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Confidence & Self Discovery For Success · Divas That Care Network

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's Divas That Care Radio.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is a global movement for women, by women, engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: To find out more about the movement, visit DivasThatCare.com after the show.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: One just has to pick up a magazine
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: or turn on a television to see that as women we are bombarded daily with media images of female physical perfection setting up the most unrealistic of expectations as to how we should look.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: No wonder female body confidence is falling while incidents of eating disorders are on the rise.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: What's most alarming is the way this affects young girls.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: A reduced sense of self-worth can create anxiety, stress, even depression causing relationship issues while potentially influencing Thank you.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I, Tina Spoletini, a woman of substance, insist women deserve to be happy, confident, successful, and totally in love with themselves in their own bodies just the way they are.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Through an ongoing series of intriguing conversations with women from all walks of life who are all extraordinary in their own right, we will embark upon a journey of ultimate self-acceptance and empowerment.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Together, we'll share the stories, laugh, learn, maybe even shed a few tears when it becomes clear just how far many women have come to realize how wonderful life is when you stand in your own power, feeling fantastic in your own skin.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Meg Joyce is my guest today.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Meg Joyce is a visionary founder of InKind Brand Design, where she specializes in designing brands from the inside out.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: With a unique approach that blends empathy, creativity, and strategic insight, Meg helps entrepreneurs to embrace their true passion and overcome those classic and unseemly constant business-owning challenges like self-doubt, burnout, and feeling like, Who they are and what they want, their brand isn't enough.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Meg's work is deeply rooted in the belief that a brand's true power comes from within, and she's dedicated to guiding her clients through a transformative process of growing in courage and self-discovery and then designing the perfect brand with all the tools they need to make their newly realized, passion-fueled dreams a reality.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Meg, that sounds so perfect.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's exactly like what I want to do for the world, right?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want women to know who they truly are.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we have lots of questions, and I know we can have an awesome conversation.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start with how...
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how did you learn that women need that little bit of empathy and support in order for them to create the brand they're looking for?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's funny.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I have been on such a journey of transformation, and I feel like we are, especially now, all of the women that I talk to, we are all going through some really interesting and scary and big transformation.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, that has been happening over the course of the last handful of years and leading up to this moment.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually, about a year ago, almost a year ago to the date, was at a three-day conference called Amplify by Jeannie Spiro, and I was sitting in this room with almost 50 other women and thinking, Over the course of three days, without having planned it at all, almost every single woman in that room got up and told some kind of story about how she had built her business to heal or to be present for some kind of pain that she had experienced in her life.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think especially as women, We build businesses to heal something inside of ourselves.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: We build businesses to be there for other women who need the services that we wish we had when we needed them.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I never in my life felt confident.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was always very good at things.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was always high achieving, but I never felt like any of it actually belonged to me.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I was just showing up and being a good student and I could sing because my parents could sing.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: I could make art because my dad could make art and none of it belonged to me.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I realized that I had spent a whole lifetime with basically zero confidence that I wanted to create an opportunity for women all around me.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: to build that confidence and to know that who they are and what, just like you were saying, Tina, who they are right now is beautiful and powerful and that inside of them is something incredibly valuable.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that thing is their brand.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's a personal brand or a professional brand, we all have who we are inside of us and it takes courage and it takes loving support to believe in the you that you are on the inside and the value that that brings to the world.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I absolutely love that.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, tell me this, because I'm on the search for this as well.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: How does one know, like really know, that number one, like you said, this belongs to me, this is me, this is part of me, and that it's worthy?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean...
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I'm going to say that wrong.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know that.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I believe that we are all worthy to have what we want, right?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that we are all here and we are all equally...
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, everyone is allowed to want something, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: And everything that we want, we are allowed to have, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: But where I get kind of confused is...
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: like how do you really know that, right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: I believe like if you want something, if you're willing to work for it, then you can have it, right?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: If it just falls into your hands, it's not really yours.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's so funny because this is something that has been coming up a lot in conversation in the last few weeks.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's so funny that it's happening right now again.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: We are, the way that I describe a brand is, again, personal, professional, doesn't matter.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: The way that I describe a brand is it's not the front-facing stuff.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the exterior stuff that people see from the outside in.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: That stuff changes.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a brand.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: As a business owner, my logos, my fonts, my colors, those things that we all think are a brand change.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's not it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's the stuff that happens on the outside.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: I like to think of that as being like an outfit that you wear on the outside.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And those things change.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't wear the same things that I did when I was 16.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Times change.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: The things on the inside of me, the things that have not changed, just sort of identifying for you, Tina, and for anybody else who's listening, If you want to start to identify what your brand is and whether or not the things that are falling into your lap are aligned with that, think about the things that have been true inside of you for as long as you can remember.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: The things that I like, the things that I don't like, those have changed over the years.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: My priorities have changed over the years.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Those are like the outfit on the outside.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: My brand, the deepest parts of my soul are kindness, creativity, and problem solving.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Those three things have been true about me for my entire life.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I can, with sort of a bird's eye view, look back and see, yes, those things have always been inside of me.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so they are my brand, and they exude from inside of me out into everything that I do.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I could start 17 different businesses, and the core of each one of them would be kindness, creativity, and problem solving.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as far as the ownership of the things that come into our lives and the things that we do, you're right.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: We absolutely– I say– As a brand designer, I can make anything look convincing.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: I can make anything attractive.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a skilled designer.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an artist.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not that difficult to see a problem, create a solution, and make it profitable.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: The problem is, if we're not focusing on what is at the absolute core of us, and we get caught up in the things that we think we're supposed to want or looking to somebody else for approval, then you can very easily build a convincing and attractive and profitable business or life that makes you unhappy.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: The number of business owners who have built incredibly successful businesses that make them miserable or don't feel satisfying is sad because the reality is their definition of success should not be financial.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: It should be satisfaction and enjoyment.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And focusing on the external stuff, focusing on the rest of the world and what they want from you and forgetting to focus solely and primarily on what is inside of you at your deepest core Those are the things that lead us down the wrong path.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say, Tina, the things that fall into our laps can be great or can be not great.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's down to how deeply they connect with the heart of us.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You absolutely can go after whatever it is you want in this world.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone can.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you want it, you can have it.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: whether or not you should go after it, that's down to the emotional stuff that's tied up in why are you going after it?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Are you going after it because you think that there's something missing inside of you that that can fill?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it because this is actually a part of the deepest, the deepest sole purpose inside of you, which is your brand?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I hear your passion.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And what I'm feeling from all that, like, I mean, it comes down to, like, this is who I am, right?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And truthfully, like, I feel like, you know, I can take what like, who I am, and I can, like, pour that out into almost anything.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it doesn't have to be, you know, a specific job that I've decided, okay, I want to be an accountant, right?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: I could do anything.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I mean, if I want to go sell shoes, I can put that same passion that comes from my core into selling shoes, right, for business.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whatever it is I'm going to do, cleaning houses, like, you know, I mean, there's so many different jobs, but if you work from your core beliefs, your core values, you will make that any job like passion, right?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how you'll be successful.
• 12:54
  UNKNOWN: Yeah.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and even more so, it's about sustainability.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, passion, absolutely.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Passion is the thing that drives everything, especially as entrepreneurs.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: We are absolutely bonkers passionate people.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because you have to be a little bit crazy to want to do this.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: The expectation that you're going to start a business and it's going to be easy and you're going to have all this free time, you very quickly discover that that is not real.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: It is hard and it is lonely and it is the weight of the world on your shoulders 24-7.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do not absolutely love what you do and feel so confident that in what you bring to the table and who you are inside of your business and how your business connects with who you are, it's burnout central.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: It is so easy.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I always say start from the absolute core of you because if you are building a business around the things that actually matter to you and the things that you actually want in your life, then you're not going to burn out.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to prioritize the right things.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to choose things to price your services accordingly so that you're not working all the time, or you're going to structure your services so that enough of it is put into a system where it happens automatically so you're not constantly having to think about it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many decisions in our businesses and in our lives that we think are just small details, small surface things, but they have a huge impact.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: on our overall happiness and the trajectory of our lives.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: I want to know that my business that I am building is valuable enough to the customer that I'm going to have enough time to spend with my four-year-old daughter.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's an important value to me.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is a core belief inside of me.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if I am trying to be all things to all people to satisfy all of my clients, And having no time left for my kid that I'm going to burn out, that's not sustainable.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it comes down to priorities, right?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like how much of your day do you want to spend, number one, with your family?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's what keeps us here, right?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then how much time do I want to spend on my business, with my clients, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's different, right?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like on your business and in your business, they're two different things.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so you need to prioritize what's more important and it's going to, you know, sort of change throughout the week, right?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like one day might be all on your business.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: The next day might be with clients only, right?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you also know that I mean, not everything is client-based, but I mean, there's so much productivity and then there's some kind of sales, right, of getting it out there into the world.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: You have to value your time enough to know how to prioritize it.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right, and being able to value my time comes from an inner sense of confidence that my time is valuable from the get-go.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: That was a lesson that I had to learn the hard way.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So the sort of long story of my path to getting here is that I started a business in 2014.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was a graphic design business, and I was doing exactly what I say not to do now, which is trying to be all things to all people.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: which is exactly what you do when you're starting a brand new business because you're excited for every opportunity that somebody is willing to pay you money for your skills or for your product.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so you just say yes, and it's exciting.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then you get to a point where you say yes, and it's less exciting because you start to realize that you're not getting out of it the same kind of joy or financial compensation that you were at the start.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so then you maybe have to raise your prices and it's a whole thing.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, I managed over the course of about five years to build an incredibly successful, incredibly busy graphic design business.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I did not realize how unhappy I was inside of that business because I was working all the time.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was working from 10 o'clock in the morning until 2 a.m.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: the following morning.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had a baby, and I couldn't do that anymore.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, it became that it wasn't about my time being valuable to me.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was about the value of my time for her.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: She needed me more than my clients did.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then I started realizing, but wait, my time is supposed to be most valuable to me.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: and realizing that I had never actually put any stock into the value of my time at all.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: I just sort of assumed this is free, so it's not of value, so I don't have to charge the client for it, which is the absolute opposite of what you're supposed to do.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to value your time first.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: So when my daughter was born and then two months later the world shut down because of the pandemic, all of a sudden there was all this silence around and I started to realize the truth of how miserable I had been and how deep in depression I had sunk.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I shut my whole business down, fired all of my clients, and I– I just sat there for a while and I'm so grateful my community of business besties helped to pull me back to life.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: And now I understand that the most valuable thing inside of my business is me.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I could not have gotten to this point without understanding that the first thing I need as a business owner and as the center of a brand is the confidence to recognize my own value i love that thank you i love that and i think like you said during the pandemic when everything went silent we all had that opportunity to sit back and go what now right like what What is really important to me, right?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've noticed many changes.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, things have gotten back to normal, you know, for the most part.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: But I notice that people do business differently now, right?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I notice in the hair salons, they don't do two or three clients at a time anymore.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: They focus on one client at a time.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I've asked a few because I'm curious as to how that affects
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: them.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they say at the end of the day, they make the same amount of money and they have a lot more satisfaction because they're spending time with their clients in a more deeper way.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just, okay, I got to get this on your hair so I can cut that guy's hair.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're actually spending time and they have time for themselves.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like my hairdresser, she goes to the back and eats while my hair is processing.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, good.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: So she actually gets to eat.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because before, they would pack their days in.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how they schedule them, but they would put my hair to process, and then they'd have two haircuts in the middle, right?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'd finish mine.
• 21:16
  UNKNOWN: Right.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Which, I mean, money-wise, that could be great.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, they've got to be exhausted, right?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I've seen that.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've seen just, you know, by, you know, being in the salon and my daughter's a hairdresser, so I, you know, kind of watch where she works.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, wow, like, that's a big change, right?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And even in the grocery stores.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, people are different.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: They run the business different now.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, I like to believe that...
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: People are taking more account to what they're feeling and about personal satisfaction.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do think that you're right, Tina, that that was an opportunity for all of us to see that this crushing machine of constantly hustling and going and getting more and more and more just wasn't working.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the things that you're talking about, it's interesting because it does tie back into branding in that Now at the hair salons, they're maybe working less efficiently, but they're giving better quality service.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: You're having the one-on-one interaction.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're having happier employees.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: So they give better service to your customers.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: And all of that comes down to, from a business perspective, how your brand exists in the world because your brand isn't your logo, your fonts, your colors.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's how you exist in the world, how the center of what is most important to you shows up to your clients, to prospects, to your employees, to everybody.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: So as a brand, as a business, if you are valuing humanity more, then you are creating greater value in what you create in the world.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me too.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Me too, because I think...
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: If we have happier, healthier people in the world, the world is going to run a lot smoother, right?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be just get to the next place, right?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Get to the next level because that next level isn't going to satisfy you if you're not ready for it.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's that old adage of money doesn't buy happiness.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, money makes everything easier, right?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's no denying that money is very helpful, but if you don't have happiness first, money is not going to create happiness for you.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: yeah, yeah.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Money makes it evil.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe evil is not quite the right word, but I feel like when money is your driver, you don't use your heart, right?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're not thinking with your heart.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say there's two ways of being driven by money.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: One is with sort of selfish intention and the other is by fear.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of us show up in our businesses and our lives driven almost entirely by fear, the fear of failure, the fear of losing, the fear of not having enough to cover the bills or to pay for the next vacation or whatever it is.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the more we can strip away all of the exterior stuff and focus on what matters most, that is how you can live a more full, rich life.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: with less.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go out and make$250,000 in a year.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: You can live very happily with so much less and more happily than if you're working yourself so hard that you have no time to enjoy the life you're trying to afford.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so true.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I hear like my parents and my in-laws generations talk and I, you know, they talk about how they had nothing, right?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like they really did have nothing.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: My dad, the first house he ever lived in, like when he was born, they had no floors, right?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so they lived on dirt.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And when I think of that, I think, and they were happy.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, when they talk about their childhood, they talk about all the good things and how they felt so happy.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, and here we are, like now we're trying to have more than what they had then.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And are we happier than they were?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't see it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like money...
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Money isn't the issue.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to help people, it's not about the money that you're collecting from them.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's more about, like you said, kindness and creativity.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: We all need creativity.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: My core is connection.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: I need that connection.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: But that is like the reason why I go out, right?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's the reason I get up in the morning so that I can connect with someone, right?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because I love having deep conversations like this.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like it really fills my cup because everybody sees the world differently and their passions come out in such different ways.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I love to learn all this stuff, right?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's so beautiful.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that about you.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like that...
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: that deep need and love for connection does come out from you.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think that is so beautiful.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: If we all could collectively take a moment and close our eyes and take a deep breath and think about what is at the deepest part of my soul, guaranteed nobody's going to say money.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're right.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're right.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me this.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: How do you start with your clients?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like if your client walks in and says, okay, Meg, I need you to help me create a brand.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you must start with, okay, so number one, what is your business?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: What are you selling or what are you manufacturing, I guess, right?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: But where does it all start, right?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like you need to start somewhere, right?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so for me, it starts so much of my process is based in conversation.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: It starts with a conversation.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we have sort of a quick get-to-know-you.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: I call them assessment calls so I can figure out sort of where you're coming from and where you belong in the myriad of services that I offer.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that is an opportunity for me to just sit back and listen, right?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't need to show up and tell you how to solve all of your problems.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: My purpose at the start is to listen to what you're feeling and what you're thinking and what you've experienced and what kinds of beautiful gifts do you have and how have they been showing up or not showing up thus far in your business.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have sort of a deeper conversation.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: The way that I love to work, I have three large packages.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: The one that I love the most is called Align and Design.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can also do just the design or just the align with a caveat.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: But in Align and Design, we talk.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: We work through art therapy exercises, and we come down to– what actually matters to you, not the things that other people in your industry do, not the things that you think you're supposed to want or supposed to do because that's going to make you successful.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: What do you actually want to do?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because through these exercises and through these conversations, there have been times when people start out with an expectation of what their business is and what they want it to become.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it quickly shifts to something completely different because there's something inside of most of us entrepreneurs that we know we want.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: We know we want this thing and we're just too scared to go after it because we don't think we're good enough or we don't think it's valuable enough or we don't see how it can connect to our bottom line.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I can see that.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: I can see how things connect.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can see that's the problem solving in me.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's the puzzle pieces that I can fit together is I can take what you have and look at it from a bird's eye view and see the pieces that are missing and see the pieces that don't fit anymore.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: And to help you to figure out how your business can be It can exist in the world in a way that is so you and so perfectly, uniquely your brand.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then, once we've done all that talking, I dive into the design piece of it, which is actually surprisingly simple.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: The reason I don't let people into just the design piece of it unless I know they've talked to someone about it the emotional stuff that's going on inside of their business and the deeper pieces of what's going on because once you've done that, the design can happen really quickly.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite case study is I was talking to a client and she was working through some really tough personal and emotional stuff that was affecting her business and potentially going to change the name of her business and all these things.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so we talked, and then we talked again.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of every conversation, I said to her, okay, I want you to know I can see your brand in my head.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: It is a very simple thing.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: All I need from you is a handwriting sample.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of every call when I would say that, she would say, yeah, that's super easy.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get that to you.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then she would proceed to not get it to me.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it went on for months of the same thing over and over.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: All I need is the handwriting sample.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'll get that to you right away.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then nothing showed up.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, we had this breakthrough moment in conversation where you could see the shift in her energy through the Zoom camera.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, things clicked for her, and they made sense.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: And she felt good about the decisions that she had been working up to.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: And immediately after that call, she sent me a handwriting sample.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: And 12 hours later, including a revision and a full night's sleep, her brand was finished.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't happen that way all the time.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I will say that for the sake of full disclosure.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't happen that way all the time.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: But it is possible.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: The design piece of it is so simple once we've done the deeper emotional work.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't it funny how, you know, if you dig down deep and you peel away the onion, you can, like, take on the world.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: So many of us are hiding behind...
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: you know, our fears and our experiences, right?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because, I mean, there's a lot of bad stuff that happens out there, right?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Someone that comes to you that's dealing with a lot of past trauma, like they must go through, like it must be so difficult for them to come to you and say, this is what I want, right?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: But now we need to get past this, right?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because, I mean, there's a lot of stuff, right?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because what happens in our past is, controls everything that we do in our future.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why I do not require anything of my clients.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: There is no barrier to entry into my world.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: I say in my social media posts, I say to my clients all the time, I love you.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm proud of you and I love you.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't I don't have to really know somebody for that long to love them.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: That is a part of who I am.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: My brand is super approachable because I know that what you need, what you think you need, is the design update.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I am here for that, and I want to support you through that.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I also know that whether or not you're aware of it, there's probably some other stuff going on underneath.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I am going to– I describe my process as being like the transformation a butterfly goes through.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that is I have a brand growth incubator that is free to sign up for.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: It is chock full of art therapy exercises and all kinds of brand growth goodies.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that is where you go when you are a hungry business owner, a hungry caterpillar.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is where you can gorge yourself on self-discovery and just play and get comfortable with what it is that we're doing.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Then when people come into this alignment phase, that's like the cocoon and that is me.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: I am the cocoon.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: I am literally hugging them as they are allowed to dissolve because that's what happens inside of a cocoon.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: The caterpillar wraps itself up in this giant hug and then literally dissolves into goo, which is made up of what are called imaginal cells.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that because it feels, just the word imaginal cells, it feels like these are cells that could become anything.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: When you...
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: inside of the brand alignment cocoon hug, you can just dissolve all of your barriers and all of your fears and self-doubts and become just a pile of limitless opportunity and potential all within the safety of my care And once you're built up again, once we have built you up together inside of that hugging cocoon, I can get you ready.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: I build the wings.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the one that designs the wings.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you bust out of that cocoon and you fly with these beautifully designed, perfectly tailored wings that will get you to where you want to go or even further than where you want to go.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's my long story.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds beautiful, really.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Who doesn't want that?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: Who doesn't want to be or have that butterfly, right?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I always say, it's a terrible thing.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: I actually say to people, you don't want to rush the process because you don't want to come out half caterpillar.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants to be half butterfly, half caterpillar.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: I actually, it's a terrible thing.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: My cousin, when she was younger, she found a caterpillar and she wanted to take it home with her so that they could watch it go through its changes.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: And they were going on a long road trip and so she got it in a little jar, she poked the holes, she put some twigs and leaves in and And then she put it in the car and they turned on the air conditioning.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: And because of the air conditioning, the internal systems in the Caterpillar said, oh, it's time to go into the cocoon.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it was not time to go into the cocoon.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was not ready.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then by the time they got home, it had only been maybe five hours and the temperature dropped.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: So inside of the cocoon, the internal systems said, oh, we're done.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's spring.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: Time to get out.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it came out and it was.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was half caterpillar, half butterfly.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it did not live for very long.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't imagine it was a very pleasant life.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: They cared for it and loved it.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: But it was, you don't want to rush the process.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: We can try to control so many things in our lives, but growth is not one of them.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing is, you can't, well, it's like watching a baby grow, right?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember, you know, my mom, oh, I can't wait.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'd say, oh, I can't wait till they're past this stage.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: And my mom used to say, you know what, enjoy it because once it's gone, it's gone.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when I think about that, I'm like, you know, it's so true because, you know, I mean, they're adults now.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I look at them and I go, I can't believe that I wanted that baby stage gone.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I enjoyed the baby stage.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, there were days where I'm like, oh, I can't wait until this is over.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I had twins.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, you can imagine.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, my gosh.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, but when I look at them now as adults, I think, my God, I cannot believe these are the same humans that I used to, like, you know, I used to, like, doubt over them over the silliest things because they were babies and they needed my love.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 39:13
  UNKNOWN: Yeah.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but there were days where I'd be like, oh, I can't wait until this is over, right?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was tough.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, it was hard.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Your business is your need.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they call them growing pains for a reason.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: That is a thing that I say to myself as a mother.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: That is a thing that I say to everyone as business owners is they call them growing pains because they're painful, right?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to realize that you have outgrown a previous phase of your life or your business.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard and it hurts to potentially realize that you have been growing in the wrong direction or to get to that point where you're ready to grow and it's all open-ended and you don't know what to do.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is why I try to make my services as approachable as possible.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I do, I have lower-end services lower ticket items that people can come in and just get help.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just get help.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Have someone to talk to.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: We as mothers, in the baby phase, on the hard days, it was easier when we had someone to talk to.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: As business owners, when you're going through these really difficult phases in business growth and you're learning about yourself and things are changing and It's hard.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: And for most of us, because it is just us, maybe there's a VA involved, maybe you've got a couple of people and that's great, but you're still the only one who's bearing the weight of all that decision.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's isolating and it's scary.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I will say blanket statement for anyone who is listening to this, if you do not have a rock solid team of business besties who you can...
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: who you can vent to and really good advice from, reach out to me.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say probably reach out to Tina as well because we are both really kind, really loving, really caring humans.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: And we know, I know what it feels like to try and go through this alone.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not fun and it usually ends up with me in the wrong place because all of my decisions were fearful.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 41:33
  UNKNOWN: Yeah.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, can you tell our listeners where they can reach you?
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can find me on social media at InKind Design, or you can visit my brand growth incubator, www.inkind-inkspace.com.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: And from there, you can sign up and be added to my email list where you get tons of brand growth goodies and fun exercises and opportunities and reminders to be creative throughout the course of your days and weeks because it's more fun that way.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I have an event that I love that I call Sketch It Out, and I do it every Monday at 10 o'clock Eastern Time.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's free.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to be a member of Ink Space, which is also free.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: And all we do is show up and free write or free draw to music for 45 minutes.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it is because all of the stress and pressure and chaos that is in my brain, that is in your brain on a Monday morning, is going to get in the way of your productivity and making good, thoughtful, joy-driven brand decisions during the week.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we get all of the stress and pressure out of our heads and onto a piece of paper because there it doesn't hurt and we can start to make sense of things.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: So all of that you can find at www.inkind-inkspace.com.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I will be looking into that.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining me today, Meg.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Tina.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: This has been wonderful.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I really, really felt my heart warm talking with you today.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was beautiful.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: My heart warmed talking to you as well.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: And for both of us, that's part of our brand.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: Confidence in Bloom is a celebration of self-love, a confirmation that even though you may not look like a screen star or a supermodel, they don't even look like that, you are an amazing, desirable, brilliant, gorgeous, talented woman.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: We offer unconditional love to our partners, our children, our extended family, even our pets.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's high time we got out of our own way and learned to unconditionally love ourselves.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_01: In full bloom, styling and coaching offers an online course combined with one-on-one coaching in confidence building, personal branding, and creating your signature fashion look.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: Chic definitely does come in every shape, so if you want something to believe in, start with yourself.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to be a guest here on Confidence in Bloom, contact me through Instagram at infabloomstyling or by email at tina at
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: infabloomstyling.com or through the Divas That Care website.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: This show was brought to you by Divas That Care.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of Of course, on DivasThatCare.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.