A deep dive into Chelsea's Human Design chart and her transition to the Digital Nomad Lifestyle!
In this blogpost and episode of the Travel and Work with Human Design podcast, join Human Design coach Astrid as she interviews her guest Chelsea Riffe. They met at an online event of Remote Year about podcasting.
Chelsea is a 6/2 Reflector and Digital Nomad and shares in this interview her insights of integrating Human Design is her podcast business and in her Digital Nomad Travel Lifestyle. We delve into the challenges and rewards of being a digital nomad.
As a 6/2 Reflector, she explains how understanding her Human Design chart has helped her manage her energy, find the right environments to travel to, and maintain balance in her life and work.
Astrid as a Human Design coach, dived into Chelsea’s Human Design chart. We talk about the openness in her chart, the “Waiting for a Lunar Cycle Strategy of a Reflector” and her Lunar decision making tool.
We talk about marketing and launch strategies of her online business where she helps as a podcast strategist aspiring podcasters to launch and grow their own podcasts.
We dive into travel and safety as a nomad with an undefined G center and a completely open Spleen, Sacral and Heart center. And last but not least we are diving into her Markets Environment Variable and smell cognition.
Whether you’re a digital nomad or aspiring to be one this is a digital nomad story you will want to learn from. Or perhaps you are curious to hear from the life experience of a Role model – Hermit 6-2 Reflector.
This inspirational interview is packed with valuable takeaways! Join our conversation by reading the blog or listening to the podcast episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
Quick Links
Meet Digital Nomad Chelsea Riffe, a 6/2 Reflector and podcaster
Welcome Chelsea. I’m so happy that you’re here thank you for being a guest on my podcast. I would love to dive into your human design chart and talk about travel and podcasting and everything that you are doing. But first for the people who are not familiar with you, could you briefly introduce yourself? Who is Chelsea?
Yeah. Love, love, love being on here. So thank you so much for having me on. And yeah, I’m Chelsea Riffe. I am a podcast host. I host the podcast called In My Non Expert Opinion. I’ve been doing that since 2017.
And then I realized I love doing it. So I started helping people launch, grow, and monetize their own podcasts. So now that’s what I do as my main gig is a podcast strategist. So I also travel full time. I’m a digital nomad. I’m in London right now as we’re recording this, but I’ll be in a few days and then go to Manchester, Greece, Albania, and then maybe Cape Town.
So constantly on the go, it’s a pretty hectic lifestyle, but we can talk about that today and yeah, I’m a 6/2 reflector. And for anyone into astrology, I’m an Aquarius sun and a Virgo moon, Virgo rising.
Wow, that is one heck of a journey that you are on as a reflector, right?
Yes, very, very, uh, it allowed me to like really illuminate how important environment is to me.
Where are your roots from?
My roots are from Florida. So I grew up in a tiny little town called Satellite Beach. I went to school there. My family moved to Utah for a year, which was really weird and crazy and fun.
And then we moved back to Florida. And then, yeah, I went to college there. And eventually I left and went to Chicago for most of my twenties before I started traveling.
Wow. So you have seen some parts of the USA already and experienced very different environments. Florida and Utah and Chicago, I mean, it’s like more extreme opposites. What can you get, right?
Exactly. Yeah. Going from like beachy, summery town to basically a Mormon religious, very like rigid and cold place. Uh, that was very interesting. So yeah, very, a lot of different life experiences.
How did you start with the Digital Nomad Lifestyle?
Yeah. So I actually studied abroad in college. I went to Valencia, Spain, and I fell in love with it. I was only supposed to go for six weeks. I ended up staying for the whole summer and staying for weeks, And that just opened so many new doors to me. I did not realize like how big the world was, how easy it was to get around, you know, in Europe, you can just hop on a train or a quick, cheap flight and go to another country.
And funny story, I’m in Florida. We have all these theme parks and one of them is called Epcot. And you go around all these different countries and then you get to eat the different food and try the different drinks and like, Hear the music of each country. So it’s really funny. I feel like anyone from Florida or even America has this joke.
When we go to Europe, it’s like, it’s like Epcot. So it felt like Epcot when I was traveling abroad and I was like, this is incredible.
Then I started working in corporate America. And I was like, Oh, I only get like 12 vacation days a year. So I have to save them all up and use them all at once. If I want to do any type of international traveling, and I knew I wanted to go back to Europe.
And so I remember one time I saved all my PTO days and I went for like 10 or 11 days. And it was so hectic. We went from like London to Budapest to Germany, and we were just trying to run all over the place. And I’m like, this is so chaotic.
Like, this is not how I want to travel. And I think honestly that type of travel made me realize if you want to travel in a different way, you’re going to have to have a different lifestyle and a different job.
So eventually that’s what prompted me to look into the digital nomad lifestyle and consider how do people do this? How do you make money online? How do you do this? And, you know, deal with different time zones and currencies. So, yeah, that’s what really prompted it. That was that study abroad journey in college.
Astrid: Wow. Funny that you mentioned Epcot. I’ve just been there. I went to Florida. I went to the States, uh, did 21 states in six weeks, definitely a hectic, hectic, but beautiful journey. But yeah, Epcot is amazing. I mean, it’s seeing all the different, themes and and the future and the past.
It’s really a cool place. In Europe we’re so used to hopping to a different country. Right. That’s something that is so natural for Europeans, I guess.
In the States, it would be hopping to a different state, which is a country in its own.
Right.
But yeah, it’s really cool that you, that experience of you, that experience of you studying abroad, that, that prompts basically installed the travel, travel bug in, in you.
Yeah, it did. And to your point, even traveling in different States in America, There’s still, everyone still speaks English, right? Most people still speak English and the environments change from certain places, but like the architecture in some places is a little different, but I do feel like in Europe, you know, you go from Germany to France to Croatia and it’s like three different styles of culture and food and architecture and music.
So it really is like, you just, you feel like you’re at Epcot.
What does freedom mean to you?
Freedom right now to me is about time and leisure and white space.
So I feel like the most free when my calendar is free, when I have a lot of time on my hands, when I have activities that I, you know, have lined up that I want to do and it’s very leisurely, that to me, when I think of freedom, I just think of like sitting on a beach having no time commitments, no constraints and no pressure to be anywhere or do anything.
So a lot of space to You know, let happen what needs to happen, right?
Exactly. Like fully allowing yourself to exist and not do a bunch of labor and input to like earn rest and existing.
When did you start with your Location Independent journey?
Do you have a remote anniversary coming up soon?
Yeah, so I started actually in 2019 is when I quit my corporate job and I moved to Sydney, Australia.
However, when I got to Sydney, I didn’t start doing any type of work for myself. I thought I was going to figure it out sooner and it turns out I just wanted to party and go to the beach and have fun with all my new friends. So for six months, that’s what I did. And then eventually the pandemic hit and the pandemic in Australia was kind of later Then it hit in America.
So we had a little bit of like a delayed reaction to it. And then all of a sudden it was like, boom, everything shut down just like the rest of the world eventually faced. So when I was there, I was actually nanning at the time for accommodation. So I didn’t have anything to do but watch these kids and they actually had hired another nanny. Who also took the kids. And so basically we had all this time off.
So I would work for like three days on and then have four days off and then we would switch. So I had so much free time. I wasn’t paying rent. I had nowhere to go. Right. I had nowhere to spend money. There was like nothing to do. And I’m like, Oh, this is the time to start your business.
So I just sat down and focus and like took all these courses and hired coaches and did whatever I could to learn about business. So eventually I started my business. And then I met a German when I left the lockdown and we moved to Germany together and then that’s when my business started growing. And I really understood what I wanted to do with podcasting because I wasn’t doing podcast coaching at first.
I was actually more of like a life coach. And then I realized I definitely wanted to help people more with podcasting. So once the lockdown in Germany was over too. And my business was finally taking off. That’s when I realized, okay, you could start traveling the way you’ve always envisioned it.
So I wouldn’t say it was. immediate. It was probably honestly in like late 2022 when I joined Remote Year, a travel company for a bunch of remote workers, that I started doing the truly digital nomad lifestyle of working online and being able to pick up and go anywhere and not having to be location dependent.
So yeah, if we’re being official, it’s 2022, but I’ve been living in other countries since like 2019.
It is so amazing to hear all these different travel stories with all my podcast guests.
Every journey towards digital nomad life is so different, right? And that’s, that’s like, everybody is unique, but also everybody has a unique path to this lifestyle.
Australia was a hard country to be in because they have such strict rules during that time. I love Australia. I’ve lived there for some time as well. And Sydney is definitely a very good place. Bondi Beach and all the other beaches!
It’s an amazing place, but if you are not allowed to leave, that’s like the opposite of freedom, right?
Exactly. Yeah. And not even leave, but like there was a point where they were issuing fines for people going outside. So you’re like, can I even walk to the beach and back or am I going to get in trouble? And there was a period where you couldn’t go to the beach. Like people were so scared of even making contact with anybody.
I luckily got out right before they really closed the borders where they wouldn’t even let people fly. So I feel really grateful for that. But yeah, talking about freedom. I mean, yeah, that was not the time.
When and how did Human Design on your path?
I want to say probably when I got to Australia, um, I was there for like two months and then I had decided I want to do a yoga training.
Cause I’d always really been into yoga. And so I went to Bali for a month for my yoga training. That really caused my spiritual awakening because I was coming in with my very corporate American background and lens, and just being like, Oh, you know, the check in is not even that great and polished and like they’re the agenda isn’t ready.
And, you know, just acting as if I was like a consultant of how his yoga training was going on. And I’m fortunate that I had some really incredible people there kind of hold me to the fire and be like, you know, we’re not in corporate America anymore. We’re in Bali. It’s time to relax. It’s time to just enjoy this process and like let go of all the masks and all the walls that you’ve really built for yourself.
And I’m like, you’re right. So I remember selling my Apple watch because I was like, I don’t want this thing like beeping and closing the rings in the middle of the sacred shala in Bali.
And I don’t want to be so run by my identity with work. And so in Bali, I started really exploring my spirituality,
I got a birth chart reading, I went to all these different readers and healers, and I think Human Design started popping up then.
So it was, yeah, around 2019. And then I don’t think I had my first, like, formal Human Design reading.
Probably until I, maybe either later that year when I went to Germany. So yeah, it wasn’t until like 2019 or 2020 that it really started to become part of my life.
What has Human Design brought you?
Oh my gosh, so much validation and so much clarity about how I operate.
My biggest insecurity used to be that I’m very wishy washy and I change my mind all the time and that I need to be in like certain environments and things need to feel a certain way and I just thought I was being really picky in some situations or I was being like annoying or high maintenance or slow, right?
Whatever word you want to insert here for how I operate.
And once I figured out my Human Design, especially my type, the 28 day Lunar cycle and Environment variable and my profile.
I was like, Whoa, this makes a lot of sense. I actually do remember in Germany, I hired someone who was also a Reflector and it was voice note coaching for a month.
And that experience was so eyeopening because I noticed the element of like surprise and delight popping up.
And I would kind of track it and be more in tune with the moon and try to make more decisions using the transits and like the lunar cycles. And I’m like, Oh, you can actually run your business this way, right?
This isn’t something you have to keep hidden in a closet and like only use it at night when no one’s looking.
You know, I’m like, You can literally create a schedule and make decisions and create content and do all these things based on your human design.
So, yeah, that’s the long answer. And the short answer is validation and clarity.
Astrid: Wow, that is really, you know, it’s, it’s really cool to hear a reflector say that, right? Because as a reflector, according to Jovian Archive, you are part of the 1 percent that has no definition in their centers.
So you have open and undefined centers. You have a lot of definition, of course, as everybody else, but it’s not defining the center part and that makes you a Reflector type
How did you resonate with that specific part of being a Reflector?
Yeah, I think at first I was confused because then you start to have that almost like anxious moment of, well then who am I, right? A lot of readings that I get are like, you’re everything and nothing and you’re everywhere and nowhere, you know, like almost very vague language.
And I am a Virgo moon and Virgo rising. It’s like, I love practicality and pragmatism. That’s how I teach in my work. I like to break things down in its most simplest form and easy to understand.
So sometimes when I would get readings, I’m like, the language is so mysterious and vague. And it makes me feel like I need you to put me in a box, right?
I need you to label me. I need you to say I’m this and that. But I think deeper, deeper down when I really started to understand it on a more like spiritual level.
I was like, this almost gives me the permission slip with all these open centers. To explore all areas of my life and be whatever I want.
I love podcasting and I love podcast coaching right now, but I can tell you, I’m probably not going to do this for the rest of my life.
Like I have so many things I want to do. I want to go to culinary school. I want to try acting. I want to try to be a dancer. I want to write a book. Like there’s so many things I want to do. So I feel like that open chart and just seeing that I don’t really have undefined centers was like, well, that’s my human design.
And so I’m going to do it.
It’s basically giving yourself permission to change whatever you want, whenever you want it. wherever you want it, right?
Yeah. And I remember, I always see in readings, that’s one of the first things is like, you’re meant to be whoever you want on any given day.
Like you pretty much wake up and you’re a different person every day.
And that can feel jarring, right? Because as humans, we like stability. We want certainty. We don’t want to be different every day. It’s like, I need to know who I am every day when I wake up. And so at first I was like, I don’t like that about my design. I don’t like that about myself. But now again, I don’t take it so literally.
It’s not like much change appearances every day and change clothes and again, I took it way too literally. I’m like, it just means like today I might feel like I want to move slower and be more like ethereal and just see what happens. And there’s other days where I’m like, let’s go. Let’s get shit done.
Like boom, boom, boom, you know, just be on top of the ball. And that’s something we can talk about later too. But, I realized I need to stop like committing to things so far ahead and really making impulsive decisions because it actually does depend on how I feel that day and like the transits in the cycle.
Oh I can totally imagine. And it’s, it’s interesting that you say, you know, it’s about labels because that’s something that as a, you know, it’s a mental concept, right? We’ve been learned to put everybody in the, in these boxes and that we have a label for everyone because we like to classify everyone.
Astrid: Whereas human design is about, okay, you are unique. There’s literally nobody else on the planet who has your definition, your profile, your combination of color, base, and tone, your lines.
So there is nothing to compare to you.
There are generalities, of course, you can have similar concepts, but that’s why it’s so good to have these conversations, right?
I mean, nobody is the same, but we think that we’re all the same, right?
You referred to your 6 /2 profile, so how did that show up?
So I remember not even caring about the profile at first. I was like, what does this mean? Like, I don’t care. And then someone was like, it actually could help you find even more clarity and permission.
And so I was like, okay, let me look into it. And when I realized I was a 6/2 Profile I was like, Oh, okay. So I think it’s the Role model – Hermit, right?
So the role model, has three phases of life that really define like certain milestones or like areas of their life.
And I remember in Australia, having my Saturn return there. And realizing that was kind of like the first third of the life that it talks about in that 6/2 profile. And the way they described it, I was like, this is eerily accurate.
Like I went through so much shedding in Australia. It’s why I actually have a little snake tattoo on my arm. Because I was like constantly shedding these old layers and old masks and just things that didn’t resonate with me anymore.
And I genuinely felt like I just view the world differently. And it was like this switch and I can’t even explain it. I also think it happened when I turned exactly 30. I just woke up one day and it was like, your twenties are done. Now you’re in your thirties and it’s time to take action and like live in this era now.
And I genuinely feel like it was this. I don’t know, like internal shift that just was like, we’re not going back there. You learn your lessons, you move forward. And so it’s interesting too, because I have friends during that whole period between like 27, 28, 29, that are like, remember when we did this thing at my house and dah, dah, dah.
And I’m like, Wait, you had a house there? And they’re like, yes, you were at my house. Like, what do you mean you were there? And I’m like, I don’t remember that. And I have a really good memory, by the way, like, I have an actual, like, photographic memory. And I remember a lot. And so it’s this weird period where I, like, don’t remember things and friends will text me like, ha ha, remember this night?
I’m like, yeah. It almost feels like I had this weird amnesia for like a few years. And I’m like, I don’t think that was accidental. I think that had to do with both my Saturn return, that phase of human design I was going through. And so that’s when the profile started to really speak to me. And I’m like, okay, you need to look at this.
And I think the other part that really stuck with me and why I started podcast coaching was. Was the role model and like the I know so many people call it different things like Jenna Zoe calls it exemplary human and some people call it like the role model hermit. Um, there’s a piece of that that says.
Chelsea: You just know how to do things and you can’t explain and you’re like, it’s kind of, I don’t know, like, it’s just part of me. And that’s how I feel about podcast stuff. Like, especially with my private clients, I have a really keen ability to just spot the white space and the blind spots and be like, okay, I know this is how you’re seeing it, but this is how I’m seeing it.
And you’re like, Wait, you’re right. Like I didn’t realize that. And for me, it comes really, really natural. It’s not like I have to study and prep for three hours for their call. Like I just kind of get on the call and know, and at first, to be honest, I thought it was a fluke. I’m like, maybe you’re just like getting clients that aren’t that difficult or it’s not that complex, but I’ve had so many different clients now in so many fields and backgrounds and financial positions, et cetera, that I’m like, no, this is something that I can’t really explain. I just know how to do it. And I’ve tried to break it down into a process.
Like I said, with my Virgo moon and Virgo rising, but there are just some things that I’m like, I just, I truly can’t explain it. Like that’s how I do it.
Protecting your energy
I think the last thing with the profile is the hermit mode thing. At first I was like, I’m never going to be able to do that, right?
Like I can’t just go into a hermit mode and process things and digest like I have to work. I have a podcast. I travel like I just thought my life always had to be on.
And then I realized every time that I have space to myself, something incredible happens. Like I have a download, I integrate beliefs more, I start to like really understand and process things. And last year after I did my remote year trip, I went on a four month trip. So exhausted and so tired by the end of it because I was with people for four months, constantly socializing.
And I remember I booked an Airbnb in like a remote island in Croatia, and I did not talk to anybody for like three weeks. And at first people were like, okay, what’s going on? You know, are you going to recover from this? I’m like, I am thriving here. Like, I am. Cooking. I’m swimming. I have time to myself. I’m walking around.
I’m sleeping. Like it was truly the best time. And so funny enough right now in the next, honestly, the next week, like tomorrow, basically this break will start. I’m going into like a full hermit month where I plan to travel by myself. I’m going on a retreat. I don’t want to be on Instagram or creating a bunch of like marketing materials.
I really just want to take a moment. To integrate everything from the last year. And I think if I’m being totally honest, I would like to do something like that more on a monthly basis, not like once a year. So that’s something that my profile has taught me business wise is like, how can you create those hermit moments either day to day or weekly or monthly?
And not just once a year, because I think it’s imperative for how I operate.
Wow, that, that really resonates. That’s really powerful stuff. Alone time is so important, right? As a reflector, you take everything in, literally take everything in, like all the senses, all the energy, all the people, all the communication, and then to basically rinse out that sponge
I mean, that is really powerful to retreat yourself back, and yeah, so cool that you’re doing that and that you actually installed it in your life, right?
Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of planning.
Instead of reading the blog you can listen to the podcast episode!
Are you using Human Design travel life?
Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, I actually have the lunar cycles plugged into my calendar.
And funny enough, I actually bleed. I get my period on the full moon. So it actually helps even more because I can track my energy. I can see what’s going on.
And I made that full moon week a no calls week, because I know that’s a time where I need to go inward and reflect. And so I don’t book any client calls.
Then I don’t do any type of client facing work or marketing that’s video or anything. I’m very inward that week.
So that’s one way I’ve integrated it into my work schedule. And then, yeah, this whole month off of like client facing work, this is something new that I’m experimenting with. And I’m really excited because I think it’s going to just reinforce the, that the need for being a hermit is not lazy or unproductive or anything.
It’s like, it’s actually key for me to thrive in what I need to do.
Yeah, it’s often, you know, the more quieter we become and the less we do, the more we can do later, right? Because that’s, everybody just is running in that rat race and it’s just doing, doing, doing, and they’re all human doings, right?
They’re not human beings. But if you start being a human being and do less, then your productivity skyrocks, your You know, health, your happiness, I mean, do less and then do more, right?
Working with your female cycle
Yeah. There’s a book actually called Do Less by Kate Northrub. And I remember being like, that’s an interesting title. Um, let me read it.
And it’s actually all about for women phasing your work with the moon cycles or with your menstrual cycle.
And they did studies of like people that actually operated like this. To your point, they did less, but they like doubled their business revenue or were able to just get projects and tasks done that they haven’t done in years.
And so that’s something I started implementing too, is looking at my energy, looking at my cycle, et cetera. And yeah, I’ve had a crazy year, like both with the opportunities I’ve had and the money I’ve made. And what’s interesting is I take a lot of time off and I don’t think that’s fine. I don’t think it’s an accident that I’m having a great year because of the amount of time I’ve taken off too.
Yeah, I love to work cyclical. I have “winter, spring, summer, and autumn” in my calendar.
And in my winter period, I am not doing anything that requires a lot of physical. work and try to plan all the communication stuff in my summer period.
So yeah, I’ve been working with that for a year.
I wouldn’t trade it for anyone else. I mean for women we live in a world operated in 24 hours cycle, right? It’s very masculine 24 hour reset mode, whereas women have a 28 cycle.
And if we start to adjust to that, magic can happen. So cool that you’re working with that as well.
Chelsea: That’s reminds me of a quote that I saw and it was something like your business can be the prototype of the world you want to live in and for some reason that quote has never left me because I thought about that where You know, when I started my business and I was integrating all these like spiritual and sometimes esoteric concepts, I was like, this is fake.
You know what I mean? Like, this is not how corporations run. Like I am, if I want to be a quote unquote, real business owner that pays taxes and has an LLC and accountants and all these things, like you can’t be basing things off of the moon and using your cycle and intuition and dah, dah, dah. And I’m like, but why not?
Like, it’s not like I’m forcing that belief on anybody to do anything. It’s actually just like an inward thing that I use to help operate in my day to day life. And so when I saw that quote of like, this is the world you get to live in. I’m like, wait, to your point, what if we all started doing this?
What if every woman, every woman on the planet started using their cycles or their energy levels or how they plan their years based on cyclical seasons?
Imagine if we all did it, then it would become our world. Everyone would be like, thank the universe, Finally!
Like I can have a week off when I have my period or I don’t feel my best today. Maybe I don’t need to be doing client facing work.
Like that to me was so powerful because if you start it and keep the vision and then other people started it’s inevitable that at some point we’ll get to a place where a majority of people will want to operate like that.
Yeah, I’m all for it! I think everybody should be allowed to be themselves and especially as women. I mean, there’s still so much to do on that perspective.
A deep dive into Chelsea's 6/2 Reflector Human Design chart
Let’s talk about centers here. Chelsea you have an undefined Solar Plexus.
I have an undefined Solar Plexus as well. So I’m really curious, how does that show up in your life? How do you resonate with emotions? And did you experience that shift of not identifying yourself with emotions? Did that happen with you as well? How are you dealing with emotions in that perspective?
Chelsea: Yeah, what’s interesting is actually I do feel like my emotions pop up most around like my heart area.
And so whenever I’m stressed out or anxious or anything, I feel it right here. Sometimes to the point where I literally like tap it because I’m like I need to like move the energy or something like something is in their breath work has always helped me to like release something.
So this area is where I feel a lot of emotions. I actually don’t often get like any gut feelings, but like the anxiousness that people feel in their gut or they’re like, Oh, I feel so much anxiety in my gut for me. It’s like right here and how I process emotions. And so it was really, really heavy.
It’s all centered around the G center, right?
Chelsea: Yeah. That’s what happens.
Astrid: Yeah. I’ve heard that for multiple reflectors that there’s a lot, a lot going on around the G-Center because that’s where kind of the anchors is, I think.
I know. I’ve always thought of that because I’m like, I don’t think it’s coincidence that that’s also where your heart is.
That’s where your lungs are, right? Like breath life is here. And so that’s something that stuck with me is. Maybe it’s a sign like your heart and truly life force is being affected. And what can we do to alleviate that?
If you walked into a room during Remote Year how did that go if we are talking about emotions?
Oh, my gosh, I remember thinking about Remote Year, maybe something different in terms of the like style and format of the program. I thought they just dropped you off and they’re like, we’ll meet at the airport at the end of the month and everyone just go do whatever you want for the month.
It’s not like that. There’s a welcome dinner. There’s orientation. There’s like, weekly dinners. There’s experiences and activities on the marketplace. There’s meetups. There’s so many things. And at first I was like, this is good because I’m getting to know people.
And then I got really overwhelmed and then actually I got really sick twice on the four month Remote Year program.
I always get this throat infection probably every other year. And this time it was back to back, like tonsillitis couldn’t even speak. I couldn’t swallow. I had to stop podcasting for a little bit. And I’m like, that’s not an accident. That’s because you are constantly talking and socializing around these people all the time.
And you’re not saying no. I have this mentality. I think it was from, you know, coming out of COVID being in lockdown for so long. And then after COVID, I actually lived at my parents for like eight months back in my hometown. And so I think I was just so ready to say yes to everything and be let’s go and talk to everyone and do every activity.
That was too much. There were 27 people on my program. Sometimes people would overlap with us in the month and make the group bigger. And again, the constant like WhatsApp pings and the slacks and the invites and socializing, it drained me and it showed up in my health.
Like I said, I got sick multiple times on antibiotics and like wiped out from the amount of energy I was taking in.
Yeah, I can imagine that. It’s completely overstimulation then, right? It’s like system overload.
So much system overload. I feel that way actually even right now. I’ve been saying yes to everything, like anything. Like someone’s like, oh, can you help me with the survey I’m running? I’m like, sure.
And someone’s like, oh, can you look over there? I’m like, sure, sure, sure. Like, I just want to help. And I’m like, This is overload and I can feel it and I actually had like a little cry the other night because I was so stressed out and so anxious and it’s like because I just, I’m overstimulated.
I need that like rinsing out the sponge like you said.
Completely open Sacral center
If I dive into your chart a little bit further, there is that completely open Sacral, right? That’s the not knowing when enough is enough.
Oh my, I do this to myself every year where I’m like, I know how to balance. I know what to say yes and no to. And then all of a sudden I’ll look at my calendar one week and be like, did I book all these things?
Like, why is my calendar filled to the brim? I don’t actually like doing back to back meetings. That’s something that’s part of my human design too, is like, I need a moment to reset from that person’s energy and then go into the next meeting. And I used to, when I was doing the life and mindset coaching, I would book clients back to back to back for like four hours.
With very heavy emotional labor going on, by the way. And I was like, this isn’t working for me. So yeah, exactly. To your point. Like, I just can’t do that anymore.
No, I definitely recognize that. I have a defined sacral, my generator. So that’s, that’s completely different for how I experienced it. But that emotional client work.Yeah. I can’t do back to back meetings either. I mean, for me, a lot of things shifted when I moved to a completely different part of the Netherlands. And also lockdown. I was in lockdown a little bit before everybody else because of an emergency operation.
That really helped me, like, oh man, I, really need to reset, I’m in my own energy now. I mean, that’s a gift, right?
Being in your own energy and just be with yourself. That, I think that was the biggest gift that this process gave me. But yeah, that’s definitely that, that open, that undefined solar plexus, like, All those emotions. No, I, I need to reset after every session and come back to my center itself.
But yeah, it’s, it’s different, you know, with the Sacral it’s such a different concept, right?
And the entire world is built for generators. I mean, that’s, that’s the whole thing, right there. It’s built for the generators. And then we have to project us and we have reflectors who are not meant to do that. They are not meant to work like we do and they don’t meant to just go, go, go, go, go out.
Working as a Reflector in a Generator society
How did you experience that feeling of like, okay, I can actually work less?
I mean, I think it was from crashing and burning from doing so much, right. When I was doing all the back to back meetings, what would also happen is I’m someone who. I feel like I have a lot of integrity and like I say and do what I say I’m going to do. And so for example, like with my client meetings, if I’m like, Oh, I’m sending you a recap with a full breakdown of what we talked about, I am going to send you a full recap of the breakdown of what we talked about.
And so that, but I would make this like fake deadline in my head of like, Oh, it has to be by the end of the day. And so I would do, let’s say four hours of meetings. And then I would be like, okay, now I need to send all these four people, their full breakdowns and what we talked about in the replays.
Instead of giving myself a few days to figure that out, for some reason, I think it’s also probably from working in corporate America where everything is urgent and everyone needs everything by end of day. So I imposed those same methodologies in my business. And eventually I crashed and burned. Like I was getting in fights with my partner.
I was working at midnight in our bed and trying to make sales pages. Constantly, I was answering people’s messages on the weekends, like voice notes, and I’m like, this is unsustainable.
Like, I’m not happy. I’m not thriving. I’m not healthy. And I started to realize. This is just a sneak peek of what the rest of your life is going to look like because my business at that point had like really just taken off.
So i’m like this was just kind of like the step one like imagine what happens when you get to step five If you’re operating this way, you are probably going to end up in the hospital or broke or dead to be honest Like it was just so chaotic for me so I realized you know what?
Let’s just slowly peel it back. It was small, right? I’m really not someone that like does a full 180 in one day. So at first I was like, let’s just try to make the client call shorter. So instead of 90 minutes, let’s try an hour. And then if you made it 45 minutes, then I spaced them out more and said, let’s do it.
You know, put a full hour buffer between calls and I had my assistant go in and fix my scheduling link to reflect that. Okay. And I said, I need to take Fridays off. So I have a moment to like digest from the week. So now my calendar is completely blocked off on Fridays. I don’t do anything on Fridays that has to do with client facing work.
So these were the slow little micro steps I made. And eventually I figured out what worked and what didn’t, by the way, it’s still a work in progress.
I would love to start batching all my podcasts on a different week. And I would love to do client work only on one or two days and not three or four.
So I’m constantly refining and feeling into what feels good and what doesn’t. And the last thing I’ll say too, is emails, emails to me on my desktop or how Instagram is to me on my phone. I’m constantly checking it. I think I have to reply immediately. I’m like distracted all the time. And so I realized it.
You need to set a boundary with yourself of nothing is urgent unless it’s like someone’s dying, right? That’s urgent, but you need to get it out of your head that you have to respond to everybody within a day or two because if i’m being honest, I think it was a scarcity mindset thinking, Oh, if someone inquires to work with me and I don’t get back to them that day, they’re just going to run off and hire someone else tomorrow.
When in reality, I’m like, that’s not how it works. Like I waited to work six months with coaches that I wanted to work with if they had a wait list. But in my mind, I was like, you have to answer them in the next hour. So I made an email signature now that says, Give me I think it’s like 24 to 72 hours to get back to your email.
“I’m not opting into the culture of urgency. This is something I won’t be a part of, I hope you take like the same space for yourself.”
And this is part of my email now. So if people email me, they will see that. And that was something I think that’s helped because. There’s still moments, right?
Where I’m like, Oh my God, I have to get back to this person. And I do have people on my team that will be like, just remember your email signature, like you set that boundary. So you should follow it and be able to follow the rules that you created yourself. So those are just a few specific examples. I have where I started to slow down and do less and not have so much urgency in my business.
Yeah. That inner critic can be very, very. nasty for us, right? They’re so tough on us. That email signature it’s so empowering, right?
Because basically by you setting a boundary, you give everybody else a boundary as well, right? Because we should all normalize that a little bit further.
And it’s conditioning, right? Who had ever told you as a baby that you need to reply within a day on an email?
No one, no one even at my work said that. Like, I don’t think anyone ever told me that. It was just Yeah. And a belief I adopted, especially being in sales, you know, I really have a lot of empathy for salespeople because so much of your work is based on like how many meetings you can do and how many calls you can book.
And it’s just more and more and more all the time. And if you don’t hit those goals, you get fired. So you’re constantly thinking I’m not doing enough. And that, that still is something to this day that I have a lot of deep conditioning to do around. I’m like. My schedule this week is so chaotic again by my own doing and there’s still a part of me that’s like, yeah, but you could be waking up earlier and doing more like, you know, on Sunday, you could just block off four hours and do more.
And I’m like, no, that’s, that’s not why I built this whole life was to just sit on my laptop all day.
Nothing to prove with a completely open heart center
You have a completely open heart. The mantra for people with an open heart center is “You have nothing to prove!”
That’s the biggest conditioning and especially in the corporate world, right? I mean the corporate world is thriving on people with undefined and open hearts because it’s like, oh prove yourself, prove yourself. Well, you have nothing to prove.
Chelsea: Oh my god I just got chills when you said that because I’ve been really wanting to do a podcast about this because I had a big chip on my shoulder when I started out. I think because as I started out my business was like a bit clunky. Like I started it while I was nanning in Australia. And then I did it when I was living in like this Northern fishing village in Germany.
And to me, I just never felt legit because I was like, Oh, you’re not in New York city or LA or a huge city in Europe, and you don’t have this huge team of like a branding expert and a designer and dah, dah, dah. And I would get very like. I’m going to show you kind of mentality. And a lot of that energy, I think, translated in my content and how I spoke.
And I just remember one day being like, this does not feel good. Like, I don’t want to be that person that’s like competing and trying to get people to poke her so she can react and just constantly feeling like you have something to prove.
So again, a lot of deconditioning around that, but I do think I’ve made a lot of progress in that area. But it’s something that I have to remember, to your point, like I do have nothing to prove.
Yeah. And with the commitments as well, right? You don’t have to commit to anything and don’t feel guilty about that because you know, you don’t have to do that. Nobody, nobody should have to commit to something.
And that planning ahead. If we started living more present in a moment and day by day, how different would the world look like, right?
Chelsea: Oh my gosh, the world would be such a better place. I mean, my roommate, she was still here this morning and she works in the office and I was like, Oh, did you take off today? And she was like, no, I actually just couldn’t sleep that long. Cause I had the worst period pain and I couldn’t even move. But. I’m just going to be late.
I’m going to go in today. And I’m like, what? Like, you can’t just take off or rest or like not have to plow through this. And she was just like, no, I’m going to go in. And I have these commitments. Like I have to go to work. And I was just like, that’s so sad to me that we can’t just honor our bodies and our intuition and our health and be okay with like, the world isn’t going to crash and burn if we take a day off.
Being location independent gives us that freedom of lifestyle, right? It’s, it’s how we design our lifestyle and we can make changes whenever we want to. That’s fine. And we can do whatever, right? We can have dreams, change dreams, have plans, change plans.
Yeah. And especially as a Reflector, that’s something that I need that flexibility to be like, it’s okay to change my mind.
And I used to think that was a very bad quality of mine because I’ve had people in my life tell me that you need to stick to what you said you’re going to stick to and you just see it through and, you know, you started it. Why not finish it?
There’s a lot of that conditioning in North America and the United States, and it’s something I’ve had to really let go of.
But also, I think there still is conflict in me. I want to be living with integrity. And I think speaking about it out loud on this podcast, I’m having like a verbal therapy process right now. It’s like, you can commit to it, but you don’t have to do it now. There’s still that thing of like, you need to do it tomorrow or next week.
And I’m like, why don’t we move that project to a different month? That’s fine. So yeah, that’s something I think about often.
And going back to your point of like being a digital nomad and using your human design and stuff. I think some people wonder how I travel. And take days off. And for me, what was really important, this was just a really specific example was to take on less clients at a higher price point.
So I don’t have to work with people all day long and do all these workshops left and right and front and center. And, you know, constantly being on zoom calls because that’s not how I work. And I figured that out. So that was something I learned on early too. I was trying to do like. 10 eBooks and PDFs.
And, you know, let me maybe start a membership. And I’m like, that just takes so much work to sustain yourself. Why don’t I just take on like five higher ticket clients at a time? And that gives me a lot of space. So that’s just a practical tip for anyone, really. If you’re trying to have more free time in your calendar, try to change your business model to allow that.
Wow. Yeah. You definitely got a point. So on point!
Safety while traveling as a solo female traveler
So let’s talk about safety in traveling. You have a completely open spleen. Do you have checks and balances or how important is safety for you while traveling?
Yeah, it’s important and I think that’s why, to be honest, Remote Year was really attractive to me because there are certain places of the world that I have not been to and I just don’t wanna do all the research to figure it out.
And I was like, oh, there’s a company that exists that did all that research for me, so. Remote year was really helpful when I was going to some new places.
But in general, I’ve realized I feel safe when I feel comfort. And this has a lot to do, I think, with environments too, where, when I was in Australia, I was like, at one point living in this house, that was definitely a three bedroom house, but they put two beds in every room.
So six people were living in it. And I could only live there for two weeks. I was like, this is so chaotic and so activating my nervous system.
And we were in a safe area of Bondi beach, but like that house itself was just so chaotic. And I remember feeling like this is too much for me. And so then I wanted to move to like a nicer apartment that it was a bit more money, but I’m like, but this is worth it.
Going back to safety, I feel safety when I feel comfort. So if I’m comfortable, I won’t be freaking out. So now that’s how I travel. That’s how I pick my Airbnbs. It’s like, “Am I going to be comfortable”, obviously it’s in a safe neighborhood, but most of all, basically, I’m just going to feel like regulated and grounded.
It just happened this week too. I’m going to Manchester and I’m staying kind of in the outskirts and I’m like, well, I want to stay closer to the city, but everything I’m looking at is like, you share the house with 5 other people or you have to be in a noisy hostel.
And I’m like, okay. I just don’t want to compromise that safety and that sound and that silence that, excuse me, not sound the silence and the grounding is that comes with having a comfortable, quiet environment.
So that’s really imperative now when I’m traveling.
Do you always get a room for yourself?
Living together, well that’s like, the thing that I know about reflectors is the biggest tip is to sleep alone, right?
That’s at least eight hours of alone time, is just sleep alone.
I literally told my friends, they were like, after this London trip, they’re like, let’s all go to Greece and get a house together.
And I was like, I can’t do that. Like, I am I have been living with people all year, and I actually used to live alone in Chicago, which is interesting because I remember loving living alone. I literally love being by myself in my own space.
And so when I started traveling, there were some Remote Year apartments where you actually have your own room or your even your own like apartment.
But there was, I didn’t realize this honestly until later in the year, where I was like, why do I feel so like unregulated? I’m like, because you have not lived alone all year. So that’s something now that is pretty much for the rest of the year. I want to live alone.
And to your point of sleeping, I told my ex when we were together, I’m like, This sounds a bit crazy, but like if we were living with roommates, by the way, at that time, because we were both like broke during COVID, he was in school.
My business wasn’t making money yet. So we were living with like four roommates and a dog and all these things. And that was already chaotic. And I remember telling him, I’m like, If this relationship progresses and we end up like getting a house together, an apartment, I’m not kidding when I say I would love to have my own room to maybe sleep in like half the week.
And at first he was like, what do you mean? And then I think he saw how much trouble I had sleeping all the time. And he was like, Okay, I kind of get it. Like, maybe we should consider that in the future.
So, I don’t think it’s crazy. This is for anybody that has trouble sleeping. But, it’s kind of wild that you grow up your whole life usually sleeping in your own bed and then all of a sudden you’re just sharing a bed with someone.
I’m like, that’s not going to work for me. So, yeah, I am a big advocate for maybe separate rooms in my future partnership.
Nice. Yeah it’s such a game changer, right?
It’s a simple hack like that, like break that conditioning. Like, why should you always have to sleep together? I mean, the Kings and Queens of old had separate bedrooms. What changed?
Yeah. What changed literally? And I’m like, don’t they want to sleep alone too? I’m like, don’t you want, there’s so many guys, like even recently I was with someone for like a month and we would go to bed and he’s like, bedtime activity was basically just scrolling reels that were so loud and annoying.
And he was giggling and then he would just shut his phone off and go to bed. And I’m like, this is not comfortable to me. This is not soothing.
Like that’s something I realized too. I realized I really need a wind down routine. And so yeah, for this whole separate bedroom thing, I’m like, you can go and play on your phone and watch all the YouTube videos and reels till three in the morning.
I need my candles, the essential oils, like a yoga mat or something. And I’m like, that sounds peaceful for both of us. I don’t get what the pushback is.
That sounds lovely!
Markets Environment Variable
So let’s shift to a very deep layer in your Human Design chart, you environments variable? Especially while traveling environments is such an interesting little element to look at.
So you have a market environment. How did that resonate with you when you read about it or did you read about it?
Chelsea: Yes. So I don’t actually even know much about it. So I would love to have you explain, but what I will say is that the immediate thought of markets is like truly, you know, street markets, food markets, clothing markets, and I cannot tell you how much I love markets.
I literally tell people like when I die, I want you to sprinkle my ashes over like a bunch of markets around the world. I love farmers markets. I love food markets. We just went to one last week in London. I felt like a little kid and I was actually almost upset at how we were rushing through it. Like you could tell my friend just kind of want to walk up and down the street and leave and I was like, Oh my, I want to go to each vendor and like see everything that each person is selling.
I really love, like, that’s where I spend my money, to be honest, is markets. I left that place with like a ton of bags. And my friends were like, Whoa, we just weren’t expecting this. I’m like, I don’t know how to explain it, but like markets light me up. So quite literally, I love markets, but I would love to hear more about it.
Markets Environment: a need for customization
So one of the characteristics, and again, it’s a generalization, right? I mean, it’s different for anybody, but market people tend to customize a lot.
Chelsea: Yeah. I’m like, I’m like thinking of the other day, we went to lunch, I got a chicken Caesar salad. I was like, wait, can you do the croutons on the side, the hard boiled egg really hard, the cheese on the side, and instead of the normal dressing, can you just bring lemon and olive oil?
And my friend was like, this isn’t like a DIY salad bar. Like, this is what it is. And I’m just like, Oh, I didn’t realize. Sometimes it makes me feel like am I being high maintenance, but I’m like, no, I like to customize.
No, it’s, that’s your unique style, right? And I think market people are really, they really have a specific style, right? They know how to find that style and they have style!
Chelsea: Okay, that’s good to hear!
Creating a Hermit homebase as a Digital Nomad
In this lifestyle that’s something I used to feel that was missing from the digital nomad lifestyle.
it’s hard to curate your environment and customize things because it’s not your home.
You pick up and leave at the end of 4 to 6 weeks. That’s how I was traveling for a long time. And I’m like, That’s something that to this day I honestly feel like it hurts that I like can’t buy a plant or a piece of art or like a cute bookshelf because I don’t have anywhere to put it and it just adds weight to my luggage.
So now that’s something that’s really driving my next factors is where can I live that’s close to the beach, but affordable, but maybe I could stay there for like three to six months and actually like decorate the apartment or do something with it. And there’s part of me that’s like, Ooh, I don’t want to do that.
I want to keep traveling. And there’s also a big piece of me that wants to ground and be able to customize my space.
Yeah. So maybe a temporary home base or kind of your own personal hermit cave.
Oh my gosh. That’s, that’s what I need. My own personal hermit cave. Ooh. Now I’m like, I’m going to go make a vision board of like, where’s my hermit cave going to be?
Cause I, I need that. Like even my mom, she recognized that last year when I had that whole Croatia off the grid moment, I was telling her it’s been really hard to catch up with her because I was in Mexico city, then New York city, then London, all cities. Right. So I always.
To the point of being like chameleon, chameleon to that lifestyle, like buzzing around and doing so many things.
And she’s like, it sounds like you need your Croatia moment. I’m like, I am ready to be alone. And it’s time to build a hermit cave.
Being in tune with the seasons
One other element of the market people characteristics is that they are really in tune with nature and in tune with the seasons, the flow of the seasons.
Does that resonates with you?
Chelsea: It does. You know, what’s interesting though, is that I was always chasing summer, especially ever since I went to Australia, like the beautiful weather and the beaches. And again, I grew up by a beach and water to me is so soothing. Like I could just float in the water and jump in the water and I just feel cleansed and held and taken care of.
And so I’ve always prioritized being in the summer by the beach, like in warm weather. I also think it’s because I lived in cold places for a long time. I was in Chicago for almost six years and then I went to Germany and I was in Utah. Like I’ve lived in places where it really snows and gets dark and rainy and all of those times in my life I felt honestly not great.
Like in Germany I know I was like depressed and when I lived in Chicago when the winters would hit I was like wow this is just not good for me. So I have always been a sun chaser, if you will. And recently, this sounds so weird to say out loud, but I told my friend, I was like, I kind of wanna do like this sad, cold winter thing.
Like I kinda wanna go to like a, a town or a city that’s like, it’s snowing and you can’t really go outside, but you’re cozy with your fire and dah, dah, dah. And I’m like, I think I’m kind of ready to not be in the summer all the time.
Astrid: Finland, Norway.
Yeah, I’m like maybe back to Germany. I would love to see German markets, speaking of markets, like the Christmas markets.
But yeah, I think there’s something to be said about that inner winter too, right? Of having that alone time and cozying up and not feeling like you have to be this bright, summery, flirty person all the time, because that’s exhausting, especially for a reflector.
Yeah, I can imagine. I can only imagine, right?
Is there anything from your chart or an element that you chart that really surprised you?
When I first learned about Human Design, it was the Waiting a Lunar Cycle thing, because like I said, coming from America in a sales job, I was like, that’s impossible.
Like who made this up? That’s not a thing. And so I had a really hard time adjusting to that. And then I realized too, again, I was just taking it so literally, like you have to wait a lunar cycle for everything. And I’m like, no, it’s just, bigger decisions or things that will impact other people or yourself on a bigger scale.
So that was surprising. And then I also think there was one other thing I remember smell being the cognition. And I would love for you to maybe walk through this because literally my sense of smell is not great. Like I have a really, honestly, weak sense of smell. And I don’t know that that’s something that has ever like registered with me, but I don’t know that I’ve been explained in a great way either.
Well, smell is your strongest sense. It’s the sense of smell. It can also be still very much blocked, right? That it’s not there yet because there are so many different layers of conditioning that we have to peel off before those kind of things show up, so it could also be that, but it’s also, it’s about, smelling new things.
Smelling if you want to be around a person or not. Like if somebody gives off literally a vibe that you’re just like, oh, not for me. Ooh, that’s probably good, yeah. It’s kind of like, it’s smelling in this, oh, I smell that this isn’t a good idea. It’s literally, but it’s also about experiences.
And I think food is also really important in that smelling part. So first smell your food and then that’s how you determine if you want to eat it or not. It’s kind of like tipping your toe in the water, and then just see like, okay, no, no, no, this is not right for my body at this point of time or this point of day.
So it’s that using that sense to determine and basically inform your decisions in that sense.
Chelsea: Right. But yeah. Okay. That makes a lot of sense.
There’s so much to those deeper layers. But yeah, sometimes they just not there yet to show up in your life. And that’s totally okay.
It’s a process, right? I mean, you divide your age by seven and you see how many deep layers of deconditioning you build up. So you can’t expect that to just vanish like short period of time. So yeah, definitely it’s, it’s a very deep layer, but see if it shows up in your life.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. That resonates way more. I was taking it so literally, but I actually love the idea too, of just smelling my food before I eat it. I think I tend to be a very messy and fast eater. I think that could help me a lot.
Making decisions as a Reflector
So you touched on the cycle of decision making, um, and as we’re kind of drawing to a close, um, that 28 day cycle, like, how is travel and decision making as a reflector?
You have people who have a sacral definition like me, we can make quick decisions.
You have Projectors with an intuition who can make also very quick decisions. Then you have emotional people who wait there, have to wait and wait and wait as well in their cycle. You have people who make decisions by speaking out loud and literally hearing what they say.
And with the transits of the moon and, you know, the moon going to the Rave Mandela in 28 days and basically lighting up all the little light bulbs inside you. Right. I mean, that’s, that’s my visualization of the theory that I know of Reflectors, but how does that feel for you?
Chelsea: I think it definitely, the lunar cycles like the new moon and the full moon.
I looked at those, to be honest, I look at the Chani app, the astrology app, and it helps me so much because there are certain things that I’ll feel that I like can’t explain. And then I’ll look at the app and I’m like, Oh, it’s because the moon is in this phase or. It’s actually like, I’m feeling irritated, not because of anything that happened, but yeah, what’s going on in the sky.
So I think it just allowed me to not feel bad about certain feelings or emotions I’ve had. Because there’s, you know, entrepreneurial life is already so hard.
Now add the layer of digital nomad life, which is hard. And then being in different countries, which is hard. So sometimes it’s like, well, you’re doing a lot.
So of course you feel irritated and it’s okay that you don’t, you can’t make a decision right now. Yeah. And so I think the lunar cycle again, it’s another permission slip of like, why don’t you just wait for a few weeks to pass by, see how you feel. You don’t want to act impulsively. I’ve learned a lot by trial and error.
Like I have crashed and burned from making quick decisions.
I remember I used to do discovery calls with people that I wanted to hire. And basically try to hire them like the next day. And I’m like, why? Why wouldn’t you just sleep on it and give yourself a minute to process this? Think about it. Is this a good fit or not?
And that’s something I’ve learned now is like, I don’t rush to hire people anymore. I’m like, let’s feel into it. Let’s see what’s going on. And vice versa. If I’m like trying to sign up for a program or work with someone. And they’re pressuring me of like, I need a decision by Saturday and it’s Thursday.
I’m like, that’s barely 2 days. Like, we’re not doing that. And I did sign up for a program probably 3 years ago before I had any insight into how I operate where the person was essentially trying to get me to sign up on the phone for this very high ticket 6 month program. And I remember in my body that every alarm was going off like wires were crossing and my alarm bells were like ding ding ding like do not sign up for this but again crashing and burning I was like well this person knows what they’re doing and they make more money than me and they have more experience so like maybe I should be doing this.
And the whole time I just resented being in the program because I’m like, this was so rushed and I had no time to think about it and make a decision. So yeah, now moving forward, I do wait, I will tell you all, it doesn’t feel great sometimes like they’re right now, for example, I know I need to hire like an executive assistant to help me with travel stuff or someone that’s more entry level that can do just like little tasks.
And I’m like, I need this person now. Like I need them to start tomorrow. But I’m like, well, you’re going to have to put out a feeler. You need to interview people. You need to feel into them. You need to see if it fits your budget. How is it going to work with the rest of the team? Like there’s so many things that have to be in place.
And I don’t like that. Like I want it to be happening tomorrow, but I know for like the good of the business and myself and everyone I work with, this needs to be a process where we don’t rush it.
Yeah, it’s, it’s different, right? Whenever you are, you know, in this society, I mean, the society doesn’t give you time to make decisions in a longer period, right?
Everybody’ is like, no, you need to do it now. And I think, you know, I, Teach a lot about marketing by design because I have a marketing background. And I think teaching everybody to have respect for everybody’s decision making strategies and to allow, if you have a sales offer, just leave it open for a month.
The whole scarcity, like, Oh, it’s, you know, this offer is going to be going away after two weeks or after one week or after one day. I mean, that’s, you basically exclude a whole lot of people who feel pressured. Whereas if you just allow a month’s time and just, you know, throw those sales tactics, those mental sales tactics away and just give everybody the chance to feed it out,
That’s where you get true connections, right?
Oh my gosh. And you just saying that just lit up something in my brain that I’m like, this is why I think I’ve always struggled with launches. And it’s funny because I don’t know, you would think I would like them because you get to storytell and create content and your offers.
And, you know, hopefully you believe in your work enough to market it. And for some reason, I always have the hardest time with launches. Like, I feel so much resistance. I hate planning them. I hate talking about them. I hate doing them. And I’m always just like, Oh, I want this out of my life. And I think it’s because launches do always have a time period or, uh, a cutoff date or something.
You have to put a lot of pressure, you know, to make things happen within a few weeks or maybe a month. And you just saying that was like, maybe you don’t. Maybe you have something that’s more open enrollment and you do pushes when you have the energy and you feel like it, but you aren’t constantly live launching.
And I think, yeah, My Human Design probably plays a lot into that.
Yeah, I think there’s, there’s a lot to be said about, uh, Evergreen versus launches. I think, you know, even in launches, you can still do it, but it’s, it’s relieving that time pressure of it. It’s like that scarcely, it’s a very, Mental concept, right?
We create scarcity. That’s not there. I mean, it’s a fake concept. And because we have thought, you know, we, we all learned that that is something that sells, but in the end, it’s about connection. It’s not about, and it’s about impacts. It’s not about just sales. And I think, you know, leaving your offer open for a month is just one step in that direction.
But yeah it’s something to be experimented with. Right. I mean, who knows, does it work? Does it doesn’t work? It’s okay to experiment with it. Then that’s, you know, trial and error and see what works, but yeah, to include that level of, okay. You know, it’s for everybody, right? It’s not for the fast decision making people, but it’s for everybody.
Everybody can join my program. I think that’s, that’s something that I really value. So.
That’s so true. And I think about, I like to sell how I buy. And I’m like, yeah, I hate when people rush me and are like, Oh, it’s only open for three days and you’re never going to see it again. I’m like, why, if it was so valuable, why are you like taking it off the market forever and ever and ever?
Like, that doesn’t make sense to me. And so that’s something we’ve been working a lot on this year is like making more evergreen products, not having to do live launches all the time. Um, funny enough, like speaking of building your business in a way that works for you talking about those high ticket clients, but taking on a less amount that financially carried me through basically just now, where for eight months, this whole entire year, I haven’t had to do a big live launch.
It was just so interesting to me that I’m like, no wonder I was so stressed out my first year of business. I was trying to do back to back live launches all the time, like all the time. And I was always stressed out, always tired, again, causing conflict in my relationships.
Thinking about it now, I’m like, well, you were working against your human design. You weren’t allowing space, you weren’t allowing other people’s space. And they probably felt your energy in this whole marketing. Cause I do think people know when you’re feeling off. And so now that’s something that I’m, yeah, I’m really considering.
It’s like evergreen, you can come in at any time, there’s not a lot of pressure. Um, I think it’s a better way to look at business.
Yeah. I think human design and business go really, really well together.
Podcast business
So talking about business, um, do you want to elaborate a little bit about what you do and then where people can find you?
Yeah, absolutely. So like I said, I love helping people with podcasting. So my main specialty is in launching and growing your podcast. So if you want to do either of those things, please get in touch with me. My website is just chelseariffe.com, my first and last name. My Instagram is Chelsea Riffe.
The podcast is called In my non expert opinion. And yeah, to keep up with whatever I’m doing, it’s probably best to go on my newsletter or listen to the podcast. Cause that’s where you get all the updates of how to work with me.
What tip would you give somebody who is new to Human Design?
Ooh, someone that’s new to human design, I would say for me, this is the one that’s popping up is don’t take it so literally, like it is okay if every little thing on your chart doesn’t match.
Perfectly in your life and stop trying to make it be so literal, right? Like with me and the smell, like, okay, you don’t, does it mean you actually have to have your five senses? That’s the strongest literal smell. And I think for me, when I took that pressure off of taking everything so literally, it all started to make way more sense.
Yeah, it’s about embodiment, right? It’s not about, you know, the mental knowledge. I mean, it’s, it’s about embodiment. And again, nobody knows what’s best for you except for you because there’s only you, right? One you, right?
A hundred percent. I agree.
Well, thank you so much, Chelsea. I love our conversation and you are an amazing human being and I’m so glad that we made this connection and I just wish you a very, very happy day.
Thank you Astrid. You too. Thank you for being such an incredible host and pulling up my chart and all your wisdom. It’s been so invaluable.
