#319 - Finding Alignment With Your Business with Megan Flatt

WEBVTT
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Welcome to Being Boss, a podcast for creatives, business owners, and entrepreneurs who want to take control of their work and live life on their own terms.
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I'm your host, Emily Thompson.
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And in this episode, I'm joined by my friend, Megan Flatt for a good old fashioned business bestie chat about the current weather of business ownership, pivoting and reflecting on the path of finding alignment as an entrepreneur, you can find all the tools, books, and links.
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We reference on the show notes at www.beingboss.club.
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And if you like this episode, be sure to subscribe to this show and share us with a friend.
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Navigating the blend of work in life is a big one for business owners and entrepreneurs.
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And if you feel yourself stumbling through that dance, or just looking for inspiration, then I have a podcast recommendation for you.
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Work @ Life, hosted by as Sonya Lucina and Maddie Grant brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network in this podcast, Sonya and Maddie explore the gray areas between work and life, as they share data on relevant topics, around workplace engagement and culture, one recent episode titled how to be optimistic when the world around you isn't discusses the simple and complex things you can do to keep your head up.
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When the world feels dark, check them out and listen to work at life wherever you get your podcasts.
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Megan Flatt is the co-founder of Let's Collective, a business growth strategy firm devoted to making entrepreneurship easier.
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Let's Collective helps their clients make revenue focused decisions and then create a strategy to get there.
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Megan recently launched a sister brand Focus Sessions, providing dedicated distraction for you, virtual co-working and to get your most important work done.
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Megan is obsessed with lattes post-it notes and helping women make money.
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When not doing that, she's hanging with her husband and two kids probably near the water in this San Francisco bay area.
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You can catch up with Megan letscollective.co or focus-sessions.com and if you'd like an intro to Megan before you dive into this episode you can go back to listen to previous chats with her at episode number 233 and 254.
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Megan, welcome back to Being Boss.
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So glad to chat with you today.
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Yay.
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Thank you so much for having me again.
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I just love being here.
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We're gonna have a fun chat.
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I think you've been up to all kinds of fun stuff.
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Um, I mean you and I talk every month, so I, I know what you're up to, but you haven't officially been on the show since spring 2021?
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No, 21.
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Yeah, I think so.
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Yeah.
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It's been a while.
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Or was it 22?
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I have 21 in my notes, but now that I think about it, I actually think it was this past spring.
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It might have been, I dunno.
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It might have been, I don't.
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What does time even mean anymore?
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Yeah.
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What is it?
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What is it?
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I so funny, funny little side note story.
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I'm going over or going through applications at Almanac for a new sales associate.
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And someone put that today's date was 2003 on their application.
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Wishful thinking.
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And I thought, well, that's worse than most.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So whatever that was.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I've had numerous experiences like that recently where I've either sent complete, like I've said April and it's August or yeah, I've thought August was six months ago or, you know yeah.
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Time has no meaning anymore.
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Right?
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What is time?
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Indeed?
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Well, let's talk time a little bit.
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yeah.
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What have you been up?
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Oh, my gosh.
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I feel like this is such a loaded question, right?
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Like , it's like, you know, I, I, so, so I'm a business coach.
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We've talked about this before.
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And so I get this wonderful added perspective, as I know that you do as well of not only talking about what, like what I'm up to and what I'm doing specifically, but I get this chance to talk to my clients and kind of hear like what's up for them.
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And what's their perspective too.
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And I think there's just this universal shift, right?
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Or this universal, uh, like this, this question of like, what's next, what's now.
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And what I'm doing is what I'm doing, what I want to keep doing.
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How do I wanna show up for myself and, you know, and for the world and all of those things and my clients, as I'm sure, you know, people that you're talking to and friends it's like some people, their businesses completely skyrocketed during the pandemic.
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They were in a certain niche, or it just made sense people needed what they had to offer and their business has skyrocketed and other people had to make major pivots.
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And either either their current business model didn't work anymore or they needed to shift or whatever it was.
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But I feel like it doesn't matter.
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It doesn't matter if your business is quadruple what it was two years ago or a quarter of what it was two years ago.
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I feel like everyone is kind of asking this question.
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Like, what's now what now?
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Yeah.
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What happens next?
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You know, it's funny as you're saying that.
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Well, one, I did just pull it up and you haven't been here since spring 2021, which is wild me.
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That's wild.
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Okay.
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That was over.
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That was a year and a half ago.
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Okay, great.
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We've got stuff to talk about.
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Which is, mind blowing to me.
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What in the world?
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Um, It's funny that you're saying all this, because I haven't reconnected with this for myself in a while, but I remember when the pandemic hit, you know, there was a couple of ways in which I feel like I was seeing the future.
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Like I remember telling a friend of mine, you know, he came over like distancing in our backyard, around a fire, like right in those very early days.
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And he was like, you know, oh, it'll be a few weeks.
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And I was like, two years.
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It's gonna be two years.
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Like in that first, like two weeks, I was like, I see it.
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Like, this is going to take two years.
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This is not going to be a quick situation.
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And he was just like, no.
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And like legit kinda.
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Yeah, it wasn't until about two years that everyone started really going out and, you know, trying to live their lives again.
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I also remember another one of the things is I kept calling.
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Like the great reorganization is coming.
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Yes, yes.
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Right.
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And I kept calling it that even like way back then the great reorganization, because I, I saw how it was gonna happen, especially like in the corporate world and stuff, but I don't think I had really dug into what it would mean for us.
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Right.
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Right.
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For, for our kinds of, you know, professional people who are business owners and, you know, we've made these paths for ourselves based on things that bring us so much joy or whatever.
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But then the world changes and what we find joy in changes along with it.
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And that's never put that together, but this is a realization of that great reorganization.
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I was talking about two and a half years ago.
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Well, that's the thing.
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And it's, it's funny cuz I took a little bit of notes before, you know, before our call and this is like the last thing I wrote down, but we'll kind of jump into it now.
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Like there was a, there's a meme that circulates.
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You know, on social, you know, every once in a while that says that entrepreneurs are the only people that are willing to work 80 hours a week to keep from working 40 hours a week.
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Yeah.
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And I remember when I first saw it, I was like, haha.
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Yeah, that's me, you know, like working all the time to keep from having like a real job.
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And this is.
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No, like , you know, that's, that's been the big thing for me.
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It's like, we, I don't the whole reason I'm an entrepreneur is so that I can have a different experience and it's not just about flexibility or freedom or all these words that kind of get, get thrown around.
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But it's it's so that I really can create.
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My day and my work and my contribution to society and to my kids and to all of the other things that I can really, I can really create exactly what I want it to be.
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Yeah.
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And I think that's been the big thing and I wanna get in, you know, we can talk about like specifically what I've been doing, but I think that's been the biggest takeaway for me since.
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You know, spring of 2021 apparently is like, is that great reorganization?
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Right?
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And is that real, that step being able to take a step back and say, Who's who's the, I just turned 45.
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So I just had my 45th birthday.
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And like, I like to think of, you know, like your new year's resolutions, but kind of around your birthday.
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And since my birthday's in the summer, it's like that.
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Perfect.
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In fact, we figured out that we have the same birthday.
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Oh my God.
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Yes.
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Okay.
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Side sidebar here, Megan and I have been friends for years and you know, afterwards, like I'm thinking like maybe I did know this.
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And it just, it fell out of my Swiss cheese brain.
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Right.
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You know, or some, but also, maybe not.
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We were recently on, on our, on our, you know, monthly call.
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It was July and Megan was like, yeah, I just had my birthday and I was like, shut up.
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When's your birthday?
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And she said, July 9th.
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And I was like, shut up.
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I mean, me too, we have the same birthday and we maybe didn't even know it.
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Bizarre, but see, this is, but like, I do think like, like even that it's like just this part of like, kind of coming back to, you know, coming back to, I think it's so easy to just get on the hamster wheel.
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Right.
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Of like, what's the next thing.
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And I think, especially during the pandemic, because I did not think it was gonna last two years, I did not have the foresight that you did.
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So for me, it was like this constant, like two week bump, you know, it was this constant.
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Like if I think if someone would've told me in March of 2020, like, Hey, this is what we're gonna do for the next two years.
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Like I might have approached things differently just in general, right.
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Might have taken my family on a world sailing trip or something.
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I dunno, we wouldn't have actually done that, but you know, something like that, but I think that there is just this, um, I don't know, I lost my train of thought on that, but back to talking about like, you know, just the, the, like, How do I wanna show up?
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How do I want, how do I wanna feel, what do I want my days to look like?
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What do I want my weeks to look like?
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What's the contribution?
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Cause this is the other thing that's happened in the last two years.
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Right?
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It hasn't just been this pandemic, but it's, there's really been kind of a continuing of an awakening of how do, how do I want to show up for my community?
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How do I wanna show up for people that are, I am incredibly privileged and you know, how do I, how do I show up for people who aren't.
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Who don't have the privileges that I have and how do I make my business support that, and my kids are getting older.
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Um, and how do I support the people that they're becoming?
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You know, so all of those things that have kind of just seem a lot more important.
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All of a sudden.
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Yeah.
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Or maybe not.
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So it sounds like you've had a very low key year, right?
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no thinking happening over here.
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Oh my gosh.
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I literally made a note in my phone note section over the, the weekend that was called no decision making.
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Nice.
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And it was because I sometimes, and I hope you can relate or someone else can relate is that sometimes I'll get so in my head about thinking about like, what is the next thing?
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What is the next thing that I kind of gave my per myself permission and what that section in my notes on my phone is, is kind of the things that I'm thinking about and is the things that I wanna make, but that I don't have to make a decision on those right now.
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That I can.
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That I can give myself, Hey, let's just, let's do this for the next three months.
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And in the, in three months we're gonna collect data.
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We're gonna collect the, you know, I'm gonna collect the notes of the, the things that I wanna continue to examine, cuz I think that's the big thing.
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And again, I think that's what the pandemic has done.
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I think that's what politics have done.
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I think that's what social justice has done in the last two years is it's just forced us to really look at what we're doing on a day to day basis.
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Yeah.
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And asking some, some serious questions and it's really, really hard.
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And I think it's really, really good.
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I love that.
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Uh, my tactic has been what I have dubbed intentional disassociating.
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Yeah.
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Yes.
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Where I'm just like what decisions that need to be made.
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I'd rather go read a book, right?
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Yeah.
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I've I've read.
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I have read double the amount of books.
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So far this year that I normally read in an entire year, and they're all, like, I was laughing with a girlfriend just this morning because I'm reading all like happily ever after romance novels.
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Because I just, I wanna know on page two.
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That everything's gonna turn out fine.
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I just, I don't want any surprises cause we get enough of those in our lives.
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Right.
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I love that mine is definitely a sort of a, a line of, of fiction.
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I mean, I guess it's similar.
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Mine's mostly like fantasy fiction, but like, yeah, just take me on an epic adventure where maybe some bad things happen along the way, but definitely like there's gonna be a happy ending.
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I am in the same boat.
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Reading way more than usual, but for intentional dissociating for all of these big decisions and things I have to think about, I'm still taking care of my responsibilities, everyone, but in the, in between time I'm going on adventures.
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Right.
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Which is probably, probably, which is probably really good because I think that's the thing it's like when our head, when our brains are just.
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It's like the open computer tabs, right?
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It's like the open computer tabs that make your computer.
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My fan is on.
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Yeah.
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yeah, we gotta shut that down.
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We gotta shut some of those tabs down every once.
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Once in a while.
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Yeah.
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Oh my God.
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That's exactly what it's like.
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Well, my fan starts running.
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I just shut everything down and go find a book.
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Shut everything down.
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Yeah.
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00:15:24.414 --> 00:15:24.774
Right.
00:15:24.804 --> 00:15:25.074
Okay.
00:15:25.074 --> 00:15:27.414
So, so how is this actually manifested?
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Because you've made a couple of like, oh, would you call them pivots?
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Yes.
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Like what?
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OK.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I'd call them pivots.
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How has this manifested for you?
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Well, So just literally and logistically let's dive into that really quickly.
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Cuz I think that this is really, um, important and it's really a realization that I have recently about this that I think it's really important to talk about.
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Um, so, so I have been business coaching for almost a decade.
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Um, I've run masterminds in different formats since about 2014.
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So that's definitely been kind of my preferred method of coaching.
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Um, I work predominantly with women and non-binary folks.
00:16:10.199 --> 00:16:14.039
That, um, are primary caregivers and I have for a long time.
00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:31.230
And I really felt that bringing those people together, um, they're, they're running their own businesses and they're feeling super alone and I wanted to bring them together, not only for the coaching aspect, but also for that community aspect of like, oh, there's other people that are going through the same things that I am.
00:16:31.230 --> 00:16:33.990
And so that's been really important to me for a long time.
00:16:34.590 --> 00:16:35.129
And.
00:16:35.539 --> 00:16:39.590
Um, 2017, 2018, 2019, my business is growing.
00:16:39.590 --> 00:16:40.759
My business is scaling.
00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:42.259
I'm making more in revenue.
00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:47.419
I'm getting, I'm running a more expensive, a more exclusive mastermind.
00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:54.949
And you know, everyone is telling me and by everyone, I just mean like, you know, all the, all the things, right.
00:16:54.949 --> 00:16:57.529
Everything is telling me like, okay, you've gotta scale.
00:16:57.529 --> 00:16:58.039
You've gotta scale.
00:16:58.039 --> 00:16:59.069
You've gotta get this bigger.
00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:10.225
And I just really had this kind of aha for me and that there's tons of awesome, awesome, awesome ways to scale coaching businesses.
00:17:10.525 --> 00:17:15.174
And what I realized was I really liked the one on one aspect of my coaching business.
00:17:15.180 --> 00:17:31.930
I really liked being able to get under the hood with my client and not, not necessarily take them through 10 modules of my coaching framework, which is an awesome way to structure your business, but I just wanted to get under the hood and, and solve my client's problems.
00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:36.250
And if I was gonna do that, I was trading time for money.
00:17:36.250 --> 00:17:38.289
It didn't matter what the money was.
00:17:38.289 --> 00:17:39.819
It didn't matter what the price point was.
00:17:39.819 --> 00:17:44.769
I was still a mentor, a business mentor of mine said you're running a practice, not a business.
00:17:45.610 --> 00:17:47.799
And at first I was kind of offended, right.
00:17:47.805 --> 00:17:50.560
Like, no and then I went, oh yeah.
00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:59.590
And I'm kind of okay with that when it came to coaching, but I did again, this is during the pandemic.
00:17:59.800 --> 00:18:11.860
I had kind of sabotaged my business in a lot of ways, because like I said, I'd worked primarily with primary caregivers and, and helping them build successful businesses while also raising children.
00:18:11.860 --> 00:18:22.225
And then all of a sudden I had my two kids home with me and I started doubting my ability to run a successful business while also, you know, parenting my children through a pandemic.
00:18:22.225 --> 00:18:27.415
And because I started doubting my ability to do it, I started doubting my ability to coach people through it.
00:18:27.445 --> 00:18:28.375
Like, who am I?
00:18:28.465 --> 00:18:30.175
Who am I to tell people what to do?
00:18:30.805 --> 00:18:33.595
So I like to say I kind of sabotaged my own business.
00:18:34.405 --> 00:18:43.675
Um, But, but about that same time, I, I started thinking about these different scalable models and, um, it's not a, it's not a new business idea.
00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:46.255
It's something that we had been doing inside our masterminds.
00:18:46.259 --> 00:18:49.855
We've been doing these virtual coworking sessions inside our masterminds.
00:18:50.365 --> 00:18:59.395
And, um, at the end of 2020, a friend sent me a link to, to another business that we're doing these virtual coworking sessions.
00:18:59.545 --> 00:19:01.405
And I was like, oh my gosh, that's it.
00:19:01.405 --> 00:19:06.475
I mean, I was on like GoDaddy buying URLs, like within five minutes, I was like, let's do this.
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:07.045
That's how you know.
00:19:07.045 --> 00:19:07.405
Right.
00:19:07.405 --> 00:19:14.515
That's how you know, . So, you know, six months later, June of 2021, we launched Focus Sessions.
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.530
And Focus Sessions is a membership based virtual co-working platform.
00:19:20.009 --> 00:19:22.860
We have 16 virtual co-working sessions a week.
00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:24.030
They're all hosted.
00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:26.340
I like to say it's like a gym, but for productivity.
00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:34.545
So they're all hosted the hosts take, um, the, the attendees through the exact same kind of eight minute we call it a focus flow.
00:19:34.545 --> 00:19:36.855
It's kind of a little warm up that gets you ready.
00:19:36.915 --> 00:19:50.505
And then you spend the next 87 minutes doing your most important work, whatever that is, whether that's writing your memoir or sending out sales emails, or getting client work done or whatever you deem as your most important work.
00:19:50.505 --> 00:19:53.384
And we have all sorts of prompts and things to help you get there.
00:19:53.384 --> 00:19:53.685
But.
00:19:54.278 --> 00:19:55.720
But it's been amazing.
00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:58.530
And, um, I love it.
00:19:58.610 --> 00:20:02.829
I've built an incredible team that helps me run it.
00:20:03.069 --> 00:20:10.930
We have an incredible group of hosts that have come from all different backgrounds, so they bring their kind of unique perspective to it.
00:20:11.109 --> 00:20:13.028
And I, I love it.
00:20:13.028 --> 00:20:21.990
And it's a scalable business model, but even more than that, It's given me permission to go back and coach the way I wanna coach.
00:20:22.350 --> 00:20:29.040
So instead of having 25 mastermind clients and figuring out how I was gonna make it 50, and how was I gonna make it a hundred?
00:20:29.370 --> 00:20:30.750
I have, I have six.
00:20:30.840 --> 00:20:32.310
I have six clients now.
00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:40.640
And, um, It was hard for me because my revenue has dropped significantly since 2019.
00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.009
And I see that as a failure.
00:20:43.009 --> 00:20:44.150
I'll just be super honest.
00:20:44.150 --> 00:20:48.920
I like, I look at my, my graph and I'm like, oh, my business is failing.
00:20:49.250 --> 00:20:50.990
Like, that's my, that's my response.
00:20:50.990 --> 00:21:01.505
But when I take a step back and say, oh my gosh, I basically started a brand new business from scratch, that's growing exponentially each month.
00:21:01.505 --> 00:21:07.705
And I've switched from a $10,000 price point to a $40 price point, you know, it's doing okay.
00:21:08.634 --> 00:21:08.905
Right.
00:21:08.905 --> 00:21:13.345
And like, and what does your work life balance look like now?
00:21:14.305 --> 00:21:16.085
So different.
00:21:16.765 --> 00:21:17.035
Yeah.
00:21:17.125 --> 00:21:19.855
And so different, but I'll tell you, Emily.
00:21:20.275 --> 00:21:21.265
I also, I have to.
00:21:22.105 --> 00:21:28.525
Reminding myself of that, because you know that experience when you're at the airport and you're on like the moving sidewalk.
00:21:28.855 --> 00:21:34.884
And then when you step off onto the hard ground and you're like, body goes like all you it's like your you're that's.
00:21:34.884 --> 00:21:42.015
I feel how my like, brain and productivity is I'm used to working so hard, so many hours and it shifted.
00:21:42.015 --> 00:21:44.160
My kids' school schedule has shifted.
00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.610
So I'm used to, and again, especially throughout the pandemic, right?
00:21:47.610 --> 00:21:55.350
Like squeezing every possible free moment and no time for exercise, no time to eat lunch, just work, work, work, work, work.
00:21:56.130 --> 00:22:00.120
And I sometimes have to remind myself that I don't have to do that anymore.
00:22:00.390 --> 00:22:06.778
And sometimes I'll find myself still, or like three in the morning, I'll wake up in a panic of like, these are all the things I have to do.
00:22:06.778 --> 00:22:11.278
And then I stop and say, yeah, but I have an amazing team that supports me.
00:22:12.009 --> 00:22:14.110
And I have plenty of time to do it.
00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:18.775
And I can ramp up or ramp down, you know, as, as needed.
00:22:18.775 --> 00:22:22.434
I took more time off this summer than I ever have.
00:22:23.335 --> 00:22:25.615
Um, and so it's certainly not perfect.
00:22:25.615 --> 00:22:27.265
And like I said, my revenue is down.
00:22:27.269 --> 00:22:30.055
I think it's important to be honest about that.
00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:35.125
Like I don't, you know, I think so often we hear like, oh, and I did this and then my revenue quadrupled.
00:22:35.445 --> 00:22:39.165
Mine didn't, you know, my membership program is growing.
00:22:39.165 --> 00:22:42.884
It's not growing as fast as I, as I predicted it would.
00:22:43.245 --> 00:22:44.925
And, but that's okay.
00:22:45.015 --> 00:22:46.245
We're, we're gonna get there.
00:22:46.245 --> 00:22:51.795
And we're building a really strong foundation and I'm living a life is that feels a lot better.
00:22:52.810 --> 00:22:53.920
Yes.
00:22:54.250 --> 00:22:56.050
I feel like so often.
00:22:56.230 --> 00:23:05.080
I mean, especially as business owners, the most air quotes, most important metric of success is that revenue graph, right?
00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:07.840
I mean, that's like this, what we tell ourselves is like, if.
00:23:08.270 --> 00:23:10.384
This is winning, then we are winning, right?
00:23:10.384 --> 00:23:12.320
And if this is failing, then we are failing.
00:23:12.320 --> 00:23:28.810
And I think, you know what it sounds like you've gotten yourself into is redefining and otherwise adding other metrics to your list of success that are now feeling just as important, if not more important than that revenue graph.
00:23:28.970 --> 00:23:29.300
Yeah.
00:23:29.360 --> 00:23:29.660
Which.
00:23:30.295 --> 00:23:31.915
Is a win it's.
00:23:31.975 --> 00:23:32.245
Yeah.
00:23:32.245 --> 00:23:36.835
I think that we get in our heads that, and it's that revenue, it's not even profitability.
00:23:36.835 --> 00:23:37.075
Right.
00:23:37.075 --> 00:23:39.430
It's just like top line revenue, right?
00:23:39.430 --> 00:23:41.005
And I'm in a local group.
00:23:41.005 --> 00:23:49.850
That's, there's an organization that's headed up by volunteer mentors and we, every month we meet and we have to bring kind of a, a presentation.
00:23:50.330 --> 00:23:56.450
And I realized that I was bringing this presentation with this beautiful graph of my revenue.
00:23:56.455 --> 00:24:04.370
And every month I was showing that graph and nowhere in there was I showing a graph of my membership growth.
00:24:04.650 --> 00:24:11.250
Even though I was running a membership program every month I was showing up and being like, here's my revenue, you know?
00:24:11.250 --> 00:24:17.370
And so this last month I went, whoa, here's my, here's my membership graph.
00:24:17.375 --> 00:24:22.560
And, and look at this trajectory, look at, look at where we started, look at where we are.
00:24:22.560 --> 00:24:30.570
And, but I think like, like you said, like many entrepreneurs, I was just conditioned to only look at this one number.
00:24:31.170 --> 00:24:37.380
Um, even though my revenue's down, I'm still able to pay myself, you know, which I think is an important, important metric.
00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:40.200
That again, we don't often we don't often track.
00:24:40.290 --> 00:24:43.400
And so, so again, it's looking at different metrics.
00:24:44.365 --> 00:24:44.725
Yeah.
00:24:44.875 --> 00:24:47.965
Well, you also just look very happy as you're talking about this.
00:24:47.965 --> 00:24:52.365
That's a metric I wanna throw out there as you look happy, Megan.
00:24:52.394 --> 00:24:56.095
You know, and it's, it's definitely been, it's been hard.
00:24:56.095 --> 00:25:03.595
I started therapy again during the pandemic, um, because I, you know, like I said, at the beginning I stopped, I kind of stopped trusting myself.
00:25:03.595 --> 00:25:11.575
I stopped trusting myself, you know, there were, it, it was, we were, we were being asked and still are to make so many decisions on a daily basis.
00:25:12.520 --> 00:25:13.420
You know, do we go here?
00:25:13.420 --> 00:25:14.230
Do we not go here?
00:25:14.230 --> 00:25:16.060
Do we send our kids here?
00:25:16.060 --> 00:25:17.259
Do we not send our kids here?
00:25:17.259 --> 00:25:18.250
Do we do this?
00:25:18.250 --> 00:25:19.090
Do we not do this?
00:25:19.090 --> 00:25:23.770
You know, we were being asked to make so many decisions that it's exhausting.
00:25:23.830 --> 00:25:27.910
It's, it's exhausting, it's decision fatigue on a daily basis.
00:25:27.915 --> 00:25:35.470
And that goes back to why I have my like no decision list because I was burning myself out with all the decisions that needed to be made.
00:25:36.670 --> 00:25:37.030
Yeah.
00:25:37.540 --> 00:25:37.870
Mm.
00:25:37.990 --> 00:25:38.380
Okay.
00:25:38.470 --> 00:25:40.150
So since you are working.
00:25:41.320 --> 00:25:52.930
Other folks you can maybe kind of touch on this a little bit in the beginning, but is this something that you're seeing beyond yourself, like in your work with other creative business owners?
00:25:52.930 --> 00:25:59.170
I will say in my work, you know, I've been working with the same group of six people for two and a half years or something like that.
00:25:59.170 --> 00:26:07.390
And like, I see it, I see it amongst them, but my fingers aren't on the pulse of, um, of a whole lot outside of that.
00:26:07.650 --> 00:26:10.684
You're working with more of them and have them in your co-working sessions.
00:26:10.684 --> 00:26:20.704
All of these things are, are you seeing this as being a common thing and or what else are you seeing happening these days as you're working so closely with business owners?
00:26:20.855 --> 00:26:25.174
I just feel like so, so yes, this is what I'm seeing.
00:26:25.180 --> 00:26:27.525
And I just, I feel like.
00:26:28.315 --> 00:26:36.775
When you ask an entrepreneur or let's, let's even just say like, you know, pre 2020, when you ask an entrepreneur, why they're an entrepreneur.
00:26:36.835 --> 00:26:43.045
They always say, you know, because of the flexibility, because of the freedom, because I wanna be there for my kids.
00:26:43.045 --> 00:26:52.765
Those were all the things that I said, those were all the things that I said, but I think we have a different or a new or a deeper.
00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:58.600
Realization or understanding of what that actually means.
00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:09.040
You know, I want, I, I want, I wanna be an entrepreneur because I want the freedom, but I'm also going to check my email while I'm pushing my kid on the swing.
00:27:09.850 --> 00:27:21.460
You know, like, like I think 2020 and 2021 and 2022 have forced us to be really honest with ourselves of what that looks like.
00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:22.240
And.
00:27:23.545 --> 00:27:26.065
And, and there's not a, there's not a right answer.
00:27:26.575 --> 00:27:30.144
Like if you wanna work 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week, 60 hours a week.
00:27:30.235 --> 00:27:30.924
Fantastic.
00:27:31.015 --> 00:27:31.465
Great.
00:27:32.153 --> 00:27:37.765
But like being really honest with what we want and what we want from our businesses.
00:27:39.055 --> 00:27:43.765
I think that's the shift that I'm seeing across the board with my clients.
00:27:44.035 --> 00:27:45.625
And again, it's not that everyone is saying.
00:27:46.285 --> 00:27:58.405
Oh, you know, I'm only gonna work two days a week and I don't wanna do, you know, it's not that it's that people, I just feel like people are wanting to get more aligned with yeah.
00:27:58.525 --> 00:28:00.835
With the businesses that they actually wanna run.
00:28:01.735 --> 00:28:04.555
Not just, not just the headline of what they wanna run.
00:28:05.528 --> 00:28:09.490
I also feel like this freedom and what is it situation.
00:28:09.490 --> 00:28:19.300
I hadn't quite thought about it the way you're saying it, but it's totally resonating with me in a way that like, I'm one of those people here for freedom, for sure.
00:28:19.360 --> 00:28:21.310
And the way I always measured that freedom.
00:28:22.360 --> 00:28:28.240
And I've talked about that this year before is, you know, pre pandemic freedom for me.
00:28:28.300 --> 00:28:34.470
And this is like a funny little metric for it, but I always had a plane ticket in queue , right?
00:28:34.740 --> 00:28:36.190
Like, I always had a trip planned.
00:28:36.190 --> 00:28:41.160
I could always like log into my Delta app and see where like I was always going somewhere next.
00:28:41.890 --> 00:28:50.200
And that was, that was my measure of success as like someone who is here building, you know, life and work that I love.
00:28:50.390 --> 00:28:59.350
Um, if I'm living in aligned life and achieving my version of success, one of the metrics is that there's always, always a plane ticket in the bucket.
00:28:59.890 --> 00:29:06.355
And when that was taken away, one, it was like, I had a hard time with that.
00:29:06.355 --> 00:29:12.865
That was something I very like consciously had to work through of like, okay, I'm not failing because the entire world is a shit show.
00:29:12.984 --> 00:29:13.345
Right.
00:29:13.884 --> 00:29:14.394
right, right.
00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.065
But it also made me see that.
00:29:18.490 --> 00:29:22.240
I hadn't really worked freedom into all the other parts of my life.
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:22.450
Right.
00:29:22.690 --> 00:29:26.500
If you didn't have that, if you didn't have that metric, what else were you looking at?
00:29:27.009 --> 00:29:27.340
Right.
00:29:27.345 --> 00:29:28.060
What else was there?
00:29:28.060 --> 00:29:39.550
And I was still, you know, I was like, I was sitting down for like these weekly meetings that it was going on every single week, same day, time, same day, or, you know, whatever, all the other things were.
00:29:39.850 --> 00:29:44.415
It really made me redefine it and make it more of a holistic definition, right?
00:29:44.455 --> 00:29:48.704
Of what freedom was more so than this like singular metric.
00:29:48.704 --> 00:29:50.835
That really just means I'm traveling a lot.
00:29:51.765 --> 00:29:53.595
I feel like, yeah, exactly.
00:29:53.595 --> 00:30:05.174
And I feel like I had all these little like sound bites, like at all these little sound bites that I would say to my clients and that I would say to myself and, and one of them that just made me, it just made me think of it.
00:30:05.174 --> 00:30:09.855
When you said this, like I've, I've always kind of said like our lives aren't compartmentalized.
00:30:10.194 --> 00:30:15.204
So our business support, can't be either, that's always been kind of one of my little pitches, right?
00:30:15.204 --> 00:30:15.775
Like, yeah.
00:30:15.805 --> 00:30:18.474
If you work with me, we're gonna not just talk about business.
00:30:18.474 --> 00:30:21.384
We're gonna talk about that whole work life balance.
00:30:21.384 --> 00:30:23.903
We're gonna talk about how the whole piece works together.
00:30:24.295 --> 00:30:30.355
But, but like, was I, was I really living that?
00:30:30.653 --> 00:30:33.745
Or, you know, or how was that kind of manifesting for me?
00:30:34.315 --> 00:30:38.934
And like you said, like you just said, like, how was I looking at that holistically?
00:30:40.954 --> 00:30:59.950
And yeah, and it, and it's not about, you know, I have a, I have a friend who, um, you know, she couldn't wait to be able to have, she has young kids, her kids are little, she couldn't wait to have that full-time childcare back and get back to working, you know, 30, 40 plus hours a week.
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:02.049
Great, great.
00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:06.430
You know, but like it's like, but like it's like consciously making that decision.
00:31:07.795 --> 00:31:12.235
I think we all have the opportunity to consciously put our worlds back together a little bit.
00:31:12.655 --> 00:31:13.015
Um, right.
00:31:13.015 --> 00:31:21.175
And I think that a lot of us went into it a little smarter a little more aware if nothing else um, as to what that looks like.
00:31:21.175 --> 00:31:22.335
So it's interesting that you are.
00:31:23.153 --> 00:31:41.575
You're talking about that, being something that you've seen because ditto and also like something I've personally experienced of like putting the things back together and being so much more conscious as to what it is or how it is that I want to express and manifest the things that are important to me and align myself with the things that are important to me.
00:31:41.575 --> 00:31:46.375
And just even, yeah, all of those things, like how are you defining success and failure?
00:31:46.380 --> 00:31:50.815
How are you, you know, I got some news this morning from, you know, that.
00:31:52.403 --> 00:31:57.444
That I think six months ago, definitely two years ago would've kind of sent me into a tailspin.
00:31:57.984 --> 00:32:02.454
And you know, like, and this morning I just went, oh, okay.
00:32:03.505 --> 00:32:03.745
Yeah.
00:32:03.805 --> 00:32:06.204
Alright, well, we can handle this, we'll roll with this.
00:32:06.924 --> 00:32:12.295
And I don't think I would've had that response if you know, I wouldn't have had that response in 2019.
00:32:12.970 --> 00:32:13.210
Yeah.
00:32:13.210 --> 00:32:14.920
I mean, well, you have survived the plague.
00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:16.759
Right?.
00:32:16.940 --> 00:32:18.360
You are stronger now.
00:32:18.360 --> 00:32:19.080
Good lord.
00:32:19.300 --> 00:32:20.560
Yes, exactly.
00:32:21.070 --> 00:32:21.560
Yeah.
00:32:24.670 --> 00:32:29.050
Late payments from clients and customers is often the worst part of doing business.
00:32:29.350 --> 00:32:35.200
Not only does it mess with that ever precious cash flow, it's also just awkward and honestly, pretty maddening.
00:32:35.800 --> 00:32:37.640
I mean, you have enough to worry about.
00:32:37.980 --> 00:32:45.930
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00:32:46.350 --> 00:32:52.950
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00:32:53.220 --> 00:33:00.470
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00:33:00.870 --> 00:33:07.770
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00:33:11.340 --> 00:33:19.910
This is fascinating, and I'm hoping that everyone listening to this, it can pinpoint ways in which maybe you have felt similarly, because I, I think that's a good sign.
00:33:20.009 --> 00:33:23.050
And also I think there it's important to.
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:27.730
I don't know, like own your power in these situations as well.
00:33:27.730 --> 00:33:35.288
I think it'd probably be really easy after the couple years that we've had to, you know, fill a little lackadaisical isn't quite the word that I'm thinking of.
00:33:35.295 --> 00:33:43.990
Or just like just sort of phone it in or like, feel like you don't have control over anything and just look kind of let the world happen to, I feel like it's like it's easy to find yourself.
00:33:44.349 --> 00:33:44.589
Yeah.
00:33:44.620 --> 00:33:44.980
Yes.
00:33:45.009 --> 00:33:48.038
Well, I should just do this or, or this is.
00:33:48.750 --> 00:33:58.500
You know, so, and so is doing like, I've also like I've pulled way back from my own social media consumption because I found myself being like, oh, I should do that.
00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:00.240
Oh, that person's hosting webinar.
00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:01.829
I should host a webinar, you know?
00:34:01.829 --> 00:34:03.690
And, and it gets really noisy.
00:34:03.869 --> 00:34:04.778
It gets really noisy.
00:34:04.849 --> 00:34:08.909
And so, you know, being able to kind of step back and get a little more like introspective.
00:34:09.538 --> 00:34:09.809
Yeah.
00:34:09.809 --> 00:34:13.079
Introspective so that you are creating your future.
00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:20.798
I will say I'm definitely coming out of this giving so many fewer shits, just in general about all the things.
00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:24.199
Cause similarly, like getting all, like, I don't even care what y'all are doing.
00:34:24.548 --> 00:34:29.349
I don't even care in a way that I never really felt before.
00:34:29.559 --> 00:34:31.568
I'm just here doing what I wanna do.
00:34:31.809 --> 00:34:34.250
And I love that for you, but I'm probably gonna do something else.
00:34:34.909 --> 00:34:37.480
Well, listen, I, that was my question.
00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:49.150
I was talking, I was talking to my best friend, which even that in itself, my best friend called me this morning and I sat in the parking lot of my office and chatted with her for 30 minutes instead of being like, oh my God, I gotta run.
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:49.759
I gotta get on.
00:34:49.849 --> 00:34:50.449
I gotta get on.
00:34:50.929 --> 00:34:53.210
You know, I was like, no, I got some time to chat with you.
00:34:53.210 --> 00:34:58.400
And I told her, and I was telling her this story of, you know, this little monkey wrench that got thrown into our plans.
00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:04.639
And I said, I said to her, I said, I'm not sure I said something happened and I've either matured.
00:35:05.004 --> 00:35:08.423
Or I don't give a, you know, F anymore.
00:35:08.664 --> 00:35:13.074
Like, I'm not sure which its and I told her and she's like, no, no, I think that's maturity.
00:35:13.079 --> 00:35:15.443
I'm like, let's go with, that's go with that.
00:35:15.625 --> 00:35:17.664
But I think it's maybe it's a little bit of both, right?
00:35:17.664 --> 00:35:23.644
Like, like we had our entire world ripped out from under us and so now a monkey wrench.
00:35:24.894 --> 00:35:27.884
It's like, nah, we can, we can get through.
00:35:29.379 --> 00:35:29.829
Geez.
00:35:29.829 --> 00:35:30.489
That's so funny.
00:35:30.489 --> 00:35:30.759
I know.
00:35:30.759 --> 00:35:38.559
I feel similarly feel similarly, like I just, I really couldn't care less anymore about so many things.
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:41.529
And I do think that as I'm gonna choose maturity.
00:35:42.339 --> 00:35:45.279
Well, I think that let's, let's even rephrase that.
00:35:45.279 --> 00:35:55.569
It's not that you it's, like you say, like, I care less about so many things and then that is giving, that's freeing up space to care about the things.
00:35:56.004 --> 00:35:58.884
That you absolutely, that you really care about that you wanna care about?
00:35:59.214 --> 00:35:59.694
Yes.
00:35:59.694 --> 00:36:05.964
I care more about the things that I care about and far less about all the other things that literally don't deserve my time or energy.
00:36:05.964 --> 00:36:06.324
Same.
00:36:07.045 --> 00:36:14.904
Um, otherwise just really prioritizing, you know, showing up and creating the kind of work in life that I want for myself.
00:36:14.904 --> 00:36:16.254
And it's not perfect by any means.
00:36:16.254 --> 00:36:19.974
I mean, now I was in a mood yesterday and I told David, I was like, what the hell have we even been doing?
00:36:20.244 --> 00:36:22.315
Like, it was like one of those sort of situations.
00:36:22.315 --> 00:36:24.234
And he always like, looks at me.
00:36:25.335 --> 00:36:25.964
Okay, Emily.
00:36:26.565 --> 00:36:30.795
Oh, no, I have a full on, like, can we please just win the lottery and like
00:36:30.974 --> 00:36:31.244
yeah.
00:36:31.244 --> 00:36:31.484
You know?
00:36:32.025 --> 00:36:32.444
Right.
00:36:32.464 --> 00:36:33.424
That is the dream.
00:36:33.775 --> 00:36:34.704
That is the dream.
00:36:34.704 --> 00:36:34.824
No.
00:36:34.824 --> 00:36:40.844
So it's not to say that it's all like roses and sunshines all the time, but it's, but it's a different, it's a different approach.
00:36:41.054 --> 00:36:42.105
It's a different like mindset.
00:36:43.139 --> 00:36:43.799
Yeah, for sure.
00:36:43.799 --> 00:36:53.538
And especially if you're, it sounds like you are really moving into the test and changing too, of like, realizing that there are some decisions you can make now and just let them sit and collect your data.
00:36:53.929 --> 00:36:55.259
And go back to it later.
00:36:55.469 --> 00:36:58.489
I feel like that's one of the things I feel like that's one of the things I've.
00:36:58.984 --> 00:37:02.045
Uh, I feel like I, it ebbs and flows sometimes I'm really great at it.
00:37:02.045 --> 00:37:03.754
And sometimes I feel a little manic about it.
00:37:04.144 --> 00:37:06.934
just like needing to make all the decisions all the time.
00:37:07.295 --> 00:37:14.855
Um, but I think that's an important thing too, is we had to be so responsive for so long.
00:37:15.444 --> 00:37:18.625
That we need to get back into these flows of realizing you.
00:37:18.804 --> 00:37:23.964
I mean, you know, what is time and do you have it and all of those things, but you have time to make a decision, right.
00:37:24.204 --> 00:37:26.184
And really see what's going to happen.
00:37:26.184 --> 00:37:36.464
And then shift, uh, we've we've recently canceled some projects, both at Almanac and at Being Boss, we're like, you know, we tried some things out, waited a while, tested them, do we like them?
00:37:36.464 --> 00:37:37.034
Do we not.
00:37:37.244 --> 00:37:38.094
Let's delete it.
00:37:38.094 --> 00:37:41.664
Who cares about all the work that we put into it six months ago or a year ago?
00:37:41.934 --> 00:37:44.664
If it's not giving us what we want, let's just get rid of it.
00:37:44.664 --> 00:37:47.754
No shoulds, literally not a should in sight.
00:37:47.904 --> 00:37:48.204
Yeah.
00:37:48.894 --> 00:37:49.313
Yeah.
00:37:49.464 --> 00:37:51.023
I want that like tattooed on my body.
00:37:51.773 --> 00:37:51.954
Yeah.
00:37:53.123 --> 00:37:54.054
It's so easy.
00:37:55.349 --> 00:38:01.739
And of course, it's easy for me to say this with hindsight, but like, I think when you're starting a business, when you're starting a business, yeah.
00:38:01.739 --> 00:38:10.469
There's all sorts of different decisions you have to make, but there's, there's a little bit more of a predictable kind of step by step to kind of starting a business.
00:38:10.619 --> 00:38:21.188
And once you've been running a business for a while, all of a sudden it's like, I could do this or I could do this, or I could market my business and it, and, and it'll all work.
00:38:21.819 --> 00:38:23.449
Theoretically they'll all work.
00:38:23.969 --> 00:38:25.900
And so it's easy to get caught in.
00:38:25.900 --> 00:38:33.519
And that's why I say like, I'll, you know, I'll be on, I'll be on, you know, social media and I'll be like, oh my gosh, I should try to do a viral TikTok dance.
00:38:34.029 --> 00:38:35.289
Like I should do that.
00:38:35.609 --> 00:38:36.969
No, no one should do that.
00:38:36.974 --> 00:38:37.059
Right.
00:38:37.929 --> 00:38:41.230
Or, gosh, I should be speaking at the chamber of commerce.
00:38:41.230 --> 00:38:44.859
Like you start thinking of like all the things you should be doing.
00:38:45.429 --> 00:38:48.519
And like, that's what I, that's what I'm just really trying to.
00:38:50.154 --> 00:38:51.293
Let's just step back.
00:38:52.273 --> 00:39:09.839
Like, I kind of wrote down, you know, in my notes and, and this is, I know we're gonna talk a little bit about the, the event that is coming up, that I'm hosting that you're a part of, but I kind of wrote down this, this note about like, it's time to get introspective and then, and then proactive.
00:39:10.289 --> 00:39:23.894
You know, I think we've been really reactive for a long time again, it's like seeing the viral TikTok video and then being like, I should do that, you know, instead of like, let's get introspective, let's look at what, what fills your bucket?
00:39:23.984 --> 00:39:26.144
What, what makes you happy?
00:39:26.204 --> 00:39:28.394
What's the kind of work you want to be doing?
00:39:28.543 --> 00:39:30.734
And then how do you take action on that?
00:39:31.168 --> 00:39:31.440
Yeah.
00:39:31.949 --> 00:39:34.889
You know, it's so funny as you're saying, cuz I'm a hundred percent there.
00:39:34.889 --> 00:39:36.089
I think it's incredibly important.
00:39:36.089 --> 00:39:46.710
It's one of the things that I think makes us false is our ability to like look within ourselves and decide what it is that really feels right to us and not looking outside of ourselves for the answers, inspiration.
00:39:46.710 --> 00:39:47.069
Sure.
00:39:47.074 --> 00:39:47.849
Not answers.
00:39:48.119 --> 00:40:06.539
Um, but I feel like even though we've probably created this, like perfect storm that works in opposition to that, or at least for some people of like we've spent two and a half years in our heads worried and sick and angry and all of these things.
00:40:06.539 --> 00:40:13.480
That like sometimes being introspective can be one of the hardest things that someone asks you to do.
00:40:13.690 --> 00:40:20.589
And I mean, and then add on that questioning every decision you've ever made and wondering if you're failing because the metrics are different and just.
00:40:21.179 --> 00:40:23.369
Tactics don't work the same anymore.
00:40:23.369 --> 00:40:32.699
And all of the things that, you know, as you're saying that, but I've also like, I feel like lots of people are probably shaking in their boots at the idea of being introspective about literally anything
00:40:33.148 --> 00:40:33.299
Right.
00:40:33.539 --> 00:40:42.478
No, I, I hear that and I hear that and like, and it's like, I've, I've been describing us and I think you and I have even talked about this, like our brains, like our brains are like a pie chart.
00:40:42.478 --> 00:40:42.898
Right.
00:40:43.168 --> 00:41:01.359
And the amount of bandwidth the amount of capacity, like half of my pie chart is taken up making decisions about health and safety and like forward progress of my family and my community, like, you know, way more than, than we've ever experienced.
00:41:01.359 --> 00:41:10.529
And that leaves like this small little, you know, portion of my brain to think about like, gosh, what's, what's the next right step for my business.
00:41:10.704 --> 00:41:25.434
And I think that that's really, really hard, you know, that's really, that's really hard to go from having kind of feeling like you have, like maybe like using kind of air quotes here, but like full capacity to, you know, a much smaller capacity.
00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:32.125
And so, so I think it's just it's about, but it's still about giving yourself that time.
00:41:33.279 --> 00:41:36.489
It is the challenge, but like one that I think is worth the effort.
00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:46.389
A hundred percent being, or taking the moment to be introspective and answer the questions for yourself and really make sure that your actions are aligned with your intentions and all of the things.
00:41:46.839 --> 00:41:48.639
Um, so yeah, terrifying work
00:41:49.299 --> 00:41:49.703
Well, and maybe
00:41:49.703 --> 00:41:50.654
It's the path forward.
00:41:50.654 --> 00:41:50.833
Right.
00:41:50.964 --> 00:41:57.670
And maybe the decision or maybe the introspection is I'm gonna keep doing exactly what I'm doing.
00:41:58.190 --> 00:42:01.929
And I'm gonna revisit this on November 1st.
00:42:03.924 --> 00:42:05.275
That maybe that's the decision.
00:42:05.275 --> 00:42:06.894
Bold move, bold move.
00:42:06.894 --> 00:42:07.315
Bold move.
00:42:07.764 --> 00:42:08.065
Right.
00:42:08.065 --> 00:42:10.375
Instead of every day, waking up, maybe I should do this.
00:42:10.375 --> 00:42:11.004
Maybe I should do this.
00:42:11.004 --> 00:42:11.754
Maybe I should do this.
00:42:12.324 --> 00:42:12.714
Yeah.
00:42:13.074 --> 00:42:14.065
Yeah, for sure.
00:42:14.125 --> 00:42:15.474
Oh, I love all of this.
00:42:15.714 --> 00:42:21.174
Well, I can tell this is definitely where you have been putting a lot of your thought and energy.
00:42:21.504 --> 00:42:28.389
Um, So tell us what you've been working on, cuz you do have something fun up your sleeves that I'm excited for bosses to hear about.
00:42:28.569 --> 00:42:29.109
Yes.
00:42:29.109 --> 00:42:35.769
So, so I have spent so much time thinking about this for myself and talking about it with my clients and with my team.
00:42:36.190 --> 00:42:50.989
And so we really, and, and talking, you know, talking with you and my other business friends and, and so I really wanted to have a chance to we've we've been talking about doing some type of, of virtual retreat or virtual convention.
00:42:50.989 --> 00:42:53.599
And, and I was really gungho on it being like business focus.
00:42:54.264 --> 00:42:56.784
You know, it was just gonna be a, it was gonna be a business convention.
00:42:57.114 --> 00:43:00.414
And the more I thought about that, the more I got introspective, I was like, you know what?
00:43:00.684 --> 00:43:18.293
We need a chance to take a pause and not, not in a, in a like, kind of lightweight, not, not to business focused way, but we need a way, like I said, to be introspective and proactive at the same time.
00:43:18.623 --> 00:43:22.914
And so we put together this idea for a conference called Your Best Week Ever.
00:43:23.424 --> 00:43:25.344
And so we are hosting this event.
00:43:25.344 --> 00:43:30.984
It's a five day event, um, where we want people to fall back in love with their business.
00:43:30.984 --> 00:43:35.994
Again, you know, and it's, this is, I think all of us are a little bit burned out.
00:43:36.273 --> 00:43:42.335
You know, from, from, from just life, someone asked me the other day like, oh, are you burned out on this or this?
00:43:42.335 --> 00:43:44.284
I'm like, no, I'm burned out on life.
00:43:44.284 --> 00:43:44.824
All of it.
00:43:44.884 --> 00:43:45.514
All of it.
00:43:46.144 --> 00:43:46.594
All of it.
00:43:46.594 --> 00:43:47.014
It's been a lot.
00:43:47.014 --> 00:43:49.654
The soup that has benn the past two and a half years.
00:43:49.714 --> 00:43:50.204
Yeah.
00:43:50.404 --> 00:43:51.664
You know, it's all been a lot.
00:43:51.664 --> 00:44:04.125
And so we wanted a chance and it's like you said, it's really hard and it's even harder now to take a pause and step back and, and do that introspective work, cuz sometimes it can be uncomfortable.
00:44:04.304 --> 00:44:09.614
And so it's not something that sometimes we choose to do, um, voluntarily.
00:44:09.795 --> 00:44:19.574
So, so we are hosting this conference and this summit so that we give people the space and, and people are gonna be hearing from speakers like you.
00:44:19.934 --> 00:44:22.634
Um, and other, we have 27 speakers.
00:44:23.454 --> 00:44:27.085
All short presentations, because we know our brains are all completely fried.
00:44:27.085 --> 00:44:43.629
We don't have time or the bandwidth to listen to long presentations, but listening to these speakers talk about with their expertise, how, how to help you be introspective and decide what is the right business that I wanna run.
00:44:43.629 --> 00:44:49.089
And I, not just the business that, that you love running, but one that kinda loves you back.
00:44:49.690 --> 00:44:52.000
You know, one that takes care of you too.
00:44:52.569 --> 00:45:04.789
Um, and then every day, um, in addition to these speakers every day, um, I'm gonna be hosting a live workshop that's your best week ever framework so that we take all of these ideas, cuz it's great.
00:45:04.789 --> 00:45:10.759
You go to a conference, you go to a convention, you get super inspired, but how do you actually implement it into your life?
00:45:10.759 --> 00:45:12.619
And that's where my superpower is.
00:45:12.619 --> 00:45:14.569
So I'm gonna help you every day.
00:45:14.900 --> 00:45:19.730
Turn what you're learning from the speakers into your own best week ever.
00:45:19.730 --> 00:45:22.489
So you can have your best week, week after week after week.
00:45:23.333 --> 00:45:23.994
Love it.
00:45:24.264 --> 00:45:25.583
I'm very excited about this.
00:45:25.583 --> 00:45:40.154
I think this is again, we've talked about how this is something that's not just us, but everyone we're talking to is experiencing these sort of like ew moments.
00:45:40.214 --> 00:45:40.433
Yeah.
00:45:41.019 --> 00:45:41.379
Yes.
00:45:41.379 --> 00:45:45.159
When it comes to these things that we've built that are supposed to not make us feel that way.
00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:50.409
So I love that you've put this together with the focus, um, of helping people create their best week ever.
00:45:50.409 --> 00:45:56.379
Something that is replicable and something that will help people fall back in love with the thing that they are here to do.
00:45:56.379 --> 00:45:57.759
I think it's wonderful.
00:45:58.029 --> 00:46:02.109
Um, how and where can folks find more about it?
00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:03.109
Yeah so.
00:46:03.444 --> 00:46:07.194
The summit is happening September the last week in September.
00:46:07.254 --> 00:46:16.194
So the 26th through the 30th and it's free and you can sign up at bestweeksummit.com and we'd love to have you there.
00:46:16.194 --> 00:46:20.523
And like I said, Emily, we're so excited to have you on the speaker line up.
00:46:20.523 --> 00:46:25.313
We've got some other amazing, amazing speakers from all different walks of life.
00:46:25.313 --> 00:46:27.984
We have business experts, we have lifestyle experts.
00:46:27.984 --> 00:46:30.984
We have therapists, we have, you know, all sorts of people talking.
00:46:30.984 --> 00:46:34.913
This isn't a like, How to run your business 101 summit.
00:46:34.944 --> 00:46:37.913
This is a, this is a, like, let's get our hands dirty.
00:46:37.913 --> 00:46:42.893
Let's roll up our sleeves and you know, let's do the work to, to fall back in love with our businesses again.
00:46:43.779 --> 00:46:44.259
Love it.
00:46:44.559 --> 00:46:45.129
Love it.
00:46:45.129 --> 00:46:45.579
Perfect.
00:46:45.579 --> 00:46:49.389
Well then with that, how about, how about like a piece of advice?
00:46:49.389 --> 00:46:53.049
Can we get like a piece of cloth, closing, I almost said clothing advice.
00:46:53.079 --> 00:46:54.039
Yeah, not clothing.
00:46:54.099 --> 00:46:56.500
Oh, they could be clothing, clothing related if you so choose.
00:46:56.920 --> 00:47:05.569
Um, but some closing advice for business owners to take into their day or week, maybe even based on this best week ever idea to help them.
00:47:05.569 --> 00:47:09.295
It can't be, you can't be, get a tattoo of no shoulds.
00:47:09.574 --> 00:47:10.134
Right?
00:47:10.284 --> 00:47:10.773
Okay.
00:47:10.779 --> 00:47:11.335
That's not it.
00:47:11.484 --> 00:47:13.054
That's not it, aside from that.
00:47:13.054 --> 00:47:13.454
Yeah.
00:47:13.494 --> 00:47:17.335
Aside from that, you know, I kind of default, I'm a planner.
00:47:17.904 --> 00:47:18.894
I like to have a plan.
00:47:18.894 --> 00:47:20.994
I like to, you know, schedule things.
00:47:20.994 --> 00:47:22.074
I like my calendar.
00:47:22.074 --> 00:47:35.364
So I tend to default to that when it comes to advice and the, the biggest piece of advice that, that I always give, but it has a new, uh, a new ring to it with this tone is about setting work hours.
00:47:36.025 --> 00:47:41.184
And I think one of the things that happens with entrepreneurs is under the guise of flexibility.
00:47:42.018 --> 00:47:45.079
We think like, well, I can work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:46.188
I can work whenever I want.
00:47:46.188 --> 00:47:47.208
And then you do.
00:47:47.268 --> 00:47:49.728
And then you do exactly.
00:47:49.728 --> 00:47:57.978
That's when you start where you're checking email while you're pushing your kid on the swing or you're, you know, you're, you're waking up at three in the morning, thinking about an email you forgot.
00:47:57.978 --> 00:48:03.349
So the number one advice I give entrepreneurs is to set work hours and it doesn't matter what those are.
00:48:03.379 --> 00:48:08.299
00 AM and then 8:00 AM 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
00:48:08.299 --> 00:48:08.538
Great.
00:48:08.659 --> 00:48:10.009
Whatever your hours are.
00:48:10.599 --> 00:48:11.109
Set them.
00:48:11.768 --> 00:48:26.469
And so my, my, my advice for this is do that again, do that again, close your eyes, take some deep breaths, really envision what you want your work hours to be.
00:48:26.679 --> 00:48:29.619
So instead of just like, well, I'm a cuz this is what I used to do.
00:48:29.889 --> 00:48:33.069
My kids are in school from this time to this time.
00:48:33.458 --> 00:48:35.469
Therefore those are my work hours.
00:48:36.594 --> 00:48:37.884
Let's flip that around a little bit.
00:48:37.884 --> 00:48:39.684
What do you want your work hours to be?
00:48:39.744 --> 00:48:45.563
What do you want your days to feel like are, how do you, how do you wanna start your days?
00:48:45.594 --> 00:48:46.583
How do you wanna end your days?
00:48:47.004 --> 00:48:49.043
If you can spend some time thinking about that?
00:48:49.944 --> 00:48:54.054
And writing out what you want your work hours to look like.
00:48:54.355 --> 00:48:58.855
I think then you you've created a container that you can start to fill with the important things.
00:48:59.664 --> 00:49:00.714
Yeah, for sure.
00:49:01.134 --> 00:49:01.764
Oh, I love that.
00:49:01.769 --> 00:49:02.514
That's a good tip.
00:49:02.519 --> 00:49:03.714
That's a, that's a good one.
00:49:03.775 --> 00:49:05.815
I'm guilty of like messing up that one.
00:49:06.835 --> 00:49:13.434
00 AM even though I don't want to, but because I can so love that everyone go set yourself some work hours.
00:49:13.855 --> 00:49:16.234
And my last question for you, Megan.
00:49:17.170 --> 00:49:18.909
What's making you feel most boss.
00:49:19.599 --> 00:49:23.139
Oh, oh, that's a good one.
00:49:23.769 --> 00:49:35.119
You know, I have this incredible team right now and for years I struggled with, um, and it wasn't even the people I've always, I've been so lucky to work with amazing, amazing people.
00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:37.900
But for years I think I just struggled.
00:49:39.054 --> 00:49:40.734
Um, I don't even know.
00:49:40.734 --> 00:49:42.355
It wasn't even like letting go.
00:49:42.355 --> 00:49:46.134
It wasn't that I, you know, some people were like, oh, nobody can do it as well as I can.
00:49:46.344 --> 00:49:53.605
Like, I didn't really think that, but I just had a really hard time, um, turning, turning things over to my team.
00:49:54.433 --> 00:49:56.413
And like, I didn't wanna burden them.
00:49:56.413 --> 00:49:57.944
I felt like, oh, I should be doing more.
00:49:58.514 --> 00:50:06.734
And I think because I burned out because I kind of, um, wasn't able to function at the level that I wanted to function.
00:50:06.764 --> 00:50:20.054
I had to trust my team and they knocked it out of the park when I gave them the space and the permission and the, and the plea to do their jobs.
00:50:20.469 --> 00:50:25.299
They killed it and I am so proud of the people on my team.
00:50:25.299 --> 00:50:27.759
So that's definitely what I'm feeling most, most boss about.
00:50:27.789 --> 00:50:28.199
Right now.
00:50:28.759 --> 00:50:30.339
Love that such a good answer.
00:50:30.339 --> 00:50:35.019
I'm glad that you finally got yourself to that place, for sure.
00:50:35.379 --> 00:50:36.279
Um, perfect.
00:50:36.279 --> 00:50:40.389
And where can folks find you otherwise?
00:50:40.389 --> 00:50:43.960
Maybe they're listening this outside of that best week ever timeline.
00:50:43.960 --> 00:50:44.469
Definitely.
00:50:44.474 --> 00:50:49.599
Well, check out focus-sessions.com for our whole focus session schedules.
00:50:49.599 --> 00:50:51.219
If you wanna do some virtual co-working.
00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:57.309
I'm @meganflatt on all the social media platforms and also focus sessions.
00:50:57.609 --> 00:51:03.099
Um, on Instagram you can follow for productivity tips, time management tips, and, um, yeah.
00:51:03.279 --> 00:51:03.879
Say hello.
00:51:04.688 --> 00:51:05.139
Awesome.
00:51:05.139 --> 00:51:06.339
Thanks for coming to chat with me.
00:51:06.339 --> 00:51:09.248
This is a good, this is like a good old school business bestie chat.
00:51:09.248 --> 00:51:09.728
Love it.
00:51:09.759 --> 00:51:10.449
Love it.
00:51:10.478 --> 00:51:11.708
Thank you so much for having me.
00:51:11.708 --> 00:51:12.668
I really appreciate it.
00:51:15.159 --> 00:51:16.839
All right, boss, because you're here.
00:51:16.839 --> 00:51:21.369
I know you want to be a better creative at business owner, which means I've got something for you.
00:51:21.914 --> 00:51:37.994
Each week, the team at bean boss is scouring the news, the best entrepreneurial publications and updates and releases of the apps and tools that run our businesses and is curating it all into a weekly email that delivers the must know tips and tactics in the realms of mindset, money and productivity.
00:51:38.414 --> 00:51:39.914
This email is called brew.
00:51:40.275 --> 00:51:45.644
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Check it out now and sign up for yourself at beingboss.club slash brew.
00:51:50.938 --> 00:51:52.958
That's beingboss.club/brewed.
00:51:55.859 --> 00:51:59.438
Now until next time, do the work be boss.