048 Showing Up for the World You Want to See with Rha Goddess

Rha Goddess: Well, let me start first by saying that success is a function of alignment. That is what we [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: Ooh, that's a word right there. Success is a function of alignment. So good.

Rha Goddess: It's a function of alignment. What we mean when we say that is really that when you are trued up to your vision, to your mission and to your purpose, it's inevitable. You don't have to question whether or not it's going to happen. It's pretty much a done deal. The work is, lining up and then realigning.

Rachel Rodgers: Welcome to the Hello Seven podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Rodgers, wife, mother of four children, a lover of Beyoncé, coffee drinker and Afro wearer. I just happen to be the CEO of a seven-figure business. I am on a mission to help every woman I meet become a millionaire. If you want to make more money, you are in the right place. Let's get it going.

Rachel Rodgers: Okay, you guys, gird thy loins. You aren't even ready for this healing, magical conversation with Rha Goddess. Oh my gosh, I feel healed just from this conversation. It was so beautiful. Rha is the entrepreneurial soul coach behind hundreds of breakthrough change makers, cultural visionaries, and social entrepreneurs from New York Times bestsellers to multimillion-dollar social enterprises.

Rachel Rodgers: She is the CEO of Move the Crowd, which is leading a movement of 3 million entrepreneurs dedicated to re-imagining work as a vehicle for creative expression, financial freedom and societal transformation. She is really passionate about creating a whole self approach to entrepreneurship, and her unique methodology has empowered a new generation of conscious entrepreneurs to stay true, get paid and do good.

Rachel Rodgers: Incidentally, this is exactly what her book is about. It's called The Calling: 3 Fundamental Shifts to Stay True, Get Paid, and Do Good. You absolutely must go buy this book wherever books are sold and you too will be healed by this beautiful book that she has written. Rha also has had an incredible 30-year career as a cultural innovator, a social impact strategist and creative change agent. She has been a performing artist, an activist. Her work has focused on issues of racial justice and equality, electoral politics, offender aid and restoration, mental health and youth, women's empowerment, and has contributed to initiatives that have impacted millions of lives.

Rachel Rodgers: Rha has also served as a US cultural Envoy to Rwanda. She's been a part of two White House delegations on cultural innovation and civic engagement. Her work has been featured in Time magazine, Forbes, Fast Company, Variety, Ms. Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and many others. She has won many awards, including the National Museum Voting Right's Freedom Flame Award, Meet the Composer's top award, The Herb Alpert awards, Hasbrouck Price, and many others.

Rachel Rodgers: She is absolutely stunning in every way inside and out. I am so excited about her new book and I almost feel like it was a premonition. This book is exactly what we needed today, because it talks about changing your relationship with money, creating your own personal economy. We talk about the age of the citizen and how becoming a change maker is an essential part of your work that you're meant to do in the world. We talk a lot about how to get into alignment with your work, where success is inevitable. This was a magical, magical conversation. You are going to so enjoy it. I know that I did. Please, enjoy this amazing episode with lovely Rha Goddess.

Rachel Rodgers: All right, Rha, let's just start by… I want to ask you, how are you doing? Let's start with that, because in the world today, we need to stop and be like, “How are you doing?”

Rha Goddess: All day long. You know what I mean? All day long in the practice of asking that question. I'm good and I'm humbled. I feel very determined now [crosstalk]. I would say my shock, my dismay, my deep disappointment, my hurt has beautifully interwoven itself into deeper determination. I've got all that going on, but I've also got the, “Okay, let's go now.”

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, exactly. It's so funny, your book being called The Calling, how perfect. First of all, it's like we all need this book exactly at this moment. But yes, I agree. It's almost like this truth coming out, right? It's like we're having a very honest conversation about what's always been going on, but we haven't been talking about it. Now it's like we have to live in that truth even greater. Now we're like, “Oh, okay. I see the role that I'm supposed to play. Let me play it on a bigger level.”

Rha Goddess: That's right. Every single one of us, it's like we are lacing up our boots.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, exactly.

Rha Goddess: Pin your panties and run. Let's go.

Rachel Rodgers: Pin your panties. Oh my God. That's my new thing.

Rachel Rodgers: I love it. I love it. Okay. What do you make of what's going on in the world right now? This basically civil rights movement that we're all living in, which I'm so glad is finally happening. I did not think that this kind of thing would happen in my lifetime. I didn't expect to see it.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. To everything that you're saying… and it's interesting because I always am a believer in the brilliance of source and the universe. That's what I speak from. That's my thing. When the sacred pause… that's what we've been calling it, the sacred pause for the cause, when it happened, I was like, “Well, the universe in its ever infinite brilliance with like, ‘Hmm, what can I create to get everybody to sit down?'” We talked about this jokingly at time out, we all needed the pause because we came into 2020, we were on fire. It was like, “Whatever we didn't get the last 10 years, oh, we was getting it this year.” There was an intensity, and I don't know if you felt it, Rachel, but there was an intensity even at the top of the year.

Rachel Rodgers: Totally. Remember, we thought January was the longest month ever. We had no idea what was waiting for us.

Rha Goddess: No idea what was waiting. But I felt that way. We were mid-January and it felt like April, and I was like, “Oh, man.” You could just tell it was in the energy. I say that because in the infinite wisdom, I feel like having had the precursor of the sacred pause, it has caused us to slow down, open up, listen differently, look differently, prioritize different. It was like we were being primed for what has come after.

Rha Goddess: The awakening is much deeper and much broader and much wider than I think it would have been had we all been in our little [crosstalk] reality. Our little Speedy Gonzales reality. There's a way that we saw in a way that we hadn't seen before. There is a way that we felt in a way that we haven't felt before. There's a way that we are starting to understand in a way maybe that we haven't understood before. The moment is so ripe. If we all just lean in a little further, we have the potential to really give birth to, I think, a new paradigm.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. And that's the most exciting thing. I think it is a little bit scary at the time. Anything new can be scary, where you don't know what to expect, you don't know what the result will be. I was thinking about this Dave Chappelle story that went around social media, where he was talking to his friends who's from South Africa, and he said, “What was it like before apartheid ended?” He was like, “It was chaos. There were car bombs going off and it was scary in the street, and then that gave birth to something new.” It's almost like that big bang. It's like that bang is going off right now and it can feel scary and messy, but I'm really excited about what could be on the other side.

Rha Goddess: It is a birth. It is a rebirthing. There's a part of us that died. No matter where you are standing, no matter what perspective you have, because all of the perspectives are us, to say the truth. Whether you are the bystander or the witness or the predator, however you want to describe it, or the prey, there's a way that I think we all died to whatever that reality was, or whatever that illusion was. The rebirthing of us is messy. It is messy. It's a messy business. But what we also know is that the reemerging on the other side, if we can surrender, that gift that awaits us the other side will be massive.

Rachel Rodgers: I think so, too. I'm really excited about it. There have been so many and we feel pain every time one of these things happens. It's just another reminder that we, as Black people, are not respected in America, and that feeling of like, “Our humanity isn't respected.” Each one is painful, but this one radicalized me.

Rha Goddess: Oh yeah, yeah.

Rachel Rodgers: This one, I was like, “Oh hell, no.” Now I'm like, “Let's fight.” Before I could keep, I could maintain, I could talk about it, I could say something about it, I could feel sad and shut down for a couple of days and then say, “Well, let's just get back to it.” Now I'm like, “No. Business as usual is unacceptable in any way, shape or form. Cannot.”

Rha Goddess: I think we all got baptized in the fire that moment. I just want to say it. Even if we didn't know what to do, because a lot of people are like, “I don't know what to do, but I'm here.” They're like, “My hair's not done, but I'm here. I may step on your toes a hundred times, but I'm here.” I just want to say for all of you who don't know what to do that we appreciate you; we feel you, and this is where we get to talk more about what was possible. It's got a tip now, I'm with you. I was like, “Okay.” Because another one of these is just not going to be acceptable.

Rachel Rodgers: Mm-mm (negative). No. Mm-mm (negative). We can't. No. I do feel an openness. It's like we're all going through our own awakening. I think there are a lot of people waking up to the fact that, “Holy shit, I didn't even realize what was going on. I was completely blind to it.” I think it's good to admit that truth and then say, “Okay, great. Now, what are you going to do about it?” And we're all waking up together.

Rha Goddess: I do want to sit … because levels… I'm with you, and that we know what this is. It's not like we haven't had this experience before, but there was a way, at least for me, anytime it would go on, to your point, of where I had the feelings, but then I would ask, I would check in with my source like, “Is there more for me to do?” My source would be like, “Stay the course. You're in the work. You're doing the work. Do the work.” This time around, oh God I had a list like, “Okay, you need to do this, you need to this, you need to do this.” Oh, we're in a new paradigm.

Rha Goddess: This year has been about awakening, to your point. For me to be in this conversation with people about “What are you really here to do?” I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world right now to be in those conversations as people are waking up, because they're going like, “Okay, so it isn't just this, but all of this is a facade. Let me just pull all of it down.”

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Just pull it out by the boot.

Rha Goddess: [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. It's so funny, your philosophy about how to do life. Really, I see it as not just how to do business, but how to do life is so exactly… I think that's the questions that everybody has. It's so funny. It doesn't matter if you're a multimillionaire, if you are just starting out in your career, it doesn't matter what level you're at. We're all being asked this question, we're all rethinking everything. We're all questioning everything. I think that's beautiful. The old is like, “This is how it's always been done.” We're tossing all of that out.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. These are practices.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes.

Rha Goddess: These are practices. There's no one and done, you all. I will tell you now. The revolution today is the … tomorrow. You just have to keep waking up and keep… and that is the practice. That is the practice.

Rachel Rodgers: Honestly, to me, that's what makes life exciting. You just never know what's around the corner. It makes it exciting. It makes it scary sometimes, but there's magic in that for sure. You've had an incredible career. I'm like, “I don't even know where to begin. There's so much magic.” But actually, I want to begin right at the beginning. Tell me, when you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always think that that's really fascinating to hear that origin story.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. I was definitely one of those girls in front of the mirror with the tee shirt, with the long sleeves and the hairbrush. I'm from that era, shout out Whoopi Goldberg. I'm totally from that era. It's interesting because the two things that I love were music and just performing and medicine. There was a point in my life where I was like, “I'm either going to be a rockstar or I'm going to be a doctor.” One of the two things.

Rha Goddess: The reason why I was so drawn to medicine, I understand now in my adulthood, was healing. The power that someone could hold a space for someone else's healing. I know so many of us feel like our medical profession has gotten so far away from that. Some doctors will testify about that, but the core impetus and this idea that in our societies, whether modern or ancient, that there are people who hold the spaces for people to come back into the wholeness of themselves.

Rha Goddess: I feel like that's in my DNA. Then there is part of me that wants to entertain, that wants to make you laugh and wants to make you just to be in an experience of yourself in all of the ranges, textures and colors is the artist in me. That's what I wanted to be as a little kid, and I'm doing it now. It looks very different than what I thought it was going to look like. You know [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: It always [crosstalk].

Rha Goddess: Right. Always the case. Always the case. But it is still the work. I feel honor to hold spaces where people can laugh, cry, reflect, be silent, scream and do everything else in between all in service to their own liberation and all in service to their most authentic self in their highest calling.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. You said so much there that I want to ask you about. One in particular is, what do you think it pulls us away from wholeness? Because I think it's so true, we all need that. We need somebody to guide us back to ourselves because we get away from ourselves. What do you think causes that? I know it's probably a million things, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. One word, conditioning. Conditioning. What we take in, what we internalize, what we believe is true, whether it is, or it isn't, and the way that that shapes our choices and decisions and behaviors and experiences. It's why I start the book with like, “Okay, you need to be paying attention to what you believe.” A belief is nothing more than a decision we make about how something is or how we are, how someone else is. We hold it like it's true. But what is true is simply what we say is. That means then that we have a kind of power that is so untapped, because we could really say, “I'm going to go bold here.” Because it's what we are. As chicken, Rachel, “I'm going to go bold here because I know you can hold me.”

Rha Goddess: But this could be the last time. In other words, George Floyd could be the last time if we said so, and then we were willing to operate in consistency and in alignment with that agreement, we were willing to show up consistently in alignment with that agreement. That could be the last time. I think people hear me say that and they go, “Oh wow, Rha, listen, I know you mean well.” Because we don't believe we're that powerful, but we really, really, really, really are.

Rachel Rodgers: That is fascinating to think about. I agree, I think we need to be ambitious. I think when we think about ambition, we just think about money, but no, there's so many ways to wield power.

Rha Goddess: Everything and everywhere. The most powerful thing we can have is a vision because it is what will keep calling us. When people say to me, “Well, how do I find my calling?” I say, “Slow down. Get still for a minute.”

Rachel Rodgers: Well, we have that now.

Rha Goddess: “Hello, and ask yourself some really important questions. What would really make you happy. If you didn't have to worry about money, if you didn't have to worry about other people's opinions, if failure wasn't in the equation, what would you be doing?” It's amazing how quickly people can touch it. But there's a fear even to utter it or even to want it because the concern is, “What does it mean about me if I want it, but I don't ever ultimately get it? What does it mean about me if I work for it or I reach for it, but I don't ever quite get there? I'd rather stay safe than risk finding out.”

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. We all know that that is what people say is the thing that they regret. At the end, they don't regret the risks that they took, they don't say, “Oh, I didn't make it, but damn, I had fun while I did it.” That's what they say versus, “Well, I took that risk and I really wish I hadn't.” That's very rare.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. So true. There's a book by a hospice nurse, and I want to say… I think her first name is Bonnie. The book is called The Top Five Regrets. The first one is that I wasn't true to myself. I didn't do the things that I really wanted to do. Number one regret.

Rachel Rodgers: It's all about, like you say, the conditioning, these beliefs, and we have to question those beliefs. I feel so blessed to be alive right now. I'm like, “Wow, I get to live in this time. How magical? I get to see the old way and to bear witness to this new way that is going to be birthed.” I don't know about you, but it gives me goosebumps to think about. My niece is one of them and just some of the young women and the young people in my family, the teenagers, the high school students, the college students, they are leading the way in these streets.

Rha Goddess: Yeah, they are clear. They are clear.

Rachel Rodgers: They are clear, they are unequivocal.

Rha Goddess: They are clear.

Rachel Rodgers: It is magical to watch.

Rha Goddess: They have grown up with a kind of savvy. It's so interesting because I think when we went through the recession of 2008, we had this whole concern that the generations… because every generation is supposed to do better, and there was this whole concern that this was going to be the last generation. We went through all of that analysis in the 2008 recession, and, of course, they proved us wrong. When I look at this gen… what are we on? Z or double A now.

Rachel Rodgers: I don't even know.

Rha Goddess: They are out the box outrageous. Their sense of self, their sense of purpose, their sense of calling. I mean, they're entrepreneurs at three. Build multiple six figure and seven figure company. You feel what I mean. It's like, “Oh, they're not playing. The sky is the limit.” I think that should harden us, and at the same time it means that we have a responsibility to leave them a world that's worth having.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, absolutely.

Rha Goddess: As a tribute to who they are. Because they are going to hold us accountable to that. That's what we see in terms of them in the streets. They're going to hold us accountable to the promise that we say that this is supposed to be, so here we go.

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly. I'm like, “Yes, let's do it. Hold me accountable. I'm ready. Tell me what I'm doing wrong.” They are unafraid, they are unapologetic, they are so bold about how they go about sharing their truth and what they believe is true, and they are quick to tell us we are wrong. I just think about my niece at some of our Thanksgiving conversations, her correcting the elders and saying, “No, no, no. Don't say that. We don't talk about people that way, and here's why you shouldn't talk about people that way,” and breaking it down. I'm like, “Go, baby girl.”

Rha Goddess: Oh, yeah. They know what they are doing. They know where they are going. They do.

Rachel Rodgers: They do. I'm grateful to be led by them.

Rha Goddess: Exactly. Thinking about that. Dave Chappelle and I… I don't know if any of you all who are listening watched his piece, but oh my, so many things to say. One of the things that he said at the beginning was, he said, “I'm in the backseat. You all are driving. I feel safe. I feel comfortable.” He was like, “You all got the streets. I can lay back because you got it.” I thought that that was such a beautiful way of really paying homage to just the brilliance that we're seeing in our … Truly.

Rachel Rodgers: I agree. That's what I think about, “What is my role to support them.” Maybe it's we're writing op-eds, maybe it's we have money. A lot of young people usually don't have that much money, so we can support them. There's lot of ways that we can support them who lead. I think that's really interesting, too, to think about. I feel like everybody's questioning, “What is my role? Where do I need to lead and where do I need to just sit back and let somebody else lead and be support?”

Rha Goddess: Yeah. Lots of ways to lead.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, exactly.

Rha Goddess: It's a 360-degree proposition, lots of ways to lead. Even in the context of the work in the book, we talk about, “This isn't about good work. This is about your work.” Every single one of us has what is our work in this larger work that there is to do and we have a responsibility to come to alignment with what is ours to offer, what is ours to bring.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. It's true. I agree that I think The Calling is the perfect name for the book, and truly, that's what it is. It will nag at you. It will bug you. You just won't feel quite right. It will just nudge you until you are just like, “Listen, all right, I'm going to do this work because I'm tired of you. Get off my back.”

Rha Goddess: Right. It doesn't go away. It doesn't go away. I saw a recent interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda, shout out.

Rachel Rodgers: Love him.

Rha Goddess: He talked about… he was doing this thing. He said, “If it does this … If it does this and it just keeps doing that,” he said, “then you know you must give it its due.” He said, “Hamilton, seven years, this”

Rachel Rodgers: Wow.

Rha Goddess: Seven years, this. He said, “It got to a point where I could no longer deny it.” Then if we'd now sat back and thought, “My God, what if he decided, ‘You know what, I'm going to continue to just be an English lit teacher. I didn't fancy dreams about being a playwright. I'm just going to be…' we would not have had Hamilton.” Could you imagine?

Rachel Rodgers: I can't. It's amazing. That's the beauty thing. I think sometimes we feel like we have to know everything. I think that's part of it. It's like we're so scared of what we don't know. The reality is that there's this inner knowing. It's not this kind of knowledge that you get in school. It's not, “Oh, because you have a degree, you know.” There's an inner knowing and it's almost like it reveals the first step and you just got to go do it.

Rha Goddess: That's it.

Rachel Rodgers: You can't see the rest. You don't know. Take that first step, then you'll know what the second step is.

Rha Goddess: Right. That's about being willing to be guided. I think that's the ultimate trust. Even in this… the sacred pause moment that we're in, so much of what we're grappling with internally is our relationship to uncertainty.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Ooh!

Rha Goddess: I've been talking about two things to that, Rachel. In terms of this moment, I've been talking about sustained discomfort and I've been talking about prolonged uncertainty. Just one of them makes us all want to throw up, but to have two of them dancing with each other? It's like, “Oh, okay. I'm tapping out.”

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Sustained discomfort and prolonged uncertainty.

Rha Goddess: We are going to learn… I firmly believe, through this little piece of road, we are going to learn how to find the inner capacity. We're going to tap the inner reservoir in a way that I don't think we ever have before, because both of those are working us right now.

Rachel Rodgers: I think about that a lot, being able to expand your capacity to hold bigger things, bigger dreams, bigger vision. It's amazing. Greater patience is so a part of the journey, because that's how you show up consistently. Like, “Oh, not today. Okay. Well let me keep showing up. It's not yet, got to keep working for it.” That alone stops so many people on the journey to their dream, because they're like, “Well, I can't have it today, so forget it.”

Rha Goddess: Yeah. Yeah. So much of the letting go of that. This is, again, the call to deeper trust. It's like do it inch by inch, all of a sudden. You can't chart how this is going to unfold and that it gets to be the adventure. That can actually be the good news. It's like, “Oh, I'm co-creating here. I'm working with the mystery and the magic. I can't see all of what's working up in here, but if I do my little part, I just keep showing up consistent in my little part, in devotion, my little part every day, that something miraculous will unfold and forces will align and the stars will shine, and then here I will be.” My sense of every bit of you is that… you feel this way too, is that it's who we're becoming.

Rha Goddess: Our soul wants nothing more than to evolve, so there's always going to be a next thing. There is always going to be a new invitation. That's why I said the calling. It's not like you getting one call. It's like you being called all the time in every facet of your being, big C, little C, in the moment and in your life. Our recognition that it is about our becoming and the evolution of who we become, because we can hold more, we can have more, we can do more, we can impact more, we can create more. But that is the thing to be celebrating, whether it's a win or a fail. It's always a win because you are more now than you ever were yesterday.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, exactly. And you have new data. That's one of my favorite things. It's like, “Okay, that didn't work, but I have new information and I can use that new information to figure out what my next evolving is going to be.”

Rha Goddess: Yeah. Yeah. It's all information. [inaudible] with somebody, they were like, “But there's all these motions.” I was like, “Are you listening to them?”

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly. [crosstalk].

Rha Goddess: [crosstalk]. Hello. They try to get rid of the… and I'm like, “If you are a hot mess right now, you should be all ears.” [crosstalk] important information that you are going to get about who you are and what matters to you and where you're being invited to show up is coming through everything that you're feeling right now. It's information.

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly. Listen to it. Don't try to change it. I think that's the other thing. We try to change our feeling states. We can never be sad. We can never be down. We can't feel those things. No, this is valuable data. Let's feel it. It's almost like there's no way through but through. You can't just skip over. You got to go through it. Here's the question I have for you. What do you think about people who achieve something… they get to that other side or they get to that place of doing their work in the world, they have their dreams coming true, and then sometimes you see people sabotaging it or feeling like, “Ooh, it's too much.” What do you think is that about?

Rha Goddess: Yeah. It has to do with our perception of who we are and who we're not and what we deserve and what we don't deserve. I keep coming back to conditioning because part of us sabotage because we don't believe that it can be that easy.

Rachel Rodgers: Oh my God, yes.

Rha Goddess: We get the big opportunity, we get whatever the thing was that we'd been calling for and praying for and working for, and some switch flips and somehow, hear, the opportunity arrives at our front door. We know we asked for it, but we're like, “Man, am I up for it? Am I enough for it?” Or, “Wow. It was too easy. I don't trust it.” These are all of the conversations that can come in and cause us to… what I call decreate the opportunity, get all in the way of whatever it is.

Rha Goddess: It's where I start with the self, it's why I start with the you and you, because until we get you and you aligned and right, it doesn't matter what I bring in the room. You're not going to be available for it. I learned that in my own entrepreneurial journey. I would get these big volumes and I'm so in my head about not being enough that I can't even be present to the gems that are being dropped, it was a wasted exercise.

Rha Goddess: When we developed our curriculum, and we [inaudible] founding pillars of the states we get paid to good framework, it was like, “We got heal.” Then my joke was, “We got to steal,” which was example of the best of the best, understanding what's the best of the best. Then we ready to deal. Heal first, steal second, deal third.

Rachel Rodgers: Oh, I love that.

Rha Goddess: It's got to be in that order in order for you to be able to really hold it all in the arriving of yourself. It's why the curriculum is designed the way it's designed is because when we're healed, we can hear more, we can see more, we can take in more, we can use more. The fundamentals of building and running a business, be straightforward. I'm not saying they don't try you, because you and I both know, they will try you all day long, but it's not rocket science. When we add the you equation… then it's like, then it’s like “Okay, look out.” Because it's curve balls all day long.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. We complicate the hell out of it. It's about that conditioning, “How's it supposed to be? Where should I be by now? What should I already know? Oh, I made a mistake. I shouldn't make that mistake.” So much judgment.

Rha Goddess: “Or so-and-so is doing that. That must be what I need to be doing, for better, for worse.” We got to work through our own field and fertilize our own soil before we start planting.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. I agree. I agree. Tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey. Where did you begin?

Rha Goddess: Oh, school of hard knocks, I will say. I was a girl scout brownie, so I did the cookie thing, which was-

Rachel Rodgers: I was the girl scout too and I loved [crosstalk].

Rha Goddess: [crosstalk]. My parents, who were born in the 1920s. I'm a change your life baby. My parents had my in in their '40s. They were born in the '20s. They survived the decades of Jim Crow segregation. They were deeply politically active. My father knew Malcolm. My father knew Martin personally in the work. They were active in the NAACP and the Urban League and Operation PUSH. I met Jesse Jackson at 11 years old. I come from that soil, but they had us out there. My siblings and I, we were knocking on doors, getting petitions signed for [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: I love it. Put in the work.

Rha Goddess: You better believe [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: I'm trying to get things done.

Rha Goddess: My mother, old school, Southern Baptist. For you all who know it, White or Black, you know what that energy is. She's from North Carolina, born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She believed in, “I brought you in into this world, now you get to work it off. Let's do it.”

Rachel Rodgers: Work off your debt.

Rha Goddess: We came up in that. But through that conversation, through that process, there was always a goal. I came in, I think at a very young age, understanding the importance of work, because my parents worked hard. Understanding the importance of a goal, understanding the need for community and treating people well. My mother used to have a saying, “There but for the grace of God go I. Always remembered that. That if you ever had an opportunity, it was your responsibility to make a way for somebody else.” All of those principles, I think, were baked into the beginnings of what were the training ground of my entrepreneurship. Then I discovered hip hop. I came of age in the '80s. Yeah, I'm dating myself, I know, here we go.

Rha Goddess: But I really came into my being and it was very much… I literally lived 20 minutes from the birth of hip hop, on the Bronx River projects, and Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz. Not only knew of but would go to parties where those cats were spinning. That whole ideology of creating something from nothing, that whole ideology of making a way out of no way was also part of my coming of age and absolutely fueled my entrepreneurship. It's like the is hip hop, and then the social justice and the social change were the things that were interwoven into my DNA.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Oh, I love that so much. It's exactly what you were saying, healing and music, and music is healing. I think music is how we express our pain, our anguish, is how we almost release it.

Rha Goddess: Yeah, yeah. Everything for me.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, exactly. I don't even know if this is relevant, but I just got to tell you. I saw this hilarious meme… I'm sure you've seen them, of Black people cleaning, because you know when Black people clean, it's an entire party.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. Nobody cleans like we clean. Sorry you all.

Rachel Rodgers: Listen, we put on the music, we put it on loud, we dance around the house.

Rha Goddess: It's a whole experience.

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly. That's the thing. I just love our ability to just find joy always, to laugh, to entertain. It's part of our resiliency. I think there's so much for people to learn from that. I'm curious if you have this experience too, but I have a diverse group of people in my programs. Lots of white women, lots of Black women, lots of women of color. One of my favorite things is, I love for them to learn from each other. Those cultural differences, we can all benefit from that. There is a confidence that this culture has produced in a lot of white women. There's also a resiliency that this culture has produced in Black women. I think both can benefit from bearing witness.

Rachel Rodgers: What has to happen for a Black woman in my community to cry about something is so much greater than what causes a white woman on the same exact journey to cry. They cry a lot faster. You could say it's good or bad, but it just fascinates me to see the differences. I think that's my whole upbringing, because my mother is white, my father is Black, and just seeing the two sides of my family growing up, it was just seeing that dichotomy always in front of your face.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. It's powerful about that, because I love what you're naming here. It's just how much we get to teach each other when we can be in sacred spaces together. Because I agree with you. I mean, I think about a lot of the conversation that happens where they look to us often about our strengths like, “Oh my God, that's powerful. You are so dynamic.” At the same time, I watched their boldness. They have a boldness where they're like, “Oh yeah, I'm going for it, whether it's the seven or the eight figures or New York Times bestseller.” They might cry the whole way, but they are going.

Rha Goddess: There's something for me has been so beautiful to watch. I'll share a tiny story because it's relevant here. One of the clients… and I talk a little bit about her in the book, she is a self-made billionaire, and is one of the top women in the world in aerospace, shout out, Erin, love you. I remember when I met her, when I first met her, I keynoted and we came up on stage and she muscled her way through it. It was so beautiful because it was a millennial group, and she's not a millennial, let me just put it that way. But she's still stunning. But she's five foot two, and she's parting the sea. She comes up to me and she says, “You're going to want to talk to me.”

Rha Goddess: I'm just like, “Oh, okay, let's do it,” and we go out in hallway and she tells me who she is. She says, “I've been hiding,” and she said, “but I watch you and I realize that I can inspire so many more people, especially women, if I'm willing to come out.” And then she was going to tell me like, “You ain’t called me last week, but I turned them down. Okay?” and she goes through the list of all of the things that she turns down. We think about the women in our world who would die for those kinds of invitations. But the powerful for me about it her willingness to be in her terror and still go, and still the genius still shows up.

Rha Goddess: It's been beautiful because as she's come out, she's very feminine, which in the space world is not… [inaudible] engineers and our military, shout out to all of our military and all of our engineers, but it's a different culture. It's a lot of grays. Hallows are buttoned all the way up, and here comes Erin in her flower skirt and her high heel candies, and she's running, co-founding and leading a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that is pushing the boundaries on the future of airspace and space travel. People try to wrap their mind around this beautiful, joking, humorful, fully embodied, gorgeous woman. It's just all those ways that we can define. You have to be in order to get there.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. No, I love that story. It's so true. I'm sure you get this a lot when you speak that you probably just attract people because you just have an energy that just-

Rha Goddess: I can say the same. Thank you. I'd say the same, the same, the same.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. I feel like my energy, though, is yelling at people and your energy is like, “Let me pull you in and show you the way. I know where we need to go, come follow me.”

Rha Goddess: I got you.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Yes, exactly. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about the book. I love this true, paid, good philosophy. Tell us what that is, just for those who haven't read it yet. You should definitely read it. If you don't have it already, go get the book. We'll link it all up in the show notes, but tell us what the true, paid, good philosophy is.

Rha Goddess: Well, let me start first by saying that success is a function of alignment. That is what we [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: Ooh, that's a word right there. Success is a function of alignment, so good.

Rha Goddess: It's a function of alignment. What we mean when we say that is really that when you are trued up to your vision, to your mission and to your purpose, it's inevitable. You don't have to question whether or not it's going to happen. It's pretty much a done deal. The work is lining up and then realigning. Realigning and realigning and realigning, and what you're realigning to is the moment, you're realigning to your deeper understanding, you're realigning to your greater sense of self, you're realigning to your greater sense of purpose, and that that's the lifelong practice. And that if we would stay in devotion to alignment, it's done. You can even check it off the list. It's inevitable. It's done. I offer that at the beginning because I say that if people could know that and could take that in, then a lot of the stress and the pressure and the anxiety and the drama that we put ourselves and others through-

Rachel Rodgers: For sure. We definitely take others on this drama journey with us.

Rha Goddess: That might be a little bit more optional rather than a weight a lot of us believe that it's necessary. We've been taught how to scrape and scratch and grind and turn yourself inside out and everybody else inside out, along the way sacrifice arms, legs, breasts, other things. For us, it's like to cut through all of that mythology, it boils down to three commitments; the commitment to stay true, the commitment to get paid and the commitment to do good. In the book I talk you through and walk you through a six-step transformative protocol to get there, to get to your stay true, to get to your get paid and to get to your do good.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. I love those three things. Let's talk about the personal economy and getting paid, because I feel like that's… I feel like spiritual teachers often skip that part. Talk to me a little bit about that. What is the personal economy?

Rha Goddess: Yeah. This is really about recognizing and understanding that all of us have one. A lot of our conditioning when we start to think about the economy, it's like it's a lot of lexicon that we don't understand. The people who were talking about it are very buttons up, they got 89 initials behind the names and we're like, “What?” But the truth is, what it really is, it's about your resources, it's about the way you acquire and the way you spend your resources, and what you produce to support the ebb and flow of your resources, the giving and the receiving and exchanging of your resources.

Rha Goddess: In indigenous communities, economy means home and all of the things that are invited and required to create a whole home. I say that because the first part of the revolution to getting paid is taking back your relationship with money. [crosstalk] a relationship with money, but now you get to take back and you get to reclaim and you get to redefine and you get to re-decide what it is that you want your relationship to be with money. We begin there as a foundation.

Rha Goddess: When you give voice to a personal economy, you get to say, “This is how I want to earn, and this is where and how I want to spend. This is what I want to foster through how I'm earning. This is what I want to create in the world as a result of how I spend.” You get to architect and design every single bit of it. What moves through the center of your get paid is your proposition. We called it values aligned proposition. It's the definition for how you love. [crosstalk] love, lead equation. How you love. Kahlil Gibran; work is love made visible. That's all it is.

Rha Goddess: When we think about our proposition as an extension of how we love, that's like, “Wow, what do I want to give the people in my life that I most care about? What I want to foster in the world that I most care about? How do I want to support the vision for the world I most care about?” If you connected your money to that, or imagine that your money would be connected to that, then it rains all day long in whatever way you want it to…

Rachel Rodgers: It's so beautiful. Yes. It's almost like a reclaiming, because I think we've gotten so away from personal economy, the way that you describe it, that we have this really negative relationship with the economy and with money, which creates this, I feel, negative relationship with our own work and our need to survive, our need to create a whole home.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. The choices we make against ourselves in the name of money.

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly. I feel like this section of the book provides a lot of healing for people, because I think that is one of the things that really could use some help, especially as we talk about capitalism and this anticapitalist movement. We recognize that resources aren't distributed the way that we want them to and we'd like to change that. That's all that that means, really. Let's change how we're distributing resources. It doesn't mean that we don't want to be paid for it. We still want to be paid. We still got to pay rent or mortgage or whatever. Still need to take care of these babies.

Rha Goddess: Right. Absolutely. What could it be if how we made it and how we spent it brought us joy. I mean, that was my revolution. I was like, “Oh my God. I can actually support artisans that I deeply believe in. I can actually work for leaders whose missions I would get on board with.” Then when you're operating from that place and you're creating an ecosystem that is rooted in love and honor and respect and appreciation, then the work almost doesn't even feel like work.

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly.

Rha Goddess: It's feels like something else.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Earning money then feels so joyful and it feels right. It feels like a right exchange. Like, “Yes, I'm getting value and I'm giving value,” and that feels good versus feeling dirty. We take on this dirtiness around money. It's like, “No, no, no, no, no.” I think it goes back to alignment, right?

Rha Goddess: Yes.

Rachel Rodgers: If it's aligned, then you don't feel dirty making money. You feel amazing making money.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. You see it as a celebration. A celebration of all of the energy that you've put forth, and the opportunity to receive, then we have to receive. A lot of us, master givers, lousy receivers. This is a part of our opportunity to cultivate that. I go deep on that in that section as well for that reason, because it's just a part of our muscles that we just have not exercised enough. Sometimes I would give my clients the assignment, “Your job for the next few weeks is to just get fully present to receiving, whether it's the dry cleaner giving you back your change, whether it's your kid coming to hand you a spoon,” whatever it is, stop and become present to the actual experience of receiving and how that grows your capacity then to have more.

Rachel Rodgers: Oh my gosh. I love that so much. That alone is so life changing, seriously. Okay. The other phrase that I found really interesting was the age of the citizen. Tell me more about that.

Rha Goddess: Yeah. It's our world, you all. Our world, our watch. If we want something better, we got to show up for it. That's the bottom line. We are seeing it everywhere. We're seeing it in our economy, we're seeing it in the context of fostering change in the world. Every day people are stepping up, and that's why I come back to Dave Chappelle's comment; “I'm cool being in the backseat. You all don't need my celebrity. You got it.”

Rha Goddess: I think people are recognizing that they can be more of the solution. It's shifting. There was an era where we felt government was going to take care of us. We felt the president was going to make it happen. We felt elected officials were going to do it. We thought our boss was going to have it on lock. More and more we're discovering that if we don't show up to the party, none of that is guaranteed. Every single one of us got to show up for the world that we want to see, and every single one of us got to show up for the people we want to be. That's what it is. This is that moment.

Rha Goddess: This is that time where we recognize and see and own that we're the solution. We love all the celebrities. Those who are willing to be in the truth of who they are, we love you all, but it has to also be about our own brand of contribution and our willingness to prioritize our own brand of contribution and think of what's going to move the needle on the things that really matter.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. I totally agree. I think that's exactly right. It's almost like this book was a premonition for this year, which doesn't surprise me at all, coming from you. That seems exactly right. You were like, “This is what the world will need at exactly this moment.” That's what it is. I agree. I have felt that in my own life, my own personal activism. I feel like that's another thing. Money being reclaimed. I think activism being reclaimed. One of my friends is Rachel Cargill, and I love how she is modeling having wealth, having success, having naps, having rest, having joy and being an activist. It's not like you've got to pour out all of your cup, be exhausted, be miserable for the cause. No. No, let's reclaim that. Let's rethink how we're doing that. Again, alignment. It all comes back to that.

Rha Goddess: It gets easier. It moves quicker. All kinds of things happen and unfold that you can't even imagine. It's like you really feel held when we can step into that stream and into that flow. We don't have to fight the waves.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. I love talking about them separately, and I think they can all align and work together, and I think that's one of the things that you teach, is how to make it all aligned in your life. But I do feel sometimes we think we have to be all about money or we have to just be an activist and not talk about money ever. It's like, “No, no, no, we can be both. In fact, we should be both, and in fact, the aligned way is, we're both.”

Rha Goddess: Yes. All of it matters. It is about the whole self proposition. It is about the whole self, the whole self and the whole success. That's what's available.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Oh, it's so beautiful. I love it. As you can see, you all need to buy this book. Tell us, how do you work with people in your business now. I'm so curious to hear about that.

Rha Goddess: Yes. It's interesting because one of the things that we're doing now as a result of the book and the conversations in terms of really opening up the movement is creating more ways in which people can engage with us. I will tell you most specifically that coming through the experience of George Floyd, I've made a commitment to lifting a new generation of influencers. Everything that we've just talked about, all of what we're seeing in terms of the promise and the potential and the realization of this next generation of what's coming. Through that, we've started these high tea salons and these free salons [crosstalk] get an invitation to. Rachel's going to love you up with the link. But the conversation is now actually the precursor for the next book that I'm writing. Just a peek under the tent, the next book is on ambition.

Rachel Rodgers: Ooh yes. I'm so excited just to hear that.

Rha Goddess: I'm going to be talking about ambition in the next body of work, and so his is the opportunity to be on the front lines of the conversation. You know this because this your work in the world as well, Rachel. So many of us have a hard time with what we want.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. Ooh, we do.

Rha Goddess: Whether we believe we're deserving of it, whether we believe it's not cool to want what we want. We have all kinds of conversations. Just even in the wanting… forget in the pursuing the want, just even in the wanting, there is drama. This opportunity to create safe spaces where people can really explore the nature of their ambition is what these sacred salons are about. Literally, we pull up a cup of tea and we have a 90-minute chat, and it's an intimate circle of folks. We go deep because we all are, I think at this point and in this moment, again, we're coming back to what's really important. We're coming back to, “What's calling me now? What's different today? As a result of everything that I've experienced over the last just 90 days, what's different for me now?” Meeting people on the edge of that conversation.

Rachel Rodgers: Ooh, that sounds fabulous. I want to come.

Rha Goddess: Yes, come, please.

Rachel Rodgers: I will definitely. I will share the link and I'm coming too. Let's have tea. I love a salon. That sounds like the perfect follow up to that ambition. Ooh, so good. Can't wait to read that. So good. Okay, tell us where people should find you. Other than the high tea salon, where else can they connect with you on the interwebs?

Rha Goddess: The book is everywhere; Audible, Kindle, however you want it, Barnes n Noble, it’s all there. Then also you can touch us at The Calling Movement, and just even say hello and come be a part of the community and the movement, get the book, or don't get the book, but just come hang out, whatever you want to do. We'd love to have you. At the Calling Movement, you'll see a bunch of resources. You can learn more about all the different ways you can engage with us there. That's the main way to say, come say hello. Then, of course, if you want to know more about the courses and all those kinds of things that we offer, movethecrowd.me, as in move me. Movethecrowd.me, and then The Calling Movement, as it relates to the book.

Rachel Rodgers: I love it. We will link up everything in the show notes, definitely by the book, definitely go find Rha. I just want to hang out in your aura.

Rha Goddess: [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: I'm definitely coming for tea.

Rha Goddess: We put in all kinds of things in that room, so just come hang out and come talk to us, because right now we are craving for this, these intimate spaces, safe spaces, where we can unveil and come as we are, and there's no judgment, and there's just somebody willing to hold the door open for our own unfolding. It is our commitment to provide that. That's really why we're here.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, for sure. Well, you are definitely fulfilling your calling from young. I feel like this conversation was a balm for myself, so thank you.

Rha Goddess: Thank you for having me, and thank you for your work. All of the ways that you ignite us and call us to that higher place. I so appreciate you. We need you, so just thank you for that.

Rachel Rodgers: Thank you. Thank you. You're a balm and I am a firebomb.

Rha Goddess: [crosstalk]. You need all the elements to clear.

Rachel Rodgers: Right. [crosstalk].

Rachel Rodgers: Want to be part of million-dollar conversations every day? We Should All Be Millionaires: The Club, is my online membership community for nonconforming bad-asses in business. It's like a virtual gym, except instead of building muscle, you build wealth and get into the best financial shape of your life. The benefits of becoming a member are plenty. You get direct access to me and the Hello Seven team for a tiny fraction of what it usually costs to hire us. All the goods we're known for, like money mindset coaching, systems for automating your marketing efforts and acquiring 300 to 500 new leads every month, systems for leveraging your intellectual property, access to business and legal advisors who can answer your questions.

Rachel Rodgers: This is a champagne package on a kombucha budget, friends. You get to hang with ambitious bosses, leaders, millionaires, and millionaires in the making. All that power and golden money does can rub off on you. Make million-dollar decisions instead of broke ass decisions, shift your behavior and earn exponentially more than you currently do. Get all the details and get up in the club, go to helloseven.co/club now.