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Your Story Is Already Yours. You Just Have to Claim It. · Kind of a Big Deal

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, welcome to Kind of a Big Deal.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Kristen Belden.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today I sit down with Toby, a story strategist who helps entrepreneurs build a hub of essential brand stories they can use across every platform.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: She's also the host of Her Origin Story, a podcast she sat on for three years before finally just doing it.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And she's now over 70 episodes in and still loves every minute of it.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: This year she's finally writing the memoir she's been promising herself she'd write.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: What I love about Toby is that she's been building on her own terms for over 20 years.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: From graphic design to direct response marketing, to copywriting to story coaching, always following the thread of what felt right, even when the path didn't make obvious sense from the outside.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about what it means to stop hiding behind buzzwords and actually claim the work you do, why the stories you already have are your biggest competitive advantage right now, and what it looks like to define success as spaciousness instead of a revenue goal.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been enjoying the show, please hit the subscribe button.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: It helps more awesome folks like you find us.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Can't wait for you to meet Toby.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Here she is.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Toby.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Kristen.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good to see you.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you too.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just realized that we are 100% matching right now.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: I want to say we planned it and that we really like have our act together, that we actually planned it, but we did not.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Toby and I met.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: We were just chatting about this because I was recently on her show, which was 100% an out-of-body experience.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I said, I don't know what I did.
• 1:42
  unknown: I don't know.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm like real nervous about what came out of my mouth, which we were laughing about because Toby was interviewed for her own show because she was celebrating the year anniversary and had a friend interview her.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be curious to hear how that was for you.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we are fully aligned.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have really similar interests as it relates to these conversations with women.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Her show is called Her Origin Story, which is so beautiful because she talks a lot about those pivotal moments in our lives that have kind of shaped our paths and who we are.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: She is self-described nosy, which I think is hilarious because we can all call it what it is, which is curious.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um she has her own business now, too, that she'll get to tell us all about.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: But first, just giant welcome.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being with me here today.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited for this and all the things you say.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I joke about being nosy.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's a joke.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: I know I'm poking fun at myself, but sometimes I am actually nosy.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like I do look out my window and try and spy on what my neighbors are doing.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: If I have binoculars, I would be even better.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe I would get arrested.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: But my husband calls that neighborhood watch for me.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always neighborhood watch.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Safety thing, right?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, I think I'm honestly more just like genuinely want to know.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like people do weird, we people do weird stuff.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you're working from home all day, like I do most of the time, I'm like, what are you doing over there?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm just genuinely curious.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have the coworker on the other side of the cube to go over and say, hey, tell me something, distract me.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um I need a break from what I'm working on.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so my window is that break.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is that I know our poor neighbors, I know.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And my poor husband when he comes home from work after a day of me being here all day.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, hey, hi, what you doing?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: How you doing?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, whoa.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, I would like sometimes I try and decide if I want to start with present day or maybe rewind time, but I think let's start way at the very, very beginning with you, and let's talk about those baby career days.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where did you get your very first start when you were kind of dipping your toes into the career waters?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: I was somebody that was that had no idea what I wanted to be.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Not including when I was a kid, I thought I was gonna be a ventriloquist when I grew up.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: What?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: No idea where that actually came from.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Either that or I was gonna be a drummer, which also was funny because I'm not musically inclined in any way, shape, or form.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: But I must, I think I just must have thought those were like cool professions.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I was I played sports in high school.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: I played volleyball, and so I was very interested in in sports, and so I went to college to a junior college.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my parents, even though I got accepted to a couple of universities, my parents didn't really push me because I was really not sure what I wanted to do and why waste the money.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I went to junior college so that I could play volleyball because I played volleyball in high school and I wanted to keep playing volleyball.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I went so that I could play volleyball.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I majored in phys ed.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: And what I really wanted to do at that time, or I thought I wanted to do, was go to junior college for two years, get my AA degree in phys ed, and then transfer to a four-year university that had an adaptive phys ed program so that I could teach kids with disabilities.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up, my brother, who's has since passed, had Down syndrome, and I got to witness all of the amazing resources and programs that were available to him, and I thought, well, that would just be so cool.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: And there were so many just really empathetic and supportive and encouraging humans that he got to interact with along the way, and I just thought that would be the coolest job.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that was my first major in college.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: But when semester one was over and volleyball was over, it's kind of like, eh, I'm not really sure that's what I want to do.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I took a semester off, I worked, went back the next year, majored in hotel motel management because I don't know why it just seemed like a good thing, but then I got to play volleyball for another season.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: And after that semester was over, I went to visit my sister who was going to school overseas in Israel, and it was just supposed to be a little visit with her, and I ended up staying for about six months.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Called my mom and said, Hey, can you go get my money out of my account and send me some money because I'm running out and I'm not working, and all I was doing was playing cards and smoking cigarettes and gaining weight.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds ideal.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds I had a lot of fun.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: And eventually I made some poor decisions about following a guy to London, and that didn't work out, so I had no money, I had no job, no prospects for jobs, and came back to the States, and it was time for me to figure out actually what I was gonna do with my life.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: And my older sister said to me, You've always loved art, you've always been a creative person, maybe take a few art classes.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Okay, that sounds like a good idea.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I did.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think my first class was like a life drawing class, and I just fell in love with it and ended up enrolling and then ultimately majoring in graphic design.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And that was my first baby Toby career.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: I worked for a design studio in Washington, D.C.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: for about two years and was doing some freelance design work on the side, and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and so after two years working for someone else, I decided, oh, I could do this on my own.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna take my freelance clients.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: And and at that time it was pretty low risk.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't making that much money.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have a lot of responsibilities.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was married.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: I got married to my first husband pretty young, but it seemed like there was no downside to giving it a try.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I freelanced for almost 20 years in my my first real job as a young adult.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's amazing.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I realized that you had started that young.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I and it's also so interesting.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's so there's so many threads here.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: As always, and I now can see again why we are soul sisters.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: We have literally, I have a brother with cerebral palsy, and I have always that community and and growing up alongside him, and I was always just so so curious if I might end up working in that space at some point because it is and it requires a certain level of I always say the people that I know that are in his orbit and ecosystem now, you're a special human to to be working in those capacities.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Was he younger or older?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Younger.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's four years younger than me.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Literally exactly the same.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's so wild.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you how you think that shaped who you are today?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Being the older sister to uh a sibling with special needs.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's funny.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm in the process of writing my memoir, and there's an entire chapter on my brother, his name was Bruce.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, looking back on it now, I feel like it was the greatest gift I ever could have received from my parents.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: When he was born in 1966, the doctors told my parents to put him in it into an institution because back then that was what they were doing, and they didn't know what his life would be like or what resources were available.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And my parents were young parents, and I'm not really sure what it was other than just their own faith in themselves that they could figure things out.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: My sister, I have an older sister, and there was me, and so they I think they figured there will be older kids to kind of help him and we'll just figure it out.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't I don't really remember when I first realized that he was different.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm doing air quotes for people who are listening, but to me he was just my brother, you know, and sometimes people would say, Well, what's it like to have a a brother with Down syndrome or special needs?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it would be jarring to me because I was like, he's just my brother.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, you know, he's the only brother I have.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I do think that it gave me a sense of see how can I say this that everybody comes with their own set of gifts and limitations, regardless of whether they're development developmentally disabled, right?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so um my parents very much modeled that like he had his own s milestones and things that he was learning to do at a different pace from us, but also very much the same, right?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so we just grew up being very, I think, open-minded to just all different kinds of people, right?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: And understanding that people are all people are people and they deserve our love and attention and respect, and they deserve to have like a full life too, just like we do.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yes.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, there's that could be a whole other episode for you and I'll be able to do that.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think so.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to I to hear more about writing a memoir.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: What what was the kind of inspiration?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Have you always thought about writing or how is that kind of okay, yes.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us more about that.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I have loved to write ever since I was a little girl.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: I would write in a diary, I would write creative stories, I would write little notes to my parents and slide them under the door about I have a sore throat and I have to stay home from school, and this is why I think I should stay home from school.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Very convincing, I'm sure.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Notes of apology when I did something wrong and it was just feeling so guilty.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was really my preferred method of communication from a way back as a child.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I was also pretty shy, and so it was much easier to write things, um, especially when it came to conflict.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so I've always loved to write.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I've written a few articles here and there over the years, and um I want to say in 2022, maybe, maybe 23, I wrote uh one a single chapter in a multi-author book to see if I would like the process of writing something like that.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I did, I loved it.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so I it was it just became something that I added to my someday list.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um again, the beginning of this year.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Last year I started the podcast, so I said, Okay, this year is gonna be the year that I write my book.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: And one day my husband said, When are you actually gonna write this book?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, whoa.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's not ever put any pressure or anything on anything I've said to do, but it he is he has always kind of been my biggest supporter in that way.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: He says, You have so many amazing stories and have done so many unusual things, like you really need to write your book.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so I said, You know what?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: This is the year.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like I need to prioritize this, I need to treat it as if it's like any other project for a client with with yes, with the seriousness.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Seriousness and deadlines and milestones.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I it's a memoir and it's in essay form.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a collection of essays that I'm working on that I feel like really kind of shaped who I am at different points in my life that will kind of circle around a theme that we're still trying to decide on.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm working with I hired a book coach to help me just be a second set of eyes and just sort of help me looking at it from the outside, looking in for those times when I'm too close to it because that that can be problematic.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, I can imagine.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm s I just had a um conversation with someone who was talking about how it's like you can think one thing in your mind, right?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: But then if somebody's also helping pull something out of you, right, it might even shift your relationship to to what you're trying to share or what why you think it's coming out of you in that way.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that was so fascinating.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and she has already suggested a theme that I didn't pick up on right away, which I thought was pretty amazing and also exciting because to me they were just sort of scattered essays.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: But now that she's kind of looking at it, she's like, Yeah, I do see a theme here.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And she does not let me gloss over things, which is good and also bad, because it can be hard to sometimes go back and write about some things that were like difficult moments in life that maybe I would like to gloss over in a single sentence.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: And she's like, No, there's more here.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's some goodness there, yes.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I someone said something to me recently, and it was if you if you want to save on your therapy bill, start a business, if you hit a plateau, start a podcast.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe the third rung of that is write a book.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think so.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody I was speaking to not too long ago who wrote their memoir said it's it can be like therapy sometimes.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: It can feel like therapy.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: And that actually I do feel that way.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: There are things that I've shared with my book coach that will probably not end up in the book because they're things that involve other people that I don't want to attend or to have out in the world.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: But she's encouraging me, encouraging me to still write about those things, but just keep them for me.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: For your own process.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's beautiful.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so cool.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any sense of this isn't a pressure thing?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just curious.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: We can only have in the our lookout.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like any idea when you think it might be complete?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to be realistic about this.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: I have a goal for myself to get a first draft done and ready for a first round of edits by the beginning of November.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: But from that point, I don't know how long it'll be after that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: But uh my best guess is sometime in the first half of next year.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: I had someone tell me that they uh had already planned their book launch party and already had like secured the location and they did that intentionally just so that they had a deadline.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: Something totally smart.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I haven't done that, but I'm already starting to think of like where will that party be and who will I invite and what time of year do I want it to be?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: So well, as long as I'm on the invite list, yes.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be I promise.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back a little bit then.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you, you know, were just sharing first that you were always entrepreneurial, you always kind of had that spirit.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to say, I think that's actually less common in these conversations.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of women that I talk with that have started their own thing say, oh, it was accidental, or I didn't even see myself as such.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I had one woman I interviewed where she'd been building businesses for 20 years, and it was the first time she was calling herself an entrepreneur, which I thought was fascinating.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I wonder, you know, where that started for you and how you were already able to define that for yourself.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, honestly, I honestly don't know.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: I know that when I was freelancing and I was working from home before working from home was a thing, it it suited me so well.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: I was not somebody I remember back then people saying, Oh, I can never work from home because I would just sit around all day and then start working at like five o'clock, right?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: Without the discipline.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think because I was in a business that was deadline driven when you're designing things back in the day it was I was doing design primarily for print.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so a piece had to go to press at a certain date.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so you kind of had to keep going with the process and approvals and things like that so that you would hit those deadlines.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so um I just felt like it o it always suited me.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: I could work um at certain times of day when my energy was high.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: I did that when I had my kids were young and they and I got to be home with them when they were young, and so I had a babysitter come to the house when I knew I needed to get work done.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it just, I just it never felt foreign to me.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: It always just felt like it really suited me.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Now I have had other jobs where I've gone into an office, but even back then I had um when I was working for other people, I had a jewelry business on the side, and I just I love the I love I love making things and creating things.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't all I don't only mean like with my hands, but I love the idea of like dreaming something up and figuring it out.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Can I, how am I gonna do it and how am I gonna put it out into the world, and how am I gonna talk about it and market it and write about it and all those things.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like I love that, I love that whole energy of making new things and putting them out into the world.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that is one of the reasons why being an entrepreneur suits me, is that I can make whatever I want and I don't have anyone to tell me no.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's really the key, is I don't like for people to tell me what to do.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I feel that.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: So so your work then has evolved, obviously, over the years from when you started freelancing to working in-house.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: What is the work that you're focused on today and what are you most excited about?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so when I left my career in um direct response marketing, which was a 15-year career, I left in 2019 to start my copywriting business.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I, in the beginning, I was writing emails and blogs and social media content.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: I was doing all the things and saying yes to everything, which is really not the best way to start a business.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: But it it just felt like you don't ever say no to anything because you don't know what's gonna be the next thing, right?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so, um, but over the next the first few years of my business, I realized what things I was actually good at and things that I enjoyed, and so I got certified as an email strategist and email copywriter and really like dug into that.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: And that's still a portion of the work that I do today.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: My retainer clients are primarily clients that I write emails for.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: But when everybody started jumping on board with ChatGPT, I started seeing the writing on the wall.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: I started seeing more people um bring in their copywriting in-house.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: And um it was kind of a tough it I wanted to ignore it at first, but I really started to realize that I had to make some decisions about who I was as a business owner and a copywriter going forward.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so in the beginning of 2025, I made a pivot to story coaching and storytelling, which had always been a part of my business, but I really prioritized it and made it front and center.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um I built an entire program called the Core Eight Story Hub, which is a framework where I help entrepreneurs build and fill a story hub of eight essential brand stories that they can then use across all platforms, whether it's email, blogging, social media, sales calls, keynote speech, keynote talks.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so that lives inside of a community.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's a 12-week accelerator program.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then that same in 2025 also is when I started my podcast, Her Origin Story.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: And again, it all comes back to stories and storytelling.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I think now, even more than ever before, with just what goes on in our world and not being able to like fully trust and believe things that we see online, I think leaning into our own stories and Staying rooted in in the stories that are already ours is how we connect best, just human to human, not even not even talking about like business, but just human to human.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think, and people are craving that more and more, right?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: That level of knowing someone and actually witnessing them versus reading something that was regurgitated that sounds good on paper, right?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, I think folks are more and more aware of that.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious as you're working with people, I have had my own, like such a strange evolution in language.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't maybe we we might not all recognize the power of that story as we're walking through it, especially if you're a solopreneur or an entrepreneur or business owner.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember in the early days, early days a few years ago, when I first launched my business, and I was calling myself a growth strategist.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and I know you're not talking just about branding, but I think it's part of the story, right?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And how we're positioning ourselves.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to an event and I was part of a coaching program, and they did these awesome bi-annual events.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a gentleman that um had seen my LinkedIn or something and was asking me all these questions, and he's like, Well, growth strategist, like tell me more.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious about what you do.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, does that mean go to market and all these like corporate things that he was throwing at me?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh no, no, like, no, that's not at all what I do.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I that's not what I mean by those words.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized I had still been trying on language that I thought would resonate or make me sound um serious, I don't know, or like make it sound like I was a formidable business person.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I was doing, but it was just like not the right fit.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And luckily, I was tuned in enough at that point to go, oh, wait a second.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm using traditional language that is people are receiving differently than what I'm hoping for them to receive.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have to really think about that and shift that and get a little bit more uncomfortable with wait, what am I really trying to say here?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Are you noticing, like, what do you think is the hardest part as people are starting this work and they're thinking about their story?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what are the biggest challenges that you see cropping up for people?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, quick pause before we get back into it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't quite see it clearly yet.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually exactly what I do.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes what you need most isn't a whole program or a big engagement.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: You just need a few hours with someone who can help you see what you're too close to see yourself.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's the clarity session.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: You walk away with real direction, not a list of homework, but genuine clarity on your next move.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: If that sounds like what you need right now, I'd love to talk.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can find all the details at Beldenstrategies.com slash clarity.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, you touched on something really important.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: I just think that we get very tied into these buzzwords, you know, strategist, uh any kind of like um growth coach.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, things like that.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like I honestly think that people uh see so much of that that they it they don't know what it means, you know, messaging strategists, like all the things.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: What I think that is that there's a lot of overlap and that um how I work with people can sometimes maybe border on messaging strategists, right?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because you need to know what you're who you're talking to and what your message is before you can actually write something, or if you're gonna share a story, well, who are you talking to, right?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so there can be some overlap.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so I do think that there is more and more there the lines are blurred between what different people are doing.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I also just think that it's it can be tough in the beginning, especially when you're just like you said, kind of trying things on and sort of finding your way that we get an idea that this is who I am and this is what I do.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes I think people s uh stick with it longer than they should.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: When everything is saying, oh, but what you're really good at is something slightly different, like not exactly what you set out to do.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: I found that for me, right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think like sometimes just allowing ourselves that space and grace to grow and evolve in our businesses and know that it there's nothing wrong with that.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, I think it's like necessary to kind of get to the point where you actually know what you're good at and how you can help people so that you can talk specifically to those people.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think, yeah, it's almost like how do we just get to the essence of what the thing is, whether it's in our work, right?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even have to be for business owners, I imagine, right?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Even people that are in-house somewhere, even being able to talk about the work they do or talk about what they care about, right?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: It can if we don't, it's hard to like let ourselves just strip it all the way down to the to the core of what it is, because it can it can feel more comfortable, I think, to use this other language at times, right?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: To describe something other than I started just saying to people I went to a conference recently, and I was like, you know what?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just found myself fumbling a bit with what I was trying to say.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And at some point, it can also be tricky if you're in front of different people, you're kind of like, oh, in this context, do I say this or whatever?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know what?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just help badass women do badass things.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't even care anymore, whatever.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, and then that actually started a conversation, you know.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's so interesting too, because like you and I have both worked in corporate settings where everyone has their title, right?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like, do the what do the titles really mean?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like they have to give you a title, but what does it actually mean?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: And and then I guess that just brings us to like the whole idea of building relationships, right?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because most likely somebody is not going to hire you because they read your headline on a LinkedIn on your LinkedIn page, right?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's it it I mean that might catch somebody's attention, but it's in the content that you're putting out into the world, and then ultimately like getting together and having these conversations and talking about how you actually help people.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so that idea that we have to boil it all down to some fancy trendy title, I think is not so important.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's a good reminder.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we can get I can anyways over get into the overthink with all of that sometimes.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yep.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um for you when you look at the the arc of your career and what you've built, um for you personally, has your like idea of success evolved over the years?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, old now.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, stop it.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: I have friends that are already retiring and asking me when I'm gonna retire, which I don't have any plans to because I still love what I'm doing.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: But with that being said, I do want I do want to work with people that I respect and love.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: I only want to work with the most amazing women and who are doing business, like good work and doing business with integrity, um, who are also out there helping people.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I want like spaciousness, you know, I want my day to feel spacious.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: I want to work hard for eight hours if I'm in that flow, but then also take a day off and um next week we're doing a new deck.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: Take a day off and like go out with my safety goggles and a hammer and just help demo the deck, right?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, that has really kind of moved to the top of my lift list is that flexibility and that freedom of time to decide, yes, I'm doing I'm doing important work and I'm helping my clients, but also I want to feel good about my life every day.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I want to get my work at it and have time for my smoothie or to go to the farmer's market or babysit my grandkids or whatever.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's much more that has become much more the priority um rather than some revenue goal or how many clients can I sign this month.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, I feel that.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: I do how do I want to ask this?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: So many of these like questions at this point come up because it's something you're hitting on something that I've been thinking about, and I'm curious if you've also grappled with.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I found myself the other morning going, wait a second, working hard, quote unquote, or productivity or output or impact, like it doesn't have to look a certain way, but I think because I was in quote unquote corporate or in-house for so many years, that looked like being in front of a computer all day.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: And like productivity literally looked like walking to my desk and sitting down.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And even though I had been working from home also for over a decade before COVID, I still like part of the expectation that I had on myself was when I sit down in front of my computer, that's when things turn on.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And like the tethering back to the desk, like I know this sounds a bit silly, but like there was something there's something so physical, I think, about the way we think about what our productive space looks like that if I wasn't in front of my computer by like 9 a.m., then I felt like I was failing at life.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized a bit too not too late, but a bit of a late bloomer in this, going, well, wait a second.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's a million occupations, first of all, that don't require you to be in front of a computer, even in-house jobs, W-2 jobs, right?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Why am I doing that to myself when no one's asking that of me?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, in fact, my most productive space is usually when I'm either in conversation with people at an event, building a space for people to come and join each other in, right?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like those are the things that are actually where I'm in the flow, quote unquote.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not to say that I don't have to be in front of the computer, but I wonder if you had to, did you have to grapple with that at all as you were finding your own path to your own kind of way of thinking about time and output?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, for sure.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: When I first left my job in 2019, end of 2019, beginning of 20, it was so weird to not have that, oh, it's I gotta go to my desk.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I would when I was at my job, I was usually one of the first ones online.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: I just liked to get an early start and get ahead of things.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: So often I was online by like 7:30.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: So when I left my job, I remember in those first few weeks, it felt very disorienting.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why am I still sitting here on the couch with my husband drinking coffee?
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: I should be at my desk, and I would have this sort of like uncomfortable feeling.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, this is wrong.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: I shouldn't be doing this.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: And um, it took a while to let go of that.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: And now I'm so protective of that time that we have together in the morning.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's that's how I love to start my day.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I get up early, I get my workout in.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: He and I sit down, we have our coffee.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: We're usually like binge watching something, so we will binge watch an episode of whatever, and then I'll come to my desk and work on whatever I have to work on that day, or have a podcast, or or whatever.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I'll also like take off in the middle of the day, and maybe I take a second walk, or maybe I run to the grocery store at a time when I know it's not going to be busy, and I just feel so grateful that I can make those decisions, and I'm not letting anything slip through the cracks, right?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like my clients are not complaining.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: Where are you?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, how come I can't reach you?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: None of that, because uh deadlines are taken care of, meetings are taken care of, and I realize how much flexibility there is in between those.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, like we have businesses, our clients are, you know, it's like we have a hundred bosses instead of one.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like our clients are kind of like our bosses, right?
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so without them, we have no business.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I am by no means suggesting that I ignore my clients.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: They are well taken care of, and um I get to decide how I spend the rest of my day as long as they are taken care of.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's the point, right?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I it's that the bizarre, like invisible tether that you have to go like, oh no, no, no, like no one if we're if the the work is the work is the work, but it doesn't have to all look exactly the same, and it's just an interesting thing to kind of try and figure out for yourself when you are building on your own.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you if there was a woman who is kind of dancing around the idea of maybe starting her own thing or moving from W-2 life to to freelance or ranching out on her own, any any advice or anything that you would encourage her to be thinking about as she's taking those those next steps?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: I think that well, don't do what I did, which was just jump right in.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Same, same as easy.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you know, I mean working itself out.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think I had I had faith that I could figure things out.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: And and I'm not trying to pretend that I had no safety net.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: I have a very supportive husband, and so he his literal words were you're not gonna be homeless.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: I've got you.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: You can take your time and build this the right way.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I know not everybody has that um that privilege.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I understand that that that I was privileged in that way.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I would just say, like, kind of dip your toe, right?
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: If you have something, an idea, and you're so excited and it and it feels like this passion burning in your heart, and you really want to do it, like just get started with something, right?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: Explore communities where you might be able to start to talk about the thing that you're doing to get some feedback about your idea.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: Join a networking group or a Facebook group.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many places where you can meet up with other humans and just talk, start talking about your idea and start to get some feedback from actual humans on what they think about it.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: Not your friends and family because they're gonna just say, Oh, that's amazing.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Also, not Chat GPT, because ChatGPT will tell you every single idea that you have.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's fabulous.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: Also amazing.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I just I am such a a fan and such a big supporter of um people starting their own thing, whether it becomes their full-time thing or something on the side, just because it has just been like the thing, one of the things I'm most proud of in my life that I've done, and I think everybody should experience it and see if it is for them in some way, right?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: Because it definitely is not for everyone.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: No, totally.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: I have a dear friend who um branched out, she was um public relations lobbyist, etc., and she started her own thing and realized pretty quickly, actually, that it was not meant for her, and that she didn't the parts of it that felt like a hustle were just so unenjoyable that she was like, you know what, I this is not the life I'm looking for.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So she went back in-house.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: She says, but she learned so much about herself in the few years of giving it a go, and that she would never take that back because she now gets to carry all of those learnings back into you know the kind of corporate world that she couldn't have really figured out any other way.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that was a great way of thinking about it.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, just because you don't keep it going doesn't mean it wasn't successful, it just means you learned something, and you know, we can all use that.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, for sure.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think like exactly, and I just think like there is no shame in, you know, if it it it doesn't work out, or you just decide that it's not for you, like there it just is not for everyone, and there is no right or wrong.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I, you know, I see people online um mostly on LinkedIn, and I'll see people that decide like it's time to, you know, go back.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: They prefer working with a team or um for financial reasons, you know, they just need more stability.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a little part of my heart that breaks because I'm like, oh, we're losing one of us.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I really just, you know, I feel a little bit sad, like, oh, like we couldn't, we couldn't have like come too along, right?
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, it's it's such a um personal decision.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: And some people are just not comfortable with the uncertainty of it all because you do have to have a little bit of that, like, you know, I I don't know.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like I've I've have probably lost more clients than I've gotten um for different reasons.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it was time for them to move on, or you know, I did one project and that was it, and like, you know, it used to really just feel like a punch in the gut, and then at some point you realize like this is like business.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: This is kind of how it goes.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think not everybody is okay with that.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: The early days of I Rachel Rogers, who wrote um We Should All Be Millionaires.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't read that, no, I haven't get it on the list.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's so funny.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Her writing style is just so great.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: But she she also has a podcast and she talks a lot about number one, the like idea of be caught trying.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't be the person that you know regrets in years from now not trying the thing.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just give it a go.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: But also, you know, go collect the no's.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, get you see, like in when you were talking about just try a few things or experiment a little bit.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: I say that with my clients as well.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's do like a 30 days of just like let's get you in conversation and seeing, you know, what's resonating, test some of your own assumptions around the problem you're trying to solve and start to flex that muscle that might feel a bit atrophied or never built at all around that level of rejection.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because the more you do it, the easier it gets.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: But for sure, it can, if you are an inherent people pleaser as I am, it can feel really tricky because you'd also want, you know, like the just general desire to, I think it sounds a little woo, but like be seen, quote unquote.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you're when you're getting a no, it can cut it can feel personal, even though it's not at all, you know, typically.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe sometimes it is, but maybe something.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe sometimes I actually tell women that now, the ones I work with individually.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you might not like the sound of my voice, and that's enough for us to not work together.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, honestly God, it is such a like personal thing, right?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to build such a level of trust that like it is personal in that sense of it, but ultimately, you know, I now find myself seeking the nose in some ways just to like keep that going, right?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, to like keep that muscle up, yeah, so that I don't forget that yeah, and I I think to that point too, like there are so many people competing for similar, um kind of similar type work that sometimes it is about just who do you click with, who do you feel like you can trust, you know, who like I a few years ago I said I only want to work with women who feel like friends.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like if we were in the same town, we could meet up for coffee and you know, we would have a lot of things to talk about.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not necessarily realistic, but if you give me give me my choice on who I'm gonna hire and who I want to hire me, like that's who I want the person to be.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because of course, yeah, just why not?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: I get to choose, so why don't so why can't I choose that person?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's how we're spending our time, right?
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which our most precious resource, as you were talking about earlier.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk a little bit about your podcast.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked a little bit about this when we were chatting for yours of the kind of um, again, inspiration for starting.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you had mentioned that you'd thought about it for a long time and you know, kind of kept coming up with reasons not to do it, and um would love to hear a little bit about that process and how that went for you, and then like what was the moment that you were like, I'm ripping the band-aid off.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go for it.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I did, I think I want to say it was probably about three years before that I had been thinking about doing one.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I had talked to a few different people about some of my ideas, and it my early ideas were not exactly what I landed on, kind of similar, but I just kept.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Coming up with all these reasons why, like, there's too many podcasts, who's gonna listen?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's all the tech.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: And really, it was like that once I got to that tech piece, I was like, yeah, no, I'm not doing it.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: I am like a toddler when it comes to tech.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like I when things work and they work well and I know, you know, what I'm doing, I'm just happy as a little clam.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: But when something doesn't work, my immediate reaction is just like to have a little tantrum.
• 44:29
  unknown: Yeah.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: Which is really like the worst frame of mind to actually troubleshoot something tech related.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because usually it's like pretty simple and you can actually figure it out, but I get myself in such a mindset.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, a few years went by.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: Every once in a while I would talk to someone about their podcast and their process, and I would get super close to you know, pulling the trigger and then not do it.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then at the end of 2024, I was working with um a coach, a woman by the name of Amy Mitchell, who's a systems strategist.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I hired her to help me put some systems in place for my business that I should have had in place for years before.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: She's um and uh I might need her name.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: She's an Asana expert, so she built a lot of tools for me inside Asana, which I use for everything my whole life.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so she just is somebody that I have always trusted, always enjoyed her content.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so we were working together on my systems, and then early 2025, I said, Hey, you know, could I hire you for a few months just to kind of help me get some um clarity around some projects?
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: So she did that with me.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I was talking about the podcast, and I was like, uh, like I want to do it, but I just don't know.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if this is like the right time or anyone's gonna care about it, or listen.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: And she's like, and I told her that my idea was that I love talking to other women and finding out how they got to where they are right now.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm super nosy, curious, nosy slash curious about about other people.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, just invite people to have conversations and do it on over Zoom and just record the conversations.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: And if it leads to a podcast, great.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: And if not, you're still scratching that itch of like getting to ask the questions.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: But once she said that, I was like, oh, is it's really just that simple.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was off and running, I think that was like March of 2025, and um, I hired a VA who had never edited podcasts before, but she learned how to do it.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_02: And by May of that same year, I had three episodes ready to go.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just so I was so proud that I had finally just got out of my own way and just said, I'm just gonna do it.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't have to have any, you know, expectations that this is gonna be something that's gonna last forever.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna put it out there.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_02: If people love it, great.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: If I love it, great, I'll keep going.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: And if not, then so be it.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I will have finally like checked that thing off the list.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: And now how do you feel a year later?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_02: I still love it.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: I still love it.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_02: You and I were talking about that last week.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: I just I feel so grateful that I get to meet and talk to so many amazing women that I don't know that I would ever meet and talk to in the same way because so much of the connection calls are about, yeah, tell me about your business, I'll tell you about mine, should we collaborate?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's kind of like the typical sort of coffee chat kind of thing.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: But in this format, I invite women to hop on a call.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, I say I think you might be a good fit for my podcast, or someone introduced us, let's hop on a call and we get to chatting, and I can usually tell pretty quickly not just whether their story is something my listeners will like, but whether we have some sort of chemistry.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: Which yeah, there has to be some some level of chemistry, which seems like a weird thing to say, but like like your podcast, mine is very just conversational.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's like two friends met up in a coffee shop and just we're just catching up like old friends, and it has very much that casual kind of vibe to it.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I have to know that the other person is also that way and can just kind of you know keep the conversation going.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I love it.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: We just dropped it's August, whatever today is 19th, and we just dropped our 70th episode.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: I've put out a new episode every week for more than a year, and congratulations.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, have episodes scheduled through the end of September, so I don't really see stopping anytime soon.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's the best.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if this is true for you, but I also have found it to be we we touched on this a little bit when we chatted.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: Both of us went to art school, and it's interesting how we can think about what creativity is or what out, you know, what what it means to create or build.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, podcast was certainly not on my bingo card.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was never even thinking in that way, right, before.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, it became such a creative anchor in my life, and you know, those early years of business when you're kind of like flailing around a bit and trying to sort it all out and to have something that was like holding me true to something every week that I felt was so important, and and I couldn't have told you then at the time that that was what was going on, but like it was such a pillar, and it's something that I kept wanting to come back to, not just something that was like another thing.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god, I have to do it.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: No one's forcing me to do this, no one's forcing you to do this, but so there's a reason why we keep going.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about that the other day.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: I just listened to um Seth Godin was just on Diary of a CEO, and I know everybody has lots of thoughts and feelings about that particular podcast, but Seth was talking about how we can kind of get caught up in thinking that the platform has to be, you know, Mel Robbins or Brene Brown or or, you know, Diary of a CEO.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that keeps people from doing things because they think, oh, if I can't get Michelle Obama on my show, then like what's the point?
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, well, you're never gonna get Michelle Obama on your show.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: So who's the person before Michelle, before that person, before that person?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Who's your neighbor, right?
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who is an interesting person in the world that like might not have that kind of star power that still has a compelling story, that still is an interesting person to hear from.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I had never, you know, I think you and I both probably had that approach without really saying it or articulating it in that way.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: But he was saying, like, if you do it and you try it, it's kind of like you were saying, write a chapter in a book, see how it feels.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, maybe it doesn't feel great and you decide not to write the book.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but now you know, yeah.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: But this like the constant like, do I, don't I, do, and I do there's ways to try it and see if you're interested, yeah, right?
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: It happened to spark something in you that clearly is still bringing you joy and putting joy out into the world.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it is to me.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if there is one person that listens to one piece of one episode and goes, Oh my gosh, I hadn't thought about it that way, or spark some new interest, like amazing, great, yeah, I'm happy.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I think too that there is something you said for something that you, you, me, you know, all of us, we create out of from scratch, right?
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like we created something that did not exist before, and it's not driven by something that a client needs from us, something that we're trying to help a client with.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: It really came out of our brain and our, you know, inspiration, passion, whatever you want to call it.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it just it didn't exist before, and now it does, which is pretty cool.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's cool.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like that.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, my friend, last question that I ask everyone, and that's around legacy, and it's all the things we've been talking about, which is you know, what are we building towards?
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: What are we excited about when we think about legacy, not as the like big heavy thing that we're leaving behind when we die, but more as the like light thing that we get to build towards every day.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: What does building a legacy mean to you?
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I as I have grown and evolved just in my life and also in my business, I see a bigger picture legacy of bringing more people together through just lived experience and all kinds of stories.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_02: This the things that have shaped them in their lives, and that we can sit in a room together virtually or in person and grow connections with each other through the power of our stories.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_02: And this is I think that everything I've done to this point is leading me to that, and I feel like between the podcast and my memoir, possibly a keynote after that, that it will be like the greatest work that I do is building this community.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would say that.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm so happy to be in community with you now.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: Think we realized shout out to Jen Baxter for the the connection.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: Someone whose episode literally had a friend text me and say, Oh my gosh, I just listened to that and I could listen to her talk all day long.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, yep, me too.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yep, same.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for doing this.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: So good to learn a little bit more about your story and thank you for sharing your wisdom so generously.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, thank you for having me.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: All right, see you soon.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening and spending some of your time with me here.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: I hope our conversation sparked some new ideas for you.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed the episode, please make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's next.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready for even more tools and stories, head on over to beldenstrategies.com slash newsletter.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: I share fresh insights, stories, and tools for women leaders every week.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep building, keep evolving, and remember that you are kind of a big deal.