Prosperity Guru and author of the The Mindful Millionaire, Leisa Peterson is a magic rainmaker who is passionate about the correlation between mindset and abundance. The recipient of the SRQ Women Who Roar Illuminator Award, presented to women who are shining a light on tools to empower women to live their best lives, Peterson is armed with an eclectic tool kit comprised of a strategic financial background spanning 25 years in the banking and financial services industries combined with with holistic mindfulness practices. Peterson’s special sauce is navigating the “why” behind money issues–rooting out the blockages in an intuitive and practical manner that demonstrates how deep seated emotions and fears can have a huge impact on abundance. A personal epiphany that pursuing money is not the end goal of life led her to create a left/right brain prosperity magnet system that leads her clients on a path to understanding themselves and their money habits. Through her book, YouTube videos, coaching Podcasts and online groups, she has become the go-to source for holistic abundance. A financial sherpa who combines practical magic with proven methodology, Peterson has managed to create abundance beyond her wildest dreams and now she helps others to do the same. We sat down with her to discuss her passion for helping others and how we can all become mindful millionaires.

How did your background influence this work?  LEISA PETERSON: I came from nothing and had parents who were not good with money. They weren’t good at making it. They weren’t good at saving it. And they definitely were not good at investing in it. As a result, we were always facing financial struggles and the stress was unbearable to me as a child. Somehow I figured out very early on how to create wealth for myself. I started my first business at 8, got my first job at 12, applied for and received my first credit card at 12 (yes, I lied about my age and said I was 18 but it was that important to me to start working on my credit as early as possible) and by senior year in high school I was earning over $600 a month working just a few hours a day in a job I loved, as a nanny. I paid cash for my first scooter at 15 1/2, bought my first car 16 with a big down payment and a car loan–thanks to my great credit–that was paid off in one year. I later completed undergraduate and an MBA without owning a cent upon graduation. My husband and I built our first home at 25 and we made (and saved) our first million by 35. Other than having a mortgage I’ve never been in debt for more than a few thousand dollars. Now that we’re empty nesters we’re financially independent and able to also help get our children set up with fully-paid college tuition and buying their first homes. This is a dream come true for someone who grew up with great financial stress and struggles.

What is the secret to your success? My talents lie in the ability to quickly identify the obstacles that stand in the way of living the fullest life possible and helping people transcend those blocks. This super power has fueled the growth of my coaching business, helped me to write The Mindful Millionaire, and it’s helped me to create a transformational process that is effective, methodical and sticks with you.

What was your objective in writing The Mindful Millionaire?  To help inspire people to heal their relationship with money so they could create wealth mindfully rather than mindlessly. After working with people and their money for over 25 years, I saw they either had a scarcity or prosperity-oriented mindset and depending upon which they had, it would affect their experiences with money in ways that were mostly unconscious. My goal with the book is to help people shift the patterns that prevent them from creating peace of mind and wealth in their lives.

What is a mindful millionaire?  A mindful millionaire is an individual who seeks to align financial success with personal growth, self-awareness, and mindfulness. It’s about achieving a state of abundance and prosperity in both external wealth and inner well-being. Key attributes of a mindful millionaire include: Self-Value: Recognizing that personal worth is not solely tied to financial success but is a product of self-awareness, self-acceptance, and inner growth. Mindfulness: Integrating mindfulness practices into financial decisions and daily life, which helps in making conscious choices, reducing stress, and promoting a balanced outlook on money. Inner Work: Engaging in inner work to uncover and address deep-seated beliefs, fears, and emotional patterns that may be affecting financial behaviors and overall well-being. Integration of Spirituality: Understanding that prosperity is not just about money; it involves spiritual and personal development, leading to a holistic sense of abundance. Transformation: Embracing personal transformation that allows for a shift in one’s mindset, emotional responses, and behaviors related to money, leading to positive changes in financial circumstances. Holistic Well-Being: Recognizing that wealth and success are best experienced when accompanied by good health, fulfilling relationships and a sense of purpose.

How is mindfulness, thought and emotion linked to abundance? Money mindfulness isn’t just about accumulating wealth; it’s about achieving a state of true prosperity that encompasses both material abundance and inner fulfillment. This concept is rooted in the understanding that genuine self-value does not solely come from external sources like money, relationships, or appearance. Instead, it arises from within and contributes to a sense of true self-worth, regardless of financial status. My approach emphasizes the importance of understanding and transforming one’s relationship with money and oneself. I believe that many people struggle with their finances and overall well-being because they haven’t addressed the emotional and psychological aspects related to money. By delving into one’s beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about money, individuals can work toward releasing limiting patterns and achieving financial freedom.

How is your work different from financial counseling? Money is complicated and it isn’t easy to help people change how they think about money using only one approach like therapy. Many people come to me after having gone to therapy for many years—but because their therapist(s) hadn’t focused on their own personal money beliefs and challenges, it was difficult for them to help their clients. It wasn’t something they were familiar with and therefore the topic didn’t come up or they didn’t spend time getting to the root of why they believed certain things about money. Working with people and money for nearly 3 decades and being a deeply intuitive person allowed me to see money belief “threads” that are underneath a person’s life and often causing them various levels of suffering including the lack of ability to bring their dreams into reality. Much of the time just the introduction of these beliefs into a person’s awareness is enough to help them begin the shift into a new way of looking at money and their relationship to it. By seeing and sharing what people can’t see for themselves, I help people notice, understand, heal and integrate their limitation-based money stories which allows them to write a new and more abundant version of their life that they get to play out to its fullest dimension.

Describe the challenges and benefits of being creative. How do You apply that creativity to the business of business? I have never fit in. All my life I have been different. In how I think, how I talk, how I dance, how I dress, how I make my choices about life. This hasn’t been easy and it has allowed me to be creatively me. Everything I do in business is about allowing my differences to be available for anyone to see.

What have been your strongest tools in overcoming adversity and challenge? Tenacity and persistence–they have helped me keep going even when the pursuit of my goals felt very difficult and challenging. Women can build these tools for themselves by putting blinders on when it comes to worrying about what other people may think about you, keep going even when you aren’t sure it will be worth it and believe in possibility way more than you believe in failure. I think that we must overcome our fear of failure to be able to achieve the things we most want to get in life — great relationships, wealth, a favorable reputation, the ability to make an impact in the lives of others will all require us to give up our deepest fears surrounding failure. This isn’t easy but it works very well.

Share one professional experience where you had to take a huge leap of faith/take a risk. Hiring a team of people to help me run my company involved a huge leap of faith. It was difficult for me to be responsible for others' livelihoods and it worked out well as we were able to grow the company to multiple six figures in a short period of time and  impacted thousands of people’s lives in beneficial ways as a result.

How is your work contributing to empowerment for women?  I wanted to create a simple process inside my book that anyone could follow and do themselves while reading the book and answering the questions. It is best suited for people who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and diving into things they might not fully understand about themselves — this is something that I’ve found women are tremendously capable of doing for themselves.

What are the traits that you believe most empower women the most to lead? Always remember that you are only limited by your own beliefs about what is possible and what isn’t. You must always bet on yourself and what you are capable of doing when you become very focused on achieving an outcome. For business owners, this doesn’t mean you can do anything, rather that you must figure out what you are really good at doing, for which people will happily pay you or at least consume what it is you are creating. Don’t stop until you figure it out and have success with it. If it isn’t working as you had hoped, you must stop what you are doing—take stock in what’s happening and be honest with yourself that maybe what you thought you were good at isn’t what others think you are good at it. That is okay, as long as you don’t keep trying to do something that isn’t working and then beating yourself up about that. You must try something different—perhaps very different before you’ll find success.

What trend concerns you the most about the future? The ever growing divide between those who have money and those who don’t— it is becoming harder and harder to pay for a comfortable life in the US without going into huge amounts of debt and that is very concerning to me.

What do you say to those who are struggling with abundance but suspicious of a less linear approach to developing prosperity? I’d say you have nothing to lose by opening your mind to an alternative reality — you can’t believe in something fully until you are living it — and so perhaps it would be fun to suspend disbelief and see what it could feel like for you to live in abundance — what would you want for yourself if you could wave a magic wand and it comes? Asking yourself, what are you so afraid of when it comes to magic and possibility? Why does it feel scary to you? What would you lose (from how you think today) if you were to believe in abundance for yourself and others?

How do you manage the work/life balance challenge? I haven’t always been good at this—but I have done it recently by closing down aspects of my business to allow for more creativity and time to travel. I'd say don't wait to do it like I did (when you have enough money to do it). Find a way to do it now and integrate your approach into your lifestyle so that you don't forget how your life is outside of work.

What is the biggest ‘AHA” moment you have had? I needed The Mindful Millionaire to help me a lot more than I realized while writing it. It’s been three years and I can see how the work has changed my entire way of being as a result. What I have learned is that liberation and financial freedom are both a process and they take time to create. By inviting ourselves into this journey and taking it seriously, we can change our lives. This is a very mature way to think about life and your money. It is about finding integration with all parts of yourself, your money, your business and your relationships. You aren’t leaving anything out of the process. You see that how you do one thing is how you do everything. Poverty mindset affects your life in multiple ways and this process helps you see what kinds of changes you need to make you change your way of looking at life.

What was the most challenging personal experience you have recently faced and how have you navigated it?  Recently I came to the realization that without the need to earn money I could live my life differently than I had been. It was a challenge for me to be willing to step back from all that I was involved in including running my company to ask myself what is truly important at this time in my life. When I did that I saw that my priorities had shifted and it was time for me to enjoy my life through the art of play and travel rather than working all the time. I was addicted to work as a way of being and that no longer made sense for me so I decided to shut down much of my business — and give parts of it to a key employee so she could continue to earn money from what we had built together. In the aftermath of these changes I realized that I had been too burned out to realize I was burned out and it was time to reinvent myself and how I live my life. I'm still in the process of figuring this out.

What advice would you give to women of all ages in pursuing their dreams?  Don’t allow yourself or anyone else to talk you out of pursuing your dreams. Even when it doesn’t seem likely or possible - there is always a chance you are wrong — and so why not just go for it —- do it responsibly (like don’t quit your day job until you have proven your concepts) and you will find a way to thrive. It is your responsibility to figure out the pattern underneath whatever isn’t working in your life. Is it that you aren’t earning enough, spending too much, or not managing money effectively? Is it because you’re not asking for what you most want - from yourself, your employer, your partner or even from God. It is critical to figure out what is not working and then see what beliefs are connected to your limiting patterns. My book, The Mindful Millionaire, helps people do this exact process for themselves and much more. The idea is you need to become aware of what’s not working before you can change it. Once you know, you can focus on what needs to be done, both immediately and longer term to change your finances and your life forever. Once you master your money along with how you feel about yourself, there is no going back—your life is about to improve in big ways! Anything is possible and now any of us can figure out how to create what we most want. So much of life’s journey is about falling in love with yourself and your own potential. From there you get to give yourself permission to go after all that you dream for and achieve it.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to your younger self?  Please stop worrying about what other people think and just do it! Now!