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{\b\fs48 Episode 1561: Interview with Abigail Davidson About Spirit Led Business Scalability and Success\b0}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ }

{\cf2 [00:00:00]}

{ Thanks for joining us on episode 1,561 of the Inspired Stewardship podcast. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ I'm Abigail Davidson. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to recognize that God is your business partner is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.}

{\pard \line \par}

{You show up with joy and happiness and you're able to live more freely because you're doing something out of the pureness of your, of your heart, and you show up happy. So it just easily attracts new clients to you 'cause you're showing up with passion and it's a much more fluid. Relationship in the tangible reality.}

{\cf2 [00:01:00]}

{ }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.}

{\pard \line \par}

{In today's podcast episode, I interview Abigail Davidson. I ask Abigail about how faith, finances, and business are related. I also ask Abigail about aligning your business with your core values, and Abigail also shares the power of community and sustainable growth. I have a great book that's been out for a while now called Inspired Living.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Assemble the Puzzle of your Calling by mastering your Time, your talent, and your treasures. }

{\cf2 [00:02:00]}

{ You can find out more about that book over@inspiredlivingbook.com. It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there. I'd love to see you get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Abigail Davidson is a financial strategist, business incubator, and founder of the Aligned Entrepreneurs Club. A powerful community for women entrepreneurs seeking support, strategy, and scalable success. As a spiritual CFO, Abigail blends soulful money management with practical business growth, helping visionary founders move from chaos to clarity with aligned financial strategy with a passion for business incubation.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Sheep empowers entrepreneurs to build wealth, scale consciously, and create impact without burnout. Whether through accounting, business coaching, or high vibe community building, Abigail is on a mission to help entrepreneurs break }

{\cf2 [00:03:00]}

{ through limiting beliefs and turn aligned action into abundant success.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Welcome to the show, }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ Abigail. Thank you. Thanks for having me. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Absolutely. So I shared a little bit in the intro of some of your journey, some of the things you do, some of the work you've done. But at the same time, I know that intros just show part of our journey. They never really show the whole thing.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So take us back in time and unpack a little bit what has your journey been like? Why is this the message and the work that you're called to do?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ I started my own business, my own accounting business about 10 years ago, and I deal with a lot of business owners, obviously. And just through that, through the experience of being an entrepreneur on my own and supporting other entrepreneurs, there's a clear theme that people }

{\cf2 [00:04:00]}

{ feel really alone and it gets overwhelming and.}

{\pard \line \par}

{They just need community around them. So I actually stepped outside of my comfort zone, put myself around a bunch of women and traveled to a foreign land and it, I just gotta download that this is something I need to create for people beyond my immediate community. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ And why were you driven to.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Why do you feel like you were the one kind of driven to create that community? What, did it come outta your own personal experience or just what you were talking to the other business owners or both? Or how did this idea come to you? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ God gave it to me. I'm gonna be very honest with you. You quiet your mind and you listen for what's next for me. And I love the accounting. I love the data. I'm truly passionate about it, but there was just something missing in, in }

{\cf2 [00:05:00]}

{ my life in general. And sometimes you gotta slow down and open your mind to what answers are coming to you from above.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And so that's it really. It wasn't my idea. It was chosen for me. I honestly would say. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So unpack that a little bit more. One of the things I like to highlight on the podcast is that intersection between our faith journey and our relationship with God, and then our own personal life journey and how that unpacks.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So again, take us back in time and kind of talk about where you were and how did you come to realizing that this was what God was putting on your heart. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ Yeah. I spent a lot of my life not directly aligned with God, so I had taken my own path and was really defiant, I would say, against the like.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Just a, if I'm gonna be honest, I was a little bit arrogant }

{\cf2 [00:06:00]}

{ in my spiritual practice. I don't need this. And I was going through some real hardship in the last few years personally with relationships, and I tried everything. I tried therapy, I had tried physical activity and focusing on my work and it just wasn't, it wasn't making any impact and.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I just got I've had a, I had a strong relationship with God as a child and it just came back to me and the answer was very clear. Spend more time with God. Start going back to church, get reacquainted with that relationship and put yourself in a committed relationship with God and. It just propelled me to show up with confidence and utter clarity, and you don't really second guess when you }

{\cf2 [00:07:00]}

{ get a message from God that you need to do something, especially if you're like really committed to your faith and you're showing up for it repeatedly.}

{\pard \line \par}

{You do what you're told, and you do it with confidence that it's not gonna fail. And because it's not really, it's not me driving the wheel here, and I made a commitment to that. God is my business partner, God is my life partner, first and foremost. And that changed everything. It changed everything.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah. When you think about that, one of the questions that I've had people ask is, how do you know that it's a calling from God versus, quote, last night's pizza or or your own kind of, your own desires and your kind of stamping that with, oh, this must be what God wants me to do.}

{\pard \line \par}

{What? What for you gave you the clarity that you felt like this was really something you were called to do? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ That's such a good question. }

{\cf2 [00:08:00]}

{ It was the lack of fear. Really. And even if it fails, doesn't matter. You, I'm, it just was a, you're not gonna fail. There's no fear behind it. And so what if it doesn't become like a multimillion dollar idea? The basis behind it is. Giving to a community that needs support and it's not money driven, it's not success driven.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It's just pure love. In my heart, driven}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ money is one of those things that, you mentioned earlier as an accountant, you love the data, you love the numbers, that kind of thing. And a lot of times people think about money as. Very black and white, very practical, very materialistic. And yet I would argue there's a spiritual side to money as well.}

{\pard \line \par}

{How do you see the spiritual side of money playing }

{\cf2 [00:09:00]}

{ out with yourself and with your clients and your approach to it in community? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ It's funny because I see that spiritual element as very black and white. Thing when you are open and ready to receive money is a tool in which you can provide or give or it.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It gives you the ability to give back more confidently and more freely, and it becomes less about the money, but ultimately more money is available to you because you're doing what's right rather than out of the desperate need to collect the cash.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ And what what changes when people begin to include that part of looking at their money, relationship, }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ everything. And when I say everything, I guess like the foundation in which you show up. So you show up }

{\cf2 [00:10:00]}

{ with joy and happiness and. You're able to live more freely because you're doing something out of the pureness of your heart, and you show up happy.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So it just easily attracts new clients to you 'cause you're showing up with passion and it's a much more fluid relationship. In the tangible reality, things }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ flow easily. Talk a little bit about your community. What what did you, as you began to lean into, okay, this is what I'm supposed to do.}

{\pard \line \par}

{What did it look like? What does it look like now? What what are you creating? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ So the membership is launching in May. So right now I'm still in, the marketing phases and. I do have some masterclass prepared I'm really excited about, }

{\cf2 [00:11:00]}

{ but in, while I'm waiting for that to fully launch, I am hosting weekly networking events online.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I'm very rural in, in rural Maine, so my immediate community is more or less non-existent. So online is where it's at for me. And we just have. The most amazing conversations every week, and it's not about everyone that's showing up there. It's really a beautiful thing that is being developed.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Rarely are we having people show up just to pitch and drive a sale or push their product. They're showing up authentically as themselves, and we're having. Intimate conversations about spiritual alignment in your business practices and we're really getting to know one another on a personal level and the relationships are building from there.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And I think we actually talk about this quite }

{\cf2 [00:12:00]}

{ often 'cause I have quite a few people who come back every week. The relationships we're building are gonna last a long time because they're built on the personal relationship rather than your elevator pitch and, oh, you've got something I need, let me buy or let me sell.}

{\pard \line \par}

{There's none of that going on. It's a, hi, I am so and so from this place and this is what I do. And then we last night we talked about. I like to take a, really spiritual approach to the conversation and I try to reach a wide range of spiritual practice practices. So the conversation was on quantum leaping and where is there evidence that you've already made a quantum leap in your life?}

{\pard \line \par}

{So just making that concept more, come closer to home and. It turns into, someone might need a little bit of advice or how do you handle this sort of difficult situation? And it just really morphs into a beautiful conversation and we all get super excited and it's hard to get off the call.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So what role do you see }

{\cf2 [00:13:00]}

{ community playing in business growth and business success? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ When I was doing it alone, I would say I don't need community. Whatever I can live out here isolated and still keep on pressing. But as soon as I started to put the right community around me, for one, I was less afraid to make those scary decisions because I have people who are gonna be supportive of it no matter what.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's really the biggest thing is when you have the wrong people around you and that can be family and friends that you've known your whole life. They might say oh, you shouldn't have your own business. That's too hard or You're really gonna struggle, or How are you gonna be successful?}

{\pard \line \par}

{And I had a lot of that and I'm approaching my tenure anniversary and my family is finally like realizing that this is a legitimate. Source of income for me. So having people around you that already are making }

{\cf2 [00:14:00]}

{ decisions like that, they're gonna support you in your crazy ideas and they'll give you feedback on how you might be able to set up a better foundation under you or approach difficult.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It's just, it's great to have people to go to that understand.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So what are some of the biggest problems that you've seen people coming to your community and dealing with? What are some of the challenges that, that they face that kind of show up over and over again? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ Disrespectful clients or prospects is a very common theme. Almost every meeting someone will say, I have this client that just doesn't understand what I offer, or they didn't show up to a meeting that we set in person and they showed up two days later and asked me to be there when they were already on, at a Starbucks when we were supposed to meet two days ago.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And I think this has }

{\cf2 [00:15:00]}

{ happened to probably everybody who has some sort of. Service-based business where you, I think in retailer sales, they call 'em tire kickers. But more than that, it's an utter lack of respect for your time. And then that's setting a precedent that they're not gonna respect you once they become a client.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And we, we had someone last night who. She's just starting her own bookkeeping business and she's the one that had the Starbucks meeting on a Monday and the guy showed up on Wednesday, knowing it was on Monday, and said, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Didn't show up. Showed up two days later, and she's just starting out and so part of her wants to.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Give the guy the opportunity. And I think five or six of us were just, silently shaking our heads in the background. Absolutely no matter where you're at in your business, never be so }

{\cf2 [00:16:00]}

{ desperate as to take someone who has no respect for your time, because that's gonna snowball into no respect for your invoice that you send.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And they won't pay it, or they'll pay it in 60 days. It's just not a healthy foundation. To start off on. And if you set the intention early on that I want these specific clients who are gonna respect my time, you'll find them. You just have to be patient and really know what your expectations are. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Setting, setting those boundaries up front. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ Yeah. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah. So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I ask those, is there anything else about your community or the work that you share do that you'd like to share with the listener? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ The community is really what my passion is right now so obviously I offer accounting services and I do truly love it and everybody's welcome to work with me in that }

{\cf2 [00:17:00]}

{ regard.}

{\pard \line \par}

{The membership is launching in May. My first masterclass is on becoming Iconic, which is really just the foundation of making those decisions with confidence and going, doing it repeatedly. That'll be the first one will be sometime in mid-May. So that's what I'm most excited about right now.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So my brand is inspired stewardship, but I run things through that lens of stewardship, and yet at the same time, I know stewardship is one of those words that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So for your, for you, what does the word stewardship mean to you?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ Showing up in general, genuinely offering to help someone else. It and it doesn't need to have a cost associated with it. So I think for me, the stu, my, my consistent stewardship is the weekly networking event. I don't, }

{\cf2 [00:18:00]}

{ I can't say I don't gain anything out of it. 'cause I absolutely do. I am gaining the most incredible contacts and connections with people, but we're really, all of us as a co community are just.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Contributing to one another. And yeah, I think just giving as much as you can without expecting anything in return.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a moment that I could invent this magic machine. With this machine, I could take you from where you are today and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years. And through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life, see all of the ripples, all of the connections, all of the impacts you've left.}

{\pard \line \par}

{What impact do you hope you've left in the world? I. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ This is an incredible question. It's giving me goosebumps because I'm already }

{\cf2 [00:19:00]}

{ seeing it. I really just want to give people the confidence to start the business and offer them any resources that I can to do that in confidence. Yeah, yeah, that sums it up.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I just want people to look back and say she helped all of these people follow their dream.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So you mentioned the membership opening back in May. What's coming next as you finish out this year and continue on your journey? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ I. Have been hosting some online retreats annually, and I really, truly wanted to do them in person. I live in an old farmhouse and the home needed a lot of work, and that's been a big part of my why.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And since starting the membership and the community, I'm }

{\cf2 [00:20:00]}

{ thinking that hosting retreats in person is actually going to become. A real thing. I think 2026 is gonna be the first in-person retreat in September. Thank you for asking that. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ And you can find out more about Abigail Davidson over@oldwoods.co.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Dot co. Of course. I'll have a link to that over in the show notes as well. Abigail, anything else you'd like to share with the listener?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Abigail Davidson:\b0}

{ Just the aligned Entrepreneur Club is launching in May. Join the community.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively }

{\cf2 [00:21:00]}

{ listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode. Please. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Rate all one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review, and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.}

}