Growth & Grace

Announcer 0:00
This is a K-Unb Studios original program.

Wesley Knight 0:04
The following program is underwritten by Crawford Management Group and Chris Glow, and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jasmine Moore, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Music 0:18
Even better than I was last time, baby, oh.

Music 0:35
and

Leaha Crawford 0:44
good morning Las Vegas, and welcome to Growth and Grace. I am Leah Crawford, and today's conversation, it's a little bit personal, kind of reflective, and inspirational. I hope that at the end of this conversation, you are inspired to do something different, be something different, and just be the best you you can be. You know, sometimes life places us in seasons where we must rediscover ourselves, like for me, right now I'm going through one of those seasons, and I am reintroducing me to Leah Crawford, and I can tell you, at first it was a little bit scary, little bit fearful, but every day I become better and better, and not bitter. As you know, you know, my office had a fire, you know, the unhoused people downtown had a dinner party that went bad, and the garage and the carport, the carport is totally gone, and the garage was damaged. The electric company took the power wire, cut the power wire from the from the pole and the meter, and then took the meter, so I had no power in my building, and now it's been, it's been six weeks. So you talk about having to sit back and reflect to see if the systems that you put in place are working, you get a real rough lesson, you see what doesn't work real quick, but I can say that in that it was a blessing, and I said it in the beginning, and I don't know if I truly believed it then, but I was going in eyes wide open, ready for the challenge. I didn't know that I would have to deal with fire inspectors, insurance adjusters, insurance inspectors, contractors, you know, my landlord, and my landlord and I have worked very well together to get through this, but it was rediscovering and not being bitter about the situation, and I challenge you, if you are going through something in your life, going through something, a life change. Instead of being bitter, think about what can I learn from this. Where can I grow from this? Because sometimes things happen, and you had just have to step back, like, like you know how you're watching a movie and you sit back, and I do it sometimes in my life. I'll hear something, and some people say, Leah, you get quiet. I do. I get quiet because I need to process, like, did this really just happen? Did they just say? And when I do that, it gives me a chance, not because I used to be real flip with the lip, and, and had real sarcastic remarks, and I just start, you know, when I started to move slow and count to 10 before I responded, I learned that my responses are different, and even in this, when everyone was trying to move fast, we can do this, we can, no, slow down, let's think this through, and let's figure out, because every day I was being thrown something, so my nervous system, learning about your nervous system, my nervous system is on overdrive, because I don't know what's going to happen next, what, what, what, what, what to expect, but when I sat down and sat in it, sat in the office and just looked around, and I just said, maybe it's time for me to do something different. Maybe it's time for me to challenge myself, because does this office define me? You know, maybe I mean, we're all women working in the office, we work under restrictions, we're not there late at night, we close the office at a certain time to make sure that we're not downtown after dark, because the unhoused situation has gotten out of hand, and we've had more than enough instances downtown in the evening, and but I didn't want to give up the office, I didn't want to, you know, I got to do it, I can do it, we're doing the business, the business is doing what. Out, and something just said, "No, it's time to change, and I was kicking, "No, I gotta, nope, it's time to change, it's time for you to try something different. And no, as we do as people, I had to ask some people, "Well, what do you think if I do this? And everyone said, "It's time. You know, they talked about Covid 19, how everybody else was going virtual, how a lot of companies were closing down their bricks and mortar, their brick and mortars, and they were still as productive virtually. And I talked, the last person I talked to was my banker, and I thank him, and he said, try it for a year, if it doesn't work, you can always get another location that's easy, and I was like, okay. He said, but try it for a year, just see how well you do, you know, because you provide the same services, and I've been talking to him about us using different, you know, we're in an office, but everything we use is online, our tax software is online, our accounting software is online? Our client management system is online. Everything is online. We're just in the building. So now we're online, just sitting at home, working, doing, doing the same thing. Then I was, you know, insecure about, well, what does this look like? You know, how do I manage this? And talking to different, you know, talking to, you know, your circle, I can't, I can't, having an amazing circle of people around you that can offer you tips and tricks, and telling me, well, this person does this, connect with that person, this person's been virtual, they've only been virtual, call that person, ask them what did they do with their teams to grow their business, being virtual, you know, change your mindset, and I'm like, "Deve with that word again, change. And when I started to embrace it, things started to flow, and I can't tell you, you know, like someone asked me over the weekend, you know, "How's it going? And only thing I can say is, "Check on me every month, check on me, and I give it to you guys. I'm gonna check in every month to tell you how it's going, because this journey is not one that I could have planned, not one that I planned, but it was one life happened, and because of a dinner party outside of my office, my whole life has changed, and instead of being angry and being frustrated, I am relaxed and embracing it, and figuring out, okay, how do I pivot, and what is next. You are listening to Growth and Grace. I am Leah Crawford, your host, and I am talking to you today just about life, how you can still be standing no matter what you're going through, and if you're going through something, and you're listening to me, and it could be a lot of things, you know, a lot of us, I mean, people different stages in their lives, in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, you know, at every stage of life, it's always something, it always is always something, but how are you embracing whatever it is that you are going through, and I know some people, oh no, she's just talking, no, I'm serious. How are you embracing whatever it is you are going through? You know, and I remember going through things when I was younger, and some older woman told me she was like, think about, stand on your head and think about the problem, and tell me what you get. I said, do what she said. Stand on your head, think about it, and tell me what you get. She said, go for a walk, think about the problem, come back, and tell me what you come up with. And then I thought, I said, so if I, if I look at this from a different lens, she was like, yeah, you'll get different solutions, and I was like, okay, and I started doing that, and my girlfriends would laugh, because when they would go through some stuff, I would be like, stand on your head, tell me what you think, not knowing I got well, I got it from someone else, but it's how you look at life, you know, because what you tell yourself is true, and I could have been woe was me, but instead I was, I am empowered, and because I kept on saying it to myself over and over again, and at first I probably didn't believe it, but now I do. What the changes are, how do we work through it? Telling my team, look, this is not going to be perfect, and if you see that we could do something better, I need you not to just sit on it, I need you to say something, I need you to let me know you know what you're comfortable with, how we can better communicate phone systems. Who knew? I mean, I'm so used to, you know, you got a phone, you plug it up, that's it. You know, working through what is the best phone system for us, so that we are not missing, we're not missing calls. How can we still communicate via email, you know, because I'm, we're used to being in the office and just talking and chit chatting. Now that we don't have that personal connection, how can we still keep that and have the same impact with our clients? Because our business, even though we do a bookkeeping, taxes, accounting, and all, and provide a whole bunch of other services, it was relational, and people, we didn't realize how much traffic. Came to the office until we were sitting down there with no power, trying to work through the stuff, and clients were walking up, "Oh my god, Leah, we're still getting calls now. "Oh my god, Leah, I didn't know that that happened to your office. And our response is, "Yes, now we're going to a virtual firm, now we're doing this, now we're doing that. Services haven't changed, we've enhanced them, and we can serve you better, and taking that approach, and having our team buy into it. Now, you know, still accepting the phone calls, and still getting stuff done. Now, we were delayed at first, because we had to work through to get set up virtually, but being set up and still being able to provide our services was huge. You are listening to Growth and Grace. I am Leah Crawford, and I am talking to you about life. How life, you know, how life lives, right? And how you deal with it. How there are, you know, different seasons. You know, in this season I'm rebuilding, you know. And one season I was healing. Every season I am praying, you know, I study consistently. I'm working, and I've learned a very important lesson: rest. I've learned how to rest, and people like, you know, not.. I've learned how to rest, not just go to sleep, but rest. Learn how to quiet your mind, whatever. Just for this 30 minutes, I'm just going to be and just sit, and the power of being able to do that, the power of being able, and people say, "Well, I don't have time to do that. If you don't make time, time will be made for you, right? And that can come in a whole lot of ways, because I watch people, you know, health issues, heart, no high blood pressure, high cholesterol, just a lot of things going on, and life stops you because you have to go in the hospital, so you have to sit, you know, why not be proactive instead of reactive. Again, my name is Leah Crawford, I'm the owner of Crawford Management Group. We are a virtual accounting and tax firm headquartered here in Las Vegas, and you see that we even changed, and we know we're headquartered here in Las Vegas, and me going through this process, you know, it was.. it was.. I didn't take the attitude of being defeated, because I remember someone saying to me, you know, words, spelling words, you know, putting a spell on someone's.. you know, what words are you saying to yourself? How are you? How do you communicate with you, not what somebody else says? What are you saying to yourself? And I learned, I'm gonna tell me every day, I am amazing. I am absolutely amazing. You are beautiful. You are.. you are a entrepreneur, you are a business owner slash entrepreneur slash forward thinker. You are ingenious, and just all the things that sometimes I always didn't feel like I was, but the more that I kept saying it to myself, telling myself that I remember when I first started doing a radio show, I kicked, hollered, and screamed, "I'm not doing this. That was six years, six seven. What was seven years ago? And I'm looking now. I'm sorry. It might be eight, because I started in 2018 Oh, 2026 Yeah, that's eight years ago. It's almost a decade that we've been on the radio for something when someone was pushing me. I said I didn't want to do. Not only have I done it, now we're on weekly, you know, finding guests, bringing just good information, so that we can, you know, my biggest thing is educating people, talking to people, not talking, you know, at people, but trying to meet you, and have, and just be guided internally on what I believe, you know, can help you get to what's next. Another thing I can tell you is I learned healthy boundaries, and I learned how to say no, because there are certain things that happened during this period where I had to say no, and normally, you know, I tried, you know, my office, we tried to get a lot of stuff done, but we were like, no, we can't do that right now, nope, can't do it, and not being upset or feeling some kind of way about my no, and that was, and that was huge, you know, because I could say no before, but now no, and it's okay that I say no, but having a team around me that when I say no, they're like, okay, well, maybe not that way, no, not at all, not gonna do that, and being, you know, not aggressive and not passive, but just direct, but not where, oh, I'm gonna hurt your feelings, but no, I've learned that you can say no and not be mean and nasty, you can say no and, and really, you know, and let you know resonate, let you know, I mean, actually, people feel good by you telling them, though. They were like, "Oh, okay, I just found another way. Yeah, and that's okay. You can find another way, and I'll talk to you later, because that's that - that's just not in my wheelhouse right now. It has been a journey, and it has been imperfect. It has been. Slow, it has been fast, it has been filled with love. I've seen some people, you know, I've even seen some people, you know, the little smart comments. It has been, it has been all the things, all the things, but for me it has been an experience that now, if someone is going through this, I can empathize with them, because I understand. I understand, and when you can, when you've gone through something, and you got through something, and when you see people going through it, you look at it differently, you look at it differently. You are listening to growth and grace. I am Leah Crawford. I am your host, and I want to tell you, life is beautiful. Life is amazing, and especially when you are in a healing journey, and things happen to you, because I think about my reaction, maybe even 510 years ago, would have been totally different than my reaction today, but a lot of it is the effort that I put into wanting to be the best version of me, the best version, and walking in a path that is calm, it is pleasant, it is one that I didn't know that I needed to be on, but as I started to become self-aware of how I was being perceived, it was one that I got on, and every day, you know, still not perfect, still not perfect. Try to walk in excellence, not perfect, but want to be the best version of me, no matter where I am. I can tell you this. What season of life are you currently navigating? What have difficult seasons taught? What have difficult seasons taught you about yourself? You know, what does peace look like for you now, and that was a hard one for me. What does peace look like for you? You know, you don't have to answer why you're in the car, it's going, because somebody's out there going, what does peace look like for you? Can you define it? What are you learning to release? And I'll go over it one more time, what season of life are you currently navigating? You know, it could be you're driving, you're driving Uber, you're driving Lyft, or you know, you got this business idea that you started, or you've been in business for a couple of years and you're trying to shift, or you've been working for someone, for you're working and you want to buy a new home, you know, you might have just had a new baby, you might just got married, you might be new to Vegas, so you're learning to navigate the city. What season of life are you in right now? Can you identify that? You know, when you've had difficult seasons, what did it teach you about yourself? What did it teach you about yourself? And what does peace look like for you now, and being able to define that, and just know none of these are etched in stone, they can change, and that's okay. And what are you learning to release? You know, I joke with my girlfriends, like, you know, I'm learning to release this weight, right? And, but I had to look in the mirror and say, are you ready? Are you ready to do the work that it's going to take? Are you ready to change your diet? Are you ready to walk every morning? Are you ready to do the things that are necessary for you, because you know you were, you were eating all, no, you ate what you wanted to eat, and you didn't work out at all. Are you ready to do something different? And when the answer was yes, my mindset and my body shifted, you know, I worked on my mindset, mindset shifted, that I feel uncomfortable if I don't get up in the morning and go for a walk, and I'm not doing anything spectacular, I'm just walking every day, minimum 4000 steps every day, no matter what, and when I don't do the 4000 in the past month. I feel a type of way, and I do more the next day, but learning that consistency every day, consistency every day, because you can always go outside and walk, you know? Sometimes you got to go early in the morning, because it gets hot here, but I can always go outside and walk. I can tell you, resetting your mind, resetting your mind can change how you see things, how you view things. Stop speaking about yourself negatively, you know. And I had to work on that, you know, because I was talking about, oh, I'm fat. I had to change that. No, I am full figured, and I am working to have a smaller figure, you know. So I had to work on the words, work on the words, so that I was speaking to myself positively. Celebrate small wins, and I, this is one of the ones that I am not good at. I have done so many things, and I remember someone asking me, you know, have you ever stopped to celebrate? You've had some major milestones in your life, you know. I remember, you know, you grew. Graduated from high school, graduated from college, got my MBA, became an EA, passed the CPA exam. You know, currently in another program, you know, opened up the business, had children, and never really celebrating, just going on to what is next, what is next. And someone asked me, Are you going to stop and celebrate, because they're still asking me about the CPA exam, because that was the last thing that I did, and those of you that know CPAs, or know people that have been through the process, you know that is a grueling process. Four exams, got to pass them all, they've changed the format, but passed the four exams, and I was like, okay, what's next? And people are still asking me, so when are you going to stop to celebrate, and I vow that now for the next win, which is coming up soon. I am going to celebrate. I'm going to stop and celebrate when we finally get the infrastructure in place for this virtual firm, which we're almost there. I am going to stop and celebrate. I'm going to send something to my clients for them to come out, and we eat dinner, and we do something together for me, for them, me to introduce them to the new Crawford Management Group. Rest without guilt. Now, this is, this is a good one, because we talked earlier, talked to you earlier about resting, learning how to rest, how just to be, not that you got the TV on, not just, just be, and not feel guilty because you are resting, telling people, okay, I'll be no, I'm not coming, and I'm not giving you an explanation, I'm not doing

Leaha Crawford 21:29
it,

Leaha Crawford 21:29
because I am resting, and I've learned Sunday is my day, Sunday is my day, I am, I'm not moving anywhere, if you see me out on a Sunday, it was a good reason. I am sitting at home, I am resting, I am giggling to myself, I am walking around the house, dancing and singing. Well, I do that every day anyway, but just being happy with who I am, where I am, what I'm doing, what I'm accomplishing, and smiling for no reason at all, just because I got the presence, the present of today, the presence of me, and being happy for me, and everything that I have gone through to get me here, you know, I may be walking through a difficult season, but I am still growing, I am still learning, I am still healing, and I am still standing here with grace. So, when we talk about the name of the show, even that was intentional, growth and grace, because growing, changing is not always easy, and it happens whether you wanted to or not. Giving yourself grace is an option, learning how to laugh at yourself, learning to be okay. You know, it's not perfect, I'm imperfectly perfect, and that's okay, and that's okay. But from me to you, if you're listening to me, you know, and you can hear our past shows on transistors, or something that you, you know, you, you briefly heard, and you want to go back and listen again, because we had the Salvation Army. We had one talking about, you know, just their path to growth. We had just a number of amazing shows with people giving you all types of tips and things that you can do or practice, so that you can be a better you again. My name is Leah Crawford. I am the host of Rosengrace, and that way this ends our show this week. Y'all, real quick, y'all know it's time to vote. It is time to vote. The early voting has started. The ballots are out. If you are here mids, as they say, this is the most important election of your life, every election is an important election. Some people say, well, my vote doesn't count. Well, I'm going to check it off anyway. You know, I come from a family where voting, you know, everybody voted. They, if you had a ballot, we sat down as a family, we talked about it, and everybody went to the polls because you had to vote on election day. I love the state of Nevada, because they do early voting, they have mail-in ballots, it's election day voting, so there is no reason why you are not voting, and if you watch past elections, the elections were won by less than 20 votes, so your vote does count, does count. Again, my name is Leah Crawford, I am a whole host of growth and grace until next week. Until next time, I remember y'all. Every month, I'm gonna give y'all an update about what's going on. We're going to have some amazing guests coming up, so stay tuned. Listen, because we're about to get the social media stuff up and growing. I know it's been nine, it's been eight years, but I'm gonna get the social media stuff up and running, so that we can interact and talk, and I can hear what I can find out what you want to hear about. Until next time, peace and blessings. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai