Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the Solopreneur Sisterhood Podcast. A podcast designed to help heart centered service providers like you build a purposeful, profitable and sustainable business that supports what.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Matters most to you.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: I'm your host, Becky McClary and I am so grateful that you are here.
Now, while I love the freedom of having my own business, I can admit that being a Solopreneur can sometimes feel lonely. And at the same time, I think that a lot of what we see online can actually hold us back from success because we slip into comparison and self doubt. With this in mind, I wanted to have conversations with other solopreneurs and so we're doing a special series. Each episode is short so that it's easy to listen whenever you need a little bit of encouragement. My hope is that these episodes will inspire you and remind you that you are not alone. This special series is brought to you by the Solopreneur Sisterhood Society, a close knit, supportive mastermind and business community that goes beyond your regular business course or mastermind group. It's a movement transforming how women build their businesses through connection and collaboration. The women featured in this series are the types of women you'll find inside the society and we'd love to have you join us.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: I invite you to learn more and.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Apply to join our next cohort by visiting the Solopreneur Sisterhood.com society.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Hey Becky, Good to talk to you today.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Thank you, Gina. I really appreciate you being willing to interview me for this series.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Yes. And I'm excited that you were willing to turn the tables and have someone interview you because you are the one leading the Sisterhood and interviewing lots of people and you have so much knowledge to give. So I'm super excited to hear your answers to these questions.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: So thank you.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: Let's dive in.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: Can you tell us more about what you do and how you found your way into your work?
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Yes. So I will try to keep it kind of short because it's a long journey. It took a lot of. A lot of time to kind of find my way. And I will say I think it's still evolving as we go, but I'm one where I started off as a teacher. I had dreamed of being a teacher since I was in second grade. And so I just kind of followed all the steps. I went to college, I got my job, I started teaching. I actually taught at the school that I had gone to as a child. And so some of my teachers were still there.
And I thought I had it kind of all figured out. And then I Got married and we had our first child pretty quickly. And I realized that just having summers off and evenings and weekends wasn't going to be enough. I really wanted to be more present with my daughter at the time and now all three of my kids. And I felt like I was just drained from work each day. I loved the kids, I did not love the system and I just realized, you know, this is not going to work for me long term. But I was one where I was in my mid-20s at the time and I felt really lost because this is all I'd ever dreamed of. And I didn't have any idea where else to go. So I think it took me probably about a year. I did a lot of reading, a lot of audiobooks, just kind of personal development, trying to figure out what on earth do I want to do. I knew I wanted to help other people. So I discovered the whole idea of life coaching and I found different programs and I actually pursued my certification in that. So I was excited. I thought I was going to transition and be a life coach and be able to be home with my kids.
And I completed my certification in 2009. I turned in my final project right before I gave birth to our second child the same week. And I was so excited that I thought like that summer I would start my business and then I'd be able to leave teaching. And I thought I also had the safety net because I still had my job as a teacher and I could build my business.
But I realized pretty quickly that just having a website and having offers did not mean anyone was ever going to hire you. And it was really disappointing for me at the time, but I kept trying. And so for several years I went through this cycle of I would have ideas, I would put things out there, I would get kind of mixed results and I would pull back and decide I was just going to focus on my family. I did leave my job after our third child was born. And I thought I'd go all in on our business. And I don't know what I was thinking because I had at the time I had a four year old, a two year old and a six month old. And I thought I was going to be able to be present with them and build a business somehow that was a lot harder than I anticipated.
And so over the years, I learned a lot about what would work in my business as far as building a business. And I made a lot of great connections. And I think that was really the turning point for me is that I had a friend I'd Made online, asked if I would help her in her business as a virtual assistant. I hadn't planned on doing that, but I liked her and I thought, okay, I'll give it a try. And so we ended up working together for a little over three years. And I learned a lot in that period. I think it was kind of a gift because I not only learned some of the technical pieces, but but I was working behind the scenes of six figure coaching businesses, and I was able to see what those businesses were doing, what worked, what didn't work. And more importantly for me, I think it was the mindset piece, realizing that they didn't succeed in everything that they did, but they kept going. For them, it wasn't a case of if they would succeed, but just how and when. And they just kept trying. And that was huge for me. And so I eventually moved into online business management, and then for a little while had an agency, realized I did not love having an agency. And then my longest client became her director of operations. And it's really been in the past couple of years where I've been trying to figure out, I knew I wanted to help more women in business, and it took a little while to figure out what that looked like. And really it's been since summer of 2024 that I started monthly networking sessions. And then from that had the whole idea for the solopreneur sisterhood, created the free community, paid community. And so now I think that I'm kind of back to coaching, but also with the strategy part on the side or solopreneurs and building community and bringing them together, that is a lot.
[00:06:28] Speaker C: You have done a lot of things navigating it while raising children. And one thing I do know about you is that you do preach that sticking with it and sticking it out is how you can be successful, even if you need to pivot. But that's definitely what you've been doing. You're living what you're teaching. So I appreciate that about you.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: So being, you know, starting your business, I feel like a lot of us don't really know what we're getting ourselves into.
So let me ask you, what's one thing you know now that you wish you'd known when you started your business?
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Yes. So this took me a really long time to learn is that you just have to keep choosing what matters most to you. You have to keep choosing your dream, your vision, keep choosing yourself. Because I think what really slowed down my progress was that I would start and then as soon as things look like they weren't working. I would doubt myself and I would pull back. And what I've learned over the years is if I just keep committing, and it's not a case of I'm not meant to do this or that was a failure. It's more, what can I learn from this and how do I move forward and just really that focus on, okay, what's my next step? And you just keep making that commitment to your vision and what you're working towards, and it will eventually come together.
[00:07:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's great. So what's the best lesson or piece of advice you've received as a business owner?
[00:08:04] Speaker B: I did not take this advice at the time. I wish I had, but I do pass it along to others.
When I was making the transition from virtual assistant to online business manager, at the time, there was one certification. I think right now there are probably multiple ones out there or similar types of programs. And it was a significant investment.
And the woman I was working for, she was an obm. And she said, you do not need a certification. She was working. You know, she had been working as an OBM for years, did not do the certification. She said, you don't need this. You're able to figure it out. Nobody's going to care if you have it. And I did not listen to her. And I went through the program and I made that investment, and I realized doing it, I'm like, wait a second. I already am doing a lot of these tasks that they're teaching us. And I will say that over the years, no one ever asked if I had a certification. And none of my clients ever hired me because of the certification. They weren't concerned about it at all. They really just wanted to know that I could help them. And so that is the advice that I pass on to others now is you don't need another certification. We live in this amazing time where we can learn so many things online, many things for free, and so definitely don't get yourself into debt for another certification.
You can grow and accomplish quite a bit without that. And so I think, yeah, that's the best advice I've received.
[00:09:32] Speaker C: Awesome. We don't always.
We have to live and learn ourselves, right?
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:09:37] Speaker C: That just happens sometimes.
So, moving on to the next question, what's one thing you would say to someone who is listening and they're feeling stuck or overwhelmed in her business? So what would you say to them?
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Okay, so I will say, first off, this is feeling a little bit hard because I've heard some. I've done a lot of these interviews. So I've heard everyone's advice, so I'm trying to come up with something different.
So. So the first thing that comes to mind is one, just allow yourself to feel your feelings. Because I think I definitely had a time in the past where I would just try to push through them, and that just makes things worse. So acknowledge how you're feeling, but then be really honest with yourself. Because I will say that there were times when I felt like nothing is working, or this is so hard, but if I was really honest with myself, I hadn't really been consistent with what I was trying, or I might have put up one email or sent one email or put up one post and no one responded, and I would, you know, be getting down on myself, But I really hadn't put in consistent effort. So be honest with your. Yourself, with, am I really doing my part to make this work, or am I expecting this to kind of magically come together with just a little bit of effort? And so if you realize that, okay, I haven't actually been consistent, create a plan to support yourself. And how can I, I think that's my number one question is for myself, is, okay, I want to have this many people sign up for this. What else can I do to reach more people who need this? And then I start acting on those ideas. And I find for me that having a clear plan and starting to take action helps me to get out of that place of feeling stuck or frustrated. The other thing I would recommend is a lot of the times when I am feeling that way. And I will say, even after all these years, I still have moments where, you know, your brain just starts kind of beating yourself up. I look for, who can I help? And so it's not necessarily making a sale, it's not necessarily building your business, but it helps me to feel a little bit better if I can think about people who I can help. So sometimes it's as simple as going onto social media and adding comments to different, you know, friends posts, business friends posts. Because I know that people care about engagement and it's meaningful to them that someone took the time to respond. Sometimes it's as simple as, you know, I read an email and it was really meaningful to me, and I write back to that person, which, again, a lot of people won't ever respond to the emails they receive, even if they're on your list. So that can be meaningful to them. So for me, taking a little bit of time to reach out and support someone else normally helps to kind of shift my Mood and helps make it easier to move forward.
[00:12:32] Speaker C: That's awesome. And I know that you've given that advice to me when I was feeling down, you know, and I, I think I have a little note somewhere. Actually, it's right here. I have a little sticky note. How can I be helpful to someone today?
So I think that's so powerful. And I'm going to go off script a little bit and just. Well, it's not really off script, but I just want to ask. It is, but it's not really. I want to ask if there's anything else that you'd like to share with the listeners that maybe is on your mind lately or something that's come up when you're doing these interviews or anything else that is coming to your mind right now while we're talking.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Ooh. Okay.
Well, I think what I've been thinking about a lot lately is for most of us as heart centered entrepreneurs, we didn't start a business just because we wanted a business. We had a vision for the life we wanted to live, the impact we wanted to make. And for most of us, our business is just a way of getting to those bigger dreams. And so I would just encourage people to not lose sight of that, but to keep in mind, what life are you trying to build and how does your business support that and make decisions from that place? I think it's very easy for us to build a business and somehow have created another job for ourselves that doesn't actually support the life we want to live. And so just stay intentional with it and then also remember the impact that you're here to make. Something I try to remind people of is there are people out there who need your work and they just don't know about you yet. And so part of your job is to keep showing up to make it easier for them to get the support that they need. And so if when we get down on ourselves and we feel like nothing is working and we stop showing up, it's kind of a disservice to those people who need us because it's harder for them to find the support that they need. So just keep remembering that it's not not about your business, it's not about you, but there is a greater need out there in the world. And so we just need to keep showing up to be able to be of service.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: Thanks, Becky. This has been great. It's been my pleasure to connect with you and ask you these questions. How can our listeners connect with you beyond this interview?
[00:14:58] Speaker B: Well, thank you. So the main site is just the solopreneursisterhood.com and on that site you'll find information about our free monthly networking sessions, also about our free community and then also our paid program the Society as well. So that's the best way to connect and I hope you'll join us in the Sisterhood.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Thank you. Have a great day.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Thank you. You too.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Thank you so much for joining us and listening to the Solopreneur Sisterhood Podcast. I hope this episode has offered you some encouragement, some insight and some new ideas to support you in building a business that works for you. And if you're ready for deeper support and love the idea of connecting and collaborating with other heart centered service providers, I'd love to have you join us in the Solopreneur Sisterhood Society. You can learn more and apply to join our next group by visiting thesolopreneursisterhood.com society.
Remember that our world needs you, your gifts, your vision and your work.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: And I'm cheering you on as you.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: Bring your vision to life and build a purposeful, profitable and sustainable business that supports what matters most to.
