I am back from Podcast Movement this week and slowly getting back into the swing of things. I am happy to say the jet lag has finally worn off and we are about to go into my favorite month of the year, September.
And I’ve got something exciting on the agenda for September. If you bought my book, Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing, and you signed up for the free resources you are going to be invited to a free open call with me via Zoom. That call is going down on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 7:30 PM ET.
If you bought the book but haven’t signed up for the resources sign up now so you can get access to the link for the call. This is a video call so I will have my camera on but you can opt to have your camera off and there will be dial-in information if you need to call in by phone.
This is your opportunity to get any of your questions answered regarding the content of the book and/or some laser coaching if that’s what you need.
If you bought my book but you have not yet signed up for the free resources you can find the link in the book after the dedication and before the table of contents.
I am looking forward to seeing all of you on the Zoom call!
We have Katie Clark back this week for our final episode on personal branding. Online, Katie Clark is the Insights Gal. She is a market research, social media and marketing professional who has worked with companies in industries including consumer packaged goods, nonprofit, specialty foods, live events, insurance, entertainment, and technology and excels at finding efficiencies, building capacity, and fostering growth.
Katie is a social media influencer and currently is the Communications Manager at the Maine Historical Society. She speaks on podcasts, blogs, at conferences and other events about market research, social media, productivity tools, wearable tech, and personal branding.
If you have not yet listened to the first two episodes on Personal Branding with Katie Clark go back and listen to those as well because they are the foundation to this episode. Start with Why You Want to Develop Your Personal Brandand then listen to How to Remain You When You’re in the Spotlight.
In this bonus episode Katie is sharing tips and tricks for being visible online. She went over some easy action items that you can do right away to lock down your online brand and make sure it is conveying what you want people to think about when they see your name.
And without further ado…
Thank you all for joining me and here’s to your success!
Simple Loose Leaf Tea: Finding the perfect loose leaf tea can be complex and time-consuming. That’s what Simple Loose Leaf is here to help with. With their monthly box of loose leaf tea you get to explore the world of tea. With each box you get 4 unique teas in re-sealable pouches. Go to https://simplelooseleaf.com/leadtea, and enter code LEADTEA for 15% off your new membership!
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Carol is the author of Breaking Through “Bitch”: How Women Can Shatter Stereotypes and Lead Fearlessly, about how women lead and succeed. She cofounded Talent Strategy Partners, working with numerous companies to identify and develop leaders to build the right workplace culture. Carol helps organizations advance women using her proprietary assessment and development programs. She is a frequent speaker and writer on women’s leadership, and a contributing editor for the Huffington Post.
Click to tweet: .@cv_mitchell is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/230 #inspiration
In her early career, Carol was encouraged to go back to school by her colleagues. Carol’s view of school wasn’t positive, and her self esteem pushed her to make several excuses for her not to go. After enough persuasion, Carol finally applied and was accepted. Even after that, it was hard for Carol to process that she had what it took to succeed there.
For her dissertation, Carol wrote about men and women in leadership and how it differed. Carol had thought about making her dissertation into a book, but a literary agent said it wouldn’t sell. Carol needed her friends to remind her that she was holding herself back.
At the core, Carol’s leadership style is about getting people engaged and excited about what she is excited about. Carol speaks enthusiastically about where it is they are all headed. Carol is also working on being better at pulling from people in a collaborative way.
At Talent Strategy Partners, they now work with managers and executives in large organizations, but they have developed an assessment to show individuals who will have leadership potential. Talent Strategy Partners is also working with executive coaches to certify them to give this same assessment to their clients.
Carol still tends to have the profile of researcher, as she is still somewhat introverted and very focused on the content of her work. Carol finds that she struggles with marketing.
Carol uses enthusiasm and her passion for what she is doing as a motivator in her leadership.
Don’t listen to the internal voices. Don’t doubt yourself. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do something that your friends and family think is beyond your reach.
“What do you care what other people think?” ~ Richard Feynman
Email: cvmitchell@talentstrategypartners.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolvallonemitchell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/btbbook/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cv_mitchell
Website: http://www.tsphr.com
Book: http://breakingthroughbitch.com
MyLola: LOLA is a female-founded company offering a line of organic cotton tampons, pads, and liners. To try out LOLA and to get 60% off your first order, visit mylola.com and enter promo code LEAD when you subscribe!
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Katie Clark is a market research, social media and marketing professional who has worked with companies in industries including consumer packaged goods, nonprofit, specialty foods, live events, insurance, entertainment, and technology and excels at finding efficiencies, building capacity, and fostering growth. Katie is a social media influencer who has appeared on various ‘people to follow’ lists including 10 Great #MRX Tweeters Every Market Researcher Should Follow, Most Influential Client-Side Tweeters, and the Wearables 1k. Currently, Katie is the Communications Manager at the Maine Historical Society, and also speaks on podcasts, blogs, at conferences and other events about market research, social media, productivity tools, wearable tech, and personal branding. She is the mom of identical twin girls and an advocate for international adoption.
People are looking for authenticity, for the personality behind the brand. Getting a glimpse of the person behind the brand is what entices people to have that relationship. This is very helpful in determining who you want to work with, and who wants to work with you.
Always strive to be your authentic self and bring your personality into your writing, visuals, and in social media.
Being authentic is all about feeling good in your own skin. When things get more important, it gets a little harder to remain yourself, but that’s when you need it the most. Think about what you are putting forward. You are spreading the word on who you are and what your brand is.
Authenticity in front of an audience takes practice. Whether you are live, on camera, or writing social media, there are different tactics you can use that will help you feel more comfortable and ensure you are being true to your authentic self.
___
Oh my God, good stuff! So in the last bonus episode Katie shared why personal branding is so important, in this episode she covered how to amplify your personal brand and in the next bonus episode Katie is sharing tips and tricks for being visible online so stay tuned for that!
If you have any questions on personal branding I may be able to coax Katie back on to answer them for a Q&A podcast. You can send your questions to me at jodi@womentakingthelead.com or you can send me a message through Voxer. Voxer is an app for your phone that allows you to send text and voice messages. If you send me a message you will hear your voice on a future episode. I am easy to find on Voxer as Jodi Flynn or jflynn74.
Lastly, if you are getting a lot of these episodes please share them with a friend. I love when I see you guys sharing the episodes on social media and there is something powerful when we tell one person, “I thought of you when I was listening to this. Let me show you how to find it.”
As always, I appreciate you for your support of me, of this podcast, and of each other!
Thank you all for joining me and here’s to your success!
MyLola: LOLA is a female-founded company offering a line of organic cotton tampons, pads, and liners. To try out LOLA and to get 60% off your first order, visit mylola.com and enter promo code LEAD when you subscribe!
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
As a former NFL Cheerleader and Fortune 500 Executive where she was promoted 7 times in 8 years, Kelly brings a powerful combination of proven and profitable business growth strategies coupled with the mindset, wellness and productivity practices required to help entrepreneurs build a profitable business around a life they absolutely love.
Kelly runs business coaching programs, mastermind groups, online courses and does private consulting with individuals and organizations.
Playing Small Moment
Like many others, Kelly found it difficult to start from the bottom after flying high in the corporate world. Kelly had spent a decade building her reputation and learning the ins and outs of her job. When she started as an entrepreneur, she had to rebuild her reputation and hurdle over many obstacles of failing before ever leading to success.
The Wake Up Call
Kelly spent a lot of money to learn the art of the perfect webinar. She often cautions people against webinars, as you need to take a lot of time perfecting it before having the ability to convert sales. Buying other people’s strategies in hopes that you can skip steps one through four, to get to five, doesn’t always work out. “You can’t copy and paste a business strategy that worked for someone else.”
Style of Leadership
Kelly ensures that she not only boosts her employees to grow in their career, but also in life and as a person. For her internal employees, Kelly supplies gym memberships, has a book of the month, and encourages ongoing brain development. “As a leader, if you cultivate the whole person, and you help them reach their peak potential as a human being, you then create a bond and relationship that this person can grow with.” Kelly tries to be the best mentor and coach she can be, while helping her team because the best versions of themselves overall.
What Are You Excited About?
Last year, Kelly launched the Campaign for Humanity, which chooses charities each month to sponsor. Their goal is to expand their reach to people who can’t pay for their services. Some of the charity work they have been involved in include bringing communities clean drinking water, Operation Smile, and veterans groups.
Current Business Challenge
Kelly is currently coaching and training 3 sales reps, helping them build hit right database, and hit the right sales targets without her. Kelly has learned that every time you grow, then get to a plateau, you have to slow down to speed up.
Leadership Practice
The number one thing that Kelly practices is looking at her coaching and how it affected her team when something isn’t working out right, instead of passing the blame onto the individual first.
Advice For Younger Self
“This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Patience, patience, patience.
Be kind on yourself the journey.
Don’t expect to be successful overnight.”
Inspirational Quote
“Be the best that you can be in everything that you do.”
Links
Website: kellyroachcoaching.com
Facebook: facebook.com/kellyroachinternational
Podcast: kellyroachcoaching.com/podcast (also on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc)
Twitter: twitter.com/kellyroachint
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/kellyroachit
Book, UNSTOPPABLE: http://kellyroachcoaching.com/book
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
Katie Clark is a market research, social media and marketing professional who has worked with companies in industries including consumer packaged goods, nonprofit, specialty foods, live events, insurance, entertainment, and technology and excels at finding efficiencies, building capacity, and fostering growth. Katie is a social media influencer who has appeared on various ‘people to follow’ lists including 10 Great #MRX Tweeters Every Market Researcher Should Follow, Most Influential Client-Side Tweeters, and the Wearables 1k. Currently, Katie is the Communications Manager at the Maine Historical Society, and also speaks on podcasts, blogs, at conferences and other events about market research, social media, productivity tools, wearable tech, and personal branding. She is the mom of identical twin girls and an advocate for international adoption.
When Katie talks to people about personal branding, they usually freak out. Her job as an expert is to demystify it. Personal branding boils down to how you want to be seen and making yourself memorable. Katie made a concerted effort back in the day, during the genesis of social media, and built a personal brand early on. Katie really fine-tuned her personal branding efforts when she started building a family and needed flexibility. Now, Katie has people that reach out to her no matter where she is in currently working, because of her personal brand.
People hate the word competition, but we always compete for jobs, to get ahead. Personal branding defines your story, gives you credibility. It’s all about learning the ins and outs of amplifying the authentic you.
What do you want others to think of when they hear or see your name? What are you known for among your friends and family? What do you get complimented on the most? What three words would your friends or family use when talking about you?
Structure things when you’re doing this and actually visualize the steps. Craft a short mission statement, expand to be your pitch.
1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. What do you want, and where are you going with that?
Simple Loose Leaf Tea: Finding the perfect loose leaf tea can be complex and time-consuming. That’s what Simple Loose Leaf is here to help with. With their monthly box of loose leaf tea you get to explore the world of tea. With each box you get 4 unique teas in re-sealable pouches. Go to https://simplelooseleaf.com/leadtea, and enter code LEADTEA for 15% off your new membership!
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Amanda O’Brien is the director of business development at flyte new media, organizer of Social Media Breakfast Maine and cofounder of eighteen twenty wines. She is a work in progress, proud mom, and dog lover. She loves working with businesses and individuals to help them grow and connect them with resources to reach their goals.
Click to tweet: .@amanda_pants is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/228 #inspiration
Amanda wasn’t very confident in her twenties, as she desperately tried to find her career path. Internet marketing, and making Myspace pages for others interested seemed to really be her thing, but Amanda was discouraged as she knew she needed to find a “real job.” At Amanda’s “real job,” she was miserable and realized that the number on her paycheck didn’t really mean as much as she thought.
During her start in internet marketing, Amanda witnessed people getting taken advantage of. She felt it was her personal responsibility to help everyone. After a marketing event in Boston, Amanda realized she could help more people if she could do something like that in Portland.
Amanda just legitimately wants to see others succeed.
Amanda and her friend, Pete, are making wine out of rhubarb.
Amanda struggles with time management. As a single mom, who wants to succeed at work and home life, Amanda feels she needs to be better at managing her own time, but also doing things one at a time.
Amanda always tries to put herself in a better place before she makes a big decision, or finds herself in a situation that is not going how she wants it. Amanda follows the 24-hour rule, goes for a run, and spends time evaluating how she can make the best decision.
Amanda wishes she was more confident earlier in life. Always be learning; always be moving forward. It will work out.
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed in the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do.”
Websites:
http://www.takeflyte.com/
http://socialmediabreakfastmaine.com/
http://eighteentwentywines.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/amanda_pants
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
If you listened to the last 100% Jodi episode you know coming in the Fall is the “On Air Coaching” calls. I’ve already got 6 volunteers for these calls and the feedback has been incredible. Thank you all for always letting me know when I’m on the right track and when you’d like to see some changes.
This podcast definitely has an element of promoting myself as a business and leadership coach for Type A women but it’s meaningless if I’m not providing good and relevant content to you. I look at this podcast as a partnership between you and I so always reach out to me if there’s anything you want to ask or share.
Speaking of which, I put out feelers in the past which didn’t get a lot of traction but this time I’ll ask more directly. If you have questions you want to ask and have answered on a future episode of Women Taking the Lead, send them to me. I would love to do a Q&A episode but need your questions to do it. You can comment any post you see on social media or send an email directly to me at Jodi@womentakingthelead.com.
This episode was inspired from a recent workshop I did for a local company but let me be clear, I have this type of interaction with women several times a year.
We were doing a roundtable exercise and one of the participants brought up a situation where a new position was created in 3 separate divisions. In 2 of the divisions a male was selected and promoted to the new position but in her division, where she had a strong edge, they were taking applications to interview for the new position. Although she had been given an explanation for the discrepancy, she felt wronged and treated differently from her male counterparts.
The group felt for her but this was a savvy group so they didn’t stay on the surface of the situation. They began asking really good questions about the dynamics of the office, experience, etc.
Then I asked her, “How often to you advocate for yourself?”
She looked confused and responded that she didn’t understand the question.
Although this did not blindside me my heart broke a little bit. Too often I see women getting overlooked because they are afraid to appear to be bragging, grabbing for attention or being a bother.
The reality is those who are in positions of power, the people who can hire us, promote us or advocate on our behalf have a lot on their plate and so they are focusing on the end result and not always paying attention to how things done and by whom.
This is why, even if you are uncomfortable tooting your own horn, you have to do it anyway and work on getting more comfortable as you go.
This is true whether you are an employee or you own your own business.
Many business owners struggle with the About page of their business, they have a hard time asking for testimonials. Because they are not able to make clear declarations of “I am awesome at X and have produced these results for my clients,” they blend in the background with their competitors who are all saying the same thing.
In the office, your boss might be thanking you and congratulating you on a job well done today but will they cumulatively remember all your contributions 8 months from now when senior leadership is identifying top talent in each division?
You don’t want to blend, you want to stand out and there is a way to do that without looking like you’re not a team player.
Simple Loose Leaf Tea: Finding the perfect loose leaf tea can be complex and time-consuming. That’s what Simple Loose Leaf is here to help with. With their monthly box of loose leaf tea you get to explore the world of tea. With each box you get 4 unique teas in re-sealable pouches. Go to https://simplelooseleaf.com/leadtea, and enter code LEADTEA for 15% off your new membership!
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Elizabeth Moss is dedicated to recognizing Maine’s role in American Art. She opened her gallery in 2004 after completing a master of art's program in museum studies and curatorial research at George Washington University. While in Washington she worked at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden and was a member of Zonta International and a founding member of the Smithsonian Young Benefactors.
In 2010, she founded the nonprofit arts organization the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts and was its Executive Director from 2010- 2014 and today heads the Advisory Board. In 2013, she was a finalist in Maine Family Business Awards for Elizabeth Moss Galleries and the gallery was named one of the top 500 Galleries in North America by Blouin International's website ArtInfo. She is also an active member of the Women's Executive Forum.
As director of Elizabeth Moss Galleries, she has exhibited at international art fairs in NYC's 28th Street Armory and Boston's AD20/21 at the Cyclorama. Artworks from her gallery have been included in the Art in Embassies program and are in the corporate collections of LL Bean, Acadia Insurance and Maine General Hospital and countless private collections in the US, France, Saudi Arabia and Finland.
Click to tweet: .@emossgalleries is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/227 #inspiration
At the start of her business, Elizabeth was told by two well-known gallery owners that she should move to a more popular area. Elizabeth knew that she would probably flourish in a lofty place away from the strip mall she was in, but stayed put. It may not have been glamorous, but she wouldn’t have survived if she had followed their advice.
In 2010, a client inquired about a painting that had been in their family a long time. With Elizabeth’s love for art history, she took a look at the painting and saw the beauty shine through. Discovering that the painting had an incredible history, Elizabeth realized she has just as much to offer as everyone else outside of Maine.
Elizabeth wants to focus on branching outside of Maine, possibly nationwide.
Elizabeth feels like there is a retraction in art market. With recent politics, there is a little uncertainty in where it’s all going and the unknown can impact a nonessential industry like art.
Elizabeth’s relationships with everyone she knows.
It’s okay if you’re not 100% every day. It’s ok to be 60-70% sometimes as the days you are 124% will even it out in the end.
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” Benjamin Franklin
Elizabeth Moss Galleries: https://www.elizabethmossgalleries.com/about
Maine Museum of Photographic Arts: http://www.mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emossgalleries
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Elizabeth-Moss-Galleries-118863138155746/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-moss-civiello-479695b/
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Hello everyone and thank you for joining me today!
If you're getting my newsletter you know I am in the midst of some summertime craziness with family coming and going and getting ready for Podcast Movement in a couple of weeks.
My parents were just visiting this past weekend and I was sharing with them how I'm listening to Marianne Williamson's book, "A Return to Love Workshop: Basics on a Course in Miracles." It's a live recording of her delivering this workshop over the course of a weekend.
I shared with my parents how I missed going to a personal development seminar. It's been a while since I've gone away to focus just on me and who I am as a human being.
However the more we chatted over the weekend and I shared with them different conversations I've had with people in my life and books that I'm reading I realized I am immersed in a personal development program.
I've said many times on this podcast that entrepreneurship is the most robust personal development program you can put yourself through, but I'm also realizing you don't have to be an entrepreneur to get the rigorous benefits of personal development. You just have to surround yourself with the right people and resources and have a huge willingness to look at your stuff honestly and compassionately.
With Podcast Movement on the horizon something that has definitely been on my mind lately is the creative direction of Women Taking the Lead. I'm not the type of person who can keep doing the same thing over and over and over again without getting bored and so I need change. Last year that change look like switching up the format to releasing one interview episode a week and putting more time and effort into releasing the 100% Jodi episodes.
That had a huge impact on the success of this podcast. My download numbers per episode have doubled since I started doing the 100% Jodi episodes. It's those type of changes that I know keep me growing, keep the podcast growing, and serves this community best.
Last year at podcast movement I had a conversation with Natalie Eckdahl of the Biz Chix Podcast. I told her how much I admired her for doing the "on air coaching" calls as a part of her podcast and conveyed how courageous I thought that was.
Natalie very directly told me, "Jodi, this is something you should do with your podcast. You're a business coach. This is a way to display what you can do for your clients and the types of conversations you have in your coaching sessions."
When she said that to me a year ago I was so intimidated by the idea of it that I just put it to bed and only thought about it every now and again. Until recently.
I was chatting with a new friend recently who asked what was next for my podcast. The first thing that came to mind was the "on air coaching" episodes so I mentioned that and then instantly came up with a bunch of reasons why I couldn't do it. All of those reasons were pretty much excuses not to take the risk and that became apparent in the conversation.
I thought about it over the weekend and what kept coming back to me was the oral exam I had to pass to earn my coaching certification. This entailed coaching a master coach on a recorded line and then the recording is passes onto 3-5 other master coaches who review and either pass or fail you with feedback.
As soon as the call was done I started to cry because I was sure I failed. I was wrong, I passed but I didn't feel good about the experience at all. Years later I entered a fun contest in my coaching community that was set up like March Madness in college basketball.
In the contest each coach submitted a recorded call to be rated by a select group of coaches deciding who moved on to the next round. I didn't make it past the first round. I was bummed but I figured it would be a good learning opportunity so I asked if I could get the feedback on where I went wrong. I was told someone would reach out to me but nobody did and I didn't follow up, which I've come to regret. Because what has lived with me is this conflicting image I have of myself as a coach.
On the one hand I have this image of me as a great coach - I am able to provide my clients with a safe space in which they can just be themselves; they don’t have be super professional or put up any fronts with me. They can come as they are, tell the truth without fearing judgment and they can be supported and stretched at the same time. They reach or exceed their goals and they rave about me. That sounds all good, right?
On the other hand there is this lingering feeling that I’m not as good as I think I am. There’s something I’m doing wrong and I don’t know what it is because that information has not been shared with me.
So you can imagine what I’m going through as I start seriously considering these “on air coaching” calls. I’m going to be releasing yet another recording of me coaching and this time it’s for the whole world to hear. Anyone can access this podcast and listen to my coaching process and style. And my inner critic is having a field day with me.
This is a perfect example of the Imposter Syndrome. I’m afraid if I record myself coaching and publish it I’ll be called out as a fraud. Everyone will know I’m not as good as I appear and the jig is up.
As I’m saying this I know it sounds insane but that’s why the Imposter Syndrome is so insidious. Until we get our thoughts out of our head and say them aloud to another person those thoughts live like they are the truth. When I shared all my excuses with my friend, who in turn questioned them, the excuses all sounded ridiculous.
It was then I realized how much fear had been deciding the content of Women Taking the Lead. And I can’t let that go on.
I can’t expect you to do anything I’m not willing to do and I want to model boldness, taking a risk, and stretching limits.
Starting in the Fall I’m going to start releasing “On Air Coaching” episodes. I’m going to take advantage of my time at Podcast Movement this month to develop my process around these episodes and you’ll be hearing more starting in September.
The bottom line, and coming back to where I started from, doing programs and weekends to focus on your personal development is awesome – I certainly want to do more – and if you surround yourself by the right people and resources be it books, TED Talks, podcasts or videos, and take action on what you learn, you are going to experience continuous growth in your life and in your work.
If you are interested in joining forces with a group of women who are going for it in their life and in their businesses I’m going to highly recommend you check out The Accomplished Community. There is coaching, Q&A, masterminding, expert calls, weekly prompts, a lot of compassion and more to help you continue to grow and stretch yourself in a way that feels good. Go to https://womentakingthelead.com/community to find out more.
I hope this was valuable to you and if it was please share this with a friend. That’s how we gain resources to help us on our own personal development journey.
Here’s to your success!
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Jenn Aubert is an author and entrepreneur. Her first book Women Entrepreneur Revolution: Ready! Set! Launch! (Balboa Press, 2014) explores the mindset, motivation and behaviors of successful female entrepreneurs and the role models in their lives who have influenced them. She is also the co-founder of LearnSavvy, an online community for women business owners with a primary focus on facilitated peer group masterminds, called Savvy Circles. Jenn currently lives in Portland, OR with her husband and adorable son.
Click to tweet: .@LearnSavvy is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/226 #inspiration
When Learn Savvy was more of a marketplace for education, Jenn recruited women to teach classes. As they started to move away from that setup, Jenn realized that she had been solely relying on these other women to teach the classes and undervaluing her own knowledge.
For many years, Jenn suffered from severe anxiety over talking to people on the phone. The moment that Jenn decided she wanted to write a book consisting of 100 interviews, Jenn knew things had to change. If Jenn wanted this book to be a success, she had to jump into the deep end.
Jenn uses calm enthusiasm. She believes there is just so much frantic enthusiasm, and that approach can tend to make some individuals anxious. Jenn uses a calmer approach, but still encourages with enthusiasm. Jenn also believes in genuine relationships and finds some joint ventures or list building promotions to feel slimy, where she would rather make natural introductions.
Jenn is currently excited about Savvy Circles, her peer facilitated mastermind group. This group of usually 4-6 women meets up weekly for 90 days. Jenn finds it incredibly inspiring to watch the journey of those women.
Jenn struggles with marketing and standing out in a crowd. With so much noise, being able to get in front of the right people is always a challenge.
Meditation.
“Appreciate where you’re at right now, rather than always looking forward.”
“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
Website: http://www.learnsavvy.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnsavvy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/learnsavvy
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Man, the summertime crazy has commenced. It took everything I had, and little less sleep, to get this episode out this week. My schedule was jam-packed and I have family coming to visit so my schedule is going to be all out whack for a couple of weeks. I'll have a week of rest after (or not) and then I'm off to Podcast Movement.
The old me would have become insanely stressed out and resentful, and the people around me probably would have been very aware of it. I would have tried to get rid of as much on my to do list as possible to try to alleviate the stress.
The old me would have battled with myself about doing an episode this week and I probably would have done it but it would have been because I didn't want to look bad. I would have been motivated by a fear that if I didn't do this episode I would lose momentum, and lose the faith and trust of those of you who look forward to the 100% Jodi episodes each week.
I'm not going to deny I'm a little wound up this week with everything but I wanted to do an episode this week because I'm motivated from something different than fear. The emotion I'm motivated by is love.
I love doing these episodes. I was hesitant at first. I was excited and nervous and testing out the waters with different topics but now I've hit a groove, gotten your feedback and now 100% Jodi is a labor of love.
As much as possible do things coming from the emotion of love. I think we can agree it's much more enjoyable to be feeling love while you are taking action than it is to feel fear.
I would much rather do an obstacle course loving the exhilaration rather than running it half freaked out by the obstacles I have to overcome.
Sometimes it's not even fear we need to shift but there can be something really special that can come about when we add love to the mix.
I remember when I joined BNI my chapter took attendance but they didn't enforce the attendance policy. That seemed fine with everyone because everyone seemed to give a best effort to attend...until they didn't.
When I was the President of the chapter from 2012-2013 I had some real concerns with what I was seeing. With my personality type, and my background in corporate you know I went to the reports to see what was going on. Sure enough, when attendance was good there were corresponding increases in the numbers of referrals passed and the amount of money we tracked in closed business.
When attendance went down so did the referrals and money made by the members.
Okay, so after looking at the BNI reports for my chapter for attendance, referrals passed and money made by the members, it was plain as day what I needed to do but this would be a major culture shift and I had only been in the chapter for a year and a half. A large number in my chapter had been in the chapter for more than 10-15 years, some of them for nearly 20 years.
However, the solution was clear but I needed to do this right. So I presented the information first to the members who were in leadership roles in the chapter and proposed that we start enforcing the attendance policy. They were surprised but the numbers didn't lie and they agreed to the change.
With their support I prepared a PowerPoint presentation to do at an upcoming meeting. I was a little nervous given some of the personalities that were in the chapter at that time but I knew it was the right thing. I was resolved. And I was preparing for the presentation with that energy.
My friend Michelle who is also a member of my BNI chapter, chatted with me the day before my presentation and asked me how I was feeling. I've mentioned her before as the friend who balances me out and this demonstrates exactly how.
I told her I was ready, I was resolved and it was the right thing to do. Michelle replied, "And remember you doing this because you love them." She was exactly right! I wouldn't have risked so much if I didn't love the people who were in the room but I wasn't present to it as I was preparing my data and creating the slides.
Every Type A woman should have a friend like Michelle in their life.
I started my presentation by asking everyone in the room if they had hit their money goal the prior year. Only one person raised their hand. I then told them that my goal as their President was to change that. The reason people join BNI is to make more money. Everything else, and there's a lot of other things, are a bonus. People leave BNI if they are not making enough money for their efforts.
I delivered my presentation focusing on how the attendance policy was going to help them make more money and achieve their goals. At the end of the presentation I decided to be completely transparent and I told them I wanted to do this because I loved them and I wanted them to be successful.
Everyone agreed to my proposal to start to enforce the attendance policy. We've been enforcing the attendance policy ever since and my chapter has gotten better every year.
On your part it feels better to come from a place of love, and it feels better for the other person as well. People can sense the intention behind what is said and an action taken. They may not be able to name it exactly but they do get a sense of whether it feels genuine or manipulative.
If you're not coming from love you are likely being somewhat manipulative.
Things that will take us out of love:
We have to consciously choose love in these situations because it's too easy to get sucked into fear and anger.
If you find yourself getting sucked into negative emotions come back to a place of love. How do I do this is focusing on the things that I love. I might get fearful about some aspect of my business but then I think about the women in this community. I remember why I work so hard and why I continue to challenge myself to put out good content.
When I get stressed out about a lack of time I remind myself that it's my expectations of myself that causes the time crunch and that I love peace of mind more than perfection. I then do what I can from a place of love. And sometimes I surprise myself; because I'm so calm doing my tasks they actually get done more quickly because I'm not so easily distracted.
Make Plans and Take Action from a Place of Love
As you start planning your days and your to do lists begin by getting yourself, not only in a good state of mind, but a good state of heart as well. Remind yourself of what you love and once you begin to lighten and feel the good emotions, then take action.
Especially do this before every meeting or phone call. Get to your set point of love and go from there. I guarantee you, you will see a difference in your productivity, your results and the effect you have on other people.
This is simple but not easy. It's a practice and I am constantly getting off track and going into auto-pilot, catching myself and resetting my mindset and my emotions. It takes some effort but it is SO WORTH IT.
If you are looking to be around more women who are taking the concepts I've been sharing in these episodes, talking about them and putting them into practice then you want to check out The Accomplished Community. While I certainly have a private facebook group that any woman can join, The Accomplished Community is an exclusive community of women who are taking it to the next level.
What I am really good at is showing Type A women how to let go of the stress so you can believe in yourself and, with clear vision and confidence, take the actions that are going to see you to the success that you want. My coaching removes the barriers that keep you from having the experiences you know you were meant for. Whether that is gaining more clients, growing your team, achieving awards and recognition in your industry, gaining that promotion, speaking, podcasting, or writing your book. If you've dreamt it I can help you achieve it.
Go to https://womentakingthelead.com/community to find out more and register if this is for you.
Thank you all for joining me and here's to your success!!
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Megan Kelly is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Executive Producer at Honor Society and brings nearly two decades of experience on both the advertising agency and production sides of the business and was an early adapter for digital content. While honing her skills for every facet of production and cultivating strong and enduring relationships, she has also earned a reputation for curating and developing talent. Prior to founding Honor Society, she led production teams for such top industry shops as Savage, Shilo, The Sweet Shop, Public Domain and Czar. Most recently Kelly started the Live Action Division at Click 3X. Kelly’s work has garnered some of the industry’s most prestigious awards, including One Show, AICP and Cannes Lions.
Click to tweet: Megan Kelly from @HonorSocietyTV is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Leadhttps://womentakingthelead.com/225 #inspiration
Megan has always been a hard worker who strived to keep everyone happy. In her thirties, she found herself juggling motherhood and a corporate lifestyle. Megan realized she had been trying to follow the rules, but sometimes rules need to be broken in order to grow.
Megan was placed in charge of the division at one of her past jobs and was really proud of her accomplishments. Though she was the head of the division, Megan wasn’t able to have the creative freedom she needed or recognition that she deserved. After a certain point, she was pulled aside by her boss and told that she needed to run the company the way he wanted her to.
Megan’s staff is large and quite varied, so her leadership style sometimes differs. Overall, she strives to have a family-type environment where all opinions can be heard.
Megan is working on a couple of things that are yet to be released, but that she is really proud of. Honor Society is also starting to work on episodic branded content work for networks.
Megan feels that she can be an impatient person and an overachiever. She struggles finding balance, and always finds herself wishing to be further along during the growing process.
Megan always tries to trust her gut. Especially with all of her experience, she needs to trust herself when she feels something isn’t going to work.
“Learn to trust yourself. Embrace trusting yourself.”
“Better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
“Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Website: honorsociety.tv
Email: megan@honorsociety.tv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Honor-Society-Films-943277799060462/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/invite-sent/megan-kelly-8677515/
Instagram: @honorsociety.tv
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
It looks like last week’s 100% Jodi episode left its mark. I got an overwhelming response with visits to the blog post; comments on the blog, the Facebook posts, mentions in tweets, Facebook messages, emails, women joining the private Facebook group, and my email list, etc. Thank you so much!!
What I loved was even those who let me know they didn’t express their spirituality the same way I do reached out to let me know that episode made an impact on them.
If anything the response was, “Yes! Be courageous. We love it!”
I wrote, recorded, edited and uploaded that episode on July 4th. A little ironic that it all happened on the day the U.S. celebrates Independence Day.
However, that meant I lived with what was in that episode for nine days before it dropped. I had to manage myself for over a week because although I was excited to be more open and honest about what was true for me, my ego and my inner critic was having a field day with me.
I’ve been through this before and I’ve coined this experience The Exposure Hangover.
Here’s Where The Exposure Hangover Comes From
Some of you may be able to relate to this, others maybe not. But let me take you on a journey to the past. It may have been in college or soon after. You were out for an evening with your friends.
You had a drink to kick the night off. You were having such a good time you weren’t paying attention to how many drinks you had. Everyone was having a good time and the night was going strong.
You had thoughts like, “I love my friends. They are the best.” And, “I love my new friends. We just met in the bathroom but we bonded.”
Trust is high and you say things you’ve never felt so comfortable saying before. There’s a vibe of fun and acceptance so you become a little more daring.
At some point in the night you felt your buzz starting to fade and so you had another drink. What number drink is this? Who cares, I feel great!
Bio chemically there is a lot going on in your body. One thing that is happening is your body has started to release a load of endorphins which are blocking pain and anxiety, causing you to feel great and courageous.
The night ends and you go home to sleep it off in your bed thinking this was the best night ever.
And then you wake up the next morning. And the sun is peaking through the curtains. Pain shoots through your eyeballs triggering a headache. You’re dehydrated and nauseous and every nerve ending feels exposed.
It’s all foggy at first and you’re not sure what made you feel like death.
Then images and sounds from the night before start to filter through to your consciousness. Some it might be funny at first and then…you remember.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!”
You said or did something that was so risky and outside of how people know you that a jolt of fear and shame hits you like lightening.
You cringe, you moan, you want to deny it but there’s no taking it back. All you can hope for is that other people don’t make a big deal about it but they probably do.
I don’t know about you but more often than I’d like to admit my hangover was made all the more painful because I felt vulnerable to being judged, ridiculed or treated coolly.
What The Exposure Hangover Looks Like in Your Business
If you are a business owner or you are striving for promotions in your career you’ve probably had this feeling before.
In order to stand out, to be noticed and ultimately successful you have to put yourself out there.
I’ve shared this Jen Sincero quote from her book You Are a Badass at Making Money in a previous episode but it bears repeating.
“You have everything you need right now to start turning your financial reality into something that doesn’t make you wake up screaming in the middle of the night. You just have to be willing to do what it takes.
And here is what it takes: agreeing to get really, really, really, really uncomfortable over and over again.
We‘ve been raised to believe that you have to work hard to make money. And certainly there are times when this is true but the real secret is you have to take huge uncomfy risks. You have to do stuff you’ve never done before to make yourself visible, to acknowledge your own awesomeness, to risk looking stupid.”
This could potentially look like speaking up in a meeting and giving our opinion, sharing our values with the people we work with, getting real with a client, telling a personal story while giving a talk or delivering a workshop, or revealing your relationship with God on a podcast.
And here’s the thing, when you do it you might be a little nervous but you know it’s the right move. Because it’s the right move you’ve started boosting yourself up likely causing your brain to release more endorphins so your fear gets mixed with some courage.
It almost doesn’t matter how your words or actions are received, you will likely experience The Exposure Hangover later.
When the endorphins make their way out of your system the Ego kicks in and your inner critic goes insane. It will tell you that you are a fool, an idiot, and have you fearing an enormous backlash.
I want you to know if you experience this it is actually very normal and it shall pass. It is not an indication that you did the wrong thing it’s an indication that you did something new and scary and you have removed a layer of what has been limiting you.
I tell my clients there is the real you at your core and it is always there ready to be released. However, over the years you’ve taken on stories about yourself, other people and the world that inhibit you. Imagine each story is like a blanket that has been placed over your head impeding your vision and impeding other people’s perception of you.
Is it any wonder that you feel so misunderstood and disconnected from other people when you are hiding under so many blankets and they are doing the same?
Let’s change the perspective of The Exposure Hangover
Rather than relating to The Exposure Hangover as a bad thing let’s label that initial inner critic reaction as what happens when you let go of a blanket. You have been relating to that blanket as a security blanket but you don’t need that security blanket.
In a short amount of time you will have adapted to no longer having that blanket over you. You will feel lighter, your vision will be clearer and you will feel closer to the people around you.
Unlike a real hangover greasy food will not make you feel better but perhaps hydrating and sitting still for a while to integrate or allow the feelings to slowly move through you will have you feeling better in no time.
If you know you need to be more visible and more vulnerable to start gaining more success and you don’t like the idea of going it alone check out the Work With Me! page on womentakingthelead.com.
There are all sorts of ways to work with me that don’t necessarily involve a long-term private coaching package. We can find a way to work together in a way that feels right for you.
Thank you all so, so much for joining me and here’s to your success!!
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Lisa Woodruff is a professional organizer, productivity specialist and author of The Mindset of Organization, Take Back Your House One Phase at a Time. Lisa believes organization is not a skill you are born with. It is a skill that is developed over time and changes with each season of life. Lisa has helped thousands of women reclaim their homes and finally get organized with her practical tips, encouragement and humor through her blog and podcast at Organize365.com.
Click to tweet: .@organize365 is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/224 #inspiration
After years of working in sales, Lisa left and started her Organize 365 blog. After a push from her husband, she incorporated sales back into her life and started doing sales parties. At these parties, she realized her audience grew significantly. It turns out that people really wanted to hear what a professional organizer had to say!
Lisa started Organize 365 as a blog in Jan 2012 and had been waiting for a brand to find her and ask her to write about them, as she had seen so many others do. After that didn’t happen, Lisa decided to do a virtual webinar to teach about her Sunday basket. When she got onto the call, she realized everyone who signed up had already been following her and been using their Sunday baskets but needed more guidance.
Lisa has a teaching background, so she leads through education, motivation and action. Lisa wants to tell a story so people can understand their own mindset.
Lisa is excited about her newest book, How ADHD Affects Home Organization, and how empowered people with ADHD will feel once they realize there are methods that work.
Lisa struggles with finding mentors or business leaders that are at or above the level she is in.
Lisa reads, or listens to podcasts every day.
“Just start. Don’t wait for anyone to give you permission; just do it.”
“Done is better than perfect.”
“Progress over perfection.”
Website: http://organize365.com
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/organize365
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
I feel like I’m inviting you into my living room because this is going to be an intimate conversation. Buckle up because this is another one of those “What I’m Afraid to Tell You” episodes like the one I did 6 months ago.
This episode was brought on by two conversations I had within a 2-week period. The first conversation was a coaching call with one of my clients. She has given me permission to share our conversation with you and I am very grateful to her. We have been working together for 2 ½ months so we’ve gotten very comfortable with one another. In fact when we’ve talked about personality tests like Myers Briggs and DiSC our profiles are a near match. She joked that if we lived near each other we’d either be hanging out all the time or avoiding each other because we would be a mirror to the other and there might be times we don’t like what we see. I completely agreed.
We were chatting a couple weeks ago and she mentioned that she wasn’t sure of me when she first started listening to the podcast. She enjoyed the interviews and got a sense that we had a similar take on things but the Marianne Williamson quote at the end of my episodes has a strong reference to God and that did not resonate with her. Also, being from the UK and living in Australia she also sees how evangelical U.S. citizens can be. I chuckled and thought this impression was very fair considering what gets blasted in the new and on facebook whenever there is a presidential election. She had a valid concern considering she didn’t know me very well.
However, it was when she heard my episode on Higher Consciousness vs. Traditional Theology that she realized that I was a spiritual person but not practicing any religion. It was then everything clicked and within a few weeks she reached out to me and we scheduled a Skype call.
I was very appreciative that she shared this with me and grateful that an unintended consequence of that episode, also inspired by a conversation with another client, allowed her to feel comfortable reaching out to me.
Okay, so that conversation happened and about a week later I was having a one to one networking meeting with a member from another BNI chapter. I had recently seen a book list he put together for his employees and it included some of my favorite books like Start with Why, The Four Agreements and The Alchemist – books that from my perspective are spiritual but not religious; along with another book that had the word “spiritual” right in the title.
Of course I had to ask him if he considered himself a spiritual person. This opened up the gates to a conversation I did not see coming. During our conversation I told him what my client recently shared with me about the perception she had of me. He asked me some great questions and picked up on the fact that this is an area I censor myself, not just on this podcast, but in my entire life.
There is such a stigma around spirituality, and exploring concepts like faith, divinity, intuition and higher callings. It’s not to say that I feel a need to talk about these things all the time but even when it’s relevant I often find myself saying very little on the subject even though the truth of the matter is I believe these things are woven into everything. From my perspective there is no conversation where these topics are not relevant. It’s like trying to pretend water is unnecessary.
In the course of a conversation I would have no problem saying, “Do you mind if we pause while I go fill up my glass of water?” but the thought of saying, “Do you mind if we pause while I check in with my intuition?”, makes me feel squeamish. I could count on one hand the number of people I would feel comfortable saying that to and I only feel comfortable because they did it first, thus giving me permission to do the same.
And this is probably something many of you have grappled with. Being Type A and likely left-brained, logical thinkers we like our facts, our case studies and what has been scientifically proven. It can be difficult for us to embrace faith because that would mean letting go of control and allowing things to unfold. We don’t like being told what to think and believe, or having anyone assign our role or cap our potential, so the dogma of religious institutions can chafe against who we are at our core.
And for most of us we have collapsed spirituality and religion into the same concept but they are distinct. Spirit is your non-physical form and your connection to something greater than yourself as an individual. Your spirituality is how you choose to explore and express that connection. Religion is a system of practicing faith and worship. Religion is structured and has agreed upon principles.
I want to be clear that I am all for a religious practice if it aligns with you and allows you to grow in your spirituality. Joining a religious community can provide support, guidance and company in your spiritual journey. I was raised Catholic and although I am not a practicing Catholic there are many things that I treasure about the Catholic faith. I can’t remember what age I was but I would guess it was somewhere between 4th and 6th grade I had a catechism teacher whom I felt comfortable with. Because of my level of comfort I would pepper her with questions. Being logical we can instantly see when things don’t add up, when they don’t make sense and if there is inconsistent information we have a hard time trusting the source.
For instance, in the Catholic faith you are only to receive communion if you are in a state of grace, meaning your sins have been absolved. And you can only receive absolution by confessing to a priest and doing your penance. So for example, if you skipped mass the week prior and haven’t made it to confession it’s a no-no to receive communion. However, during the mass right before receiving the Eucharist the entire congregation repeats the words, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.” Having said that, and believing in a forgiving God, you are still not to receive communion unless you have confessed to a priest.
Still, often when I am back in Worcester visiting family I will attend mass with them for several reasons. I like the people of their parish. They are warm and friendly and comical. It also makes my parents happy to see me attending mass. They do not push nor do they hide their hope that all their children will become practicing Catholics once again. They are very respectful of my choices and so I feel a freedom to attend mass. Lastly, I sometimes become very moved during the mass. When you get past the quirkiness of the Catholic mass, and some of the dogma that doesn’t resonate, you can see that it is designed to create an environment in which you can have a spiritual experience. Sometimes I feel so connected to that something greater my eyes start to water.
If you cut yourself off from the notion that there is something greater than our mortal coil you will limit what is possible for you in regard to your own development and your human experience.
I remember watching a PBS broadcast of a talk Wayne Dyer gave and he made the statement, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."
That stirred something in me and I realized I already believed that but I had never heard it articulated in that way.
That is at the core of my beliefs but it has been a journey to get here. My faith has been tested many times and I went through a time when it was shattered.
As I share this story I don’t want you to get hung up on the word God. If God resonates with you, great; if not know that in the telling of this story I could interchangeable use the words source, higher power, universe, etc. Change out God for the word that is true to you.
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Naomi is a mother of a child on the autism spectrum and a specialist coach for families like hers. She manages an amazing movement Autism Living Life On The Spectrum which consists of over 9,000 people touched by Autism and/or Special Needs, with a focus in helping families create a life where they can turn the obstacles they are presented with into opportunities.
Click to tweet: Naomi Amat is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/223 #inspiration
Ten years ago, Naomi and her family were away for her a wedding, and her son had an accident and fell out of a window. During the healing process for her son, she realized that everything they had done had been centered around her son for so long. Changes in focus needed to take place so Naomi could put some energy into herself and what she wanted to do in life.
Naomi and her family were struggling with her son. She made some great progress working with him and family dynamics started to move forward, but she felt unfulfilled. Naomi was a busy mom who realized all that she had gained from other people and their journeys. With that inspiration, Naomi started a Facebook group that featured her learnings, and it took off from there.
Naomi looks at the emotional, physical, and mental impact as well as family dynamic, to figure out how to move forward from situations that may seem negative and turn them into a positive.
Naomi is working on creating Autism acceptance on a global level.
Naomi finds that most people have a preconceived idea of autism and she is working on changing that perception while educating at all levels.
Naomi believes in always reflecting on what is happening around her. Sharing her stories and coming out the other side has been empowering.
Embrace change ourselves to be able to see that change is a possibility for others.
“By nurturing you, you can better nurture your family too.”
https://livinglifeonthespectrum.com/
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
I’ve been resisting this episode and the topic of next week’s episode as well. Which is kind of funny because the book I’m reading right now, or I should say the physical book I’m reading, because you guys know I’ve always got a book in audible going as well. The physical book I’m reading is Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly.
In this book Matthew Kelly states, “The hardest war to win is the one you don’t even realize you are fighting, and the hardest enemy to defeat is the one you don’t even know exists. Every day you are at war with resistance.”
I love you all for reaching out and letting me know how the interviews and the 100% Jodi episodes are impacting you. The more conversations I have with you the more I want to bring out the best in my guests and encourage them to be open and vulnerable with you. I am also striving to be more open and vulnerable, to share the perspectives and experiences I know will help you.
One topic that seems to be coming up a lot lately with my clients and in this community at large is the theme of being a lone wolf. What I mean by lone wolf is being the type of person who likes to take care of themselves; to be independent and to be seen as someone who has got it all together.
Especially for me and the women I attract into this community, we love helping and taking care of others. There’s no shame in other’s accepting help from us but there’s shame when we even consider asking for help from someone else. It’s a double-standard and we come out the losers.
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Rita Morales works with wellness entrepreneurs who want to take their online presence to the next level through authentic branding and creative websites that capture the personality of her clients.
She is a firm believer that a pretty website is pretty useless without a strategy behind it to maximize sales and conversions.
Rita empowers her clients by teaching them how to tame technology effectively through a hands-on approach with each client.
Click to tweet: .@ritasmorales is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/222 #inspiration
Rita knew how to build a website, but she didn’t know enough about herself to create her own branding. Rita had to believe that she could slowly transition into this more powerful state. When she figured out her branding, she finally realized who she was helping, what she had to do and it really opened a whole new view for her.
After Rita established her branding, she finally felt awake. Rita understood what she should have been doing, and learned how to brand herself and others to really make an impact.
Rita is an organized, Type A person. Becoming an entrepreneur allowed Rita to see that she didn’t need to be so serious. Rita tries to be relatable but firm in her leadership.
Rita is taking her solopreneur shop into a larger agency model. Rita knows how to manage projects, so she is excited to grow it and take it to the next level.
Always finding the right people is a challenge that Rita faces. Being Type A, its hard for her to give up certain tasks until she feels like a person is skilled in that area.
Rita journals no matter what is going on around her. Her journaling allows her to analyze everything and understand things better. After her journaling, she will do a page of affirmations.
Rita would tell her younger self to stop overthinking everything and trying to be perfect.
“You are enough.”
Website: http://ritamorales.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/ritamoralesdesign
FB group: http://facebook.com/groups/brandingyourbusiness
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ritasmorales
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ritasmorales/
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
This past week turned out to be the week of talking about fears. In last weeks 100% Jodi I talked about all the fears I was confronted with when I was training for and competing in the Spartan Race.
I had forgotten that the title I chose for Alison Cardy's episode was Walking Toward Fear and then the Eleanor Roosevelt quote my assistant chose for the newsletter, originally shared by Nikki Wetherell in her powerful interview in episode 104, had to do with fear.
We’ve got some momentum going so let’s lean into it.
One of my favorite life quotes is:
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." ~ Helen Keller
Hellen Keller is one of my idols. She is right up there with Mother Teresa and Anne Frank. These three women experienced horrific adversity and risk in their life but each one found a way to remain positive, optimistic and soft.
They each felt fear, found acceptance in their life situations and were able to do tremendous good as a result.
According to Cheryl Strayed in her book Wild, “Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me. Insisting on this story was a form of mind control, but for the most part, it worked.”
We have to rewrite our fear stories if we want to free ourselves from a life of limits. If we are too afraid to roll the dice and experience risk then the risk we are actually taking is living an unfulfilled half-life.
Do you wonder why so many people are bored and antsy and looking for diversion? They’ve been playing it safe for too long.
For a lot of you the risk is going to look like being still and just being with yourself for a while. You’re afraid if you do so all the things you don’t like and find lacking in yourself will bubble up and overwhelm you.
All those stories you have about yourself and what you fear might happen if you owned how talented, knowledgeable and experienced you are. If you owned it and started telling and showing people how amazing you are you’re afraid you’ll get called out publicly ridiculed for being a fraud.
And here’s what’s going to sound crazy. That grueling, punishing story you have – that’s your way of playing it safe. You know if you continue to not believe in yourself you don’t have to take any risks.
What stories do you tell yourself that induce fear and keep you playing safe?
In her TED Talk, Shonda Rhimes stated, “A crazy thing happened — the very act of doing the thing that scared me undid the fear. It’s amazing the power of one word. ‘Yes’ changed my life. ‘Yes’ changed me.”
When I first heard about Shonda Rhimes book, Year of Yes, I was turned off by it. I thought she wrote a book about saying yes to everything, which as you know I’m opposed to. Then I found out her book was about saying yes to the things she was afraid of and I was all in.
I love the saying “do something every day that scares you” because I know by exposing ourselves to fear on a regular basis we desensitize ourselves to its paralyzing impact.
In People magazine Dolly Parton shared, “The key to my success has always been that my desire to succeed has always been greater than my fear.”
And that’s just it. You have to focus on the goal, the mission, your Why, however you want to say it. Your desire to be successful has to be greater than your fear. When you focus on the end goal the fear starts to dissipate and you find the ability to get in action.
And if mocking and making light of fear is more helpful to you then listen in to what Elizabeth Gilbert has to say on the subject,
“YOUR FEAR IS BORING.
…Fear is boring, because fear only ever has one thing to say to us, and that thing is: ‘STOP!’…
My fear wants me to stop, because my fear wants me to be safe, and my fear perceives all motion, all inspiration, all work, all activity, all passion whatsoever as potentially life-threatening. My fear wants me to live a smaller life. The smallest imaginable life, ideally. My fear would prefer that I never got out of bed.
Your fear is the same. Exactly the same as mine. I guarantee it.”
It’s perfectly normal to feel fear. And fear is like a beacon to get us to take a look at something that might be lurking under the surface (usually a self-limiting belief that needs to be rewritten), but fear is not a reason to hold back or stop.
For many of you fear is causing you to hold back your gifts and your superpowers from the world. You keep them hidden so no will judge you or find you lacking. But it’s a trick. In order for you to live your best life you must risk everything you fear on the chance that you could change the world.
I have to share the Eleanor Roosevelt quote Nikki Wetherell originally shared in Episode 104.
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."
You absolutely can handle the next thing that comes along. And until it does, keep doing your thing. That’s how you prepare for the unexpected – you live each day doing your best.
What I also find to be true is that we gain confidence in numbers. If you are afraid of something find some company.
Stop trying to go it alone. If you can get help from me or from a community please reach out to me and we can talk through what would be the best fit for you. You can reach me at jodi@womentakingthelead.com.
I’ll leave you with this gem from and unknown source, "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic."
I hope this was of value to you and here’s to your success!
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Alison Cardy is a career coach who runs an international career coaching team specializing in guiding people through career changes. Her team’s work focuses on that crucial step before job searching: helping you figure out what it is you actually want to be doing with your life. She and her team have guided hundreds of people, in every industry imaginable, to innovative and functional career solutions.
Alison is the author of the 5-star rated, bestseller, Career Grease: How to Get Unstuck and Pivot Your Career. Her work has been featured on Monster, Forbes, The Muse, Undercover Recruiter, and The Washington Post.
Click to tweet: .@cardycareers is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/221 #inspiration
Alison was so used to following the path her parents put in front of her, that she got stuck in a safe routine. Realizing she had to break out of the cycle, she hopped on the Metro to DC for a solo trip. Once she stepped out of the fear, she looked around and saw it for what it was.
Alison naturally focuses internally. When she transitioned into leading team, she realized things were getting a little rocky. Alison realized there was a blindspot getting in her way and had to refocus.
Alison takes care of herself, but is always trying to look at ways she can lift up the people in her world. She wants people to know she is not just in it for her, but them too.
Alison is excited about her book, “Career Grease: How to Get Unstuck and Pivot Your Career”
Alison enjoys work and sometimes struggles to turn off her work brain in the middle of the night.
Alison actually cares.
“Keep doing those scary things.”
“Your real life, your whole life is worth getting your heart broken a few thousand times.” ~Martha Beck
Website: http://www.cardycareercoaching.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cardycareercoaching/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cardycareers
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisoncardy
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin's altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
This past Saturday, June 17th of 2017, I completed my first Spartan Race. I did the Spartan Sprint with several family members and friends and it was just an amazing experience.
And it wasn’t amazing to me because everything went smoothly and as planned. It was amazing because it was really, really hard and I did it. The community, the comraderie and the overall energy of the event was something that really needs to be experienced.
As I was heading into the last week of training and through the day after I completed the race I was reflecting back and thinking about what I learned through the whole experience and how this goal changed me.
Why Would I Sign Up for a Spartan Race?
First I have to thank my sister Kerri who on Thanksgiving Day in 2016 came up to talk to me as she and her family were getting ready to leave. She announced to me that she had read my book Accomplished and had made a commitment.
I was overjoyed because one thing I’ve learned for my own happiness is not to expect family members to be as into my career and business as I am. Any support I get from them is great.
So when my sister made this announcement I was touched and I asked what she committed to. During the day her husband had been talking about his recent experience doing the Spartan Stadium Sprint at Fenway Park so I should not have been surprised when Kerri declared that she was going to do her first Spartan Race in June.
Caught up in the moment I blurted out, “I’ll run it with you!”
Being a woman of integrity, even after the reality of what I had just done had started to settle in over the next few days I got online and registered myself for the race.
And knowing what I know about big scary goals, and my own need for external accountability, in the next month I told anyone who would listen that I was running my first Spartan Race in June.
The other reality was I was getting out of shape. I ran a marathon in 2006 and managed to continue to work out with my personal trainer, run and do boot camp classes and yoga even after starting my business in 2010.
However, my time and resources were seriously depleted when I was preparing to launch this podcast. In 2015 I was no longer working out with my personal trainer and getting to the boot camp classes and yoga felt like too much of a time commitment.
Pair that with eating on the go and resorting to a cheese and cracker dinner each night because I didn’t have the desire or energy to prepare and clean up a home cooked meal.
Training for this race forced me to take my health and fitness more seriously, to get in the workout even when I felt there wasn’t enough time and to say no to things that are not serving me, my health, my money or my peace of mind.
That’s still a work in progress. That means I need to set another really big goal to support me in this.
How I've Used Spartan Racing to Conquer Fear and More
Making the time, doing the workouts, and feeling intimidated have not been easy. But it has been good.
My life is more balanced and I am healthier and more confident as a result.
In my “reflecting back” process the word “fear” kept coming to me. I learned a lot about fear and had many intimate up-close and personal moments with my own fears since beginning this.
There were fears of sacrificing time in my business to make time for training – the very fear that caused me to be out of shape in the first place.
There were mortal fears of getting injured by falling, pulling a muscle, twisting an ankle, etc.
Then there were fears of looking stupid, out of shape, intimidated, and weak.
And get this one: the fear of feeling afraid. I’m afraid to be afraid.
Oh my God, that one landed like a boulder on my chest and the consequences of this fear are still revealing themselves.
I don’t want to be afraid to feel fear anymore so I captured for you here a few things I have learned about fear while I was training for and competing in this Spartan Race.
Freshbooks: The all new FreshBooks makes ridiculously easy accounting software that’s completely transformed how freelancers and small business owners deal with their day-to-day paperwork. Get a 30 day, unrestricted free trial go to FreshBooks.com/lead and enter WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Joe De Sena - the founder and CEO of Spartan Race, the world's leading obstacle racing company.
Following several successful entrepreneurial adventures and a career on Wall Street, Joe moved his family to Pittsfield, Vermont to operate an organic farm, a bed and breakfast, and a general store for hikers. It was here his passion grew for ultramarathons, adventure races, and endurance events. His racing resume is the stuff of legend – over 50 ultra-events overall and 14 Ironman events in one year alone. It was in Vermont the idea for the Spartan Race was born.
With more than 200 events in 30+ countries planned for 2017, Spartan Race has more than 1 million global participants offering open heats for all fitness levels and ages, as well as competitive and elite heats. The company has two popular NBC television series, making obstacle racing one of the fastest growing sports—and lifestyles— in the world.
Joe’s message of inspiration and personal transformation, combined with his status as a two-time New York Times Best Selling Author of “Spartan Up” and “Spartan Fit.”, makes him a popular keynote speaker and public figure. Joe currently lives in Tokyo, Japan with his wife Courtney and their four children.
Click to tweet: .@SpartanRace is sharing his story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/220 #inspiration
In the 1970s, Joe’s mother entered a health food store and met a yogi from India who changed her life. After that trip to the store, she began meditation, adopted a vegan diet and started teaching yoga. These new life changes made Joe’s mother an outcast and resulted in his parents getting a divorce. Joe learned to follow what he believed was right in his heart.
Both women and men need to believe in themselves more. Believing in yourself can allow you to push through when things seem stacked against you.
Joe is confident that women are definitely tougher than men, probably due to biological reasons. In his races, he has witnessed women with a higher tolerance for pain and an unwillingness to quit.
Women need to believe in themselves and stop talking about the things that are limiting them. Joe believes that you need to take control and make things happen. You may not get recognized for your hard work right away, but keep at it and you will.
Joe is currently writing a third book called Spartan X, which he hopes will help people 10X their lives. He is also working on expanding obstacle racing to 20 new countries, and even adding it to the Olympics.
“It could be worse.”
Website: https://spartan.com
Email: joe@spartan.com
Spartan Up Podcast: https://spartan.com/en/media/podcast/episodes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpartanRace
altMBA: Seth Godin’s altMBA workshop is an intensive leadership and management workshop designed for changemakers who have a fire in the belly. This is for people who are itching to level up and make a bigger impact. Find out more at: altmba.com/womentakingthelead
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
I thought the last episode of networking tips shared by the women in this community was going to wrap up the series but as I was chatting with a friend I realized there was still more to share.
Bear with me because I’m going to keep going until I’ve wrung this topic out. Networking is so crucial to our success in our careers and in our business I don’t want to leave any stone unturned.
I’ve discussed the opportunities to do group networking and broke down the key elements of the one-to-one meeting. Now I want to share with you a skill that if you can focus on and constantly improve, will have everything else fall into place more easily.
The skill is listening.
We’re often told we need to listen more or listen better but we’re never told how to do it.
This is a complaint I hear from many people about getting information from the gurus out there. We are told what to do, and that’s great, but we’re not told how to do it so we waste time and energy spinning our wheels and then feeling like we got the wrong information.
And this skill doesn’t just impact your ability to network effectively, it impacts all the interactions you have with others. The better you are at listening the better you will be at sales, negotiating, building a team, handling customer complaints, getting buy-in, being heard and considered, and giving constructive feedback.
I’m going to share with you 3 different levels of listening and the results you can get from each.
The Three Levels of Listening
Subjective Listening
The most basic level of listening is subjective listening. You don’t have to put any effort into listening at this level as it’s the type of listening we grant most people and other people grant us.
As it is subjective the listening is focused on you as the listener. This may sound odd because you’re thinking the person talking should be the subject but the reality is when we are bringing this level of listening we are paying closer attention to our internal dialogue than we are to the other person, though you may not be aware of it.
As the other person is talking you listen through the filter of, “What has this to do with me?”
You are listening for commonalities and information you can respond to or use.
You know you’re brining this level of listening if when you get bored or irritated by what the other person is saying you start to check out. Because you have decided that what they are saying is not important to you, you no longer want to be in the conversation.
There is nothing wrong with this level of listening, per se. It is part of our wiring for survival and making our way in the world to see and hear everything through a filter of, “is this important to me?”
Example of Subjective Listening
The person you are talking to: “I had the toughest time trying to get myself up a half hour earlier to take my morning walk.”
You respond: “Yeah, I have a hard time waking up in the morning too.”
Or, you respond: “You know what I do? I go to bed a half hour early at night.”
The first response will likely go over better than the second. Rule of thumb, don’t jump in with advice unless you’ve been asked for it.
Since this is the type of listening we are typically giving and receiving hardly anyone would think there was a problem with the conversation. We are often trying to find commonalities with the people we are first meeting so a response like “me too!” is not uncalled for but the rewards are so much greater if you can hold off on that for a little bit.
Objective Listening
The second level of listening is objective listening. If this is as far as you get you will still be an effective listener and networker.
When you are listening objectively you are completely focused on the person you are talking to.
Though your mind chatter will still be going on you don’t give it that much attention. Though you will of course notice commonalities if there are any, you are not overly concerned with how the information relates personally to you.
You are listening to understand what the other person is saying. You may reflect back what they’ve said to you to make sure you got it right and you’ll ask follow-up questions to get a better understanding of what they are telling you.
Example of Objective Listening
The person you are talking to: “I had the toughest time trying to get myself up a half hour earlier to take my morning walk.”
You respond: “You’re taking on walking first thing in the morning. What brought this on?”
Can you see how energetically this type of listening makes for a richer conversation as opposed to saying “me too” or “this is what you should do”?
Even if you are in fact also getting up earlier to walk in the morning hold off for a few minutes to keep your attention on the other person. They will appreciate it.
This type of listening is very effective, but doesn’t get to the “heart” of the matter.
Intuitive Listening
The highest level of listening you can bring is intuitive listening. And when I say intuitive I don’t mean you got magical messages from the universe.
Intuitive listening is paying attention to what the speaker is saying as well as taking in their tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, word choice, their overall energy level, the feelings they are expressing, etc.
It’s paying attention to what’s NOT being said. This is the most powerful form of listening and allows you to really connect with the other person.
You not only want to understand what they are saying you want to understand why what they are saying is important to them. It’s the complete opposite of subjective listening.
The goal is to really know who the other person is as a human being and what their core values are. You want them to walk away from the conversation with you thinking, “They really get me.”
If you can leave someone with that experience you will be memorable and hold more sway in their mind.
Example of Intuitive Listening
Although you will likely not be diving in with a typical intuitive listening response at the beginning of a topic here’s what it might sound like…
The person you are talking to: I had the toughest time trying to get myself up a half hour earlier to take my morning walk.
You respond: It sounds like you really want to do this, you really want to live a healthy lifestyle, but you’re not used to it yet and you’re finding it to be challenging and maybe a little frustrating.
Don’t be afraid to dive in and take a stab at it. Even if you get it wrong the other person will explain why you have it wrong without thinking any less of you.
In fact, most people enjoy the opportunity to really explain themselves and make sure the person listening to them really understands where they are coming from. As long as you get to that point it doesn’t matter that you were off the mark at first.
And let me tell you if you can provide someone with the experience of being truly heard and feeling like you get them, you have sped up the relationship building process. You are well on your way to building trust, respect, and if you want, friendship.
I can’t underscore enough how important it is for you to develop your ability to listen with your entire being. It will radically change your life. You will show up differently to those who know you and they will start interacting with you more positively and appreciatively.
Do me a favor, if you know anyone who would love to get those benefits please share this episode with them. The more people walking the earth with intuitive listening skills the better the planet will be.
I hope this was helpful to you and here’s to your success!
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Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
Maggie Patterson is a communications strategist and Chief Marketing Officer at Scoop Industries. With 15+ years’ experience (11 of which as a self-employed consultant), Maggie has spent her entire career working in client-facing roles in marketing and as a copywriter. Today, she works with service-based business owners to help them implement smart strategies for business growth. She’s the co-host of the Service Business Success podcast, a Master Level Content Marketer as awarded by Copyblogger and her work has been widely published by leading websites including Virgin.com, Fastcompany.com and more.
Click to tweet: .@magspatterson is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/219 #inspiration
Maggie was the epitome of playing small, until a trip of lifetime with her husband changed everything. While she was unplugged, she realized life was too short to do work that didn’t make her happy. When Maggie got home, she transitioned her clients and within 6-7 months, she was working for micro small companies and much happier.
Maggie was possessive of her business and felt that she had to do all of the tasks herself. Maggie’s coach pointed out that she was making a decent income and it was time to outsource. After hiring her first virtual assistant, Maggie noticed an astounding difference in her revenue. Now, she has full-time employees!
Maggie views herself as a renegade leader, as she doesn’t do rules very well. Understanding that she can still have her vision/goals, but as a leader part of her role is giving her team permission to improve on her ways. Not apologizing for being “too bossy” or “too much” To be the renegade and own that has been amazing for her.
For the last year, Maggie and her business partner have been mentoring women who are stuck and help them move through it by focusing on whats important in the business. Ultimately, they focus on going back to basics.
Maggie battles with her inner critic and an imposter complex, but she is always evolving and figuring it out. “That inner critic? Man, she is mean!” Maggie doesn’t let it get her down, but it’s always present during the important and scary things that are necessary for success.
Maggie is a prolific planner and often works in 12 week sprints.
“Oh you got this girl. Go do it!” So many times we hold ourselves back, so she would give younger Maggie the nudge needed to go do it.
“I run this day. This day does not run me, because otherwise, chaos will ensue.”
Website: http://www.scoopindustries.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/scoopindustries
Twitter: @magspatterson
Fanchest: Sports gift boxes loaded with products from your guy’s favorite team, in the perfect packaging delivered right to their door. Licensed apparel and fun surprises any sports fan will love. Free shipping and free returns. Enter promo code Jodi to get $10 off! www.fanchest.com
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!
After doing the 8 Networking Myths that Prevent New Opportunities and The Secrets to Make Networking Easy and while I was beginning Where the Real Magic of Networking Happens I received a message from Shelli Warren of Sheconnex via an awesome app called Voxer. If you are not using Voxer you need to check it out.
I went into the private Facebook group for the Women Taking the Lead community and asked if they had any networking tips to share with you.
It’s no surprise we’ve got some savvy networkers in our community and I’ve got their audio clips strung together for you here.
If you are not yet in the Women Taking the Lead private Facebook group yet get in there. You can hang out and see what everyone else is chatting about or you can dive right in, share posts and resources you have found helpful or ask questions and leverage the talent and experience of all the members of the community.
You can find it in Facebook by typing Women Taking The Lead Private Group in the search bar or you can click on the link in the show notes at womentakingthelead.com/networkingtips.
Here a few tips from the community.
Carol Cox of Speaking Your Brand
Cloris Kyle of ClorisKylie.com
Anna Dixon of Creative IQ
Jan Molino of Aspire Ascend
Karen Maffeo Creamer of KWrites.com
Kathrine Farris of MarkeTecs.com
Nicole Boucher of NBoucher.com
Nikki Groom of NikkiGroom.com
Would you add anything to what these amazing ladies mentioned here? Let me know by emailing me at Jodi@womentakingthelead.com or leaving a comment where ever you found this episode.
Also, do me a favor. If you are not subscribed to this podcast and you find it randomly on social media or some other platform hit the subscribe button below on your favorite platform: iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, or iHeart Radio. When you are subscribed the episodes come right to you, you don’t have to go searching for them.
I hope this was helpful to you and here’s to your success!
Fanchest: Sports gift boxes loaded with products from your guy’s favorite team, in the perfect packaging delivered right to their door. Licensed apparel and fun surprises any sports fan will love. Free shipping and free returns. Enter promo code Jodi to get $10 off! www.fanchest.com
Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make!
Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!