Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Happy Healthy Hustle. We are here with another exciting guest in this episode. Today we're actually going to hear from Laura Rotter. Laura, thank you so much for being here. I'm your host, Christiane Schroeter. Why don't you introduce yourself?

Laura Rotter [00:00:16]:
Thank you so much for having me as your guest, Christiane. My name is Laura Rotter. I'm the owner of a financial life planning firm, True Abundance Advisors. And I really consider myself, if you will, a yoga teacher for your money. I'm a career changer. I had a quite a long career as an institutional investor on Wall street and I came to start this practice because of mindfulness and yoga. I learned through those slowing down practices that in many ways I had chosen to be a victim of my life. I had enjoyed my career for quite a long time, but in the last decade of I was not particularly happy.

Laura Rotter [00:01:05]:
And it took the work of listening to that still small voice inside to get me to make a different choice and to move out of that profession and to start to work with people. Women who I know have a lot of anxiety around their money. And so we teach what we ourselves need to learn. And through my experiences with slowing down, with listening to my breath, with taking time, I was able to change my life financially. Made choices to be able to live a simpler, less expensive life, if you will. And so I use these practices, create a safe space to work with my clients, for them to get to know what they really value and how to use their financial, financial resources to create a life they value rather than using their life to build financial resources.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:02:08]:
Oh, I love that. And you know, I actually immediately came to my mind sometimes people say, oh, you're a money guru. Maybe you're a money yogi. I can kind of like see you cross legged with your hands out, you know, and kind of like maybe there is some dollar bills floating around. I read this really interesting book the other day that talked about females and their relationship to money. And that frequently comes out in the fact when you ask them how do you feel when you touch money? Do you feel like dirty? What's your feeling about it? Because it actually starts with there that there's frequently this limiting belief about how do you even interact with money? Does it make you feel ashamed, dirty, something? So there's so much to be said about this job and I really appreciate you are doing that. So let's maybe start with what is your superpower?

Laura Rotter [00:03:06]:
I love that question, Christiane. I believe one of, and I've heard this before that often One of our greatest weaknesses can also be our greatest strength, our superpower, if you will. I'm an introvert, and that means that I. And specifically, look, we're all on a continuum of introvert, extrovert. But I'm much more comfortable one on one than I am in large groups. And I'm also much more comfortable letting. Giving a platform for others to speak than I am speaking myself. And I think what I've come to learn about this superpower of introversion is that I'm a very good listener.

Laura Rotter [00:03:53]:
I'm good at giving someone else space to talk and then asking reflective questions and helping through those reflective questions, helping the listener learn more about themselves. So you have been a guest on my podcast, Making Change with your Money, and I have gotten repeated feedback that I'm a good interviewer. And I know that's because of my superpower. And I think all of us who have a particular superpower, we should lean into that. And I'm saying that because having had quite a long career in the dollars and cents of investments and money, when I take courses and I'm about to take one in a couple of weeks, it's in building that skill of listening, of building that skill of perhaps holding silence just a little bit longer than is comfortable so that I room for the client I'm working with or the guest on my podcast that I'm interviewing to really think a little bit more and answer more. We all rush so quickly to fill up silence. Culturally, we're not comfortable with it.

Laura Rotter [00:05:09]:
And I love the way that you talked about our somatic experience, our bodily experience with our emotions around money, because that also is part of what. The skill that I want to develop, to ask questions, to reflect back perhaps what. What I'm feeling as I hear my clients speak, and then to ask them to reflect on where it is in their body. So there's so much, yes, of course, I learn about the tax law and different investment ideas, but there's so much wisdom that comes from creating a safe space and giving room for someone to speak. And I think, again, my power as an introvert allows that to unfold in a way that it might not otherwise.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:05:57]:
Oh, I think this is so important as a money coach as well, because feelings and money, you know, it's. It's such a pain point. Money, freedom. I'm just going to use that word because in a book that I'm reading right now, they talk about the freedom of money, you know, that it's such a pain point to get to that and some people think when I have money, I'm going to feel free and all my problems are gone. Where in reality, it's actually quite unrelated. Right. So many people that have a lot of money absolutely do not feel free whatsoever. I think best coaches are the ones that are the best listeners.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:06:39]:
Especially when it comes around finances, there's a lot of misunderstandings or miscommunication. And you really hear that when you exactly kind of nuance out the language that people use. I think this is so important that you are that lifelong learner because you are absorbing so well and you're like a sponge that can really take in information and then grow as a person. I'm a total introvert too. And so I really love the fact that I teach in the classroom. I'm only so successful because I have days when I'm really not leaving my house. And I'm very intentional in scheduling that because I know if I don't have that, that I'm not successful in my extroversion, my sharing information. So I need them to really reset and if right, to replenish completely.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:07:35]:
I couldn't be a successful teacher if I wouldn't be a learner. On the other days, let's talk a little bit about successes as well as maybe challenges. So in your life, when you look back, what is maybe the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

Laura Rotter [00:07:52]:
Well, it's an interesting question because I'm very much in touch with the challenge that I'm facing now. And again, I think, right, the yin and the yang, that part of the challenge is that my business has been successful and I've been attracting new clients. And that has led to a feeling of being a bit off balance, of really finding the space and the ease that so many solopreneurs like myself imagine why we started our business so that we would have freedom, freedom of our other scarce resource, time. And here I am and I'm not feeling that freedom. And so when you ask how am I dealing with that? Well, there's several ways. There's, you know, the. The hired an assistant. I have a marketing assistant, I have a financial planning assistant.

Laura Rotter [00:08:53]:
I'm putting workflows in place so that repeatable tasks, it's clear when they get done and who needs to do them. So there's all that. But then there's also the mindfulness work. Mindfulness work is really helping me find the what to say yes to, what to say no to, what kind of help to ask for and to put and to not expect there to ever be perfect. Balance, right? Balance is something we're always adjusting as yogis. Right. There's never like, ah, I've got it. So both to accept the off balance part of this area in my life and to continue to work on it.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:09:42]:
Yeah, I really appreciate that you mentioned this as a challenge because I frequently talk with people on my podcast that are extremely successful and they go through all these promotions and their goal was always to get this corner office with the, you know, wall to ceiling, you know, glass windows, you know, and then they are standing in the corner office. And literally one of my friends was, you know, a very successful, high accomplished individual. She said she got to the corner office and the first thing that she did was she opened her laptop and googled how can I be happy? So frequently we associate a status with a level of satisfaction and. Absolutely not true. And you, I love that you mentioned that with being a successful coach, you also, of course now have to figure out, at what point do I need to hire other people that help me with this because I can pull myself out of that. Right. And then I love that you say too, there might be an ideal number of clients that you would want to work with because it will just be eating into, you know, your health and definitely in your happiness. And so you might say, oh, this is the X number of people I can work with.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:11:05]:
And the challenge is for you just to fine tune that. Right.

Laura Rotter [00:11:09]:
I love what you said, Christiane. And that was what I had been thinking about, which is I always sort of placed ease as something external, something to be achieved. Right. I'll find the right system and then things will be easy. And in the same way that happiness is an inside job, I've really come to recognize, recognize that ease is an inside job and it is always here if I'm ready to open myself up to it. And so the mantra I have chosen for 2025 is, I open to receive ease and synchronicities.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:11:47]:
My word for 2025 is I align myself with my mind and with my body. Because I think that we frequently like these two different things. Right? So my, my body wants this, but my mind is doing that. Aligning is really when the best work happens, right? When you're in the moment and you are intentionally listening to somebody, you're intentionally speaking, you're thinking before you speak, and at the same time, you're also digesting what somebody else says. That's really, I think, my goal for 2025, to put even more alignment into my work, really figuring out and how can I do work that's showing that intention behind it. What was it that helped you overcome the challenge? So what, what made you come to this next stage?

Laura Rotter [00:12:39]:
I love that question. I do think on, on some level I needed to reach this, this success, if you will, in terms of revenue and income and clients to get that perspective. That doesn't create happiness, that doesn't create ease. And what does is my relationships. And more specifically, I am very intentional about my meditation practice. I meditate 20 minutes every day. Even if that's the only time during the day where I slow down, where I'm not just going methodically through my to do list and from meeting to meeting. I know how important, frankly, my morning routine is for keeping me grounded.

Laura Rotter [00:13:31]:
Not only meditation, I also exercise. And these are my non negotiables. I mean, it really has to be something extreme for me to give those up.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:13:44]:
So by creating routines that anchor you, which could be your work routine, is anchored around your meditation routine is anchored around your workout routine. So it's this, what I talk a lot about, my book, this habit stacking that really creates success. Because if you ever think about how can my work be more successful, it's frequently because you have these other habits that are wrapped around it. They are creating these little buffers. And they are not just like making your work just long drawn out thing, but rather creating little buffer zones of creativity in between. Because believe it or not, the best ideas do not happen at the lab laptop. They have to step away from it. Exactly.

Laura Rotter [00:14:31]:
When you're walking the dog or taking.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:14:33]:
A shower, always for me, always for me, I go away, I do my pilates workout and then all of a sudden I'm like thinking about the next book I want to write while I'm taking a shower and I'm like, oh my gosh, yes. Now I know how I'm going to make this book all like flow and things. And this is how things happen. It doesn't happen while I'm sitting there and I'm looking at the screen and I'm actually writing the book, right? Never. No. So you mentioned your podcast before. So if we want to listen to this podcast, how can we get a hold of you? Laura?

Laura Rotter [00:15:03]:
The name of the podcast is Making change with your money. I interview really successful, interesting women like Christiane eto understand the transitions they've been through. Because so many women go through their own life transitions. Whether you walk away from the workforce when you have children, I think it's very encouraging to hear others who've been through the same. So again, the name is Making change with your Money. And I run a financial advisory practice, True Abundance Advisors. And I love the word abundance. And true abundance, to me is the balance of all our scarce resources, of course, our finances, but also our time and also our energy.

Laura Rotter [00:15:50]:
How can we balance all of those together?

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:15:54]:
I think that's a super important word, abundance, because I teach innovation, entrepreneurship. And frequently people think that when they innovate something that they are, they need to exist in this vacuum and they're competing with others. And I say the most successful innovators are the ones that true believe that there is room for everybody. There is this absolute abundance. If you want to have a successful company, you need to think that you are never competing with anybody else because you have unique skills that are just adding value to what these others are doing. So you're just uplifting each other. Right? And that is when I think that the mindset really changes. So the true abundance, in my opinion, is when you believe in collaboration and not in competition.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:16:47]:
More, you know, a circle, as you mentioned earlier, the yin and the yang. And not necessarily that the two are clashing, but they're more symbiotic. Thank you so much for having these insightful thoughts here today and to all the listeners, of course. We're going to post your contact information. Thanks so much for being here today.

Laura Rotter [00:17:04]:
Thanks for inviting me, Christiane.

Dr. Christiane Schroeter [00:17:08]:
For all the listeners right now, share with me what was your biggest takeaway message. Pop that in the messages, share that with me. Put it down in the comments. And of course, as always, I'm so thankful you were here. My name is Christiane Schroeter. I'm your host of the Happy Healthy Hustle podcast. Thank you.