THE THOUGHTFUL ENTREPRENEUR PODCAST

1655 – The Intuitive Mind Vs The Rational Mind with The B3 Method Institute’s Amy Vetter

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO, Keynote Speaker & Consultant of The B3 Method Institute, Amy Vetter.

Amy Vetter is a unique blend of a CPA, yoga instructor, and technologist. She leverages this diverse background to help individuals and businesses find balance and bliss. During our conversation, Amy emphasized the importance of self-awareness and the need for moments of stillness and silence.

She believes we can optimize our productivity and overall well-being by disconnecting from our fast-paced, left-brain-dominated world and tuning into our intuition. This approach is about taking drastic changes over time.

Instead, Amy encourages individuals to start small with intentional habits, such as focusing on breathing and taking moments to reset the central nervous system.

Amy acknowledges that everyone's journey to mindfulness is unique. It takes time for individuals to be ready to embrace mindfulness practices. She also recognizes the stress experienced by professionals, particularly CPAs and entrepreneurs.

To address this, she developed a methodology outlined in her book “Business Balance and Bliss.” This methodology focuses on understanding stressors and using mindfulness and collaboration techniques to create bliss and maintain happiness.

Amy also emphasizes the need for self-awareness and intentional thoughts to shape our perception and reality. She offers resources such as books, webinars, and consulting services to help individuals and organizations achieve work-life harmony. She aims to transform workplaces into destinations where employees are happy and fulfilled.

Key Points from the Episode:

  • Amy Vetter's work and role as CEO of the B3 Method Institute
  • Importance of incorporating mindfulness into leadership and work-life harmony
  • Amy's background as a CPA, yoga instructor, and technologist
  • Need for self-awareness and moments of stillness and silence
  • Disconnecting from the frenetic left brain and listening to intuition
  • Starting small with intentional habits and focusing on breath
  • Acknowledging that everyone's journey is unique and takes time
  • Amy's methodology outlined in her book “Business Balance and Bliss”
  • Using mindfulness and collaboration techniques to create bliss and maintain happiness

About Amy Vetter:

Amy Vetter, CPA, CITP, CGMA, MBA, and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), is a highly accomplished CEO, keynote speaker, consultant, and author. She is the creator of the B3 Method® for Business, Balance & Bliss, which has empowered countless individuals across various industries and career levels to reach their full potential in work and life.

As a prominent figure in the accounting and finance profession, Amy has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful Women in Accounting” by the AICPA and CPA Practice Advisor and a Top 100 Most Influential Person by Accounting Today. She contributes her expertise to publications like AICPA's Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Today, CPA Practice Advisor, Inc.com, and Entrepreneur.com.

Amy's diverse background, including an MBA and entrepreneurial experience, has made her a skilled C-suite executive and corporate board member. She is well-versed in cloud technology, business transformation, and go-to-market strategies for scaling businesses nationally and internationally.

Through her books, “Business, Balance & Bliss: How the B3 Method Can Transform Your Career and Life” and “Integrative Advisory Services: Expanding Your Accounting Services Beyond the Cloud,” Amy shares powerful insights on living an authentic life, achieving work-life harmony, and emphasizing the significance of human connections.

Her latest book, “Disconnect to Connect; Tap into the Power Within You to Achieve the Life You Desire,” is an Amazon Bestseller that guides readers in breaking negative generational patterns and harnessing the power within themselves to design the life they truly desire. Amy's impactful TEDx Talk, “Disconnect to Connect: The Path to Work-Life Harmony,” further demonstrates her dedication to inspiring positive change and personal growth.

About The B3 Method Institute:

The B3 Method® Institute is a comprehensive educational organization offering various services to support personal and professional growth. The institute guides individuals and organizations in different essential areas through keynote speaking, education, advisory services, and subject matter expert (SME) consulting.

The core focus of The B3 Method® Institute is to help individuals achieve their desired potential in their careers and personal lives by leveraging the B3 Method (Business + Balance = Bliss). Each B3 Bundle features a distinct theme tailored to address various aspects of life, encompassing work-life harmony, authenticity, and presence.

With a strong emphasis on wellness, mindful leadership, employee engagement, and productivity, the institute equips participants with the tools and knowledge necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing digital landscape. The B3 Method® Institute's mission is to empower individuals to find balance, purpose, and fulfillment in their professional and personal endeavors.

Tweetable Moments:

02:43 – “We're not taking those moments of stillness, of silence, of really trying to observe what's going on internally for us because that takes a lot of courage to be still, to listen to our mind, and be open to what those messages are.”

15:17 – “The hardest thing to do was pause and sit and really assess what it is that's not creating happiness for you.”

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Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Want to learn more? Check out The B3 Method® Institute website at

https://www.amyvetter.com/the-b3-method-institute

Check out The B3 Method® Institute on LinkedIn at

https://www.linkedin.com/company/quick-start-training-inc/

Check out Amy Vetter on LinkedIn at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyvettercpa/

Check out Amy Vetter on Twitter at

https://twitter.com/AmyVetterCPA?lang=en

Check out Amy Vetter on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/AmyVetterCPA/?ref=br_rs

Check out Amy Vetter on Instagram at

https://www.instagram.com/amyvettercpa/

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Transcript

Josh (00:00:05) - Hey there, thoughtful listener. Would you like consistent and predictable sales activity with no spam and no ads? I'll teach you step by step how to do this, particularly if you're an agency owner, consultant, coach or B2B service provider. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create more than $10 million in revenue. Just head to up my influence and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to up my influence.com and click on podcast. We'd love to have you. With us right now, it's Amy Vetter. Amy, you are a you are the CEO of the B three Method Institute. You're also a keynote speaker and a consultant. Your website is Amy Vetter. Amy, it's great to have you.

Amy (00:01:15) - Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah.

Josh (00:01:17) - Tell us more about your work.

Amy (00:01:19) - So I am a CPA that no longer practices, but I am a CPA as well as a yoga instructor and a technologist. So I brought all of that together and the work that I do, and it all falls under what you said. B three Method Institute. The B three method is business plus balance equals bliss. And how we really incorporate mindfulness into our leadership abilities, into how we recreate our what I call Work-Life Harmony in our businesses, as well as how we even implement it from the human side and technology as well.

Josh (00:02:04) - I want to point out as well that you are a TEDx speaker and you've got. You've got a presentation. It's called Disconnect to Connect the Path to Work Life harmony, which is all linked up from your website. Do you want to let me have you preview that? And we may or may not come back to that, but I just want to make sure I point that out any time I've got a guest who's also TEDx speaker. But what's disconnect to connect.

Amy (00:02:28) - So actually it's my most recent book, but it is a concept that I've had since the beginning of putting out the B3 method and really bringing this mindfulness and business side together.

Amy (00:02:43) - And I really do believe through my own journey and working with so many others of really understanding how we disconnect, get into ourselves, have that self awareness. The hardest thing, especially for entrepreneurs, the silence and stillness, and where we can find those moments in our day in order to better connect to the people around us. And I truly believe it's each of our responsibility to go on that journey ourselves so that we're really aware of the energy we're creating for not only ourselves, but the people around us as well. And sometimes we go through life just being very unaware of how we're affecting others and really kind of blaming the outside for our circumstances because we're not taking those moments of stillness, of silence, of really trying to observe what's going on internally for us, because that takes a lot of courage to be still, to listen to our mind and and be open to what those messages are.

Josh (00:03:45) - Why is that so important compared to, you know, kind of the frenetic left brain? Oh, no, just do more, just work harder, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Josh (00:03:54) - Tell me about what can start to happen or, you know, how the you know, as a founder or a leader, how your team or organization might be impacted from doing some more of this. I would say deeper work and also coming in with a little bit more thoughtfulness, maybe already kind of having done some of this pre-work before you show up at the office or engage with others when you have this. You know, again, I'm just kind of I'm projecting a little bit here. I don't know if you could tell, but but because I struggle with this, to left brain is like, nah, you don't need to worry about any of that stuff. But again, when I do take the time, Amy center myself, ground myself, you know, focus on, you know, my place in the universe. I'm a much more effective leader. I'm so much better at my job. But I'm sure you've got some great experience, You know, maybe work with clients or stories that you've come across.

Josh (00:04:55) - Can can you take the ball with what I was kind of talking about meandering a bit and run with.

Amy (00:04:59) - That well, and that's really what started my own journey. You know, being a CPA, being a driven person myself, and I talk about that actually in my Ted Talk and my books. You know, I was driving myself and driving and driving and not really letting emotion ever come up, not really even assessing if the things that I was doing or the things I wanted to be doing. I was just going toward a goal and not really looking right or left. And I think that is something that happens, especially with entrepreneurs, with senior leaders, because we have so many people depending on us or we've taken money from other people or whatever that is. We have all of these pressures and we feel like if we don't take, if we take time for ourselves, that's selfish. And it's actually the gift that we give to everybody else by taking that time for ourself. Because when we don't take that time for ourself, the problem is that we don't actually show up the way that we want to show up.

Amy (00:06:02) - So I would actually flip. One of the things you said of considering it left brain, because we you know, I talk about this a lot in business balance bliss about we need both sides of our brain in order to have critical thinking skills to be implementing new business processes. We need that creativity. But what I actually think it is that we're fighting is our intuition. And we have these two minds, we have this intuitive mind and we have a rational mind. And our intuitive minds, sometimes we call it our gut that we can feel off. We know that we're running ourselves too hard, we're tired, or we're pushing against something in business that's just not working, but we just keep pushing against it. The rational mind will push down what our intuition is telling us, right? Like it's actually telling us something's off, alert, alert, alert, stop. But our. Mine is like, Nope, we have too many demands. There's too many people depending on us. I've got to, you know, get this money, you know, get a return on the money that I have, whatever it is.

Amy (00:07:13) - And we push all of those feelings down and thoughts down. And so when we do that, we aren't serving ourselves because we actually start creating stress in our bodies. We get irritable, we notice, you know, I always use the example, like sometimes, you know, at the end of the day, you're coming home complaining about the grocery cashier and somebody else at work and whatever, and then you're like, Wait, I'm the common denominator in all of this. So what? What went wrong in my day that I need to think about? What was it that I was showing up with that was creating that experience? And so all the research on work life balance, work life, harmony and productivity is that our brains actually are optimum for 2 to 6 hours a day. So when we start pushing past eight hours, nine hours, ten hours, 12 hours of work, we actually have diminishing return. Our brain isn't firing in the same way. We're getting exhausted. We're not coming up with our best ideas.

Amy (00:08:19) - We're getting irritable, frustrated, stressed. And it can create health issues as well. And it's taking us away from our family and friends that really want our time as well. So it's giving ourself the permission to optimize our day, be very intentional so that we're not pushing against something that really isn't creating more for us. It's actually creating less.

Josh (00:08:42) - Yeah. Amy, have you ever been in a situation maybe you're working with a client and you've got someone that's in the room and they're just they're way too skeptical. They're like, Oh, this is woo woo stuff. I don't need this. Like, is there any way to like, how would you connect with that person? Or how could you get them to maybe buy in just a little bit?

Amy (00:09:04) - So everybody has to go on their own path? I can tell you myself that I tried yoga probably five years before I really started yoga and thought it was stupid. I was in the class like, I don't get it. I don't get what these people are getting out of it.

Amy (00:09:22) - And sometimes it's when you're ready, you know, when you're hearing the right things. And if anything that we've talked about so far is rung true for you, where you realize you're running yourself ragged, that you're working too many hours, that you're not there for your family and friends and you're not actually listening, that they need you or want you because you're just getting mad that they're trying to pull at you because you've got so much to do. All of these things are just warning messages, you know, out there that kind of tell us that there's something off and we really have to take our own journey on that and be ready for where we're ready to start. Right? So where I'm at now, I wouldn't have believed I would have done the things that I've done, you know, 15, 20 years ago when this journey started for me, I had to take it little by little. I remember, you know, the first time I went to a yoga class and I'm not saying yoga is the thing for everyone.

Amy (00:10:18) - I'm just using this as an example that the teacher would say, you know, focus on your breath and breathe. And I was like, I don't know what they're talking about. I'm just going back and did. But I kept doing yoga. And then as I kept doing it, I started noticing I was getting in the vibe of breathing. And then I was realizing, Oh my gosh, just a few breaths. If I could do that in my workday, how much that was making me feel better and really focusing on my breath. And it's these little things that we can focus on in our day of, you know, if I just take two minutes to breathe before I go into the next meeting, I can reset my central nervous system so that I can be clearheaded before I go there. So if you're finding just those little needs, there's little things you can start with that isn't like an overhaul to your life. It's just little things that you start learning and building habits. Intentional habits right in your day so that you can start feeling better.

Amy (00:11:24) - And then you'll start noticing that you want to add the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

Josh (00:11:29) - Yeah. So there's, there's a lot of areas, Amy, that, that, that you work with audiences and clients. Do you mind maybe just kind of going through those? And then I really want to talk about the work you do in consulting. So if someone's listening to our conversation, I just want to give them some great action items. If they're like, Yeah, sounds like what you're talking about is something that I would love to explore.

Amy (00:11:55) - Yeah. So, you know, there I started this work a long time ago just seeing the need, especially being a CPA and how stressed out CPAs are and many people in professional services and entrepreneurs and and so forth. And so I started building this methodology throughout the years until I was ready to put out the book business Balance and Bliss. And that was really the beginning to the methodology that I utilized. No matter what we're talking about, whether it's organizational or individual, and from an individual standpoint, it's really understanding what are the stressors that we have in our life, how do we offset that with mindfulness and collaboration techniques that are our natural human toolkit that we have is just whether we practice it or not, in order to create bliss.

Amy (00:12:48) - And bliss is the maintenance of happiness. So many times when we hear the word happiness, we think about it happening to us versus us actually understanding the things that create joy in us each day and taking responsibility for that each day. And so there's little things once we start realizing that we can create that joy in our own bodies is really important in creating that energy with our customers, with our clients, with our staff members, whoever that is. So there's lots of ways to get started with this. I've got books, my latest book, Disconnect to Connect Tap into the power within you to create the life you Desire takes it. I actually call it a prequel to business balance and bliss because. In order to get to work life harmony You have to go on the journey of self-awareness. And a lot of times we resist that. And part of that self-awareness journey is figuring out the belief systems that we've carried our entire life and whether those are our belief systems or somebody else's. And really starting to be intentional about our thoughts because our thoughts create our perception.

Amy (00:14:01) - Our perception creates our reality. But our reality is not necessarily the same reality because we come in with different perceptions. And so it's learning how to clear that so we can truly see the truth in each interaction throughout our day and go through those steps in our life in order to get there. So I've got books, you know, that are able you can do that on your own webinars, education and, you know, consulting as well to help you as an individual from an organizational standpoint. I believe that in this day and age, I've taken it a step further where after we've come out of Covid, so many people are unhappy with their lives. Like it just there was that moment of stillness and pause and maybe that no one would have assessed that. But they did, you know. And now we're coming back into the workplace and so many people are leaving what they were doing. But in the work that I do, I really warn against running away because the hardest thing to do was pause and sit and really assess what it is that's not creating happiness for you.

Amy (00:15:17) - And are you able to pivot to create the happiness that you want in the situations you're in? So I do a lot of work on workplace transformation and culture in order to help be able to turn around organizations so that staff employees are happier to work there. But it takes everyone collaborating and the organization to make it a workplace that everyone wants to be at.

Josh (00:15:41) - Yeah. And Amy, specifically, if someone's listening and they're like, I just need Amy to come in and fix her company or fix our core leadership or fix me. Yeah. And so if they're looking for a little bit more in depth consulting or work, what does that typically look like?

Amy (00:15:59) - So I will not fix you.

Josh (00:16:02) - Yeah.

Amy (00:16:03) - Okay, good. So it was kind.

Josh (00:16:04) - Of baiting you a bit. Yeah. Yeah.

Amy (00:16:06) - So and that is something that I make very clear in every relationship because it has to be something that I can walk away from. And you're happy with the organization you've created, the teamwork you've created, the leadership you've created, but you've got to find that path.

Amy (00:16:24) - I've got the framework to help you get there, and I will help facilitate it and facilitate it within your organization, with your leadership team, with your other departments of your organization. But it takes wholesale change. So when I'm talking about is not just a one, you know, button, you know, easy button, and we're going to change the organization. We actually have to look at all aspects of the organization from career trajectory for people in your organization, from technology, from automation, from business process, work life boundaries, how our leaders interact with our teams, and do they delegate and manage properly all the different aspects to really make sure that we're creating a workplace. And I like to call it a destination workplace where someone can't imagine not working there because they're able to get the life that they desire outside of work and be able to do the work that they've always wanted to do and feel joy in that. But it does take wholesale change and it does take collaboration of the entire company once we get through the process so that you're building what you want, you know, I'm going to leave.

Amy (00:17:37) - So. So you, you're building what you guys feel is the kind of organization that you want to be in, but also your future leaders will want to be in as well. Yeah.

Josh (00:17:49) - Amy, your website is Amy Vetter. Any particular resources or kind of what you would recommend like, okay, here are the main ways I'd recommend. Like if you like what you've been hearing, here's what you do next.

Amy (00:18:06) - Yeah. So you'll find on my website that I do have my own podcast called Breaking Beliefs. And so there is a page just with all of that and it is interviewing leaders from all over of the journeys they've been on, of their history, backstories and history and how they've been able to overcome, you know, change in themselves and also how that's influenced their leadership and cultures. I also have a blog on there so you can sign up for a newsletter that we put out new articles every week and that blog allows you to get content every week on these topics as well as all the media that I write for.

Amy (00:18:50) - And you'll also see a books page there. And then we also always put out what webinars I'm doing, what speaking events I'm going to be at as well. So there's lots of ways to get to know me. It's well on social media, Amy Vetter, CPA, on all the different social media channels so that you know, you can start feeling comfortable with the kind of content that we deliver. And if it resonates with what you're looking for in your organization.

Josh (00:19:18) - Amy Vetter, your podcast to our friend that's listening to us right now, really, really simple. You just Search Breaking Beliefs podcast with Amy Vetter. You can search that hit Subscribe right now, your new book Disconnect to connect tap into the power within you to create the life you desire. That's on Amazon and your website is Amy. Vetter Amy, it's been great having you. Thank you so much for the conversation.

Amy (00:19:43) - Thanks for having me.

Josh (00:19:50) - Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up My Influence slash guest.

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