Tina Tower [00:00:00]:
Hi friend. Welcome to another episode of her Empire Builder show. Today I am welcoming my friend and business maven, the incredible Bridget Esselman, a successful entrepreneur who transitioned from Tarot card reader to multi million dollar business tycoon and author. Bridget is the brains behind Biddy Tarot, a multi million dollar online business that has revolutionized the way people learn and use Tarot. It started as a blog and has grown into a global educational platform offering courses, books, readings and a thriving online community. Biddy Tarot is best known for making Tarot accessible, practical and empowering. Moving it from mysticism into a tool for personal growth, decision making and intuition building. The brand attracts modern spiritual seekers who want to use Tarot for self discovery, business and everyday life.

Main Episode

Tina Tower [00:00:56]:
I mean I know I picked up my first Tarot deck when I was about 18. I still have it with me and every now and then I will get them out. I have about if you're like me, you know you might buy too many Tarot decks. I think I have probably about 10 of them now and I will get the ones that are speaking to me at the time and I'll just do the like normal three pile flip over and I find it so beautiful just to give yourself that reassurance and that self inquiry as well. And Bridget's approach is unique in that she teaches Tarot without requiring psychic abilities. Perfect for people like you and I. Focusing instead on intuition, symbolism and real world applications. Biddy Tarot's success is built on high quality digital products, an engaged community and a business model that blends education, membership and book publishing.

Tina Tower [00:01:50]:
Right. The three pillars that make a thought leadership business. Amazing. So in this episode we're diving deep into the realities of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the hard work, the risks and the resilience that success requires. We're discussing the challenges that Bridget faced in managing and scaling her team which you know, on her journey from zero to multi millions there's going to be a lot of those and so I think it's going to be super helpful to you. So we're talking about Team is is a big one highlighting the importance of aligning business practices with personal values and intuition along the way. And Bridget's sharing her journey of of both personal and professional growth. Focusing on intuitive decision.

Tina Tower [00:02:35]:
The power of setting goals aligns with one's inner wisdom. And we're also exploring her latest book Intuitive Manifestation which offers a fresh perspective on goal setting and is a beautiful, beautiful book. So tune in. Valuable insights on balancing traditional business metrics with personal fulfillment, handling change and self doubt. And going from hobby to thriving business. So no matter what stage of the journey that you are at, this episode is packed with wisdom to help you navigate your own unique path to success. And do it mainly on your terms. You're going to love it.

Tina Tower [00:03:15]:
Welcome to her Empire Builder Show. I'm your host, Tina Tower, business strategist, course creator, best selling author, and unapologetic champion for women chasing big, audacious dreams. Since starting my first business at 20, I've built and sold multiple companies, traveled the globe and discovered the magic of online courses. A business model that has changed my life forever. Building a business is no easy feat. It's a long road filled with sometimes challenges. But with the right strategy and consistency, your success is not only possible, but it's inevitable. Here on the show, I'm bringing you candid conversations with extraordinary humans, practical strategies, and a whole lot of inspiration to help you scale your online business, create wealth, freedom, and impact that you deserve.

Tina Tower [00:04:04]:
This is where bold dreams meet proven action, where we ditch the limits and go all in on business building. And we get to live lives full of fun and freedom that light us up. If you're ready to play bigger, earn more, and step into your power as a fearless empire builder, you're in the right place. Let's make it happen. Gorgeous. Bridget Estelmont, welcome to her Empire Builder show.

Brigit Esselmont [00:04:29]:
Oh, thank you. It's always lovely to have a chat with you.

Tina Tower [00:04:32]:
And I hope that people, if they're watching on YouTube, can see your beautiful background. Like, it's so calming already with all of the crystals and all of the flowers and all of the purple. So beautiful.

Brigit Esselmont [00:04:43]:
And look at yours. I even see, like, there's a beautiful. Is that the rose quartz? Like a little sphere and.

Tina Tower [00:04:48]:
Yes.

Brigit Esselmont [00:04:49]:
That's good.

Tina Tower [00:04:50]:
We're so on brand. We are so on brand.

Brigit Esselmont [00:04:52]:
I love that for us.

Tina Tower [00:04:54]:
Okay, so you've been someone that I have looked up to as a, for a long time, as a champion course creator. Can you talk about like, you went. Am I writing that you went from being a tarot card reader to a million dollar course creator?

Brigit Esselmont [00:05:08]:
Yeah, something like that, yeah.

Tina Tower [00:05:10]:
So at what point? Because a lot of people that start in, in health and wellness and in the industry that you're in traditionally, and I know this is stereotypically stereotypical, but traditionally keep it quite small. Like, there's a very big barrier that I find in, in a lot of people in going like, making money from something that they love to do. What was the turning point for you that was like, I'm going To make an actual serious business out of this.

Brigit Esselmont [00:05:37]:
Yeah, Well, I started way back in 1999, and that's just when I started learning tarot. And I thought, oh, this is really fun. Maybe I could also learn how to build a website at the same time and just share what I'm learning. So at that point, I had no concept at all about building a business. I was like, I'm just doing something that's fun to do. And that really did carry on for a good ten years or so. But it was around that time of 2009, that reading, the four hour work week, I realized, oh, you could actually make some money off of doing something you love. And so initially it was more about doing tarot readings because I thought that was an easy way just to make some pocket money while I was working in corporate.

Brigit Esselmont [00:06:21]:
But then I started to realize actually there were more people coming to my website to learn what the tarot cards meant than necessarily coming for a tarot reading. And that's when it actually did start to change for me of like, I'm actually attracting people who want to learn to read tarot, not necessarily get a tarot reading. And I think this is probably something that a lot of people experience where maybe you have that desire to like, I want to give this service. Right. But if you listen carefully, you might realize actually your clients and your customers, they want something a little bit different. And so for me, I was like, okay, no, I need to change things around. I love doing tarot readings, but I could see this really big opportunity to now take everything that I'd been creating and turn it into, you know, tarot course. That's, you know, that came about, I think in around 2014 that I started offering online courses in tarot.

Brigit Esselmont [00:07:17]:
And then of course it's, you know. Yeah. Has grown into a multimillion dollar business from there.

Tina Tower [00:07:21]:
Yeah. And so was there a point? Like, at what point? This is always a question I love to ask everyone, at what point did you go, I'm a successful business owner and not a tarot card reader.

Brigit Esselmont [00:07:32]:
Oh, good question. Do you know, I probably. It was probably when I hit the million dollar mark.

Tina Tower [00:07:38]:
That's so it's so arbitrary, the number.

Brigit Esselmont [00:07:40]:
Right.

Tina Tower [00:07:40]:
But it's so true for so many people. Is like this line in a sanding going, huh, well, this is working.

Brigit Esselmont [00:07:47]:
Yeah. Because I tell you what, like, what happened for me with that journey of getting to a million dollars is I remember I was sitting at kind of like maybe mid six figures and, you know, I was teaching tarot and all of the things. And I was like, okay, I really want to, I want to be, have a million dollar business. And so I started like, you know, listening to all the podcasts, reading all the books, doing all of the things and trying to just follow the blueprints that are out there. But what it did is it just led to like more hard work. And I felt like I was actually just spinning my wheels, trying to be something that wasn't really like aligned for me yet. And so it's like, okay, that's not working. I'm just like burning out.

Brigit Esselmont [00:08:27]:
And I came back to myself and it's like, okay, what if I actually became that million dollar CEO? What if I thought like a million dollar CEO, what if I just upgraded my whole entire identity to match a million dollar CEO? And then once I'd done that, then I was making different, like I start my day, I go, okay, I'm a million dollar CEO. What would I be doing today? And what wouldn't I be doing today? And I was like, huh? I would not be answering everybody's like customer emails, you know, that are direct to my personal inbox. Like a million dollars a year would not do that. And so then I was like, okay, let's have a help desk. And I just started thinking about many different aspects of my business from this new way of thinking. And I've got to say I think that was the critical turning point is actually starting to become the identity of that success, you know, because if I hadn't upgraded, it's like upgrading your OPER system. You can't have an iPhone that is still on, you know, like few years back because no apps are going to work on that. Yeah, you've got to upgrade this whole personal system and step into a new identity.

Brigit Esselmont [00:09:37]:
And that's when I was like, right, I don't have a hobby, I have a business and I'm going to create a company. And I was very clear about, no, I'm building out a team. I'm building out something that's sustainable, that is not just about me doing fun stuff. Yay, keep the fun going. But also how am I going to step into to being an actual businesswoman and having an actual million dollar company.

Tina Tower [00:10:01]:
And so that I think is probably the hardest time of running a business. Like both the first startup and that growing pain where you're like, I'm no longer this level, I'm this level. But you're not quite making enough revenue for that level. But you won't get to that level unless you have adjusted your thinking. And so how did you get through that part where you're like, you know what? I'm going to operate as a million dollar business, but could you afford to implement all the team and to do all of the new systems that you needed to do? Like, how did you get through that, that kind of clunky part?

Brigit Esselmont [00:10:30]:
Well, I think the wonderful thing is I was in a very bootstrapped mode at that time in my business. Like I learned to do everything, even, you know, when I started my business, I learned how to code HTML and I did it in notepad. There was no fancy, you know, whatever we have now. And so I just, I love that.

Tina Tower [00:10:48]:
You say whatever we have now. Like that's no longer my thing.

Brigit Esselmont [00:10:52]:
Yes. But you know, I just, yeah, I really was able, like I did all of the things and so therefore my profitability at that point was pretty high. And so I was able to start to bring in some new things into the business that would create, you know, better systems and better team because I, I think basically because I'd done it all and everything was just bootstrapped. It's, it's like, you know, I was just showing you before we got on this call, I'm filming videos for my new course and program. And even, even that journey has been really interesting because way back in the day I'd just turn on my little webcam, I would film the video and I would, you know, I'd be done. And then we went through a phase like even just a few years ago where I'd get in a videographer, we'd have all the fancy lighting, we'd get the really fancy editing and B roll and now we're actually scaling back again to something that's more simple because this is kind of the flow that you go through with business. If like you think, oh yeah, I'm going to upgrade, I'm a multi, multi million dollar business, I must have fancy videos for everything. But then you realize, oh, that costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time.

Tina Tower [00:12:05]:
And so then I find people don't, people don't care either. Like it's, it's sometimes more comfortable to watch, watch something that's more real looking than the perfect, like staring down the barrel reading the teleprompter sort of set up. I did the same. I finished recording my new course AI for course last week. Very different course to what you're recording at the moment. But I finished recording that and I did the same thing. I got into my office, I had my own Lights my own. I had no one else around me so I could just hit go and stop myself.

Tina Tower [00:12:36]:
And it's just. It turned out great. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:12:40]:
And yeah. Cause I think that's a bit of the myth, like, oh, you know, to be that big fancy business owner, I've got to have all of the big fancy things.

Tina Tower [00:12:47]:
Yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:12:48]:
And I think many of us, you know, yes, we've probably been there, we've done that, we've done the fancy things and then we realize that it probably wasn't really necessary and we can actually scale back in some different ways.

Tina Tower [00:12:58]:
Yeah. So now what does. What parts of the business do you still hold now?

Brigit Esselmont [00:13:04]:
Yeah, good question. So like, it's always, for me, it's always a delayering. How can I release more and more things? And I'm always asking myself, you know, am I doing something that someone else could do? And if so, like delegate or delete or is this the thing that only I can do? So I'm really involved in content creation. So as you know, just shared like developing this new course and certification. I'm also more involved now. It's been interesting like with copywriting we had like, we've had copywriters for a number of years and I've sort of stepped back from that in the last few years, but now I'm stepping back in.

Tina Tower [00:13:45]:
So it can get your voice back in there.

Brigit Esselmont [00:13:47]:
Yes. Yeah. I think it's really like I could start to feel that if I was stepping too far out of it, it was losing just, you know, that juiciness of just still a bit, you know, and now coming back in just with some stories and bit of like infusion of energy. I guess the other thing too is just like more strategy. You know, I, I don't get into all of the launch strategy and what we're going to do and so on, but I do have those high level conversations to go. Okay, if we're going to launch a program, what's that generally going to look like? And then, hey, thanks team. You guys love that.

Tina Tower [00:14:20]:
I mean, that's the dream, right?

Brigit Esselmont [00:14:22]:
Yeah, yeah.

Tina Tower [00:14:23]:
So in the last 10 years, what has been the most challenging part for you to either grow through or to let go of?

Brigit Esselmont [00:14:31]:
Yeah, well, just, I'd say my biggest growth has been in these last five years and bringing on a coo. So pretty much my right hand person. You know, the first few years of that was bumpy as anything it was. And you know, like, we've been through it together. It was hard because I think what was happening for me was, yeah, that feeling like I'm losing a bit of control but also losing value. So I realized, like, I had so I was so identified with the value I add in the business. And then I'd hand over all of these things that I'd been doing and then go, oh, well, what's my actual value here? Like, can you believe it? Like, the weird stuff, say? And so, yeah, I've just had to re identify and go, no, Bridget, like, you are the energy holder of this business. You are the visionary.

Brigit Esselmont [00:15:24]:
You are their content creator. Like, that is immensely valuable. And you can let go of everything else. You don't have to have an opinion or a thought about how things get done.

Tina Tower [00:15:35]:
I was using this analogy the other day with my kids in going, I feel like it's the same as parenting. Like, the value going and going like, I don't feel needed anymore all the time. Whereas I was like, when you were toddlers and when you were young kid, like, you needed me for everything. I knew every decision. I knew everything happening in your day. Like, I was there. And now you have, like, these secret lives that go on, and I have to trust and I have to be okay. And I was telling them it's the same as the business when it grows.

Tina Tower [00:16:02]:
Like, you're over everything and you know every little detail, and then you have to step back and go, you can grow without me and I trust you and I've built you and. And now you're off to fly free. It's the same thing. Yeah. It's hard to let go, though. I totally get that. Totally get it. What advice would you give to someone who's got that passion and is on that line of, like, hobby business? Can I make a business out of this? What advice would you give them to.

Tina Tower [00:16:27]:
To go for it or to. To start building that successful business when they feel like it's just a hobby and going. Like, I talk to people all the time and they go, like, is this really a business? Like, could I make a business out of this? It's just been my hobby. And that nervousness at the start.

Brigit Esselmont [00:16:40]:
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, like, no one would think that you could make a whole business out of tarot, but it's definitely. It's possible. Right? And I think, you know, when you're in that place of hobby versus business, it is a choice. Like, you don't have to choose business. You can choose hobby. It's perfectly okay. And I think it's. It's that it's a turning point when you do have to have a really real conversation with yourself.

Brigit Esselmont [00:17:05]:
Do I want to have a business or do I want to stay in hobby? Because having a business, it has its pros and cons as well. Like, there's. As the business grows, what I've felt and experienced is this massive responsibility, like financial responsibility, commitment to our customers and our students. Like, I can't just hand in my resignation tomorrow.

Tina Tower [00:17:27]:
The team that you employ.

Brigit Esselmont [00:17:29]:
Yeah. And, you know, I have to make sure that our business is earning a certain amount so that we can, you know, continue covering costs and income and so on. Like, that's huge in itself. And it requires a different. Different level of thinking, a different level of being, different commitments, different expansion of yourself. Like, I just think it's having a real conversation about am I ready to actually step into this warts and all. It's not. It's not all like rainbows and unicorns, like what you see on Instagram.

Tina Tower [00:18:00]:
Right. I was saying, I just came off a masterclass and I was saying this exact thing and going, like, so often we're told, like, at the moment it's not popular to work hard, but there's. There's no one who's built a successful business without working hard. And we take on so much responsibility, so much risk. We have to have the capacity for so much rejection at the start. Like, all of these different things that are so heavy for our soul. That entrepreneurship, I don't think is for everyone. And I think it's really important to, as you're saying, ask yourself, is this something that I will enjoy the challenge of, or is it going to break me and I'm going to be happier elsewhere? Like, what are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's for every.

Tina Tower [00:18:39]:
Do you think anyone can be an entrepreneur?

Brigit Esselmont [00:18:41]:
No. No. And I think it's. I think, you know, it's a very unique way of thinking and being to step into this space and to be successful at it. I'm also kind of feeling into, like, you have to be ready to expand that your energetic bubble so far, like, in a very short period of time. Because to step into that role of being true business owner and to be really successful. Like said, there's so much that at that point of decision, you are then opening the door to being criticized, being taken down to having extra responsibility to all of the things. So this whole energetic field needs to just expand very fast and then be ready to take on stuff that might feel so uncomfortable.

Brigit Esselmont [00:19:28]:
So outside of your comfort zone that you ready to grow and expand into Ready to discover all of these layers to yourself that you've never known about all the doubts and the fears and all the crap. Yeah, you gotta be ready for it.

Tina Tower [00:19:42]:
Yeah. I think as business owners we, we do so much more personal development and become so much more self aware than anyone else because you come up against so many different things. Yeah, yeah, totally. So much so how have you approached building a team and creating that structure that supports your business as you've scaled through? Because I mean, I think like you asked 10 business owners, I reckon nine of them will say the hardest thing about building a business is team. Would you, would you agree?

Brigit Esselmont [00:20:11]:
Yes, well, yes, I guess now I'm probably in a bit more of a privileged position because I don't, my team is gorgeous and I don't like, I don't have to directly manage.

Tina Tower [00:20:22]:
Oh, that's beautiful.

Brigit Esselmont [00:20:24]:
And I think this, to me this is probably my critical success factor is I remember this from when I was working as a management consultant and even just studying like strategic HR at university and one of the big things was like this idea of how big a team should be. And so basically I've always had that intention of as soon as I get to managing maybe four or five people, I know I need to insert another layer because I don't want to manage more than four people. I actually don't really want to manage more than about two people. I don't want to.

Tina Tower [00:20:57]:
Anyone. Yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:20:59]:
And so that's what I've been really conscious of. You know we expanded to 30 people at one point. Now we're at about 15. But I've always been mindful of having layers of your like leaders and then you know, maybe senior admin and then admin level so that you're not having to work like as a CEO and founder, you don't have to work directly with admins who have like, they're awesome, they're super valuable, but they're thinking is at a very different level and requires a different input from you. So having in those separate layers has been really critical.

Tina Tower [00:21:34]:
Yeah, that's fantastic. So what, what happened with the 30 and then back down to 15 team? What was the journey there?

Brigit Esselmont [00:21:41]:
Well, I realized 30 is a freaking nightmare.

Tina Tower [00:21:46]:
Was that one of those things of like the fully professional videographer film that you were like, I need to have all of these layers and all of these people and then got there and went oh, wrong way, go back.

Brigit Esselmont [00:21:55]:
Yeah, because my wonderful like organized HR brain was like, oh, I see you having departments and heads of departments and then we'd be so, like, well oiled and we could grow really big. And what I realized was, so I would then employ people who were smart, right? Smart, had their own ideas. But then that actually becomes hard to manage because now you're having to have everyone with their thoughts and opinions and navigate all of that. And so things would just take a lot longer. And then I started to actually feel like I was losing my sense of self and what was really important to me and what was holding true for me as the visionary of the company. Because now I was kind of feeling swayed by so many people's different, you know, ways of doing things. I think too, like, when we got to the point of going, oh, we need to hire an HR manager now to manage this entire team, I thought, oh, my gosh.

Tina Tower [00:22:53]:
I think turning into a corporate.

Brigit Esselmont [00:22:55]:
Yeah, we're like, so off track. This is, you know, not good. And it just costs so much money. So, yeah, yeah, I had to make a really tough decision and, yeah, drop the team back to, you know, 15 people at that point. That's hard. Yeah. Hard in the moment, but so needed. Like, we wouldn't have survived if I didn't do that.

Tina Tower [00:23:16]:
And I think that segues beautifully into your book because that was all intuition based, that you were like, hang on, that this is not heading in the direction that I want it to go. It's not feeling good anymore. And you've got your new book out, which is intuitive manifesting. There it is. Beautiful, Beautiful. Can you tell us what inspired you to write another book?

Brigit Esselmont [00:23:37]:
Yeah. You know, with manifesting, I realized, like, I manifest, you know, all throughout my life, but I've manifested in different ways. And one of them is like, more of that goal setting. You know, set a big goal, work really hard to achieve it. And even, you know, in the context of, say, business, when I did have that team of 30, I had this goal of, like, yeah, we're gonna get to be like a $5 million company, a $10 million company. And I was in this really, like, heavy growth mode where, you know, you set that big goal and you have these big milestones to get there. And also that goal, I realized it was probably more calibrated to what other people think of success, but it wasn't really calibrated to what was important to me. And that's, you know, this, this is the difference in intuitive manifesting.

Brigit Esselmont [00:24:25]:
It's kind of blocking out all, like, everyone else's voices around what you, like, should be trying to achieve in your life. It's about coming back in and listening to your own inner wisdom to go, what is most aligned for me in this moment? What do I really desire? You know, we think that we need to have like the big luxury home, right? Or, you know, a fancy holiday. But when we really tap into it, is that what we actually want? Because maybe it's more work, maintenance, you know, all of the things. And so it's just about coming back within and then also using our intuition and our inner voice to guide us to what is most aligned for us. You know, like I just shared before, when something felt off track, I knew, I knew it was time to make a big change and a big decision. Even the whole concept of me stepping into a new identity as a million dollar CEO, you know, something that I talk about in the book is this concept of be. Then do we often think we've just got to go and do all of the things, but it's actually a lot more powerful if we first step into our future self, become that person now, and then all of the doing flows so much easier.

Tina Tower [00:25:38]:
So true, so true. When it comes to. Because I know a lot of us, you know, when I've had so many conversations with people in the similar setting as the team, where they've got their business or their life to a stage and then woken up and realized, how did I get here? Like, this isn't what I wanted. Like, how did I get so off track? How do you think that happens? Of so two questions. How do you think that happens where we forget to tap into our intuition and do you have a personal practice that you do to make sure you don't forget?

Brigit Esselmont [00:26:08]:
Yeah, good question. You know, I just think like, oh, our lives are so busy and full these days and we just fill it by looking at our stupid phones. I wish I could just throw mine away. Yeah, yeah, maybe I could.

Tina Tower [00:26:24]:
I have a light phone. Have you seen the light phones?

Brigit Esselmont [00:26:26]:
Oh, is it not apps on it?

Tina Tower [00:26:28]:
Yeah, so I switch it out on a Friday. So I have Friday, Saturday, Sunday on my light phone because I used to have a separate phone so that on weekends I would turn my work on. We're digressing, but this is very handy for people on this topic. And then I'd find, like, all my friends would call both phones because they didn't know which phone was my main phone and which phone was the weekend phone. And the kids had messaged both and it just was a mess. And so I wanted on a weekend I go for a walk and I still listen to podcasts. It has podcasts, calls and Text messages. That's it.

Brigit Esselmont [00:26:56]:
Perfect. Yes. There's a golden strategy right there to simplify life because, yeah, I think, you know, when we're so busy and we're filling every single moment, we just, we don't have any time and space to drop into our own inner voice. And that's where, you know, that's where our intuition is stored. All of our inner resources, all of the guidance and answers that we need are really inside of ourselves. They're not outside, you know, they're not around us. They're in here. And so, yeah, I think for me, it's just about setting aside that time to either go sit down at the beach or in nature.

Brigit Esselmont [00:27:33]:
I even have, like you asked, how do I make sure I don't get to do it? I have an asana task.

Tina Tower [00:27:41]:
Such a beautiful blend of, like, spiritual and strategic.

Brigit Esselmont [00:27:47]:
Yeah. Because I have to, like, I've worked out, I have to trick my brain because my brain is a very logical, organized, rational kind of space. But I also am trusting my heart and my gut, which is the thing that's actually guiding me on a more like, you know, fulfilling, empowering type path. So, yeah, my asana task is every Monday. I have like, it's an energetic alignment and check in and so I go and sit wherever and I just start to tune into my own energy field and what's blocked, what's coming up. I tune into my business, into biddy tarot, into our customers, our team, and I just notice it's really. That's all like, where is there some stagnation? Where is there something that might feel, you know, yucky, black, dark, dense? And what can I do to shift that energetically? But also, you know, practically, like, is there something I need to do this week so I can move some of that energy? And that just helps me keep in check with. Yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:28:46]:
What's. What's really going on so that I'm not in just busy phase of just doing all of this tasks, you know?

Tina Tower [00:28:54]:
Yeah. Yeah, I love that. What's been the most surprising thing you've ever manifested?

Brigit Esselmont [00:28:59]:
Oh, well, I feel like I just manifest every day of something. But you know what I get? One of my. One of my favorite ones is this house that we're in right now. So we live on the Sunshine coast in the NUSA hinterland. It's stunning. And we made this decision back like eight years ago. We were living in Melbourne and we're like, oh, we want to move somewhere that is, like, warmer.

Tina Tower [00:29:24]:
Yeah. You know, I can't imagine you In Melbourne.

Brigit Esselmont [00:29:27]:
I know. In St. Kilda in this tiny, like townhouse.

Tina Tower [00:29:30]:
Yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:29:31]:
So we came up to like the Sunny coast for like literally 36 hours on a plane. We looked at all of these houses. Nothing was really the right thing until we found the final place, which was here. And I walked in, like pretty much as soon as I walked in, I'm like, this is it. This is the one. I get to the back room of the house, I see a tarot deck. I'm like, oh my God, perfect. Thank you universe for telling me that this is the place.

Brigit Esselmont [00:29:56]:
Place. But then of course we asked for like, okay, how much is the house? And they tell us the price. And it was like, I don't know, 200k over our budget. Like, oh my God, what do we do? We did like all of the pros and cons. Do we don't we buy it? You know, all the things. I was like, you know what? My heart is just. We just got to get this place, you know, Trust, Trust the process. So we end up buying the place and then fast forward a few months, we're back, we're in Melbourne and our house is for auction.

Brigit Esselmont [00:30:25]:
And you know, we knew what our reserve was and if we got that would still be about 200k out, but whatever. Anyway, we're sitting there on the steps inside the house, you know, we're hearing the bids, we're hearing like the real estate guy going and going, going, gone. And then it was like, like we literally had hit that 200k plus mark. Like the house had just sold and it covered everything that we needed, including like all of the move costs and.

Tina Tower [00:30:52]:
All the exciting moment.

Brigit Esselmont [00:30:54]:
Oh, it's brilliant. And you know, that just taught me so much about like, you know, sometimes you've just got to trust. Even though it doesn't make any sense at the time and it's scary as hell. Like sometimes you've just got to like really lean in and then the universe will catch you. But it may not necessarily catch you in that moment. That's what trust means, is like, like sometimes you have just put yourself out there and without, like, I'm almost. Okay, I'm seeing like a cliff. You gotta leap off that cliff without knowing that you're gonna land on the other side.

Brigit Esselmont [00:31:25]:
And then you've gotta trust that somewhere in that leap you're gonna be held and taken over to that, you know, that next. Oh, I'm giving myself a goosebumps. Yeah.

Tina Tower [00:31:36]:
So how do you, like, what role does intuition play in your day to day business decision? Making.

Brigit Esselmont [00:31:43]:
Yeah. It's so important because I know if I'm not tuning into intuition, I can be getting very mechanical and robotic, you.

Tina Tower [00:31:52]:
Know, doing the things I like, the lineation between. Because I know for me, often, like, sometimes I had a big thing. I was going through a lot of shifts last year. I'm asking this purely selfishly rich, but a lot of shifts last year. But I think it'll resonate with a lot of people. In going, I couldn't quite figure out what was my true intuition and what have I been, like, bred to believe, and I didn't know which one to trust. I had, like, these two inner voices, and I'm like, they both feel like intuition. They both feel right.

Tina Tower [00:32:20]:
But which one is, like, my true core? And which one have I practiced believing for such a long time that that is not actually who I am anymore? And I did. Like, it took me a year of work to unravel all of that. But how do you have those two conflicting voices sometimes? Or how do you identify? Or how do you suggest people identify? Like, what is. What is your actual intuition?

Brigit Esselmont [00:32:43]:
Well, I'm kind of curious, Tina. Like, what did you learn through your experience? You know, how did you learn to discern?

Tina Tower [00:32:49]:
Well, for me, I think, like, similar to what you said, like, our picture of success. I had been very hungry for success at a very young age. And everything that I wanted in building this big business and having this big house and beautiful business class, travel, and all these things that I thought I wanted, and then got there and was like, I am wanting something different, but that feels like I shouldn't want that, and am I wanting that? I had heard people in the past say, I've chosen not to grow my business any further. And I'd think, they just can't hack it. That was my truth. I was like, that's not a choice. You're just not good enough, was what I thought. And then I got to that stage, and I'm like, I'm that person.

Tina Tower [00:33:27]:
Bigger isn't better for me. I love my life right now. I love how it is. And then I had this battle of going, is it because I'm afraid of failure, of going bigger, or because I don't want to manage the team going bigger, or what is the thing? And I couldn't work out which one to trust. And so a big part of what I had to work on was, regardless of what the consequences were or what anyone outside of myself thought, what do I want? And what will actually make the little girl inside me happy? And Feel light and feel easy and feel fun. And how can I follow that regardless of what my brain interjects in the meantime? And we're literally moving in two weeks to a simple house so we can travel more and live an easier, simpler life because of it. But to the outside, it would look ridiculous.

Brigit Esselmont [00:34:12]:
Yes. And you know what's coming to me is like your success metric is different to what is kind of the socially accepted success metric. Like we think in business, we've had this conversation too. It's like, first number that often comes to mind is revenue. Like, oh, I'm a $5 million business, whatever. Right. When we talk about as business owners, we realize, nah, it's actually not really revenue, it's profit. We want profit.

Brigit Esselmont [00:34:41]:
But even then, maybe it's not like, I think profit is often a good calibrated goal to actually what we do business. Because the neat thing is, you know, let's say if your profit goal was 500k, you could get that from a million dollar business, but you could also get it from a $10 million business.

Tina Tower [00:35:00]:
We all know people that have the same the both of those scenarios.

Brigit Esselmont [00:35:04]:
Yeah. Yes. So I think, you know, first, like getting really clear about what is actually my success metric that I'm most calibrated to and aligned with and what is like really true for me. Now you might get to that profit goal and you go, actually, I don't even think it is that I want 500k. I think it's that I just want more time with my family before they up and move out of home. Right?

Tina Tower [00:35:28]:
Yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:35:29]:
And so then that's a different success metric. Now I don't think it's selling out, it's not quitting, it's actually going, what am I aligned to what actually has meaning for me? And then really owning that and being connected to that. And it's okay for that to change over time. Like, I think about my corporate life and I loved it when I first started working in consulting was the best thing ever. But over time I realized, you know, as I was wanting to start a family, that I had different priorities. I didn't want to be traveling every single week and I didn't want to work, you know, 60 plus hours and things just start to change and evolve. So that's why we've got to be listening deeply to, like, what's important to me in this moment and how can I continually align and recalibrate to that, knowing that it's always evolving, it's always changing. We're not kind of trying to set point on something that was us like five years ago or ten years ago.

Brigit Esselmont [00:36:26]:
Go.

Tina Tower [00:36:26]:
Yeah, I love that you talk about that. And that goes like another question that just came up for me because you, you mentioned before shedding tasks which you know, was in task based things, but something that I know of you is you are constantly evolving and leveling up as, as a woman and, and you know, this priestesshood that you're going into, like, it's so awe inspiring that the question I want to ask you because a lot of women that I work with, they, they find it difficult as they're, you know, shedding their former selves and going into the next version and want to be and embody that. It's difficult for the people around them. How have you dealt with that? With, with catching up on with family and friends and worrying about, have you ever worried about the judgment of other people as you move into the next phase that you're going into? What advice would you give to women in that situation?

Brigit Esselmont [00:37:16]:
Yeah, funnily enough, I've had a lot of practice already with it. Stepping into tarot as a career.

Tina Tower [00:37:21]:
Yeah. From corporate. Yeah, yeah.

Brigit Esselmont [00:37:24]:
You know, and I think that probably was like a learning ground for me to build up the resilience and you know, navigate my way through it. And even now as I step into like quite a deep spiritual path that, you know, may or may not resonate with everyone and people may or may not understand it, but what I've realized is like, I don't have the expectation that people will understand it. And that's, that's okay. I can, I can own my path. And you know, let's say if my husband understands maybe 50% of it, that's okay. Like I have a sisterhood that I can connect with that really understand that part of my life. Even my mum, I don't think she's. Because I got the new like a new tattoo a few months ago and she's like, oh, oh, what's that? Oh, does that come off when you.

Tina Tower [00:38:15]:
Were off in the Amazon and doing all sorts of things?

Brigit Esselmont [00:38:18]:
Yeah, that's it. And I'm like, you know what, I don't care. Because like I've done this all, it's all for me, it's all for my path. And I know like some people will get it, some people won't. But yeah, I'm just trusting in my own path.

Tina Tower [00:38:34]:
Love the trust you have in yourself.

Brigit Esselmont [00:38:37]:
Well, it's okay. Let's be real though. I do often have like a self doubt as well. That that walks side by side with this trust and doubt. Trust and doubt is continual. Yeah, yeah.

Tina Tower [00:38:47]:
And so what do you do when you get in that, that trust and doubt doubt sort of conflict?

Brigit Esselmont [00:38:52]:
Well, it's interesting, you know, in the past I, I want to avoid the bad feelings. So I think like, oh, I'm feeling doubt. Okay, how can I solve this? All right, let's cancel the limiting belief. Let's replace it with another one. But I'm also learning to actually sit in the doubt and experience the doubt and go, huh? Yeah. I am feeling really like uncertain or vulnerable. Like stepping into this new part of myself, I feel vulnerable, I feel fragile. And then instead of trying to solve it, just going, yeah, true.

Brigit Esselmont [00:39:19]:
Yeah. Feel vulnerable. Yeah. Okay. And then even saying it out loud to people like, I'm vulnerable right now. Just experiment with it. Next time you're feeling a bit like wobbly with something, just see if you can acknowledge it very deeply and with others around you. And just notice what happens to your energy when you do that.

Tina Tower [00:39:40]:
That's great advice. Okay, my last question for you. What does success look like for you? What are you going for in your life over there next? Kind of five years.

Brigit Esselmont [00:39:49]:
All right, man. I don't know. Like an older version of myself would probably have a five year plan and tell you.

Tina Tower [00:39:57]:
All of my 20s, I had 10 year plans broken into five years, broken into individual years, broken into 90 day action steps, and then broken into daily tasks.

Brigit Esselmont [00:40:05]:
I love. I was probably about the same. I even got psycho. Yep. And you know, I love that part of myself. Like, thank God, organized part. She got us here. But yeah, I think, you know, stepping into the next five years.

Brigit Esselmont [00:40:21]:
Wow. I don't know, I just, I think I'm just really feeling into. How can I just keep exploring the most truest and authentic version of myself and continue to grow and expand in these wild and crazy and unknown ways that, like, where life takes me, it's. Yeah, I'm really learning that you can't necessarily control it all. Like, it's actually more about leaning in and going, all right, where, where do we go next? What is lighting me up in this moment versus in five years time, I will be, you know, x. Actually, no. I do hope that in, well, six years time when the kids are out of school, that my husband and I will be traveling the world again for most of the year. That's my goal.

Tina Tower [00:41:04]:
Yes. I'll meet you there. Yes, absolutely. You're amazing. Everyone should get a copy of your book. I'll link to it in the show notes but you can look it up anywhere as well as Beauty Tarot. We'll link to all of that on all the interwebs and all of the social medias. But Bridget, thank you so much for sharing your story.

Tina Tower [00:41:22]:
You're amazing.

Brigit Esselmont [00:41:23]:
Oh thank you Tina. I love your energy. It's so cool to chat together. Thanks Bridge.

Tina Tower [00:41:28]:
This episode was brought to you by my signature group coaching program, Her Empire Builder the best online education for female course creators in the world. Check it out [email protected] along with so many free resources to help you get building your empire and seeing those results that you deserve. If you loved this episode, please don't keep it a secret. Share it with a friend on social media and tag me inatower and give it a review. It really does help us to be able to bring you bigger and better content as we grow. Have the most beautiful day. Hey I'm Tina Tower and I'm cheering you on all the way.