In this episode today I want to give you a run down of my current business model, the one I am training my clients in and using as the basis of my brand builder programme. The next round of the Brand Builder Programme starts on Tuesday the 3rd of May and runs until August.

It is a four month business coaching programme for female business owners with individual coaching, training videos, resources, an amazing group of other women to support and be supported by. It truly is magical. If you want to grab one of the last spaces, the link is here to do that:https://www.melwiggins.com/the-brand-builder-group-programme

This episode is the inside scoop on what you need to consider to have a regenerative, purposeful and profitable business, and I really hope it helps any of you that are out there who want to build your business in a way that honours your whole self. Grab a notebook, you are going to want to take notes!

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I’ve been in enough rooms and conversations to know that ‘she loves herself’ usually isn’t the kind of comment you want to welcome. Because what we’ve heard it said about is usually someone who isn’t playing small. Usually we say it about someone who shows confidence in themselves, or who shows up for themselves, or who navigates or moves in the world with some sort of self assurance and that rattles us.

So the words that we use to diminish her are: she loves herself. But what else should she do? Hate herself? Ignore herself? Numb herself out?

In this episode I'm calling for a reframe on this term, including a bit of a lesson from my six year old daughter (look out for a follow up reel from her and I on IG!).

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This episode is for anyone who is feeling the resistance to moving ahead with their new idea or new thing. Any situation we where you're putting your most truest ideas out there into the big world for other people to see, to judge, to have opinions on is going to be hard. But to not do the thing also brings some tough stuff too. We have to choose which hard thing we are going to pursue, there is no getting around it. If you're in that spot right now and the fear is creeping in and you're ready to quit, listen in.

Welcome back to Season 2 of Courage Is Calling! In this pep-talk we are looking at comparison. This is the number one mindset issue that seems to be coming up for my clients and the women I connect with. This episode is all about looking beyond or underneath our comparison tendencies to what is leading us there. Comparison is usually symptomatic of some deeper stuff going on for us and I'm laying out three key things that it could be AND the important ways we can move through it.

I'm also mention in this episode about the Brand Builder Retreat Day I'm hosting on 2nd of March 2022 at my home - all the details are here if you want a space to come and join me! https://www.melwiggins.com/brand-builder-retreat-day

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So with the last episode in mind, I want to give you 5 experiences or behaviour signs that might indicate that you need to update your boundaries and give you 5 ways that we can update and implement them.

This is an amazing opportunity for you to take stock, to recognise where boundaries are lacking in your life and how you can, without shame, but from a place of empowerment, claim them back.

About four years ago, I was barely keeping my head above water. I was running a home. I was running a charity, I was running this business – Assembly, I had a two year old and a 6 year old and a marriage and other responsibilities to manage and I was right in the deep end. I needed to make some changes. Not only did I need to get some help medically, I knew I needed to work out a better, easier way of doing things that didn’t involve me sacrificing my mental and physical health.

So. I want to share some of that learning and how implementing and updating boundaries have been so key to moving towards health for me.

I think the key thing here is getting to the baseline of why we are so frazzled and torn and I have a few ideas about why this is so and why women in particular are grappling with this desire for balance and boundaries so much more than men and why it is distracting us from the amazing work that we should be doing in the world. This is Part 1 of 2 and I'll be laying out why I believe boundaries are critical and freeing and what might be in the way of us setting them.

For anyone who is out there trying to do something, put something out there, create something new, offer out their skills or expertise, feedback can be super alluring and super terrifying. It’s almost like we have this push-pull relationship with feedback and validation that means we want it, but it also has the potential to crush us.

In this episode I want to talk about success and feelings.

This week on Courage Is Calling I want to talk about the importance of women making money.

I want you to know that me feeling comfortable talking about making money in my business is something that has been about 4 years in the making. I took on a coach to help me with this stuff, I started opening the conversation in my community about money and I’ve learned a huge amount about the massive importance of being money literate and assured in my business so I want to share some of that with you in case you’re in that position too – where making money or talking about your work or selling or pricing feels hard. You’re not the only one, trust me.

In this episode I'll be talking through why we find it difficult, why it matters that women feel safe to earn well and get comfortable pricing well for their work. I hope you'll find something in this pep-talk to empower you to ask for what you want and trust yourself to go get it.

Today's episode is entitled The Trouble With Hustle Culture.

Hustle culture is the idea or the message that our productivity is the most valuable thing about us. Or that if you work harder and faster and more that somehow your value increases.

The reality is that lessons on the dangers of hustle culture are often learned by burnout. The messages of 'rise and grind' or 'if you want it hard enough' also lack so much nuance, context and real life grounding around peoples differing responsibilities, accessibility, of mental health needs, of time constraints, of financial obstacles, of physical abilities. And when we hold this culture up as the one that is the pinnacle and fob all of that contextual stuff off as ‘excuses’ then the damage is absolutely real.

So today I want to talk through four ways that I see hustle culture seeping into how we are expected to work today, why it’s a troubling message and what the alternative is.