The Mind Mastered: Secrets of Excellence with Dawn Grant Podcast
Season 1 Episode 20
In this conversation, Liz Illg shares her journey from a corporate job to becoming a successful entrepreneur with multiple businesses. She discusses the importance of taking risks, building systems, and maintaining discipline in both business and personal health. Liz emphasizes the need for passion and consistency in achieving success and encourages listeners to find their own paths to wellness and fulfillment.
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Podcast Transcript:
Dawn Grant (01:11)
Hey folks, welcome to the Mind Mastered Secrets of Excellence. I appreciate all of your wonderful feedback and all of your questions and suggestions and input and of course all of the guests that have been helping me build this podcast and get the word out there as to secrets of excellence, not only from those that help teach and train and help people along the way to being their best selves, but
their own experience in excellence and how they've been able to take care of themselves and excel in their different areas of their lives. So today I have Liz Illig and I'm super excited and thankful that you are here and I'd love for you to give some highlights to let people know what they're gonna get from this conversation today.
Liz (02:02)
course, thanks for having me and I'm really excited to be here. I have a really interesting kind of entrepreneurial story just in general. And so it's been, it's fun to be a creator for the last, I would say 12, 15 years. And then I look back at everything I created and everything I created were literally stepping stones to where I'm sitting today. And so.
Dawn Grant (02:30)
Yes.
Liz (02:31)
super unique and like we each have our journey. have our narrative, our stories, like all of those things. And then you get to look back and go, whoa, I didn't even think I was doing it.
Dawn Grant (02:43)
Exactly. And there's such a big and profound like lesson in that and related to enjoying the journey. Right. A lot of times we can be so focused on the end result and then here you are at a place where you're feeling successful and you can look back and go, wow, there's so many stepping stones in the journey that got me here. Right.
Liz (03:03)
Yeah, 100%.
Dawn Grant (03:05)
Yeah, so what are some of your highlights? What are your accomplishments? What is it that you can share?
Liz (03:13)
Yeah, so I would say that I'm a serial entrepreneur and I learned how to do this through trial and error and through being everything in all of my businesses. about 12 years ago, I had a successful pet sitting business and I started getting employees and I started creating this whole portfolio of clients and I thought I was working the corporate world and
You know, I put myself through college and you know, I was in serious debt through college and all of these things. And I said to myself, said, I want to find another business that's complimentary in the pet space. I love animals. And I was at a corporate job and I was like, I gotta get out. But the only way I could get out was I wanted to find something that was already established. And so I found a pet grooming.
business that was for sale. It was a small brick and mortar and the lady was retiring. Well, remind you, I had no money to buy a business. So like I was looking for business that I had no money. So I literally took my lunch hours and I went to seven banks in the like in a two week period. And everybody said like, you're like in your 20s, you would have no business plan. You work a corporate job and you want to open you want to open your own business. And said, yeah, that's what I would want to do.
Dawn Grant (04:18)
Yeah.
Liz (04:38)
And so one bank out of the seven said, I'll give you a line of credit. So if you don't know what a line of credit is, the line of credit is like, they'll give you the money, but it's not like a small business loan with like low interest rates. This is like an interest rate of like 18 % or higher. And I said, okay, where do I need to sign? And the guy was like, you really want to do it? And I said, yes, I want to do it. So I put in my notice and I left a corporate job and I took a huge risk. So,
Dawn Grant (04:53)
All
Liz (05:07)
Part of one of my secrets of excellence is you have to be, I believe in my opinion, a risk taker. Somebody that wants to take risks, and I had a lot on the line. I could have filed for bankruptcy. I mean, I could have been at a really weird state, but I said, I'm gonna give this my all. And so I knew nothing about grooming to this day. I've never groomed a dog in my life, and I own multiple locations now. But I say that in the sense of
Dawn Grant (05:15)
Yeah.
Liz (05:37)
I was the receptionist, I was the HR director, I was the IT director, I was the salesperson, I was the marketing person. I learned the whole business and I immersed myself in it for many, many years. And I got to a place where I was able to buy existing locations and as I said, I have multiple locations now. And I would go to networking events to advertise people to come in and bring their dirty dogs into my shop and we could clean them and all these things. And all these business owners would come up to me
and say, Liz, I want you to help me do this in my business. And I looked at him, I'm like, you can like move your pet into my business, but like, I don't offer another service. I'm a business owner. And I remember I went home to my husband and I said, there was a few people at this event. They want to work with me. I don't know what I could sell them. And he said, you're really good at building systems. And what I mean by systems is documenting processes.
And when you do that, you can start delegating to people because you can teach them how you want the process done. So I ended up building a full ⁓ consulting agency as my second business. And for the past about seven, eight years, I've been helping people build their businesses because I was able to grow and scale. understand the concept. So I was able to sit in that seat because I did it on my own. I just, nobody taught me. Everybody asked like,
Dawn Grant (06:47)
Nice.
Right.
Liz (07:03)
When to our do you like who taught you and it's like I literally was self taught and So so that's my second business and then you know I started working a lot in the consulting business sitting at a computer and I was struggling with weight and I thought I got to do something about this. I need to take some action and I Started looking like what you know, I would go to the gym. I think I would eat all the right foods. I just needed to find out
Dawn Grant (07:07)
Right.
Liz (07:32)
how my body functioned really, really well. And so I went into a whole food plant-based lifestyle and I started losing weight and I've lost over 50 pounds in a pretty short amount of time. And so now I'm sitting in this seat today helping women feel very comfortable. I believe every woman deserves to feel good in their bodies. And so I now help women with weight loss. So through this whole journey,
Dawn Grant (07:34)
Right.
Liz (08:02)
I've become all of these, you know, have all these businesses because I've learned and I've discovered and I've literally just immersed myself in all of these different topics around businesses. And so it was a hobby for a while telling people about my journey and stuff like that. And now I lost all the weight. So then I had women come to me. I want you to help me lose weight. Okay. Into a business. So.
Dawn Grant (08:18)
Yeah.
Liz (08:29)
Anyway, so that's the moral of probably why I'm sitting here on this podcast is because I've been able to have building blocks into each of these things. And so I've come from a place that, you know, I own brick and mortar locations, which can be really, really challenging. I own a consult, an online consulting business where I help business owners across the United States. And I now help people with weight loss and I sell like online products. and so
It's just interesting to look at my journey and go, wow, I know how to do all these things. And so I do a lot of business consulting now for people that want to grow and scale their brands.
Dawn Grant (09:09)
That's amazing story. And how exciting. mean, the kind of domino effect and the little twists and turns, but yet they all are interlocked in some way. That is really cool. It reminds me of years, it's been a while, but 15 years ago or something, people used to say, you need to fine tune and pick your clientele and only focus on that.
Liz (09:24)
Mm-hmm.
you
Dawn Grant (09:38)
you're too broad, know, and I'm like, yeah, it's not broad though, because they are, everything that I'm doing is intertwined. know, first of all, it's me behind them all. So they've gotta be intertwined, right? And, you know, whether it's, well, I own a brick and mortar, that's a shotgun club. And then I have virtual online clients and online training programs.
but it just reminds me of how, I don't know, I've just never gave into, well, I can only focus on this little bit because everybody says that's how you should mark it and you need to fine tune it. Somehow it all ties together because I'm behind it and I'm at least the common denominator. Yeah, so.
Liz (10:33)
You're the
builder. You're the builder, right? And so I think I think there's a lot of expertise in Builders and you don't find a lot of entrepreneurs that want to build and create and so here's the thing I find myself I don't want to run all my grooming shops, but I want to be the visionary I want to lead them in good directions I want to do all these things but in order to do that I've had to kind of find my secret sauce and all of these business and where where I belong
and who else I can hire to help me and assist me. you know, so just been this work in progress of finding, like fine tuning it.
Dawn Grant (11:08)
Ironically, today, was earlier today, I was on social media, I just happened to see a little reel. And it was a guy interviewing, and I'm not certain, the guy's probably popular, whoever he was interviewing, because he's been on the front of certain magazines and all, but he was like, tell me, was it hard to become a millionaire? He's like, well, actually, according to Forbes, I'm a billionaire. But then he continues, and the guy says to him, was it challenging? And he's like, well, first of all, it's the journey you've got to enjoy.
But he also said, if you've not read it, you should read Never Eat Alone. So then I thought, well, I'm curious now. So I'm going to get this audio book, which may be popular right now because it's free. Like it's available. I don't know. It's popular right now, apparently. But ⁓ I listened to the first half of the beginning and it was about networking and ⁓ not thinking.
that you have to know it all basically, that you can hire out in the expertise, which reminds me of Napoleon Hills. ⁓ You were born rich. Is that the name of it? Yeah, you were born rich. He had interviewed all of these top wealthy people like Roosevelt and JP Morgan.
You know, it was back in that era when they were still alive. ⁓ one of my big takeaways from that is what he called mastermind groups. And you don't have to know it all. Like you can be good at your part, but then you gotta be good at hiring people to do the other parts, which I think what you've shared so far is a perfect example of that. Like you didn't go in planning to do the grooming yourself, right? ⁓
Liz (13:00)
Yeah, 100%.
And that's why I said the word visionary is because I do think it's important. Whoever's running the show has to understand what the vision is and how to articulate it being vision all the way down to the nitty gritty. And an example would be is like, when a customer comes into my grooming shops, what are the first three things the front staff does, right? That makes my business unique. That's what I
I did from the very top and I started understanding what that looked like and I articulated how to go and do it so the brand messaging is consistent across. And so I had the vision, I was the doer and all those things and now anybody can go do it because I've created a formula that works.
Dawn Grant (13:41)
Right.
Yes, that's awesome. What's your feeling on a founder, ⁓ the brains behind it, delegating so that you're not doing so much of the work and getting like personal assistance or hiring the right people so that you have some freedom to be the visionary?
Liz (14:16)
100 % and it all starts with people understanding their business and creating systems and teaching how you want it done. So like I'm all about delegation. I'm sitting here today because I've actually hired a lot of amazing people that can do it better than I can and I'll be the first to admit I say thanks for allowing this business to shine. It's not even just about me it's about the impact.
Dawn Grant (14:42)
Right.
Liz (14:45)
that so many people can bring their expertise to, to literally make the company what it is. And so I believe most businesses fall short because they don't spend the time documenting how they want their brand to be displayed, how they want their roles to be created and articulating. I've always said, most people do not stick with a company business
a brand, anything like that, when you don't empower them with knowledge and information. The moment you empower them with knowledge and information or allow them to do what they do best based on your key best practices, that's when everything shifts. There's just so many businesses that don't spend the time and they wonder why they can't keep on contractors, employees, team members. And so, you know, in this middle business that I have, a consulting agency is that's where
Dawn Grant (15:19)
Yeah.
Liz (15:43)
I work with my clients to get everything documented so that you have the freedom. You can step out. You never have to be the social media manager. But did you create the framework so that you have a successful social media manager?
Dawn Grant (15:54)
Right.
Yes, yeah, nice, nice. And the way that you entered into being self-employed entrepreneur, I feel like almost forced you in the position of figuring out exactly your structure. Because, I mean, if I'm understanding everything you're saying right, you never intended to be the groomer. Like you intended to be the business owner. So because of that,
you are forced into a position where you're like, well, I've got to come up with these processes and such, because I'm not going to be there doing it. And with that, yeah, you ended up coming up with a recipe. That's cool. Yeah.
Liz (16:38)
Yeah, definitely have
to do it and the only reason I ended up coming up with the recipe and the procedures is because I had one shop and another shop I was opening and the managers called me at the exact same time and had me had the exact same question I kid you not and they said do this and So I merged the calls together and I had to speak at once but I thought
Dawn Grant (16:55)
Yeah.
Yes.
Liz (17:04)
What if I got to a place where I never had to speak it again and it became a process they could follow and they could articulate and they could understand depending on what their learning style was. And that's where I ended up spending a whole entire year creating a standard operating procedure for my business so that I was able to delegate the workout but still have all the work being done based on what I felt needed to be done.
Dawn Grant (17:13)
Yes.
That's awesome and a devotion of time for sure. Because what's coming to my, yeah.
Liz (17:41)
It's a one and done. I tell people spend a little bit of time building out your key fundamental principles for your business to run smoothly or for you to maybe be able to sell it in five years. have to like there are so many businesses I'm shocked. I talked to so many business owners throughout the days that have no processes built and they're wondering why they can't take vacation, why they're struggling, why there's a high turnover rate.
you don't have a system in place for your business.
Dawn Grant (18:10)
Well,
and the big thing coming to my mind is a feeling of freedom that you can let someone go and hire a new one without it stopping your life, because you've got to train them. That's where I've noticed it the most. I can end up postponing letting somebody go out of the realization that it's going to impact my time to train the new one.
Not refine the new one, but then train the new one also. Yeah.
Liz (18:44)
And training,
training as you know, costs a lot of time, energy and money. It just does. So if you're not training somebody and you have a high turnover rate, you're spending now more time, energy and money to get somebody else on board. And I always say, once you have your your process is documented, you don't have to waste your breath saying the same thing over and over again, right?
Dawn Grant (18:48)
Yeah.
Right? ⁓
Liz (19:06)
What if I were to tell you this is the last time you're telling this process because you're telling me and I'm actually building out your processes and so and that that's kind of been a unique aspect of my my different titles and all these different roles because my grooming shops I'm you know, the ceo, know the owner and then in my consulting business i'm more of a consultant implementer because I don't call myself a coach because I
Dawn Grant (19:16)
Right.
Liz (19:35)
actually help you and do the work for you. So like, need a CRM system built out, I'll build it out for you. If you need your processes built out, I will build them for you based on your knowledge and information. And then I turn into a coach in the health and wellness. So I feel like I can have all the best in both worlds and in all the different hats I can wear, which is fun.
Dawn Grant (19:38)
Nice.
wow.
Nice.
Yes,
yes, yes, I can again relate to that. And it literally is a feeling like, because I have so many different kettles in the fire, you know, I might get a text from this employee of this business and an email from this business and I don't know, an appointment schedule at this time on this business. And I've had people say to me, can you do, how do you do that? You know, and it really feels like,
First of all, it's all under the umbrella of me, so it doesn't feel, and none of those feel separate from me, right? But I can come over here and I can wear the hat for responding to the text and just as quickly switch over to this other business and wear the other hat. And it really feels like that. It feels like it's compartmentalizing, right? And I think you have to compartmentalize when you're juggling a lot of things to stay sane. What do you think about that?
Liz (20:54)
And I think it's a very interesting trait that some people have and some people don't Some people have it and some people don't and so like I think you know learning more about you is like you have it you can do it you also have to be very self-disciplined because everybody's counting on you you have to be able to take projects to the finish line you have to be the igniter in everything you do because you have nobody above you so it also certain person, you
Dawn Grant (21:20)
Yeah.
Liz (21:22)
I always say, if you feel fire in your belly for something, you're doing the right thing because you're motivated, you're inspired, it brings you passion. And I always, you I work with a lot of ⁓ younger individuals and I say, you have to find your passion because once you start doing that, it does, it's not a job anymore. And that's why you're sitting in this place where like, can like, you enjoy being able to put on different hats. that brings me excitement.
Dawn Grant (21:43)
Yeah.
Right.
Liz (21:52)
It brings so many unknowns, which I think is kind of fun.
Dawn Grant (21:56)
Right? One of the other things I would say I've observed in myself is being a diehard. Like there might be a bump in the road or something doesn't turn out the way I expect and it might bring me down for you know a few hours or a day but I'm right back up fighting by the next morning. know? I'm just not going down, right?
Liz (22:16)
Thank you.
No, no. And I think that's also a different mentality that people have. Like, I'm also a risk taker. So like, I do better when there's a little bit more risk involved. Like I'll, I'll like fight through it and like make it work. I'll find a solution.
Dawn Grant (22:35)
Right, right. Yeah, so if you were to say from all your businesses, not only your own experience, but also ⁓ talking to different people, whether consulting or coaching them, ⁓ what would you say maybe are the top five personality traits that you think helps somebody to be successful or achieve excellence?
Liz (22:50)
Woo.
definitely say integrity. I also believe you have to be your words matter. I think that's really important. Like if you say something, do it. Don't don't promise. Don't just just do what you say you're going to do. Have integrity. Be disciplined. That's a hard one. That's a really hard one. We're just we live in such a fast paced world. We're just not disciplined people anymore. I also think being a risk taker.
Dawn Grant (23:09)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Liz (23:27)
Like, and that's really hard, but that can be really, really challenging. If, you know, the more information I know about myself now and the risks that I took way back in the day, I can't say I would do the exact same.
Dawn Grant (23:42)
Right?
Liz (23:44)
but
almost was too young. didn't understand the consequences. And so, you know, and I had to really hit the pavement every single day. And I also think you have, you have to earn it. Like you literally have to be in a state where like you have to want something so bad and you have to go make it happen. Nobody else is doing it for you.
Dawn Grant (23:49)
Yeah.
Yeah. And it reminds me also, you know, thinking of personality traits and all that. I've observed that there's definitely more of that leader versus the follower. And, um, and there is definitely a place for both of these traits, you know, and, um, most of my son's like, he's, he's 25 now, but I've noticed, and he works for me at my shotgun club.
I've noticed that he works really well with like instruction, like a list. Like he loves lists. And when it comes to taking initiative himself, ⁓ as he's gotten older, he starts to do it a little bit more, but he still loves lists and he loves working off a list and he loves being told what to do. He doesn't even take offense to it.
And I've found that really fascinating, because I'm the opposite. I mean, I love lists, don't get me wrong. I love scratching things off a list also. But that initiative in taking the lead is something that I've seen in myself that comes very naturally versus like my son where it came more naturally for him to be a follower or somebody who liked to take direction and instruction.
Liz (25:22)
Yeah, I would agree with that statement 100%. And I think some of the best employees are followers. And we need followers. I think followers are great. I think not everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. Not everybody knows how to do it. There's not a desire. There's a lot of responsibilities that come with being an entrepreneur. And so I think, you know, having a mix in the world is great because we do need people that want to follow this. They want to help you build something.
Dawn Grant (25:30)
Yes.
Exactly.
Yes.
Liz (25:52)
but they just don't want to do it on their own because they may not financially be able to do it. They may not have the time to do it. They may not have the grit to actually do it. So there's this good, you know, balance between the two.
Dawn Grant (26:06)
There is, and I've learned a lot of those, if we call them followers, but I think there's a mix of personality traits that go along with it. And one of them I've seen is ⁓ they want to be behind the scenes. They don't want to be in the spotlight. They don't want to be upfront, visible, acknowledged, ⁓ put in front of the camera, put on social media. They are comfortable being behind the scenes and doing all that.
that work without ⁓ the notoriety or something. And I've seen that over and over again when somebody's more of like the follower versus the leader.
Liz (26:46)
Yeah, and I think that also goes to say like a lot of people are introvert and extrovert, right? And so it's finding that balance of what you like to do, right? Somebody that likes a lot of data and numbers may not want to build a business, but want to maybe be the CFO of a company.
Dawn Grant (26:51)
Right.
Yeah, I'll never forget. This was like 30 years ago. I was married to my first husband and he owned his own contracting painting business, painted houses. And he had this one guy that worked for him that didn't even have his license. So my ex-husband would pick up that guy every day, bring him to work. He was the one that would do the painting.
Liz (27:22)
you
Dawn Grant (27:30)
He was involved enough to know what the bids were and the amount of money being made versus how much he was getting paid. And I remember, cause it boggled my mind, cause I have this entrepreneur brain, right? So I remember saying to my ex-husband, my husband at the time, why doesn't he just go do it himself? Like he's working, getting part of the money. You're getting all the rest of the, all the money, but you're golfing.
Why doesn't he just do it himself? And yeah, he was like, he doesn't want to. He doesn't want the responsibility. He wants to just show up and leave and never have to think about it the rest of the time. He likes that. And I was like, oh, that is really cool. That was really interesting to me because I was not naturally like that, you know?
Yeah. So I guess, yeah. Well, and I was gonna say, I think to pull out of that, as far as like a secret of excellence is to know thyself, right? Like who are you and what comes naturally and what is your preference? And both are good. And you know, whichever role that you wanna play and what part you wanna play is good. I love the way you said, and I'm not gonna be able to quote it exactly, but,
Liz (28:26)
We need those.
Dawn Grant (28:53)
that you could hire all these people that had all these expertise and they love what they do. And so then you're giving them an opportunity to do what they love. And in their, I see it like spokes in a wheel. This is something I used to tell my employees also like ⁓ the wheel is the whole vision that I have as the owner. And literally I don't have enough hands and feet to do all of the.
parts of this business. So I'm hiring each of you to play a role and you're all the spokes of this wheel. you know, it's still gotta be my way to, you know, I'm not gonna say 100%, but I've gotta have the overall say in how I want things done and you, but I need you to follow that. But then of course, you you bring in your own skills, your personality and everything.
But the wheel and the spokes and the tires, one of the ways that my brain sees that.
Liz (29:55)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would agree with that. You know, I think a lot of my businesses I'm a very Operational person so from an ops perspective. I know how to run a whole company. know how to function I know how to I know the whole process from start to finish but part a B and C I need to bring in Excellent people to fill in what I don't know, but I know the framework
I know the objective, I know where we're going, I know how to get there, but I bring in these vessels to get it done, to take it to the finish line.
Dawn Grant (30:31)
Nice, nice. Well, let's go over to your health and nutrition and your coaching on it. So I'm really curious. You said that you went whole food vegetarian? Plant-based, plant-based.
Liz (30:45)
Yes, yep, yep,
yep. I'm plant-based, so I mostly eat starches and vegetables. And I have been thriving for the last five years. I've lost over 50 pounds. And so just following this framework, understanding my relationship with food and exercise, being a very disciplined person has definitely helped in my weight loss journey and where I am today. And so it's just been such a beautiful journey because I think every person just has to start figuring out.
which foods their body thrives on. And so that's why I say like a whole food plant based, like you decide what makes you feel good and start doing it and see how your body responds. But, you know, I cut out, you know, processed food, I cut out, you know, a lot of different things that just were not serving me. ⁓ And, you know, how I can live the most optimal life. And that is through this way of eating.
Dawn Grant (31:42)
Nice, and you look amazing and your skin is glowing. You overall look very healthy, which is really cool to see. Yeah. Yes.
Liz (31:50)
So sweet. Thank you. You know,
that's the one thing I said at the very beginning is I believe specifically women, you deserve to feel good in your body. And so you have to cover that. have to unpack that as much as people, you know, people are addicted to food nowadays. Like this wasn't something was happening in the fifties, but a lot of our food is chemically engineered.
Dawn Grant (32:04)
Yeah.
Liz (32:18)
and starting to understand your relationship with food, what kind of foods you eat, how your body makes you feel. So, you know, I eat all organic. have a very, you know, I would say it's easy for me, but most people would say, Liz, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty out there. Like, you know, I have non-toxic living, you know, I only wear organic clothing, organic cotton clothing. So, you know, once I started getting healthy, I've now...
laser focused even more into my skin products, what I put on my skin, what's in my house, how like overall, no plastics, I've literally transformed and have gotten to my optimal weight, but also my like optimal way of living. I just know how to live and it's taken out a lot of guesswork. It's also taken out a lot of what should I do next? Like I know
Dawn Grant (32:50)
Yes.
Yeah.
Liz (33:12)
We struggle with like the next best thing or I want to do this or I want to follow this person I want this this this it's like pick your lane find out You know how you want to eat what what is your purpose? What what is going to be your blueprint and start following that and so you know very disciplined person very schedule oriented you know I don't I It goes back to one of those character traits if you say you're gonna do it do it
Dawn Grant (33:31)
Right.
Liz (33:42)
whether that somebody you're working for or working with, but do it for yourself. Start rewiring your brain about how you feel about yourself and start showing up in a capacity that you never believed you
Dawn Grant (33:42)
Right.
Nice, that's all awesome. As a hypnotist, going back 25 years when I first started doing hypnosis, it was to help people either quit smoking or lose weight. Those were the popular topics. And then I would get in a few like that, fear of flying or fear of bridges or being in Florida, could be fear of lizards. But.
My original training was to give suggestions of half portions at meal time, lots of water, three meals a day, healthy snack in the afternoon. Like that was it. And I did it because that was my training and I personally didn't know more than that. so...
And coming at it from a hypnotist's angle, it was also beliefs and emotions and programming and what do you do at this time and how do you celebrate, you know, related to food and drink and what are your habits, basically? That's all addressed through hypnosis. ⁓ But I started seeing things, like again, going back to beliefs like, well, when I hit 40s, I gain weight and that's what happens.
or when I hit my 50s. And every woman in my family is like this, so this is just the way it is. So there's like these beliefs and such. And I'm 54 right now. When I hit 40, I started putting on weight. And I always was the skinny, like, oh, you should eat more. And when I hit 40, I started putting on weight. And I became my own little science project.
Because I always knew exercise, I've got a muscular body, I always knew exercise would be kind of a quick fix, but I wanted to understand what foods are my eating that's causing this. So I tried vegan and vegetarian, I tried juicing, and then I tried ⁓ cleansing and master cleanses once a year and ⁓ eating clean. just, I've tried all these different things. Absolutely the one that worked the best for me was clean eating. ⁓
Whole foods, it did have some meats in it, but it was whole foods and obviously like no packaged foods and preservatives. And it cut out dairy also, it cut out alcohol, it cut out caffeine, but my skin was glowing, I felt great, I had amazing energy, I lost like 20 pounds in that month that I did it. But for me it was just hard to maintain at the time and what I've learned, not only going through it for myself, but then continuing to help clients.
is it's quite the undertaking to not only learn information, especially because labels, they all lie to you. ⁓ You have to do your own research. You have to do your education and shopping around the perimeter sounds great, but if you're in a hurry or there's always the same things you always buy or you're starving because you haven't eaten that day or like whatever, there's so many elements at play.
more than anything else that I've ever helped somebody with. And I find that really interesting. When you say, first I started eating better for my body, and then it became what you wear in your lotions and your face products, no plastic in your house, what I feel like is you almost have to tackle one at a time because there's so much to tackle. But then once you've done that and you said you've established
some routines or whatever. Like you know your go-to foods now and you know what you can buy and where to find them in the grocery store and what you can believe. Like there's so many things that then you could move on to the next category is what it sounds like.
Liz (37:41)
And why would you not take care of your body? Your body is giving you life. Your body's asset, right? And that's the one thing that I think we lose sight of, specifically women. We're always making sure that people around us are being taken care of that we sometimes forget about ourselves. But if you're not around, you're not going to be able to take care of those other people. So it is an urgency for women to feel good in their bodies and to find what
Dawn Grant (37:58)
You're right.
Right.
Liz (38:10)
health looks like for them and take matters into their own hands one step at a time. Maybe you just don't go through the center aisles anymore. Maybe you just start making one meal a day at home. Start small, but once you start seeing the effect that you can make by eating, you know, whatever you decide and your body starts changing, you start loving your body more. So you
Dawn Grant (38:12)
Yeah.
Right.
Liz (38:39)
You're gonna nourish it with food. You're gonna nourish it with healthy products. It's been a stepping stool. And so a lot of people that have seen my five-year journey, they saw weight loss, they saw certain things. But the thing that they didn't see is they didn't see what I did every single day to get me where I am. They didn't see that I was so disciplined. I got up and walked three miles every single day with a weighted vest in 2023.
2024, I do the same thing today. They don't see the little things that took place in order to get me where I am today. that's, think, the biggest change happens when nobody knows it's happening. You just do it for yourself. And that you can't do this for anybody else. You have to take health and wellness into your hands. You're the only one that's putting food in your mouth.
Dawn Grant (39:17)
Right.
Yeah.
Liz (39:36)
You're the only one that's gonna get yourself up off of the sofa at night to go for a walk. You are in control of your story, whether that be your personal story, your business story, anything like that. You narrate how you are going to live this life. And I hold stand and true to that. And I lead my life as that and I show up as that through integrity.
Dawn Grant (39:56)
Right.
Right, right. I'm a huge proponent of say what you mean and mean what you say. And I definitely live by that myself. And I agree like that is huge. ⁓ I had set an intention for myself because you know, I do so much with suggestions for hypnosis, which then means I understand affirmations and such. And I'm like, okay, so what's mine, you know, and I want to live a long, healthy
active, like I don't want just a long life and healthy, like I want to be able to be active. I want to be able to have a loving, joy filled life. So I have this statement, you know, I'm living a long, healthy, active, joy filled, loving life full of amazing experiences. And there are so many lines underneath that because if that's my overall, then that means healthy. All right.
Well, Dawn, you don't always drink enough water and fluids. so, you know, and then I make myself at a hypnosis audio to drink more water. And then I sell it to other people because they've got to be out there too. But there's routines I've learned. And I tell people like, had to, have to, you know, you got to be moldable. So I might think, I'm going to make my water in the evening and the amount that I want to drink the next day.
but then I would put it in the fridge or something and then forget about it, right? So now I make it in the morning, you know? And then I add my electrolytes and I add my BCAA, like I'm doing all this stuff. But if I, and this is I just learned about myself, if I don't do that first thing in the morning, and I usually do it when my coffee's brewing, then the next thing you know, I'm in my day, right? I'm in the texts or the emails or meditating or I'm doing my exercise.
and next four or five, six hours have gone by and I haven't drank anything. So it's like learning who you are and being okay with continually reassessing and adjusting to figure out how to do it better the next day.
Liz (42:13)
Yeah, habits and behaviors. Habits and behaviors, right? You get to decide what your habits and behaviors are. We have good habits and behaviors and we have bad habits and behaviors. So you have to adjust based on who you want to be based on your habits and behaviors.
Dawn Grant (42:28)
Yeah, yeah. ⁓ At the same time, I've found that weight loss clients tend to be the ones that feel ⁓ what I would consider the most hopeless, meaning they have tried so many things that they end up losing hope. And then they're not always as proactive as let's say my other clients in doing the work and getting things done.
There's some very interesting level of lack of motivation or lack of desire or not wanting to get their hopes up again or something where they don't always take all the steps. And what I've observed with that is then they can kind of get in this little hamster wheel of feeling like funky and then there's their motivation even lower, you know, and they got to be able to break that cycle. So how do you help them break that cycle?
Liz (43:22)
Yeah, so I always tell, I always start, you know, everybody starts a program, starts working with a coach because they want to take action and they're excited. And so you have to get them to a place where they're starting to take that action. Then you have to start allowing them to create some momentum. They start feeling better. They start losing weight. They start, they keep their commitment with themselves. Then we need to transfer momentum to consistency. Consistency is who
you who you are you start doing the same thing over and over again and you see good results and then you move on from consistency to discipline and I'm telling you when you become a disciplined person nobody can stop you in your tracks consistency maybe but once you become disciplined it becomes who you physically are and you physically know who you are your habits and habits and behaviors lead
Dawn Grant (44:15)
Yeah.
Liz (44:21)
They lead you, right? Like discipline, I wake up every single morning and I go for a walk, a three mile walk, at least with a 20 pound weighted vest. I've done it for two and a half years. I have not skipped a day. That's discipline. That's something that's showing up for themselves that doesn't even think twice about it because they are just taking action because they know who they are. They know how it makes them feel. You've rewired your brain.
Dawn Grant (44:36)
Nice. Right.
Yes, I love that. That's something I've observed with ⁓ with runners. You know, I live in an area where there's a lot of it's a nice out, right? So there's a lot of people that run or jog and ⁓ I see a lot of the same people and the ones that are friends. I've always found that level of discipline and commitment really fascinating because if it's 15 miles and that's what they do, they're going to do it and
This one point I had a lady that worked for me that was one of those runners and I don't remember. I think she did 10 miles every day or something like that. And she worked for me. And so we traveled out of town for an event. And here we were like out of routines and staying at an Airbnb and needing to be at the event, whatever, let's say eight o'clock or something. And every morning, even though she was in a different place, she was gonna get her 10 miles in. And I was like, I love that.
Like it was who she was, like you said.
Liz (45:53)
Yeah, it's ingrained in you. No, nobody can take it away from you. Once you become a disciplined person on whatever aspect, you know, I'm very disciplined in my businesses. Like nobody, nobody can take something away from you when it's ingrained in you, when it's your identity, right? Like discipline becomes your identity. And so just a lot of people never get to discipline because they can't even get the consistency factor down. They can't even get to a place where they're just consistent. They do the same thing.
Dawn Grant (46:17)
All right.
Liz (46:23)
I tell my clients, let's be boring for a little while and see what boring does for you. Boring will be the best thing you've ever done in your life because it will transform you.
Dawn Grant (46:35)
Yeah, yeah, that's an interesting take on it. ⁓ A lot of times I would imagine the consistency doesn't come because, and this is something I've learned over the years as a hypnotist, this wasn't early on, there's something else they're consistent at instead, meaning, well, I didn't get to the gym on Monday and I've been wanting to start at the gym and blah, blah. And I'm not because I just can't seem to find time for it. And it's more like,
Well, what is already taking your time that you're consistently doing, if I throw that word in there, you already have a habit. So not only are you looking to create a new habit, but you need to overcome and stop the other habit. And it could be, whatever, could be sleeping in in the morning. It could be, well, the first thing I do for two hours is sit and drink my coffee, or just jump right on emails and texts and work or whatever. Like whatever else is happening,
is happening consistently and is their habit and it's keeping them from starting the other habit with consistency.
Liz (47:44)
Yeah, you make, each person can make time for what's important. There's no excuse. There's no excuse. And so, you know, it's a little tough love that I give people, but you can find time. You may have to wake up 30 minutes earlier. You may have to stay up 30 minutes later. You may have to get off social media a little bit. You may need to restructure your day. You may need to time clock your activity. We do things that matter, that are important to us. And so that just...
Dawn Grant (47:50)
Yes.
Yes.
Liz (48:12)
when people don't take that action, it's not important enough to you. It's just not.
Dawn Grant (48:17)
Right. Yeah. The little way I say
is you make time for what you want to make time for. That when I was, so 15 years, I was in the dating world and single and you know, different guys that I would date over this time and getting to know them. And I remember this one guy who's like, and I wouldn't necessarily, he would want to be in a relationship, but I wouldn't necessarily hear from him for a few days or so.
And he was like, I was just too busy. And I was like, well, you make time for what you want to make time for. And he was like, but, but, but, but, but, and I'm like, well, did you, this is not to be rude, but did you have time to pee? Because you can make time for whatever you want to make time for. So there's a, for me in the dating world, there was a message that wasn't to change that person. was to pay attention to what did they make time for.
And so that would carry over to everything, right?
Liz (49:14)
Yes, for sure.
Dawn Grant (49:15)
Yeah, interesting. So ⁓ you had said a little while ago that people should basically listen to their body and whatever kinds of food make them feel the best. How do you suggest they do that? Is that trial and error or just, you know, kind of tuning into their experience over the years? And is that super literal, meaning eat this and see how it makes you feel?
Liz (49:42)
I we need to go back to Whole Foods, Whole Foods, whatever state of Whole Foods. I think we need to be eating Whole Foods. need to, if a label has more than six, seven ingredients, we probably shouldn't be consuming it. I mean, why we adding all of these things? And so, you know, I also think it's also based on a belief system. What do you believe in?
Dawn Grant (49:55)
Right.
All right.
Liz (50:03)
also tailor to where you want to be. But I think it's going into a whole food and then you decide which whole foods. What is your belief system? Some people want to eat meat, some people don't. Some want dairy, some people don't. It's like you can go create whatever and then like you said, eat it, see how you feel. And start discovering if you're eating dairy, sometimes people break out on their faces. Okay, you may need to cut out some dairy.
Dawn Grant (50:23)
Yeah.
Liz (50:31)
And so just start discovering what that looks like for you, but also your belief systems may gear you in your direction as well.
Dawn Grant (50:39)
Right.
Right, yeah. What's your thoughts on eating according to your blood type? Have you dabbled in that?
Liz (50:50)
No, I haven't. haven't. I've heard a lot of people are moving to that. It's not something I can really...
Dawn Grant (50:57)
I
know, haven't really looked into it. I've actually not personally read the whole book and ⁓ it's been around for a little while, but I had observed something pretty fascinating ⁓ probably 15 years ago out with a girlfriend and a group of people. just, you know, I just heard her, she said something like, I can't drink red wine. It makes me crazy. And I just thought that was an interesting thing for Sarah to say, cause she was
very much like there's no TV in her house. She made fresh smoothies every day. ⁓ She was a yoga instructor. She meditated. ⁓ If you walked in her apartment, you were gonna pick an angel card and see what your little thing was for the day. She was very grounded. And I'm thinking, well, what happens to her? Well, I saw it. A few months later, she drank red wine and she became...
Very violent. This other side of her came out and I was like, okay. So then, you know, fast forward and I have this other friend who decided to become vegetarian. And it was just this year period and somewhere near the end of the year, she was like, I've been so sick this year. And I was like, well, that's interesting. And you know, you never know.
could be what you're eating or not eating or exposed. She has a dance studio, so kids are coming in and out and everything. But then she said in conversation out somewhere that she can't drink white wine because it makes her crazy. And I was like, you know, I remember somebody else saying that, but about red wine. And then she just said it about white wine. So then I kind of, you know, picked her brain a little bit and ⁓ we came across that book and she looked up her blood type.
and it literally said she should not drink white wine or red or whatever it was, white wine. And according to her blood type that she shouldn't be vegetarian, like she should eat a lot of red meat and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, that is crazy, because of the wine thing. And ⁓ anyways, it just always stood out in my mind with that. I've recently looked into the blood types with my husband and I, and my husband loves steak. he...
is a carnivore. Like he loves it. But if you look it up in the book with his blood type, he shouldn't be eating any red meat. They shouldn't, according to this book, be eating any red meat at all. And I'm like, I don't know. I'm not sure if I believe that he loves it. And he doesn't feel bad when he eats it. It doesn't seem to give him a reaction of any kind. So yeah, that's why I was curious. Cause I've seen some things pointing towards it then I've seen other things not. ⁓
Liz (53:45)
Yeah, and I do think it goes back to what your belief systems are. You may believe that, so go down that lane, right? And that's, I never will be one to tell people how to eat. Go discover yourself because that is something that your body is the only one that can make that decision, but it's also based on your belief system.
Dawn Grant (53:52)
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's so many things. I've even had like blood work and all done that has told me that I needed to be careful with gluten, but I've personally never noticed anything. And there are periods of time that I've not eaten anything with gluten. And then if I eat it, I don't know. I just haven't noticed it. So then I'm like, well, this interesting, cause my blood work tells me not eat it. So I think like you said, you gotta just trust and pay attention. Like you.
or your own little science project and pay attention to your own signals and your own information and own feedback. And yeah, and I would say take it a little baby steps at a time because it's a lot to overcome to learn to eat right. ⁓ You have to plan you have to prepare you got to take the time to find recipes other than your go tos that you've done, especially when you're short on time and
then you've got to plan that grocery shopping differently and to be longer period of time because these are all new things for you to find and to buy and to learn. And it's probably fruits and veggies you've never even heard of before, you know? There's many layers to it. Yeah.
Liz (55:18)
Yeah,
it definitely is.
Dawn Grant (55:20)
What would you say if you were to give like one magic pill, one piece of wisdom insight to the listeners, what would it be?
Liz (55:32)
say find something that you're passionate about and go all in and that can be you could be passionate about your health and wellness that could be passionate about starting a business that could be passionate about being the best employee possible but find something that gives you passion gives you something this a purpose and literally take that and start consuming yourself around it and I believe some of the most happy
happiest people are people that have purpose and are passionate about something and they have a force within them that wants it so bad.
Dawn Grant (56:09)
Right, right. Do what you love and love what you do.
Liz (56:12)
100
%
Dawn Grant (56:15)
Yeah, and I think that's great that you're one of those examples of having been in the corporate world and
fearlessness to step away from it. this, that, cause that's like financial security. There's so many aspects to it. at one point I had learned about archetypes and, ⁓ they're kind of these staples. They're unconscious within all people, you know, like one of them could be that you have this teacher archetype, right? Like you're just a natural teacher, which is, can definitely see that in you as one of them. ⁓ when I studied archetypes,
It's said that every human has four archetypes and one of them's called the prostitute. And what that means is that every human has the capacity within them to prostitute themselves out, meaning they will stay with a job or they'll stay in a relationship for security even if they're not happy. If you think about that, that means you're getting paid.
to do something that you may not even really love. And that's why they call it like prostitute, the prostitute archetype. I guess it ties into this conversation. There's another one that all humans have and that is the saboteur, meaning Monday I'm gonna start eating right or Monday I'm gonna start exercising and then Monday comes and we'll sabotage ourselves with some excuse. So it's good to know.
Liz (57:46)
Yep. Mondays come and
Mondays go. Mondays come and Mondays go.
Dawn Grant (57:50)
Say again?
Yeah, yeah. Well, congratulations on all of your success. And I love the way that you create processes, because you even had like a step-by-step related to when you're doing health coaching with somebody, right? It was like this step, and then they get to this, and then they get to consistent, and then they get to discipline. And that's that part of your brain, you know, that sees these procedures and processes. I think that's really cool.
Liz (58:23)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you allowing me to.
Dawn Grant (58:23)
you have that and yeah, yeah.
For sure, I want to tell listeners that there's free goodies and opt-ins for any of my three businesses at dongrant.com forward slash free. And definitely follow on social media, because I give free tips and lots of reels and videos ⁓ several times a week. Liz, would you like to share your contact info?
Liz (58:52)
Yeah, if you want to reach out to me, contact me, any of the businesses, can contact me at Liz and it's going to be dot my last name, I-L-L-G, at LizIllig.com.
Dawn Grant (59:06)
Nice, nice. And so that's your website then also, LizEllig.com.
Liz (59:10)
Yeah, yeah, so
yeah, you can visit that. Yep.
Dawn Grant (59:14)
Perfect. Well, thank you again and continued success in every single thing that you're doing is so inspiring and thanks for helping me inspire others and to share your secrets of excellence. Thank you.
Liz (59:28)
Thank you.
