S1 E12-Aligning Your Money with Lauren Wood
In this episode Jess talks to Lauren Wood who is one of the wealth advisors at Women's Wealth Boutique and also the founder of Aligned Wealth Solutions. She has been in the industry for 14 years and is known for getting things done and solving problems without judgment shares their journey from being compliant to realizing the importance of pursuing dreams and intuition to achieve success. They also discuss how fear and negative self-talk can hold you back from success, and encourages listeners to identify and pursue their own dreams. Lauren also shares her experiences working with women to remove blocks and embrace new ways to build successful businesses, and explains how embracing their own uniqueness and trusting their intuition has helped them achieve success.
Highlights:
- It's so important to have authenticity in everything you do and to follow your dreams in order to foster personal growth and success
-It's vital for us to trust your own intuition in order to identify and remove blocks that may be keeping us from reaching our goals
- Embracing uniqueness and new ways of thinking with clients can lead to deeper relationships and better results when it comes to their finances.
Contact Our Guest:
Lauren@wwbpartners.com
Transcript:
Jessica Weaver 0:02
Hello, hello, our listeners. Thank you for tuning in today. I'm Jessica Weaver, the host of women behind the millions. And I'm so excited today, because we have one of our Wealth Advisors at the woman's wealth boutique, Lauren Wood, who is founder of aligned wealth solutions. She is I feel like my spirit soul mate, we are all spiritual alignment. We're gonna get into some juicy things today. So thank you so much for being on here Lauren.
Lauren Wood 0:31
Thank you so much for having me.
Jessica Weaver 0:34
And Lauren where are you located, for our listeners?
Lauren Wood 0:38
I am in South Bend, Indiana, where Notre Dame is.
Jessica Weaver 0:42
She's in Indiana but in this virtual world, we are so fortunate we can work with people everywhere.
Lauren Wood 0:48
And I do and I love it. Yes
Jessica Weaver 0:51
Awesome Lauren, let's talk about there's so much to go into today. But what brought you into the world of finance? Let's start there. What got you to want to become a financial advisor?
Lauren Wood 1:04
My dad is was a financial advisor,
Jessica Weaver 1:08
We have so many similarities.
Lauren Wood 1:11
Yes, we do. And I watched him help people his whole career. And he would bring those values around our kitchen table of lessons that he wanted us to learn so that we could maybe avoid some of the pitfalls that some of his clients had fallen into. And so I as a kid knew I wanted nothing to do with it.
Jessica Weaver 1:36
I was the same way! I used to remember screaming, I want nothing to do with the stock market. Yeah. Because I could see how his attitude would change his energy would change based on what was happening. Yes, yeah, what about you? What made you want to not go into that work?
Lauren Wood 1:52
Um, it just it he, my dad is a very literal person,he my Enneagram thing, he's a one.
Jessica Weaver 2:07
We're gonna get into that Enneagram thing.
Lauren Wood 2:08
And so he just has a very specific way of doing everything. And there's only in his view one way of doing things. And so I think he just always came across as too much for me just too intense. And sounded to just numbers oriented instead of relationship oriented. And so I was not interested in just that.
Jessica Weaver 2:34
That brings up a good point, women financial advisors, we only make up 18% of advisors. And that number is shrinking, which is why we have this podcast, which is why we created the woman's wealth boutique, we want more women to be advisors, because as you said, we are so relationship oriented. And the numbers are great, right? The numbers don't lie. We talk about that a lot.
Lauren Wood 2:57
Oh, yes,
Jessica Weaver 2:58
It's very important, because this whole other side to our work. Alright, so when was that change, then, when you wanted to become an advisor?
Lauren Wood 3:11
Well, interestingly enough, I got a call from my dad, one day, I was managing collegiate apartments for college students.
Jessica Weaver 3:21
Okay.
Lauren Wood 3:21
I had done really well. And I was making a lot of money for that industry. And I had come to the point where I had realized, though, that I had tapped out kind of I was at the peak of things, I was making more than any other managers within that company. And I knew because I had a friend who was higher up there. So she kind of gave me the details. And I thought, What am I doing here I am, in order to move up in this to make more money to do better. I'm gonna have to like kind of wish somebody dead. And that didn't feel good to me, because that's the only way there's movement is if somebody gets fired, or the they quit or don't show up anymore. I mean, there's just that's that was the only way and so I was feeling stuck. And my dad gave me a call and said, you know, you've been doing really well. And some of the things you've been telling me about what you've been doing with your business there, I think would be really beneficial as a financial advisor. And I said, Absolutely not.
Jessica Weaver 4:25
There's just a knee jerk reaction, no
Lauren Wood 4:27
It was that knee jerk reaction, and then I thought about it a little more, because my dad is a very, he's one of the smartest people I've ever encountered. And I feel like I encounter a lot of very intelligent folks. And his opinion, of course, is of the utmost to me, and thought I if he's feeling the need to say that to me, I should probably listen. And I it was it was time. So I said let's do it.
Jessica Weaver 4:56
And how long ago was that?
Lauren Wood 4:58
That was 14 years ago.
Jessica Weaver 5:00
14 years ago, yes. Amazing, how long did you work with your father for?
Lauren Wood 5:05
I never worked with him he at that point, he was a branch manager. And so he had brought me on he recused himself from my hiring at his firm, because he said, Listen, I just don't, I don't want anything to do with it. And that was a good experience for me. Because then I felt that because my dad was who he was that some of these, these men thought that they had to make me jump through more hoops. And like you were recognizing them already jumping through hoops to be here, but sure, bring them on.
Jessica Weaver 5:39
Wow, that is incredible.
Lauren Wood 5:41
Yes, so I worked as an assistant for a while and then joined a team.
Jessica Weaver 5:45
Okay, what's been your favorite part of being an advisor?
Lauren Wood 5:50
The helping people,
Jessica Weaver 5:51
Helping people? Is there is a certain type of person that you usually help or families?
Lauren Wood 5:59
I typically work with I'm most energized by working with with women, powerhouse women who are really good at you know, making money, but maybe not sure about what to do with it and maybe a little unsure about like, am I going to be able to continue to live this first class lifestyle that I've become accustomed to. And they're powerhouse women. So they're very confident. And in every arena almost. And very often. This is one of the few where they're not. And so I like to work
Jessica Weaver 6:38
Thats a struggle then. It's almost more frustrating in that way I can make decisions in every area of my life. But when it comes to money, I do not trust myself with the decisions or I don't know enough, or how do I even go down?
Lauren Wood 6:54
Yes, those inadequacies build up too then,
Jessica Weaver 6:57
oh, that's a great way to say it. What do you see a common mindset that is preventing these ladies?
Lauren Wood 7:07
I, I think that it's those kind of thoughts and feelings come from fear. And so that's the core of it, usually. And then if we can, it's just really neat the relationship that I'm able to establish with my clients, because we're able to open up. And I've had a lot of women just cry to me and say, I have never, I didn't even know that this was something that was an issue for me. That was let alone this deep. And then so once we're able to move through those blocks, look at our mindset.
Jessica Weaver 7:51
Yes, I can see that there definitely are these fears that we don't really know are playing out in our day to day life. Right? Well, we just become so used to them. We don't know how we feel otherwise, can you give our listeners an example of this, because this is really, I really want to talk about this the mindset behind wealth, and how much we self sabotage ourselves. Obviously not on purpose. We all want to be extremely successful and have more money. But even saying that I hear myself saying there's too much responsibility that or how are you ever going to get that all done? Or there's too much to build, just too much, too much, too much. So I can already see like, what where are these beliefs? Where are they coming from? And you can see how it's going to almost tunnel vision, these different opportunities for us. So can you give us an example?
Lauren Wood 8:44
Right. So there's a woman that I'm working with currently who came to me just by I feel like my I was I attracted her into my life, I felt like I manifested her and she felt like she manifested me is how we've been feeling about each other. And really, she was having problems because she is a business owner and she wasn't exactly sure about taxation, and how she should be looking at that. And she wasn't sure if she was maybe necessarily doing all the right things for her business. Her business has grown and has,
Jessica Weaver 9:27
oh my gosh, how many times do we feel that way?
Lauren Wood 9:31
There's so much doubt then within that and we've been working together only a short time and she's been able to kind of dig deep a little deeper and see where you know, the these fears are coming from and really that's helped her to identify clearer, more with more clarity what her goals are. And so then I've been able and its just so cool, she told me that I've been able to help her more. I think because of that. She told me the other day, she was like Lauren, I, that just sounds so huge. And I started this business as a little side business. And now to think that that's where this might be going, is just so exciting to me. And, you know, that part is, that's great. I, that was my intention. I've been doing financial planning for my entire career, I believed it to be the foundation of everything that we do. And very often men would tell me it's too airy fairy too light, too fluffy, too many feelings, like focus, why aren't you focused more on the numbers? And I mean, that was men that I was presenting to or had as clients that I was trying to tell about this. And I'm like, I just need you to think about your dreams. And you just think about your dreams. And so it just feels exciting now to be working with these women who are removing these blocks, and figuring out what it is they really want. And they're exciting things that are lighting a fire within them. And oh my gosh, like, big things are happening because of it.
Jessica Weaver 11:11
You're giving them the space to actually speak those dreams, which in itself, it can be scary.
Lauren Wood 11:19
Very.
Jessica Weaver 11:22
Out Loud. But that is so huge. You talked about we talked about doubt and fear a lot. And it sounds like the ladies, they get almost re energized by it again. Or maybe because it hasn't happened yet. We kind of put that dream dormant for a while. Or we just are so busy. We forget we had this bigger dream deep down inside of us. I think everybody who's listening to this should pause right now. What's that thing? And we were just actually recording another episode before this- What's that thing that keeps coming up for you? Yes, it's pulling at your heart, it's writing a book, it's doing a podcast, it's hiring, it's taking your business to the next level your money, what's been keeps coming up, when you're driving, you're in the shower when you're yelling at your kids.
Lauren Wood 12:13
Yes, because they're very often is a recurring theme. And you know, that fear just gets so heavy after a while. And it gets so heavy, that we're so strong after a while from carrying it around for so long, that we don't even realize how much it's actually holding us down. And, you know, that's, that's really, that's where I find the most energy and in what I do,
Jessica Weaver 12:43
I love that perspective of it, we do carry this fear around, and we're holding on to it so tight and when I was going through the crap with my previous broker dealer, my father's firm, I didn't realize how exhausted I was from it. Until I got to the other side and I could finally breathe some freedom back into my life and, and end the fight. And that's what it is when we are carrying fear. We are constantly in fight or flight mode and it it's mentally draining, but also physically. We talked about the science behind this, right? The chemicals stop going to our brain, the blood stops going through our brain, our critical thinking is turned off. We're not making good decisions. And this is why our dreams fall to the background. We are so short term focused, like what's my next move? What's my next move? How do I survive this? So that's cool that you give them this space, this environment to now shift from that zone to oh, that's right. I did have this dream. I did I do have this pull for something bigger.
Lauren Wood 13:48
Yes. And that equanimity, that space that's there has helped me so much in my own life. I mean, Jessica, you knew me two, three years ago. And I mean, I think I'm, I feel like I'm a different person now. I even look, I look at photos of me from that time. And I'm just I'm so I'm so different. I was so burdened by things that I didn't know, I was burdened by. And I had not been pursuing the things that I was energized by.
Jessica Weaver 14:19
And isn't looking back. Isn't that sad?
Lauren Wood 14:22
Oh yeah. I'm very sad for that former version of me. And I'm thrilled that I found it though.
Jessica Weaver 14:29
Like, yes, you really you show up so differently, you really have blossomed over the last few years. And it's amazing how when you do the work that it can re energize you instead of deplete you but we're so used to in our society that you got to do this, we should be doing this and it's just depleting your energy supply. Or you can shift into what Lauren calls alignment, aligned wealth. And it really actually will refuel you, exactly, more and more Let's talk about Enneagrams. Okay, I recently just did my quiz and I, what did I say? I think I'm at like two or something? How did you explain what it is and how you got into it?
Lauren Wood 15:12
Okay, so this is if you Google it, isn't that what's going to come up? Probably, but this is how I describe it. It's kind of similar to a personality test. But it's not a personality test. It is geared more toward what are it says there are nine different ways of looking at the world. And so it talks about more about what are your motivations? What are your fears,? Motivation and fear are what drive us, okay. And so knowing what your own is it just was mind blowing to me, I have taken kind of every personality test that ever existed. And so I'm always trying to figure myself out, I took the Enneagram. I'm an Enneagram, eight, which is the protective challenger. And we are, we're kind of hard usually for society to receive as women. So I felt like I've never really belonged. And then I read this, and it was exactly oh, my gosh, that is me. Yes. That's why I do this. Yes. That's why I do that. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I was able to see these things in myself, have the equanimity then to be able to forgive myself. In those moments, I stop it as it was happening, the behaviors that I wasn't proud of, or didn't really like or weren't aligned with me. And I was able to step into this more healthy version of myself. And I've been passionate about though, too, because learning other people's numbers has helped me to understand them better. And so I feel like relationally all around the Enneagram has really impacted my life.
Jessica Weaver 17:03
Do you use this work with your clients as well?
Lauren Wood 17:06
I have just started doing that
Jessica Weaver 17:07
Oh, that's so exciting. Because yes, I've done it. And I'm always open to these kinds of things. I love all of that. Yes. Because the more we can understand ourselves, to me, I can better just accept how I am instead of fighting it to try to be something that I'm not. And I think that that acceptance is the first start of the self love, the forgiveness, the the trust, tapping into your intuition, it just keeps snowballing from there. But to stop fighting it and being in that resistance is huge. How are your clients receiving it?
Lauren Wood 17:44
Amazingly well, amazingly well, yeah, I've been you know, it was like that part of myself that I hid for a while I have been doing like working within the Enneagram for about two years now. And I just recently started talking about it. So I It feels freeing to me and I have found it feels freeing to my clients and because now that I'm under able to understand their fears and motivations better, it helps us to really be able to have those deeper conversations that are necessary to figure out how we can drop this load. So it's been really well received.
Jessica Weaver 18:32
I want to talk about as you just said, I was hiding a piece of me how many times ladies, listeners, do we do this where we closet a part of our life like my obsession of paying for years, trying to blend in or fit in, I should say we try to fit in which makes us blend in
Lauren Wood 18:50
And no shame because we're conditioned to do it.
Jessica Weaver 18:53
We are from high school, right? Even the movies you see the movies, what the cool kids are doing. We want to fit in and we definitely don't want to get picked on. So if I'm not fitting in, I need to blend in I need to just become a wallflower. Yes, so we hide so much of ourselves and even as parents I could see how we do this to our kids but like we don't want our kids to be picked on. So we'll dress them how everybody else's kids are being dressed. And it just keeps going from generation to generation, kid to kid, and as we grow but I've noticed that and I want to hear about for you as well. I noticed the more I stepped into who I am and my coach told me again this morning because I stretched myself really far and then I'm like upper barrier limit like oh my gosh, I can't trust this right now too much stretching going on. It's over for your body. My My spirit is up soaring in the sky and my body's like throwing up in the toilet from a hangover. And she goes how can you tap back into your power cycle? That's right, how can I tap shift back into I am I keep bringing this up because I feel this is also where the intuition comes into play. Hmm. Trusting that the more we can step out into ourselves, yes, the more successful we are going to be. And that's what I've seen with my business, the more successful we've been. Yes. About you, do you see for yourself? And then I'm guessing for your clients as well?
Yes, exactly. The ripple effect of it has been huge. And that's why I have feel I've been called to continue to do this work, because it's, it's working.
It's working. And have you seen yourself trusting your intuition or letting your intuition lead you?
Lauren Wood 20:40
Well, I'm an eight. And so we always go from our guts anyway, from my vision that's ever, you know, I used to say all the time, before I knew about this, I go with my gut, because it's always served me. And so for the eights, the challenge in that is to calm the gut response. The gut response very often for the eight, at least in my experience, was to lash out in some sort of way. And it's helped me to just back that down and say, Okay, let me be more in myself. And trust what my my intuition is saying. And so I feel like, the more that you test that intuition, yes, little things.
Jessica Weaver 21:33
Oh, that's a good idea.
Lauren Wood 21:34
And you can expound on that. And it's amazing what that does for you.
Jessica Weaver 21:38
I love that I was just talking with an advisor and I, she was coming up to a big decision. I said, Well, what's your intuition saying? She goes, my intuition really hasn't led me very well. And it but then we could think back and I was bringing up different examples of how it had led her. Right. And it's kind of this muscle we need to start building again. So I love what you said, test it out with these little things, and see where it leads you. And I think also to have fun and be in play mode more. Yes, be more with it, stop taking our intuition so damn seriously.
Lauren Wood 22:12
And recognize it's okay to trust ourselves.
Jessica Weaver 22:16
It is, it is okay to trust ourselves. That is a great point. And that's a great segway Lauren into what made you start aligned wealth solutions?
Lauren Wood 22:29
I'm laughing because I just feel very emotional even before I started talking about that. You know, like I said, I've been in this industry for 14 years. And I have I, I've always been an achiever, you know, the, the corporate world loves eights, because we're achievers. And if you need something done, you bring it to us, if you've got a problem, bring it to us, we will figure it out without judgment and all that. So I there's nothing that I feel like I can't do you tell me what, what you need done and I'll do it. And so the I was doing initially at the beginning of my career, everything that they told me, and it felt very disingenuous to me. And then I found my business coach. And, through working with her, I realized, like, see, it was also the community, right? Seeing all of these other women who were like, getting paid differently, they were able to do more things than I was. And, you know, I'm not opposed to compliance because I love me some compliance. People make fun of me because I'd like treat them like when they're in because I really value what they do. It's so important to our business. And yet, I had started to run into the issue where compliance was making all of my decisions for my business. And, it didn't make sense to me. Now my see a higher up in my comp, my old company would drop down from the ceiling at our our corporate event every year or do something outlandish like that, is it?
Jessica Weaver 24:30
Oh, I thought this was a metaphor or something, no actually jumped out from the ceiling.
Lauren Wood 24:36
Literally, dropped down from the ceiling. And then dance on stage and tells everyone be different. Different is good, embrace it. And so I felt like well, I go home and I'm energized by that right. I am energized by that. And so I tried to incorporate these new ways to help people and ways that I can build deeper relationships with my clients and help them more. And everything is I just felt like my hand was getting slapped constantly. No, no, no. And to be quite honest with you, the protective challenger the eight, it says that we will fight in an empty house. Okay, so like, I love a good fight. I love I'm ready for it. And now I've changed that different ways. But it's still that the fight to me at this point is not worth it. I'm 40 years old, I want to I actually run my own business, I help all these other women do these great things with their businesses. And, you know, like, I and I work with women of like, varying size businesses, too. So I've worked with some bad. I think you know what I'm gonna say, I work with some bad bitches. Yeah. And so I have female clients who have from, you know, like, starting out is one thing, right? Like 10 million 100 million? Like, these are and there things when I first started, I didn't know that a woman could do that.
Jessica Weaver 26:15
Oh, isn't that cool to be in the room with those women? This is what the show is all about, right? The women behind the million supporting those millionaires and the power, that energy of them creating that money with their own hands with their minds, like, I remember one person being like if you can't risk it on your mind, what can you risk it on? Right. And that's what these ladies are doing.
Lauren Wood 26:37
And women are so much more compassionate to everyone in the room. And in their businesses as well. And that's energy that really gets me so where I was before it just, it was a constant fight to better serve my clients. And that just is I finally realized, that's not worth it anymore. And I'm sick of handing over half my paycheck to them. Half my livelihood in all reality. To not be able to run my business the way that I want to run it.
Jessica Weaver 27:14
Yeah, that's an amazing story. When you talk about trusting your own intuition, and tapping into yourself and risking it, and we are the story behind a lot of almost out, yeah, all the ladies at the woman's wealth boutique, taking that risk and betting on it, and you come out almost a different person. Because you're like, if I could do that, what else can I do? What else am I capable of and we are so much more capable of anything that we ever think can even fathom. We are so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for.
Lauren Wood 27:49
Most definitely, most definitely. That's amazing. And finding that in my own life has helped me to bring it more to my clients as well. So I mean, it's just like talk about aligned, its a circle, that just continues to feed itself. And it's so beautiful. It's
Jessica Weaver 28:05
That is, that is, you're more energized. Your clients are, you're making more money, they're making more money. It's all good.
Lauren Wood 28:14
Not only that, but I am living more of my ideal life. And they are living more of their ideal life. Yes. Nothing better.
Jessica Weaver 28:27
And I want to point out, as you said that, the more we can tap into who we are accepting it, embracing it, letting the world to see it, because that's what's happening. Your light is shining so bright, and these women can find you, and go on to you. And then the money comes. But I think a lot of people, they're just chasing the money first. Yeah. And it doesn't work that way.
Lauren Wood 28:50
And that so that was the other thing that I learned about myself. I kind of always known this, but as an 8, I am at my best when I'm in the 2 space of the helper. Oh, I am. Yes. So I have a lot of 2s in my life.
Jessica Weaver 29:09
Surrounded with twos.
Lauren Wood 29:11
And so when I'm in that space, then moreover, I'm helping people in a very authentic way. That's more than just Okay, tell me tell me, how much is this? And what do you have here? And where's this and what do you want to do with it? Okay, okay.
Jessica Weaver 29:24
Oh, that sounds a little boring.
Lauren Wood 29:28
A little. Yeah.
Jessica Weaver 29:32
That's incredible, Lauren, and well, we're so excited to have you as part of the woman's wealth boutique cannot wait to see where aligned wealth solution goes. I mean, clearly you're destined for success, the more and more you are aligned. Everything just falls into place. And that's what we want for all of our listeners, our viewers. Is that alignment. Yeah. So true. So make sure to check out Lauren. We'll have all the links up for you all to grab. Any last words Lauren for our listeners?
Lauren Wood 30:01
I just like to put out there that I was only able to connect like this with other people because I was vulnerable and took a chance which is hard for an eight to be vulnerable. But the more like Jess like you're saying, the more that I really embrace all of me, the more things have come and so I sit in a space with women of no judgment. It's where are you in the water? Where's your canoe on on on the river? And where are you going and let's help you get there. And yeah, so
Jessica Weaver 30:41
No judgement, that's beautiful. I know everyone's wondering. I want to give her a shameless plug Robin crane, who is a female moneymakers. She is how Lauren and I met through her community. So check out Robin Crane as well. Shameless little plug there. Fabulous. She is. She's incredible. But thank you so much, Lauren, for being here. Thank you so much to our listeners, our viewers. Thank you for supporting us. I will see you next time money queens on our women behind the millions.