Q2 2021 Celebration

By Carly Whorton

Written: July 1, 2021

Life is an endless celebration of milestones, steppingstones, that lead us to the destination we seek and So Much More! By breathing in the present moment, and breathing out expectation, we allow the path to unfold beneath our feet. As we extend ourself to take the next step, full of readiness and willingness, Source answers by meeting our foot with the steppingstone it needs. Each step brings a new perspective, a new vantage point where we can rendezvous with opportunity for inspiration.

I haven’t always lived this way. In fact, I’m coming up fast (July 9^th) on the 5 year anniversary of my epiphany that led to consistent daily self-care, a revolution in my self-love and self-worth, and a Very Different vantage point from which my life was also very different.

I started my spiritual business in October 2020 and that began me tracking things in Quarterly (3 month) intervals. When I wrapped up Q4 of 2020, my first couple months of business, I had earned $640 in revenue. At a whopping 3 figure bottom line, it was the Most Satisfying money I’d ever made. This money was flowed to me in exchange for offering my spiritual gifts and I knew for certain, this is what I want for the rest of my life. I want to offer my spirit, as I’m guided to moment by moment, and allow the Universe to set up whatever kind of financial compensation it has in mind. Easy peasy.

Shit got really interesting when I wrapped up Q1 of 2021 and noticed my quarterly revenue had Tripled (yes TRIPLED) over Q4 2020. WHAT?! I’m the kind that updates my books once a quarter so I had no idea it had added up like that! 200% growth from one quarter to the next! Truly marvelous. And that’s when I heard it – “That will be the pattern, Triple”

Obviously that sounded good to me! And almost instantly my practical/rational mind kicks in with planning out how I’ll make that happen and ew. Just ew at that feeling of screeching to a halt, slamming into a wall, shutting down the flow of good feeling thoughts. I recognized that as a deviance from my Inner Being’s knowing by the yucky way it instantly felt. When I allowed myself to float in my faith and return to the knowing that had just revealed itself “That will be the pattern, Triple” I felt the angst melt away and chose in that moment to Trust it. Like what’s the harm in trusting that it happened once and it will happen again?

I caught up my books earlier this week in anticipation of the quarter coming to a close and Holy Fucking Shit if it didn’t TRIPLE AGAIN!!! Well, alright then. And wouldn’t you know it, my practical mind still popped up right after I realized that wanting to know how on earth am I going to be able to triple it again for Q3? And again, it felt icky to wonder about that. So again, I popped back into my lane, trusting the knowing I felt, and believe with all the faith I’ve practiced that it’ll happen but the How is clearly none of my business.

What is my business? What is within my realm of control right now? I get to choose what I focus on after all and that is a direct stimulant for my emotions. I decided July 9, 2016 that I want to feel good. The exact sentiment was actually more like “either I’m going to live a life that feels good or I don’t want a life anymore.” Either way, I was done wallowing in my sad spirit. I was ready to feel the way I knew I could feel when I came into this life. I had no idea How, but I knew for certain I was Ready.

Just like 5 years ago, the How was never the point. My readiness was always the point. Life always delivers the up-leveling when we’re ready to go. And so much of that looks like focusing your energy, getting yourself to feel like you’re already living the next level. Celebrating the ease and fun and abundance and flow of the next level.

As I’m bee-bopping along, living in my little magical wonderscape, April 1^st at 7am my Mom texted me that my Grandma (Dad’s Mom) had passed away in the night. The week after she passed is a story for another day but the bottom line for this story is I spent that week in my bed. And then I didn’t get out of bed. I’ve been living from my bed since April 1^st and am currently writing this from my bed as I listen to Dexter in the background. Aside from going to Cecil K’s on Saturday and Sunday, and the breaks of working in the yard, I planted myself in my bed, nurtured my inner spirit, and waited to see what would sprout.

As I was giving in to resting my soul, I felt like I had to let go of the thought of tripling my revenue for Q2. I decided that resting is Much More Important. It was an investment into my energy that I decided I was willing to make. So I cancelled most of my remaining event obligations, stopped socializing with my friends, barely saw my girlfriend, absent-mindedly missed board meetings, and allowed myself to disconnect into my inner world. I gave into the pull and went inward and allowed every possible responsibility and obligation to melt away. The relief was incredible. And intoxicating.

While I am still operating from my bed, I do feel myself readying myself to emerge once again and I feel like I’m hardly recognizable. I am operating on new wavelengths after my extended sojourn into myself. I am aligned with my Inner Being and flowing in my authentic self like never before. I am using my gifts more than I ever have. I am more satisfied by my work than I’ve ever been. I am envisioning a bigger future than I ever have. I am trusting more than I ever have. And as of today, two quarters in a row of tripling my income. Income that is compensation for offering my energy and my gifts, from my bed.

Today I am celebrating this life I got to wake up into today. I am very excited for the future but today I am relishing in taking stock of all the things about the last 3 months that feel worth celebrating. It makes me wonder, what would be on your list? They don’t have to be big things. Any little marker of new territory is worth having a party over when you really really care about making your way towards your destination. “Your destination” begs you to understand your “why” behind what you choose to do which is another topic for another day. For today, I’m digging deep to enrich my sense of how far I’ve come along my path, how many steppingstones I’ve crossed, in these last three months.

• Tripled revenue of my spiritual business for the second quarter in a row, this time while resting full time
• Launched a new podcast called “Astro Lessons” and recorded the first 17 episodes
• Continued podcast “i Learned” and recorded 8 more episodes
• Added 4 new videos to my YouTube channel “Owning Authenticity”
• Spoke at a webinar “Recruiting [Grocery] Store Managers”
• Chosen for a Grocery Mentorship program and facilitated 4 sessions with a brand-new store as they worked through the final stage of getting open
• Awarded an extended contract to continue working with the grocer I met through the mentorship program
• Had my proposal chosen on a Grocery RFP
• Worked with my first author to publish his first book and began working on getting his second book ready to publish
• Launched my publishing company to offer personalized journals for team building and filled my first two orders
• Facilitated a Service-Oriented Brainstorming Session for a local FFA Chapter Officer Team
• Spoke at a K-State event “Feet First Adventures in Food Retail”
• Went on two mini-vacays
• Officially launched Cecil K’s online shopping
• Hired a creative assistant to help launch my blog
• Wrote my first intentional Deservability Treatment and translated a couple weeks of journal content into blog material
• Facilitated 5 Midheaven (Astrology) sessions
• Signed my first extended engagement Life Coaching Client and helped set up her website to launch her blog, she had 12 posts ready to go!
• Attracted my way into the Alpha Femme Facebook group – Highly Recommend if you’re looking for a community filled with badass Boss Babes
• I wrote my first blog post “Drunken Noodles”
• Created a Lunch Manager position within Cecil K’s after being inspired to do an impromptu data analysis inspired by how well one of our signature grab and go items was selling. Talk about the path of most fun!
• Multiple instances of using my voice to give constructive feedback, and honor my truth, and I leaned into it, and felt less guilt, than ever before

That’s the crazy thing when you put it all together on a list – it’s amazing how much More it adds up to than when you think about it inside your head. It’s also amazing how much new content I generated when I allowed myself to get down off the hook of hustling and rest and nap and veg and zone out as much as I wanted. I was beholden to nothing but whatever I felt like doing in the present moment and it was empowering in a way I truly never expected.

This is the second time I’ve rested myself like this. The first time was mid-December 2016 when I walked away from my 6-figure job at a software company in Dallas, Texas where I had worked for 5.5 years. At the time I quit, I had nothing planned for “what I would do next”. No specific knowledge of “how” other than my savings would support me for a while as I chilled out and watched what unfolded.

I’d always wanted to be an entrepreneur but had never had a specific idea for a business so I’d never tried to open a business. But that was exactly the kind of thing Abraham-Hicks says is the work of the Universe if you let the Universe work on it. So I chilled out. I followed my creativity and spent a lot of time doing paint by numbers. I binged Netflix at times and took extra long walks with my dog. I traveled a lot across multiple continents and went sky diving. I had no specific direction and at first it was very disorienting. It took a few months before my direction was re-oriented inwardly to be guided by my intuition. What did I feel like doing? That was the only agenda for each day.

And through some kind of magic of the Universe, April 30, 2017, nearly 5 months after leaving my job, my cousin called me with a plan to open a grocery store in our hometown. The only thing is he had his hands full and had no time to devote to it so he was seeking a 50/50 partner who would hold creative control and be the managing partner when the store opened. I felt it immediately; the “Hell Yes!” of my soul was unmistakable. I knew without a doubt, I felt like walking this path. I agreed to be a co-founder and began dreaming Cecil K’s Hometown Market to life.

Cecil K’s celebrated its 3^rd anniversary earlier this year. Our revenue is growing year over year, we get better and better at managing and optimizing expenses, and we still attract new customers all the time. We continue to improve our store and maximize the opportunities available to us. There is always room to grow and test out new ideas for how to be better. Getting to watch my creation live, and grow, and provide paychecks for 20 people, is one of my most proud accomplishments and one I still celebrate often, even years later.

And how did I line up with becoming CEO and co-founder of my own multi-million dollar business? I let go. I walked away from a job my heart didn’t love. I rested. I followed my creativity. I said Yes to what life put in front of me. And eventually, I jumped at the “Hell Yes” energy. Resting is a powerful precursor to Readiness and making the most of opportunity is all about being Ready and poised to take advantage of the situations that present themselves.

Powerful rest leads to powerful readiness leads to powerful results.

This second time around has got me thinking… If this is what I can manifest while I’m resting, why would I ever stop?

I’ll be back September 1^st to celebrate Q3. Until then, one step, one moment, one breath at a time is where you’ll find me.

Wishing you powerful rest, dear friends.

~* Carly *~