Episode #130: Building A Business You’re Madly In Love With: Advice From 7 Business Owners

Ruth Poundwhite  0:00  

I asked six guests this season a bonus question, what is your best advice for building a business that you are madly in love with. And here is what they shared. You’re listening to quietly ambitious with conversations about how it really feels to build a business that honours your whole self unapologetically. And that includes who you are, how you feel, what you really desire, the impact that you want to create, and importantly, the money you want to make. I’m your host, Ruth Poundwhite. And my superpower is supporting sensitive and ambitious humans to make more money by fully expressing and owning all of who they are. Let’s dive in. Hi, and welcome back to the penultimate episode of The quietly ambitious podcast. Today’s episode is a really special one. This season, I have interviewed six amazing humans and business owners. And I asked them all a bonus question that I did not include the answers to in the original episodes. So what you’re about to hear today is all ran you unreleased. It was all about how they run a business that they are madly in love with. But before I get to that, I just need to remind you that yes, the quietly ambitious podcast is coming to a close. This chapter is coming to a close. If you listened to my previous episode about my intentions for this year, you’ll know that I am not done with podcasting. It’s just that I felt right to bring this particular chapter to a close my business has evolved, the scope of what I talk about has evolved. And it’s kind of narrowed and widened at the same time. So it’s time for a fresh start. So there will be a new podcast coming. I don’t know when yet, but I am full of ideas. I’m just letting them percolate for a bit. But why I’m bringing this up now is just to remind you, but also to ask you from the heart, would you please be part of my final episode. And actually, time is running out to be part of this. And I have not heard from many people so far. I mean, I know for a fact that my audience is full of lockers, I know that and I love you. You are free to lurk in my spaces. And it would mean so much to me. And I think it would mean a lot to you, too. If you could be a little bit brave, and come and share with me what has the podcast meant to you? Because I actually really want to feature you the listeners in the final episode of the quietly ambitious podcast. I want to feature your memories of the podcast the things that most struck you in, in what I talked about, or what my guests talked about your favourite guests, your aha moments, the feelings that brought up what did it teach you about yourself, whatever, what did it all reflect back to you about who you are. So I would love to share your voice if you’re comfortable doing that. But if you’re not, that’s fine to just send me a DM, or send me an email to team at Ruth poundwhite.com. But if you aren’t comfortable sharing your voice, just share a little voice now. And feel free to introduce yourself and share your website so that anyone who’s listening knows where to find you. Or you can share your Instagram or wherever you show up in line as well. And just keep it short and sweet. But just share something. Something about how this podcast has made you feel. And I would love to feature you in the final episode. Don’t be shy. It means so so much to me. Okay, so moving on to today’s episode, like I said, it’s an extra special and I asked all the guests that I interviewed this season, a bonus question. It was, what is your best piece of advice or lesson that you can share around building a business you are madly in love with? And obviously their answers were thoughtful, wise, inspiring. And all different, as always, because there’s no one right way to run a business right? And I hope that you’re going to find a lot of food for thought in their answers. And I hope that it will also reinforce what we already know to be true but we understandably forget sometimes is that none of this is about finding the magic strategy that works for everyone because there is not one. It’s about tuning into who you are tuning into what you want, what you desire, what you need, and doing what works for you. So I hope that all of that answers will help you trust yourself even just a little. And yeah, before we dive in, let me tell you who is included. So we are going to hear from Alana Holloway, the chronic illness coach, we’re going to hear from Caitlyn Gwen. Creativity coach, Tamsin Williamson, parenthood coach, Kathy Bell, incredible breathwork protect practitioner and beautiful space holder. We’re going to hear from Meg Harrop designer and illustrator. And we’re going to hear from gentle business coach Ashley Bowden. And I’m actually going to share my thoughts on the subject at the end as well. Such an incredible group of humans you’re about to hear from, and like I said, I will share my thoughts at the end as well. I don’t think there’s anything left to say. But enjoy. And thank you for being here as the podcast is almost almost coming to a close. And I’m going to share a lot more about the journey of podcasting in the final episode. Okay, so first up, we have Alana Holloway, who originally came on for episode 118 of the podcast, which was all about learning from the wisdom of your chronic illness. And there was so much food for thought in that episode. And so much of it was really about learning to be with, to listen to and to accept the wisdom of our body, even if that may feel uncomfortable, and actually hard to do for those of us with chronic illness. And speaking from experience, living with chronic illness actually is a real invitation to get very clear and very honest with yourself about what it is that matters to you, and how you really want to do things and how you really need to care for yourself. So yeah, I’ll leave you with a learner’s answer to the question of how we run a business that we are madly in love with chronic illness, or otherwise,

 

Alana Holloway  7:04  

I think this comes back to releasing yourself from all the shoulds. And the rules and the way things are done has got to be so in tune and aligned to you. So that every day you can wake up and be excited about the things you get to do. And the way you get to do them and the way you get up. You know, it’s very much about looking at your life as a whole and your business as a part of your life rather than them being separate things for me. Because the days that I spend on my business are also the days that I spent in my life, and I want them to feel good. So yeah, it’s just, again, tuning out and tuning into yourself. Next we

 

Ruth Poundwhite  7:52  

have Caitlin Gwynn, who originally came on for episode 120 of the podcast to talk about why creativity really matters to business owners, and how it’s so important to do something just for ourselves, to be okay with messing up and to be okay with doing it totally imperfectly just for the fun of it. And since I recorded that interview with Caitlin, I have actually started my own creative hobby. It’s like a kind of scrapbooking, except I’m not doing it to store memories or anything. There’s absolutely zero pressure. I’m literally just doing it for the fun sticking like making collages and the pages, and not worrying at all about how it comes out. Although to be honest, I’m quite pleased with how it’s come out so far. It really is so good for my brain. And I often think back to my chat with Caitlin when I’m getting all my supplies out my stickers and everything. Anyway, here is Caitlin’s answer to the question about running a business we are madly in love with

 

Caitlin  8:54  

listening to yourself and trusting what comes up. That’s something I have to remind myself with every day. But I think as cheesy as it says, cheesy as it sounds, following what you love. And really like listening to yourself when you get an idea, or an urge or anything is the secret to making something that you’re really proud of and that you feel really happy like existing in and creating.

 

Ruth Poundwhite  9:18  

Next up we have Tamsin Williamson who I interviewed for Episode One to one of the podcast, which was all about parenthood being an entrepreneurial superpower. We spoke a lot about seeing things that society usually tells us gets in the way when we become parents, actually as strengths to bring to our businesses. Plus we had a really honest chat about what’s hard about it, and how we can find some semblance of balance. Now that doesn’t always work in reality. Her advice that she shares here though, really applies to all business owners or whether you are a parent or not. So I will share Thompson’s answer with you now.

 

Tamsin Williamson  9:59  

I think My biggest piece of advice is to always pay attention to your feelings. And if something doesn’t feel good, what if something feels good, pay attention to it and follow that feeling. And if something doesn’t feel good to also pay attention to it, I think there is, of course, a difference between the kind of feelings of discomfort when we’re stepping out of our comfort zone. So sometimes it can feel quite tricky to pull apart, like our fears, from the genuine signals that things are out of alignment. But I think my advice would be always interrogate your feelings, and don’t ignore them don’t hope that they go away on their own. And I found that whichever direction those feelings Take me there is nothing more invigorating and empowering, just to pay attention to your feelings, and then be able to make intuitive decisions in life in business. So yeah, I think that’s really, really helped me to build a business that I love and feel so much more connected to the choices that I’m making.

 

Ruth Poundwhite  11:13  

Next up, we have Kathy Bell, who I spoke to, for episode 123. I actually do private breathwork sessions with Kathy one to one and I credit so much of my journey of being in my body and being with my feelings to this practice. We spoke a lot about the practice in the original interview, especially when it comes to how we learn to listen to our own inner voice, or how we support ourselves to hold space for our own clients. We also talked a lot about the power of ritual, and it was such a beautiful, inspirational conversation. So here is Cathy’s answer to the question of how we run a business that we are madly in love with,

 

Kathy Bell  11:57  

as soon as I read the question, I got the answer. And it was create a life that you’re madly in love with. Because the business, this is something that I’ve learned over the last few years, you are not the business. And as much as the business will be part of your life. It shouldn’t be all of your life. So create a life that you’re madly in love with. And allow the business to, into that, you know, comes back to a lot of what me and you get taught in our coaching containers, like be the person be the person that you want to be. First before before you’re you’re there in creating a life that you’re madly in love with can only calibrate with a business that you’re madly in love with.

 

Ruth Poundwhite  12:57  

Next up, we have Mike Harrop, who I spoke to in Episode 126, all about providing support for our clients in a way that really supports the way that we want to work to in the form of asynchronous communication using tools like Voxer, messaging, voice notes, DMS and that kind of thing. I am actually obsessed with this topic, especially seeing the huge difference that it has made in my own business, since I started coaching more clients exclusively with Voxer. I mean, it is super, super powerful. It is no less powerful and coaching over calls. But it’s about freedom and time and not being tied to a desk, right? And actually also owning the fact that we get to deliver what we do in a better way when we choose the way that is right for us. And that supports our energy. Anyway, here is MAC’s answer to the question of how we build a business that we are madly in love with.

 

Meg Harrop  13:59  

I think it is always questioning things, always questioning why things are done the way that they’re done. But also like what if like, thinking about new ways of doing things like what if I did things in a way that feels really good to me, like what would that look like? And really, I guess, like journaling around it and like really taking time to think about it. And then like running with what feels good. Because yeah, that is definitely what in the last few years is working for me just really questioning things and setting them things up in a way that feels good for me. And that makes me feel more in love with my business.

 

Ruth Poundwhite  14:48  

Next up we have Ashley Bowden who honestly, I was totally blown away by this chat. Ashley definitely speaks right to my heart. She You shared so much wisdom. But in the original Episode Episode 127, we covered what it means to cultivate safety and worthiness in our businesses, and why it just does not work, to push this stuff away, to push the feelings and the thoughts away and just power through, it’s always going to show up in some way eventually. And I knew that she would have something incredibly powerful to share in response to my question about running a business in a way that you’re madly in love with. So here it is,

 

Ashley Beaudin  15:33  

I think that my biggest piece of advice is to prioritise the care of the human who leads the business.

 

Kathy Bell  15:44  

And really having

 

Ashley Beaudin  15:48  

an idea and understanding of what that means for you. So that one, you can lead your business from a place of care, to you can feel cared for, in all that you experience all that will inevitably come up and leading a business. And, three, that your identity does not become entangled with your work and impact things like worth and significance, et cetera. prioritise your care as the human leading your business.

 

Ruth Poundwhite  16:23  

And that is all of the guests from this season. But finally, I wanted to share what I think. And I haven’t historically added my own thoughts to these kinds of compilation episodes, I don’t think I have anyway. But since we’re wrapping up the show, I thought I would share them. And honestly, the first thing that comes to mind, when I reflect on this question about building a business that you are madly in love with, is getting to know yourself, I mean, really getting to know yourself who you are at your core. This is not the version of yourself, that shows up in fear, that shows up in a conditioned way, this is the truth of who you are underneath the conditioning underneath the fear, underneath the bad things that may have happened underneath the stuff that you’ve made mean something about who you are, right? It’s really about getting to know the real you. And it takes work to get to know that version of yourself. And arguably, we may never know that version, because it’s always changing. And there’s always, in my experience, another layer to take off that we perhaps didn’t know about at the start, it takes a lot of responsibility for ourselves in doing the work, no matter what may have happened to us, it takes responsibility in deciding that. It’s only it’s, it’s our job, like it’s nobody else’s job to do this work to unravel things and decondition, it takes a lot of honesty with ourselves. And that can be really hard. But it gets to be easier when we practice doing it with loads and loads of compassion. And when we do the deep work of figuring out who it is that we really are, which obviously, you know, there’s so much more I could say about this, and I’ll save it for my new podcast. But when we do this deep work of figuring out who it is that we truly are, underneath all of the layers of crap. That is when we get to find out what it is that we even really want. Because so many of us are living life in a way that we think we should. And it’s totally understandable that we do it. We want to fit in, we’ve been taught certain things all our life. But when we do the work to decondition, we figure out what it really is that we want at our core. And knowing what it really is that we want at our core is key right to building a business that we’re madly in love with. I mean, how many of us can relate to the fact that we have chased a goal for so long, only to make it happen and to realise that it was the wrong goal in the first place. And it didn’t bring us what we thought it would. Part of it is experimentation. Part of it is this deconditioning work. And actually I talk a lot about this. There’s a for work, a four week journey that I share in my programme quite ambition that goes all into this. And yeah, once we’ve done the work to figure out that’s when we get to set it into motion and build a business that doesn’t just look good to other people or fit in with other people. But that is what really we really and truly desire for our true selves, no matter what other people may think about it. So yeah, that is my thought on building a business that we are truly and madly in love with. So there you have it. Six incredible business owners plus bonus for me sharing how we build businesses that really work for us. And it’s pretty much all about really getting in tune with ourselves asking questions going deep, figuring out what we personally need as the leader of our business. So I hope it gave you some food for thought, go and do some journaling, if that will help. And don’t forget, we’re wrapping up the podcast next week, I can’t quite believe it. So I would really appreciate if you could send me your thoughts, your shares your memories, anything that comes up for you and I asked you about what the quietly ambitious podcast has meant to you. You can share a voice note with me, you can share your name and your website or you can share a bit of text for me to read out either with your name and website or anonymously. Whatever you do, please do send something I really want you to be part of this final episode. And yeah, we’ll catch you again next week for the final episode of the quietly ambitious podcast. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of quietly ambitious, if you have a moment to rate and review know that it really does make a difference. And if you’d like to carry on the conversation, then you can connect with me on Instagram at Ruth Poundwhite Join me in the Facebook group or my personal favourite. Sign up to my newsletter letters to quietly ambitious humans. Just go to Ruth poundwhite.com forward slash newsletter to subscribe and keep doing what you’re doing because your work really does matter.