, I said, well, maybe I should kind of, maybe instead of resisting this, I should look into it and kind of figure out why I'm Resisting it. And so once I kind of let go of that, whatever that block was, I don't even know what it was, all of a sudden I literally just came up with an entire private journey program in a matter of like 48 hours.

[A]

I loved Miranda's idea of doing free, intuitive business assessments before offering any kind of coaching. It's a smart strategy, not just for identifying client needs, but for building trust and providing value upfront for anyone in the coaching space. That kind of generous, low pressure entry point can become a cornerstone of how you attract your ideal clients.

[B]

I had a focus topic, I had pricing. Everything literally all just flow flooded into me so fast that I worked all. I remember I worked all day and then I at the rug shop and then I went home and thankfully the boys had baseball, so they weren't home. And Scott was home. And I said, honey, I'm sorry, I'm gonna take my laptop, I'm gonna go in our bedroom and I have to brain dump. I have to get some stuff out and do some writing. And he's like, okay, go for it. And so I created this, what a private journey program. And I have a four week option and a six week option. And I have a lot of focus topics that people can choose from or that I can help them choose. But we do kind of, if I'm only working with someone for four weeks or six weeks, we really do kind of have to dial it into, okay, what are we gonna focus on in this time together? So, you know, we can focus on social media, we can focus on money psychology or money blocks or, you know, our relationship with money. We can focus on manifesting the right clients or employees. We can focus on making big business decisions based, you know, with intuition kind of incorporated in that. That's an interesting one because when I say making big business decisions, I'm talking about, okay, we're at a crossroads. What are we going to do right now? Are we going to scale up, are we going to niche down? Or we get a pivot from one main service to another. Like those are really big decisions. And so we can't just base them off of traditional business tactics and revenue. We have to incorporate some intuition and energetics and mindset into that as well and make sure that if we're going to make a big leap like that, then we're going to, we're going to be ready to go on in all areas and not just one extreme or another. It needs to be balanced and we need to be armed with the right mindsets and the right Energy to kind of move that ship forward.

[A]

Yeah. Now, when you, you know, you went through some different topics, you said, you know, about social media or money or, you know, business decisions. When you say four weeks, is. Are you working on one of those things for four weeks, or is it one. A different thing each week or.

[B]

Yeah, no, it's hard to do a different thing each week because it's hard to kind of COVID a subject that big in one week. So I'll kind of see where people are at. I meet with them for free the first time, and then if they're doing six weeks, then we can kind of tackle four topics. But if we're only working together for four weeks, then we really need to dial it into, like, maybe two or three. And if we were just doing strategy, it would be really easy to kind of tackle one subject every time. But I'm really building these hybrid sessions, which are a mixture of strategy and energetics. And so when we get into energy work and we start. Start doing different therapies and things like that, like, I'll do eft tapping. I don't know if you've ever seen that, but I'll do eft tapping with people to kind of get rid of limiting beliefs or negative thoughts and rewire the brain. And then I also do Akashic Records Journeys with People, which is a visualization exercise. And when we get into some of that stuff, you know, or if someone is working in their business and then things just, like, start coming up, then we kind of need to table what we were gonna work on and tackle what needs immediate attention. I don't like to have everything perfectly planned out because I like to leave room for what comes up intuitively with me or what their needs are right then and there at that time with their business.

[A]

Okay. You know, someone that. That's going to work with you. Leaving space for energetic intuition is not somebody's style. You know, for. For some people, they. They don't have much knowledge on that.

[B]

And it wasn't my style either.

[A]

Yeah, well, then let's get into that, how it became your style. And. And then, you know, do people need to be predisposed to that, or do they just need to be open to it and you can work?

[B]

No, they just need to be open. And I think that, you know, I try not to get into, you know, two things in business and in life and with other people, which is religion and politics. Right. And I am a very spiritual person, but I really kept that all to myself. But I've always been A very open minded person. And I, you know, I took a lot of religion courses in college and I, I've always been very respectful of other people's beliefs, but I've always been very open minded and I'm a lifelong learner. I like to learn new things and read articles and read books and listen to podcasts and learn about what everybody else is doing. And so I think when you have that type of mindset, there is some expansion that happens. And so, so I've been practicing presence and mindfulness and now discovering higher consciousness and things like that. So I think that it roots for me with common sense and psychology first. Okay. I never considered myself to be kind of like a magical practitioner because there are people that are in that space of magic and metaphysics and energy healing and things like that. Well, I, I'm aware of that and I understand it and, but I didn't really fit that box. I mean, I grew up playing sports, right. I mean, I was an athlete with two older brothers. Common sense, sense of humor. So I have the ultimate like skeptic mind and my ego is actually pretty critical. So it's kind of funny because I speak now kind of with different terminology. I'm using terms like energetics and feminine energetics and intuition and expansion and things like that. And that a few years ago I would have been like, what is she talking about? Right. So it's kind of fun for me because I'm able to work with, with, you know, a solo business owner or a small team. And it's, it's funny how many people are open and then we start having conversations and they're like, oh my gosh, yes. Oh my gosh, yes. This is exactly what I wanted to learn. This is exactly what I've always wanted to do, but they just didn't know how to express it. And so I think that's part of my path now is I wanted to work with business owners and help them in the business space, but also improving their lives. And there's so many different ways to do it and people are very open to this. And I think that there's also a lot of people that were like me, that were frustrated and, you know, they're not getting what they need from just the traditional business and consulting world. And so that's why I decided, well, I'm not going to do traditional business coaching. I'm going to be more of a guide. I'm going to help them and hold their hand while they figure out what is best for them in their life. And So I don't know where the name, I don't know when the name came to me, but I decided to go with intuitive business guide because I just, I wasn't aligning with traditional business coach.

[A]

And this got started by you trying to do some research for some online classes. You were interviewing people to, I guess, to figure out what would, you know, what people need and what they would be looking for that you could create and would be helpful to them. And then you realized that you can actually be helpful to them as a, as a guide, you know, by interviewing them and seeing where they were having their struggles.

[B]

Yeah. And now it's really opened up this whole suitcase of different ideas and different tools in there. So once I get up and running, I'll have a mixture so I'll have instant access online courses available. But then this Private Journey program is really for people who, they don't have time for online courses or they hate online courses. Some people don't learn well that way or they're like, hey, you know what, I'm just going to pay the money for you to help me fix all these problems. Right. We have different buyer types and we have different personality types. Right. And so the person that wants the Private Journey program really wants hand holding and they want to dive into what they need right then and there. And they want to get results and they want a quantum leap immediately. Right. They want to get to that next level. And then I think the online courses will be great for people who maybe don't need that much or they're still kind of in that process of figuring out what they do need. They're still kind of in that research phase. And you know, there maybe there's one area that they want to work on in their life and their business. Right. But then I'm also going to have a hybrid option which will be online courses with me coming in and doing life coaching as well. And so that'll be interesting. But so far the Private Journey program is going fantastic. And then I'm excited for the online courses just because that's what I've always wanted to do. So I'm excited to finally get them underway and organize them and put them together and start filming. And so I definitely, I'm not going to mess with pretty slides and this and that, and I'm not going to open over complicate. I think that's one of the things that I haven't liked in other online courses is they try to over complicate. Well, they don't try, but they end up over complicating their courses sometimes because they want to add more value and more things and more bonuses and more modules and lessons. And really what they're doing is they're wasting their students time. Okay. We need to stay on topic. We need to tackle what they, what they want and what they need right then and there and get them results immediately instead of wasting their time with all of this information. There's just way too. We're so information overload all the time. And if somebody just wants information, then they can find that from books and podcasts than YouTube. Right. So I think if somebody's paying for an online course, you really need to get in and give them exactly what they need that they can't find anywhere else and make it a nice experience and give them successful results in the end. So I definitely will get it done well and quickly and not overcomplicate it for sure.

[A]

That's gold. I mean, you're right. It's. If information changed, gave people what they were looking for, then no one would need you. Right. There's AI. That's the ultimate form of information. But you had mentioned earlier in our talk, what was life changing for you was when Scott gave you permission to make these decisions and to take ownership of what you were doing. And you know, and so in a sense, that's what you're. That's what people need from you, is they don't need the information. They need that relationship that gives them permission to pursue what they believe they need to pursue.

[B]

Yeah. And that for me is something that I think I have a really good hold on that from my background in learning about so much psychology. But it's funny that you're bringing that back up because two of my three private clients right now, I have actually had to go through a process where something came up, either a block or a limiting belief. And I think we were able to move past it with them giving themselves permission and me giving them permission to move forward.

[A]

Forward.

[B]

And it's so interesting how I think that that holds a lot of people back, but they're totally unaware of it. So if you have a limiting belief or if you have a block, all you have to do is become aware of it. Right. And once you become aware of it, you can just give yourself permission. We don't need any outside sources of permission, but you know, we're programmed that we do need permission from such a young age. Right.

[A]

You need that outside source to give you permission to give yourself permission.

[B]

Yes, you do.

[A]

One time, you know. Yeah.

[B]

My Son, he's in school, he has to have permission to get up and go to the bathroom. Like, you should just be able to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water if you need to. Like, those are pretty basic necessities in life. But for some reason, you know, when these kids get to school age, which is around the age of five, we start needing permission for everything in life. And so that doesn't just miraculously go away when, when we're adults running our own business. And, and it's funny because when I was running, you know, the business, when we were, when we were in a, in a very, that big, that big large scale model, I had some really interesting moments of presence with myself. Where I'm going, I'm the one at the top now. Like, yes, thank God I have Scott. Thank God I have Scott. Because I couldn't do it without him. Because I'm not hardwired to be an entrepreneur. I learned all my entrepreneurial skills from him. But thank God we have each other because I can go to him and he can come to me or we can make these decisions together. Because if I was doing this by myself and I was up at the top by myself, and there was no one to look to and no one to ask and no one to kind of give me permission to do anything, I think I would have just gone back to the corporate world. Right?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I know it's difficult. I mean, it really is. I never thought about that. But that is part of the journey of life is that we learn that we have to get permission and then we have to learn that we can give ourselves permission. But then, you know, learning to give yourself permission, part of that is learning to trust your own intuition and your own ideas. Because we've all been wrong when we felt like we were right, you know, and, and, and something backfires on us and then that, it, it, it's difficult for us to trust ourselves again, you know, and so some, somehow getting permission from someone else feels safer, you know. You know, what sticks with me about this part is that whether you're a business owner or not, there's certain things that come up in life where we feel like we need permission. Right? And while AI and courses can give you answers and steps and a path to follow, but actually moves people and changes them is permission. Permission to believe in their idea and to follow their intuition and to do what works for them. To stop following somebody else's model and to build their own. And that's what makes a coach or a mentor Or a guide. So valuable. Valuable is because they help you learn how to trust yourself. Hey, everyone. I just want to take a quick minute to thank you for being a listener and share something personal with you. A little while back, I sold my business and I ended up with a sizable bank account, investments and investment properties that all of that allows me to spend time creating a life I want to live. But it wasn't always that way. Starting a business is really difficult, and I spent a lot of time being really busy getting nowhere. At the end of the year, I would look at the goals that I had at the beginning of the year, and I just wasn't much further down the road. There was one thing that turned it all around, and it was this system that I developed for setting and achieving goals. Now I'm able to spend time helping others learn this system. If you'd like some help learning how to once and for all set and achieve your goals, I'm inviting you to give me a call. There's a link in the show notes. Just click on that link and it'll take you to my calendar. And it's just that simple. You'll see my calendar. You grab a spot and we'll talk. And I want to see how I can help you. All right, let's get back to the show. Now, you've got a huge social media following on TikTok and Instagram. And is that where you get a lot of business from that for your coaching practice? Is that where it's coming from or is it more?

[B]

No, no, I think I will at some point, but right now it's all just been totally organic. You know, I actually am just wrapping up with a. With a private client who's not a business owner too, which is totally interesting. I didn't think I would be open to that, but I have a couple of business clients. One of them was a referral, and one of them is somebody that I knew, and then the other one right now is somebody that, that. That knew me as well. So some of them are in town, some of them are out of state. And then, yeah, I think just organically, people in my industry and then parallel industries, I'm just letting people kind of be aware of what I'm doing and people are starting to watch. But it's an interesting thing that I have such a big platform online for social media, for rugworks. But now I'm starting to help other business owners because sometimes I'm marrying those platforms together. But I'm also branching and kind of starting social media that is separate from Rugworks, so that it can be heavily, like, more intentional with. With advice and guidance. So I do have one. So I do have one separate social media channel which is Instagram, and that's manifesting with Miranda. But all the other Instagram or all the other social media platforms are Rugworks, which is R U G W O R X. So there's a little bit of cross promoting, but not a whole lot because I'm. I'm just trying to see what flows right now.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I love that. That's such a. Such a great approach, not forcing anything, you know, without, you know, giving any details or revealing anything confidential. Can you walk us through? Maybe somebody's like a customer journey and maybe the success that you. That somebody, some of your clients have had, you know.

[B]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. There's so many stories, but I'll probably just like, try to try to hone in on a couple. It's fun because we can when we're. When we're marrying the two together, which is the strategy with the energetics and intuition. Sometimes you can get these really great, you know, aha. Moments and these miraculous moments and yes, yes. Moments. But then I really am a big fan of the incremental moving the needle forward. And then we kind of look back and we're like, holy cow, we've covered a lot of ground here. Right. But all of the journeys are customizable. So I try to spend a lot of time with someone, you know, at least an hour, maybe even an hour and a half, just firing questions at them and just asking them everything and then helping them choose focus topics before we move forward. Because I think if someone just went to, you know, my. My landing page for the private journey program and they just picked out their own service, sorry, focus topics. It may not be exactly what they need. Right. It may be what they want to work on, but it may not be what they need. So I try to spend a lot of time with them ahead of time. And so I think one of my clients didn't really want to work on money. And we ended up doing quite a bit of limiting belief and deprogramming of some money mindset work. And that was really cool because once I started to learn that and uncover that, we were able to be aware of the limiting beliefs and the programming and then where it came from. And then I did some private visualization guides and what came up for them was pretty big, you know, where that rooted from in childhood. And then we were aware of it and then we're Kind of able to release it. And so I think it's neat that I do have that common sense and no nonsense type of. Type of personality. Because when we identify the problem, we're not staying there. Right. We're trying to rewire our brain from letting this go and then flipping it into the positive and where we want to go and where we need to be and then connect with that frequency so that we can keep raising that vibration and keep moving forward. And so I think the money works is something that I've always really liked, especially if we're. If I'm working with a business owner. So I've actually incorporated it in every single private journey program I've done. And it's more difficult, I think, to get rid of the limiting beliefs and the programming than it is the energetic blocks. Because if there is an energetic block that's a money block, if we're aware of it, then we can just make it gone right away. But with the programming, we have to do a lot of thought monitoring. Right. So we have to monitor our thoughts and then we have to change them. And so that is a longer grind. And so those are skills that I just have to teach people, and then they have to stay with that and they may have to do some journaling and things like that.

[A]

I think our limiting self beliefs and our spiritual beliefs and our beliefs about money are just entangled and they look like one thing. But a lot, a lot of people have spiritual beliefs that are connected to money, beliefs that, that are connected to what they believe they deserve, and it turns into a limiting belief. And. And so it's very difficult for people to untangle that on their own.

[B]

Oh, absolutely. Because they may not be aware of it. Right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It takes somebody that can, you know, ask them the right questions about where those things come from and for them to have a chance in no judgment to sit with those answers.

[B]

Yeah. And that's why I kind of wanted to work with different people that are in different levels of their business journey. Because like I said earlier, I'd really like to work with some people before they scale. Because although I think niching down is probably my wheelhouse, I also want to work with people who are about to scale up or in the process of scaling their business. Because what we don't want to happen is to scale our business big and have all this high volume and all these team members, but then we're kind of allowing sabotaging tendencies to come in or money beliefs to come in and bust up what we're building. Right. And so I really am passionate about a lot of the mindset work, and I can incorporate some energy practices so that we can have big results in a very quick period of time. But aside from the money stuff, I think. I think there's a lot of really practical things that I like to work on too, which is like referral programs. And I've helped people incorporate referral programs and networking and kind of get their website and their social media kind of buttoned up and cohesive and just really connect with who their dream clients are. And I love working with the clients on who their dream clients are and how they want to connect with them and how they want to kind of create. Craft their magnetic messaging so that they're speaking directly to those clients and not kind of going after everyone on the Internet and going after the masses. Right.

[A]

It takes a while, though. It takes a while to know who your ideal client is. I mean, you know, ideally, we all want to work with people that want to pay us a lot of money.

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

So we sort of have this really bad definition of who our ideal client is, but it takes a while of working with different people and seeing where things really seem to thrive energetically, where this person is really excited about what you do and what you're doing for them, and you're really excited about what you're doing for them. And once you experience that enough, then you can put into words who your ideal client is. But yeah, you know, it takes getting out there and working and. And, you know, seeing. Seeing how that happens.

[B]

When I tackle the social media and the website, I have a whole focus topic that's. That's basically online cohesion. A lot of times the business owners will just focus on the website and they'll have this really great website, but then their social media sucks, or they have this amazing social media with all this great messaging, but then it doesn't reflect that in their website. And so there's things. Their online presence can be disjointed. And so I kind of come in and we kind of look at things from an aerial view. And it's like, let's see where we're hitting the mark and what's working and what's not. And then let's incorporate an online presence that's very cohesive, but it's not for you and it's not for your brand and what you want. It's really for your dream client. And that's when the energetics really comes in. And I have had to do this with private clients before because there's a strong element of feminine energetics. And then we can also have a masculine energetic in our branding and our online presence. And I think people typically think that it's about the business owner, but it really needs to be all about who that dream client is. So we can have feminine energetics if our clients, if that calls to our clients, or we can have something more masculine. So one of my. One of my first clients was what I would call in the bro marketing space. So it was like black and yellow and in your face and cowboy hats and, you know, all this stuff and it. Which. Which is perfect for. For. For their business and who their clients were. And I can help with that as well. Right. So I. I really have loved learning about online marketing in general, but I just think it needs to be very intentional and also educational, and I think it needs to speak directly to who you want to call in instead of making it general and trying to bring in more people. I do love helping with clarity, and so we can work on strategy and kind of see what they've been doing and who they've been working with, but then also find out where they want to go and what they want to do, and then fill in the holes in between. And if they're lost, I can definitely help with finding their niche, you know, or maybe their next niche. Because you do need a niche to start with, right? You need a buyer pool to start with. And sometimes, sometimes we have to change and pivot services, or sometimes we just have to build on what we already have started.

[A]

One of the things Miranda does brilliantly is, is marry internal work with external strategy. I love how she connects mindset, energy, work, and intuition directly with core business fundamentals, like how your branding, pricing, and even your company size should reflect who you are and what you want out of life. She breaks down the false notion that it's either or and instead says you don't have to choose between self awareness and strategic business planning, because self awareness is being strategic in your business planning. Success in business happens when your business model is a natural extension of your identity, not an escape from it.

[B]

Clarity is so important, and once you connect with what you want and where you want to go or who your dream client is, you don't lose that. I mean, it's there and you've connected with it, and so. So it's a huge element, and it helps you stay on track for sure. And it helps you just keep moving that needle forward, and it'll help you with taking action because we can't just have all this information and know all of this great stuff and then do nothing with it. We, we need to take action at some point.

[A]

Yeah. And is that part of your process? Do you help people? Because that's where a lot of people get stuck. You know, they'll hear and they'll know this is what I need to do. And then there's some fear that comes in or maybe it's the self limiting beliefs or. And they, you know, people stay stuck because it's, it's comfortable or they don't have to take that risk. But do you help people get past that?

[B]

I do, but in a, in many different ways. So I, in some instances I do need to help people understand their own form of intuition so that they can listen to themselves and make their own decisions. Because I think that you can just. There really are no ceilings if you understand your own intuition type. So I've done a lot of that helping them connect with their intuition. And then again I'm guiding them, right. I'm guiding them through this process and I'm teaching them these skills. But they are going to have to take action on their own. But I can do some hold, hand holding to kind of get them to get them launched in the first place. But that's why I really do try to teach them skills and open them up just with some expansion, just kind of open them up to what they are capable of on their own so that it's not, they're not constantly seeking that outside the outside sources. And that's part of what I learned back in the day from sports psychology. Again, I told you I was like really into sports and I was also really into psychology. One of the first things that I learned about was intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation. And so that's one of the things where we go wrong with the traditional coaches is we'll have really good performance when we're getting that coaching because we have this outside source of motivation. Well, I do a little bit of that. You know, I can do encouragement and I can help people and I can motivate them. But really I want to teach them how to motivate themselves. I want to teach them that if they're not an intrinsically motivated person, you can be. But we, you need to tap into your own intuition. You need to give yourself permission and you need to make these decisions on your own and look within. Right. So that's a huge, huge part of what I do.

[A]

Oh, wow. Wow. Well, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of listeners that would love to get some help from you. So how do people get in touch with you?

[B]

I'm pretty easy to find online through social media. All of our platforms for Rugworks are everywhere between TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. You can find us on at Rugworks. R U G W O R X and then I have my own Instagram channel which is Manifesting with Miranda. And then if anybody wants to just email me, it's mirandamanifestmountains.com and again, I always like to learn about what people have going on and where they're at and what type of business they have. I do like to work with people who have a service based business because I don't sell products and so that's the only thing I can't work with people who are, you know, in product sales. But if it's a service based business, then I definitely can see where they're at and, and help them and I can offer a free zoom before we decide to work together too.

[A]

Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. All right, well, Miranda, it's been great having you again and getting to know more about Manifesting with Miranda and I'm sure our listeners are going to get a lot out of this. So.

[B]

Yeah, that was really fun. Thank you so much. I think we were able to like go a little bit deep, deeper this time, which was cool and it was really fun. So hopefully people will go back and listen to this episode and then also the other one with Scott and I as well.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they will. They've been listening to you and Scott already, so.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

All right, well, thanks for being on the show.

[B]

Thank you so much, Dave. I'll see you later.

[A]

All right, bye. Bye.

[B]

Bye.

[A]

Miranda shared a lot of wisdom in this episode about mindset, business alignment, and giving yourself permission to do things differently. So before you go, take a moment and ask yourself what part of Miranda's story spoke to you? What insight can you apply in your own journey? Whether it's how you define success, how you price your services, or maybe it's just how you trust yourself. It only matters though, if you do something something with it. Thanks for listening to another episode of Locally Owned. And hey, I am constantly trying to make sure that this show is providing value for you. Whether it's business insights or ideas or inspiration. My hope is that you come away with something that you can implement immediately in your own business. I'm always looking for business owners with a great story to tell. So if you're a business owner and you'd like to share your journey or a if you know of a business owner that has a great story to tell. I would love to talk. So please click on the link in the Show Notes to my email and let's start a conversation. Also, hit the plus button to become a follower so that you don't miss an episode. Thanks for listening. And remember, your goals are my goals.