Feminine Success Metrics with Stéphanie Virchaux - EP 046

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There’s a shift happening in how we define success, especially for women who are leading with heart. In this episode, I sit down with Stéphanie Virchaux to explore what it really means to redefine success through a feminine lens. We talk about the powerful shift from corporate life to coaching, and how hustle culture can sometimes work against our natural rhythm. Stéphanie introduces us to her eight feminine wealth metrics, showing how joy, balance, and self-worth can be the foundation for true, sustainable success. We also talk about the transition from constantly earning to graciously receiving, and how embracing your divine feminine can transform both your business and your life. This is a conversation for heart-centered entrepreneurs who are ready to lead with alignment instead of exhaustion.

Episode Takeaways:

• Success can be defined by alignment, joy, and fulfillment—not just financial gain.
• Leaving corporate can open space for a more values-aligned business path.
• Hustle culture isn’t always compatible with feminine energy.
• Bringing spiritual practices into business can create a deeper impact.
• Money is a tool, not a measure of your worth.
• Sustainable success comes from small, intentional actions.
• Balancing masculine strategy with feminine flow is essential.
• Entrepreneurs are increasingly curious about alternative, soulful ways of working.
• Personal life changes often influence the direction and growth of a business.
• Embracing your divine nature helps create authentic success.

Key Insights:

“We are it. We are the alpha and the omega, it begins and ends with us. We literally bring life into the world. So how do you, as a woman, start to marinate in your own divinity? What helps you get there? Whatever it is for you, do that.” — Stéphanie Virchaux

“All of these aspects of our lives add up to the success metrics when it comes to femininity. It’s taking a minute to slow down and understand the clothes that you are wearing and the way you're talking to your family or your clients, the way that you're brushing your hair and eating and having connections with people, it is all adding to the bank of wealth.” — Stéphanie Virchaux

“When you figure out what your actual success metrics are, there’s a point where you have to reconcile: what does that mean in terms of money? Because we still need to earn a living. What I realized is that money became a way to support my other core principles. One of those is having an impact in the world—and I can’t have the impact I want if I don’t have the financial resources to sustain myself or invest in what matters to me.” — Rachel Anzalone

“I came up in an era where the mentality was ‘sleep when you're dead’—hustle, hustle, hustle. You had to get there faster, better, do more. But for most people, that’s not sustainable, it’s not desirable. As we shift culturally toward a more feminine, aligned way of being, it seems like more and more of that approach is coming to the surface. It’s becoming more of a normal way of operating.” — Rachel Anzalone

Question for Your Reflection:

How do you currently define success, and is that definition truly your own?

Connect with Stephanie: 

• https://www.stephanievirchaux.com/ 
• Instagram: @stephanievirchaux
• Substack: stephanievirchaux
• Joyfully Empowered Podcast
• Feminine Wealth Wheel

Connect With Rachel:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @RachelAnzalone
• Facebook: Rachel.Anzalone
• LinkedIn: RachelAnzalone

 

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Remember: Your pleasure is your power. 💫

 

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Episode Transcript

 

Stéphanie (00:00)

We are it, you know? Like we are it. It's like the alpha and the omega. It begins and it ends with us. Like we literally bring life to the world. So how do you, as a woman, begin to like marinate in your own divinity? You know, like what, right? Like what do you do that gets you there? Like we're talking about the creativity, whatever it is for you, I think it's just like doing that because we are the alpha, we are the omega, and it's really time for us to just like be in that.

 

Rachel Anzalone (01:08)

Hello and welcome to Pleasure and Profits. I'm your host, Rachel Anzalone. And today we're diving into a fascinating conversation about feminine success principles with a truly remarkable guest. Stéphanie Virchaux is a certified Executive Coach, intuitive mentor, and energy alchemist with over 20 years of experience transforming the lives and businesses of visionary leaders.

As the founder of SV Empowerment and creator of The Joy Method, she brings a unique blend of intuition, energy work, and strategic business acumen to everything she does. With a rich background in marketing and communications, developed well shaping iconic global brands, Stéphanie now serves as Chief Wellness Officer for renowned brands while also empowering executives, ambitious entrepreneurs and parents to tap into their inner knowing and to create extraordinary success. 

What makes Stéphanie's approach so powerful is her ability to bridge the corporate and spiritual worlds. As an ICF certified executive coach and leadership facilitator, she combines her extensive corporate experience with her gifts as an intuitive and energy healer to help her clients build their empires with flow, not force.

I loved my conversation with Stéphanie today where we talked about feminine success principles. We talked about our own experience with the pendulum swing from over masculine, over driven, over structured to all the way to the other side. And finally finding the place in the middle that works for both of us and that we help our clients to achieve as well. This was a very fun and lively conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

 

Rachel Anzalone (02:41)

Hello and welcome to Pleasure and Profits. I'm here today with my guest, Stéphanie Virchaux. Welcome, Stéphanie.

 

Stéphanie (02:48)

Hello, hello, Rachel, so good to see you.

 

Rachel Anzalone (02:51)

I'm so excited for our conversation today. I shared with you, I've been researching you, I've been reading your website and your Instagram and checking out some podcast conversations with you. And there's so much alignment and resonance between your work and my own. And yet we're very different people coming from very different backgrounds and living in very different places. 

 

Stéphanie (03:12)

We find each other. We always find each other.

 

Rachel Anzalone (03:17)

Yeah, we do. So I would love to start with you just sharing a little bit about what your journey has been that brought you to where you are, your transition from the corporate world to the intuitive mentoring and energy work that you're doing and coaching. What brought that into your life?

 

Stéphanie (03:32)

I know it's like, so energetically to kind of start the most authentic and vulnerable as we can. My mom passed away when I was a tiny, tiny little baby. So energetically since then, you go through the whole obviously like sadness and grief. And I don't think that's ever something that you fully evolve from, but it's like a constant growth and happy side note, my dad remarried and I always say I have two moms. I have my angel mom and my physical mom.

But with my angel mom, the intuition work started right away, right? Because I think being young, being like, okay, she's not here physically, there must be a way for me to still stay in touch with her and connect with her and get her guidance and all of that. So intuitively and energetic in the angelic realm and spirit world and all of that, it's been literally my whole life. 

From the abundance and sort of like money wealth conversation that definitely started after I left my corporate job. I was in corporate at L'Oreal and really big companies for over 10 years. And you know, you get a paycheck at L'Oreal, it was once a month because it's a French company and they get paid once a month. But regardless, you get paid every two weeks, once a month. And you really, that doesn't really force you or challenge you to look into money or wealth because you're just getting paid. 

But when I started my business, I'm like, wait a minute. There is so much to discover. So that was probably about close to 10 years ago that I started that inner work of wealth and money.

 

Rachel Anzalone (05:00)

And so when you left the corporate world, did you leave to start a coaching practice? Is that your path?

 

Stéphanie (05:17)

Let me tell you, so I was in corporate for almost 12 years. In the last two years in corporate, I was like, something is off. But it was like, I’m making a ton of money. I have great benefits. I work for an awesome company. And like, I have a great title, like all the things. So then you go through the, so what's wrong? What am I missing? What am I not getting? It was like a whole little bit like dark night of the soul. And then I remember it was like very dramatic. It was like January, New York, dark, cold. I called off sick from work.

And then I just landed on my knees and I bawled my eyes out and I'm like, angels, God, universe, whoever is listening, like, I need some help because homegirl is lost and confused and like doesn't know what to do. So I ended up finding coaching, loved coaching. I hired a coach. I ended up deciding to get certified as a coach. I'm giving you like the abbreviated version. And I was still working full time, going to coaching school at nighttime, getting certified.

And then at the end of the year, when I was done with my coaching program, I'm like, that's it. I'm quitting. This is what I'm meant to do. So literally that's what I did, Rachel. I just got a bonus that would cover maybe like four months of my life. Cause I left without a single paying client. And like, you know, almost 10 years later, here we are.

 

Rachel Anzalone (06:33)

That's amazing. 

And I know the answer to this, because I just listened to a conversation you were having on another podcast. Did that first year go the way you thought it was going to go?

 

Stéphanie (06:48)

So money-wise, absolutely not. Like I remember my parents have, they live part-time in Miami. And I had gone to Miami because of course that year I also decided to get married. Like I had got engaged in 2016, so I'm like planning a wedding and starting a business. 2017, I will never forget. But I was going to Miami because I was getting married in Miami and I remember driving with my mom to doing like wedding errands. I'm like, “Mom, I have not been this happy and fulfilled in I don't know how long.”

And like I truly felt it in my heart. I’m like, this, like marketing and brand, branding, sales, marketing, communications, it was great. And I loved it while I was doing it, but you know, you can’t know when the end of a chapter is, but it wasn't the fulfillment that I had ever felt. So fulfilling and energy and like knowing that this is what I'm meant to do with my life, like your Dharma, a thousand percent. 

Financially, I think my first year as a business owner, I made $4,200? Like, literally. So yeah, that's now it's like a multiple six figures business and it took me a while, which we can also talk about that. But yeah, that was my first year.

 

Rachel Anzalone (07:51)

Yeah, I could definitely relate in so many ways to your story, for sure. And I think we should get into that in a little bit, because I think as we started to have this conversation about feminine success metrics, one of the challenges that women, I think like us face is starting a business, leaning into these feminine principles. But then in the business world, particularly in the online business world, there's this huge clash between the way that you're taught how to do things and the principles that you're bringing that are your own beliefs and your philosophies and the things that you're teaching, right? And so we're going to get into that for sure.

 

Stéphanie (08:41)

And I would add even the third layer of the hustle culture. You know, so you have like feminine principles, you have like business building skillsets, and then you are a part of a society that's like for you to be successful, you need to hustle your work through success. So we're working with like a lot of layers that can feel daunting to our feminine energy.

 

Rachel Anzalone (09:06)

Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things I know that you do is like you have this experience in the corporate world and you have this realm of experience and wisdom in the spiritual world and that you're able to marry those two together in a way that allows you to be an executive coach and also do, you know, work with people who aren't executives and not necessarily in corporate, but to be able to marry those worlds together, I think is super interesting.

What do you see in terms of how these approaches complement each other or how those worlds sort of collide in good ways or bad ways?

 

Stéphanie (09:48)

You know, I love, I'm like so receiving what you're saying because it’s still like such a pinch me moment to be like, this is actually what I do. You know, I remember when I, in that first 2017 year, and I'll get to your question, I was talking to one of my friends and I was like, I'm so conflicted because I'm very strategic and I can be very linear in my thinking, like more like as we, you and I would label like masculine energy.

And I'm also like, let me talk to my angels. Let me like do energy healing. Let me do EFT tapping. And I'm like, I don't think that people are gonna take me seriously. You know, like 2017, I had to like hide crystals in my bra because, you know, when I went to work, because people thought that that's weird. And now you buy them at Target or, you know, whatever. And now I love that as I'm talking to people and we're new-ish to each other's world, it's like, yeah, you get it. Like, that's exactly what I do.

And I had a really cool experience about six months ago. I'm working with a founder, male founder of like a $50 million company. And in the middle of our conversation, I'm like, let's stop right now and we're gonna do EFT tapping. And he's like, you know, like he's, I mean, he knows me, he trusts me, he likes me, we've had a good rapport. So he's like, all right, Steph So I'm like, this is the only way we're gonna get to a solution because you're so in your mind right now. Like we love our minds, but we're like our little minds, you know, they can only take us. But so far, I'm like, we're stopping right now. Follow what I'm doing. We're doing EFT tapping. 

Literally, Rachel, within seven minutes, he's like, I am flabbergasted that every time you asked me to do this and I resisted and then we do it, and within seven minutes, our whole conversation, he had a big, big decision to make and it shifted everything immediately. 

To sort of answer your question, I have to be so in alignment before my coaching calls because if there is any sort of like insecurity within me that I'm like, I don't know how they're gonna respond. Because sometimes people still resist. Then sometimes I hold back and I constantly remind myself, no, no, this is the cutting edge. This is what's gonna get them to the results that they want, out of their mind and into their body, which is where we know the true wisdom of success and fulfillment exists. 

I don't know if that happens to you, like.

 

Rachel Anzalone (12:09)

Yeah. Yeah.

It does. And I've done the same sort of dance a little bit when I first started my business in the holistic health world. I was very, very concerned that I would be seen as like woo-woo and not taken seriously. And so first I went down this path of like everything I do has to be science based. 

 

Stéphanie (12:36)

Yes!

 

Rachel Anzalone (12:37)

I need to have the evidence I need to, and then at some point I realized I was doing this thing where I would sit in a session with somebody, I would know exactly what was going on intuitively. And then I would spend hours researching to find the evidence, which is absurd, right? Like completely backwards. 

And when I studied, I studied Reiki and learned to trust that in a much, much better way where I could just sit with someone and say, well, here's what my intuition is telling me, or here's what I'm sensing from this experience, or what I'm hearing that you're saying. And yeah, and that's carried through still to this day. I find myself occasionally, I'm getting better about it, but being intentional about working with people who are open to that.

 

Stéphanie (13:24)

That's the key. People that are open. And I think we grew up, or at least I'll speak for myself, like I grew up in an era where it was like intuition was not as well revered and respected and honored as it is today. So I think there's always like a little Steph who's like, are you sure? I'm like, girl, I've been telling you, but of course we're sure. And I'm kind of reparenting myself, you know, to let her know that, of course we get to trust ourselves, but being in this room, so I'm being like, no, this is the energy that I'm reading and 10 out of 10 times is like, that's exactly how I feel. It's like, yeah, of course that's how you feel because that's, you know, your energy can’t lie.

 

Rachel Anzalone (14:01)

Yeah, for sure. And we get those validations, like the number of times that I've had an intuitive hit about something and then didn't say something and then later on it sort of came to the surface. I'm like, I knew that I knew that. Yeah. 

 

Stéphanie (14:08)

The worst.

Never again.

 

Rachel Anzalone (14:27)

And often I find that happens when I'll get like a read on a person where I feel like something's not right here. Like there's some other ulterior motive going on or there's something. And then, yeah, usually it comes to the surface. I'm like, ah, yep, yep. Yeah. 

 

Stéphanie (14:29)

You're like, yep, thank you intuition.

 

Rachel Anzalone (14:50)

Well, let's get into this conversation about feminine success metrics. Because you mentioned, one of the things that comes up often in the world of entrepreneurship is this sort of hustle culture and the drive or the desire to be “successful” in the ways that we've been taught to be successful, which very often is related to external metrics, right? How big's your audience? What's your engagement? What's the revenue? You know, who, even who are the people that you're in circles with? Who are, you know, who are your friends? Who are your clients? Like, what does that say about you? There are all these sort of external things.

So when we talk about feminine success metrics, what are the first things that come to mind for you that really distinguish that from traditional metrics?

 

Stéphanie (15:27)

So I like to start with asking myself, which also was part of my process in this infamous 2017 year, where what does success mean to me? How do I define success? So you have everything you say that by all intentions could be success to anybody. But as I had such a, just like an eye-opening sort of year, I'm like, okay, I'm super happy and I'm joyful, I'm fulfilled, but like the normal success metrics are not, I'm not checking any of those off, but I feel really good about my life.  And that led me to ask myself like, well, how do I define success? 

And pre 2017, it was very much like financial and title, cause that's really big and corporate, right? You're the director, you're the VP, you're the this, you have this big of a brand. And then a lot of like external things which are still great, but it's like the whole chasing factor you know. And then when I started looking at like what a success mean to me I'm like, well when I feel happy, when I feel fulfilled, when I feel on purpose, when I feel aligned, when I feel like this thing that you can't really quantify it, but you just feel good. You're energized right? Like you hear the birds singing and you're like, this is a beautiful day. Like that to me is success. 

And when I realized that as a business owner, my title could literally change every day because I can call myself.

 

Rachel Anzalone (16:55)

Anything you want to.

 

Stéphanie (16:57)

Literally, whatever I want to, whenever I want to, which feels really fun. And then, you know, money wise, you can really make as much money or as quote unquote little money. Like that can vary. You don't have to wait until your bonus or a promotion. It's not once or twice a year. Then it was such an eye opener to be like, okay, so that's how it started for me. 

And as the years have evolved and I've really focused on that work for my client, then I've sort of put it under the umbrella of like the feminine, feminine wealth, the wheel of feminine wealth. And then there's a few areas underneath there that I, like, I'm happy to share that we start exploring to be like, what does success mean to you? And then you have to start, which is like where EFT tapping comes, which is later down the road, reprogramming your brain, right? To be able to believe that those things actually mean success to you. And not just to say like, being joyful is successful, but you don't really believe it.

And then there's you know, inner conflict within that.

 

Rachel Anzalone (17:59)

Yeah, that's super interesting. I think, tell me if this resonates, that when you figure out what those actual success metrics are for yourself, then there's this place where you have then have to reconcile. So what does that mean in terms of money? Because I also need to earn a living, right? And so I think that what I became aware of was that the money became about being able to support the other principles and to be in one of those principles for me is to be able to have impact in the world, right? And that I can't have the impact that I want to have if I don't have the money to sustain myself or to invest in the things that are important to me. 

And so how do you reconcile that or what have you seen with your clients in terms of them coming to terms with the financial piece and the rest?

 

Stéphanie (18:26)

You know, I think money work will be a forever lifelong and I'm sure you agree with it, right? Like a lifelong teacher. I think that, so my experience and as you were saying that, you know, when you're in it and you don't think there's like a way out, you know, like I've been in it with money where I'm like, I had to cancel my Spotify. So I had like an extra 20 bucks in my account to like.

 

Rachel Anzalone (19:20)

Yeah.

 

Stéphanie (19:21)

You know, do something, you know, take the subway, whatever it was back in the day. 

And then I think back then I'm like, I don't know if I'm ever going to be out of this. And as I was hearing you talk, I'm like, I wish I would have kept and I'm sure if I piece together things, kept a journal because my mindset, my consciousness around money has shifted so much, but we're also tied systematically that money is attached to our worth.

 

Rachel Anzalone (19:47)

Mm-hmm, yes.

 

Stéphanie (19:47)

So it's like the more money you're making, the more worthy you are, because then you can have all these flashy things. And that takes such discipline to be able to dismantle that mentality, to start really distancing yourself from money. Because then the other part of it that I went through as well, it's like, well, the more value I give, the more money I'm going to make. Like maybe, maybe not. That doesn't mean, you know, like we just want to like group money with like worth and value and like free stuff. And it's like, yeah, but I also can't create a business by giving free value all the time. So I don't know. I don't know if I necessarily agree that the more value, the more money you're going to have. Like, you just be good at what you do and you show up for your job and you’re disciplined at what you do and things begin to add up, you know?

 

Rachel Anzalone (20:36)

Yeah, you know, it's really funny hearing you talk about that is that we do have, you know, most of us were raised with this idea that we have to earn every dollar and we show up and we work hard and we should be grateful for what we've been given and, you know, sort of all that mentality, right? 

And so shifting out of that mindset can be challenging, even though if you look around, there are so many examples of people who don't work hard and have lots and lots of money. Who doesn't deliver value and yet somehow the money is there and it comes, right? Like I look at some examples like the, you know, the Fyre Festival. Are you familiar with that, right? So first when I watched the documentary on that and I just thought wild, so many things about it that I was like, yeah, these are all like everything he was doing right up to the point where the thing was an entire, it was a complete failure.

Everything he was doing up to that point, I have seen done in the entrepreneurial space again and again and again, right? Sell it before you build it, make the promise once you have the money, then you can figure out how to deliver it, sort of all these things. And I've seen people sell their story again and again and get the money in. Thankfully, most people actually deliver, right? To some extent. 

But that's a great example of someone who didn't work hard, didn't provide value, and yet the money was flowing in. And in fact, I think that guy is selling a new Fyre Festival and people are investing, right?

 

Stéphanie (22:14)

He is, because he was interviewed a while ago on the Him and Her podcast. And I'm like, dude, this guy like just will not stop. But I have two personal examples. So I gave birth three years ago to the most just delicious little girl.

Rachel Anzalone (22:19)

Congratulations.

 

Stéphanie (22:32)

Thank you.

And when she came, I was like, OK, well, things have to shift in my business because I want to spend time with her. Eventually, she's going to go to school. The first three, four years to me, mean, forever, but the first three, four years are so important as a mom and all the things. So I had to shift my business model to be like, OK, well, how do I work less and still continue growing my business? 

And I was doing my numbers before taxes were due, I guess, like a month ago. And I like tripled my business in 2024. And I probably work like 25-hour weeks, you know, so I have that testament of like, you can work not, not the intensity has stayed the same, Rachel, and if not increase, because I'm like a generator in Human Design, like I am just all in where I'm here. But it's not a matter of like working 80 hour weeks in order to make 80 times the amount. It's like when I'm here, I'm present and I'm all in.

And so that's one part that I can personally testify. And the other thing is I am a big student of Abraham Hicks and right, they talk about that all the time. Like we're not equating the hours to the wealth. We are equating the quality of life, your thoughts, your beliefs in order to create the wealth that you're wanting to create.

 

Rachel Anzalone (23:37)

Yes.

Yeah, that's a great, great example. And it brings to mind, especially the conversation about Abraham Hicks, the idea of receiving versus earning. and certainly that's something that they teach about and talk about. And in terms of when we're talking about feminine energy, the energy of receiving is certainly feminine. 

And so, do you feel like that's one of the things that you really had to shift for yourself, was your mindset around receiving versus earning?

 

Stéphanie (24:23)

You know, when I first discovered, and it might have been through Abraham Hicks, that the energy of money is feminine, I remember that I was like, wait, what? And it's like, no, in this society, we've kind of shoved it into like a very masculine transactional energy. 

The earning versus receiving, yes, yes. That was like a very specific, and it took me a second to like, let me wrap. But I definitely started as the worthy, right? Are my services worthy of me earning this kind of money? Right? 

And simultaneously, I've always been very disciplined of raising my prices year over year. Like, I think I'd heard that when I first started a business, and it really stuck with me. So I'm very disciplined about doing that. But some years, then it began from like earning, am I worthy of this? And should I make this kind of money and all of that? To, I know the magic, in essence that I am bringing to these calls. I know that's life changing and transformational. So I receive all of it, right? The money. I also received like, before we got on a call, you were asking me how my day was. And I'm like, I had a day, you know, full of coaching calls. And as we hear this wonderful siren, I had a day full of coaching calls and I feel so energized by it. 

So the receiving isn't just in the bank account where my client gives me a retainer every month, but just by being in conversation with me and the alignment, the focus that I bring to our calls, your day is automatically improved just like mine, which is side note, I always say I work with clients that I love to work with because I bring like my A plus plus plus game energetically. I'm so squeaky clean energetically when I'm coming to the calls that I want to feel so good when we hang up as much as I want you to feel amazing by the time we hang up. So I think that's all part of the earning and receiving in the wealth.

 

Rachel Anzalone (26:20)

Yeah, I think this idea of receiving as kind of like the opposite of earning, right? Like that there's sort of opposite energies that earning brings to mind for me, like an efforting, like a pushing forward, like a right versus receiving is just allowing and, and getting in you know, as Abraham Hicks talks about vibrational resonance in order to be able to receive, right? It's more about your state of being than it is about what you're doing. 

And it's interesting because I think that as women in particular, we are in our culture, our society, we're sort of trained that to be given something like as a gift to be just handed something maybe doesn't carry the same value. We shouldn't see that as having succeeded. So in terms of success metrics, we might receive something and yet go, yeah, but I didn't earn it. And so we discount it. And I don't know if that's the same for men.

 

Stéphanie (27:25)

Toxic.

No, I don't think it is at all. And as I was hearing you say that I went through a period that I was like healthily obsessing over Cleopatra and how I also think that an obsessing term is like overused and under, you know, oversaturated, but in a healthy way where I was really studying her and reading about her and understanding how she built her empire and how she was a leader you know, back in the day. And she had this perfect balance of, I'm going to take action. I'm going to show up. I'm going to do the thing. And I'm also going to lay down in this beautiful gold bed and all the beautiful things, you know, opulence that she lived around and she allowed herself to receive. 

So I think how do we, the feminine becomes on, you know, we have this gift of just like looking out and being like, wow, that's like a beautiful, I'm like looking at a beautiful tree, or the way the sun's shining, or the way that we get to nurture when we're eating and truly enjoying that. 

And understanding that all of these aspects of our lives add up to the success metrics when it comes to femininity. I think it's taking a minute to slow down and understanding the clothes that you are wearing and the way you're talking to your family or your clients, the way that you're brushing your hair and eating and having connections with people, it is all adding in the bank of wealth, you know?

And financial wealth is one component of feminine wealth, but there's these other components that I always say like everything adds up. You know, it's not gonna be like the one post or the one package or the one contract that's gonna get you to the multimillion.

Rachel Anzalone (29:10)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Stéphanie (29:17)

You know, it's like little tiny actions that also include your vitality and your health and your relationships and your sensuality and your connection with your body that are all gonna add up to whatever final sort of like top of the mountain success you're looking for.

 

Rachel Anzalone (29:28)

Yeah, and it's all those little things that make it sustainable, right? If you had to do all of it at once in order to get from point A to point B, nobody would get there because it would be impossible, right? It's about doing those actions every single day, the small things that add up and add up that in a way that's sustainable over a long period of time, because you might not hit six figures in the first year or the first 10, right? And so just sort of in response to that idea of hustle culture, when I started my business, which was in 2009, I think. Yeah, I think it was 2009.

Stéphanie (30:08)

Amazing. Congratulations, by the way.

 

Rachel Anzalone (30:25)

Thank you. And there have been many iterations of that. I thought I was going to hit six figures the first year. Did not happen. Took me many, many years. Although I do think I made $13,000 the first year. And then there were years where it was like, now I made 30. Okay, great. Now I made, you know, like you get there. 

But I sort of came up in the industry in this era where it was truly like you could sleep when you're dead, like hustle, hustle, hustle. Everybody was hustling. It was like, you got to get there faster. You got to get there better. You got to, you know, and it just is for most people, that's not sustainable and it's not desirable and it doesn't align with a life where you have a baby at home that you want to spend time with or family or other priorities outside of your work. 

And I think that as we shift culturally towards a more feminine, more aligned way of being in the world, that it seems like there's just more and more of that coming to the surface. Like it's becoming more of a normal way of operating. Do you see that?

 

Stéphanie (31:21)

And also a way, yeah, like a way where people are more curious, you know? Like I think if it would have been like, oh I work on average 30 hour days or 30 hour weeks or five hour days, it's like, no, you don't. Where now it's like, tell me more. How does that work? I think there's like a level of curiosity of, OK, I do believe that. Or how does that work? I've never done it before. I didn't think it was possible.

And I think that's the part that for people, if I can speak for you too, it's like, I think for us, us, me of being able to have these conversations. And look, if you want to work 80 hour weeks like Gary V style, and that is your jam, and you feel energized, and you love that, go be you. I don't think my take, and I think for you either, we're not saying don't do that if that's truly a fire and a turn on.

 

Rachel Anzalone (32:02)

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely not.

 

Stéphanie (32:15)

It's just for me, it is not. And maybe when my daughter starts school or in a different season, I'll be like, I'm working 100 hour weeks and I love it. I think it's like the generator in me that can be a workhorse. That's just not the season. And on top of it, it's been nice to know that you can still get results that lead you to a healthy, fulfilling, joyful life, even without a really intense output.

 

Rachel Anzalone (32:39)

Yeah, I think you made a really good point that it's about the curiosity that there are more and more, there's more a tendency, I think, for people to be questioning, why are we doing it this way? And could there be a better way to do this versus, well, this is how everybody's saying to do it. So I guess I have to do that too, right?

 

Stéphanie (32:50)

And like a shame if you're not into like the 100 hour work week.

 

Rachel Anzalone (33:01)

And so much of it, I think, is about questioning and questioning for yourself, because I totally agree with you. There are seasons in people's lives where they feel driven to produce, right? And then there are seasons where that's not the case, and only we can know where we're at at that mix and what's right for us right now. Where we get stuck, I think, is when we don't ask ourselves those questions.

 

Stéphanie (33:17)

Mm-hmm.

Or right, going with the flow, this is the way it's been done, let me continue doing it that way. And for me, think that, I mean, look, giving birth, not everybody's gonna have babies, not everybody wants to have babies, it's just for me, that was such a catalyst in my own life to be like, oh, I don't wanna put her in a daycare that she's there eight to five every day when she's six months. Like I could not fathom leaving my daughter. And there was a part of me that was so grateful that I started my business you know, seven years prior, so I could have that privilege to be like, let me figure out how this works. 

And then in knowing that I didn't want to put her in a daycare all the time, that led me to be like, okay, well, how can I increase my prices? What kind of clients do I want to work with? How does this model actually work? Maybe if I wouldn't have my daughter, I would have continued, which also would have been fine. But when life brings you that experiences, and then the old model is not working, then you get to ask yourself like, what of of this, you know, like how do I continue building and achieving and feeling successful in a way that works for me now.

 

Rachel Anzalone (34:31)

Yeah, I think that's great. I think there are so many examples of women that I know who either having a baby, like getting pregnant or having a baby or having some other life circumstance come up, whether it's caring for an aging parent or a health issue of their own or a health issue of somebody important to them, some circumstance that changed that required them to reassess and figure out how to do it differently. 

And that's what the catalyst was to, for them to find a way to make the same amount of money in less hours or to make more money in the same amount of time or whatever it is, but they needed something to prompt it, right?

 

Stéphanie (35:11)

To be that like, yeah, exactly. Let me like push you a little harder. Let me open you up and let you know like you are fully capable of that next level. I also remember I had a couple of, there's two coaches that they, one of them went to coaching school with me and we've just stayed in touch for like the past 10 years. And like about before I gave birth, we do these like 90-day challenges and we do it within like our mastermind. And it's like, we give it a project name and you want it to be like quirky but short and to the point. 

So for a while my project name was like 100K in 10 hours and initially it was like a play on words of like I want to make a hundred thousand dollars working 10 hour weeks because I thought that would be like the minimum with my daughter and all the things and as it continued to evolve and I still haven't manifested this but as that was passed and surpassed I'm like, what if the day that I make literally $100,000 in less than 10 hours? Because people make 100,000 hours in like 30 minutes, in an hour. Like there's so much. And that's the other thing that Abraham Hicks talks about. There's so much money and there's so much wealth in the world that when you start realizing like the world has always grown and evolved and gotten bigger and more money and more abundance, then you get so excited about the possibilities. And that's one of the things that I feel like I always say like that's the magic that I bring.

When people get caught up in like their little tiny like, but there is not enough money on there. People don't want to hire and their recession and the economy. I don't know. I don't watch the news for better or for worse, but I believe that there is always wealth and there's always opportunity, not just financial wealth, but just to live a truly holistic, wealthy life.

 

Rachel Anzalone (36:55)

Yeah, I agree with you. And I think that so much of what where we are or where we find ourselves when we find ourselves in a place where we feel stuck, it's because we are focused on doing things the way that we've always done them. We're thinking that there's a way this has to be done and not asking those questions and not sometimes not aiming high enough or not shooting big enough.

This is one of the things I see often with women entrepreneurs in particular, a lot of times with women who are getting started in the early days is a focus on just what they think might be possible next. Like, well, I just, was making 50,000 in my job before, so I just want to make 50,000. I just want to get there. And then I just want to get to, and I just want to get to, and I am so over the word just, you know, like.

 

Stéphanie (37:32)

Yes! Remove that!

 

Rachel Anzalone (37:48)

And maybe you haven't done made $100,000 in 10 hours yet, but you probably made way more than you would have if you stayed in the mindset of I have to work 40 hours to make $40,000 or I have to, you know. Yeah.

 

Stéphanie (38:04)

Listen, preach. I taught that's like, preach. I always challenge my clients. Like, where did you come up with that? Why not four times that amount?

 

Rachel Anzalone (38:12)

Yeah! I love that question. Where did you come up with that? Oh my God, I'm stealing that.

 

Stéphanie (38:20)

Because half the time is like, I don't know, isn't that like what we're supposed to do? Isn't that like what I should just like, because my other job or whatever, I'm like, who ever told you that? What about four times that amount? And then in the beginning, they're like, no. And then once we continue the conversation, then it's like, I see what you mean. Maybe I should, you know? And that's when you have like the whole like, quote unquote, unrealistic results.

 

Rachel Anzalone (38:24)

Yeah.

Maybe. Yeah.

 

Stéphanie (38:44)

Because yeah, you have to start with unrealistic goals to achieve unrealistic results. Otherwise, we stay in the same little box of whatever comfortable square you like to live on.

 

Rachel Anzalone (38:56)

Yeah, and I think that's the case for everything. It's anything that you're challenging yourself to do is something that you've never done before, right? And so, yeah.

 

Stéphanie (39:03)

Yes, and also go for it. 

You know what I mean? I think this year I'm such in a mentality of who cares? Ask for the promotion, ask for the bonus, raise your prices. I've had the most wild in the best way possible collaborations because I'm just going send the email. Talking about just, but in the other way, when you're just like, it's just an email, it's just a phone call, it is fine, they don't respond. Nobody cares. They respond. I have an opportunity to do incredible work. Like my work is more important than my fear. You know, so it's like fear. I love you and go to the back of the car, like take a back seat. We'll do some tapping on that later. But like I, I'm on a mission, you know, and like we're, on it.

 

Rachel Anzalone (39:38)

Yeah.

Yeah, that's incredible. So I want to go back. You said, I think you said that there are eight success metrics that you focus on and that you work with people on. Do you want to give us a little overview of what that looks like? Yeah.

 

Stéphanie (40:03)

Yeah, a little hint. So the eight metrics when it comes, I call them like the feminine wealth wheel metrics. So obviously we're going to have finance and financial freedom because we love money and yes, let's bring the money. Then there is creativity and expression, right? And whether you are literally an artist and you want to be painting or you want to do crochet or do your little dots and whatever colors, like the way you wear your makeup, your jewelry, whatever way you want to express yourself.

Then we talk about spirituality. And when I talk about spirituality, it might be a turn off for people, but you can change it to like intuition. Your sixth sense, right? When you're just connecting to something bigger than our little physical bodies. So just a bigger energy than us. Then we have health and vitality, right? And this is something that's such an area of exploration of how are you taking care of your body? What is the energy that you're getting from your body? I always tell my daughter, and it's something that I'm so intentional in programming her beliefs and like you have a healthy body. You know, our bodies want to be healthy. Our bodies want to heal our bodies, you know, they're here for us. So really what is that vitality that you're bringing to your life? 

Personal growth. I think personal growth is such an area of wealth where you're like, I'm learning French or I'm learning how to play the guitar or I'm working with a coach. Like it's just an opportunity to always evolve and allow ourselves to be challenged by life in the best way possible.

We have relationships and connection. And these can be intimate relationships, they can be platonic. But what is your community like, right? Are you like, I ask my clients to always rate one to 10 out of 10 awesome relationships. Everybody, we're good, we're happy. Three, four, I have a ton of arguments with my family. Like there's an opportunity, right, to evolve. 

And then the final is impact. Like what is the impact, whether you are like an Oprah, that you have like schools in Africa and you're funding education for a lot of people, or whether you're somebody like us, that's like, you know, my impact is at my local church, right? My impact is with, you know, taking my daughter and playing with other kids or going to like, you know, picking up, I do this in Central Park a lot, like picking up, you know, plastic or whatever from Central Park and helping with pollution, you know, like. What is the impact, having a podcast, right? Like you're sharing an impact and you're impacting. 

So those are like the eight areas that I think having rating them and then having an understanding, what are your one, two, threes that are like not lower in a negative way, but you feel less fulfilled by and what are like your seven, eight, nine tens that you feel like I'm super wealthy in this area.

 

Rachel Anzalone (42:38)

Yeah.

I love the eight areas and I agree. I think that they're so important, such important factors. And I think one of the things that I feel as you're talking about that, that feels true, I think of a feminine approach to these things is that needs to be some balance in all of them. And I don't like the word balance. There's no world where everything is going to be in perfect equilibrium, right? But if we're all in on one area, and completely neglecting another area, then something's going to collapse. Something's going to fall apart. Something's not going to hold. Something's going to feel even maybe just dissatisfying, right? And so I think that's one of the distinct differences when we look at the masculine versus the feminine is that often the masculine is like we go all in on this one thing and we'll worry about everything else later.

Stéphanie (43:29)

Burnout.

 

Rachel Anzalone (43:39)

Yeah, that's burnout.

That's not a sustainable way to operate. You know, and we were talking about kind of the the hustle culture and the sleep when you're dead and that sort of that approach. It's like, well, maybe you can do that if you have a wife at home who's cooking your meals and taking care of your house, and right?

 
Stéphanie (43:57)

But should get a salary, by the way.

 

Rachel Anzalone (44:04)

Absolutely. But that doesn't work for the majority of women, that doesn't work for the majority of people. Even you, now have conversations with men who've operated that way. Guess what? They're not happy at all. Yeah.

 

Stéphanie (44:12)

At all, like your stress levels are awful, their vitality, their health. And I wholeheartedly agree with you when you talk about the masculine, the feminine, and I often talk about, and I'm exaggerating, but it's like, if you think about like eating and drinking, you know, like masculine and feminine, whatever, you know, drinking water is feminine, eating is masculine. You would never be like, I'll just won't drink water for a few weeks and I'll just eat. Like that's not important. You know what, like it does. It doesn't work. You need them both. 

And I think we've operated mostly on like, I'll just eat and forget about the water. And that leads to literally to all kinds of health problems where obviously it's impossible. Where nowadays we're understanding like you have to drink your water as much as you have to eat your veggies in order to have like holistic, wholesome, fulfilled existence and be happy and not be ridden with all sort of like health implications. 

Also, I love, I am not like on my aura ring. I like have to brag about…

 

Rachel Anzalone (45:08)

I love my aura ring.

Stéphanie (45:10)

Listen, I've had like the highest sleep rating because I'm in bed with my daughter at like 8pm. And it's like the best sleep I've had I think as like an adult. Like I've been sleeping like 9-hour days and I truly wake up I'm like, I'm refreshed and I'm not scrolling obviously because I'm sleeping with her and I'm not about to bring screens into the bed. So I'm sort of like totally leveraging the fact that I bed share with my daughter and she goes to bed early and I go to bed at the same time and notice that like sleep truly will like change your life.

 

Rachel Anzalone (45:46)

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. When I got my aura ring and started paying attention, I realized that, I've been basically sleep deprived my entire life.

Stéphanie (45:53)

It's a... Yes, yes. And now it's like game changer.

 

Rachel Anzalone (46:15)

Yeah. Incredible.

Okay. So in terms of these feminine success principles and working with organizations, you know, so many, and we touched on this earlier on this idea that there are so many heart centered entrepreneurs, people like us who started their business because they want to have impact, they want to make people's lives better. They have shared values, shared principles, shared beliefs with us around a lot of this stuff. And yet the way that they've learned how to do business doesn't align with those principles, right?

And so for that person, how do you suggest or what advice would you give in terms of how they start to incorporate or lean more into these feminine principles when it comes to their business.

 

Stéphanie (46:49)

You know, Rachel, it's such an interesting, it's a complex answer. And I say that because I've experienced all the eras as an entrepreneur where I'm like very masculine, right post corporate, of course, then like very feminine where I'm just like, I'm gonna manifest and like affirm my way to whatever the number I wanted to make or whatever clients. And now I'm in the very, like a very balanced, feminine and masculine, you know?

I'm sure you've experienced the same thing. So I think that looking at your business and really holding yourself accountable, like do the feminine as in take care of your vitality, take care of your health, do the magic affirmations. And I call magic, but it's very much like it helps, right? Like the science, the EFT tapping, the affirmation, the beliefs, get clear on your intentions, right? 

And then on the other side of, you know, the moon, the pie, then you have like the action. You know, like, what are your programs? Like, I was talking to a client and she had a certain goal and I broke it down for her. And I was like, well, how much do you charge? X was how many, how much money do you want to make X? Like, do you realize that in order for you to get to that number, you have to talk to a hundred people a week in order to hit your conversion rate. She was flat. She's like, I'm not doing, I'm like, of course you're not doing that. Nobody's doing that. I don't care who you be. Nobody be doing that. So if you're not aligning and being really strategic about what are your price points, how many people do you need to talk to? What goals are you trying to achieve? Which is very masculine because it's very structured and linear. You can't just live in the affirmations and the manifestation. We need to blend them both together. 

So if you're in your era of like manifesting and affirmations and intentions, love that. Bring a little bit discipline, right? Like my business totally shifted. I'm super creative. I used to have like 27 programs at any given time and offerings. And when I said enough, I'm still going to do all my creativity because this is who I be, but I'm only going to sell three things. It completely shifted because I was very focused, right? If you're in your masculine where you're like, I need to do a hundred things, then, you know, relax, drink your tea, you know, do your mushrooms, do your crystals, take a bath. Like, so I think you need to really get honest and like, where is your strength? And then what's the other piece that's missing in order to get to the next level that you want to get to the next level that you want to get to.

 

Rachel Anzalone (48:58)

Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. think that we often do the pendulum swing, right, until we find that place in the middle. And I've had that experience myself of having, you know, worked in environments where, gosh, I think of the A League of Her Own movie, Tom Hanks, there's no crying in baseball, right? I've worked in environments where it was like, I have to show up like this and be the boss and take it, you know, get business done and, and I could only do that so long. And then I would just feel completely out of integrity with myself. And this pendulum would swing in the other direction. And I would be like, and now I'm going to lay on the beach and I'm going to do yoga. I'm going to, you know, and sort of finding that place in the middle that works for you to bring the structures and bring the feminine energy. And, and that's full circle back to where we started, which is I think one of probably the key things that you and I have in common is that ability to assess, to see both of those sides and how they integrate and to help other people do the same.

 

Stéphanie (50:20)

Precisely, because I work, I love that you labeled it like the two sides of the pendulum. Like my work comes in where it's like, and I'm sure you do, coming more to the masculine. Like we're out in the land of the fairies, which we love, but like you gotta take action. You gotta make a phone call. You gotta send an email. We gotta look at your offerings. Or you're so in your mind that you're this close to burnout. And that's when I'm like, take a day off, go to the beach, like ground in nature.

So being able to see that in a person and also, I coach with a lot of tough love. Like I can hold your hand, but I'm also gonna call you out. It's the only way that I feel like people get results. And it's also the expectation that they, if they're hiring me as your coach, I'm not your friend, right? Like for the most part, we ended up being friends at some point. 

But I'm gonna call you out in a way that your friend wouldn't, right? Because ultimately I wanna see you succeed. And I'm super proud of us as you're saying all of that, that I agree with you. Like, it feels really good to hear that, yes, you're right. I've arrived at a place where I have a really good balance. And as soon as I'm a little off-kilt I'm like, come back, Steph Like, I'm able to really pinpoint. And it feels really hard. I mean, it feels really good to receive that and recognize that as a business owner. So thank you for that, for naming it. Yeah, you too.

 

Rachel Anzalone (51:41)

Thank you. Thank you for doing the work and thank you for sharing it with us here.

 

Stéphanie (51:46)

For sure, we love what we do.

 

Rachel Anzalone (51:49)

OK, so before we go, I have a couple more questions for you. Number one, I think it's super important that we as women, as leaders in the feminine business world, credit our inspirations, our influences, our, you know, the people who really have helped us to get where we are. So what teachers, authors, mentors, leaders do you follow or have you learned from that you feel like have informed who you are and your work in the world?

 

Stéphanie (52:18)

So I don't consume a whole lot, probably in the past few years, because I think that has opened up my intuition channels a lot. However, the modalities, definitely within like theta healing, has been super powerful. And EFT tapping, so that's something that I have learned and worked through my coach, Nancy, that I just give her, you know, she is just amazing. And Abraham Hicks, like I feel like Abraham is just permanently situated in one portion of my brain because that is one content that I consume often either for learning or just for resetting my nervous system. So, yeah, that feels like a fair naming of the people that I work with, that I learned from. Recently, I started working with an incredible energy healer that I didn't talk often in this call, but she deserves credit. Her name's Julia Albain, and she's just an incredible energy worker, and I feel like she's gonna teach me a lot too.

 

Rachel Anzalone (53:28)

That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that.

On the Abraham Hicks topic, do you find that sometimes you can be in a, like you can't figure something out and then you just, you hear that, like, what would Abraham, if I asked Abraham this question, how would they answer? And then you're like, yeah, I already know this.

Stéphanie (53:44)

Yes, I know it I get it I love her I love them.

 

Rachel Anzalone (53:55)

Yeah, that's great. Yeah. So what's one thing that you wish women understood about their inherent relationship with success and abundance.

 

Stéphanie (53:59)

That we are it, you know? Like we are it. It ends, it's like the alpha and the omega. It begins and it ends with us. Like we literally bring life to the world. So how do you, as a woman, begin to like marinate in your own divinity? You know, like what, right? Like what do you do that gets you there? Like we're talking about the creativity. Like is it, like for me it's coaching. Like that just brings me into my divinity.

But I don't know, whatever it is for you, think it's just like doing that because it, yeah, we are the alpha, we are the omega, and it's really time for us to just like be in that.

 

Rachel Anzalone (54:40)

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that so much. What are you doing to marinate in your divinity? Oh, so good. 

That is so good. I love it. Oh my gosh. My cat's like saying hi. She's like, hey, she's into it for sure.

 

Stéphanie (54:48)

Even as you said it back to me, I'm like,  want to, I am marinating in it.

She's validating our marination in divinity. She's like, yeah.

 

Rachel Anzalone (55:09)

All right, Stéphanie, thank you so much. Where can our listeners connect with you, learn more about your work? How do they find you?

 

Stéphanie (55:16)

All the things. I am super the most active on Instagram and I'm sure you will link it somewhere in here. It's Stéphanie Virchaux but it's a lot of letters and I am very active on my substack as well, Joyfully Empowered. So check it out.

 

Rachel Anzalone (55:24)

Absolutely.

Awesome, thank you so much for being here. I just, I've loved this conversation. We could go on for hours, I think.

 

Stéphanie (55:37)

Thank you, Rachel. Yes. Maybe there's a part, maybe there's a part two, but thank you so much for your time. And this was, this was so good.

 

Rachel Anzalone (55:45)

Thank you for being here, Stéphanie. Thank you all for listening. Until next time, remember your pleasure is your power. Take care.