The Ugly Podcast Lauren Alexander and Emerson Lee

In this episode, Emerson and Lauren take a look at personal growth and ways we've changed since starting our businesses. While we grow, we feel so many feelings, from excitement to fear, and it's tempting to numb those feelings or stand still to avoid growth, but we've learned that it's worth it to lean into growth and trust in what we will discover.

Lauren and guest discuss creativity, storytelling, perfectionism, and values.

Lauren and Emerson talk about their frustrations with ebb and flow, and they find new ways to find gratitude in it as well.

Emerson and Lauren do a deep dive into perfectionism--the thing that's been controlling our lives for the past thirty years! We talk about how it's affected us throughout our lives and how we've begun to navigate it by addressing our fears, remembering that we're safe, changing what we can, and reframing what we can't. You'll be introduced to the concept of a "bug graveyard," and your life will never be the same--well, it will, but you're gonna laugh more often.

In this episode of The Ugly Podcast, Emerson and Lauren talk about using improvisation in our businesses and personal lives. This could also be known as the Episode of a Thousand Analogies, because that's the only way we could conceptualize how improvising makes us feel: skydiving, playing Dance Dance Revolution, riding rollercoasters. We discuss that horrible feeling called uncertainty and how both of us used to use certainty as a way to help us feel safe. It can be so scary to take action and improvise through uncertainty, but doing so has helped us take huge steps in our businesses and come into our authentic selves.

In this episode, Emerson and Lauren ask ourselves "How do we want to do this?" It's a question that's often forgotten in place of "How should I do this?" and we appreciate that we get to change it up and make the decision for ourselves. We talk about how building a business is a bit like a treasure hunt--scouring our creativity and our desires to figure out how we want to work and what methods work best. Especially in heart-centered businesses, there is so much room for fluid business models, and sometimes that means you're not sure what you're doing! So ask yourself, how do you want to do this?