Latest / The Heart-Led Business Show / Why Alignment Beats Strategy in Business Growth with Melanie Benson

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Why Alignment Beats Strategy in Business Growth with Melanie Benson · The Heart-Led Business Show

• 0:01
  Speaker: Welcome to The Heart-Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love.
• 0:09
  Speaker: Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second.
• 0:20
  Speaker: From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism.
• 0:29
  Speaker: So buckle up and let your heart guide your business journey.
• 0:36
  Tom Jackobs: Welcome back to the Heart-Led Business Show.
• 0:38
  Tom Jackobs: Today, we're rolling out the red carpet for the remarkable Melanie Benson.
• 0:43
  Tom Jackobs: As the authority amplifier for expertpreneurs, that's hard to say, but expertpreneurs.
• 0:50
  Tom Jackobs: She magnifies unseen brilliance into thriving businesses.
• 0:55
  Tom Jackobs: With her years of experience, a top 1% podcast, and a mission to cultivate collaboration, Melanie is here to share her heart-led journey of entrepreneurship.
• 1:05
  Tom Jackobs: So buckle up, because success is about to get a fabulous makeover.
• 1:10
  Tom Jackobs: Melanie, welcome to the show.
• 1:11
  Melanie Benson: Thank you.
• 1:12
  Melanie Benson: I'm so thrilled to be here with you.
• 1:15
  Melanie Benson: This is a conversation that, ooh, just even in the green room, I was like, Oh, this is so exciting to get into this conversation."
• 1:23
  Tom Jackobs: I'm excited as well and quite frankly, a little nervous, because you're a very experienced podcaster.
• 1:28
  Tom Jackobs: And so I, I have a little bit nervous, but the heart is here, and we're gonna share that heart with the rest of the audience.
• 1:35
  Tom Jackobs: And I really want to dig into your story as well, because I, I know it's gonna be really enlightening for the listeners to know that you can, have a heart-led business and make money at the same time.
• 1:47
  Melanie Benson: Yeah, make an impact and make money.
• 1:50
  Tom Jackobs: It's best of both worlds.
• 1:52
  Tom Jackobs: So but before we go, get into that, I always like to ask the first question, which is, what's your definition of a heart-led business?
• 1:58
  Melanie Benson: I really had to think about this one when I knew you were gonna ask it, because what I really believe is heart-led is alignment And I, I feel that so many people build a business because they're told,"This is what's gonna make you money." Or they're like,"I have all these things I could do.
• 2:17
  Melanie Benson: I need to do the thing that's gonna make me money." And I started my business in the very beginning because I wanted to make an impact, but I didn't know how to make money.
• 2:27
  Melanie Benson: And so I did the business that everybody told me would make money, and I was miserable, Tom.
• 2:32
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 2:33
  Melanie Benson: So, and we can get into that more, I know, but what I think heart-led is doing something that's plugging you into your superpowers, plugging you into your great why.
• 2:43
  Melanie Benson: Like, why are you here?
• 2:44
  Melanie Benson: Why do you want to do this work?
• 2:46
  Melanie Benson: What's the juice that gets you up every day?
• 2:49
  Melanie Benson: And then having a business that allows you to amplify that impact, that reach, that message that lights you up.
• 2:56
  Melanie Benson: Now, we all know having a business every day is not sunshine and roses, but-
• 3:02
  Tom Jackobs: Right
• 3:02
  Melanie Benson: when we are in that energy, right, that's what gets you over the humps.
• 3:07
  Melanie Benson: That's what gets you to have the perseverance and the resilience that we need when we're having industry shakeups and things aren't going so well.
• 3:16
  Melanie Benson: So I think that's what heart-led is, and I think people feel that.
• 3:20
  Melanie Benson: Like, people-
• 3:21
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 3:22
  Melanie Benson: I have a prediction, Tom, and we can unpack-
• 3:24
  Tom Jackobs: Okay
• 3:24
  Melanie Benson: this if you want.
• 3:25
  Melanie Benson: The proliferation of AI-generated coaching and content and bots and agents and all the stuff that's happening right now, I have a prediction that this is all gonna surge for a while, and then-
• 3:41
  Tom Jackobs: Mm-hmm
• 3:41
  Melanie Benson: we're gonna see that pendulum swing back to heart.
• 3:44
  Melanie Benson: Yeah.
• 3:45
  Melanie Benson: Because AI cannot connect my heart to your heart.
• 3:50
  Melanie Benson: It cannot connect your heart to our audience's heart.
• 3:54
  Melanie Benson: It cannot connect us to that client in the same way.
• 3:57
  Melanie Benson: And I have a feeling we're gonna see that pendulum swing back to,"I'm missing that connection,"'cause that's-
• 4:03
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 4:03
  Melanie Benson: My first company was called Success Connections, and that's because I truly believe in the power of connection, and I think that happens from our heart.
• 4:10
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, and, and And I think you're absolutely right with that prediction.
• 4:14
  Tom Jackobs: And it's the same for any, technology or any new things that are coming out.
• 4:18
  Tom Jackobs: There's always that huge surge, and everybody's super excited about it.
• 4:22
  Tom Jackobs: And then we realize, oh, wait, we're missing some...
• 4:26
  Tom Jackobs: It's taking away from something else.
• 4:28
  Tom Jackobs: And you're, you're absolutely right.
• 4:29
  Tom Jackobs: There is no way that AI can connect our, our hearts.
• 4:32
  Tom Jackobs: Now I think there can be a nice balance between the two, where we can speed up those interactions, get...
• 4:39
  Tom Jackobs: And for, and I think for people that are how to say this nicely, emotionally intelligence challenged maybe, and,
• 4:49
  Melanie Benson: So politically correct.
• 4:49
  Tom Jackobs: Maybe not...
• 4:51
  Tom Jackobs: I don't know.
• 4:52
  Tom Jackobs: They don't have...
• 4:53
  Tom Jackobs: I, I,
• 4:53
  Melanie Benson: Run with it.
• 4:53
  Melanie Benson: It sounds good.
• 4:55
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 4:55
  Tom Jackobs: So, I actually don't feel like I have super high emotional intelligence.
• 5:00
  Tom Jackobs: It's been a skill that I've had to cultivate.
• 5:03
  Tom Jackobs: But that's-- I think it's gonna help people realize that they need to start to cultivate that piece of their intelligence as well, that emotional intelligence.
• 5:12
  Melanie Benson: Can I share an example on how I see that unfolding before we move on?
• 5:15
  Melanie Benson: Would that be okay?
• 5:16
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:17
  Tom Jackobs: I think part of the growth of the coaching industry was this like how do we scale and how do we grow our reach exponentially, which is of course what we want.
• 5:27
  Tom Jackobs: We wanna impact more lives.
• 5:29
  Tom Jackobs: But in that process, so many people were taught and maybe given instruction or training that you need to outsource a lot of that connectivity.
• 5:38
  Tom Jackobs: So we saw a proliferation of high-profile experts showing up on social media and creating noise and content and information, but there was no connectivity.
• 5:50
  Tom Jackobs: And I think that's one of the things that I'm noticing a great a culling of the noise and a deepening of how do we connect.
• 5:58
  Tom Jackobs: I don't know if you're on Substack, but Substack's one of those places where people are like,"No noise.
• 6:03
  Tom Jackobs: Let's be real.
• 6:04
  Tom Jackobs: Let's go deep.
• 6:04
  Tom Jackobs: Let's really connect." And I think that's one of the things about a heart-led business is we're looking for our hearts are leading us to.
• 6:12
  Tom Jackobs: How do we find deeper connections, community, masterminds, coaching with a human, you know, community Yeah, yeah.
• 6:21
  Tom Jackobs: online where we can have that.
• 6:22
  Tom Jackobs: So anyway, that just felt like an example Yeah.
• 6:24
  Tom Jackobs: of what you were just saying.
• 6:26
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:27
  Tom Jackobs: And live events, getting people back into, talking to real people and not online.
• 6:32
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 6:33
  Tom Jackobs: So y- Yeah.
• 6:34
  Tom Jackobs: And I, I've s- I've seen that shift as well.
• 6:36
  Tom Jackobs: Like obviously COVID kept everybody indoors and for way too long.
• 6:41
  Tom Jackobs: And n- now everybody was just like,"Oh, we gotta meet everybody." And that now it's...
• 6:45
  Tom Jackobs: I, I'm f- I don't know if you're finding this, but I, I'm finding that equilibrium is coming back where it's, there's online stuff, but there's also, in person as well, so you can get that connection.
• 6:56
  Tom Jackobs: I think there's a...
• 6:58
  Tom Jackobs: We're gonna see a lot more people looking for in real life opportunities to meet the, the mentors, the, the community, their peers.
• 7:07
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 7:08
  Tom Jackobs: IRL man.
• 7:09
  Tom Jackobs: IRL.
• 7:11
  Tom Jackobs: Which I didn't know what that meant for the longest time.
• 7:14
  Tom Jackobs: Anyway, let's talk about your business and, and what makes it heart-led.
• 7:17
  Tom Jackobs: And, definitely w- get into the transition as well into your business and any issues that may have come up, identifying as a heart-led business.
• 7:29
  Melanie Benson: Oh, okay.
• 7:30
  Melanie Benson: That's a, a deep conversation.
• 7:32
  Melanie Benson: I mean, I think what makes my heart, my, my business heart led is, I work with experts, coaches, service professionals who they wanna stand out in a very crowded market.
• 7:43
  Melanie Benson: Part of it is they're stepping into more thought leadership.
• 7:46
  Melanie Benson: They're st- they're really owning the edge of the, the conversation they're meant to have.
• 7:51
  Melanie Benson: And part of it is there are just some tactical, strategic level things that they need to know.
• 7:56
  Melanie Benson: And for many people, this can get very, logic driven, right?
• 8:00
  Melanie Benson: It's"Oh, all the things I have to do to stand out." It feels like I'm having to contort myself or create a version of myself that's accepted in an online environment.
• 8:12
  Melanie Benson: I believe that when we drop into the most authentic, most aligned, I mean, I've had several reiterations of my business over the years.
• 8:19
  Melanie Benson: I started my business in 2000, and nobody even knew really what coaching was when I started.
• 8:25
  Melanie Benson: It was this new idea that was starting to just have awareness.
• 8:30
  Melanie Benson: We didn't have online businesses.
• 8:32
  Melanie Benson: We didn't even have social media.
• 8:33
  Melanie Benson: We didn't have podcasts.
• 8:34
  Melanie Benson: We didn't have any of it.
• 8:35
  Melanie Benson: We, we had- teleseminars,
• 8:38
  Tom Jackobs: Oh my gosh.
• 8:39
  Melanie Benson: And
• 8:39
  Tom Jackobs: Or, On WebEx, right?
• 8:42
  Tom Jackobs: Or
• 8:42
  Melanie Benson: yes.
• 8:43
  Melanie Benson: You know, there was a few of them, right?
• 8:45
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 8:46
  Melanie Benson: We didn't have this way of, of bringing video and our, our visual representation of our message in, in an online format.
• 8:53
  Melanie Benson: We had to go to an in-person event for that.
• 8:55
  Melanie Benson: So anyway, I feel as a heart-led business owner, my job is to unlock that energetic frequency inside of somebody with the words, with the, the way that they can allow themselves to amplify their work in the world and be seen.
• 9:13
  Melanie Benson: Now, for some people- That means they have to face their beliefs, their fears, that quiet filtering that they do where they're like,"Ooh, can I say that?
• 9:26
  Melanie Benson: It's not, is that too much?
• 9:27
  Melanie Benson: Can I do that?
• 9:28
  Melanie Benson: Can I sell like that?
• 9:29
  Melanie Benson: Can I really market my business like that?" It's like,"I am here to do this, and I'm committed to this, and I'm going to amplify the reach of this in a way that I'm not gonna g- I'm not gonna let, I'm not gonna hold myself back anymore."
• 9:43
  Tom Jackobs: Now you set an example that you share from your own life and your own business that is what got you to that realization?
• 9:53
  Melanie Benson: So, you and I were talking in the green room about what we lock into around heart-led business.
• 9:58
  Melanie Benson: And when I started in 2000, I was coming out of a corporate job, Tom.
• 10:02
  Tom Jackobs: Oh.
• 10:03
  Melanie Benson: In that corporate world, I was surrounded by salespeople who I interpreted as being icky in how they approached landing sales.
• 10:15
  Melanie Benson: Now, we were dealing with multi-million dollar projects.
• 10:18
  Melanie Benson: This was not$1,000 here or there.
• 10:20
  Melanie Benson: Not even$10,000.
• 10:21
  Melanie Benson: We're talking about multi-millions of dollars.
• 10:24
  Melanie Benson: And these would oftentimes be very long cycle sales processes.
• 10:29
  Melanie Benson: And I had a belief that was at the core contorting what sales and marketing was about.
• 10:40
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 10:40
  Melanie Benson: As a new coach, guess what that translated to.
• 10:48
  Melanie Benson: Zero sales.
• 10:49
  Melanie Benson: Zero strategy to acquire a client.
• 10:52
  Melanie Benson: I could be a great coach.
• 10:53
  Melanie Benson: I had great training from corporate, I had great training in my coach training, but I had zero clients.
• 10:59
  Melanie Benson: And I had to recognize that the only reason I didn't have a client wasn't because there w- I didn't know how, it was because I wasn't willing.
• 11:08
  Melanie Benson: I think that's what gets a
• 11:09
  Tom Jackobs: Interesting.
• 11:11
  Melanie Benson: kinda twisted up for a lot of people is we project we've had an experience of sales or marketing that felt icky, that,"Oh my gosh, I don't wanna be perceived that way.
• 11:22
  Melanie Benson: That's not who I am." And that was my biggest transformation.
• 11:27
  Melanie Benson: And about 10 years ago, I was having a sales conversation with somebody, and we were talking about my mastermind at the time, and she said,"I'm in." And she said,"And by the way, this is the least salesy conversation I've ever had where I have invested this much money." And I w- I was like, Oh my gosh, I have gone from being the, the woman who resisted any kind of selling to being complimented on selling, and then teaching people how to hold those kind of sales conversations." Because really, I know you've le- lent- landed in this too, is that we're not selling.
• 12:06
  Melanie Benson: This was my big shift is I'm not selling.
• 12:09
  Melanie Benson: I am helping somebody decide if they're going to step into the greatest outcome for their life,
• 12:17
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 12:17
  Melanie Benson: and if
• 12:18
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 12:18
  Melanie Benson: one that's going to be their guide in that process, or if this program is going to be part of that transformation.
• 12:25
  Tom Jackobs: Ah.
• 12:26
  Melanie Benson: That was definitely something I had to face.
• 12:27
  Melanie Benson: I mean, 26 years in, I, I've had a lot of opportunities to look at am I really being heart-led?
• 12:35
  Melanie Benson: I'm not immune to being willing to try things.
• 12:38
  Melanie Benson: And I, there was a moment when I realized I had built a business that was everybody wanted from me but wasn't aligned with me.
• 12:49
  Melanie Benson: And those are tough moments.
• 12:51
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 12:52
  Tom Jackobs: And You can feel it, right?
• 12:53
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 12:54
  Melanie Benson: Oh,
• 12:54
  Tom Jackobs: And so what did you feel at those times?
• 12:57
  Tom Jackobs: Was it like the stress or what, what was the feeling that went through your mind and your body?
• 13:03
  Melanie Benson: I have some tools in my toolbox that are under the guidance of human design.
• 13:08
  Melanie Benson: So I don't know if you're familiar with human design, but,
• 13:11
  Tom Jackobs: Yep.
• 13:11
  Melanie Benson: For me, when something's out of alignment, it starts not subtly, these huge epic fail points.
• 13:21
  Melanie Benson: Things that should work literally stop working-
• 13:25
  Tom Jackobs: Hmm.
• 13:26
  Melanie Benson: it's like, why is this not working anymore?
• 13:29
  Melanie Benson: I have spent thousands of dollars building this out.
• 13:31
  Melanie Benson: I know it's working for other people.
• 13:33
  Melanie Benson: Why is it not working for me?
• 13:34
  Melanie Benson: And so it starts with little things stop working and create a energetic discord in my brain, in my mental focus.
• 13:46
  Melanie Benson: And then when I don't get it, they turn into big epic failures that are catastrophic, that literally
• 13:53
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 13:54
  Melanie Benson: just derail you, I've had a few of those.
• 13:58
  Melanie Benson: Some of them were, a combination of a personal circumstance that intertwined with the business situation
• 14:03
  Tom Jackobs: Of course.
• 14:06
  Melanie Benson: Yeah, in 2009, 2010, we had a major financial crisis,
• 14:10
  Tom Jackobs: Yep.
• 14:11
  Melanie Benson: I literally went from, almost hitting a million dollars in revenue to losing about half of that because we couldn't reclaim a lot of our financed packages having to face, like, why is this happening?
• 14:24
  Melanie Benson: And I, when I really looked at it, I was like, I built a business that everybody said I should build." And it was good.
• 14:30
  Melanie Benson: It was a part of me.
• 14:31
  Melanie Benson: It was a strength that I had from corporate, but it wasn't the fullest expression of my superpower.
• 14:37
  Melanie Benson: It wasn't aligned deeply, and I would catch myself with these little thoughts of"I'm bored with this.
• 14:43
  Tom Jackobs: Oh.
• 14:44
  Melanie Benson: Am
• 14:44
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, yeah.
• 14:46
  Melanie Benson: really gonna talk about this again?" There were little pockets of resistance"I don't know, do I wanna say yes to that?
• 14:52
  Melanie Benson: Do I wanna roll out the next wave for this next cohort?" And it's an interesting...
• 14:58
  Melanie Benson: And I know a, a lot of my colleagues right now are, are looking at this as we're going through another evolution in our industry.
• 15:04
  Melanie Benson: Things that used to work s- are stopping to work,
• 15:08
  Tom Jackobs: Yep.
• 15:08
  Melanie Benson: and they are looking at their own evolution and their own transformation, and these little nuggets of wisdom are popping, but it looks like I wanna talk about this, but it doesn't fit in the box I built.
• 15:22
  Melanie Benson: So where do I put it?
• 15:25
  Melanie Benson: And so it was interesting journey to discover the work I'm doing today.
• 15:31
  Melanie Benson: It took me a couple years of bumping up against,"Let me just get back to what worked before."
• 15:37
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 15:38
  Tom Jackobs: Did-- Was it like friction?
• 15:40
  Tom Jackobs: That that, that, that...
• 15:41
  Tom Jackobs: I, I like that term.
• 15:43
  Tom Jackobs: Like it, it's...
• 15:44
  Melanie Benson: Despair
• 15:45
  Tom Jackobs: Despair.
• 15:46
  Tom Jackobs: Okay.
• 15:46
  Melanie Benson: Actually.
• 15:46
  Melanie Benson: If I could use a word that really...
• 15:48
  Melanie Benson: because I also, I was the breadwinner.
• 15:52
  Melanie Benson: I was not in a relationship, so I, it was up to me.
• 15:56
  Melanie Benson: I had a huge team.
• 15:57
  Melanie Benson: And the
• 15:58
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 15:58
  Melanie Benson: despair of this is not working and I have all these people relying on me was heavy, and I know other people can relate to this.
• 16:04
  Melanie Benson: As a matter of fact-
• 16:05
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah
• 16:05
  Melanie Benson: if you're listening to this, if you can relate to this, wherever you're listening to it, I'd love a little drop in, tell us, you know, give us a little comment or a little shout-out on social or wherever, and let us know, like, yes, this is up for me too.
• 16:17
  Melanie Benson: Because I think this is a very relatable passage that many of us go through.
• 16:23
  Melanie Benson: I'm carrying the load.
• 16:24
  Tom Jackobs: Yep.
• 16:24
  Melanie Benson: And it's not working, and I don't know what to do next.
• 16:27
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 16:28
  Tom Jackobs: And I think it's interesting for entrepreneurs in general because we're lone wolves.
• 16:33
  Tom Jackobs: We're told just grind it out, you can do it.
• 16:36
  Melanie Benson: Yeah.
• 16:36
  Tom Jackobs: But, but we're on an island by ourselves, and I think that's why, a lot of the masterminds that we all join are so important because we get that, like, all these people understand me because they're going through the same thing that we're going through.
• 16:49
  Tom Jackobs: And so it's, it's nice to have that community for sure.
• 16:53
  Melanie Benson: I do think it's nice to have community, and y- it needs to be aligned community.
• 16:57
  Melanie Benson: I
• 16:57
  Tom Jackobs: Yes.
• 16:58
  Melanie Benson: say that word lot because
• 16:59
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, I love that word too.
• 17:00
  Tom Jackobs: yeah,
• 17:01
  Melanie Benson: They shoot for the concept or to grab the thing that's going to help, but then they choose something from the wrong factors, the wrong decision-making factors, and they're disappointed.
• 17:12
  Melanie Benson: I see happening
• 17:12
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 17:13
  Melanie Benson: with hiring coaches, joining masterminds, getting into community, choosing the events they go to, and there's parts of it that are right, but the totality isn't going to move the needle for them the way they need it to.
• 17:26
  Melanie Benson: And then they're, then they kinda throw shade at the person and it's
• 17:30
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 17:31
  Melanie Benson: where was the discerning factors in the decision?
• 17:33
  Melanie Benson: Not to say that everybody makes a bad decision.
• 17:35
  Melanie Benson: Sometimes there's just a bad, bad actor in the mix.
• 17:38
  Melanie Benson: But
• 17:39
  Tom Jackobs: Sure.
• 17:39
  Melanie Benson: I think we have to really know what's important to us that's going to be aligned.
• 17:44
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 17:45
  Tom Jackobs: And I love that word as well because it just, it shows that everything is going in the right direction.
• 17:50
  Tom Jackobs: You're just-- you're going forward versus just being stagnant and just sitting there in the mud.
• 17:57
  Melanie Benson: Yeah.
• 17:58
  Melanie Benson: And I would maybe throw a unique point of view in the mix around that, is sometimes I think we have to pause before we can get into movement.
• 18:06
  Melanie Benson: A heart-based business owner, you probably have experienced this, where the heart's not clear.
• 18:12
  Tom Jackobs: Right.
• 18:12
  Tom Jackobs: And this is something I learned a lot about in that quagmire.
• 18:16
  Tom Jackobs: It's like the perfect storm of 2009, 2010.
• 18:19
  Tom Jackobs: I was like if I don't know and I take action, what's gonna happen?" So I might move, I might give myself the, the soothing of I'm moving towards something, and maybe that's helpful because I'm moving in a direction that might give me information.
• 18:35
  Tom Jackobs: But sometimes we literally just need to pause and get reconnected to what is important.
• 18:41
  Tom Jackobs: What do I want?
• 18:43
  Tom Jackobs: And I think, again, I, I'm bringing us back into today.
• 18:46
  Tom Jackobs: There's a lot of people who are in pause.
• 18:47
  Tom Jackobs: So one of the discerning factors right now is, are you on perpetual pause or are you in a supporting pause that is allowing you to gather information to reconnect to yourself, to disconnect and decondition from all the noise around you, and to really get reconnected to your heart and what you're here to do, and who Yeah, I love that.
• 19:10
  Melanie Benson: you need to be to pull that off?
• 19:12
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 19:12
  Tom Jackobs: I think a lot of people are, are using meditation as well for that slow down, for that pause, that, that mindfulness as well.
• 19:20
  Tom Jackobs: And that gives you a little mini pause.
• 19:23
  Tom Jackobs: But I like the, the one-month pause, the two-month...
• 19:26
  Tom Jackobs: like that would be like ideal.
• 19:29
  Tom Jackobs: And I've, I've done two or three-week pauses before, and that's...
• 19:34
  Tom Jackobs: You come back so energized.
• 19:35
  Tom Jackobs: You're ready to just take on the world, and then you need another pause as, as everything wanes and waxes in our life.
• 19:44
  Melanie Benson: Yeah, like an intentional sabbatical.
• 19:46
  Melanie Benson: I think part of this has to do with how we're wired and how our energy interacts with other people's energies, how we interact with our own.
• 19:55
  Melanie Benson: You may not be a pauser.
• 19:57
  Melanie Benson: I know people who, if they pause, it's like torture,
• 20:01
  Tom Jackobs: Oh.
• 20:02
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah,
• 20:02
  Melanie Benson: So you have to know what...
• 20:05
  Melanie Benson: how you're wired around that.
• 20:07
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 20:07
  Tom Jackobs: For me anyway, for the first couple days, it's definitely torture, but then it, you get into your rhythm with it as well.
• 20:13
  Melanie Benson: I don't think my husband could pause very long.
• 20:16
  Melanie Benson: He's a generator.
• 20:17
  Melanie Benson: He's always generating
• 20:18
  Tom Jackobs: Okay.
• 20:19
  Melanie Benson: motion.
• 20:20
  Tom Jackobs: All right.
• 20:21
  Tom Jackobs: Nice.
• 20:21
  Tom Jackobs: Melanie, I'd love to dive into kind of the finance piece of having a heart-led business, because that's where a lot of people really struggle is, can you make money with a heart-led business, and should you make money with a heart-led business?
• 20:35
  Tom Jackobs: So how did you kind of balance that as you were building up your heart-led business?
• 20:40
  Melanie Benson: I was very fortunate early on to align in a mastermind with high earners and people who understood the value of the work that we do.
• 20:52
  Melanie Benson: So I, I was exposed to this very early.
• 20:56
  Melanie Benson: Now, where things were a little rough for me is when I took my coach training, we were taught to make$350 a month for three coaching sessions.
• 21:07
  Melanie Benson: Remember this was, 27 years ago, so things were a little different back then.
• 21:12
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 21:13
  Melanie Benson: And we were also indoctrinated in or trained in a way of coaching that it wasn't necessarily about a six-figure business, it was about being of service to people.
• 21:25
  Tom Jackobs: Hmm.
• 21:26
  Melanie Benson: I one day was looking at my bank account and I was looking at my business model and I was like,"I live in LA.
• 21:35
  Melanie Benson: This is not a sustainable price point." This is not going to work.
• 21:39
  Melanie Benson: And I, I felt the, the energetic friction between there's a part of me that wants to know I can create any level of prosperity I desire.
• 21:53
  Melanie Benson: And so I had to look at what are my beliefs and my practices that are supporting this condition of prosperity struggle right now?
• 22:05
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, yeah.
• 22:06
  Tom Jackobs: Hmm.
• 22:06
  Melanie Benson: What do I believe and what do I do that keeps me locked into this?
• 22:10
  Melanie Benson: Because we all have patterns and belief systems and ideas and a paradigm about money and selling and prosperity.
• 22:21
  Melanie Benson: And as a heart-based business, I decided that if I was able to be highly prosperous, what is the heart-aligned benefits of that?
• 22:34
  Melanie Benson: First of all, I'm going to be the best version of me.
• 22:37
  Melanie Benson: I'm going to have the freedom to teach, to impact lives, to grow the reach of my work in the world.
• 22:44
  Melanie Benson: If I struggle, that's not going to
• 22:46
  Tom Jackobs: exist.
• 22:47
  Melanie Benson: I'm also going to be able to expand this heart-based leadership, this heart-based work to other people that I'm going to hire and give a job to.
• 22:57
  Melanie Benson: So making good money allows me to lift other people up in the process.
• 23:02
  Melanie Benson: And third, that there is a spiritual principle that when we invest well into a practice that we actually...
• 23:13
  Melanie Benson: It, it calls us up, the person who's investing up to show up in a more powerful and embody something that maybe they've been holding back on, so it empowers them to be more prosperous.
• 23:28
  Melanie Benson: Now that's of course if you're actually delivering at the level at which you're asking for the investment of.
• 23:34
  Melanie Benson: So I really believed that, that there is a spiritual practice of being prosperous, and I wanted to embody that.
• 23:42
  Melanie Benson: Now, am I immune to, money ebbing and flowing?
• 23:46
  Melanie Benson: No.
• 23:47
  Melanie Benson: I think what matters is what are the tools in your toolbox.
• 23:50
  Melanie Benson: It allows me to have that expansion in the sales process.
• 23:54
  Melanie Benson: It's like, I'm excited to market, to do my podcast guesting, to get on stages, to deliver my trainings or my events, right?
• 24:02
  Melanie Benson: And it just, it's the energy that allows me to kinda light up and be a beacon, if you will, a lighthouse for people that need and want what I do.
• 24:12
  Tom Jackobs: I love that those principles are just absolutely brilliant.
• 24:15
  Tom Jackobs: And for any listener out there that is struggling with getting in alignment and making sure that everything is working in their business or having that friction, having some principles that guide your business, and Melanie's principles are just brilliant in terms of delivering a great service to people.
• 24:33
  Tom Jackobs: But we need those principles or core values.
• 24:36
  Tom Jackobs: Something that holds us as a business owner and the business accountable to the results that we get.
• 24:41
  Tom Jackobs: Thank you so much for sharing that.
• 24:42
  Tom Jackobs: That's brilliant.
• 24:43
  Melanie Benson: If anybody wants to borrow mine, you can borrow mine.
• 24:46
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 24:46
  Melanie Benson: Yeah.
• 24:46
  Tom Jackobs: Those are really great because that's just gonna elevate everybody's business.
• 24:51
  Tom Jackobs: 'Cause if, if you're giving the people what they want, and you're excited about it, and you love it, then the business is just gonna grow because that energy is so much more amplified than if it's a struggle and you're like,"Oh, I have to do this training again.
• 25:05
  Tom Jackobs: Ugh." Yeah.
• 25:07
  Melanie Benson: I'm so glad you said that, Tom, because I think that's where so many people are in a stuck energy, it's like
• 25:14
  Tom Jackobs: Yep.
• 25:14
  Melanie Benson: They're in this constant battle of wills with what they know they probably should be doing and what they feel inspired to do.
• 25:22
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 25:23
  Melanie Benson: We could host a conversation
• 25:23
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 25:24
  Melanie Benson: about that.
• 25:25
  Tom Jackobs: The shoulds.
• 25:25
  Tom Jackobs: It's the shoulds and the woulds.
• 25:28
  Tom Jackobs: Not a good place to be.
• 25:29
  Tom Jackobs: So, I can't believe the time has gone so, so quickly.
• 25:32
  Tom Jackobs: This has been a great conversation.
• 25:34
  Tom Jackobs: But how can people learn more about your trainings and the work that you do, Melanie?
• 25:39
  Melanie Benson: Melaniebenson.com always a place to find everything.
• 25:43
  Melanie Benson: I'm active on pretty much every social media platform except for X.
• 25:47
  Melanie Benson: I would also say, we talked about how I went from being, in corporate and figuring this all out, and I, I created a modality.
• 25:57
  Melanie Benson: There's a seven-step framework that I've used over and over and over again.
• 26:00
  Melanie Benson: I used it to rev up my business when I went through that pivot and transformed.
• 26:05
  Melanie Benson: And whenever I'm looking to bring a new, fresher brand or energy, I go back to the same framework.
• 26:11
  Melanie Benson: I've used it with thousands of clients, and it's the framework of how to go from being invisible or a best-kept secret to really owning your work and getting other people to recognize that you're the expert they wanna work with.
• 26:27
  Melanie Benson: And it, it's very powerful.
• 26:29
  Melanie Benson: It's very simple.
• 26:30
  Melanie Benson: It's just here's the stages you go through, I've made it free for people.
• 26:35
  Melanie Benson: So if you go to melaniebenson.com/heartled, you can access it for free.
• 26:40
  Melanie Benson: There's a little guidance that I'll give you on how to unpack some of the different steps, and I think it's a great place to start when you're really ready to bring your work out in a bigger way and stay in that alignment and stay in that integrousness of who you are and what you wanna do.
• 26:56
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 26:56
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, what a great, great tool to have.
• 26:58
  Tom Jackobs: And it doesn't take too long to go through that either, I would imagine.
• 27:01
  Melanie Benson: It isn't.
• 27:02
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 27:02
  Melanie Benson: Five minutes, ten minutes.
• 27:03
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 27:05
  Tom Jackobs: But the, the exercise alone, just getting that out of your brain and onto paper, just that kinesthetic kind of writing it down and, and getting clear, I think will really help people.
• 27:15
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 27:15
  Tom Jackobs: Thank you so much for making that available to the audience.
• 27:17
  Tom Jackobs: That's, that's really very generous.
• 27:19
  Tom Jackobs: Thank you.
• 27:20
  Melanie Benson: Absolutely.
• 27:21
  Melanie Benson: Thank you for letting me share
• 27:22
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 27:22
  Melanie Benson: I, and I would love you to
• 27:23
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, of course.
• 27:23
  Melanie Benson: go and get it.
• 27:24
  Melanie Benson: I highly recommend.
• 27:25
  Melanie Benson: Please give me a little shout-out and let me know what was the aha moment for you around it.
• 27:30
  Tom Jackobs: That's great.
• 27:31
  Tom Jackobs: And Melanie, thank you so much for spending the time with our audience today as well.
• 27:34
  Tom Jackobs: I certainly appreciate it.
• 27:35
  Tom Jackobs: I got so much out of our short conversation here today.
• 27:38
  Tom Jackobs: But, thank you again for sharing your wisdom, sharing your guidance, and just being awesome in general.
• 27:45
  Melanie Benson: Thank you.
• 27:46
  Melanie Benson: Ah it was a beautiful conversation.
• 27:48
  Melanie Benson: You're an amazing host.
• 27:50
  Melanie Benson: I hope you guys are sharing this podcast, giving Tom some massive love on whatever platform.
• 27:57
  Melanie Benson: Give him a little rating.
• 27:58
  Melanie Benson: Let's give him some five stars for creating so many amazing conversations.
• 28:01
  Melanie Benson: That means the world to a show host
• 28:03
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 28:04
  Melanie Benson: and gonna help other people find this great show.
• 28:07
  Melanie Benson: So thank you, Tom.
• 28:08
  Melanie Benson: Thank you for creating such a powerful conversation.
• 28:11
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, you're very welcome.
• 28:12
  Tom Jackobs: And thank you, show listeners, for tuning in today.
• 28:15
  Tom Jackobs: We really do appreciate you as well.
• 28:17
  Tom Jackobs: So make sure you're checking out everything that Melanie's doing.
• 28:20
  Tom Jackobs: All those notes are gonna be down in the show notes, the links and everything, so make sure you're clicking away there and giving Melanie some love on social media.
• 28:27
  Tom Jackobs: She'll certainly appreciate that.
• 28:29
  Tom Jackobs: But you're gonna get a lot of value out of that, that gift that she's given, so make sure you're checking that out.
• 28:34
  Tom Jackobs: And while you're down there, if you could do what Melanie just asked you to do as well, give us a rating and review.
• 28:39
  Tom Jackobs: That just helps spread the word and helps people realize that you can have a heart-led business and make a profit.
• 28:48
  Tom Jackobs: So until next time, lead with your heart.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to The Heart-Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.