Regret-Proof Your Business Diana Murphy

Listen into this vibrant and encouraging discussion with owners Chantel and Mwale.  They run the League of Experts community.  Of course their work is right up my alley, they LOVE helping owners lean into their unique edge & genius as they grow their businesses.  
Takeaways:
You can meet your husband and business partner at the same time.  What a beautiful love and life story they share on how they met at a Las Vegas business conference.
Follow your gut and confirm your choices, and your relationships with mature synergistic conversations.
Embrace your differences, your uniqueness not sameness is a contribution.
Honor your calling what you are made to do
As experts, our professional training can get in our way as we start marketing and building our business.
Identifying what your Unique Service Proposition is key to growth
Ask the question: what impact do you want to make, why are you opening your business, who do you want to serve?
Look at your business at a 10,000 ft view, reconnect to your brilliance.  This is how Mwale and Chantel rescue your genius!!!
How? Clear on your idea, Clear on Sales and then lean into PR and Marketing.  This Is the Mastery/Monetization and Momentum pillars they use in their business.
Last but not least DO NOT WAIT to do the thing, open that business or try a new idea or product.
Bio
With 15 years of combined experience in the consulting and publicity industry, Mwale and Chantel have successfully guided over 1,300 people on their writing journey.  As leaders, Mwale and Chantel understand the challenges that many experts face when it comes to creating core intellectual property and turning it into a successful product or service.
Known as the “Book Boss,” Mwale is passionate about helping experts leverage their knowledge to increase sales while expanding their business using their intellectual property.
Chantel Henry is a highly requested speaker and transformational coach. She has taken her message of resilience around the globe as she helps others use their story and expertise to increase their success and significance.
Community  Link https://joinloe.com/

Prepared to be encouraged by this authentic conversation between 2 coaches who have seen it all: pivots, disappointments and also aligned results.  Ben and I get into the nitty gritty of the way to create a resilient mindset as you grow your business and make important decisions on what your committed to going forward.  
About Ben:
Dr. Benjamin Ritter, founder of Live for Yourself Consulting, is a leadership and career coach, Talent Development Executive, values geek, international speaker, online course instructor, and podcaster (The Executive, and The Live for Yourself Revolution), who’s passionate about guiding leaders to be the leader of their own career and create a career they love.
With over 11 years of experience working with clients from companies such as Amazon, Coursera, Doordash, Google, Fiserv, Northwestern, Pinterest, and Yelp, Ben understands how to navigate any career path you decide you want to travel.
From empowering professionals to get unstuck, to guiding senior leadership on how to stand out from the competition, develop executive presence, and feel confident in being a leader, Ben is an expert in his field and will guide you toward truly living for yourself at work and in life.
Ben received his Doctorate in Organizational Leadership with a focus on value congruence and job satisfaction and earned an MBA in entrepreneurial management, and an MPH in health policy administration.
Find Dr. Benjamin Ritter on Linked In and on his website: https://www.liveforyourselfconsulting.com/about
Ben’s guide:  https://www.subscribepage.com/careeryoulove
Topics we discussed:
When is it time to close something down that you have created – a business, community, a niche?  How do you do this? Ben’s story can give you some powerful insights on how to do this when it is time. 
How to recognize when it is time to make a pivot.
What can ‘closing’ something down give you more as you move forward?  What is possible?
Business ownership and how we can be overly attached to the business.  Is it getting in our way of creating what we really want in our lives?
Looking at a healthy relationship with your business, making the right decisions.  
Remembering what we are capable of from ALL of our life experiences. 
How fully committing to an endeavor no matter the results creates success.  It changes everything.  
If something isn’t working, getting curious vs deciding ‘it is not working’. Get curious and dig into the issues at hand.  One tweak can make a huge difference.
How to stop taking disappointing results and dig in with curiosity to solve for the issues at hand.
Ask better questions as you’re evaluating the health of your business.  
Be the leader you are craving in your own business or career.
 

I had an absolute blast interviewing the man behind this podcast.  Jeremy created the music for my podcast and produces every episode. He calls himself a sound designer.   I couldn’t wait to share this interview with you, his story of moving from a corporate space and creating a audio editing business of his own.  
The first thought Jeremy shared was that when he produced The Regret-proof podcast, he was triggered by some of the concepts I shared BECAUSE he too was experiencing what so many of my business owner clients face.
Listen in as Jeremy shares how he stepped  in fully as a business owner after working for Apple and a tech company.  He led  his own business through imposter syndrome and learned to run his business in a way that served him and his clients well.
Takeaways:
It’s easy to sell when you LOVE what you do
Hard part knowing your value as you’re learning to run your business
You have to sell your business to your family as you invest early on
Less time (becoming a parent)  helped him be more productive
Step on the gas…..came from being more selective in projects he wanted to do 
VS taking everything on he could handle 
He matched his BEST work with people he wanted to work with, less was more.
Moved to sound effects, mixing vs creating music and scores after working on projects he found he loved
His unique edge:  set proper timeline expectations and guide clients through that process and delivered
His integrity showed up in how he honestly communicated timelines in a very deadline oriented industry. 
Learning that turning down work is a growth move
NO’s are our biggest growth tool.
Valuing your time with premium pricing was everything for him
Best surprise in business growth A REFERRAL from a REFERRAL…
The way you serve your current clients creates this ‘unexpected’ result.
What can you do without…..be careful of overlearning the tech and the systems or a new certification that goes beyond what you really need to serve clients.
How do you know, when to make a shift, when you love what you’re doing AND those you create for also are SO THANKFUL.
Learn from your Bad Decisions, reflect on what projects worked and which didn’t.  
Leaning into what you’re wired to do is everything!
 
jeremy@cinemaxsoundsdesign.com
Jeremy Price on all the spaces
Need help with your podcast? 
 

Pouya Haidari 5.5.23
Listen to this high energy interview with Pouya Haidari.  He specializes in sales but has so much to share about his journey as an owner.  Pouya shares that one of his personality traits was being stubborn by nature.  That stick to it mentality has really given him great success.
I most loved hearing about his early departure from corporate because he KNEW this didn’t fit him.  He learned to scale but also learned quickly as an owner the type of business model that worked best for him. 

Prepare to be inspired.
Takeaways:
Honor that leap of faith and desire to do something different EVEN if it doesn’t look like everyone.
Age has no bearing on when you become a business owner.
“The hardest, most challengings decisions have been the BEST ones in my life.”
Being stubborn can pay off in business ownership, but so can curiosity.
Pouya came upon a lot of success of being perseverant but also staying curious at the same time.
Other’s advice doesn’t always sync with what we are to do as owners, nor how we want to run things.  
Our way IS the way.
Learning along the way with failures, success and insight are THE growth engine. 
Your confidence comes from doing (taking risks) and seeing (evaluating the results).
Make sure your decisions align powerfully with your vision.  
Listen in to learn a non salesy way to SELL.
Your potential is limitless.

You can contact Pouya and learn more on his website:  https://www.pouyahaidari.com/

I contacted Jacqueline for an interview after she shared a great post on LInkedIn that really got my intention.  Listen into another Smart, Brave High Integrity trusted advisor who bring commercial banking to the small business owner.  I loved our interview, you will too.

Jacqueline spent over twenty years in business
banking before starting Commercial Capital
Solutions. She identified the need for small business
owners to have unbiased options and expert
guidance to help them secure the best financing
solutions tailored to their unique needs. "Our
mission is to provide a concierge experience where
clients can trust their best interests are looked after."

So many nuggets here: 
Understanding the 'solo' experience that ownership entails & how to manage that Learning to ask for help and support Being an owner requires you to level up and grow as a leader How to manage the identity shift from employee to owner How to handle the overwhelm of new business Knowing which clients to say no to How to stop taking business twists and turns personally The art of self forgiveness that you don't know everything I loved her system of growth when issues arrived:
Re Evaluate
Learn
Set Reasonable Expectations
I loved this interview because it was a powerful demonstration of how our values are a key driver of our growth. When Jacqui focused on her integrity and being vulnerable and authentic, this informed her decision making and how to build her team.  
Bottom line: nothing is more attractive to our clients than when we stay in touch with serving them with integrity and a personalized approach.  Jacqui lives this value strongly bringing banking solutions to her small business clients.
You can reach Jacqueline at commercialcapitalsolutions.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

just loved my conversation with Robert, we’re colleagues in Atlanta and when I heard his story of scaling and then deciding NOT scale and why, I knew you had to hear the story. 
To scale or not to scale?  Join us for this vibrant discussion around scaling.  Robert as a Financial professional loves helping companies to scale.  But is scaling for you?  Listen into Roberts story of his own business build and his discernment on knowing whether scaling was for him and his practice and lifestyle. 
We are not ALL meant to scale!!!  Listen for your own insights as Robert shares his story AND his expertise in scaling.
Nuggets:
When life hands you ‘bad news’, make sure you listen to your mentors…..they will see the opportunity before you do. Slow growth in early business building can take longer than you think, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t working. We become translators as trusted advisors, Robert & Diana share their growth in learning to speak to their clients in their language. Robert is a translator of numbers for his clients, what is YOUR unique edge? Our Culture says growth and scaling is the only way to be successful as a business owner……not always the case. Scaling can take you as the owner OUT of your genius & expertise. Our businesses are meant to serves us NOT the other way around.  We need to buck our corporate culture mentality. How saying No to some clients help you to serve your clients better.   This IS a Lifestyle business in the best way ever:  With Zoom capability and acceptance Robert has worked remotely from the Grand Canyon, the beach and Colorado.  Full work days waking up to amazing locations. Robert’s ‘not scale’ mindset for his own business changed his lifestyle, his profitability and gave him more of a chance to do what he loves.  Robert follows the 3 R’s as he builds and makes decisions in his business.  Respect, Responsibility and Relationships.  
What could he have left out of his business build?

Everyone else’s expectations and business plan!
Robert Stephens is managing partner of CFO Navigator.  As a fractional Chief Financial Officer, Robert fills a critical gap for growing privately held businesses and non-profit organizations that do not have the budget or need for a full-time CFO.
Having advised over 75+ organizations during his 30+ year career, Robert strives to bring “Wall Street” worthy financial expertise to local “Main Street” companies by turning his financial insight into their business foresight. 
For more information, visit www.cfo-navigator.com. 
You can reach him cell phone at 404-642-2688