Denise Duffield-Thomas is a business coach, master manifester and the ultimate Lucky Bitch who gives new meaning to being a ‘universal communicator.’ She channels the Universe and recognizes its abundance offered in each step of her life.

Denise is the author of “Lucky Bitch,” her book of tricks to help exceptional women create outrageous success, and of “Get Rich, Lucky Bitch,” where she goes deeper into destroying money blocks and creating wealth. Taking the Law of Attraction to the next level, Denise fully embraces what the Universe has to offer and shares her success stories and coaching with fellow Lucky Bitches in training. Enjoy her exclusive Business Heroine interview…

BH: What is a Lucky Bitch, and do we want to be one?

Denise: Well, I think I’ve kind of redefined the word ‘bitch’ in a way. A couple of years ago, I was in the process of transitioning out of my job into working for myself. I very consciously said “How can I put this into practice in the most practical way possible?”

I really got obsessed with changing my life and, in the space of a year, the most amazing things started to happen. I won a scholarship, a trip to Vegas, and even an all-expense-paid trip around the world with my husband for six months.

Having had that whole year with everything going my way, my friends were calling me a Lucky Bitch. I don’t really believe that much in luck, but I believe you have to have a really strong vision of where you want to go, put in the work, and then, yes – the Universe will meet you halfway. So Lucky Bitch is kind of a fun take on what people are going to call you when you achieve outrageous success in your life.

BH: What is your life like now that you’re a Lucky Bitch?

Denise: I had just spent a year winning this stuff – it was all the lucky stuff – the scholarships, free money, free trips. And I said to the Universe, “Universe, thank you for taking care of me and for giving me everything I’ve been asking for. But you know what? I’m a big girl now, and its time for me to start actually making some money.”

And since that day I don’t really win stuff anymore. I make money for it instead. I have a great 6-figure business that’s growing all the time, and we live in a really beautiful way. I’ve finally given myself permission to buy clothes instead of shopping at thrift shops. I still work hard in my business, but it is a different kind of work than when I was stuck in a cubicle just wishing my life was different.

Now I can dedicate my work to helping women overcome their money blocks, because I know what a difference it made for me. If I hadn’t gotten rid of my money blocks, then my life-coaching business would have stagnated just like every other business I’d tried.

BH: How did you know you were making it to the other side? What was the moment when you felt your success like, “It’s happening!”

Denise: This is a tip. I felt it from day one. You’ve got to tell yourself that you’re in it. Otherwise you feel like you and success are two different people. I had to fake feeling like I was in that successful space in the beginning, but I felt it from day one. After my first sold-out event, I went to the fanciest restaurant in town for a glass of champagne, and I said, “More of this, Universe. More and bigger and better.” Nobody’s going to give you that feeling of success or even permission to feel it, so you just have to decide – this is it. I’m in it.

BH: What do you love most about being a rich Lucky Bitch?

Denise: I think how normal it feels. A lot of us have this feeling that when we’re successful we’ll be different, but things are very much the same. Probably the thing that has changed is that my boundaries have gotten a lot better. Because, as a businesswoman, you can’t help everybody one-to-one, you need to be a little bit more ruthless with your time so that you can be freed up to create more.

For example, with my second book, “,” it was only because of the boundaries I set that I had the energy and freedom to write it. And because it’s now written, I can serve a lot of people.

And that’s a big tip. A lot of women under-charge and over-deliver, so there’s no creative energy left. We think we have to save people one-to-one and really, the most selfless thing we can do is be clear on who you can serve, charge a beautiful rate for your work and then go out and create.

BH: What struggles do you notice women face when it comes to money, receiving, and getting rich?

Denise: For starters, as women, we really question our value. We’re worried that we’re not giving enough and so we tend to over-deliver. Another issue for women, and especially those just starting out, is bartering. Stop bartering. As soon as you stop, you will send a very strong message to the Universe that says, ‘I am open for business.’

BH: What baby steps can we take to get out of the over-delivering trap?

Denise: The first thing to do is to notice how it makes you feel. Does over-delivering make you feel secretly resentful to your clients? Does it make you feel taken advantage of? I suggest that people make a big list of all they’re offering within their business. When my own clients come to me with their lists, we slash through the list, because most of the stuff they are giving is not that necessary. On the items that are left, give them a value that doesn’t cost you money or your time. There are other ways to give value. And check in with yourself at every stage of this. Ask yourself, “Am I still being generous?”

BH: What are some things men have figured out in business that we could learn from?

Denise: First of all, I’ve noticed that men typically don’t have much emotional charge around their price. They kind of say, “This is the service I’m offering, this is how much it costs and you buy it.” While we women question every little detail, men seem to be more directly concerned with the act of buying or selling a service. And a lot of men seem to have lots of success in having a very simple business model. They’re not trying to do everything and serve everyone. Being a little bit less sentimental and more simple in business can really leverage success for both male and female entrepreneurs.

BH: In this age of expanding feminine leadership, what is it that we as women contribute to the mix?

Denise: This is absolutely the age of a more feminine way of doing business – doing business without harm, doing business to serve our communities, better our countries, better the planet. As women, most of us are doing business because we want to help people, and we want to take it to bigger levels. I see that we have a real responsibility.

One thing I’m passionate about is that we have to turn away from a lot of the media debates that are happening around women. It doesn’t serve us to rise to the bait that is being fed to us like, “Can women really have it all?” It’s distracting, because it’s designed for us to fight and pick at each other. Let’s just do our lives the way we do it and not judge our sister for how she does it. It’s important to just unsubscribe from those media wars.

BH: What is the most powerful thing a woman can do when she is up to creating money in her life and ready to get rich?

Denise: The most powerful turning point in my life was saying to the Universe, “I’m a big girl now, and I’m ready to make money.” After that conversation, I asked for resources – courses, plans, books – and allowed myself to be completely open to receiving that help. It’s a symbolic decision you have to make to envision your life of making money and overcoming blocks. You have to trust that you’ll receive the right guidance. We women have a real responsibility to be role models in establishing the conversation that its ok for us to talk about money.  

BH: Can you leave us with one action we can take today to start attracting riches to us lucky bitches?

Denise: Track the money coming into your life – every penny. Say thank you to the Universe. When you start tracking, you’ll recognize and acknowledge your abundance, and this awareness will actually cycle you into prosperity.

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Cover Heroines, June 2013 Issue