As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times,” we had the pleasure of interviewing Brandy Knight.
Brandy Knight is the CEO of Inner Caulling LLC and an international best-selling author with her contribution to Legacy Speaks. She is currently a certified practitioner in modalities such as NLP, EFT, Hypnotherapy, Law of Attraction, and Kundalini Yogic Science and Technology. The driving force behind her work is to powerfully guide others through emotional release and liberation, accountability, and the highest form of creativity. She weaves her profound sensory acuity into each session to truly give a personalized experience for each client. When not tending to her business, she is loving up her baby girl and soaking in all that mama nature has to offer. Please visit her website INNER CAULLING LLC to get to know her more and see if working together might be a match.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I was born and raised in the Bay Area of California and spent much of my youth talking to nature and classically training in ballet. Dwelling in the ethers was natural for me. I came to this planet with some pretty cool gifts and it took quite a while to figure out how to utilize them on this physical plane.
I was pretty wild as a teen and in my 20’s. Punk rock riot girl through and through! If it smelled like rebellion I wanted in! Taking risks and letting myself be seen in wild ways felt like growth to me from a very early age and not much has changed about that since. What has changed is my relationship with letting myself feel and express emotions. I have also learned that there is such a huge difference between letting myself be seen for who I genuinely am vs. attention-seeking behavior.
I was a hairstylist for my first career. I spent a lot of time during those days styling hair for dancers in a world-famous strip club. What a wild ride! I learned so much about self-worth, net worth, and what kind of energies and emotions can drive people when money is on the line. That is when I started to see how important a healthy relationship with self is and what can happen when we don’t have it.
It became clear during those years that I came to this planet to guide myself and others through the journey of liberation and awakening. I studied a variety of different life coaching, alchemical technologies, and energetic modalities to lay the foundation for professionally holding space for people while they wake up! So here I am now in full adventure mode running a business and having a cute little family that continues to learn and grow with each breath. This life is truly amazing!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Oh man I went through some funny incarnations on this path. I’d say the one I learned the most from in the beginning was trying to help people because I thought they needed help! Holy crap was this approach exhausting. Not to mention a total overstep on my part. I would do my best to drag people to the healing waters all sweaty and weird. Sometimes we would get to the water but then those ding dongs wouldn’t drink! What the hell?! Ha!
Ok so yeah, lesson learned. I do not ever approach people with session work as it being something they need. A huge piece to this work is recognizing when we are ready to show up to the process and then commit to it for ourselves. That’s just not a process that we can talk another person into and have it work long-term.
This can be applied directly to anything sales. Get solid on your product and or service, allow it to be seen from an educational foundation, then sit back and watch the rest unfold. Let your clients come to you when they are in a yes space. If you have put the work in to become a vibrational match to your ideal yes clients, they will find you! No more “sweating to oldies” (dating myself with that one) while dragging people to the water.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
There have been a few teachers along the way for sure and the one I would love to highlight is Guru Jagat. When one is lucky enough to find a true teacher it is hard to describe the relationship and the infinite wisdom they help you tap into. Yes, she taught me Kundalini Yoga but it goes way beyond that. To me, she embodied the essence of unapologetic living. I have been a long-time member of The Aquarian Woman’s Leadership Society, a group she formed to propel the feminine into 5d and beyond. This, in addition to all of her other magical creations, is her Legacy.
Through her embodied teachings I now have an eternal guide to show me how to ramp up my power projections in healthy ways that get shit done. No more weird female relationships of tiptoeing and competition. Just straight up real deal co-creation. This has played a huge role in how I show up to my clients, my content creation, and my life in general. Now that Guru Jagat has passed on as of August 1st, 2021, she visits me to continue her teachings in the subtle realms. Even in the moment of writing this, I feel her presence.
I am dedicated to carrying on her Legacy by embodying my own. With infinite love, I cherish my teacher and all of her hilarity. She is forever my favorite stickler. Keep an eye out for The Aquarian Woman’s Leadership Society coming in hot through a timeline near you!
Extensive research suggests that “purpose-driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?
The driving force, or vision, behind Inner Caulling LLC, is to awaken the dormant truth within. So many of us have been conditioned and straight-up brainwashed out of a healthy relationship with ourselves. I am here to uproot and reframe from the ground up so we can gain power from all that we have experienced and all that we are.
This power comes from responsible emotional expression and accountability. Responsible emotional expression looks like proactive daily exercises to move out backlogged emotions. Accountability looks like, everything that I have witnessed and experienced in my life I have called in so I can learn and grow. Through these practices, we can truly change the frequency of the planet and our existence.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?
My business is one where sometimes I have a team and sometimes I don’t. What I have learned that is so helpful is to hold regular check-ins with yourself and your team. Every group or team meeting that I hold starts with everyone closing their eyes, taking at least three long deep breaths, and some light stretching. Since I run a Life Coaching, Healing Arts and Kundalini Yoga practice my check-ins are usually interwoven with meditation and other alchemical practices. My methods may or may not be a match for everyone’s business.
I have had some of what I then called “failed groups” or teams over the years. I spent a lot of energy digging deep and taking accountability about where I ignored red flags and instead leaned into wishful thinking. I also really dove deep into strengthening my central nervous system. I have had moments when group members were pissed at me because I was very bold and blunt and transparent. A strong nervous system is a must to not let that kind of opposing pressure knock you down.
A fully transparent leader can be challenging on a team if the team members, including the leader, are not dialed into showing up at that capacity. So in the end these groups fizzled and fell to the waste side. What I thought then were failers on my part was the natural shedding process that occurs in all cycles of life. I saw clearly that it was not my bold approach that messed things up, it was my wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is fear-based and ends up showing itself in controlling behavior. I wanted these groups to be something they were not. Instead of allowing the shedding process to happen as soon as the indications presented themselves, I held on too tight, and through wishful thinking, I tried to make the groups into something they were ever intended to be.
I have now completely removed the word “fail” from my life. So powerful! When things seem to fall apart such as a team I now see it as the natural evolution of the business. That can be a wild concept for a lot of us. Complex times are not the time to force things to work. It is the time to be bold, blunt, and transparent and to encourage your team to be the same. Put the business stuff aside for a moment and check in on some real levels with your team. This is a great time to bring in some high vibe practices like emotional release work, breath direction, and sound and movement therapies. This is the type of self-awareness we are heading into in the Aquarian Age and businesses across the board will most likely greatly benefit from these types of routine check-ins. I know my business has. As a leader, when it is time to share with your team, be honest. The best gift we can give to others and ourselves is honesty. It doesn’t mean you need to share every detail, but it can mean that you share that sometimes you are stressed and check-ins like this help you. A next step could be to ask your team for the heart-driven creative ideas that they would like to bring to the table. In my business, this has been huge in ramping up creativity and manifestation.
These reframed approaches can be complete game-changers on how a team or group functions and what can be achieved even during the most complex times.
Consider for a moment letting it all die and letting it all be reborn.
Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?
Boy oh boy, have I considered giving up at times. These were times where I had work to do with strengthening my nervous system. Chances are if you are reading this, you are a mega boss babe. When you have created that type of experience for yourself you must have your nervous system in check. My work involves real deal come to Jesus transformational moments with my clients. I never bullshit and I have a point-blank approach. Sometimes people are addicted to suffering and are not ready, even when they say they are, to grow and change. Often in those moments, those people will blame the messenger, so to speak, and that can be a lot to handle in leadership.
Motivation is a naughty word for me. Motivation tends to look like over-extending and draining energetic resources to drag others to the water and so on. This is the outside-in approach. Inspiration is from the inside out. That is the name of the game. When we can create inspiration within ourselves and let it shine, that shit is contagious and requires very little effort after a while.
My commitment to legacy keeps me going. I know how important my work is and how good I am at it. I have tapped into my path and purpose and I make damn sure that my intended imprint will be etched into this planet’s frequency after I leave it.
To replenish the energetic resources I need to sustain this work I have a dedicated daily Kundalini Yoga practice. I start and end my day with it. Anyone who holds massive power needs to have a practice that they are committed to showing up to. It lays the foundation for success. Without it, success will not be sustainable.
I also make sure I am in receiving mode. As a space holder and leader, it is super important for me to have another professional hold space for me. All leaders could greatly benefit from adopting this into how they run their business.
What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
Be the living guide. Walk the talk and offer honest support. Just being there for your team in a real human-to-human way can make all the difference. No need to fix anything, solve anything or make weird promises. Just be there and show up transparently. We are here to go through these complex times. It is literally how we learn and grow. Share with your team your growth experiences and what you are learning and ask them to share the same.
When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?
Inspiration is key. Many people may not realize that inspiration is an energetic resource that we can create within ourselves. There are a variety of modalities that incorporate breath work, movement and focus to shift and create things. A dedicated daily self-strengthening practice at the beginning of each day seven days a week is, in my opinion, a must. Practices like Kundalini Yoga, mantra chanting, martial arts, and meditation are all beautiful examples of such sacred rituals to commit to. Its also so important to understand Universal Laws such as the Law of Attraction and the Law of Polarity. Nothing at all is ever certain as far as specific details go and how they will show up on the physical plane. Not knowing how things will unfold can be such a powerful space to be in. It presents you with an opportunity to redefine what is important and how to hold new standards. A team wants to see a leader being honest and taking creative risks. A team wants to see a leader have consistency. A team wants a leader they respect so they can learn how to further live with integrity.
What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?
Whether you are starting with a new team or re-establishing yourself as leading with your current team, get blunt. For example, I tell all of my clients in all stages of our work together that I talk like a sailor and I don’t ever bullshit. This sets the tone so the client or team members can decide whether or not this approach works for them or not. Stay strong, do not change your approach to people please. Weave genuine love into everything you say and do as a leader. When shit hits the fan and there is difficult news to deliver, get dialed in before you deliver it. A few minutes of breathwork can do the trick. Scream in a pillow, do some pushups anything that helps reorganize your system in a healthy way. Physically move the stress out of your body. This will help you stay steady with your delivery. We grow the most when we are uncomfortable so show up to it with a tall spine. So if the news you need to communicate is to end a relationship, remember that all parties involved have been invited to upgrade themselves, minds, bodies, and spirits, through this shared experience. Let it flow and let it go.
How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?
I’d love to invite us all to ditch the plans and set goals instead.
Plans are ego constructs that are usually put into place so we can subconsciously keep our addictions to stress and complaining. Instead set goals that look like “what do I want to feel and experience six months from now”. Then ask yourself, while keeping the Law of Attraction in mind, “if I create my future from my now moments, how often do I feel and experience right now what I want to feel and experience more of in six months”. Then get real with what your life looks like and how you spend your time and energy. See how you can shift to create your future from your now.
This is such a fun concept to bring to a team. Invite them to do this exercise with you. Share and express together. It can be such a beautiful and powerful thing to do as a group.
Get solid through visualization about what your want to experience in the future and see how your team can create that now. For example, if you want to have more clarity in the future, you can make a list of things that you know for sure right now. “I know for sure that this is a computer I am typing on. I know for sure that’s a tree I see out of the window”. Carve out time every day to do this with each goal you and your team have set and watch how things can shift.
Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?
Love. You must have a love for what you spend most of your focus on during your days. That’s not to say that it’s always going to be happy heartwarming times. It does however mean that leaders should be checking in with themselves and their team to make sure people are passionate and tapped into to love while doing what they are doing. If everyone is, awesome! If not, that’s ok! That gives you, as the leader, and your team a chance to make some changes and either create a loving experience or go find it elsewhere.
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
Ditch the discount and offer a payment plan instead. This is a lesson for me as well. Your clients need to have skin in the game to have a high vibe energy exchange. Be upfront about the costs and deliver them unapologetically. Don’t wait until the end to announce the price. When we wait till the end often it drops the energy at the end of the pitch of whatever you are promoting. Start strong. For example “Hey y’all check out what $3000 gets you! Let’s party!”
Do it for the energy exchange not for the money. This might sound a bit counterintuitive, however, when you are really in alignment and passionate about what you are doing you will never “work” a day in your life for money. When we can rewire our relationship with money it can become a nonissue. So do what you need to do to get passionate and only put products and services out there that you would participate in readily as a client.
Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
First off I would invite us all to get rid of words like difficult, stability, and turbulent, and replace them with words like complex, sustainable, and interesting. Our language and sound hold sacred codes of manifestations so word choice is so powerful. Creating new business and increasing profits is considered an upgrade. If we want to experience the upgrade we must create it within ourselves first. Ramp up your morning practice and get your team on a morning practice. Take a new course, watch a documentary and learn something new. Go out and do something new or go somewhere you have never been before. You must create and embody the new energy to attract it. Regroup, reorganize, launch.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.
Ok so real talk. If I die tomorrow what will be left behind? This is a question we all need to ask ourselves. So many people on the planet have no idea how to express their emotions responsibly and that affects every area of life including Legacy!
Legacy is the reason why we are here and why we run a business. Legacy is the imprint that is left behind after we die. Some fade away quickly, some last lifetimes, some are fear-based and others are love-based. Take a moment right now to let the reality of what your impact is looking like. Is it what you want and is it why you’re here?
Number one set the foundation. Adult size temper tantrums are not a good look. Navigating how to feel and express emotions responsibly is a game changer! Do you experience shame when it comes to expressing your emotions? Do you shove your feelings down in moments where you think it might not be appropriate to cry so you can process whatever it is later? Enough is enough with all that. Most of us are stuffed to the gills with backlogged emotions that try to escape once a trigger opens up the flood gates and they see the light at the end of the tunnel and start to rush out like a full-blown hostage situation. This is called a temper tantrum. I’d love to invite you to place one or both hands over your heart. Take a deep breath and hum on your exhale. Feel the vibration in your hands that is coming from your chest. That vibration is reorganizing your system and releasing tension. I’d also like to invite you to grab a pillow, take a deep breath and scream like you’re being chased in the woods by a hungry bear. The bigger the sound the bigger the shift. When you’re done screaming give yourself a huge hug. Inhale deep, stretch your arms open like you’re about to hug the sky, and then exhale with whatever organic noise feels like a yes at that moment. Consider doing these two exercises in a time and place either when shit is hitting the fan, or to help prevent a tantrum before shit hits the fan. When you are in a leadership position, shit WILL hit the fan so now is the time to upgrade your energy and emotional bodies so you can learn and grow from those complex times instead of collapsing under pressure.
Second, choose your tools with wisdom. Did you know that being constantly busy can be a trauma response so let’s slow the fuck down and see what’s available to us when we are in the now moment? Get honest, is your self-identity attached to your productivity? Do you experience anxiety or other interesting feelings when you are still and quiet? Do you repeat a narrative that you are overwhelmed and don’t have enough time? If so I’d love to invite you to again please place one or both hands over your heart, inhale deeply and exhale with a hum and feel the vibration run through you. That vibration is you. You are energetic vibrational frequency and human life is one of the densest forms of that vibration. Your actions are either driven by a zombie-like people-pleasing force that you got possessed with by a trauma response or an awakened force of creation. You are not what you do, you are what you are. I know that can be complex to sit with for some of us. All-powerful leaders, both sinister or benevolent, have a type of practice that allows them to tap into a beyond human frequency, and to do that you must be still in a now moment. Think of the flow or zone that a great artist or athlete gets into. Chances are that if you are reading this, you are wanting to be a high vibe, driven by a love-type leader, and for you, it is even more important to get okay with being still. Upgrade yourself and be you, so you can make damn sure that the vibrations that are available to you, that you tap into, serve your highest good.
Third, what we focus on long enough will manifest so having command over what we give our attention to is so important. We have been nurtured into victim mode for centuries. If the people are scared they can be controlled. Such old news. We all have the power to take back command over how we focus and what we focus on. As you develop a commitment to your self-practice of responsible emotional expression, being still and getting to know your vibrational codes of creation, focus, and thought command will fall right into place. Ok, let’s say you want more money. Money falls under the abundance category. I’d love to invite you to play with this abundance game I developed and see how you have been focused. Let’s say you are at the grocery store and the person bagging your groceries asks you if you would like to help out to your car. How would you answer? Most would say no thank you because you feel you don’t need help. Your job is to now say “yes please thank you so much”. Here’s why. You were asked if you would like help. Vibration translation is, would you like abundance, and you said no and pushed it away because you focused in a way that your subconscious heard the word need when it was actually like. Wild right? Before we can even get to the money, we have to redefine our relationship with co-creating with others, recognized the gifts of the universe, and shift our focus from lack to love. Whenever you allow yourself to desire, to say yes, and consume information that feels good and supportive to your entire being then you start to become the vibrational match to the abundance that you are allowing yourself to desire from a place of love. Some mantras that can help are “I get to say yes” “I like having help”. Please note that when playing this game there is a vast difference between feeling awkward accepting help vs some real deal stranger danger red flags. Always trust your instincts.
Fourth, we live on a polarity planet people so attempting to get everyone to agree or do the same thing is a futile effort. Where there is control there is fear. Things are not designed to be smooth sailing here on this planet. There is a natural positive-negative balance that occurs here. The trick is to set a solid foundation to neutralize fear-based beliefs and behaviors, redirect that energy into love-centered creativity and lead the way from there. When we do we not only honor and respect each other’s differences but when learn and expand from them as well. We start to look forward to connecting with others instead of anticipating how to control them. We drain so much energy from ourselves trying to control others, especially in a leadership role. I’d love to invite you to take a moment and ask your heart why you do what you do. This is something I revisit often. Come up with a short simple answer. Now please close your eyes take a deep breath and repeat your answer. What is the essence of your why? Is it excitement, clarity, courage? Next, come up with three to five bullet point standards you are willing to hold yourself and your team up to. The next step could be to write down three to five bullet points of what your team members can expect and what not to expect. When we create the container in this way we make things very clear. When we are clear, we call in people places, and things that serve our highest and best. So when you gather a team that meets all the standards as a reflection of you meeting your standards that is a reason to celebrate. When you attract a team member that might not be holding the standards you set it is a reflection for you to say “thank you and no thank you” because you understand how shit flows on this polarity planet. No need to control, convince or motivate your team into meeting the standards list you have created from your heart’s desire. Now there is no more false need to lead with fear now that you have a wonderful relationship with emotional expression, understanding your vibrational creation codes, letting yourself soak up all the wisdom from those still now moments not needing to people please any longer, letting yourself receive all aspects of the desired abundance be you can and tapping into the essence of why you do what you do from your heart.
Finally number five! Mind your own business! There is no need to compare because there is no competition. We are quite simply the vehicles for creative energy. It moves to us and through us. When we spend our time-consuming stuff on social media or the news leveraging how we are or are not doing better or worse, by comparison, we close ourselves off from that creative flow of energy. After a while of being closed off that energy will go elsewhere. You probably have experienced having a golden nugget idea, sitting on it for a while, lose steam when it comes to follow-through, and a few months later see someone else launching the same thing you came up with. Well, these ideas are not ours. None of our ideas are in a sense. Our minds are like radios picking up on different radio stations depending on how we are tuned in. If you are tuned in to focusing on what other people are doing, comparing and competing changes are you are going to receive thought transmissions that will lead to lackluster creations that are short-lived. Soon Law of Attraction gets a hold of whatever energy you’re running and here come all the experiences that offer you a mirror’s reflection of how far your head is up your ass when you’re too busy checking out other people’s shit. Or, your can mind your own business, follow and expand upon the other four points stated above and celebrate that you are here on this planet with a mission that is far beyond your business. You are here to help propel mankind by propelling yourself. You are here to remember that you are in command of your manifestation. You are here to inspire others by setting the example of what high vibe leadership is. You are here to imprint this time and space with your Legacy. Make it a good one.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I can still hear Guru Jagat’s snarky delivery which I love so much “You bought the ticket so enjoy the ride”. I mean right? Here’s the thing, and this goes beyond business, we chose this life and it is a privilege that we are here on this planet as a human. We can stay asleep to our power of creation, play the victim and leave an imprint of fear and addition to old beliefs and behaviors as our Legacy. Or we can wake the fuck up, realize that we are here on a mission to learn and grow, let ourselves feel and express and become a vibrational match in each now moment so we can attract experiences that fulfill our mission on this planet in all aspects of life, especially business.
I kinda kept waiting for a sign to let myself get bigger and be seen. Waiting for some outside validation to signal the green light. When I heard Guru Jagat say those words it was like the most hilarious slap across the face to wake up. I AM THE SIGN. My incarnation is the sign. I can either complain about what I created for myself and hope that by some power outside of me it changes, or I can buckle up, pop the damn popcorn and grow as much as I can.
So now I have turned each day into an adventure. Just by using the word adventure, it has a dramatic impact on all the systems of the human experience. I ask myself daily “how can I have the most fun today” and it truly helps me make that choice of how and what I call into my life. I am definitely enjoying the ride.
How can our readers further follow your work?
I absolutely love connecting with community. I do things a bit differently with how I run my business. If you hop on my website you will find links to my social media, my publications, and my contact info. If you reach out to me I will respond as fast as a homeschooling mom-lifer entrepreneur can. If you are interested in working with me I like to set up a complimentary video call hang out sesh to get to know each other a bit and see if working together serves both of our highest and best. This goes for one on one adventures and group experiences. I’d love to hear from you all if it feels like a yes for you!
