Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Amy Dardis. And in today's episode, we are continuing on in our series of idols in business, idols in entrepreneurship. And in today's episode, we are diving into the idol of advice, getting direction, advice, strategies, strategies, wisdom from people more so than seeking it from God. So just as a quick reminder, an idol is an object or a concept that we give a higher priority than God. It's anything where we rely on for blessing, help, or guidance instead of God. It's anything that consumes our heart, imagination, or devotion more than God. It's any good thing that we elevate to a higher place of influence, prominence, power in our life over God. So the question ends up being: where is our hope? Is our hope in God? Or is our hope in the advice and strategies that we get from business experts that we get from people who have had success in their business, had success in this world? And they're sharing their knowledge, they're sharing their expertise, and we're seeking that, we're valuing that more so than what God is specifically asking us to do or leading us to do. And once again, this is me kind of just airing all my dirty laundry out here. Walking through these are the idols that I have struggled with, honestly. And this one, this one kind of wrecks me because I have really sought the experts more than God. And there's it's this is one of those things where once again, knowledge, advice, strategies, learning, it's a good thing. Like it is absolutely a good thing. And it's not always something that I have placed above God. It's something that in the right perspective, it is absolutely beneficial. And I know there have been seasons of my life where the books I read were incredibly impactful, or the conferences I went to, or leaders that I listened to, like they are sharing wisdom, they are sharing, sharing knowledge, they are sharing their story. And I think we can learn from anyone's story. But the risk is how much power and influence are we giving it in our life comparing our story to their story? And I think that's where I have certainly gotten tripped up. And as an entrepreneur, you know, I want my business to be successful. You know, I'm I am a researcher. I do like to learn. I will look at 10 different paths. I will study, I will learn, I will ask a ton of questions that is in my very nature. I am a reader, I will listen to podcasts and YouTube videos and blogs, and I will just get my hands on anything I can to kind of wrap my head around what's going on, how do platforms work, what marketing strategies are out there, how is AI changing the game? What do I need to be aware of now that maybe I didn't have to face five years ago or 10 years ago? And so this is something that when it comes to actual like strategy and branding, I have always struggled to find what works for me, to find what makes sense for who I am, how I'm wired, how I'm created to the work that I'm doing and what showing up authentically actually looks like. So when we were first launching our web design business back in, I don't know, 2011, 2012, you know, just figuring life out, figuring business out, figuring ourselves out, we knew nothing about business. I mean, nothing. And so we were just green in every area and we just had a lot to learn. And so we were seeking, like, okay, what we were looking at other web design companies, we were looking at other what other agencies were doing, what the best practices were, not only for creating our own branding, but also helping future clients create theirs as well, and knowing like what the best practices were. And in that season, we got into this bad habit of continually trying new things, which is very normal as an early entrepreneur. You know, you just don't know what works, and so there is a process of learning that just comes from trial and error and trying different things. Only we started trying different things and we really never ended trying new things because the more we tried, the shorter and shorter time span that we spent actually sticking with a strategy. So we would try this approach and this landing page and give it a little bit. Well, then nothing would happen. So we would try something else, and then nothing would happen. So we would try something else, and then we would go back to this other thing. And we expended so much time and energy trying all these new things. And over time, over years, eventually we kind of settled into at least something pretty consistent. Like we finally kind of found our groove of who we were and how we wanted to run our business and how we wanted to help clients. And once we kind of got into that, we settled down on the redesigning and the different strategies. And plus, I we got busier, so we just didn't have as much time to commit to doing these new things. But even then, I don't know that we were ever fully confident or fully committed to one thing or another. That was just the thing that had seemed to work the best. And we really didn't know what else to do with the resources that we had as far as like time and capacity and bandwidth. And so we were just like, okay, well, this is just, this is what we have and this is what works. I don't know that I would do it again. I don't know that I want to repeat this strategy. This is just kind of how the cards played out. Then we ended up launching this new brand, and we knew we were gonna do it differently. We knew that this was a completely different, what was a completely different time. Digital landscape had changed tremendously over the last five years. AI is just coming out faster and faster and faster. Algorithms are changing so much. I mean, it's just, it's a totally different landscape out there right now. And so we're like, okay, let's just kind of forget what we know and come into this with a fresh slate of how do we want to do this? And so that's when we started kind of researching. All right, let's look at what's happening on Instagram, what's happening on Facebook, what's happening on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, trying to understand all these different platforms, trying to understand the strategies that we're working. And so in that process, I'm taking courses, I'm watching YouTube videos, I'm studying the platforms. And as I'm doing this, my algorithm is getting filled with even more and more of this type of content about marketing and about funnels and about DM strategies and about AI. And because that's how the algorithm works today now. It's like once you kind of get into one rabbit hole, oh man, they just pour it on thick, and it's like nothing else exists in the world except for that one thing, because that is all your feed is filled with, which is incredibly frustrating because I just was like, oh my gosh, I need a break from this. But every time I get on social media, every time I get on my computer, I am just getting inundated with all of these freaking messages that which just kind of sends this message home of what I'm doing isn't good enough, what I'm doing isn't working. I should be trying this, I should be trying that. And the problem is there's there's a strategy for everything. And it wasn't about what strategy works because they all work in and of their own sense, in the right circumstances with the right audience, depending on your brand and what you bring to the table and how you want to show up in the marketplace. Like everything can work. But I was getting caught up in all of all of the advice, and I was losing my way. I was losing my focus, I was losing my my sense of why I was losing just kind of that dream and that vision and that grounding that I had started out with. Because as the weeks went by, as the months went by, and I was just looking at, you know, this expert, and I was looking at that expert, and I was looking at that expert, and I was reading books, listening to podcasts, taking online webinars, and and trying to implement all kinds of different things at the time. And meanwhile gaining no traction, not being consistent long enough with anything to see anything stick, and losing my confidence and like my very just sense of self along the way. And the more you flounder, it's like the harder you kick and the harder you fight, and the more and more under you go until you realize that you don't you don't know which way is up anymore. You don't know right from left anymore, you don't know black from white anymore, and it's just this paralyzing, terrifying moment where you're like, What did I do? What did I do to myself to get here? And how on earth am I gonna get out? And so I dug myself into this hole with everything, like with my business, with my strategy, with my identity, and I knew I could not keep going, I could not keep pivoting back and forth. And there's a verse in James, it's James 1, 5 through 6, and it says, If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. And I read that and I was like, oh my gosh, like that's me. I feel blown and tossed by the wind. Just blown and tossed each way, this way, that way, with every wave that comes at me, with every gust of wind that comes at me, whether it's this expert saying do this, or this expert saying do that, or run ads, or do organic or do long form or do short form or have to do reels. And I'm getting more and more and more frazzled. And here I am thinking I'm asking God for wisdom, thinking I'm asking God for strategy, and I'm praying to him about it, but I'm looking for the answer from other experts. I am looking to social media, I am looking to content, I am looking to experts to tell me what to do. And I remember thinking if someone would just tell me what to do, that makes sense for me, that makes sense for my business, for my approach, for my audience, for who I am. That would just help me a lot. Like just tell me what to do. And the hardest part is that I did not know what to do. And there were 50 paths in front of me, and I was like, I don't know which one to choose. Just tell me which one, and I'll go down that one. And so I get to this breaking point, and I'm like, I just have to reset, right? I have to just reset. And part of that resetting was having to drown out all of the noise and all of the distractions because I realized at that point it was too tempting, it was too confusing, it was too easy to open up my phone, pull up an app, and just be inundated. And it was, I almost didn't even have the self-control or the self-discipline to even stay off the apps at that point because I was just so addicted to the the dopamine hit or the this, okay. Well, what if I just check it right now? Or what if I just check check my email right now? Or what if I just check this app real quick? Let me just let me just see if something pops up. Maybe it's God sending me a message like through through Instagram or through YouTube that this is this is a sign that this is what he wants me to do. And anyway, so I I hit this breaking point where I was just I completely lost, completely confused, did not have the energy to keep going, and I've shared about this before, but in that I had to shut it all down. Like I had to, I got off social media, I got off like the I unsubscribed from every newsletter in my email. I deleted the apps from my phone, and I just got and I stopped working. I I I stopped striving, I stopped trying. And I literally just had to embrace the quiet and embrace the stillness and seek God in that season. And I honestly wanted it to take a weekend. I wanted to just be like, all right, God, you know, I'm just gonna focus on you. And in the season, honestly, I'd even had days where I was like fasting. I would I would fast for a day or I'd fast for two days and being like, okay, God, I'm giving these things up. Like I'm I'm coming to you for answers and coming to you for advice and for wisdom. And while I was doing that, and and my heart was was trying to be right and obedient, I was not canceling out the distractions or the noise or the temptations of everything else. I was like one foot in on obedience and one foot in on just what everybody else was saying. Just and I was desperate. I felt this desperation. And I honestly was too easily influenced at that time. And God was trying to show me that. He was trying to teach me that. And so there was no wisdom given, there was no voice, there was no direction, there was no leading because I was not even in a place where I was going to receive it or be obedient to it. And I wasn't positioning myself to listen and to be still. I was like, okay, God, I'm gonna run 90 miles an hour, and I just want you to feed me the information that I need. And while I'm waiting for you to answer me, I'm gonna be pursuing all of these other things at the same time. So I finally shut it all down, wanted it to take a weekend. It took six weeks. Six weeks of nothing, of just waiting and resting and not being on the platforms and not subscribing to other advice or strategies. Because I ended up coming to this realization that I'm like, okay, what am I doing? What am I doing here? What am I doing with my life? What am I doing with my business? Did did God really call me do this? What do I really believe? Because if he did, then he has a plan. If if I'm here in his purpose and in his will, he's going to show me the way. He's going to open a door. But I have to wait for that. I have to trust him in that. I have to seek him in that. And I have to recognize that I don't have boundaries in these other areas. And that is messing with my ability to hear, my ability to listen. And through the silence and the waiting and the stillness, little by little the fog began to clear. It was not, there was not one moment where I was like, oh, bam, got a word from God. No, it was, it was just a slow like clearing. It was just a slow, like if your eyes are blurry and you can't really make out what you're seeing. And then the closer you get, the more the picture comes into vision, more, the more the picture comes into clarity and into focus. That's what was happening. Except the closer that I was getting to God, the the more clarity and the more focus I was having around my life and around my business. And I had to repent. I had to come to terms with the fact that I had been wanting him, but not wanting him. I had been wanting his wisdom. I had been wanting his advice, but looking to the world for it, looking to these experts to tell me what to do, to tell me what was going to work in my business. And it's not that their advice was wrong or bad, but it's just that God is the author and creator of my life. He is the potter and I am the clay. He has given me these giftings, this calling, these experiences. He has orchestrated all of these pieces to come together in his timing because he has a plan. He knows the plans that he has for me. And if I want to walk in that, if I want to live in that, then I need to go to the person who's in charge. I need to go to the person who's orchestrating the things and strengthening me, the person who's encouraging me, the one who's giving me grace and guidance and rest in this season. And that required canceling everything out. It required a season of silence and surrender and seeking so that I could take the time to get back to just the foundation, to get back to just the beginning, to say, okay, God, you're in control. You're the one who gives wisdom. And I want to wait to hear your voice to tell me what to do. To remind me of who I am. To remind me of why any of this matters to begin with. That it's not about the business. It's not about the income. It's not about the lead gen strategy. It's about purpose. It's about impact. It's about having an eternal perspective. It's about knowing that my life here on earth matters and that what I do with this time matters. And this business, this brand, it's it's just a vehicle. It's just a ministry, but I can't forget what it's all really about. And so I kind of had to sit down and revisit my own story. I had to revisit my own brand. I had to revisit my own life and my own giftings and to say, okay, God, where have you brought me? What have you brought me through? What have I learned along the way? What are the things in my journals? What are the themes that keep coming up? What are what is this, what is this dream? What is this calling? And without any other voice in my head, without social media, without emails and influencers, without any of that, I I sat down and I started to write it out. I started to go through the story. I started to pull out the themes. I started to clarify my own brand, but my own brand through God as the author of the story, through him as the one who was leading the way. And he knows what comes next. And so I just had to take the time to do that and to put those boundaries in place to say, okay, this strategy that's gonna work for me is very much dependent on how you created me. It is very much dependent on the gifts that you've given me and and how like you've given me everything that I need. And I can lean into what I have, and I can seek you for everything, for strength, for guidance, for peace, for joy, and you can lead me along, giving me the wisdom, the courage, the faith to just pick it up one day at a time, to share a story, one story at a time. And to not lose my way, to not to not get distracted again, and just to recognize that for for right now, for this season, I have to build in the quiet. I have to build in the silence because I recognize my own weakness. I w recognize my own propensity to want to elevate these other things to be more important than God right now. And I can't do that. Like I have to set those boundaries down. I have to just right now, right now is not a learning season. Right now it's not a consuming season. There are seasons for that. There are seasons to read books and to learn and to wrap our heads around things and to do research. But then there are seasons for creating. There are seasons for realizing that we have enough information. We have enough, we have everything that we need. And now it's time to act. Now it's time to obey. Now it's time to build. Now it's time to create. And we're going to do that in faith, with consistency, with discipline, to keep our eyes on the creator, on the author and perfecter of our faith, and to run with endurance the race that is set before us. Now we are running. Now we are stripping off the things that hold us back. And right now, social media holds me back. Other people's ideas and influences hold me back. So I have to strip those off and do the work that he's called me to do because that's just a season that I'm in. I'm in a season of planting. And so I'm going to plant and I'm gonna not give up because at the right time, there will be a harvest, there will be a blessing if I don't give up and I just keep my eyes focused on God. And that is a battle. Like that's just that's just where I'm at right now because I just recognize that in my life there has been flakiness, there has been inconsistency, there has been wishy-washiness and being easily influenced by different ideas and being pulled in different directions. And all of this back and forth, all of this pivoting has not done me any good. It has wrecked my confidence, it has wrecked my identity, it has left me lost and distracted and frustrated. And I did not want to continue in that path. So I had to pivot to my other extreme for right now. I had to go 180 and eventually I will work my way back. Eventually I will find this medium between having other influences and words of wisdom and words of encouragement in my life. But I'm gonna have to be even more specific and picky about what I allow back in because just allowing everything into our life is it's confusing, it's distracting. And I just I don't I don't want to be distracted, I don't want to be confused, and I recognize what confuses me, I recognize what distracts me. And that's how the enemy works. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and he does it through distraction. He plays the long game, he uses other influences and other voices to confuse us. And I was just tired of being confused. So that's all I have for this episode and and for today. As always, you can learn more at ClearAuthentic Brands.com. I'll see you next time.