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You Don’t Have to Blow Up Your Old Identity to Build Something New · Kind of a Big Deal

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, welcome back to Kind of a Big Deal.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Kristen Belden, this time on the tail end of some kind of crazy sickness, so please forgive the change in my voice for this intro.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm sitting down with Megan, a business coach who spent almost a decade as a top-performing sales rep in the tech world before a wild turn of events.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: She got laid off while newly pregnant.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Her husband's union went on the longest strike in history, and suddenly a business she'd quietly been building on the side became the main focus.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Three and a half years later, she helps corporate women identify the skills they already have, both personal and professional, and figure out how to build something around them.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about what it felt like to lose her professional identity almost overnight, something she and I have in common, why she spent three years interviewing 200 women who left corporate before she finally did it herself, and what happened when she stopped hiding behind other people's stories and started telling her own.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Before we dive in, if you've been enjoying the show, please hit that follow button and consider leaving a review.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: It helps more awesome folks like you find us.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, here's Megan.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Megan.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Kristen, how's it going?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good to see you.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you too.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like we've already been chatting for a little bit and I could just talk to you all day.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad that you're here.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to jog my memory as we were jumping in.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We got connected on LinkedIn, is that right?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: We did.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: We did.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: We did.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Just when I think I'm done with LinkedIn, I remember that there's an amazing woman that I've met because of LinkedIn, and I'm like, dang it.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I can't leave it yet.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know I have a love-hate relationship with LinkedIn just because I feel like it it's part of my old identity, and I feel like I was trying to leave that part of me behind, but I realized that that part of me is actually, it makes me who I am today, and it's doesn't really make sense to leave it behind, but maybe to just take it with me and just some capacity when I need it.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because like you said, it you meet the most incredible people.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: You really can, I think, if you're engaged, even in like the smallest of ways.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's all kinds of like actual strategies around this, but you know, even if you're just going on there every once in a while to check it out and you know, be in conversation, I've found some of the most amazing connections.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very curious about the old identity piece, so we'll come back to that.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to lose that thread.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: But you and I started chatting, and we realized we have a very similar story, different paths and different situations, but you know, navigated some really hard, challenging things as it relates to being in the workforce and having to ask ourselves questions about our identity as we moved into what's next.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't wait to hear more from you.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure so many folks will resonate and identify with what you have to share.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you again for being here.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think maybe let's start with.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm really toying with this.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, do I want to rewind all the way back in time with you or do I want to start with today?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think let's start all the way back from the very beginning.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what were your baby Megan career days like?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: What were you interested in?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: What were you being drawn to?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: What were those first kind of few years like for you?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I guess it depends on how baby Megan you want to go.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because when I first Let's go baby baby.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Baby baby.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was in college, I actually studied abroad in London.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time, the draw to being able to study abroad was the fact that I was going to get an internship in a different country.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time, I was going to school for entertainment studies.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was there, I happened to meet my professor's husband who worked for Nickelodeon.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we hit it off and he offered me an internship for when I returned.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So when I got back, I had a year left of school.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: My semester before, I guess the two semesters before graduating, I was interning at Nickelodeon, going from Orange County to LA every single day, which is at minimum an hour drive.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And in addition to the if you don't know about SoCal traffic, we can talk about it.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, seriously, it's not miles, it's not, it's how long does it take to get there?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we do everything in time down here.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I got this internship and it went really well, and they offered me a full-time job.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I still had a semester left of school.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided, okay, when is this opportunity going to hit again?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I decided to take the job and finish my studies online.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I was working for Nickelodeon full-time as well as finishing college.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So packed up my bags, moved to LA, and I just I really went all in.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: I loved to date.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that Nickelodeon is probably one of my most favorite jobs, but eventually it came to an end in the entertainment industry.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is seasonal, basically job to job.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very stressful.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I took a couple of different other positions in other different entertainment avenues, and that's actually where I met my husband.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't date at the time, but we reconnected years later.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I started looking at women at the very top.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I started looking around, seeing what their lives looked like.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized that many of them, their job was their entire life.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't have a family.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: They were working 12, 14, 16-hour days in this office.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew that I wanted a family one day.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided that after that next job ended, that I wasn't going to return to that industry.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a long part where I was trying to find myself again.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I explored health coaching.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I explored being a personal trainer.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I explored multi-level marketing.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually I decided to go into sales.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was a professional salesperson and I was kind of brought up that way to be always like naturally just talking and curious and just asking questions.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I got my first sales job and I was in sales for almost a decade.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout that time, I was working for tech companies in the startup world.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: That was probably like the main theme is that they were they were in the tech world.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, what do you want to know?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, everything.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Nickelodeon.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start there.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: All the way back to what were you doing when you say, you know, you kind of were interested in this world?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I think it I'm sure everyone would answer this in some similar fashion.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like the entertainment industry is is compelling and sounds exciting.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I'm curious about, you know, the work you were actually doing there and what was fun about it.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like what made you, if it weren't for like the seasonality of it and the stress of what it meant to be in that industry, could you have seen yourself still there?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think if I had found someone to mentor me, then I think that I could absolutely still be there today because it does take a certain personality.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that I do have that.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I also, if family was more important to me.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if it if I could still have everything and be the present mom that I want to be and have that, then yes, I probably I could still do it today.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But when I said I had the most fun of my life, I was also doing some of the most grueling work of my life because I was the production assistant and I was at the very, very bottom of the totem pole.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing all, for lack of better terms, like the bitch work.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the things that people didn't want to do.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I was running errands, I was getting people's food orders, I was making coffee, like I was, I was, I was doing all the errands, doing again, doing all the things that people didn't want to do.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so much fun because Nickelodeon also had the set attached to it.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in the production office, but they actually filmed on location.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I was able to go in and actually watch the films or the the TV shows being produced.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that to me was just so much fun.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But what I liked about it is that it felt like a family.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I knew every single person that was on that set.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was involved in every single department.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I was really able to feel like I was a part of something, something really fun and beautiful, and that was something that was going to be a legacy.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's something you talk about.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm interested too in the mentorship piece.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um because I think everyone also has their own kind of story and journey here, right?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's some folks that you can ask, you know, who was a mentor to you, and someone it just has like a name right away.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like somebody that really helped be their advocate and you know, helped them find their voice and their footing.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Other folks will say, I've never had a mentor ever.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like the nut, you know, I think it's Shonda Ryan's that talks about how books became her mentor in an industry that she didn't see herself in, right?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so she found other ways to feed herself, but to not have that person that's kind of helping you.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's so important to distinguish between someone who is helping you because they see something in you that they want or that they want to, you know, kind of mold and shape in a very specific way, versus what I think of as a true mentor, which is someone who can show you things that you might not be able to see yourself, but also allow you to discover yourself in that process.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's super rare.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, and I'm I'm curious if you found that along your journey, you know, at any point throughout this kind of process that you were just sharing with us of going from entertainment to taking a beat to getting into sales to what you're doing now.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's interesting is that I don't necessarily believe in just one mentor.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think that there's people that come into your lives at different stages, and it might not even they might not even know that you're technically their or that they're your mentor, but you are learning from them in so many different ways that you're able to ply the knowledge into your own life.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have had different mentors in my life that, like I said, like they don't even know that they're my mentor.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And sales, it's interesting because the person, when I first got into sales, I applied for this company and they immediately rejected me.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: We had a great interview and they said, you know what, we really like you, but you don't have any sales experience.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Go out and get it and then come back.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I did exactly what they said.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I went out and I started, I got the only sales experience that I was that someone would hire me.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I went back to a gym and I started selling personal training and I got the sales experience.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I saw they were hiring again, I went back and knocked down their doors and they hired me on the spot.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so that manager, he he and I got along really well.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: He took a liking to me and he didn't necessarily take me under his wing, but he believed in me and gave me the skills needed in order to really excel in the sales world.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think if it wasn't for him and that knowledge, I don't know if I would be where I am today.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then through that, through sales, I had some managers that were good and some managers that, you know, like they were there.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I would say that now as an entrepreneur, that's where I have had the most mentors in my life.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's because the women that I'm surrounding myself with today, they truly are women that are linking arms with you because they want to see you succeed.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if I always had that back in my sales days.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was more of a dog-eat-dog mentality where everyone was trying to climb that corporate ladder and fight for the same positions.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And now, as an entrepreneur, we're all navigating this life and everyone wants everyone to succeed.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that is that is really beautiful.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had multiple women, I'm gonna name one person in particular because I think she deserves a shout-out.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: But she has been a coach for me in the time when I didn't even believe in myself, and her name's Teresa Heathwaring.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say that this woman is just the ultimate hype girl, but not only is she a hype girl, she is someone that knows her stuff too.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So she's based in the UK and is just the loveliest human.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So Teresa has has done wonders for my career.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go, Teresa.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: We love you.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's really amazing.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think you hit on something so important, which sometimes, you know, when you look into a guide or a mentor or an executive leadership, you know, whatever that is, some folks kind of hold the strategic ability, you know, and helping you think about your business or whatever that looks like.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Some are just straight hype gals.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: To find that combination is so unique and what a special thing to have, I think, in particular when you're out here on your own building, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's to have somebody that you know has either come before you or understands the journey well enough to help guide you.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: That is like it's invaluable, I think.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and when I first started my business, I'm gonna say it just that way.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was actually still working in corporate in the sales world.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was really intentional about what I was doing because I knew that I eventually wanted to get out.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I had already faced one layoff in sales and I realized very quickly that nothing is guaranteed in that world.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started a podcast originally to be able to interview women that were in my position in corporate and left to be able to pursue businesses of their own.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's actually how I met Teresa is through she was one of my podcast guests.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember starting this podcast in life, I pressed record in June of 2022.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't put out my first episode until October of 2022.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I had obviously some mental blocks that I needed to get through.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: But in January of 2023, I decided to hire a business coach.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I had not met Teresa yet, so I had hired someone else and I had set the intention with this business coach.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I want to be out of corporate by the next quarter.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is a week later, no joke, I found out I was pregnant with my son.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that that was a possibility, but didn't think that that would happen so quickly.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: So then I was kind of like pulling, pulling it back, like, oh, you know, that's a little bit too soon.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I don't know if we should do this in a quarter.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe let's get through maternity leave so I can collect my benefits and then we'll we'll we'll take the leap.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be really careful with what you put out into the universe because you just might get it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so after I announced my pregnancy to my company, I was a part of my second layoff where they completely eliminated my entire my entire department.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I decided that it was time to go all in on my business, and that's really where I met Teresa through that next experience, and and she was kind of like the the woman guiding me throughout this journey.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, there's so many things that you're touching on that I'm interested in.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think um when you knew, when you realized it was time, right, and you're making this transition fully out of corporate.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that wasn't that many years ago, right?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: What did you say, 2022?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is that around then?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: My I officially left in 2023.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just been, yeah, three years or so.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's still fresh enough, I think, for both of us, right?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: I started the same with me.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was May 2023 when my big implosion happened.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think back to those first few months now, and it's wild because it's almost like looking through the looking glass, right?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that felt like a different version of who I was.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like the before the moment and the after the moment, and who you become over that course of those few years, it's kind of wacky sometimes.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you wouldn't necessarily know on the surface, right?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like people who like have known me casually over the years would not think there's like something dramatically different with who I am.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I would tell you I feel like a dramatically different human than I who I was, you know, before.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would love to hear from you just, you know, how those first few months felt when you left and you knew corporate was not going to be part of your story for this next season.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of questions were you asking yourself?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And how did it feel?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what did you do with your hands?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I always say I didn't know what to do with my hands.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, what am I doing?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna start by saying that it wasn't just uh an easy decision to not return to corporate because when I got the notice that I was a my position was eliminated, I actually interviewed with 40 different companies in the span of two weeks.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was really 44-0.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And oh my gosh.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: At the time my husband was out of town and I was having these all these conversations.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And keep in mind, like I'm I'm still early in my pregnancy, I'm not feeling that great.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was having great conversations, but a lot of these were not lighting me up.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the ones that I was excited about, I didn't qualify for the maternity leave because you would have to have been there for X amount of time based on that.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was applying for these jobs, I was looking at the benefits because that was that was something that was really important to me.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I was also going through this do I tell them I'm pregnant?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do I not tell them I'm pregnant?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: That whole debate.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, or at when my husband got home from his trip, I sat him down and I said, I was I was defeated.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I remember sitting at our dinner table, this is where we have all of our like most intimate conversations.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Normally I would have had a glass of wine, but I was pregnant, so couldn't have that.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just totally defeated.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, look, this is what's been going on.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he knew that I had started this podcast.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I went on to since since I started, I've done over 200 interviews.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he had seen the dedication and how much work that I was putting in.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, you know what?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe this is a sign.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if not now, then then when?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we ran the numbers and we figured, you know what, it's gonna be tight, but we can make it work.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I decided at that point I was gonna go all in and I went all in with my podcast.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: We can talk about this later, but there are definitely some things in my journey that I would do differently if I were to erase or rewind the clock.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: But one of those things is that I would plan a little bit more diligently for us to be able to go from a two-income to one-income household because I was laid off in March of 2023, end of March, in early May of 2023, my husband's union went on the longest strike in history.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So for the entirety of my pregnancy, we had zero income, other than we were able to apply for unemployment.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that was that was a that was a tough blow.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll put it that way.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what I what I teach women to do now is very different than how I started, to be able to be like, don't do it my way.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do this, let's get ahead of it, let's do this differently.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you were talking about identity.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I tell that story is because I went from thriving in my corporate career, I was the top salesperson at every company that I was at.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was laid off, none of it was in my control.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone in the department was completely eliminated.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it was not performance related.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I tied my identity to my income and my my job title.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And immediately when that one was stripped away from me and I was no longer making any money because I hadn't monetized my podcast, I didn't know what I was anymore.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: What was my worth?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you go on the street and you just talk to any new person you meet, almost the first question they ask you is, what do you do?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know how to answer that anymore.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Before it was easy.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in sales.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then if they were really curious, they would be like, What do you do?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then I could go into that conversation.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how do you explain what it is you do?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't even know what I'm doing right now.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still figuring it out.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: But not only did I go from that one identity shift, but I also became a mom for the first time.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I was going through, okay, I don't know who I am as a professional anymore.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who I am really as a human anymore because I'm no longer just responsible for myself.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm now entering into this new season of life.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a lot of identity shifts that happened all at once, and it was a lot.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say that that season has made me such a stronger person and I wouldn't change anything.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: That is, I was gonna ask you actually, like, what's something that you learned about yourself as you navigated, right?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, not only not having this corporate identity, but also, I mean, similar for me when when my job imploded, right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, my husband and I have such vivid memories of us sitting out on the front patio looking at everything, going, like, what can we get rid of?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because like, we don't, this is not, this was not on the bingo card, this was not planned.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: To your point, I would love to help support women on making a plan.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that's just not what the universe has in store, right?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so you do have to just make it work.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I know that there are things about that season now that I am so grateful for.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: I looked at, I look at it as like the gift that no one asked for, and but I recognize now that there was like a muscle I needed to build that I would not have been able to build differently, I think.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm curious, you know, outside of the identity question, and now layer on the fact that you're a new mom, I mean, that's a whole other, you know.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's like a whole other identity shift that you're navigating.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Is there something that you learned about yourself or that you thought was surprising or that you rediscovered about yourself in that kind of season of life?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is when I was in sales, I remember they would do these yearly awards, and I received the award for the most resilient because when I was a part of this model.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Company.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was the first salesperson hired in the LA office, and then they started to hire people, and then everyone left, and I was holding the fort down, and then we had managers leave, so we had everyone leave, but I was always the one that was there and the stable one, the one that was going through all this change.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got the award for most resilient.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: I will say that that's something that it really reminded me during the season is that like you can try to try to tear me down and like put obstacles in my way, but I'm going to overcome every single thing that is put in my way because I am resilient and I'm determined.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it was and it was interesting.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: I just went to a conference this last weekend.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And are you familiar with Brock Johnson?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's a he's a big guy on Instagram.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I know I probably should say yes to that, but no.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, it's he's on Instagram and you're mostly LinkedIn.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So no, no problem there.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: But he he's he's big on Instagram.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: He just is celebrating a million followers.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he knows his stuff.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just put it that way.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, he said there, I'm not the most talented, but I will outwork and outlast all of you.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's kind of me.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I'm not the most talented.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't know what I'm doing every single day, but I will show up consistently and I will be the last person standing because I want it that bad.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's something like throughout this entire journey is that I haven't always been sure what this is, but I've still taken the steps to figure it out because I know that if I just stop, it's never going to become something.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if I keep going, it is going to come to fruition because it has to.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: I just got myself a sweatshirt for my birthday present to myself, and it's like a a lady cowboy riding like a tiger, and it says, I will succeed because I'm insane.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Also, happy birthday.
• 23:49
  unknown: Thank you.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, but I think you're touching on something so interesting that I'm super curious about.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: One is I'm I would love to put a pin in like, where do you think your resilience comes from?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is that something that you were like, you know, kind of built over the years or was kind of just part of your DNA?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna try not to forget that question.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: But what I don't want to lose is this idea.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you and I talked about this, and I think you've also spoken about it on LinkedIn, but this like the fine line between needing a little bit of being Delulu to be out here building our thing, right?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: To do the thing, to like try a thing, to keep going, to keep showing up every single day, to like, you know, get the nose, but keep trying and denial.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I sit with that sometimes in my quiet spaces and go, okay, like every once in a while, the like imposter monster, devil side will show up and say, like, no, this is you're you're in denial that this is gonna work, right?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I would never say it's that loud or it's in that language, but I think that's the easiest word I can come up with that's like you know, on the other side of the defense of delusional, like at the healthy level of delusion that needs you know that you need to keep going.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you balance that?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Or is that even in your like vocabulary or in your mind at all?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or are you like, no, I know this is working and I'm gonna find the way forward?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I would be lying if I didn't say I didn't question if I made for this every single day sometimes.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's some days where you're feeling on top of the world and that you have it together, and there's some days where you do question everything, but I have to, I have to constantly like it's it's constantly a practice to be able to make the decision that you are doing this.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to say that other people might not believe in me, and I can't control that.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know who believes in me and who doesn't sometimes like I don't want to know.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to know, don't tell me.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I believe in myself, and I think that that is like I don't know exactly where I'm going to be and how this is going to evolve, but I don't think most of us do.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our world is changing so quickly that we could have this five-year plan, and everything in five years could be completely different.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, literally, who knows?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: The robots are blowing us up.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're talking about AI and everything, but but this is like I think you just have to have that unwavering belief in yourself and know deep down that you are meant to bring whatever it is you're doing to life.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I I have moments where I doubt it, but then I have to quickly reel it in and bring it back and just be like, no, Megan, we are doing this.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: So yes, there's a woman I follow, she has an app, I think it's called Activations, and it's like, you know, it's really like just daily things that you can listen to as you're either in your commute or your walk or whatever to like keep in that practice of like working on your mindset and whatever.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I was listening to an interview with her where she said it's not about always staying on that horse of like, I got this right every single day, you know, I'm I'm riding that train, but it's how quickly do you get back on when you're knocked off, right?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like the the resilience, yes, and the shorter you can make that time between when you fall off, when you come back on, and that can doesn't have to be some major falling off.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: It can be exactly what we're saying, which is the days or the hours or the weeks where you're feeling a little like oof, like what's going on here, or what's not feeling right, or am I doing the right thing?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's like how quickly you can get back into the mode of no, like I'm I know I'm doing this, and I feel strength and power in that.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm interested in that.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I also want to just touch on that this is normal when you're building a business to have these moments where you're you're working and you're figuring it out.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like everyone talks about that messy middle.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think women especially, they're afraid to get into this messy middle part where they are figuring it out, and they it stops them from ever taking action because especially women, we think that everything needs to be perfect.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have to have this well-polished and thought-out plan.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is, is you could have the best plan in the world, but if you don't actually take action, it's not going to happen.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, it's like I didn't have a plan when I started, I just kind of like ran into the ran into the field and just was like, okay, we're we're doing this.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I do have a a North Star at this point, but you also have to have room for flexibility, and I think that's really important that women in general need to hear is that like if you wait for the confidence and for the perfection, it's never going to happen.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have to take the action, and that is what leads to the real transformation that we're ultimately all looking for.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm with you.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think as you were talking about the messy middle and that kind of liminal space, you know, I'm on I think I've realized that part of my mission and mandate in working with women is to help reframe that as something exciting, not terrifying.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, it's terrifying, I get it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And like one of the when you talked about earlier, you touched on maybe some things you would have done differently had you, could you rewind time?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for me it would be giving myself the gift of acknowledging that yes, it's scary, but there can be real fun and real joy and real excitement in those spaces too, if you allow it to be.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not like holding on for dear life and like strong arming your way through it, which 100% it's tricky because it's like until you've gone through it, it's really hard to actually convince anyone of that, right?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost like you have to navigate it once to know it's gonna be okay.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever okay is, right?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: The picture might look different than what you thought it might look like, but ultimately you're gonna be okay.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like find some fun in there, like find the play and find like those moments to like let yourself kind of be re sparked in different ways.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean you're gonna like go chase that thing and make that your new, you know, career forever.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, exactly.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: If that works, that's great and I love it, but it's not always the case.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So instead, maybe it's like being okay to play, like taking a bath instead of saying messy, like say like go play.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love that.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I always say that.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, go experiment, do a couple things, like, and you don't have to like your whole life does not have to ride on this one decision, but you to you're you're right, especially you know, women overachievers of a certain generation are like it's gonna look exactly like this and it's gonna be perfect, and I'm gonna nail it.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like to let that go a little bit is not easy, and I think it takes practice for that.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's some of the hardest work that you have to do is when you're when you're entering into this is the mindset work because like we all have the skills, everyone has some skill set, and that's something I work with with my clients, like figuring out the skill sets that you have in your corporate world and the things that you the skill sets you have in your personal world, and like, okay, how can we actually monetize this?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you what brings you joy?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like what what lights you up?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: What are people naturally asking you for help already with?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't need to be as complicated as we make it.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I know.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's so true.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: We do like to overcomplicate things, don't we?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Myself.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's only because we know it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only way we can speak to it.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, perfect segue into like, what are you doing now?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what where are you finding your passion as you build your business?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I I recognize again, you and I are in such similar spaces where, and I love what you shared before we started recording, and I hope it's okay that I say this, you know, out loud on your behalf.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: But it resonates for me too, which is normalizing the fact that you don't have to be in this, like, I've landed in this space in this perfect area, and I now get to talk about the thing.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we're both still evolving, we're both still growing, we're both still understanding our business and what it needs from us and where we can be best of service.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would love to hear not only what you're excited about and what you're focused on and the work you do, but like the season that you're in as you've been building, you know, over the last couple of years.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think just to to bring it even a little bit more to life here, I I was you're asking me if there's anything that was off topic.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And my initial thing was absolutely not, because like I think that it's important for people to to hear the the good, the bad, and the ugly through all of this.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think like if if I was listening to this and I was going through maybe a potentially hard place, I'd be like, okay, like she gets it, and I'm not so alone.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this is why I do share the the harder parts of my journey too, just because I know that maybe there's someone out there listening that needs to hear it because I was one of those people.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, like sometimes I still am one of those people because we talked about the highs and the lows.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: But to answer your question, I'll answer it with what I'm doing today, and then I'll take us back a little bit to how I started the journey be and all the twists and the turns to like tell you like this was not a linear process.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: But today I focus on helping corporate women identify their strengths and that it and like I said, from personal as well as business strengths to be able to identify the business that's already within them.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then if they want to, I never pressure this, then we figure out their corporate exit plan.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we work together to figure out okay, what is it actually going to take for you to be able to exit corporate on your terms, not when don't don't wait until someone did it, does it for you like I did.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's that's what I'm focusing on right now.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we focus on one-to-one coaching and I absolutely love it.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: But rewind the clock, we talked about the podcast.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: The podcast is how I got started.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: That again, I started interviewing corporate women who exited exited their industry and started businesses of their own.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: I did that podcast for I shut it down at the end of 2025.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: So for over three years, I ran that podcast, and I will say I didn't monetize it at all.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: However, that was the best thing that I have ever done as an entrepreneur because of the conversations and the connections that it did give me.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: It gave me it also gave me the belief that this is possible.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if I was doubting myself, I'd be able to have hear another story of someone that's maybe on the other side of like I am right now, and and say, like, I was I was down, but then I made it.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: I did this for myself.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that gave me gave me hope and it gave me the experience of possibilities.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is what kept me going, even though I hadn't monetized anything throughout the podcast.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, at some point, my husband basically sat me down and said, Okay, Megan, we decided to go all in, but there's no money coming in, like we gotta figure this out.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he was right.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I I everyone always said, like, when you're looking for money, start a coaching business.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I was very anti-coaching at the very beginning because I knew that it was an exchange of time for money, and I had this brand new baby, and I really wanted to make sure that I was able to be with him and for all the moments.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just I was kind of just wanting that time that I knew I couldn't get back.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I initially built a membership community, and I will say that it did really well at first, but I opened it up for both a paid and a free tier version, and I immediately opened it up and I had 140 people sign up right off the bat.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was really great.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: But when you took a look at the numbers, I had about 20 people that were paying, which for a low-ticket membership, that's not enough to be able to pay your bills.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I loved the membership.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: I made again great connections, but I did that for about a year and I decided, you know what, haven't made any money, basically.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was just again, I was giving a lot of my time to this in a different way to do it.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a lot of energy to put in.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Those are not things that you just like turn on and hit flip a switch.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you're engaged, right?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's 100%.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it it was, I loved it.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like I loved the interaction with the people.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: I also hosted my own online summit.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was great.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: I used my corporate strengths in order to like, I'm super organized.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: I got everything down to a science, but that didn't bring in the revenue that I w thought it was for my memberships.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, quick pause before we get back into it.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to conversations like this one and something keeps nudging you, like I know I'm at some kind of turning point.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: I just can't quite see it clearly yet.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually exactly what I do.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: I work with women leaders who are in the middle of something a career shift, a business that's ready to evolve, a moment where what got you here just isn't cutting it anymore.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes what you need most isn't a whole program or a big engagement.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: You just need a few hours with someone who can help you see what you're too close to see yourself.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's the clarity session.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's a focused, one-on-one conversation where we dig into where you are, where you want to go, and what's actually in the way.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: You walk away with real direction, not a list of homework, but genuine clarity on your next move.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: If that sounds like what you need right now, I'd love to talk.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can find all the details at Beldenstrategies.com slash clarity.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I've tried being a participant in unli other online summits in the bundles, and I've done digital products, but ultimately I had to take a step back and say, like, where do I really feel like I'm being called?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it was coaching.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was coaching all along.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I it was interesting because I kind of did that pivot where I was like, where did I start at the beginning?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly where I want to go back to, is how I started working with those women that are still in corporate and wanting to birth something of their own.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I was curious about when I started is the people that came from corporate and birthed something of their own.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like this really nice full circle moment for me to be able to give back based on all the experience that I've acquired over the last three, four years.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and it's so interesting to hear it's like there's always that thing that's like in it's like it's almost like too obvious in the beginning, right?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like that thing that you know that you're just naturally gifted, or and for whatever the reason is that the logical reason, or whatever the thing is that we tell ourselves why we're not doing it or can't do it or shouldn't do it, and like what it takes to get us to just come back to that and go, oh, okay, no, this is actually what I was meant to be doing the whole time.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious for you.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: God, there's so many questions.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think one is in your work with clients, like, do you witness that journey?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like for those that decide, right, to go from you know, your your conversation about what they're thinking about their skills to like actually building the full plan, do they have to kind of like zig and zag a little bit before they're like, okay, I can actually say that this is the thing that I want to do?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: And when you say zig and zag as far as like figuring out what what they're really interested in, yeah, like what the business is.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, like what the business is.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is it like how often do you work with women where it's like, nope, I know exactly what I want.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do this thing, and that's what they end up building.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've only worked with one woman that knew exactly what she wanted to do.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: I see, this is exactly.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, never.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like so rare.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's never like black and white like that.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's very rare when you get, especially as women, we are kind of like I mean, I'm indecisive.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I can't decide sometimes what I want for breakfast, let alone like what business I want to start.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, that's I think the benefit of working with a coach is because you're able to bring it back and focus on like I'm really good at seeing your strengths even when you're not able to see them in yourselves.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's like one of my I can confidently say that's a gift I have where you're able to have a conversation with me.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: And in just that conversation, I can tell you exactly what you're good at and the gifts that are maybe just so innate to you that you're just unaware of.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: So to be able to be that mirror for someone and to reflect that back, that is a huge part of coaching.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of this stuff, like it's already inside of you.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just having that, I'm basically an accountability buddy sometimes, just at the end of the day.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Being able to bring it back to like focus on the things that matter and just to keep them, to keep them going in the straightest line possible.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: So they're not having to zig and zag as much as maybe you would without a coach.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I wonder how much of it is like I hear, you know, the indecisiveness piece of it, but I also feel like I wonder how much of it is that we also societally have not really uplifted or respected the innate talents that come for naturally for a lot of women, right?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like we don't even know that those are gifts that could be monetized.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh no, that's just like, you know, what I do to take care of people or whatever.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, no, that's actually something that you can build a whole ass business around, you know.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm saying this out loud as I'm looking at my three years ago self, going like, no, you can actually do that, right?
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: But we haven't, right?
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not building a thing, a product, or if you're not, you know, getting involved in AI, like I think a lot of women will talk themselves out of the thing because before they've even started because they can't even see how it's valuable, right?
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, I think also to your point, having that mirror to be able to say, no, that is valuable.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: I do see, you know, the strength in that, and you're, you know, shining when you talk about that thing, right?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's I had a conversation with another woman recently where she said one of her mentors who had started like a women's community, an actual like in-person kind of space in the Bay Area, she was asking her a similar question, and she said, You always have to listen for the like the woman will talk about what they're doing, but they'll say, But I'm also kind of doing this other thing that I think might be a thing that's kind of interested in.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, That's the thing.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's that thing always.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one, the one they don't want to say out loud for fear of what it might mean to like say it and have you react to it, or you know, even to put energy into it, right?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's so true.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then to also take it another step further, a lot of the women that you and I are surround ourselves with did either either are in corporate or they or they came from corporate, and corporate has this different energy where you're definitely operating in more of like this masculine space where it's very much like a do-do-do and achieve, achieve, achieve.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're going into entrepreneurship, it's like finding that balance between yes, like you still need that masculine where you are like checking off the boxes, but you also need to embrace some of that feminine where it's like, okay, some of that like more calmer energy where you're able to actually listen to your intuition to guide you, like for that little thing where it's like, yeah, I'm kind of doing this.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's let's go into this because there's something here.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, it's that it's that balance that we got to put into play that we, I think, coming from our backgrounds, it's not always so easy to do because we've been programmed for over a decade to operate that way.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Totally, yes.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious, you know, when you think about your experience in sales, like how much of that, like what did that teach you that you now use as a founder?
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even mean from like a sales perspective.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like I recognize anybody that's founded their own company, we all are salespeople in some way, shape, or form, right?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like whatever, however that manifests or shows up for you.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like what what about that time in your career has helped kind of shape what you're how you kind of navigate that space now?
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: And before I get to answering that question directly, what's interesting is because of my sales background, anytime I tell someone in the space that I do have a background in sales, every single person has told me that I should teach sales.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, interesting.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: I probably could have made a heck of a lot more money right away if I had gone that direction.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: But there was something in me that immediately was like, no, that's not what I'm that's not what I'm meant to do.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's also listening to that voice to be able to carry you.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, yeah, I could have probably made more money doing exactly what I was doing in corporate, but for myself, but it didn't feel like that was the path that I was meant to go on.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: But to to answer your question, that was actually why I started the podcast.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: I took a step back and I realized, okay, I know I want to start a I know I want to start my own business, but I don't know what to do.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: So what are the strengths?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: What am I already doing?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is it basically that I possess right now that just I enjoy too?
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized, okay, I love talking to people, I love their stories, and I'm really good at asking like thoughtful, open-ended questions.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: And not only that, but I'm good at listening.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: And everything was done through Zoom already.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: We we started transitioning because I was an inside sales.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we started transitioning to having all of our meetings on Zoom.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, I can absolutely record some of these interviews doing the exact same thing that I do in my sales job, but just instead of selling something, I'm literally just having a conversation with someone about their journey, their experiences, and then using that knowledge and sharing it with others so that way they can learn at the same time.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I used that.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then also in sales, I knew how to prospect.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: So when I started my podcast, that was the very first thing that I did was I put together, talk about masculine energy.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: I put together this whole prospect sheet of every single woman that I personally knew that had started something of her own.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I started reaching out to them with prospecting emails, basically trying to get them as a guest on my show.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so being able to use that specific skill set was the foundation of everything from my Self Starter podcast.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I will say that's why I think it's so important.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like just because you might have spent X amount of years building this career, it doesn't mean that the skills that you acquired disappeared overnight.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to carry those with you into every single thing you do moving forward.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's not wasted, it's repurposed.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think a lot of times we feel like we have to almost like blow up the old identity, which is all of the way back to what you said in the very beginning of like your LinkedIn, you know, kind of like pulling some of your old identity forward.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's all still there.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: That we get to still be proud of the things we did, right?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: We might be doing things differently, but it's like, what do we want to carry with us and what do we want to let go of?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's it's like the being able to kind of find your way into like those two things, right?
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: So important.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also it's funny you say you're not teaching sales, but like I imagine in some ways you kind of are, because even if that's not what you do, like if you're allowing a woman to feel empowered, not allowing, you're creating the space for a woman to find her own like strength and voice in what she's naturally amazing at and wants to build a business around, like that is like what sales should be, right?
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like somebody that feels like fully turned on by what they're doing, like you don't have to teach sales because they're gonna be out there talking about it.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and again, you to your point, like if you have a business, you are a salesperson, like you have to sale in order to make it as a business owner.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't want to be known as the sales girl.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sales person, totally the salesperson.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the reason for that is because it came so naturally to me.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't able to break down what I was doing.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was never like when you take all those personality tests that they make you do in corporate.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: One of them was like, what kind of seller are you?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't tell you what test I took, but I remember I was the relationship builder, and that apparently was the worst one that you could be as a salesperson.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I I don't think that's a good one.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean?
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that bad?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, because I wasn't like the strategic, well thought out person.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was very more of like intuitive and I would like get to know the people.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was the long play.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would know every single thing about you and I would form that relationship.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you needed something a year down the road, you would think of me because like we had built this foundation.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: But being in a transactional role where you want the quicker the deal cycle, the better it is for the company.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: That not that wasn't always the best thing to do.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: You want the quick wins, but now being the relationship builder has done is done me, it served me really well as an entrepreneur because I get referrals.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Every single client I have now has been because of a referral.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes, yes.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you win in the long run the long game, I think, right?
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the turtle.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know me too.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: Always, always the turtle.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like the hair in some ways, like weird ways, and then the turtle and like the things that like you know probably actually move the needle.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about ending your podcast after 200 episodes, and I think there's something so important there about listening to yourself when it's time to let something also be see its season through.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that is not an easy thing to do.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you care about something, if you've put your heart into something, it's like how do you outside of like the black and white, you know, kind of logical reasons to end something, right?
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: What was that like to have to make that decision?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying that means it's never coming back, but like for that moment you decided it was time for it to be to be done.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, go ahead.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's interesting is that I was talking about Teresa earlier, and when she and I were working, it was probably a year and a half before I decided to shut down the podcast.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: We were looking at metrics and really what the show was doing for my business.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: And she had recommended that I actually shut it down at that time.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I was very hell-bent on absolutely not because it brought me purpose and joy and a time where I really needed something for myself, and I still felt like it wasn't done.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is that I let a year and a half then go by, and I still hadn't moved the needle forward any further with like the monetization, and it didn't feel right to take it in that direction as well.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just it's just not, it's not how I started the show, and I started to listen to other shows that had done it, and I was like, it just it wasn't the vibe that I wanted to go for.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: So in addition to that, it was the types of people that were coming on.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: I obviously like loved every single conversation, but I started to look at being the relationship builder.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: The people that I like still talk to to this day were all towards the beginning of my journey where we were really in it together.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like we were building these stories, we were rooting for each other.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: And at some point it stopped becoming this relationship, and instead it became the podcast managers reaching out to book their clients, the the shows, and then the clients and I never having a source of communication, and I didn't have that relationship built anymore.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it wasn't anything that the guests did wrong, it wasn't a reflection of them as a human being, it was just the way that the that it was coming into my world, and it just didn't feel the same as it did before, and it was taking up a lot of my time, and my husband in January of this year actually had to go to New York for six months.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I was essentially gonna be single mom by myself, and I had to figure out okay, where is my time going?
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: And most of it was going to the podcast that was bringing in no revenue, it was taking me away from my son, and so I had to ultimately make the call, not only from just like the gut check, but also like where is my time going?
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: And as a business owner, that's sometimes really hard to do, but necessary in order to propel your business forward and had to rip the band-aid off and make that last call.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you you mentioned it, like it's it might not be forever.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: I could bring it back, and I have dreams of having a talk show one day where it's like I'm bringing I'm bringing these women on, and it's like Oprah meets Mel Robbins, like meets I don't know, but like in a way where it's like just human to human.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: So who knows what's gonna happen.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's the unfortunately the hard call I had to make at the time, but I I actually don't regret it.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, I think you know, right?
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's like you could have picked it right back up if it had been the not wrong call.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's I don't think there's any right or wrong call in these situations, right?
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what's the call for the moment and what are you gonna listen to and how are you gonna navigate that, right?
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you had felt in your body that it was like, oh no, I've made a terrible mistake, you could have just started it up again, right?
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like you could have.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing too is that I think I used my podcast to hide behind other women, to hide behind their stories.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately I knew that if I really wanted to be the business owner and have the kind of financial success that I do want to have, I knew that I could no longer hide anymore and I had to become visible.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that wasn't easy to do because it required me to be honest with myself and really vulnerable.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say I've had so much more growth since making that decision.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, interesting.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's from a business perspective or in like from a tell me more.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is that?
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: How do you agree those two things?
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because my brand became more clear.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was before Self Starter was like just sharing stories, like people really they weren't really sure what this is, what this wasn't.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when I was able to really like embrace like what I'm doing and how I'm helping people and sharing my personal journey, that was something I didn't do, in my opinion, while on the show, is that I didn't bring enough of myself into it where I was a great facilitator and a great moderator.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: I asked very intellectual, like deep questions, but people didn't know Megan.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: They knew the guest, but they didn't know me.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something that you and I had touched on during our last conversation a couple months ago, was that that was something that I was that the revelation that I had.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: And now since I've stopped the podcast, it's forced me to be a heck of a lot more open and vulnerable with what I share publicly.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: And people now are able to see, see me, not the women that I'm showcasing.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, there's so much.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I I remember that so well.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: It has been rattling around in my brain since you shared that with me, because I think, you know, funnily enough, you know, I had been thinking about that.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is my moment of vulnerability.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I had been trying to, it's so funny when you start something because you're like, I feel drawn to this thing, right?
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel drawn to do this.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why I feel compelled to do this thing.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you start the thing and it does, it serves.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: One of my questions for you that you've already answered was like, what came out of the podcast that wasn't really about the show?
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think people kind of miss the point when they're like, oh, everyone's got a podcast, blah, blah, blah.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not really always about that.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think for some people it is, right?
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: They really want to have a podcast, they want to have a name, you know, all of the things.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think for those of us that maybe didn't have a strategic reasoning behind why we started a thing, it it's like it gets to evolve into this whole other animal.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, for me, it's been all kinds of incredible those connections you were talking about, right?
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: The women that I'm now in conversation with, what you get to hear over the series of 200 conversations that you would never get to hear from just one, right?
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: Those themes that start to emerge, the patterns that you start to understand, like all of that is so incredible.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: And as I reach, we're actually at the year and my the birthday year, first year birthday of the show this month.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: I was sitting with this for a while, going, okay, but like now is the time to start thinking about like how do I want to shape it going forward?
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: What do I want to see from it?
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: How do I want to continue to use it as a platform?
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think when you're building a business and you're also building this other creative outlet, it can be, to your point, really hard at times to determine where the time and your energy and the way you're talking about the work is going, even though it can all be part of the same ecosystem, right?
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, but how do they all show up in support of each other, not just like these artifacts that are kind of sitting in separate spaces?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not easy.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, it definitely isn't.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: But congratulations on one year.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a milestone.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say that most people don't make it.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the pod fade, it's episode seven or eight.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_00: So though it sounds like everyone has everyone in the mom has a podcast.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: Most people like will start it.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: They don't get past seven or eight episodes.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: So interesting.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: Seven or eight.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: What an interesting number.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was just starting to have fun at that stage.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was like over the nerves of it at that point.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was over the like cringe of hearing my own voice at that point, finally.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's like I don't even hear it.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the first time I had to hear it.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh my God, do I sound like that?
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_01: Horrible.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: What is going on?
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do I feel like that?
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: I actually kind of like my voice.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I'm there yet, but I don't feel as like gross about it anymore.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, it's just neutral.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's just there.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that it's all the way back to what you said earlier, too, of the like, I'm gonna just keep showing up.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: I know we're getting close to time, but as you're thinking about the moment that you're in with your business, have you started doing any kind of like outsourcing or are you building, are you interested in like building a team?
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what's your kind of vision for, and you can say you don't know yet, that's also totally fine.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm curious if you've reached a moment where you have an answer to that.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: As of right now, I don't have a team, I don't outsource anything.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would say ChatGPT is like my best friend right now.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's going with Claude, but I'm still with the good old Chatty over here.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: So he he seems to be or she seems to be working for me.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I I do want to just say that even though I made the decision to go with coaching, it still takes a while to build your book of business.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I am not financially where I would like to be.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it has been almost three, four years at this point that I decided to go all in, or not, I guess three years, three and a half years since I went, decided to go all in.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there are ways to make money right away, but I have taken the zigzag road for sure.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_00: And boy, they have been zigs and they have been zags.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because last last weekend I went to this business conference where they gave you lanyards based on your income level.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: So zero to 10 grand, 10k months is yellow, 10K to 100K months is orange, and then anything over 100K months is green.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I went there two years in a row wearing that same color yellow lanyard.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I am not even I'm three years, three and a half years in, and I still haven't surpassed 10K months.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is my goal.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have made it publicly.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying it here that this time next year I am going to have surpassed 10K months.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I say this because I want you to know if you're listening, that it takes time.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so the best, I believe the best time to build is actually not when I'm building.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's actually to build it while you're in corporate, while you have your your paycheck to actually be the first investor in your business.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I was in a very different spot now, to your point, I would hire help to be able to take things off of my plate.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: But right now, I just I'm not in a place where I have other business expenses to pay before I pay for the help.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish I I wish that you didn't, I wish I didn't have to do that.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I want I don't want other people to have to do it that way because it's a heck of a lot harder and it takes longer.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: So start while you have the paycheck to invest in your business, even if it's just like this little idea.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: That little idea could bring you in a million dollar months.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying it because I've done it, but I've interviewed so many people and I've surrounded myself with people that have done it.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it is possible.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that, those stories, the success stories, those are what keeps me going outside of just the knowing that I can do it.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you're hitting on something extremely important, which is even if you don't have dreams of leaving corporate, even if you're super happy, right?
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_01: I and I love that, right?
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: Not everyone's meant to go off and and build their own thing in perpetuity.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: However, I do believe that with the changing of the workforce and all of the things that are evolving and the way we even look at work and productivity and identity, it's a real good muscle to have.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that if things do shift or change or the rug gets pulled out from under you, you're not left in the position I was three years ago, not having a freaking clue, you know?
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I want that for every woman is the ability to know that you can do something and build something.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't have to be forever, but you've got a lever you can pull if for whatever crazy reason something shifts in your industry, right?
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and it doesn't even have to be that it's the thing that you are meant to do forever, but something that you can use to get yourself over whatever that next season is.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so I hope I I think to your point, like build the thing while you're still with your corporate job, if that's a potential and you have the time.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know time is our you know most precious resource, but even if it's just a few minutes here and there, like to show yourself that you can, that's half the muscle, I think.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even the thing, it's the like knowing that you can and like the mindset to know that you can build it.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: When there's a will, there's a way.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that time is very much scarce in a lot of women's lives specifically.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's outside factors that come into play, but again, I've had so many conversations and people have built it in the pockets of time with they've built digital businesses that don't require them to take time for money.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's totally possible in this digital age.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: We have more opportunities now than we have ever had.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect segue into all the possibility that you see for yourself and for the impact you want to have on the world.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, that's always about legacy and how we define it for ourselves.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so, Megan, what does building a legacy mean to you?
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love that question.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: It really makes you sit back and really think about what does it mean to me?
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that for me, legacy is building a life that I'm really proud of and one that inspires my son to know that anything is possible and if you just make the decision to go for it.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think also to be able to have an impact on people beyond like that initial conversation, something that that has touched them in some way, that's I think legacy to me.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I can tell you, I thought about our conversation that very first chat that we had for months after we talked and just these the rattling around in my mind, just little snippets that you had here and there.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I already know that for for me that is true.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I can only imagine that's true for everyone you come into contact with.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you again for being here.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_01: You are like such a light, and I'm excited for people to hear.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being open and honest, honestly, and for being truly vulnerable about the season you're in and how you want folks to hear that message.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're right, it's not the message we always get to hear so many times.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: Why I was so interested in these conversations in the first place.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't want to hear from the Fortune 500 CEO.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, it's all cool and also inspiring, and I love it, but like I don't identify with that, and that does not resonate for me right now.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you sharing where you're at so openly is truly a gift.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you again.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for providing the space to share so openly and to be able to impact so many women out there.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it what you're doing is is truly changing lives.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_00: You are building your legacy one conversation at a time right here.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_00: I really I really admire what you're doing.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna come find you for coffee ASAP.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_01: I look forward to it.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right, friends, so good to see you.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_01: You too.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for listening and spending some of your time with me here.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_01: I hope our conversation sparked some new ideas for you.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed the episode, please make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's next.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're ready for even more tools and stories, head on over to beldenstrategies.com slash newsletter.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_01: I share fresh insights, stories, and tools for women leaders every week.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, keep building, keep evolving, and remember that you are kind of a big deal.