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Hello there and welcome to Conversations Worth Your While.
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It's the show, the podcast, where we dig into ideas and insights to help you unleash what you were born to bring.
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I chat with Heart Light experts, I ask the questions I know you're thinking about, and we explore conversations that spark growth, that shift your perspectives, and that will help you to show up fully in your life, your career, and in your community.
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Today we're exploring the power of storytelling in business.
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Now, this conversation is worth your while because entrepreneurship can totally feel like a lonely island.
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It's so easy to get stuck thinking that you're the only one, wrestling with doubt, pricing, all those things, wondering if you've got what it takes while everyone else seems to have it all figured out.
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But when we pull back the curtain and we share the real unpolished parts of our journeys, it gives others permission to be honest and frank with their own story.
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It shortens the path for the next entrepreneur, turning what seems like a solo grind into a shared experience.
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And that reminds us that there's a lot more to success than just hitting a bigger number.
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Sharing your story can also increase your visibility, and of course, it helps you to unleash what you are born to bring.
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So I think you're gonna just love today's conversation.
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I'm your host, Linda Booker.
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And if the life you are in no longer fits you, this space is for you because through my coaching and my podcast, I guide purpose-driven people like you to recognize who you really are and to let go of what you've outgrown and to rediscover your gifts and create a life that feels aligned and deeply impactful.
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And if that sparks something within you, you can find me at lindabougar.com.
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Okay, once again, the topic of today's conversation is the power of storytelling in business.
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And today I have the pleasure of being joined by Trish Tonai.
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She is the founder of shareyourstories.online.
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And Trish is making her own beautiful ripples, unleashing what she was born to bring because she helps entrepreneurs share stories to inspire great ideas.
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So, Trish, thanks so much for being here with us today at Conversations Worth Your While.
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Thank you, Linda.
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I'm so looking forward to connecting with the folks in your audience.
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Well, I am looking forward to our conversation for sure today, and I'm so glad you're here.
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Um, so can you tell us a little bit more about what you do and who you serve?
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You know, I very much like you, we have very aligned sort of goals.
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Um I'm now semi-retired, so shareyourstories.online is all about increasing the visibility of small business owners so that they can be seen, heard, found, and hired.
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And our global community actually gets together quarterly for networking events so that they can share thought leadership and do some collaboration sort of behind the scenes as part of our community.
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So, really, in essence, we're just kind of sharing stories to help each other.
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That's beautiful.
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That's beautiful.
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And I love that you bring up collaboration because a lot of us, you know, solopreneurs, um, we're really none of us are meant to do anything alone.
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It does take a village, and humans are pack animals.
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We're meant to be helping each other.
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So let's start with talking about um the worries, the doubts, you know, the disconnected, the exhaustion, the feeling stuck in roles, the burnout, the pricing and leadership issues, the fear, the growth, the failure, all that that entrepreneurs can feel.
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Um, what do the entrepreneurs that you serve, what do they report?
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You know, what's really interesting is 97% of the stories that we share are from corporate leaders who have transitioned to business owner.
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So they all have had very successful corporate careers, but it just didn't serve them anymore.
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And so they decided to either take a passion project or something that they were doing on the side and bring it to the forefront and actually make a business out of it.
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So everybody is really coming from a place of service to solve a problem that they feel they have the unique answer for, or perhaps some skills and tools that other people have been talking about, the same finding the same solutions for.
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So it really is all about sharing thought leadership.
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You know, it was interesting.
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I read an article this weekend.
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There's 776 million entrepreneurs in the world.
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Wow.
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And 30% of those are women.
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And out of those, I would venture to guess with the people that I speak to, probably 90% of them are solopreneurs.
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So we collaborate with each other, right?
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Just like you and I.
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You know, you pick up the phone and you say, Hey, I'm looking for this.
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Do you have anyone in your network who you think might be able to help?
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And that's sort of how the collaboration starts.
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It's really finding the opportunities to make new connections with people that we may not know.
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Right.
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Absolutely.
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And and the concept of connection, I absolutely adore that word.
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It's it's generally one of my top five non-negotiables for anything that I do.
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It needs to feel connected.
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I need to feel connected to another human.
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Um, it's so much more than um networking.
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And stories create a connection.
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When you meet someone and you're having a conversation with them and they tell you a story versus just like, um, yeah, I sell insurance.
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Here's my card, call me.
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You know, like we don't connect with that.
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We don't want to be sold.
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Um, and so we don't want to be that icky seller of our in our businesses either.
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The way we truly make connection is to get to know another human.
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And that means ask showing up and asking a lot of questions so that you can understand them, understand where they're coming from.
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And so this is you know why stories can be so very important.
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And I want to touch upon the fact that the the beginning part of it, which is all of us, 333 women, million women, entrepreneurs, 90% of us who I am one who left the corporate world, left the grind, to do something that felt meaningful because it didn't feel meaningful what I was doing.
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And also for me, it was absolutely a calling that I didn't uh I didn't look for it found me.
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That's how I like to say that about uh becoming a coach, it found me.
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Um but we get um what once we get here into this entrepreneurial place, especially the solopreneurs, um, we feel um like we're wearing all these hats, so many hats, and we're good at some of them and maybe not so good at other ones.
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We start to second guess, we start to feel like an imposter.
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Um, and it can be pretty difficult um when we don't recognize that other people are going through the same thing, correct?
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Yeah, that's so true.
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I mean, you know, we have, I always say our stories are from five continents.
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So we have over 500 stories on our platform, and we're all so different and yet the same.
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Yeah, right?
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You know, the geography of where we live and the past experience that we've lived that we bring into our business ends up becoming a commonality, comes becomes the the element where we can say, Oh, I so I so get that.
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You know, I I was in corporate too, and this is the reason why I left, and this is what I'm trying to do with my business.
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We work in isolation a lot, right?
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Yeah, yeah.
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I mean, we're we're in our own, we're in our most of us in home offices.
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You know, most people have are very conscious of the expense line in, you know, in our businesses.
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So they're operating from home.
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And it is very isolating for sure.
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So the stories that we share really give you the idea that, you know what, there is somebody else out there who's feeling the same thing that you're feeling, who may have had the same experience as you.
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And they're thriving and surviving and finding sustained success in their business just because they made a connection with someone else who could maybe help them overcome a problem or find a solution to something that they were looking for.
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Right.
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So I think that's the really important part about being an entrepreneur these days.
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Yeah, I agree.
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It and understanding someone else is on that in the same lost in the same jungle, or hearing a story of someone who was lost in that same jungle and now they're not, it can really give you hope as an entrepreneur to be like, oh, there is a way forward.
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And what can I what can I gather and learn from someone else's story, including the most important part, permission to be where I am, lost in this messy middle.
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Yeah, because you know what?
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It's not perfect, right?
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Life is not perfect, there's no such thing as perfection.
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We all knew that when we were in corporate.
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I mean, corporate wasn't perfect either, right?
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Right.
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And yet when we become an entrepreneur, we think we have to be perfect.
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We have to have all the answers, we have to be able to solve all our own problems.
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And in actual fact, that's not the case.
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The way that we're gonna grow and evolve as business owners is to really share thought leadership.
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And if we don't really share the heartfelt stories, then we don't really have a chance to learn from each other.
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Yeah.
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I often sometimes think about the Wizard of Oz, right?
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Like there was the wizard behind this, you know, great big huge facade.
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He was just a person, a human, just like you and I.
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But there was this persona that he was this big, you know, amazing individual.
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We're all amazing individuals.
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We just have to get out from behind the curtain, or I call it get out from behind the logo and let somebody know that there's a person behind there, right?
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And that when we share, um, that's how we grow and learn from each other.
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And that's really what the Share Your Stories initiative is all about.
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Yeah, yeah, because it's so important to know, like, because what happens along the way, I think, for a lot of entrepreneur entrepreneurs, we start out with this vision, and it's so exciting.
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And we're like, how can I build this thing?
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How can I create this thing?
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And we get to use our creative thinking, and then we're learning so much along the way as we're reaching out and asking other people, how did you do it and doing some research and whatever.
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And then something happens along the way.
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Where in our striving, and I know this firsthand because it happened to me, and all that striving and all that building and all that doing, I was um measuring success in dollars and cents and moving further and further from the purpose that I was put in this world to do.
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Not that I wasn't coaching, because I absolutely was, but I was spending a lot of energy on trying to be like other coaches, trying to be like business-wise, trying to promote my business and do business a certain way.
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And I didn't stop for a long time until I got really exhausted and I started feeling um what I called business, I think I called it business burnout.
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Like I was like, um, no, it wasn't business burnout.
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It was well, you're kind of overwhelmed, right?
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Yeah, well, I I was overwhelmed with all the doing that wasn't working.
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Right.
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And it's because I had lost sight of that initial excitement of the why I'm doing it in the first place.
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And so I decided, this is years ago, I decided to only do what my heart and gut said, hell yes, do that.
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This podcast being one of them.
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Yeah.
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And that's so true.
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Because when you're when you're heart-centered and you're aligned with what it is that you're trying to achieve, things just come naturally.
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I find when you're trying to push the rock uphill and it's really heavy and you're feeling, oh, so disconnected, you're usually on the right path and need to make a little pivot somewhere.
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Um, because things generally will come much easier when you're making the right connection with the community that you're trying to serve for sure.
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And I hear that more often than not from people all over the world that, you know, I was struggling, I was having difficulty, I was, you know, spending all this money on marketing, I wasn't getting any customers.
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And then all of a sudden, when I sat back and said, What's really my purpose?
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What are my real goals here?
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What am I really going for?
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What am I striving for?
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And when you get really clear on that, then all of a sudden things just start to fall into place and life becomes a little bit easier and a little less stressful.
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And I think that's what we're all striving for.
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Yeah.
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And I really do not like the concept of strive because it's not fun for me.
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And um, I believe that when you are when what you're doing is aligned with who you are, it feels like flow.
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I'm not saying it's not you're not working, because you might be like, you know, figuring out a puzzle or creating something, right?
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I mean, it's it's not like the the sculptor's not working.
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He's he or she is working to make create that sculpture, but they're like they're loving the birth of it, right?
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So um, you know, it's about that being in that flow state.
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So that's kind of my new litmus test.
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Well, it's coup been a couple of years now, but my litmus test is does it feel like flow?
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Is it aligned?
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Because I often, you know, I believe that what we're doing, when we here's my little soon to be famous quote.
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When you wrap what you're doing and how you're doing it around who you are, happiness and success will meet you there.
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So true.
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Yeah.
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That's absolutely true.
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Yeah, because you you feel when you're happy, your work is better, you perform better, you're you service your clients better, you're able to feel really comfortable about what it is that you're doing.
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And then you attract like-minded individuals, and you know what?
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That's when the magic happens.
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That's totally when the magic happens.
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Yeah.
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The magic of connection, and that connection is the pathway for each of us as entrepreneurs and many of us solarpreneurs, um, to being able to be of service in this world.
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It's through connection.
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It's not through billboards, it's through connection.
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It's not through selling, it's through connection.
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And you know, I really do feel that the future of networking is going to be through trusted referrals.
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You know, gone are the days when, you know, you mentioned earlier we showed up at in-person networking events and you sprinkled the infield with your business card and then hope that somebody called you.
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And now that we're in this, you know, global, this wonderful space where we can connect with people all over the world, those little thumbnails, you know, they say, well, throw all your information in the chat, which is really great.
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But then you're hoping for a random individual if you've been on a call where there's, you know, a hundred people.
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It's impossible to connect with a hundred people.
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So I really truly believe, you know, if you're looking for something and you think I may have an individual to introduce you to, you're gonna reach out.
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I'm gonna do a cyber connection that's warm.
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It's a warm introduction because, you know, I know the two people that I'm putting together, and I think that the conversation may lead to something amazing.
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And that's really where the future of sustained success is gonna come from, from my point of view.
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And certainly what I'm seeing from the people who share their stories in our platform, you know.
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Yes, we still do the traditional kind of networking, but I don't think that's really where the long-term success is gonna come from our businesses.
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I think it's really gonna come from the referral networks that we build.
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I think so too.
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Like um, I go, I used to go to a lot of networking uh locally, and I'd show up and see the same people.
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Now, it is the same people who now I already know, and I know if I'm gonna refer someone to them or not.
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But to show up to see them is not, that's not necessarily the best thing I can do with my business.
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So what I do now is I connect with my, you know, as a podcast guest, we had a call ahead of time, we're connecting.
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I'm learning more about you, you're learning more about me.
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We're talking a couple times, then you're on my podcast.
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Now you get a feel for me as the human, me as the podcaster, maybe a little bit of me as the coach if I get into that during the during the podcast.
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And now, if there's someone who you believe would be a really good podcast guest, because you know their stories, right?
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Um, now you can make a warm introduction and say, here's why I think you two are gonna be a good fit.
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Right.
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Um, and likewise, um, you know, I uh when I'm working with clients, some of them, and I already know at the very beginning who they're gonna be, are meant to be solopreneurs, entrepreneurs.
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Um you know, and and I'm like, this is an amazing story that we're you're creating and living through right now, and this is gonna be great for Trisha's platform.
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Um, so it's really um when you really get to know someone, and that that entails asking questions so you can ask about their story.
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Oh, so how long you've been doing what you're doing?
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What how how'd you get started?
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What was the catalyst that threw you in here?
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Ask a question that's gonna invoke their story, bring it out of them.
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Right.
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You know, ask them a question like, what is what was the most difficult thing you went through?
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What was the most important thing you learned about yourself?
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Um you know, on our platform, we ask everyone fills out the same three questions.
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You know, tell me a little bit about your business, what was your light bulb moment, and then share a little bit about your story, who who you are and why you're doing what you're doing.
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And that really opens it to the light bulb moments, they are the ones that are really important because you know, sometimes we forget the tipping point, right?
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So, what was it that led you to do what you're doing now?
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Other people have very vivid memories of that tipping point where they said, okay, this is it.
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This was the line in the sand, and I knew I had to do something different.
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And other people, it just organically happened where, you know, maybe they uh they were downsized from their job.
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You know, there was that downsized generation.
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You were sort of last in, first out.
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Um, and there's been a lot of alignment in corporate positions where, you know, people have been losing jobs and um other people have been retiring.
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So there's lots of opportunity that then pushes people to think, okay, well, what's next?
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You know, I'm too young to retire.
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What am I going to do with my life?
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That's right.
00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:19.119
And that gives people an opportunity to open the door and maybe bring something that was sort of hiding, maybe in the background, and now make it um put it to the forefront and really make it something that they can share with a lot of other people.
00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:19.599
Right.
00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:20.000
Yeah.
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:22.480
That's when that's when they come to me, like, what's next?
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.440
Because that's not what I was doing, but I don't know what it is.
00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:26.480
Yeah, for sure.
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.480
I'm not ready for the rocking chair.
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:41.759
Um, or even nowadays, what's really interesting is I'm getting people, young people, people are in their 20s saying, Yeah, I went to college for this thing, but I'm, you know, I'm looking at all you people in midlife, and none of you look happy.
00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:42.720
I don't want that.
00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:43.759
That's so true.
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.559
I want to know what my thing is now.
00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:51.359
And for most people, there is a thing now.
00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.680
And I say now because it's always just a path.
00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.759
There's no just one thing you land on, you park your butt there, and that's where you stay the rest of your life.
00:19:57.920 --> 00:19:58.480
Not at all.
00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:02.240
Life and career are both journeys as you learn more about yourself.
00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:06.960
You learn more about what you want and don't want, and then you make a change because you can bet on yourself.
00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:12.559
Um, and however, I do also work with a lot of clients that are scanners.
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:15.200
Now that's a term that Barbara Shear coined.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.880
Um, I remember a book that changed my life is called um Refuse to Choose.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:24.640
And I was like, Yes, why am I like all over the place?
00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:26.240
Why do I love so many different things?
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:28.000
It's because I am a scanner.
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.839
Um, it's like a honeybee.
00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:31.839
Honeybees go to all the flowers.
00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:37.440
We don't just park our butts on one flower and stay there and say, you got to get all the nectar on this flower before you go to the next one.
00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.480
We just get what we came for and then we go on to something else.
00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.200
And that can be hard for scanners.
00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:52.720
It can be really hard because they they're they feel as if they're supposed to pick one thing, and that's supposed to be their their job or their career.
00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:04.240
So their stories, because I work with scanners all the time, are really interesting because there's so much, you know, it's like a meadow of all these flowers they want to land on, and they're like, what's my what's next?
00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:06.480
You know what I love about those?
00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.880
I love the mentorship that comes from that, right?
00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:19.839
Because if you see someone that's in a place that you think you have some interest in, why not pick up the phone and have a conversation with them and find out whether or not it really is for you.
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.400
Um, you know, that's one of the things that we have on our website.
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:23.519
We have a mentor tab.
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:31.759
There's oodles of people who have said, I'll have a cyber coffee with you to talk about why I did what I did and how I got here.
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:40.400
And that's a really important part of sharing our stories because sometimes we think we'd really like to do that thing.
00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:47.920
And then when we talk to somebody who's maybe done that thing for a little while, you think, ooh, maybe that's really not for me.
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:54.640
But thank you for sharing that because now I have a little bit more insight into whether or not I want to pursue that.
00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:57.839
Yeah, that's the that's the feedback loop.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.680
That's the beauty of that game of getting more.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.039
And getting colder.
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:03.759
If you don't take a step, you'll never find the thing.
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.240
If you do take a step, you'll get feedback.
00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:07.599
Am I getting warmer or colder?
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.039
If you're getting colder, it's a huge, it's got so much value to it.
00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:11.680
Absolutely.
00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:14.799
You're going to turn and take a step in another direction.
00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:15.119
Yeah.
00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:31.599
Another beautiful thing about connecting with a mentor because you've heard their story, is you'll recognize not only are there people going through or who have gone through what you're going through as an entrepreneur in this messy middle, there are, you might think you're different, like I'm saying, the scanners, right?
00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:33.119
Those of us who are scanners.
00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:38.079
When we might just run into another scanner and go, oh, there's a way for scanners.
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:47.680
There's people like me, not just with a like problem or challenges in business, but humanly like me, that there's others like me.
00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:49.440
I'm I'm not different.
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:52.079
I'm not not cut out for this.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:58.240
Here's someone who's just like me who has a thousand different interests and a low tolerance for boredom.
00:22:58.400 --> 00:22:59.680
Like that's what a scanner is.
00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:00.559
So true.
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:00.960
Yeah.
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:02.799
And I met I just met another one.
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.640
And look what this scanner is doing.
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:06.319
Like it's amazing, right?
00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.160
Well, it's empowering, right?
00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:15.039
It's empowering when we make a connection with somebody who thinks like us, and you can see yourself in that individual.
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.359
You can hear yourself in their story.
00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:19.359
And you think, okay, this is amazing.
00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:25.119
Like, okay, I need to have a conversation with that person because look at they like the things that I like.
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:29.519
Um, and maybe they can give me to your cold or hot, you know, analogy.
00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:35.119
Maybe they'll give me some direction that will take me to the warmer place that I'm looking for, right?
00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:35.519
Right.
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:40.319
That's just as valuable as understanding that it's not where you want to be.
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:41.759
Yes, exactly.
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:42.720
It's beautiful.
00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:43.680
It's beautiful.
00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:45.839
Um, wow, yeah.
00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.400
So stories, everybody.
00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:57.279
Um listening to other entrepreneurial stories can lead to conversations that create connection and that create community.
00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:05.119
And this is this is what Trish and I had had a previous conversation about called the currency of connection.
00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:10.319
And it's also, you know, the permission to be where you are.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:25.440
It's the the new light of possibility, and it's redefining success based on this game of getting warmer and getting colder and recognizing all feedback is bringing me forward.
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:30.400
And as I get to know more of what's a yes and what's a no, I'm learning more about myself.
00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:32.960
And that's where success comes from.
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.519
It's answering questions for yourself.
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:40.160
What kind of freedom do I want and what would I do with it?
00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.160
What type of fulfillment would I like and what would I do?
00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.839
And what type of life balance would I love?
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.599
Because when we're solopreneurs, life can get out of balance a lot.
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.079
Um, especially if you're working from home, because that office is just right there all the time.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:01.759
But what kind of life balance would I like would I love to have and what how would I use that?
00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:07.920
And then once you figure all that out, which is not hard, I actually have a little resource on my website to do that.
00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:12.160
Um, just a free a free resource called Success on Your Own Terms.
00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:17.519
Um, once you discover all of that, I shouldn't say figure it out, because it's totally a discovery.
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:34.240
You're discovering so much more about what success, you know, would be beautiful for you if you stopped listening to the TV commercials and MTV cribs and you know what the Joneses are doing and how you think you're supposed to be, right?
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:38.640
And you understand even your own currency, like my currency is impact, not dollars.
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:47.519
Yes, I pay bills, but my currency personally, I discovered it was impact and it changed how I move through my business, changed how I do business.
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:50.720
Um, so it's not all about the money.
00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:51.759
No, it's not.
00:25:51.920 --> 00:26:04.720
And when it comes to the money, what I discovered, um, and I put this in my little in my little e-work e-workbook that I have, um, is you can back into the dollars and cents you'll need.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:06.720
It's called revenue requirements.
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:12.640
What do I need to have that type of freedom, that type of fulfillment, and that type of life balance?
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:25.279
And for the most part, it's a lot less than what you think because a lot of people are writing, oh, I feel fulfilled when I'm, you know, sitting on my back porch with a cup of coffee looking at the squirrels play, right?
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:27.759
Like, okay, well, that's free, right?
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.720
Um, but if your idea of fulfillment is sailing around the world, well, you can budget for that.
00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:34.400
But know what it is first.
00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:38.240
Know what type of freedom, fulfillment, and life balance is ideal for you.
00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:41.200
Then back into the dollars and cents you're going to need for that.
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:43.599
Everything else is just gravy.
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:45.680
That that type of profit is the thank you.
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:49.759
It's the tip from, you know, all the people that you're serving.
00:26:50.079 --> 00:27:01.680
You also have to have a really good idea of your pricing structure because, you know, there's a lot of people that I talk to from various different industries and businesses around the world who always ask the question, you know, am I charging enough?
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:03.200
Am I charging too little?
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:12.880
And I think that's a personal preference because to your point, about knowing what's your resource, your revenue equation look like.
00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:19.039
You know, how much do you need in order to fulfill your life stream?
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:22.319
And once you know what that is, then you can price accordingly.
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:27.200
You don't have to, you know, you and I don't have to charge the same thing for our services, right?
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:32.720
We have different experiences, we have different backgrounds, and we may have different goals.
00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:36.000
You know, mine may be completely different than yours.
00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:41.440
And I don't need to charge the same amount in order to achieve that goal.
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:56.640
Um, you know, if we're starting out in our business, we perhaps need a lot more revenue to get started, depending on the lifestyle choices that you've made, the age that you are, um, the place that you want to be.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.359
You know, I often ask people, what's your exit strategy?
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:01.119
And they're they're a little taken back.
00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:02.160
They're like, what do you mean?
00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.880
I'm, you know, I've only been in business for five years.
00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:07.680
But you need to know what your exit strategy is.
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:12.319
When, what do you want to do after your business life?
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:13.759
What do you want to do with it?
00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:16.640
And what kind of revenue do you need in order to achieve that?
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:17.359
Right.
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:19.039
Yeah, exactly.
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:23.680
And and again, that's because success isn't a dollar and cents thing.
00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:25.039
No, absolutely not.
00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:26.640
Absolutely is not.
00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:33.359
And so when you're looking at what success looks like after you no longer have this business, what does success look like for you then?
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.000
Is that spending a lot of time with your grandkids?
00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:36.960
Is it traveling?
00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:37.759
Is it whatever?
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:44.240
And again, backing in, like you said, the revenue requirements for that and and building that into your business strategy.
00:28:44.480 --> 00:29:00.640
And one more thing about pricing, I think is important to point out, is um we tie that to our egos, we tie our pricing to our egos mistakenly, and we also mistakenly tie pricing to uh the fear of am I good enough?
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:01.680
Like, right?
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:09.759
And in reality, our clients are going to pay for the value of what we provide.
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:17.440
That value has nothing to do with it how much my computer costs me, and if I have to recoup that expense.
00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.880
What is the value?
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:23.759
Only they can make the client can make a value-based decision.
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:30.240
I have no idea what it's worth to the client to be able to find their what's next.
00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:35.279
Um, you know, that they know what it's worth, but I don't know what it's worth.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:40.640
I do, however, know it's worth way more than what I charge because been there, done that.
00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:40.960
Yeah.
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:45.599
I would have paid 10 times what I paid to get where I am today.
00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:55.119
Um, so if we can help our clients to understand that value, um, and um then they can make a value-based decision.
00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:04.160
And what's beautiful about helping them understand the value too is like in my what I do is I do share my stories, I share my experience.
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:09.599
I say, I know you, and I tell them why I get you because I've been there.
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:12.960
Well, yeah, and they we share the good, the bad, and the ugly too, right?
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:15.279
Because it's it's not all the white picket fence.
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:19.039
We've made some mistakes, and actually the biggest learning comes from failure.
00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:20.400
It does, right?
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:30.079
You know, when you fall down and scrape your knee and get back up again, that's actually when you learn more from that than if it was just smooth sailing from start to finish.
00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:35.599
Because then I think you go on autopilot a little bit when there's no bumps in the road.
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:36.079
Right.
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.720
And you also don't get to learn what you're made of.
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:45.759
You don't get to learn how strong you are, because strength, I don't think learning comes from failure, strength comes from within.
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:51.920
So when you fail or when you have really hard challenges in your life, they don't make you stronger.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.200
They show you how strong you are, show you how resilient you are.
00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:10.000
And as a business owner, we need to recognize in our lives that we have been, we we do have this strength and we do have this resilience, and we do fail forward and we have done it in our personal lives, and we're just doing it again in our business lives.
00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:11.200
Yeah, that's so true.
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:17.359
Because, you know, one of the reasons why you become a small business owner is because you want to control the narrative.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:18.400
Right.
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:29.920
And when you share the story, if it's an authentic story and it comes from a place of um thought leadership and saying, well, if I can do this, you can do this.
00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:47.440
And then that's how you actually attract your client base, because your client base is going to connect with the stories that you tell, not with the dollars and cents that you, you know, it's not about the fancy car or the big house, not that any there's anything wrong with those things, but your clients don't connect with those things.
00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:50.480
Your clients connect with the stories that you share.
00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:51.119
Right.
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:56.480
And, you know, with the the failures that you've had and the lessons that you've learned.
00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:58.480
And that's why it's all tied in.
00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:04.319
I say that, you know, the most effective stories are the ones that connect, even if you only connect with one individual.
00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:12.240
That story is really like being a role model or a mentor in your community because you never really know who's watching your story and being inspired.
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:13.200
Exactly.
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.480
Very true.
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:25.039
So I always like to um just before we before we finish, I like to um be able to share what I call a turtle step.
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:30.960
So, podcast listener, I know you want to hit play on the next on the next episode.
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:38.160
Um, but before you do, you know, so that this just doesn't become something you log and go, oh yeah, that was really good.
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:42.640
We we would love you to be able to be in action in such a way with your story.
00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:57.519
So, Trish, what is a small something someone could do to help as an entrepreneur to help them move forward um to get their ideas out in the world, but something really small they could just do today beyond listening to this episode.
00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:07.680
Well, you know, if they read a story that that hits home, you know, if you try to make a connection, there's you have some awesome episodes on your podcast.
00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:11.839
I have over 275 episodes on my podcast.
00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:16.640
You know, making a connection, just listening to a story or sharing your story.
00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:24.960
You know, talk to somebody in a coffee shop and strike up a conversation with them and find out a little bit about them to your point about asking questions.
00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:30.000
Ask a few questions and you never know where that next connection is going to come from.
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:30.880
Exactly.
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:31.920
Beautiful.
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:37.119
So be deliberate in making a connection.
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:40.880
That's that's everybody, that's your little turtle step for today.
00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:42.880
Be deliberate in making a connection.
00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:43.680
I love that.
00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:44.559
That's beautiful.
00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:49.039
Well, Trish, this has been such a wonderful, wonderful conversation.
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:59.440
Um, if somebody, listener, would love to learn a little bit more or maybe read the stories that you have on your platform, like what can they do?
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:02.079
Just go to shareyourstories.online.
00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:03.839
We've made it super easy for you.
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:10.719
There's quick links to the podcasts, um, there's quick links to our YouTube channel, to resources, to our grant program.
00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:12.480
It's all on the homepage.
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:16.159
So just visit shareyourstories.online and explore.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:17.119
Beautiful.
00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:19.280
Well, thank you so much for being a guest today.
00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:20.239
It's been wonderful.
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:21.519
I appreciate it very much.
00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:22.480
Thank you.
00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:23.440
You're welcome.
00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:24.880
Well, that's our show.
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:32.239
Uh, and I'm Linda Booker, guiding people to know their worth, to reconnect with their gifts, and create lives that are fully aligned and deeply impactful.
00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:49.679
And if you're sensing it's time to bring your life into deeper alignment, you can explore what that looks like at lyndabooker.com where you'll find direction and clarity and a link to book a complimentary clarity call with me and that free resource I mentioned called Success on Your Own Terms.
00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.840
It's all there at lyndabooker.com.
00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:57.840
And if today's episode sparks something for you, please like it and like this podcast and share it.
00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:59.679
Share it with someone that you care about.
00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:10.400
And don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss what's happening next week, which will be another uplifting conversation designed to support your growth and help you to unleash what you were born to bring.
00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:18.559
So until next time, make sure that you've made this conversation worth your while by fueling the spark that it ignited.