Andrea Liebross on Why Women Should Build a "To-Believe" List

Welcome to the KBB from the TAP podcast. I'm managing editor Leslie Claggett and this week I'm happy to be talking with Andrea Libros, founder of Andrea Libros Coaching. The firm has a clear mission to empower bold, ambitious women entrepreneurs to unlock their unique formula for success both in life and in business. Andrea believes that thinking big and achieving extraordinary results comes down to just two key ingredients, solid systems and a bold mindset. Today's topic is intriguing. Why the two believe list is the new two do list. Welcome Andrea and thank you for joining me. Thanks for having me Leslie. Could you start by telling us a little bit about your career and what led you to coaching? Sure. So way back in the day, I have degrees in psychology and communications, but in the real world, for about 10 years I worked for a company where I was what they termed as recruiting, hiring and training. New, almost like franchise owners. Now legally they weren't, but let's fall in intensive purposes. They were, they were franchise owners. And I stayed there for 10 years and you know at the end, the big joke was if one more person told me that's a great idea, but then didn't put it into place that I was going to leave. So I left, I left after 10 years. And I reflected at that point on why did I stay there for 10 years. There were so many things that I did not love about that experience, but at that point I hired my first coach. I never worked with a coach before. And we really dug deeper into what, what was it that, that made me stay. And I realized that what I really loved was helping these new business owners move through and passed when Bradley back again to what I now call the messy middle. So I think in every business, we go through cycles of growth. And in every one of those cycles, there is a messy middle. There's a time when you think, oh my gosh, I thought I had it. And then it feels chaotic or it feels overwhelming. So I started eight years ago. I started the current business I'm in now. And I've recognized through that that I'm really driven by by four things that I think appear in any business and that any business owner really needs. And they are one, I am driven by the illumination of possibility. Kind of the slight, I like to see that spark sometimes before others do. I am driven by what I like to call the intimacy of transformation. So if you think about it, when we are changing or we are getting to that next level, there's somewhat of an intimacy to it. And you, you've got to really get down into the trenches, right? It's not, it's not always big and bold, those changes that you need to make. I'm really driven by the courage to just believe, we're going to get into a little bit of that today to just believe rather than have to prove everything, right? So we always think we've got to prove it. But what if we just believe that it would happen rather than search for that evidence constantly? And I think the last thing that I'm really driven by, which is, is definitely apparent as a business owner is committing to substance versus surface. So we can talk about things on the surface. Kind of like I like to call it like cupcake talk. It's like we're all the sprinkles and, and you know, rainbow, rainbow sprinkles are. But to make change or to make something happen, we've got to go below the frosting. Like we need to go down deeper. So those are things that I'm driven by. And I think they come, they become apparent in my work. And what I do, you know, I work with primarily female entrepreneurs, founders, business owners across the world really to help them get through that messy middle to get to that next level of business to, I like to say I'm like the flame, but also the framework. So to help them kind of get that spark of possibility and opportunity, but then help them build that scaffolding that they need in order to grow. So that's that's kind of where I'm at. I love your choice of metaphors cupcakes and scaffolding. Well, how did you discover that belief and not, you know, with a conventional hustle mentality was missing ingredient in most business plans? Well, I think that most people, most of my clients come to me. And when I say, do you have a business plan? They say, well, I mean, I did or I do or I haven't looked at it real lap, you know, in the last 10 years. But I have a strategy, right? I know what I'm doing. And I really, I don't really need that. And here's what I think no one wants to say out loud. No one wants to say out loud that the strategy that you paid for isn't working, right? You wouldn't probably have reached out if it was working, but it's not working because it's wrong. It's really because you don't believe it will work. And the team you built is underperforming not because of lack of skills, but because they're mostly modeling probably your disbelief. So the goal that you keep missing isn't too ambitious. It's just that you might not have that belief infrastructure to hold it. So I think here's the truth that the leaders are trying to create this business without building a structure to hold it without believing to their core that it's possible. And they don't have the wherewithal to keep even if they are building a structure to kind of hold it up when the things start to fire up, right? So it's things start to burn and then they collapse. And if you don't have a belief or a scaffolding or a framework to hold all of this up, it's going to collapse. So I like to say that, you know, belief isn't soft. It's structural. It's it's kind of the scaffolding that holds the clarity and the confidence and the growth and the wealth. And it's foundational. It's just as important as budgets and metrics. And we don't really need more strategy or systems or hustle, we need more belief. And that's like the belief is the data. It's like the internal operating system that really drives that external result. And you can't outwork the disbelief. Like you can't do matter what we do. If you are not thinking that this business is going to grow or those clients are going to come or then you can increase those prices. Like it's not going to happen. So the inner work of believing or this to believe list is before kind of the outer work is the work because like executing things without conviction is really just expensive motion. It takes up a lot of time and energy and people. So I think I've learned this by watching people try to kind of outwork or outthink things. And thinking that, you know, if I add a little more in, it's all going to be better. And that's always that's not true. I don't think that's really true. So that's kind of how I got to this. And I think that we a lot of times we have trouble making decisions, right? Or we stew on things. And if we have what I call this to believe list, it decisions become pretty easy because your decision just has to align with what you believe. Well, can you tell us the difference between a to believe list and your to do list? Yep, absolutely. So I'm going to guess like every, we're recording this at nine in the morning. And I am going to guess that most of our listeners, if you're listening to this at nine in the morning, you have at least in your head a to do list for today, right? And there's probably 10 things on that to do list. And some of them were on the to do list yesterday and they just got moved to today. And some of them are things like, you know, go to target and buy this or return the phone call, right? But how many of those things on that list are really aligning with your vision of who you want to be or where you want to go? And how many of them are just like tasks to check off, right? So I am a proponent that if you have what I like to call a to believe list, then those actions or those what traditionally we would call to do is are going to naturally appear. So let me give you a couple examples. If you believe that your clients, your next customer, your next client is out there waiting to say yes to you. Okay? If you believe that, then what are you going to do today? You are going to go find them. You are going to go put some offers out there. You are going to go have conversations, right? And if you're on your to do list is make the next social media post like is that as powerful as actually having a conversation with someone? No, right? You need to have a conversation. And if you think someone is out there like just waiting to talk to you, then you're going to go find them. You're going to have a different action, right? If you believe that you can you can go to the beach and work from the beach, right? Just as effectively as you're working in your office, then you are going to start making decisions that are going to help you create a virtual team or or or infrastructure that gives you that freedom, right? So you need to have a list of the things that you believe in in order to make the decisions that you want to make. And I think like this isn't something that that's why it's something that I think is really gives you structure. That's why I call like us like the infrastructure to any business decision. Well, that's fascinating to me and the idea of running off to the beach maybe a couple months ago or we're in October now. You can go to Florida Leslie. There's beaches now that would take you. Okay, okay. Well, how do you suggest people take the first step in creating a two-believer list that actually drives that action? Yeah, I think first of all, you have to identify, you know, what is your vision? Okay, where do you want to go? And I like to say you have to start becoming friends with future you, okay? So future you is you, I don't know, three years from now, five years from now, like where is future you? What are they doing? Who are they talking to? Where do they live? How are they spending their time? What is their business look like? Is it even still an existence? Like you might say, hey, in three years, I'm out of this thing. I'm selling it. It's over, right? So you have to go talk to future. You've got to become friends with future you and say, hey, nice to meet you. What do you, what do you think? Tell me, tell me what do I need to do today to create, to make this vision come alive? So the first step is to become friends with future you, okay? And I don't know how that sounds to you, but to a lot of people that sounds really scary and kind of hard, like because they'll say, I'm not really good at dreaming. I don't know, I'm just trying to get through today. And I'm not really talking about dreaming, although it could be dreamy. And I'm also not talking about making, like the future you has to be super realistic and rational, okay? Kind of like the mix of both, right? So go become friends with future you. That's the first step. I think the second step is to identify what are your beliefs. And a good way to kind of access this is to think about what are some things that you say all the time? Like, what are things that you say all the time? Because this is hard. So I'll tell you, for example, something I say is if it's not fun, we're not going to do it, right? When I'm talking to my team, I'll say, all right, I'm going to be honest with you guys. If there's not an ounce of fun in this or enjoyment, I know that you're just not going, we're not going to follow through on this, okay? So I really believe that everything has to have an ounce of fun in it, okay? Another thing that I believe is I believe that growth comes from clarity and not hustle. I believe that we create time, we can create time by decisions. We don't just find time, okay? So what do you believe? That would be like the next thing. Okay, you've got to figure that out. Then I think you have to think about, all right, what do I currently, what am I currently thinking? And is it serving me? What serves me and what doesn't? So now you almost have to kind of make like two columns. You know, what's the beliefs that serve my vision? The beliefs that don't. So a belief that probably isn't going to serve your vision is that I have to say yes to every opportunity, okay? If that's a belief, that might not serve the vision because you might be building something where it's not going to allow you to be on the beach, okay? Or if you believe that you've got to prove your worth, that's going to be tiring. And should we trade it out for something like my clients value my energy and not just my output, right? So third thing is really creating this, what is serving me and what's not serving me? And then I think you've got to build what I call a belief bridge or a belief ladder. And you've got to think about, okay, how do I get from where I am now to where I want to be? And what are the, what are the teeny tiny steps that are going to take me from thinking that something is impossible to something is inevitable? And you literally have to kind of ladder your way there and you've got to connect things. So if you're thinking, okay, I don't know, it's impossible. I don't know how I would have a million dollar business or a business that was multiple seven figures. All right, that's my impossible statement. Then if I go to well, it might be possible. And I shift in some more to more curiosity. That's like the next wrong on the ladder. And then I can shift into I'm learning to think like a million dollar CEO, you're shifting into confidence. Then I am a million dollar CEO who leads with I'll call it com authority. You're shifting into certainty. So you have to kind of create this belief ladder. Okay. And then from there, you probably can start really rewriting your to believe list. Because you've got now some, I'll call it like operating beliefs. You've got that belief ladder established. You've figured out what's serving you. It's not serving you. But here is something that's very true. This is hard work. And it's hard to do alone. And it's not something that you're probably going to sit down on a Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. and do. I don't know. What do you think, Leslie? You know, I mean, it's not going to happen probably. I was out a couple cups of coffee. This is like brain work. Yeah. Deep work. Yeah. Yes, it is. This is fascinating to me. And our final questions we wrap up. Do you have any advice on ways people can maintain the aligned momentum that's core to making a true to belief list? Yeah, it's pretty, that's as simple. You have to practice. You've got to practice, like go pull out your cleats, like you were in sixth grade and you went to soccer practice. And you have to practice. You've got to kind of make this an evolving practice, not a one-time exercise, right? You've got to make it kind of like a living system. It needs feedback. It needs reflection. It needs celebration. We have to have a party at the end, maybe with cupcakes, right? So you have to kind of build in. I call it, there's different types of time we have should have in our week. And part of your CEO time is really this reviewing and reflecting type of time. And you've got to kind of, like, look at this thing and say, am I living it out? Am I doing it? Or am I not doing it? And where this week did I revert to some old thinking? Or what evidence do I have from this week that my new belief belief is actually true? And which beliefs feel inevitable now? Which feel like they need reinforcement? And I think the best way in which to do this is to really seek and secure support. I call it seek and secure support. So who is on your team? Who do you have in your personal board of directors, so to speak? Who is on your bench? There's another way to think about it if we're talking about soccer practice. Who's working through this with you? Is it a part of a community? Do you have a mentor? Do you have a coach? It's probably not your spouse. I'm going to tell you that right now. Even though everybody says like, my family supports me. Yeah, but their job to support you is like to love you. They're not to not to do this kind of work. So who do you have? Who do you have? And if you don't have anyone, it's time you get someone to sit on your bench or to be on your personal board of directors because we can listen to all the podcasts in the world. Like I have my own podcast. So I'm a big podcast proponent. I've got over 250 episodes. So it's not like I'm not a podcast person. It's called She thinks Big. Go take it. Listen, I mean, you can read all the books in the world. I have a book. Same title. She thinks big. Go read all the books. But like that's passive action. It's not massive action. It's not it's like a convert. It's like a one-sided conversation. So you need to have a two-sided conversation. You need to be connected with someone that's going to honestly like give you a little pushback because that's probably what you need. Well, this has been an eye-opening conversation. Thank you so much, Andrea Libros, for joining us today on KBBs from the tap. Be sure to subscribe to KBBs YouTube channel and click the like button on our videos. You can also subscribe to KBBs from the tap podcast on such apps as Apple, Spotify, Pandora, and Google podcasts. And please feel free to leave a review.