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Shownotes:

Hey, hey TBD Fam!

I’m so excited for today’s episode. I’m sharing two little phrases I’ve come back to over and over again over the years that have helped me keep showing up & becoming the steward your work needs you to be.

Today’s episode is one part journaling prompt, one part love note to the ass 😉 you’ll see why!

Come back to this one when you need this reminder and definitely share it with someone you LOVE!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Details about the 6-Month Beta Program that’s starting next week!

If you’re ready to create a 1:Many offer that allows you to serve more people while also building your body of work in the world, definitely consider joining me! We’re getting started May 9th and this is going to be one intimate, small group container with lots of 1:1 support included! Send me a DM on IG to get our convo started to see if this might be a good fit!

• Sign up to join me for my next free training series as I guide you through my entire launch strategy for mapping out your own Values-Driven Launch!

I’ve led 20+ live launches over the years and May 15th-17th from 12-1pm CST, I’ll be breaking down my entire launch strategy to help YOU map out your own Values-Driven Launch! Get ready for a power-packed series. I cannot wait to watch all the aha’s as we get to work on your business!!

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Transcript:

Oh hello, hello my friends and welcome back to the show.  I wanted to start today by saying a quick thank you for all the kind words from last week’s episode.  I know we often don’t talk about the other side of growth and all that it can usher in and I’m so glad this can be a space for us to talk about it.  In my experience, I’ve found a lot of people don’t want to talk about the harder side of growth in fear of getting the “oh, it must be nice” response or “poor you”, which can feel even more isolating or even shaming that you should just be grateful vs. making real space for the hard parts.  

As I was listening back on that episode, I think the hardest part for me was knowing I wasn’t showing up as my normal self and I knew it and I also couldn’t shift out of it. It was a very frustrating season.  So if you’re there – definitely lean into a trauma-informed practitioner who understands the way old dynamics can get activated and can help you work your way through it!  

A few announcements before we get started today: 

1. The brand new 6-month beta program I’m enrolling for right now starts next week!  If you’ve been looking for high-level mentorship to help you get a 1:Many offer out in the world, I definitely want you to check out all the details. 
   
   This is going to be a super intimate, small group container with plenty of 1:1 support plus you’ll be getting access to some major assets inside FLOW’s core curriculum to help you create your framework that holds your wisdom, create a 1:Many offer that delivers that wisdom to the people it’s here to help serve, and creating your custom launch strategy as we move your offer out in the world.  

The only pre-requisite to join me is that you either already have a 1:Many offer you want to refine for better results OR you have an idea for a 1:Many offer you’re ready to get out of your head and out of your heart and into the world.

You also need to be willing to live launch with me in either August or September, which will look like leading a 2-5 day free training experience for your people.

You need to be willing to be visible this summer so we can build some strong connection.  What I mean by visibility is talking about yourself and your work on the internet which can look like social media visibility, being on other people’s podcasts, looking for guest training opportunities, email marketing, or a combination of all the above.

You also need to be willing to bring a few colleagues or prior clients on board to help spread the word about your offer as I’ll be guiding you through my affiliate launch strategy. 

You’re getting access to my entire launch system that you’ll use over and over again not to mention many high-level business planning tools that will serve you for years! 

But I think the real value is the 1:1 Voxer support I’m including + the bonus month for free in November 😉 

Your investment is $1500/month or $4500 now + $4500 in August.  If this speaks to you and you want to learn from someone who will help you create literally custom everything – I definitely want you to check out all the details.  We’re starting next week, May 9th and be meeting every other week thereafter through November!  

2. Speaking of live launching, I credit live launches for the business I have today.  In fact, I’ve led 20+ launches over the past 8 years, mostly as a solopreneur, which means I’ve not only had the opportunity to master the art of a live launch, but I’ve also created systems to keep me organized & workflows to make it easy to execute and live launches are by FAR one of my favorite ways to market my business.  I’ve said it once and I’ve said it 9 million times – nothing beats a live launch for the connection, the aha’s, the visibility, and the way it brings a long-term ROI into your business for new people coming into your world, but also your short-term goals for generating sales!  

My favorite part of leading a live launch though is the teaching, the sharing of wisdom, the opportunity to deliver a high-level of value for my community, and the way I get to structure the whole thing around my values of generosity, connection, & going deep!  In fact, people have repeatedly told me over the years that the content I share during my free trainings is BETTER than courses and programs they’ve paid THOUSANDS for!  I literally LOVE it!  

And one of the first things I see with my clients when they start working with me is that they don’t have the same strategy I do that leads to sold out launches.  They don’t have a solid sales strategy in place that is repeatable, allows them to create content that converts, and also allows them to create powerful assets that build their body of work inside their marketing that can become passive revenue + additional lead gen.  

Which makes me SUPER EXCITED to share my 2nd announcement for today, which is a brand new FREE training series I’m delivering May 15th-17th teaching you how to map out your own values-driven launch!! For the first time ever, I’m bringing this content out from behind the paywall and walking you through the same strategy & energetics I share with my clients. 

We’re diving into: 

• The 7 Key Variables of a Successful Launch 
• The Timeline & Cadence of a Spacious Launch
• The Mindset & Energetics of a Sold-Out Launch
• Plus, How to Leverage Your Launch for additional revenue, visibility + audience growth!
  
  This is the same process I’ve used literally for years and years and years that have resulted in multiple 5-figure launches, six-figure launches, and multiple 6-figure launches – not to mention the same strategy that helps my clients do the same!  

I would absolutely LOVE for you to join me!! 

If you want to learn how to map out a Values-Driven Launch that’s successful, spacious, sustainable, and sells-out your offers – then make sure you’re signed up in the show notes.  I am soooo excited to share this brand new training!

Now, let’s get into our episode for today! 

In 2017, I hired my first money coach, Ellen Ercollini who I worked with for almost 2 years.  I adore this woman to this day for all the money healing work we did together and the way she poured into me for the impact I’m here to make.  

We dove into so many things together from money, obviously, to my unique design, to becoming the steward my work needed me to be.  

And on one particular call, she mentioned something to me that has never left me, which went a little something like this: 

“Megan, you are amazing at owning your little corner of the internet, but your work needs you to be its steward – to tell the world about your magic, to be the lighthouse so the people who need you can find you.”  

It was one of the first times I can remember thinking about who my business and body of work needed me to be and it was such a game-changer for how I started showing up, for the way I started partnering with my business, and it has remained a core question I still ask myself today when I just don’t wanna or I’m doubting my work or whatever those little funks are we get into as humans.  

Now, there will be times when you can’t be the steward your work needs you to be.  Or it will feel that way, at least.  That hard 18 month season I spoke about last week when a lot of old things got activated and I had to really do the work to ground my nervous system – I did NOT feel like I was being the steward my business or body of work needed me to be.  

In fact, I felt like I shied away from my leadership role so many times.  

I had two launches I literally skipped in 2022 (one in May and one in August) even though the business needed the revenue because I just didn’t have it in me with all I was processing.  

I became quiet on social media as I processed some big things.  

I did the MVO (minimum viable output) for months just to keep things going as I tended to my nervous system.  Which MVO seasons are so good for so many reasons when you’re going through some other big things!! 

I did not feel like I was being the steward my business needed me to be, but looking back – anytime you’re focused on your healing, your own integration, your own growth (even if it takes a LOT longer than you want it to), you ARE being the steward your business needs you to be!  

Because it’s from this healing, this integration, this intentional growth that you come back to your wholeness.  In fact, integrity – that center most point our soul is always seeking where we’re deeply aligned with who we want to be in this world cannot exist with integration.  

Integration is THE process that leads us back to integrity – to be made whole.  And when we go through experiences where we don’t feel like our full selves – that’s because we are literally fragmented.  There’s our typical self who is doing all the things, who feels exceptionally clear on who you’re here to be in this world, and there are these saboteurs who can also take over that push that version of you out of the driver’s seat.  

And those 18 months of feeling dysregulated – that’s exactly what I’m talking about, right?  When there are other aspects of self that go back to old dynamics and you can see it, but you have to integrate the experiences that led to the fragmenting to begin with.  This is what returns you to wholeness!  

But EVEN then, even when a saboteur is running the show – your typical self is still there, still observing, still learning EXCEPTIONAL lessons to bounce back with all that wisdom to be an even more potent steward!  

But what I want to talk about today is how you become the steward your business and work need you to be when you’re not experiencing dysregulation.  And I mention this specifically because it is so easy for us to override our humanness and try and be like some robot who’s running a business – to simply override what you need because business must go on.  And look, there will be times when you have to make money. There is no other option.  But that money is going to be made from an MVO vs. you showing up at 100%. 

What I’m talking about is leaning into your bigness, intentionally rising up + showing up as the spokesperson for your work in the world so the people you’re here to help can find you! 

What I’m really talking about is visibility.  And navigating all the things that keep us stuck from doing it. 

I made mention in the Law of Affordability that I had to come to terms early on in my business that most of my time would be spent marketing my business than it was actually supporting my people.  And this was a BIG contrast for me compared to running my private practice when it was literally the complete opposite. I spent very little time marketing my practice, but because I was a progressive therapist in a conservative town and I spoke that language on my website and Psychology Today profile, I had NO problem finding clients.  Especially the right clients who were looking for someone just like me who aligned on their values!  

My making peace with marketing though was really around visibility and stepping out from behind my license and my degrees to be the speaker of my own house and it is a role that is 100% required if you’re here to build a successful business.  

It is on YOU to talk about your work, to tell people about your work, to toot your own horn, to take up space with your beliefs, to let people know who you are and how you work and what makes you so unique.  

So what does being the steward of your work really mean?  

It means asking the question: who does your business need you to be?  

And I want to preface this with some dissonance because the truth is – you already ARE who your business needs you to be.  There’s nothing more you need to become, okay!  

But what I mean is who does your business need you to be out in this world?  What version of you?  

• Is it the version of you who’s doubting your greatness?  

• Is it the version of you who’s still beating yourself up for that mistake you made a couple of months ago? 

• Is it the version of you who’s still raking yourself over the coals because life has lifed and you’ve had to slow down to deal with it? 
  
• Is it the version of you who’s hell bent on people pleasing and forgoing healthy boundaries in the worship of it?  

• Is it the version of you who’s stuck in perfectionism vs. getting your Minimum Lovable Offer out in the world? 
  
• Is it the version of you who’s comparing yourself to early 2000’s magazine covers who told us a size 4 was fat & the prettiest female forms are the ones who take up the least amount of space?
  
• Is it the version of you who’s putting all this pressure on yourself to get it right all the time?
  
• Is it the version of you who’s scared of sharing their beliefs in fear they’ll be canceled? 

Is that the version of you your business needs you to be?  

Because the truth is, my friends – some version of all those versions I mentioned above are a part of all of us.   

We’ve all grown up in the same water that’s told us who we need to be in order to be enough.  We’ve all grown up in White Supremacy, Patriarchy, and Capitalism that has done a number on all of us.  

And here’s the thing… it is not our job to ever erase these parts of ourselves.  You can spend years trying and there’s definitely freedom to be had here, for sure.  We can learn to love ourselves, our bodies, our brains, our unique way in the world!  But to be free of them forever?  Not likely.  

And I don’t say that to be disempowering or discouraging.  I’m saying that because I think the self-help industry has us so tied up in the idea that we can get free from these saboteurs forever if we just do enough inner work when I think it’s SUCH a better approach to learn how to co-exist with them.  Learn how to manage them.  Learn how to CHOOSE other versions of you and strengthen them instead.  

When I ask you who your business needs you to be, who your DREAMS need you to be, what does that version look like?  

I was watching Super Soul Sunday a few years ago when Elizabeth Gilbert was touring, which she back on the speaking circuit again by the way!!  

But she said something I’ve grappled with over the years, which is this…

Someone was asking her if she ever gets nervous before she goes on stage and she said, “of course.  But I know the world doesn’t need my fear.  It needs my courage.”  

I agree with this in many, many, many ways and I also know it is such a salve when someone who does big things in this world lets us know they still get nervous too.  There’s a connection there.  A way for us to pull these larger than life people like Michelle Obama off the pedestal and say, “oh yes, they feel the same things too, but look at how they choose to move through it.”  

And that’s the thing, y’all!  

It isn’t the absence of these things, it’s the version of themselves they choose to rest in & stand in so they can do their holy work in the world.  

The world does not need the perfect version of you.  Thank God!  But it does need your courage.  

• It needs the version of you who knows you’re here to do big things.  

• It needs the version of you who says, “Why not me?” when you dream your biggest dream. 

• It needs the version of you who will show up messy and unsure and not totally polished because confidence comes from action, not the other way around. 

• It needs the version of you who’s willing to get it wrong so you can learn how to get it more right. 

• It needs the version of you who’s willing to take risks, who’s willing to be seen, who’s willing to be KNOWN. 

• It needs the version of you who deep down knows they’re a big fucking deal! 

And here’s the good news – all of those versions I just mentioned above exist in us too!  

And we don’t have to be that version of us all the time to be the steward our work needs us to be.  We simply have to be that version 5 minutes at a time.  

My business has been built on the shoulders of 5 brave minutes and minimum lovable everything. It all adds up over time.  

And that’s all your business asks of you.  That’s it. 

So when you’re feeling stuck in self-doubt or perfectionism or not-enoughness, truly – ask yourself, “Who does my business need me to be in this moment?  What does being its steward look like?”  

And I can promise there will always be an aligned answer for you.  

Maybe it’s to send that email with that scary proposal asking for 5x more than you’ve ever pitched before.  

Maybe it’s having that hard conversation with a team member that you’re going to have to let them go.  

Maybe it’s restructuring your business and pivoting yet again as you align things more to your strength. 

Maybe it’s going after PR and seeking a bigger stage.   

Maybe it’s sunsetting a program you’ve run for years because you simply know it’s time.  

What I know to be true is the steward your business needs you to be will look different in every season. 

But who it needs is already within you!  You simply have to choose it!  

The more we ground ourselves in that version, the more that version of us will learn to take on.  

Most of us don’t start feeling super comfortable taking up space in this world.  We have to learn it.  We have to build it.  And we do it 5-minutes at a time!  

So, my friends, I’ll leave us here for this episode.  I want to encourage you to come back to this question when you need it.  Journal it out.  Who does your business need you to be?  What does being a steward of your work look like?  And allow yourself to rise. Allow yourself to say YES!  And remember, your business nor your work will never ask you to be something that doesn’t already exist.  But it will ask you to stand more firmly in your most courageous versions.  

Feel the expansion, lean in.  

Until next time, here’s to the courage to keep showing up even when clarity is still forming.  Knowing, trusting, believing – the next right step is always on its way!  See you soon <3