Leah McCloud [00:00:00]:

I I was good at my job. I just felt like it wasn't it just there was something more for me and I feel like that was a just something I couldn't shake. You hear a lot of entrepreneurs say that.

Bryan McAnulty [00:00:09]:

Welcome to the creator's adventure, where we interview creators from around the world hearing their stories about growing a business. Today's guest is gonna share the story of how she decided when the right moment was to move into being a creator full time. Hey, everyone. I'm Brian McAnulty, the founder of Heights Platform. Let's get into it. Hey, Hey, everyone. We're here today with Leah McLeod. She is a human design expert, spiritual coach, and wellness guru dedicated to demystifying spirituality and bringing people close to their authentic selves through human design.

Bryan McAnulty [00:00:50]:

Over the past 3 years, Leah has had experience leading retreats, working 1 on 1 with clients and couples assisting and assisting world wellness leaders. Leah's spiritual philosophy bridges the gap between the woo woo and science, making spirituality digestible, practical, and fun. Leah, welcome to the show.

Leah McCloud [00:01:12]:

Thank you so much for having me. I am very excited to get to virtually meet your community, through the podcast.

Bryan McAnulty [00:01:22]:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to talk with you. So my first question for you is, what would you say is the biggest thing either that you did or you are doing that has helped you to achieve the freedom to do what you enjoy?

Leah McCloud [00:01:35]:

Oh, wow. That's a I feel like a loaded question. So, so, yeah, you mentioned I'm a human design expert, so a lot of what I do and and there's a lot of other things related to kind of in my realm, but the biggest thing that I'm into is human design. I have a a company called oh, I guess company seems really large, but I have a business called The Design of You, and I started that business in 2021. And prior to working or having, you know, starting this business was I worked in, I worked at a fortune 500 company and I worked in tech. I used to run a development team. Any of you, I feel like maybe some people maybe some of your listeners might be familiar. I was a scrum master and a product owner.

Leah McCloud [00:02:19]:

So I had yeah. Definitely did a lot of I had a lot of, energy and time in that space. And then, realized that, you know, big parts of who I am and my passions fall in more of a spiritual realm. And and I wanted to do something that wasn't aligned with who I was as a person. And that's when human design, I always say, found me, And I got into learning about human design, and it kind of took over my world a little bit.

Bryan McAnulty [00:02:51]:

Cool. So, yeah, that's a a big shift from Fortune 500 tech company to teaching about spirituality. Is there, like, a pivotal moment for you or a realization that made you decide to take that leap?

Leah McCloud [00:03:06]:

Oh, yeah. So, yeah, if we go backwards to 2019, so I had just I would just went through, like, a pretty massive breakup, and I was like, I need to find myself. And I should say prior to that, I graduated college in 2018 And I so I graduated college, and I, you know, start working for this corporate job. I'd done an internship with them, and it was, like, the dream job. This company is, like, headquartered in my hometown, which is in Ohio, and it's, like, the company that everyone wants to work at. And so a lot of people looked at my trajectory of my career as the ideal. At least my especially my parents talked a lot about it. Their friends would say, oh my gosh, I cannot believe she got a job there.

Leah McCloud [00:03:51]:

And I had this really great career making really good money more than any of my friends after college. And I just felt super unfulfilled, and I just it was stressed a lot. And I just I I was good at my job. I just felt like it wasn't it just there was something more for me, and I feel like that was just something I couldn't shake. You hear a lot of entrepreneurs say that there's, like, an itch you have to scratch. And so I feel like I just knew there was I was meant for something more, and I didn't know what that was. And so I worked there for, I was I was working there. And then in 2019, I went through this breakup, and then I just kinda had this whole year of really, like, tough things happen.

Leah McCloud [00:04:30]:

I I had gotten in arguments with, you know, my roommates, and I'd never been someone who had gotten in, like, arguments with people. But there was, like, so much friction kind of happening in my life at once. I had a puppy, and there was, like, a lot of, like, hardship with that, some hardship with, you know, roommate of mine. And so it was just, like, this whole, like, year of just, like, everything feels so hard, and I don't know how I got to this place. And I so I started doing lots of soul searching and ended up booking a solo yoga retreat to Costa Rica for myself. And I I went on this yoga retreat, and I that's when I realized that, you know, there's lots of ways that I can, you know, make a living not working in the corporate sort of world. And I talk a lot about manifestation in the work that I do. And I want to be clear that human design isn't really like in it's not related to manifestation formally, but I feel like human design is one of the greatest manifestation tools that exist.

Leah McCloud [00:05:27]:

But prior to me even knowing what human design was, which I did know human design, I discovered in 2017 on a podcast. And I at the time, human design was so new, and so I didn't really do much with it. I remember looking it up and just kind of being like, okay. Like, not really sure what this is. So in this time frame, I didn't use human design in any way, but I was on this yoga tree, and I basically had just those moments where I was like, I, like, I need to be doing something different with my life. And so it's funny because I have a journal, and I wrote in that journal, like, I wanna work for myself. I wanna work in, like, the wellness space, and I and I manifested and really wrote lots of things that I have today in my life. And so I left that, and I, you know, I I traveled back home to Ohio, and I went through 2 months of just, like, the most intense panic attacks I've ever had in my life.

Leah McCloud [00:06:18]:

I was just losing my mind. I ended up going to therapy, of course, and was in therapy for 2 days a week and just felt totally lost. And and, you know, in therapy, it was funny because I identified that where I was in my life was I knew exactly kind of what I wanted to be doing and not with human design, but I knew, like, I needed to be doing something different. But I was, like, not accepting where I was in the moment. And there's lots of details and parts into this, but long story short, what ended up happening was, for me, my life ended up kind of doing a total flip, from working with my therapist where I started to become really happy, like, a couple months later where after this really hard, intense sort of period, I ended up, you know, meeting my my partner who I'm with today. And I ended up, you know, really starting to be really happy with where I was. And it was funny because when I worked in therapy, a lot of what he was saying to me was, you you know, just be happy where you are right now. I know that you have these big dreams and where you wanna go in life, but just be content.

Leah McCloud [00:07:23]:

And I used to say to him, like, no. I can't. Like, I have to work hard, and I have to, you know, get to where I'm meant to be. And but it was, like, the day I took his advice a week later, I met my partner, and then and then I I I found just so much happiness. I found a really strong friend group. I found, you know, really great apartment. I just, like, had this, like, amazing second half of twenty 19. And, what ended up happening is then, you know, 2020 happened, and I my partner's a a nurse.

Leah McCloud [00:07:51]:

And so when the pandemic hit, I was I didn't really have much going on in my life. The you know, my partner was we didn't see each other because that was when COVID was super weird and was like, no. Like, we don't know. He was living in his parents' camper. So I had this moment where I was just kind of I had a lot of free time, and human design found me again. So for the moment to your question, like, did you have a moment? It was, like, such a series of moments where in 2020, all of a sudden, I was actually on Instagram, and I someone that I follow had said, I had just had this human design reading, and it was incredible by this person. And they tagged who it was, and I just instantly clicked it. And I was like, yes.

Leah McCloud [00:08:33]:

Like, I'm gonna book a session with this person. And I knew in the few days leading up to that that, like, this was meant for me. I ended up buying books, and so I spent all of 2020 just studying and learning all about human design. And then it slowly but surely turned into a business on its own, and then now I am, like, a leading voice in the human design space.

Bryan McAnulty [00:08:56]:

Yeah. That's great. So I can imagine there's many out there. If they're starting out on their journey, they want to be able to come to those same realizations that you did where they realize, like, this is really what I wanna do. And maybe they already have, but then there's also that next step of, like, actually making the jump to say, like, okay. Like, I'm done with the regular job. Like, I'm going all in on this, and I'm gonna work on this. Mhmm.

Bryan McAnulty [00:09:20]:

So, like, was it just the, like, the the desire that you had that you knew, like, this is what I wanna do that helped you into saying, like, I'm just gonna do this now. Is there anything else that you feel was helpful? Like, was that a scary moment, I guess, in deciding that, like, I'm gonna make this a business?

Leah McCloud [00:09:39]:

Yeah. So I so I guess the story doesn't end in 2020 at all. I mean, it was definitely a few more years of just lots of hurdles. So so I started getting into human design, and and I always joked at first, it just kind of became a party trick. Like, you know, my girlfriend's over drinking wine with me, and I was like, oh my gosh. Let me tell you about your human design. And I've always been to into astrology and esoteric and things like that. So it was no surprise, but it was, like, slowly but surely, every time I talked about human design to someone, it just became evident that it was something I was deeply passionate about and something I was really good at too.

Leah McCloud [00:10:14]:

And, you know, I think what's really funny, and this is a piece of advice I can give to anyone is you may have heard this too. Like, if you go back and look at moments in your childhood, there are things that you were really good at or were interested in. And we a lot of times when we talk about passion and purpose, we find that later in life, it's like just revisiting those things that you were so passionate about as a kid. And for me, like, I knew before I knew anything else in the world, I knew what my zodiac sign was. And I have to preface by saying that human design is not astrology. It's very different, but it's in the same sort of realm. So that was a thing. And, you know, there was a period of my life where I wanted to be a a therapist.

Leah McCloud [00:10:50]:

And so there was, like, little parts that, like, were related to what I'm doing that I can really embody fully in what I do now. But so that said, so as I started kind of working and or not working, but I guess sharing this new passion of mine, I I remember reading somewhere that most millionaires have 7 streams of income. And so in my head, when I realized I was good at it, I was like, okay. I have my corporate job, and now I have the second, you know, thing that I can do on the side that would be a second form of income. But what I didn't think would happen was that as I kept, you know, having sessions with people, I was charging $60 for an hour session. I would just become more and more booked up. And so my time was becoming very valuable and very split up between working, you know, 40 hours a week, a lot of times more than that, and then on the side at in my evenings doing human design readings. And so, and then I think at some point, like, when you make a certain amount of money in business, and and if anyone's listening outside of the United States, I don't know if this applies to everywhere.

Leah McCloud [00:11:55]:

But I think if you make, like, $500, you're supposed to essentially, establish an LLC. So I did that just to kind of have my ducks in a row. And, and then there became this really big divide in my life where I felt fake every time I went to my corporate job, and I felt so happy and excited every time I was working on human design. And when I say working on human design, like, every time I got done with the session, I felt so lit up and excited. I felt so passionate. I wanted all my time to be focused on building this sort of business, that was out there. And,

Bryan McAnulty [00:12:33]:

Aaron I'm curious. When you made the you made the switch then, when you decided to say, I'm okay. I'm gonna leave my job. I'm gonna go all in on this. Had you already, like, replaced your income, like, fully, half, like, roughly, can you share what that was? Like, not the exact income if you're not comfortable, but, like, the the percentage maybe that you'd replace so far.

Leah McCloud [00:12:55]:

Oh, so it was not anywhere near. I mean, I was making 6 figures in my corporate job, and so that was the huge thing. And and a lot of times when I talk about manifestation, there's this thing that you don't hear a lot of people say this when they talk about manifestation, where there's a test that happens. And what I mean by this is that every time that you get close to something you really was right after I established my LLC, I got a $20,000 raise in my corporate job. They promoted me, and so it was like this golden handcuff. And I remember, you know, most people would be really excited. Like, I just got a raise, you know, and would celebrate. And I cried because I knew that it was going to be even harder for me to do something that I was passionate about.

Leah McCloud [00:13:47]:

So, that actually put me into a really dark place for about 6 or so months because I I I kept I kept ignoring my intuition. I kept ignoring this little voice in me that kept telling me to follow what I wanted to do, which was human design. And, and I I just stayed put in this job, and it just so so to your question, like, you know, was there any was there a very equal jump? Absolutely not. And so what happened was for, again, about 6 months, I just was a mess. And there was a moment where I gave a human design reading, and human design is really this amazing self awareness tool that helps us understand how our intuition works and how our energy works and how we can create less friction in our lives if we just worked with our energy a little bit better. And I was giving a reading, and, I remember this girl said to me and it was one of those a lot of times when I do sessions, like, there's always ones that stick out. This one really stuck out to me, and I remember just really loving the conversation with this girl. And she said to me, how do you work with your energy? Like, how do you honor what your intuition says? Like, how are you, you know, quote, unquote living your human design? And I remember feeling just like, wow.

Leah McCloud [00:15:03]:

I actually don't practice what I preach because here I am absolutely miserable in this situation, which, you know, on paper looks incredible and to everyone else and whatever. Like, this all looks incredible, but I feel like I am just not actually listening to myself. And so I literally got off the phone with her, and I scheduled a meeting with my boss, like, 2 days later. And we just jumped on a call, and I basically said I I cried, and I just said, I I can't do this anymore. And I really need to he had already known what I was into because I was lucky enough that the boss that I had was really into, like, meditation. He was, like, into the zen sort of thing, and he basically had this conversation, like, you're having a spiritual awakening. So I was really fortunate to have a boss that just got it in the level that I did. And so I went part time for 6 months and then transitioned into what I do now.

Bryan McAnulty [00:15:57]:

Awesome. Yeah. I mean, I can relate to that that story as well as an entrepreneur. Like, I think there is this crossroads that people will come to where you have to have the realization that it's not about the money. It's about making sure that you're doing what you want. Yeah. And for myself, like, even early on, originally, I was this web design studio, web development studio. And so we'd be building these products for clients.

Bryan McAnulty [00:16:26]:

And that was nice, but eventually, I realized, like, I had this itch. I really wanted to build my own products. And so similar similar kind of unfolding of how you talk about it that we said, like, okay. Well, how can I get get away from this and get more time for myself to be able to work on what I want? And so I tried, like, okay. I'm gonna raise keep raising the prices. Didn't work. And then now, like, it's this situation. Okay.

Bryan McAnulty [00:16:52]:

I'm making even more money, but I'm still I'm trying to get away from that. And then I had to make the realization that, like, it's it's not about the money. It's about making sure I'm doing what I wanna do. Yeah. And so I think that's important for everybody. I'm curious though now, like, looking at your your website, your social media, I think you've got, like, you've got everything set up. You've clearly been doing this for a few years. What advice would you give to somebody else who's thinking about right now? Like, okay, I'm I think I may wanna quit my 9 to 5.

Bryan McAnulty [00:17:26]:

I really wanna start my own business as well. And they're wondering like, well, what do I do first? Is there anything that you feel you should have done earlier or maybe spent too much time on in regards to, like, building an audience, setting up that website, all of that kind of thing?

Leah McCloud [00:17:42]:

Yeah. It's very subjective. So I think it's not a one size fits all answer. And that why I say that is because anyone listening, I mean, don't just do exactly what I say just because you heard it. Like, you have to there's lots of different pieces and parts that you have to look at in a full sort of spectrum for me. So I I definitely made the jump, and I was very, very fortunate to have a partner who was, you know, all willing to support me, in terms of, you know, this kind of jump that I was making. Like, I I am very fortunate for someone that looked at me and said, like, I cannot see you go on anymore doing this other job. I don't care what it costs.

Leah McCloud [00:18:20]:

Like, just for 1 year at least, can you just try your to do your business, and see where that gets you? And and I'm happy to say now, like, I've surpassed my corporate income, so it's it's totally worked out. And I also believe that if you have this that itch inside of you or just like that, I don't know. Like, I I kinda describe it as, like, these gears turn in me, and I just have to see it through. I feel like if you have that drive and that passion that it doesn't matter what you're doing, you know, what time it is, like, you will make it work. And so it's really hard to have 1 foot in and 1 foot out. Your business deserves to have 2 feet in the door. Now if I could go back, I wouldn't go back and change anything. But if, like, I was doing it smarter, I know someone who's doing similar work that I'm doing that I thought did this really well, and that was she, so she was working her corporate job and basically taking a big chunk of the income she was making.

Leah McCloud [00:19:22]:

And she was putting that into hiring an assistant or hiring someone to help her. And so, for example, so she was building this online business. She actually works in the human design space, but had an assistant that would help her organize things, get things started while she was, you know, working her 40 hours a week at the company she was at. So, if I would redo it, there was a point where I'm like, wow. I wish I would have thought to do that, but I just couldn't I didn't even think about that at the time. So, if you there's a way that you can take, you know, your income that you're already making somewhere else and putting a portion of that into your business and having help is a great way to do that, so that you can at least not have your brain in 85 different places. So, that would be my piece of advice. My second piece of advice would just be that it, the longer and longer you are the the longer you're turning down that voice or turning down that thing inside of you that's telling you where you need to go, the more that you're going to experience really, what's the word I'm looking for? Uncomfortable physical sensations.

Leah McCloud [00:20:31]:

Like you were going to get frustrated and you were going to be bitter. You're gonna get angry. And that might manifest into something greater. Like for me, panic attacks, anxiety, perhaps even depression. It's going to get worse and worse unless you address the issue that you are moving through, which a lot of times for an entrepreneur in this case is like you avoiding, like, doing the thing that, like, is really scary. And so a quote that I love that I I really live by is, you know, what you're afraid to do is an indication of the the thing that you should do or the next thing that you need to do. So so just go all in. Your business deserves to to have a shot.

Leah McCloud [00:21:11]:

And, you know, what the worst thing that can happen is it doesn't work out, and then you go back to your job in a year. You know? Like, give it at least a year or 2.

Bryan McAnulty [00:21:19]:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, not not everybody's gonna be successful, but I do think it it's rare to to hear a story of somebody who says, man, I really regret doing that thing that that I really enjoyed. I really regret trying it. Yeah. Exactly. Is not something you really hear.

Leah McCloud [00:21:35]:

Exactly.

Bryan McAnulty [00:21:36]:

So can you tell us a little bit more, like, in simple terms, how would you describe human design to somebody who's not really familiar with it?

Leah McCloud [00:21:44]:

Yeah. So human design is a self awareness tool that combines lots of different ancient modalities, like the Chinese I Ching, quantum or the Chinese I Ching is the one of the ancient systems, a chakra system, astrology, the tree of life, then with some scientific systems like, genetics, quantum physics, and basic science. And so it kind of combines all of these things into one sort of beautiful system, And it's based on your time, date, and place of birth. So you everyone has this unique body graph. And you look up your chart, and your body graph will come up. And it looks sort of like a blueprint of how your energy would work in your your body. And so I read those. But human design is very much like a user manual for yourself.

Leah McCloud [00:22:29]:

So, like, any electronic device comes with a user manual explaining its functions and how to use it properly. Human design is kind of explaining how you function and how you can operate at your, you know, highest potential in your life. And so what we do with human design is we look at, something called your energy type. There's 5 different energy types in the world. And so each person falls into one of those categories. I'm and to give you guys what they are, I'm a generator, which is the most common type. They make up around 38% of the population. And then there's manifesting generators, which make up around 32% of the population.

Leah McCloud [00:23:08]:

Then there's projectors, which make up around 22% of the population. Then there is manifestors, which make up around 9% of the population and then reflectors make up less than 1% of the population. And really when we look at energy type, we're just looking at like, how does your energy feel? What is your aura? How do you, when you are out and about in the world, like how can you work with your energy in the best way? Our energy has a strategy tied to it. So strategy is like how you can strategically work with that energy to bring yourself the most aligned opportunities. So when you know your energy type and you know your strategy, then you can, you can start to reduce friction in your life by just giving into how your energy wants to flow. And so I find a lot of times in sessions, people, when they learn their energy type and learn their strategy, they start to experience this level of like ease where they go, okay, wow. I can just breathe now. I don't have to force things to happen in my life.

Leah McCloud [00:24:02]:

I can just trust and work with this. And, and then we get into something called authority, which is really your, intuition. It's a fancy word for intuition. It's called authority because it's a thing inside you that has the power. There's 7 different intuitions in our body. So whether you have to listen to your gut feelings, your instincts, you have to use your willpower to make decisions. Some people, it's through their voice. Some people, it's through their environment.

Leah McCloud [00:24:26]:

Some people, it's through their emotions. And so I help people understand how can they work with their energy and tie with their intuition and to make the most aligned decisions. And there's different themes that we see with the types where we know if they're in alignment or not. So like generators experience satisfaction when they're in alignment. Manifesting generators also experience satisfaction and sometimes peace manifestors experience peace when they're in alignment. Projectors experience success when they're in alignment and then reflectors experience delight or surprise. And so I oftentimes am working with people like, okay, how much of that are you experiencing? And then there's, something called our not self theme, which is basically like the sign you're out of alignment, which is for the types that can be frustration, bitterness, disappointment, or anger. And so I work with people on just understanding where they're at and it gets so much deeper than this too.

Leah McCloud [00:25:19]:

So the system has so many Is there,

Bryan McAnulty [00:25:21]:

like, a, maybe a quiz or, like, a quick way for somebody to find out what their their energy type would be, or is it more difficult than that?

Leah McCloud [00:25:30]:

Oh, it's super easy. You just have to have your birth time. So if you just go to my website, the design of you.com, there's a link right on the front page. It's get your chart or look up your chart, and it's free. So you just type in your information, so your your name and then, your date of birth. So my birthday's coming up November 9th. And so you can put your, you know, your birth information in, then you do need the time. If you don't know your time, it should be on the long form of your birth certificate.

Leah McCloud [00:25:54]:

If it's not for some reason, I recommend looking at, you know, old time stamps, or videos, to see if anyone had it available. Maybe ask your mom. She was there.

Bryan McAnulty [00:26:05]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leah McCloud [00:26:05]:

If not, usually, energy type stays consistent through the day, and that's the most important piece. But, yeah, you do want that exact time. There are layers in the human design system that are changed by the minute. So, those are like there's a whole layer into health, which is on digestion, environments that you thrive in, how you view

Bryan McAnulty [00:26:24]:

the world. That's interesting. So I haven't personally, like, heard of human design or anything really before, but, I am familiar with, like, a bit of Chinese astrology. And I think one of the things that, western culture doesn't really know is, like, the time that you're actually born is super important. Mhmm. And so my wife's from Hong Kong. And in in Hong Kong, like, I've gone to the the doctors there where, like, they go, like, to college for this and they they open up the book and they need to know the exact time because that can actually completely change everything. So if if you're looking at horoscopes and stuff like that, but it doesn't, like, align with you maybe, then probably, like, the time is important as well.

Bryan McAnulty [00:27:08]:

Yeah. But, yeah, I found that was very interesting that, they actually use the exact time like that too.

Leah McCloud [00:27:14]:

Yeah. It's so important, and there's science behind it too. So it's called imprinting. So the second you exit your mother's body when you're born, there's something called neutrinos. This is a scientifically proven concept. There's a video I love on it. If you type in neutrinos into, YouTube, there's a discovery I think it's discover I think it might be discovery channel. It's I can send it to you if you wanna attach it and show notes, but it's a really great video that explains the science of how neutrinos work.

Leah McCloud [00:27:41]:

It's basically a percentage of an atom, but, neutrinos are basically pieces of light that are everywhere. There's billions going through just your thumb right now. And essentially when we're born, when we exit, like we have an imprint that happens from the neutrinos that come primarily from the sun. 70% actually comes from the sun. But, also, we know that there's neutrinos coming from all other planets as well. So that's why there's this whole other layer of your chart in astrology specifically. And this is applies to human design, which is, you know, where the moon is or where your, you know, Mercury and Venus and all those other things. So, like, there's we have different layers of how those were.

Leah McCloud [00:28:20]:

So, like, 30% of our chart falls into from these other planets, but 70% comes from the sun. That's why your sun sign falls into whether you are a Scorpio, Libra, you know, Sagittarius, whatever. In human design, we don't work with it that way. We work with something called gates, which are gifts, and each person has 26 different gifts that they carry. So and each of these are like your if you're really creative, if you are someone who is, is really good at telling stories, if you're a really great listener, if you're, someone who gets lots of visions, if you have an inner knowing, if you have really strong, mastery or really good at, becoming talented at things that you do. So all different skills that we look at. There's 64 in total. Each person has 26, and some will be more conscious to people.

Leah McCloud [00:29:08]:

Some will be more unconscious. So when I look at a chart, of course, there's, like, the beginning piece that I talked about, but I can get as deep into, like, what are the gifts that you carry? Which ones are consistent in you? What's your personality type? There's 12 different personalities. A lot of people think energy types of personality, but it's not. It's, it's called profile in human design. Yeah. Yeah. And then I mentioned it gets as far deep into, like, how you digest food and information. Are you more receptive?

Bryan McAnulty [00:29:34]:

Are you I can tell it gets pretty deep. So Yeah. For for those watching and listening, whether or not, like, you, are are getting into this part or not, I'm sure you're probably curious, like, well, what does what does, like, the delivery look like for your business? Like, what do you offer your clients in general? I know there's, like, there's readings, coaching programs. Could you walk us through maybe, like, what is the typical, like, client experience or, like, the products that you would sell them directly?

Leah McCloud [00:30:03]:

Yep. So I have a very kind of strong funnel, I would say, with my business. So the first thing is people find me, which I have a podcast as well. It's in the top 100 for spirituality. And, it well, frequently, it kind of you know, they change if you're into podcast. You know, it kinda changes by the week, but I'm frequently in there. And it's a human design podcast, but I also talk about spirituality if you're interested. So people find me there, Instagram, I've got a pretty large audience of, over 30,000 people there.

Leah McCloud [00:30:32]:

So those are the 2 places that people find me. And so from there, I've got lots of free content again on my podcast. On my Instagram, I share lots of educational content related to human design. And the second thing that people usually go to from there is something called the human design guide book, which is a, PDF guide that I sell. It's personalized to you. So if you would like to learn about all the ins and outs of your human design system or your human design chart, I would be happy to offer your community a discount code, of we'll we'll put it together, and you can put it down below. But I'm thinking, like, heights would be great, to get 15% off. But it's basically a guide book.

Leah McCloud [00:31:11]:

And, again, it's personalized, so you put in your birth information, and I hand put those together, and they're over a 100 pages. Designed to be like a coffee table book. So if you print it out or I know lots of people keep it on their desk when they're making business decisions. People kind of reference it in all sorts of ways. So that's where people usually go first. The second thing is they'll schedule a session with me. I currently am not doing sessions because I'm now teaching human design and I'll get into that in a second. But so they go from there to booking a session, which to book a session with me is around $400 But if you do the guide book, it's, dollars 77 So that's kind of like the jump.

Leah McCloud [00:31:51]:

And then from there, people will get into the different programs that I have. So right now I'm teaching people how to master their design or learn the ins and outs of the system and to become human design readers. So that's about a $2,000 to be a part of that program. And then I've got some smaller things in between. Like I have a necklace line, that I also sell and I have, some digital products that I sell as well, and I'll be expanding things quite a bit. So I'm basically going to be offering here soon, little bite sized videos that you can buy to learn more about your human design. I'm also creating I'm building an app. I mentioned that I used to work in tech and run a development team, so I'm building an app.

Leah McCloud [00:32:31]:

I figured I may as well take my skill set in that realm and put it into human design. So that's a big piece of what I have going on as well. And all of the people actually, tomorrow is the last day of this intensive program that I've been teaching of, I have around 46 women moving through it that are becoming human design readers, and they are, going to be taking, like, a quiz and an assessment to become readers under my program. So I mentioned I'm no longer doing readings, because I will be having them available under my business to that you can schedule readings with them. And they'll be ranging from anywhere from, like, $60 to, like, $200. So a lot more, affordable sessions that you could do with them. So

Bryan McAnulty [00:33:16]:

Yeah. Yeah. That's a pretty, like, quick expansion for it's been, like, 3 years since you started this and now you've got this whole funnel and and all this process. So that's great. What stood out to me was that the podcast being such a great acquisition channel. And, I mean, it makes sense if it's a top 100 podcast. I'm curious though, is there anything you would recommend to those out there who either have a podcast or want to start a podcast to kinda start growing it? Because I know, like, for us it took about a year before we really started getting any attention on the podcast. And I think, like, podcasts compared to social media like, social media, you have the chance to, like, more quickly just get found and get one post to get really popular.

Bryan McAnulty [00:33:59]:

Podcasts, like, discoverability is a little bit tougher. So I'm curious. Do you have any recommendations for that?

Leah McCloud [00:34:05]:

Yeah. Well, I will say I am in the kind of, niche of human design, which is still really new. So I think people are just dying to learn more. So I will say I feel like a lot of my success just simply came because it's a a niche topic. I also had around 20,000 followers at the time, and I have an email list of around, like, 13,000 people. And at the time, I think I had probably, like, 7,000 on my email list. So I think those both have really big ties to my podcast being successful. Now having a successful podcast, I feel like it's something I'm still learning.

Leah McCloud [00:34:40]:

I personally I know this isn't for everyone. I think podcasting is really easy. I think that a lot of people are like, oh my gosh. It's already a podcast. It can get really hard. Like, I find it to be relatively simple. Even I don't edit my own podcast, but even, like, the ones that I have have edited, it's hasn't been I don't find it super challenging, but I think if you just talk and, you don't, if you're not overthinking it all the time, it usually just just put something out there. You can't start unless you learn.

Leah McCloud [00:35:07]:

So, I will say one of the things that I did when I launched my podcast, I actually I hired a PR company. So, that was really helpful with my podcast at the start because they helped me come up with ways to get people to listen and to get ratings. And this was, like, the best advice I ever heard. And even Brian, I don't know where your podcast ranks, but this could also be something that you could even use, was that when I launched, there was I did a giveaway. And, obviously, I do human design readings, and people wanna win that. So, I mean, whatever you you do in your business, do a giveaway of something. And so the giveaway was if you rate and review my podcast by the end of like, it was, like, a week after it launched, you got entered to win. You got a bonus if you shared it on social media and tag me.

Leah McCloud [00:35:58]:

You got a bonus entry into this contest. And so, yeah, I had tons of reviews just in that 1st week. And so I think that really helped. Like, I hit, like, top 20 in the US for spirituality in the first week. And I think it was just simply because of the reviews and the amount of people listening. So I think that was just a really helpful tool. I didn't know that podcast, like, it mattered when you launched it and did that. So if you can do some sort of giveaway around your reviews, I think that's always a really great thing to do.

Leah McCloud [00:36:29]:

I haven't done one since, but maybe I should now that I'm saying it.

Bryan McAnulty [00:36:32]:

Yeah. Yeah. It's a great point. Yeah. We we did a review at Bell last year, about a year ago, and it was pretty helpful in getting those reviews and everything. And since then, now we're every single day people are pitching us and asking to be on the podcast and things like that because they go and see and see, wow, all these reviews and everything. And so, yeah, I think that is it is a a good strategy and it's one that it really doesn't cost that much money compared to, like, dumping a bunch of money in ads and other things like that. So, yeah, it's great advice.

Leah McCloud [00:37:03]:

And I don't make any money off my podcast either. I don't do advertisements. I'd love to. I just haven't it's not been something that's felt right for me right now. But I will say what's been really helpful, and this was something that got me to even do a podcast because you're feeling like it's saturated. Like, you were saying, you know, it's hard to get traction. Here's the thing. Like, if they're spending an hour with you, you know, every week, and they wanna hear your voice.

Leah McCloud [00:37:31]:

So they know a lot about you, a lot about what's going on in your life. At least I I talk about my life on my podcast here and there. So it's like, these are people who really care about you. And so I find I get any return that I invest in my podcast through my programs, because those people end up buying one of my guidebooks, scheduling a session with me, you know, being, like, a super great follower on my social media or, you know, investing in one of my programs. So I find that, like, almost everyone that's in my current program of 46 women, all of them listen to my podcast. And that's only 46 people out of, you know, billions of people in the world, but that program's $2,000. So do the math. Like so it's a really great way just to get people into your world even if you feel like, okay.

Leah McCloud [00:38:15]:

You don't have to be Joe Rogan or call her daddy or anything. Like, you can be anyone.

Bryan McAnulty [00:38:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. That's excellent advice. Alright. Well, one more question for you, and that is that on the show, I like to have every guest ask a question to the audience. So if you could ask our audience anything, whether something you're curious about, something you kind of want people to think about, what would that be?

Leah McCloud [00:38:37]:

Yeah. So, you know, I had one that I thought I was gonna say at the beginning. We discussed this prior, but a question that came up as we've been talking is and this is a question for everyone listening that I think I want them to take away is, what is your intuition telling you that you are ignoring? And what would it look like what would it look like to not ignore what your intuition is telling you? And if you could just try that on, like, what would happen? Right? What are you maybe think about what you're afraid of, but overall, just, like, what is your intuition saying, and what are you avoiding or ignoring?

Bryan McAnulty [00:39:16]:

Awesome. Alright. And then, Leah, before we get going, where else can people find you online?

Leah McCloud [00:39:21]:

Yeah. So my website's the design of you.com. My Instagram is the design of you. My podcast is the design of you. Everything's the design of you. Yeah. And if you wanna learn more, shoot me a DM. I'll also, share with Brian a code for you guys to get a discount on booking, or getting a guidebook or booking a session.

Leah McCloud [00:39:40]:

And I would love to meet more of you. And if you'd like to learn about human design, there's lots of resources as well just for free that I offer that I mentioned. So yeah.

Bryan McAnulty [00:39:51]:

Alright. Great. Thanks so much.

Leah McCloud [00:39:53]:

You're welcome. Thank you.