“Counselor, consultant, or coach? Help, I can’t decide!”

As a female business owner, you benefit tremendously from having coaching that focuses on both life and business. But you also have consultants and therapists available to help you, too, and picking between them all can get tricky.

So let’s clear up the confusion. How can you determine which one to choose (and when)? You need to know the difference between consulting, coaching, and counseling and how to evaluate yourself to know which one is right for you.

Today on the Time to Level Up podcast, I help make it clear by painting a visual picture that illustrates the point. Near the end of the show, I also provide a tool to help you reflect and further access what you need.

So in this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll learn about all three's differences (and similarities). I’ll define the role of consultant, coach, and counselor and teach you to figure out which one to hire for yourself.

4:10 - How you might know right away which professional you need

14:52 - How coaches, consultants, and therapists come at situations similarly and differently

16:54 - How to access when you need to hire a consultant vs. a coach

20:58 - Figuring out if you need a counselor or coach (and a common misconception about coaching)

25:39 - What I do for you as a coach and my ideal coaching client

28:40 - The different focus, goals, and framework of counselors and coaches

32:42 - A tool to help you do a self-assess yourself and figure out what’s best for you

Mentioned In The Difference Between Consulting, Coaching and Counseling

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

Are you investing in yourself the way you need to based on where you’re at right now?

You might be stuck in investing in industry or problem-specific coaching, which isn’t a bad idea. But the thought of exploring the option of life and business coaching together may not have even crossed your radar.

That’s where Emelie Russell found herself when I hired her in April 2022 to be my videographer for a live event I was doing. She’d invested in specific coaching for her profession but had never thought broader than that, until I asked her about it.

You might see a bit of yourself in Emelie. Within a few years, she took her wedding videographer hobby and turned it into a thriving six-figure business while growing her family of three kids. And today, she’s here to share how coaching has helped her shift her mindset and approach to her life and business.

In this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll see how coaching can help you redefine what work-life balance and asking for help looks like for you as a parent and entrepreneur. I’ll also teach you about the success triangle I use with a lot of clients and the three beliefs that, when added together, really show what you think you’re worth.

6:04 - How Emelie got into wedding videography and started it as a business while growing her family

10:44 - How Emelie’s relationship with her growing business shifted and impacted her as a mom

14:00 - The three components of the success triangle and the obstacle that got in Emelie’s way

18:49 - How things have changed in Emelie’s life with the mindset shift she gained from coaching

21:00 - How internal drama over a trip to Sweden showcased Emelie’s feelings about her worth

26:02 - How investing in herself helps Emelie’s clients and family (and can do the same for you)

28:31 - What Emilie’s gained from coaching and what she’d say to you if you’re considering it

30:20 - The question Emelie repeats to herself over and over that can help keep you on track

Mentioned In Turning Big Thinking Into an Amazing Life and Business with Emelie Russell

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

What would be possible in your business (or life) if you knew how to stop people-pleasing?

You’d feel less overwhelmed in your business. You’d be a happier person, too, in the long-run. And you might not even realize all the negative consequences that people-pleasing has on various aspects of your life. (Or maybe you’re painfully aware but just can’t seem to stop it)!

What you need is the real truth behind your people-pleasing tendency... a big picture view, if you will. I’ve discovered something that sheds light on this and am excited to share it with you on Time to Level Up.

What I discovered was a book by Amy Morin. Morin is a licensed clinical social worker and author. And in her book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, she discusses truths behind people-pleasing that offer an opportunity for you to finally break the habit.

In this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll learn Morin’s five truths about people-pleasing and how the effects of it can show up in your life or business. I’ll also teach you four things you can do right now to get out of any people-pleasing tendency you’ve developed.

2:29 - What people-pleasing is really about

3:48 - Truth #2: the likability and respectability factor

4:45 - Why annoyance doesn’t equal dislike

7:07 - Why it’s not worth getting people to like or respect you

8:50 - The last truth that will help you eliminate your people-pleasing habit

10:12 - Four things you can do to get a handle on people-pleasing tendencies

17:08 - A personal and professional example of how I learned to stop people-pleasing

Mentioned In 5 Truths That Will Help You Learn How to Stop People-Pleasing

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

There’s a difference between being a great leader in theory and actually being one in practice.

As a CEO, you face a lot of challenges that aren’t actually business-related or professional in nature at all. They’re just often disguised as such. But they’re really emotional challenges that require something to bridge the gap. That something is called “emotional courage.”

What does that entail, though? I’ve been exploring this idea of emotional courage in female leaders and came across best-selling author, emotional courage expert, and CEO advisor Peter Bregman in my research. According to him, it boils down to this: if you’re willing to feel anything, you can do anything.

In this episode of the Time to Level Up podcast, you’ll learn about what emotional courage is, what it looks like in practice with examples, and how it affects you in business and in life. I’ll also teach you about Bregman’s three elements to being a great leader and how you can start taking on those elements within yourself right away.

5:54 - How Peter Bregman defines emotional courage and its effect on your goals

9:31 - What happens when you try to stuff your emotions down

12:28 - The difference between feeling vs. expressing an emotion.

13:50 - Bregman’s three critical elements for powerful leadership (and why you need all three simultaneously to be a great leader)

20:20 - Ways you can develop each of Bregman’s leadership elements starting right now

26:13 - The approach to emotional courage that will make you unstoppable

Mentioned In Emotional Courage: Becoming an “I’ve Got This” Leader

18 Minutes and Leading with Emotional Courage by Peter Bregman

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

Have you slacked off on implementing the ideas and plans you created for the new year by now?

The middle of March can be a difficult time to stay motivated. The anticipation of spring is in the air, and the last major break of the school year is just around the corner. You’re faced with all kinds of distractions as things suddenly pick up while winter makes its exit.

So how do you get yourself back on track? I have five mindset shifts or perspective changes that I want to share with you on the Time to Level Up podcast, so you can rev up your motivation engine.

Right now, you might be thinking, “Well, this’ll probably just be another thing I won’t feel motivated to do. Got a solution for that, Andrea?” Yes actually, and as you’ll soon discover, there’s a reason why our brain often defaults to thinking this way... and some things that kill your motivation if you aren’t aware of them.

In this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll learn about those motivation killers and five keys to staying motivated as a female CEO. I’ll also teach you a couple of things to keep in mind to help you re-motivate yourself.

1:38 - Motivation as an inside job

4:51 - What you can and can’t do for other people when it comes to motivation

7:32 - Your main job with motivation (and what helps you the most)

11:54 - The role you choose to play in the story called Your Life

16:08 - The only way you can get better (and the lesson in motivation Steve Jobs had to learn)

20:00 - How to regain your motivation (including what ultimately drives your motivation)

22:45 - Quickly recapping the keys to motivation

Mentioned In 5 Things You Need to Know About Staying Motivated As a Female CEO

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

Do you feel like being a mom gets in the way of your business goals?

As a parent, you probably can’t help but feel that family should come first. But you might also be letting that thinking get in the way of the ambitious woman you want to be.

It doesn’t have to be impossible to go after your business dreams and be a mom, though! And today, I’ve invited a guest expert onto the Time to Level Up podcast who does it and helps mentor other moms to do the same.

CEO and author Nikki Oden knows how easy it is to lose yourself by putting family first. She walked away from a career in law to become a stay-at-home mom. But through trial and error, she discovered how to harmonize her ambitiously entrepreneurial self with parenthood.

In this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll learn about how to love yourself and your mom life a little more. Nikki will teach you the five key things you need to do to keep your sanity as a CEO mother and offer perspectives on guilt and self-care that might differ slightly from what you’ve adopted.

4:12 - When it’s okay for you to drop the ball

9:31 - Why feeling guilty is your choice

11:29 - Another aspect of guilt that can come up as you grow and change

15:41 - Five things you need as a mom to keep yourself sane

24:47 - The main character in your and your kids’ lives

26:42 - The biggest fallacy you learn about time (especially women)

Mentioned In Own Your Day and Crush Your Goals Without the Mom Guilt with Nikki Oden

Your Ideal Mom Life

Love Your Mom Life Podcast

But Definitely Wear Mascara: Hacks to Help You LOVE Your Mom Life (and Yourself) a Little More by Nikki Oden:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Audible

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

People-pleasing is kind of like a disease. You just want to excise it like a tumor.

You might people-please because you think others will like and accept you if you say yes to everything, but that really isn’t the case. Or you might not even be aware of your people-pleasing tendencies at all!

How do you know for sure, then, that you’re a people pleaser? Everyone is, to some extent, but some are more prone to it than others.

So in this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll learn how to quickly identify the 10 signs of being a people pleaser. And as a preview for next week, I’ll also give you a quick tip on how to begin breaking out of this pattern, starting right now!

4:18 - Sign #1: You have “nodding head syndrome.”

5:42 - Sign #2: You feel responsible for this.

7:32 - Sign #3: You’re an apologist in this way.

8:15 - Sign #4: You feel burdened by this.

10:33 - Sign #5: You find it hard to do this with people.

11:35 - Sign #6: You feel uncomfortable when this happens.

13:22 - Sign #7: You act like a copycat in these situations.

15:44 - Sign #8: You need to receive this in order to feel good.

17:00 - Sign #9: You go to great lengths to avoid this situation.

18:26 - Sign #10: You can’t admit to someone how you really feel when this happens.

20:04 - Quick recap of the signs and how you can start to get out of the people-pleasing habit

Mentioned In 10 Signs You’re a People Pleaser

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

Something’s sabotaging a lot of women who aspire to be successful entrepreneurs. Are you one of them?

No longer just a girl dreaming of fairy tales, you’re an adult now with all the responsibilities that come with it. Those responsibilities might make you feel like you’re on autopilot mode, crushing your dreams of winning at work and at home in the process.

But what if you could stop the sabotage dead in its tracks and get back on track to fulfill the promise of being the successful businesswoman you desire? That’s what real dreams are made of!

You won’t have to sacrifice winning at home in order to thrive in business (or vice versa), either. Many clients who feared the same emerged with a new way of thinking and went on to finally start and invest in their business.

In this episode of Time to Level Up, you’ll learn about the three saboteurs I often see women entrepreneurs face. I provide examples from real-life clients who made the leap and finally went after what they want so you can see how these behaviors might be stopping you and course-correct yourself.

What’s Covered in This Episode:

2:49 - The #1 reason why I think women entrepreneurs don’t go after what they want

6:31 - Something that can still stop block you even if the first reason doesn’t apply

10:01 - How some entrepreneurs are trying to solve their problem and why it doesn’t work

14:06 - Which one are you?

Mentioned In 3 Saboteurs That Stop You From Winning at Work and at Home

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Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

I’ve been wanting to talk about something on this podcast for a while. But I’ve wrestled with how to do it. Over the holidays, I followed Peter Shallard (“The Shrink for Entrepreneurs”) who does it in a way I relate to. And now I think I can finally frame this discussion in an impactful way. So today, I talk about how women who want to start or invest in a business can get past the struggle that arises if they’re also in a relationship with someone who doesn’t approve of their ambition.

2:07 - The extra ingredient that needs to be put into the secret sauce of business success

6:36 - Women entrepreneurs I know who don’t do this fail quickly

10:03 - The risk-taking nature of entrepreneurship and the importance of a failure

13:17 - How a “cushion relationship” stops you from experiencing the entrepreneurial failures you need and the way to overcome it

20:00 - The difference between a cushion versus a “pillar relationship” and how it can put you on the fast track to insanity

24:04 - What you can do if you’re an entrepreneur in a pillar relationship

Mentioned In Move Past the Roadblock of Getting Your Partner’s Approval for Your Business

Peter Shallard

Andrea’s Links

Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.

For many people, family comes first. But oftentimes, your brain likes to think that family and business is an either/or situation. You might think that being a successful entrepreneur gets in the way of being a “good” parent and, therefore, use it as an excuse for why you’re not striving or thriving in your business. 

In this episode, I talk about why you can have both good parenting and a successful business and how they actually have a lot in common.

3:22 - Limiting beliefs about being a good parent that can impact your entrepreneurship

6:00 - What does it mean to be a good mother/parent?

12:33 - The evolutionary principle that motherhood and entrepreneurship share

16:27 - A qualification you don’t need to be a good mom or entrepreneur

18:08 - The fear factor behind your drive for successful motherhood and business

22:01 - What moms and entrepreneurs tend to do vs. what they should do when it’s time to make decisions

24:53 - Negativity bias and how it impacts us emotionally and cognitively

30:13 - The three things you need to be a good parent and entrepreneur

Mentioned In Can You Be a Good Parent AND a Successful Entrepreneur?

Andrea’s Links

Untangle your time, reset your role, and build systems that don't depend on your every move. No more white-knuckling your way through success because you're not just scaling your business, you're scaling yourself.

Get the clarity and capacity to lead differently and ascend to your next level. Learn how and join us at andrealiebross.com/ascension.