Courage & Clarity

On the podcast this week, I've got former corporate marketer turned freelancer turned employee again with a fitness instructor, lung cancer research advocate and my long-time friend, Annie Truax. 

Beware, after listening to this you’re gonna want to stop everything & hug the ones you love!

In this Courage story, Annie shares how two traumatic losses shook her awake in life.

After her experience, she was unable to avoid realizing what is truly important in life, and just how empty her work was --  and thus, her priorities forever shifted.

Before the trauma, she over delivered and was on a mission to please others. After, those same things seemed trivial. 

The questions in Annie's life changed from things like “What apartment am I going to live in? How am I going to please the client?” to “How am I going to be the strongest version of myself for my family? How do I survive this?"

In other words, her life experience rendered her unable to relate to PR clients whose biggest concern in life was whether the napkins were the exact correct color. 

In her healing process, Annie turned to fitness and fell in love with running & teaching classes. This episode captures how Annie was able to take advantage of a new market, show up with her expertise and make a major change to do work she genuinely cares about.

Annie's story is proof of the magic that can happen when you just show up and live in the space of true connection -- connection to your passion, to your craft, to your talents and to other people. 

Then, in the Clarity episode, we're digging into how to join a company that is truly aligned with your values. If you've ever wondered when it's time to quit your business to work for someone else or how to find truly meaningful work on someone else's team, the next episode will be perfect for you. 

SHOW NOTES

• Fizzle - try it for 5 weeks!
• Annie on Instagram
• Free to Breathe 
• Fizzle show episode — 5 Reasons Why I Quit My Business to Pursue My Dream Job (FS144)
• Ep 021 // Things I'm Afraid to Tell You: Losing My Brother
• Rev Cycle Studio

Following the winding path towards freelancing in the fitness world after two major losses in her life, marketing & PR professional Annie Truax did something surprising.

She quit her business to work for someone else.

Today, Annie works for Free to Breathe, a non-profit organization seeking to increase lung cancer survival rates. 

In her early twenties, Annie never could have imagined that lung cancer would turn her whole world upside down.

By seeking meaningful connection to other people through fitness and volunteering, Annie is now dedicating her professional life to the disease that took her parents from her.

Annie's story is incredible, and I'm taking away the following question as a lesson:

"Does joining someone else’s team allow you to go even deeper in the fullest expression of living your values?"

If the answer is YES, sometimes being an entrepreneur isn't the best fit, and there might just be a better arrangement waiting for us if we keep our eyes & hearts open to the possibility. 

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How to do the work now to invite your dream job into your life 
• How to create a job for yourself at an organization you'd love to work for
• How to flipthe script on loss & trauma — and leverage the worst thing that’s ever happened in your life into something meaningful

SHOW NOTES:

• Freshbooks - get a month free!
• Annie on Instagram
• Free to Breathe 
• 5 Reasons Why I Quit My Business to Pursue My Dream Job (FS144)

Here we are ... halfway through Season 2 of the Courage & Clarity podcast!

I'm having an absolutely blast bringing you one part inspiration and one part instruction from amazing entrepreneurs who are going after what they love in business & in life. 

However, since these conversations have been so action packed, I thought I would pause and huddle up with y'all. 

Recently, on Instagram & on Facebook, I called for questions -- and you guys really delivered! So today, I'm answering your top Q's.

In this episode, you'll hear: 

• How to decide whether you should start a podcast
• Putting the "ideal client" debate to rest
• How to get your very first clients
• How this podcast is doing so far!
• How to get OUT of planning mode and INTO action mode
• What to do about "shiny object syndrome", aka the constant barrage of new ideas
• .... and the best advice I've ever received! 

PLUS, as a little bonus, I finished the episode off by sharing some things I've been thinking about lately. You may have seen on Instagram I posted a graphic exclaiming, "It's okay if you suck right now." That post BLEW UP and so I wanted to go deeper into what I meant, what I've learned since then and how you can put this into practice in your own life. 

Thank you for the questions, I hope you enjoy the show this week!

SHOW NOTES:

• Microphone I use - ATR2100 USB Mic 
• You know you need to define your ideal client, target market & niche, right? (FS208)
• BNI Meetings
• Claire Pelletreau - Courage, Clarity 
• Claire's Get Paid Podcast 
• Jenna Kutcher on Instagram
• Lara Casey's Powersheets
• Adrienne Dorison - Courage, Clarity 
• Glennon Doyle Melton Quote 
• My instagram: It's okay that you suck right now 
• Jess Lively's intuition

This week's Courage & Clarity conversations are double the fun as I'm joined by not one, but two brilliant business ladies: Emylee Williams & Abagail Pumphrey, the founds of Think Creative Collective.

Emylee & Abagail are the brains behind this strategy powerhouse which offers courses, a podcast and lots of clarity for frazzled entrepreneurs who want to get more sh*t done. 

But of course, there's more to this story than a couple of bosses who've got it all figured out. 

Emylee dropped out of graduate school two weeks before her program began and originally thought she'd own a cupcake business. 

Abagail climbed the corporate ladder in the web design world only to be laid off from work. 

In this episode these two spill all the details of their individual paths to doing meaningful work on their own terms, including lots of bumps & bruises along the way. 

My favorite part, though, is how they decided to come together. 

After joining forces to run a webinar together, the two sat on the floor of Abagail's home office and realized their values & aspirations were so similar -- and, that they had a blast building cool stuff together. Think Creative Collective was born.

In addition to these inspiring stories, you'll hear: 

• How Emylee went from making next to nothing as a photographer for a year, to walking out of a client's house with a $1500 check 
• How the two completely overhauled their business model -- which allowed them both to take January completely off, and both have only worked part time so far in 2017
• What to look for in a co-founder relationship, and how to test it out before going "all in" 

SHOW NOTES: 

• Fizzle - try it for 5 weeks, cancel any time
• Think Creative Collective 
• TCC on Instagram 
• Courage & Clarity episodes with Natalie Franke 

In this week's Clarity episode, we're jamming on a tough topic for lots of us: sales.  

You know the scene: You're sitting at the Starbucks, sweaty-palmed, talking your face off with a client you'd love to work with, hoping and praying they are picking up what you're putting down.

And then, the moment comes: it's time to sell. You hold your breath and name your price, worried that they'll get up and walk away right there. 

I've been in that Starbucks scenario so many times, and I get the heeby jeebies just thinking about it. 

That's why I love this conversation with Emylee & Abagail. They're sharing exactly what we need to tweak in order to make more sales -- and to take the fear factor out of these conversations. 

In this action-packed, 20 minute conversation, Emylee & Abbie spill: 

• Three big steps to generating MORE sales (easier, simpler & less intimidating than you think!)
• How to educate your clients on the value you offer vs. having to make pitches and convince them to work with you 
• How to help your clients see you as a mind reader (and therefore, the perfect person to trust!)
• A stress-free approach to talking about money with clients 
• Some tough love, which will help you get out of your own way and make more sales! 

SHOW NOTES: 

• Freshbooks - 30 days free!
• Think Creative Collective 
• TCC on Instagram 
• Fizzle course: Customer Conversations 
• TCC Course: Organize Your Business & Your Life with Trello

Have you ever found yourself wondering with questions like:

 "How do I figure out what I'm really good at?"

"What are my strengths?"

"How do other people see me?"

"How do I create a business that's uniquely me?"

We've all asked these questions a million times over because it's hard to see ourselves as others see us. 

Sometimes when we're really good at something, when it comes easily to us, it doesn't even feel like a strength. The truth is, other people can't do that thing like you can. So in today's Clarity episode, we talk about exactly how to leverage "your thing".

Here's what we get into today, and guys, it's a juicy one:

• Why getting better at your weaknesses is bad advice, and what you should do instead to grow exponentially 
• Where burnout REALLY comes from, and how knowing + using your strengths prevents it
• How to figure out what you're even good at in the first place
• How to use your unique strengths to differentiate your business
• How to take your top strengths & translate them into actual revenue

We also talk about a real example of one of Katie's big strengths, and how she made a shift in her business model to capitalize on that. 

After you listen, I'd love to hear from you on instagram: Do you think you should try to improve your weaknesses? OR is it better to cut your losses and go all in on your strengths? 

SHOW NOTES:

• Freshbooks - free trial
• Katie's website
• Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
• Give What Grows -- How to Avoid Burnout (Fizzle Show 200)

In this week's Courage story, Katie Proctor shares her journey from a corporate marketer, to health & fitness coaching to where she is today -- helping fellow Registered Dietitians create thriving businesses.  

In this episode, Katie shares:

• How she faced the harsh realization that corporate wasn't for her, even after spending lots of time & money getting her MBA
• How incorporating her own fitness transformation into her coaching powered her business
• Exactly how to get your partner on board with your business dreams, and the key to handling personal relationships as an entrepreneur 
• The importance of sharing ourselves authentically, and what's at risk if we don't start hitting publish 

In addition, Katie and I jam on the idea of being brave for just 5 seconds at a time, and how we've both found our entire lives have shifted when we push ourselves to publish scary things.

There's so much to learn here from Katie's ability to recognize she was "chasing next" -- next job, next degree, next pat on the back for doing a "good job". 

Today, instead of seeking praise and significance from large companies that may or may not validate her, Katie has built her own platform for sharing her message and she's carved out a space where she can be an influencer. 

It's a great story -- and next up, Katie joins me in Episode 23 to talk about finding your strengths and using them to create a business that's as unique as you are. 

SHOW NOTES:

• Fizzle - 5 weeks free
• Katie's website
• Katie on instagram
• Steph on instagram 

Today's episode is one I'm both excited and totally terrified to share with you. 

It's me, alone on the microphone, opening up about the hardest and most unthinkable thing I've ever dealt with. 

In this very-close-to-my-heart episode, I'm sharing: 

• A traumatic, tragic loss I've experienced in my life recently and my current thoughts & feelings
• The perspective I've gained from hardship and how we can challenge ourselves to live our best lives
• A before-and-after glimpse into how a family trip to Ireland deepened my healing
• 3 things grief has taught me that apply to career & business
• A powerful & moving excerpt from my journal and the message in my heart about grief

In case you'd like to read the words from my journal, here they are in written format. 

Per Jess Lively's "writing to your intuition" exercise, I asked myself the following question: 

Why do I feel this is the episode I need to share? 

Here was my unedited, un-analyzed gut reaction (I arrived here by just writing without thinking too much):

SHOW NOTES:

• Jess Lively: Things I'm Afraid to Tell You concept
• Courage & Clarity Episode 14 with Chase Reeves 
• Courage episode with Cassandra Bodzak 
• Jess Lively: intuition writing exercise&

We've all heard about "the dream" of a nomadic lifestyle, working anywhere in the world with an internet connection from the comfort of our laptops. 

But what about those of us with, you know, families and stuff?

Tsh is a writer, podcaster and a coach focused on the angle of living simply and unconventionally. She's been running a blog for 9 years called The Art of Simple, hosts a podcast called The Simple Show, and is the author of a book coming out this month, At Home in the World. 

In this week's Courage story, Tsh tells us all about how she and her husband found themselves in Turkey, a completely foreign country, and how her anxiety and discomfort led her to writing as a creative outlet.

From this scary experience, her blog was born -- and now she's been at it for nearly a decade. 

Tsh and her husband spent five years devising a plan to save up enough cash to take their whole family on the road -- including their three young children.

What happened over that year is truly inspiring, and might have you rethinking what you'd like your life to look like. 

In this episode you'll hear:

• The fears Tsh faced when she decided to take both her family and her business on the road 
• What it means to live simply according to your own unique life's purpose (and each of us may have our own definition of "simplicity")
• A new, refreshing spin on what it takes to be "an expert"
• How Tsh has stayed engaged in her area of expertise for close to 10 years, despite some lackluster moments

Enjoy this episode, and then join us in Episode 20 where Tsh shares the exact steps she took to take her business & family on the road for a year! 

SHOW NOTES 

• Tsh's website
• Tsh's new book
• Tsh on instagram
• Steph on instagram 

In Episode 19, you heard about Tsh's inspiring story of taking her family of five and her business around the world for a year. 

In this episode, we're getting into the nitty gritty of how the heck this actually works and what preparations to consider for a major lifestyle shift like this one.

In this episode, Tsh reveals: 

• How to plan for a year around the world, including how much money she saved up and how long it took 
• What systems and fail-safes to implement in your business before you hit the road 
• How this works with young children, including education & the balance between action & relaxation
• What one thing she would have done differently with her travels & business

At this exact moment, I'm traveling around Ireland in a minivan with my entire family, including my 10 month old baby girl! Tsh totally inspired me to go with the flow and keep my perspective open when it comes to business, family and travel. 

SHOW NOTES:

• Tsh's book
• Tsh's website
• Tsh on instagram
• Steph on instagram 
• Freshbooks: enter code "courage+clarity"