Ep 61: Effort Over Hope: The Real Secret to Getting Unstuck & Leveling Up

In this solo episode of The Vicki Kotris Podcast, Vicki drops a motivational truth bomb that every aspiring entrepreneur, dreamer, or side-hustler needs to hear: dreams don’t work unless you do.

Fresh off the Savvy & Sovereign Sales Workshop, Vicki reflects on a powerful exercise that challenged attendees to cut their timelines in half—and then match that energy with effort. She opens up about her own journey from corporate sales to building multiple six-figure businesses, and how her bulldog-level determination in year one was the difference-maker.

You’ll hear:

• Why hope without action = stagnation
• What small, consistent effort actually looks like
• How to find your own authentic rhythm for connection, lead generation, or creation
• Why you should stop trying to copy other people's playbooks
• A mini visualization to help you unlock your next bold move

This episode is your wake-up call and your warm hug. If you’ve been stuck in "someday" thinking, this one’s going to shake you (lovingly) into action.

🎧 Why Listen?

• You’ve got a big goal but feel stuck in the “waiting phase”
• You want to build something bold but aren’t sure where to start
• You’ve been hoping for momentum but not seeing results
• You need a dose of real talk and encouragement from someone who’s done it
• You’re tired of comparison culture and want to carve your own path

This episode will light a fire under you and help you remember: the results are in the reps. Let’s move.

Thank you again for tuning into another episode of the Vicki Kotris Podcast! I want to support you, cheer you on a HYPE you up!! If you're celebrating anything (and I mean ANYTHING), send me a DM and let me highlight you on a recent episode.

If you're looking for support in building a social media content strategy, I'm your girl! Send me an email to vkkotris@gmail.com and we can set up a FREE account audit.

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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-confetti-filled-life-podcast/id1391196589

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/00cehOlAGd5HbUpAZ4wuYY?si=4c7353dd4c1e4312

Transcript

0:50

Hello. Welcome back to the Vicki CORIs podcast. This is a solo episode that I am recording this week, and it's something that has been on my mind, which is how many of my episodes start. And something that I hear a lot when I talk to either, um, entrepreneurs or want to want entrepreneurs, those who have ideas and just kind of don't know how to take action. And so what inspired this episode today was that last week. If you follow me on social media, if you don't, you can follow me on ig. It's Vicki CORIs and. I posted about event that, an event that I was a part of and um, it was called The Savvy and Sovereign Sales Workshop, and it was hosted by one of my friends and one of my previous guests, Jenna Leer, and Jenna talked a lot about. Mindset work with the goal of working it into sales. And I, it, it's something that is funny because I have been in sales my whole life and I have, I think about it differently all the time as I've run my own business and I, I thought this, it's a mutually beneficial. Experience of running your own business and working in a corporate environment and selling, because both of them made me better. And, and I, I even though I talk about how my time in the corporate world, I felt a lot of angst. I was ready to get out. I was ready to build a more flexible lifestyle for myself by building my own business. It, there were truly so many gifts that I got from learning. Uh, learning a structure, learning a hierarchy, how people work together, but also getting the skills to have very real conversations with folks who were, you know, CEOs of their businesses or, I worked with a lot of like chief HR officers, which at that level there are people who are extremely experienced and have a lot of education. And so anyway, I had that as a great takeaway and that's what made me better in running my own business because I had that confidence to help get me through some of the points in running a small business that you just need to level up, be a damn boss and get things done. And so as a part of the sales conference, what Jenna had us do. Is write out what we really want to experience in our business and what are the goals that we have related to our business in a short period of time, in a longer period of time. And so a lot of people gave out answers like, I want to have consistent 10 K months, or I want my business to bring in over six figures this year, and I wanna do it within. Six months, I wanna do it within 12 months. And then Jenna posed the question and she said, what if we were to just cut that in half? Whatever it is that you're thinking. So you have a six month plan. What if we cut that to three months? How does that change your game plan? And what she said. It made me think a lot more about what I have done, what I am doing, and hopefully it will help you clear, clarify some things in your own game plan, whether you're running a business, whether you're doing something personal or you have a personal goal that you're working towards. And that is what level of effort are you prepared to give to make those things happen? And so this episode. Is a love letter to the Dreamers, but also a wake up call to all of us because dreaming alone just won't get us there. If you have been and I have been there, but if you have been hoping for a breakthrough, a client, a big moment, a hundred thousand dollars a 10 K month, but you haven't gotten there yet, effort might be that missing piece that could get you there. And I think there's a lot of talk in building a business of like waiting for the right time or when I feel ready or when I gain more clarity and. The truth bomb of this all is that hope without action is actually stagnation. And if you'll listen to my earlier episode with Jen Jones Donatelli, she said she doesn't believe in just. The law of attraction, like sitting there thinking really clearly about what you want and imagining yourself drinking a pina colada on the beach, it ain't enough sister. It's active manifestation. It's getting an idea that's planted in your heart, that's planted in your mind, that you are so inspired to take action that will lead you. To whatever that end result is, and that always changes. It's like what we think is the end result might just be a stepping stone on where we're meant to go. So you really can't manifest something that you're not moving towards. You can't find that. That gusto of inspiration unless you are actively doing things that align with whatever that goal is. So I I, from a personal standpoint, when Jenna posed this question, I started to think about really what effort it takes to. Grow my podcast to grow my digital marketing business, to grow my catering business that I still very much manage. And I'm telling my husband about this and he reminds me. Of seven years ago when we started our first business, the amount of effort that it took just to take an idea from paper into the physical world was immense. It was, it was backbreaking, it was exhausting. It was exhilarating. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of faith. It was a lot of, a lot to do that, and I, I'm really. Open now to knowing that, that that is not the exception to the rule. That is the freaking rule. The rule to bringing something into existence is taking so much action and putting in so much effort to drive the car forward that not even a Mac truck could stop you and I, I tell, I have told this story many times when I talk to other entrepreneurs or. Just when I talk about our overall journey, the first year that we started, I was a bulldog. I, I was so aggressive about making plans, about creating partnerships, about getting into markets, anything that was related to the business. I was just on it. I just made it my priority, and that's something that has to be taken into effect for anything that we're building. So if you don't feel that level of energy, it's not that you're wrong, it's not that there is something wrong with what you've chosen. It might just be that you're having kind of a lazy girl moment and just choosing to not take action, because I truly believe that if you did, you would move into that next. Level and you would find out what's behind door number two. So even small, consistent action really builds momentum. And I think about that with a challenge that came from the Savvy and Sovereign workshop last week, which was we, the whole group took 10 minutes to send out five emails or text messages or dms to anyone who could potentially utilize our service and. At the end of it, it was what could come from this if we do this every single day, if we do lead generation every single day, or just creating and building our network. So for me, a lot of this looks like personal connection because that's where I tend to thrive. So I like to invite people out for coffee dates. I like to do check-ins and send a text to let someone know I'm thinking of them. I like to see whose birthday it is so I can send them some well wishes and create a connection point for myself. That feels really authentic. That feels really genuine to who I am as a person. And I think why it's served me so well is because that's who I am. If you are not that person, you need to find how you best connect with people. Um, it could be. In live events. It could be educational opportunities, it could be, um, small groups, one-on-ones. I mean, like, however you can find yourself in moving and advancing. It might not be lead gen for you. It could be something else. It could be product development. It could be, um, you know, financial growth where like you're, look, you're trying to pitch for money for your business. I mean, there's all different kinds of levels. So you need to find what works for you. Um, if you have not read the book Atomic Habits or the Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, I highly, highly recommend that you do. Why is because the author, I believe, James Clear, don't quote me, I can't remember off the top of my head, who wrote Atomic Habits, talks about how it is not these massive. Events of inspiration that strike you and you're, and you take action and your world is completely different. It is small daily habits that redirect you on the path to becoming the person that you have always wanted to become. You can do this and see this in practice with things that we hear about all the time, like losing weight. Saving money. Those are the most obvious. We hear those the most often. What's the quickest way to lose 10 pounds? Well, that's not the quickest way or best way to then lose 20 and keep it off forever. They all have these small actions that we can take every day. Based upon, again, what works for us. And that's why I think it is such bullshit that we as a society buy into the idea that someone can write us a prescription and someone, I'm not talking about doctors, I'm talking about people out there that are saying this is your get skinny quick, this is your get rich quick. This is your build a business tomorrow. This is your fill in the blank. And this can all change for you because really what works for us is not gonna work for somebody else. I love suggestions. I love inspiration. I love hearing of things that work for other people, but I want to take that, create a new kind of thread for myself and use that for however I can embed it into my own life. So don't get caught up on that. Idea that you have to mirror whatever someone else did to net the same result because you're not the same person. And I really love following that because it gives me a lot more. It takes the pressure off to say, I have my own agency and I get to decide what small actions I take every day that will propel my business forward, my self growth forward, my expansion as a human being, and I don't have to take anyone else's playbook into account. I can just take what resources work for me and design a whole path forward on my own. So I, I really think taking that kind of action and putting in effort will certainly help. And you can do that today by taking five minutes and deciding how you're gonna use that five minutes. And now if we need a kind of active meditation on this and how this could work, if you pick the one thing that you've wanted to do that you have wanted to focus on, but you haven't yet done it, again, it doesn't have to be a business. It could be a personal goal, it could be a part of your business, it could be a part of your personal goal. Just pick one thing. And then if you close your eyes and you give yourself a couple minutes and just time to imagine and time to explore, and we fast forward to six months from now, what would you be most proud of in starting today? What feels hard today that you know? You can stretch that muscle and it will get easier over time because you are capable and you are worth doing the work, putting in the effort to see what's on the other side. And what I like to ask myself without, which helps take off that pressure is if. I take, let's take money, success, the glittery stuff on the outside. What if we take that off the table and we say, just today I want to achieve this one goal, and I'm in six months. I am no richer monetarily wise. I am no thinner. I am no X, Y, or Z. Fill in the blank. What are the things that I would want to do that would still make me feel so accomplished and like so good about myself? And let that be the driver. Let the journey of the effort be the driver to get to the other side. I can't wait to hear what it is that you're exploring. I love feedback. I love hearing how I can support you. Shoot me a message. Send me a dm. It's Vicki Riss on Instagram. You can also send a message through my website. You can send it wherever podcasts are, wherever you are listening to this podcast at. But don't let that great idea that keeps. I kind of reminding you in the back of your mind, go away, lean into it, put in just a little bit of effort, and I can't wait to see how you transform.