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Women Taking the Lead

The Women Taking the Lead podcast is a resource for women leaders, allies, and organizations looking to promote more women into senior leadership. Episode formats include specific leadership challenges, "on-air" coaching with women leaders, and interviews with internal talent and organizational development leaders. Women Taking the Lead inspires women to overcome self-doubt and lead with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
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Now displaying: February, 2018
Feb 26, 2018

I hope this episode finds you well and well on your way to achieving your goals. This is the last episode of the month so as promised I will be giving you an update on my goals.

The Accomplished Intensive has kicked off and I am very excited to be partnering with the women who said yes to invest in themselves and allow me to guide them through the next phase of their journey. It’s not always an easy decision and the benefits begin right away which is so cool to witness and be a part of.

If doing a group program was not in the cards for you at this time but you still feel like you need some insight, some support or some direction I’m going to suggest you take the Energy Leadership Assessment. This is the assessment tool I am licensed to administer and I use with my clients to get right to the heart of what is holding them back from having the business, the career and the life they want.

We oftentimes think it’s the circumstances that are keeping us stuck but that is rarely the case, and we have way more power than we realize. This assessment tool reveals where your power lies and where you have been giving your power away. It is amazing, it is powerful and it is eye-opening. If you need a little boost and this sounds like what you need right now go to womentakingthelead.com/coaching. You’ll get more information on the assessment and can purchase it there if you so choose.

Achieving a goal requires more than taking action

While sharing the progress I’ve made on my goals I’m also going to share with you some of the realizations I’ve had as I am thinking about my goals and taking action on them. This is very personal and I’m a little queasy sharing this but from all the feedback I’ve been getting from you I know my being open about my experience is helping you to face your fears and make progress on your goals.

I’m going to start off with my relationship goal because that’s where the most stuff has been coming up.

Goal #2 Be in a relationship.

Goal: be in a committed, monogamous, romantic partnership with a man.

Here are some of the good things that are going on in regard to the metrics and milestones I set.

In terms of taking on embodying being more open to partnership and having fun, I have practiced being more aware and less hyper-focused when I'm out and about. I don’t want give off signals like I'm already in a relationship or I'm too busy or disinterested in chatting with strangers. That is going well. I’ve made eye contact with more men, I’ve gotten appreciate glances an smiles back so I’m definitely getting feedback from those around me that I’m doing something different.

I have continued to tell more people about my goal and my preference to be introduced to men who are into personal development. No set ups yet but as I write this I’m realizing I’m not being explicit in asking the person I’m talking with to introduce me to the single men they know who are into personal development.

A male friend of mine challenged me on this need to have someone who is into personal development. He thought I was limiting myself and that part of being in relationship was to have someone who balanced you out. I’m still pondering this. Please weigh in. Send me a note or comment on any of the posts about this episode on social medial.

I have also researched online dating apps and asked around as to which one would be the best for me. I committed to being signed up on an app by the end of the month and that is done. I’ve only been on for a few days at the time of this recording and I can say so far it has been fun and interesting.

In terms of milestones and metrics I am on track with this goal. But let’s face it working toward a goal is never limited to whether or not you take the action. There is a whole mental, emotional and spiritual component to achieving our goals. If there weren’t we would have already achieved them by now.

Without putting any effort into uncovering them our limiting beliefs that have held us back in certain areas will rear their ugly heads when we begin to take action, or even consider taking action, and you will be overcome with the experience of it. This is what has been happening to me and although it’s not pleasant it’s an opportunity to change the belief. I was astounded not only by the belief itself, because it was an illogical belief, but as I worked through one belief another would be revealed. It’s fascinating!

Beliefs I’ve uncovered related to being in a relationship

The first belief that got in my face was I am not worthy, lovable enough, or deserve to be in a relationship. Who would want me?

This is not logical but it creeps into my psyche in moments of doubt. The ego is not logical and it repeats and harps on limiting beliefs to taunt you and get you to hold back and play small. So I faced this one head on and also talked through it with a friend.

I was in a good place and feeling myself moving forward and then the next limiting belief hit me a couple of days later: I resist receiving love and so will sabotage anything good that comes along. My conflict with receiving love is not limited to the area of romantic relationship. It also plays itself out in the areas of accepting help, accepting compliments or payment for my services, which also has impacted my ability to earn income in my business.

I would much rather be the giver because it is safer, more acceptable and to be honest I’m in control of what and how much I give. Sometimes without warning someone pays a compliment, gives a gift or asks to hire me. The accepting of this love does not happen as naturally or easily as you think it would. It takes some effort for me to manage myself in these moments and be gracious.

Even hearing “Thank you” can be annoying to me at times. Isn’t that interesting?

Today as I was gathering my thoughts for this episode I was randomly on my phone cleaning up the podcast app to remove any podcasts I have not listened to in some time.

I came across the Affirmations Podcast which I have not listened to in months. I went in to see if the host was still releasing episodes, because if she wasn’t I was just going to delete the podcast off my phone. I saw that yes she was still releasing episodes and the latest episode was titled Receiving Love. How funny is that? I feel supported in dealing with this limiting belief because clearly the Universe is on it and is sending me the messengers I need.

The most recent limiting belief I encountered around relationship was I will have to give up full control over my life. Where I live, holidays, meals, entertainment will all be a negotiation. Rather than looking at this as an adventure I was looking at it as a loss of freedom. The actual belief can probably be translated to “negotiation is burdensome.” I definitely need to change my mindset around this one.

The other interesting thing is that although these limiting beliefs have come up primarily in regard to relationship I can see how they have, and if left unchecked would continue to, hold me back with my other goals.

This may sound a little odd but I’m actually looking forward to the next layer of limiting beliefs that I can face because when I do face them and move through them I feel space, something opens and creates more possibilities in my life. More on that in a bit.

It's as easy or as hard as changing your mind

I’m going to talk about two my goals together because they are starting to overlap.

Goal #1 Build more strength and endurance.

Goal #4 Do a Women Taking the Lead branded full-day event in the summer or fall

Goal for strength and endurance: Do 300 Spartan-regulation burpees in good form in one session by June 30. Separately, do an unassisted pull-up.

Originally I guessed my baseline was 50 burpees and on January 12 I discovered it was actually 100. The surprises keep coming because I can report to you that I have already achieved my goal of doing 300 Spartan-regulation burpees in good form in one workout session.

It seems a little shocking to me that I achieved this goal so fast but in retrospect it’s not surprising anymore. I want to offer this to you because this is what happened.

I changed my mind. Yes, I changed my mind.

I had a belief of who I was and what I was capable of and I changed it.

I believed it would take me until May to do 300 burpees and it took me until February. It definitely helped to just get started but even when I hit 120 and 150 burpees in one session I still didn’t see 300 burpees so close on the horizon.

At one point when I was doing my burpee workout I decided I was someone who could easily do 300 burpees and within 2 weeks I did.

I have changed my goal to doing 1000 Spartan-regulation burpees in good form in one session. I believe I can easily achieve this by December 31, 2018 but I’m actually going to attempt to achieve this goal sooner. I know I can do this because I’ve decided I’m someone who can easily do 1000 burpees in one session. I’ve already got my plan in an Excel spreadsheet.

This is the key to achieving your goals and it’s at the heart of my coaching system.

You have to decide you are the person who can achieve your goal. You are the type of person who does it easily. If you struggle with this I know a great coach who can help you. Because I’m the type of person who can coach someone around this.

Don't be surprised if your goals begin to merge

During one of my burpee sessions I got the inspiration to turn the achievement of 300 burpees into an event. The idea became a vision to find a place to accomplish this goal, invite others to burpees with me (although they don't have to shoot for 300 burpees) but it could be a fundraiser for a local charity and maybe do a Facebook live.

The last time I talked about this on the podcast I was playing with this idea but this idea is now becoming a reality. I am teaming up with Spartan Races, Inc., and many other local businesses to do a fundraiser in the Greater Portland area in the Fall. The details are still being hashed out so stay tuned on that.

I also have the goal to do one unassisted pull-up by the end of the year. I have not ordered the pull-up bands yet so I will put that on my list to get done before the goals update at the end of March. Also, I declared that if I can't do a pull-up by September I'm going to hire a personal trainer to help me with this goal.

Goal #3 Increase profitability in my business.

Goal: have a net income (earnings minus expenses) of $80,000 minimum.

I have created a spreadsheet that outlines how many books, assessments, strategy sessions, group programs, private coaching packages, etc. that I need to sell in order to hit my goal. I have definitely focused on the marketing and the promotion of those things.

I have also had more people reach out to me out of the blue wanting to talk about private coaching and doing workshops within the workplace, so there is a lot of potential for increased profits there.

January’s Profit and Loss report showed a net profit of $4,115.49. That ended up much better than it was looking mid-month so that’s great. However, if I’m going to have a net profit of $80,000 I’m going to need to start recording an average net profit of about $6700 a month. So I’m a little behind but like I mentioned there is a more potential in the coming months.

Be flexible with the timeline of your goals

Goal #5 Outsourcing. I originally stated that Outsourcing was going to be contingent upon my profitability goal so I didn’t expect to see much action here. However, all the prep work and meetings that have gone into this potential new work in the coming months had me leaning on my VA for more support in the past few weeks and so this goal has already seen some movement.

The key to achieving this goal will be a matter of whether I can sustain it. I don’t want to outsource and then take work back. I want to outsource and continue to have so much paid work coming into my business that there is no thought of ever taking work that I’ve delegated back.

Ultimately, this has only made sense because some of the extra work I’ve asked of my VA was work related to the promotion of my products and services. The hope being the extra work I’ve paid her for will come to have paid for itself many times over and then I can give her more projects which she has been eager to get.

I also have to recognize that in the short-term my profitability goal will take a hit but this does not mean it’s a bad thing. It’s an investment now for more profit down the line.

I want to mention again the Energy Leadership Assessment because this tool is brilliant at revealing the limiting beliefs and the perspective you have of yourself, other people and the world that limits your ability to experience and have the life you want. If you’ve been wondering where you get started this is it.

This assessment is a low-cost, low-risk, high value experience that will clear the path and get you moving toward your ultimate goals. Go to womentakingthelead.com/coaching to find out more and to get started.

Please feel free to reach out to me regarding anything you heard in this podcast or if you are looking for some support with limiting beliefs and the achievement of your goals for 2018. You can reach me at jodi@womentakingthelead.com.

As always I hope this was helpful to you and here’s to your success!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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!

Resources

Private Facebook CommunityChat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Feb 19, 2018

Jen Hatzung is a business strategist who focuses on social media, online strategy + influencer marketing, as well as a podcaster (podcast currently on hiatus) who lives in Norfolk, VA with her husband, daughter, and dachshund. 

She can be found drinking copious amounts of coffee while making lists and strategizing when she can fit in her next run. She currently co-leads her local MOPS group, runs her own skincare and makeup business, and does the preschool/naptime hustle helping small business owners with online engagement and strategy. She is on a personal journey to learn how to live a life of abundance.  

Before she embarked on her motherhood journey she was managed the social media for a non-profit as well as a social shopper agency that paired brands with bloggers.  

If there is any time left in the day she has her nose in a book or watching HGTV. 

Jen and I discussed:

  • Balancing life and business as a mom
  • Feeling guilty about spending
  • Being held back by anxiety
  • Using faith and affirmations to refocus your energy
  • Our theme words for 2018

Links

Instagram: @JenHatzung
Instagram: @abundantaffirmations

Website: JenHatzung.com

Thank You to Our Sponsors

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Podcast Movement is the world's largest gathering of new and veteran podcasters, or anyone looking to start their own podcast the right way. For $50 off any level of registration, visit podcastmovement.com and enter promotional code lead.

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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!

Resources

Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Subscribe to Women Taking the Lead

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Feb 12, 2018

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining me! Here we are kicking off the week of Valentine’s Day. We are celebrating one of my favorite things: LOVE!

Remember this holiday is not only about romantic love. Although I do have a goal to be in partnership this year, this day is intended to bring our attention and awareness to all the relationships in which we share love; that could be family members, friends, colleagues, team members, you name it.

Be sure to spread the love this week as a kickoff to showing appreciation and gratitude for those you love throughout the year.

I had a few experiences recently in which I felt loved in this community and in the work that I do. In one day I received emails from three different women in this community and let me tell you, I felt tightness in my chest and had watery eyes with each one.

I got permission to share their emails on the podcast because I thought what they shared might be helpful to you as well.

How I've received love from this community

The first one was from Karen.

“Hi Jodi! I have been on fire since completing the tolerations detox. Still much to be done, but I am blasting through barriers! 

My New Year’s resolution is 4 words... be good to yourself. :)

Thanks for all you do! Please feel free to use me as a reference or testimonial!

Have a great weekend!”

That was pretty sweet and then this email from Kathy came within the hour:

“Guess what?! I finally put on my big girl pants and decided to face my financial distraction. Knowing my credit is in bad shape, I neglect viewing my credit report. I finally did it! And while yes my credit score is bad, it's a pretty small amount of money to clean it up! I felt both ashamed and encouraged when I realized that and made a plan to tackle it! Yeah!”

In my response I did address with Kathy the shame piece. With so much progress why feel ashamed? I suggested she focus on the feeling of relief that her credit score could be easily restored and she agreed that felt much better.

Lastly I received this email from Ashley and I want to use this to springboard the topic for today:

“I feel really different lately. Not quite what I would call enlightened, but I've definitely turned a corner. I feel GRACEFUL! :D

I don't put my foot in my mouth - as much. ;)

I have patience; I’m grateful, calm when needed, though I’m still so full of energy! I take time to really focus on people when they speak to me. I find myself making sure I’ve worded the email correctly before i just hit send, all willy-nilly.

I feel like I can see how my love and light are touching the hearts of the people I interact with. I’m having deep conversations with strangers - well, rather than, ‘this weather sucks’, it’s more like, ‘I love how we get time to slow down when it snows!’

I remember back when I started on this path, 18ish months ago. I wrote something in an email to you about how I wanted to be like you. And you responded that I already was. I couldn’t see then what you meant, but now I do. Greatness is in all of us! We've just been told that we weren't good at x, or we failed at z, and are subconsciously afraid to try it again.

I'm not sure what exactly I'm trying to say here. I have this question... I might as well share it; maybe you're the person who can answer it??

What is the simplest way to get someone from not seeing how wonderful they are to realizing their true potential?

Ha! That is such a big question. And I'd venture a guess that the answer is different for all of us.

I've noticed that being present is pretty important. Maybe it's #1.

You're tapped into this line of thought... What are your thoughts on the subject?”

How do you get people to see their full potential?

Oh Ashley, you just hit on the work that I do. This is exactly the journey I take my clients on; from not seeing themselves to recognizing and owning how amazing and talented they already are. From there, their relationships begin to change in a good way. And they begin leaning into and leveraging all they’ve been blessed with so they don’t have to work so hard to find their success.

However, to Ashley’s question, she is asking how she can do this for others and I’m guessing you probably have some people in your life that you wish would just realize they are already amazing so they can stop holding themselves back. What can you do to help these people?

 

This was my response to Ashley’s email:

“The answer I have to your question, "What is the simplest way to get someone from not seeing how wonderful they are to realizing their true potential?” is modeling and reflecting back.

You can't make a person see themselves any way in which they are not ready to see. However, rather than getting frustrated with them or trying to manipulate them to change (which would be coming from a place of judging them unfavorably) you interact with their highest self in all situations.

That's what you picked up on in our first interaction. I don't interact with the person who says she is confused, I interact with the being who is on a quest for answers. And that is what you are seeing in yourself now.

​I am you and you are me. If I am seeing lack in another it's because I see the lack in myself and cannot tolerate it. When I am able to celebrate myself for the being I am, however I am, I can celebrate others for the being they are, however they are. You are fabulous, even when you are cranky. ;)”

You and I have heard this before but it bears hearing many times: we cannot make other people change; we can only control our own behavior. Furthermore, another person is less likely to change if they feel like we need them to change in order to find them more acceptable.

Think back on your own experiences when you may have felt that you were judged and found lacking by another person. How motivated were you to change for them? Depending on who it was you may have made an attempt but probably couldn’t sustain it because it wasn’t motivated by an internal desire for growth.

It’s hard enough to make changes to our behavior even when we want to change. Think of all the New Year’s resolutions you couldn’t sustain because it was too hard or you didn’t really, really, really, really want to make the change.

Now consider how hard it is to change because someone else wants us to. The desire and the motivation are not strong enough.

When's the last time someone made you feel wonderful?

However, I do recall times when another person consistently treated me with admiration and respect. I could tell in every interaction they saw something in me I didn’t quite see yet but I wanted to. And with enough contact with these people I eventually did.

You almost can’t help it. When someone treats you that way and sees you as perfect you find yourself living up to expectations. When you see what’s possible in yourself you start to explore that uncharted territory to become more familiar with it. Eventually it is so natural to you that you wonder that you didn’t see it before.

If you want others to see themselves the way you see them (as wonderful) you must consistently reflect back to them through your words, body language, tone and behavior how wonderful they are.

Don’t be put off if they try to deny it or test you on your stance. Some people want to know for sure if you are being genuine and they will act out to see if you stay consistent. They may not even be aware they are doing this.

And some people, through their past experience, have a hard time trusting others. They may openly display their distrust of your motives and even say something to you about it. They’ve been burnt and have a hard time believing anyone would be nice to them without wanting something from them.

I’ve had people become visibly upset and even openly hostile because I was being too nice to them.

Don’t let them put you off. If you see something wonderful in another, it’s there. Keep gently reflecting it back to them.

Just know they won’t change until they can see it for themselves and that they have to do on their own.

Keep modeling for them a person who sees wonder within themselves and wonder within other people. You need to be the role model for others to see what’s possible.

Others realize their full potential when you realize yours

This situation will show up in all areas and levels of leadership: at work, at home, within friendships, volunteering and participation in other organizations you choose to join.

I know many of you are in various stages of your own journey of personal development, higher consciousness, and spirituality – whatever you want to name it. If ever you want to share your experience or ask a question, reach out! I love talking about this stuff!

And if you want to supercharge your journey I’m going to encourage you to join The Accomplished Intensive.

The Accomplished Intensive is a program designed to help you see and own who you truly are at your core and then make the changes in your external environment so you are living in alignment with who you really are.

When this happens you are suddenly moving quickly toward accomplishing everything you dreamed about.

It sounds airy-fairy I know but I have witnessed this process time and again. I have seen my clients go from being worn out, overworked, sick of having their nights and weekends eaten up with work to having the systems and relationships in place that allow work to come to them and be completed with less effort.

My clients experience less stress and have more free time for their health, hobbies, vacations, whatever they want to also be spending time on.

If you are curious about The Accomplished Intensive go to womentakingthelead.com/intensive. This program is starting February 20 so if this sounds like what you’ve been looking for and you want to join me and other ambitious go-getting women who also want more joy and freedom in their life, register and let’s get started. Go to womentakingthelead.com/intensive

As always I hope this was helpful to you and here’s to your success!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Podcast Movement is the world’s largest gathering of new and veteran podcasters, or anyone looking to start their own podcast the right way. For $50 off any level of registration, visit podcastmovement.com and enter promotional code lead.

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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!

Resources

Private Facebook CommunityChat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Feb 5, 2018

Kristy Wallace is the CEO of Ellevate Network, and is responsible for executing Ellevate Network’s mission to close the gender achievement gap in business by providing professional women with a global community to lean on and learn from. Kristy strives to support women and girls in achieving their dreams. She is the host of the Ellevate Podcast: Conversations with Women Changing the Face of Business; an Angel Investor with Pipeline Angels, and organization creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs; a Member of the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change; an Advisor for the 92Y Women in Power Fellowship for Rising Female Leaders; on the Advisory Council for the Villanova University Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship Institute; Co-Chair of the Leadership Advisory Board for the Girl Scouts of Greater NYC; and a Board Member at Workforce Professionals Training Institute.

Tweet: @kristysisko is sharing her story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/246 #inspiration

Playing Small Moment

After having her children, Kristy was unsure what she wanted to do with her career. She is the type of person who always puts in 110% to whatever she is doing, and she didn’t know if she could balance work and home. Kristy applied for jobs she wasn’t really excited about, thinking it would help, but she just ended up undervaluing herself.

Style of Leadership

Kristy is honest with herself about her strengths and weaknesses. It is also really important for her as a leader to get to know her team, how they communicate and how they learn. It’s not one size fits all when it comes to being a leader.

What Are You Excited About?

Ellevate Network focuses on supporting women in business and how to give them more resources to get ahead or help them through professional or residential transitions. They have been making more progress they are really excited about it.

Current Business Challenge

With a growing team, Kristy knows they need more structure and details to act upon but she struggles with how to break down her vision into those micro details.

Leadership Practice

Kristy ensures she is very approachable. She also believes that being open to feedback and being connected to your team helps the whole company thrive.

Advice For Younger Self

Don’t overthink it.

Inspirational Quote

“Love what you do.”

Links

Twitter: @kristysisko + @ellevatentwk
Instagram: @ellevate_ntwk and @kristyawallace
Ellevate Network on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllevateNetwork/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristysiskowallace/

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Podcast Movement is the world’s largest gathering of new and veteran podcasters, or anyone looking to start their own podcast the right way. For $50 off any level of registration, visit podcastmovement.com and enter promotional code lead.

Resources

Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women in the community!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA 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.

Subscribe to Women Taking the Lead

If you enjoyed this episode subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music or iHeart Radio and never miss out on inspiration and community!

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