Episode #131: The Finale

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There once was a woman who had a nagging idea, but was terrified to share it with the world. It was an idea that wouldn’t leave her, even though it felt ridiculous, and that it wasn’t for someone like her. And she didn’t really have a clue what she was doing. But one day she took the leap, she committed to doing it for at least a year. And she had no idea that it would become the key to not only finding, but also bravely using her voice. Eventually, she used it to support a whole new business, documenting every failed experiment along the way, and happily calling in clients who shared how much it meant to them. And she even used it to help her write and release a book into the world. It became something she loved to do something she knew she was good at, and one of the best decisions she ever made. This is the story of the quietly ambitious podcast. And this is the final episode. 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 to the final episode of the quietly ambitious podcast. I am actually releasing this later than I would have normally. And I’m going to be honest with you in the spirit of how we’ve done this whole podcast all these years, I’m going to be honest with you. And sure, it’s because I have been totally resisting recording this final episode. Because how can I make sure that I say everything that I need to say? How can I do justice, to everything that I have created here? Ultimately, the question my brain keeps giving me is how can I get this just right. And of course, if there’s one thing I have shared over and over again, throughout these years of podcasting, about my own journey in my business, is that we can never guarantee that we’re going to get it just right. So I am showing up here for the final episode. In the same spirit I always have done as an imperfect human being trusting that whatever I forgot to say, there are still so many more opportunities for me to share it. It might not be in this particular podcast, but I am going to be starting a new podcast later this year. I’m always putting stuff out there in other ways. So I’m going to share whatever is right to share right now and trust that whatever is left unsaid, will be able to be said at a later date if necessary. So some of this episode is scripted, and some of it is off the cuff. In case you’re wondering, by the way, I usually don’t script my episodes. But obviously this one felt very important. And there was a lot that I wanted to say. So welcome to this final episode. This episode is really a love letter to this podcast, I am going to share with you some of the highs and lows of the journey, some of the magical, unexpected ripple effects of starting this podcast and why I’m letting it go. And what’s next for me and podcasting. And although this podcast was my creation, and I feel like saying here by the way, you might not no but it used to be called creatively human and was later rebranded to quite the ambitious. Yes, although this podcast was my creation, I honestly feel it has become a thing of its own. It’s a real community. And I know a lot of you in this community do love to lurk, and that is fine as well. So before I share the whole journey with you, I want to start with a huge thank you for being here. I started this podcast in the autumn of 2018, October the 10th. Before I even really had any kind of business related to it, actually, I had a very small following on Instagram, and I had an even smaller email list at the time. But I’ll never forget how much support I received when I first put it out there. And that support meant that this podcast has had a small but dedicated following from the very start. And I appreciate that so much. So if you are one of the original listeners and you’re still here, then I’m hitting wow that It means a lot. But whether you’ve been listening forever, whether you have dipped in and out, or whether you’ve only recently found me in the podcast, I want you to know, I appreciate you so much. And it still blows my mind when I actually let my brain go there. Like if I think about this, like you could be listening to this getting on with your day, doing all sorts of things, you could be on a walk, you could be having a bath, you could be in the car. It’s mind blowing, when I actually stopped to consider what this means. So before recording this final episode, I actually put a little call out via my email list and on social media to ask for testimonials, and your favourite podcast moments that I could share in this episode. So I am going to be sprinkling those in throughout. And I want to say, my listeners are genuinely the best. They all have incredible and varied businesses. So I’m going to include links to all of the stuff they do in the show notes. And I think most of them have let you know where you can find them in the message themselves. So do go and look them up and give them a follow as well. And I want to start with a message from Kirsten.

6:16
Hey, Ruth is Kirsten here, currently one of your one to one clients. And I wanted to share with you that your podcast really made a difference for me in how I came back to thinking about my own ambitions, myself and my role in an evolution phase that my business has gone through over the last 12 months, maybe even 18 months. One of the episodes that particularly stood out to me when I first started listening was one where you talked about a launch that didn’t go so well. And I love hearing how you dealt with that. And just appreciate the transparency and honesty. Your Podcast built that bridge for me between seeing you as a picture online and sort of knowing you as a peer. And really understanding your expertise and understanding what it is that you might be able to do for me and working together. And I so appreciated it and was grateful for everything you shared. Finally, as you wrap up your podcast, I wanted to say how much of an honour and a pleasure it’s been through for me to have you as a student on my course podcasting one on one, which I am shamelessly plugging here. But it’s been such a delight to have conversations with you about your podcast, all the way from going into a new phase, making some changes, taking more ownership of certain things. And then realising that it’s possible to even wrap up a podcast and end a show in a positive way. It’s been an absolute delight for me to help with that. And I cannot wait until we’re on to the next one. Thank you so much for the quietly ambitious podcast.

8:00
So I have actually been working with Kirstin behind the scenes. And yes, it was her idea to include these clips from the listeners. So thank you very much Kirsten, and peers, her podcasting 101 course is the best. I am actually you know, I’ve been podcasting for many years now. But I still learn from that because she does it right. And I’m going to be going back through it myself. Honestly, when I start the next podcast whenever that next podcast is ready to be birthed. My intention is definitely going to be to set it up for success from the very beginning. So I will add my affiliate link for anyone who has the nudge about starting a podcast or being a bit more supported with their podcast with the right course. So I’ll add that to the show notes. But also really out here is Ruth poundwhite.com forward slash l forward slash podcasting. 101. Really, really great. And I also want to share here a wonderful message that I got from Tamsin which Yeah, means a lot. It really means a lot.

8:59
Hi, Ruth. This is Kansan Williamson, and I am a life and mindset coach for moms, also known as the parenthood coach. And I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you for the incredible body of work that you have shared with us through the quietly ambitious podcast. Honestly, I find that your podcast is the most comforting and supportive and inspiring companion to being a business owner. I feel like every time I listen to an episode, you’re saying to me the things that I really need to hear or you open my eyes to a new way of thinking about things that I really, really need. Sometimes I didn’t even know I needed it. One of the most Powerful episodes that I remember listening to was the one around how you know if it’s time to raise your prices or not. And that episode came out at the most perfect time for me because I was driving myself crazy at that point trying to decide whether to raise my prices or not. And it was like having the most meaningful, powerful and eye opening conversation with you. And I listened to that episode, and I came away feeling so much clearer and more confident about what it was that I wanted to do. And I find that I have that experience time and time again, listening to the podcast, and I’m sure that I will go back and listen to other episodes. Again, because I know that the wisdom that you share in that podcast, it will never ever grow old. So thank you so much for sharing all of that wisdom, it has really been so very, very supportive and inspiring on my business journey. And I can’t wait to see what’s next.

11:11
And I just want to say here at this point, it’s really easy. And especially I think, when you have a podcast to be putting content out there, week after week, after week after week. And you don’t always hear when people are getting something from it. But you know, asking for these messages from the listeners and receiving like examples of specific exercises or, you know, specific episodes that really spoke to them or encourage them to do something. It’s just a great reminder of the impact that your work has. Even if you never hear from the people who are reading, listening, watching following along. So yeah, I just wanted to share that in case any of you need to hear that right now. Okay, so let’s go back through some of my favourite podcast moments. Now, before we sat down to actually create this final episode, I thought, oh, maybe I’ll just go through it episode each episode one by one. Maybe I’ll go through all the episodes. But then I thought about it a little bit more than I realised, you know, I’ve got 130 episodes. So I don’t think that’s quite feasible, not in the space of a door episode length anyway. So yeah, I’m not going to mention every episode. I’m certainly not going to mention every guest, but I just want all the guests who may be listening to know that you all hold a special place in my heart and you forever well. So first up, let’s go down a little trip down memory lane. This is such an exciting day, I have been feeling really anxious and a bit overwhelmed and doubting myself the last few days. But today, I feel so happy and excited that the podcast is out there. Yay.

12:58
Welcome to creatively human, a podcast for online business owners and creatives that goes beyond the work and dives deep into why we do what we do. The struggles and wins we face along the way, and how we fit it all into the kind of life we want to live. I’m your host, Ruth Poundwhite. And I help creatives grow their businesses in ways that fit around their life and values. Hi, and welcome to the first ever episode. Now I remember finding it so unnatural recording the intro to what was at the time the creativity human podcast. It felt so awkward. It felt so cringy and honestly, when I listened back now, I don’t think it you know, properly sounds like me, but I’m not saying that with judgement of my past self. I think it’s okay. takes practice, right? I had never podcasted before. I mean, I did everything I could to avoid speaking to people most of the time, it takes time to build a new skill. So I don’t listen to that now and think, Oh, what an idiot. I don’t want to hear I listen to that and think wow, how far have I come? And that’s really, really cool. And I remember throughout the entire first season actually, I used to do a lot of editing. So I used to edit out all the times where I said, um, or any awkward silences. Basically what I was doing was holding myself to an unnatural standard. And I’m really glad that actually quite early on in the podcasting journey, I realised that actually keeping some of that messy stuff in does sound a lot better. It sounds more natural. And that was something that was really reflected back to me I think. I think it was between like the first season and the second season I decided to change the way I edited it because it just wasn’t sustainable. timewise anyway, it was just it was just taking so much effort to make it perfect. So I decided to deliberately leave it less perfect and I got several people commenting say, Oh, you sound much more natural now when you’re talking. So yeah, that’s an interesting reflection. And every now and again, I have kind of wanted to go back and maybe rerecord some of the intros to the early episodes or maybe archive certain episodes. But what I always come back to when I have that thought about cleaning up kind of the past episodes is that actually, it’s really, really powerful to be able to see a journey and an evolution over time. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’ll discover someone new online, and I’ll want to go back and read all of their blog posts or listen to all of their old podcast episodes and really follow that journey. Like, I don’t think it takes away from someone, if there was a time when they felt differently, or they might not have been as good at what they do. I don’t think it takes away anything at all. In fact, I think it adds something really, really special to witness that journey. And I know, especially from lots of the things people have said to me about this podcast, actually, the journey is probably a very important part of it. So I just want to let you know that all of the episodes are still there in the archive for you to listen to if you want to. And I don’t know if I’ll actually get around to do this. But my intention is to make some playlists for you pick out some different themes. And yeah, dive back in in your own time, like, there’s so much there. This is an entire body of work. And if you go to the show notes, you’ll find the links to all of this stuff. And I’m also going to post a picture of the first podcast cover art in the show notes. It’s definitely part of the evolution. So yeah, I’ll also link to some of my favourite episodes. And I know that one of the best things that came from those early days of starting the podcast was that it gave me the confidence that I could coach. Now you might be surprised to hear that because obviously, talking into a microphone or interviewing other people on a podcast is not the same thing as coaching. Now, there are some like crossover skills with interviewing. So for example, you need to have a skill for kind of active listening. But that obviously, yeah, they’re not the same thing. But when I tell you that I was very afraid, very, very afraid of talking to people, and very socially anxious. I’m really not exaggerating this. Okay, so the best thing about podcasting was that I got to practice, I got to speak to people, I got to practice having conversations. And what I learned very quickly, was that one of the amazing things about podcasting, especially for an introvert, like me that doesn’t like to have that doesn’t like small talk, is that you get to have really deep conversations, like there’s hardly any small talk, you get to get into the deep philosophical questions straight away. And that was just so valuable to me. And I thought, You know what, maybe if I can do this with guests, I can do this with clients, too. So I really want to acknowledge that my podcast really did give me the confidence to dip my toe in the coaching waters. And the rest is history right now. Yeah, it really did. It really did. So I’m just gonna talk a little bit about the guests that I interviewed. And I mean, obviously, if you’re thinking of starting your own podcast, and what I’m sharing in these reflections is going to be helpful for you. But I hope that this is helpful just in the way that we approach things that we’re afraid of, and ways that we want to stretch our comfort zone in business in general, right. And if like me, you are afraid of having these conversations or interviewing other people, and you want to make this part of your business in some way, then my biggest advice is firstly, kind of something that I’ve already touched on, is that it does take practice, and you’re not going to be the best that you will ever be from day one. And that is okay. I have personally improved so much. And I’ve still probably got loads of ways in which I can still improve. But those early episodes that I did those first kind of interviews, like ever did, I mean, because because you know what, like, I had never interviewed people in any situation before I started podcasts. When I was like setting up the podcast, I did arrange some kind of practice conversations with people. But yeah, I went in, like, totally fresh, didn’t know what I was doing just had listened to podcasts and kind of learned on the job. But yeah, those early episodes I did was still really valuable. And even if they were imperfect, and actually, there’s so much to be said, for diving into something imperfectly, and being willing to learn on the job. It’s gonna save so much time. And actually, you can’t learn this stuff from a book Kenya, you’ve got to learn it by doing it. And the second thing I wanted to say about this is that it was just so helpful to have conversations with people that I was obsessed to have conversation with. And I remember that some of my early guests included Ray Dodd, and Jen Carrington, both of these incredible humans I had been coaching with at different times, I think around that time, and that really put me at ease and it was okay to choose guests that put me at ease and then I also had people on in that first season like Eloise Rickman, Elizabeth Goddard Vic’s Meldrew, too. Henry Thomas, these were people who I had been following online. And I just love what they do. So they it just made sense, like I was obsessed with them. So I may as well have a chance to talk to them. It was so, so fun. And I will never forget. It was probably 2019, I went to this live event, and I met Tommy Thomas in person. And it was just so magical. Because we had had this incredible deep philosophical conversation on the podcast, when we met each other in person, it was just like, we’ve known each other forever. And we just got on so well. And it was just lovely. And actually, since then, I have gone on to meet quite a few guests in person, actually, which is really, really interesting. And a lot of guests also have invited me back on their podcast. So it’s just amazing. When you go in with a genuine desire to connect, it’s just magical. Anyway, I wanted to share with you a clip from the first ever interview I did. And it was actually Episode One and the interview was with Ray Dard.

20:57
I am so clear on what I want to do and the women that I want to work with that I just couldn’t not do it because I know the impact it has. And that means so much to me that it’s just yeah, it’s not something I can walk away from.

21:14
And speaking about being clear on what you want to do, let me share this lovely message about the podcast from a nook.

21:22
I Ruth, it’s an oak from family man and spelled CA, I just wanted to let you a little note for your podcast. I love it so much for me, there was many inspiration, many ideas coming from it. But I would say the most most important thing for me was that it helped me focus back to myself and focus back to what I really wanted to do and not get distracted that much with all the shiny object syndrome thing. So yeah, thank you so much for that. And I looking forward to see what you come up with next. Good luck.

22:04
So back to interviewing guests I got throughout the whole podcast history, and I still get to be honest, loads of pitches for people who want to be guests on our podcast. And unfortunately, I do have to ignore most of them. Especially as time went on, I just got clearer and clearer about the kinds of people and the kinds of topics that I wanted to cover. But I did meet incredible humans that way as well, like people who I had never come into contact with and ended up interviewing on the podcast. And the great thing is that also when you approach people to be on a podcast, and this is true for anything you’re doing in your business, by the way, but when you approach people to be on podcasts, you will find that so many people say yes who you’d never expect it to say yes, it’s just about having the courage to actually go for it. And one of the best moments of my podcasting career is definitely the fact that I got to interview one of my idols Kate Northrup, it really felt like such a big moment to me. So I remember when my son was a baby, I used to push him around in the post chair on really long walks, like getting him to nap. And I’d be listening to podcasts. And I’ve been listening to Kate’s podcast while he was napping. Back then she doesn’t have this focus anymore. But back then she was really focused on mothers. And I got so much from listening to it. It helped me to feel so much less alone during a difficult time, right. And it makes me kind of emotional to think of me back then that version of me back then. And then to think, one day, that person got to speak to this woman face to face over zoom, and ask her questions, or put that out there on her podcast, like, isn’t that magical? I think this is the magical thing about podcasting, you get to create these kinds of connections with all different kinds of people. And it’s so easy when you run an online business, or maybe it’s just a kind of life in general thing. But it’s so easy to put people into a kind of hierarchy, you put people above you or you decide you’re not as good as them or that your story isn’t as good as somebody else’s. But podcast really has podcasting has really taught me that we all have something so valuable and unique to share at all stages of life and business. And yeah, you’ll be surprised at who says yes to coming on your podcast. Anyway, I wanted to share a little clip with you from the interview I did with Kate, this was from Episode 70.

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I just feel like we need to give ourselves more space to be figuring it out. You know, and perfectionism is such a it’s such an insidious way to keep people small. I think it really perfectionism is a bastion of patriarchy and white supremacy and toxic capitalism really wanting to just like, keep people stop, keep people small, because if you’re tearing Cepheid of getting in trouble for doing it wrong, or you’re terrified of being shamed or ridiculed for screwing something up, you’re not gonna get out there. And so really creating a culture where it’s not about winning or doing it perfectly, it’s about, you know, trying and tweaking and learning and sort of that iterative process of putting something out there and then being like, oh, that didn’t work. Okay, what didn’t work about it? Let me try again. Oh, that worked a little bit better. What worked? Okay, what didn’t work. So again, that’s like really the cyclical process that is the cyclical, that is the upward cycle of success.

25:36
Kate also taught me so much about rest and cyclical living, which actually became a huge part of the show like it came up in so many different ways. It’s one of the topics that I would get the most messages about, including this message from Lisa.

25:52
Hello, Ruiz. My name is Lisa, and I’m a floor artist. My website is down by the river.co.uk. I specialise in dry flowers. But I just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed your podcast, especially hearing other people’s stories, and also episodes on prioritising rest, especially due to my own experiences. But also, I think it’s so important for everyone these days. So thank you so much, I look forward to revisiting your other episodes.

26:26
And I also want to share here and I think it’s really important to talk about it is that I made a decision from day one, from absolute, the absolute beginning of the podcast that I was going to have a diverse range of speakers. So I know, I think all my guests do identify as women. So it’s not diverse in that sense. But within that category, we have a beautiful range of ages, backgrounds, opinions, and different identities. And I’m so glad I made that decision. I think it’s a decision, all of us with the platform need to be very mindful and intentional about. And I am so much richer for that, and all of the different and varied conversations that I got to have with my guests. So that was really a quick rundown of some of the incredible guests and what it was like speaking to them, and obviously, I barely scratched the surface. So there’s so many other guests, and I really encourage you to go listen to the archives. But I wanted to share a few other things beyond those connections that podcasting definitely gave me. And the really interesting thing about the journey with this podcast is I actually started the podcast, before I had ever been interviewed on a podcast myself. And being the host of a podcast and being visible as the host of a podcast was actually really responsible for me being invited to speak on several other podcasts. I know that when I’m thinking of interviewing someone, sometimes I will look up to see if I can hear them speaking, especially with pictures. So I guess it’s a really helpful way of, you know, demonstrating that you would make a good guest. And when I was reflecting on this whole podcast, podcasting journey, I was actually browsing my old Instagram stories. And I found this little clip of me sharing about the experience of doing my first podcast. My first ever interview on somebody else’s podcast has gone out today, which is really bad and really scary. Despite the fact that I have my own podcast. I was like really nervous before we recorded it. But she was lovely. And it was really funny because it’s just another one of those things that I thought I wouldn’t be doing. And here I am doing it. And it was fine. And it was actually fun. And I listened back and I think it was okay. And I love in that clip how I talk about it being another one of those things that I never thought I do, but I’m doing anyway. And oh my goodness, have I experienced that so many times in my business. I mean, I published a book in 2022. And that was 100% Thanks to my podcast. If I had not been podcasting, there would not have been a book. Isn’t that just wild? So the way that the book works is that it includes several really carefully curated and transcribed episodes from the earlier seasons of the podcast, which I added to and changed around quite a lot to create the final product. And this was all thanks to the help of my friend Genevieve who runs the podcast, a book service, and I did interview in her episode, I did interview her in Episode 72 In case you want to hear more about how that works. But ultimately though, what podcasting really gave me was a voice. I say that with complete certainty, it was podcasting that gave me a voice or rather permission to experiment and find my voice permission to practice using my voice and validation from listening back and yes, it is cringy to listen back at first but now I’m not afraid to say it. I often listen back to myself and smile. So you can go from feeling totally cringy listening back to listening back and smiling trust Me. But yeah, validation from listening back and realising I might actually be quite good at this in my own unique way. And that was massive, because like I said, when I first started, I didn’t think it was for someone like me. And what was going on in the years prior to starting the podcast was that yes, I was resisting big time, I knew I wanted to make a change, I knew I wanted to use my voice, I had this nudge to start a podcast for a while, it did take me a while, it did take a lot of resistance. But when I did finally bite the bullet and start to get visible in 2018, I gave myself the best gift, the gift of showing up as myself. And by showing up as myself showing the messy and scared parts of me, it meant that what people saw was what people got, it was actually life changing for me to share my vulnerable words on the podcast. And to have so many people reply to me saying, me too, me too, you know, I wasn’t alone, and they weren’t alone. And that was not an experience that I had had in my first business. It’s nothing to do really, with the business itself. It’s more to do with how I felt I was too afraid to put much of myself at all into it. Anyway, here is a short clip of me talking about how my marketing had evolved, and how I had finally found a way of working that felt like me, and this clip is from Episode 30. Because I’m showing up as my fully introverted self, and I’ve built an audience around that it’s actually way more comfortable. And I don’t really feel so shy, as I once did, which is an interesting lesson, because I was trying to sort of fit into a mould that I couldn’t fit into before this sort of extroverted, masculine version of online business, I was never able to show up fully as me. And I was never able to build the audience in the right way that made me feel comfortable to show up as me. So it’s kind of like a vicious cycle. But now that I’m out of it, and now I’m building my audience as myself, and now that I’m owning the fact that I’m never going to be a certain way, I’m always going to be me. And I can push myself a bit. But at the core of it, I am a certain way, and I am an introvert, it actually really helps all that stuff. And I’m not saying it’s not hard and not scary. And it’s I’m also not saying it’s not draining. But yeah, that really helps. And I love how I reflected there in that clip that actually showing up in this really vulnerable way, went such a long way to helping me feel less shy, such a powerful experience for me to have had as a human, especially when you consider how much self doubt I did have before I started my podcast. And I love how much this has been reflected back to me in the feedback that I’ve received as well. And here is a clip from Kirstie talking about this.

32:54
Hi, this is Kirsty from only Studio, and I’m a designer and illustrator. I feel like I’ve been listening to the podcast quite a while, maybe 2019, although I’m not sure exactly when the quarterly ambitious podcast is one that I’ve come back to time and time again, you’ve offered a reassuring voice that you can do business in your own way. And in particular, a way that suits a more quiet and introverted person. I’ve appreciated the openness and vulnerability that sometimes shared has helped me with my mindset ideas, and the interviews have always been great, too. I think actually, as well. Your podcast has been one that’s made me think, oh, maybe I can do a podcast too. So thank you for this great resource. And I’m excited to see what your next podcast will be.

33:44
And can I just tell you QST that that makes me so happy for you thinking about doing your own podcast too. That is the best feedback. It reminds me actually but when I first started something that was so empowering for me was being seen as a human I really am and that being okay, so if me showing up as the human I am enables other others to think I you know, I see myself in that and maybe I can do this too, then my job here is done. And some of the comments like this one from Emma really got me thinking about another thing that this podcast has given me.

34:16
Hi, Ruth. It’s Emma from the freelance lifestyle coach for freelancers. And I have been a longtime listener of the podcast, and I think one of my favourite things is the way that you are truly honest about how everything goes and you take the the wisdom or the goodness from every situation. So I loved the episode when you talked about sales as an introverted person, but also when you’ve given us information behind the scenes about how the business is going, what’s worked, what hasn’t, and I really appreciate that honesty. And it’s something I recommend to all of my introvert friends because you really do Badi quite ambitious. And I think it’s really important to see role models out there doing that. So thanks for all your work on the podcast.

35:11
So I love what Emma shared there. And it reminded me that the other thing that the podcast has given me is the practice, the practice of being honest and open about what I’m experimenting with in public, because it’s not easy to publicly show up for something in business, knowing that people might be able to see you fail. And sidenote, I have learned that often, it’s actually the fear of being seen to fail, that is often more present for a lot of us than the fear of actually failing itself. So over the years, I have shared many, many episodes, when I talk about the ways in which I’ve messed up. There’s episode 98. When I shared about my bad launch all my all of my yearly review episodes where I share the shiny stuff, and the less shiny stuff. There’s episode 90 on my complicated relationship with social media, Episode 74, on upper limit problems when I had a best month, Episode 64, on the things I would have shared with myself, when I first started getting visible, Episode Six on always being scared. And this is just to name a few. By the way, if you want everything, it’s all in the book, and I’m going to make a playlist of these episodes as well. And I’ll be honest with you here, sometimes I do wait until I figured something out before I share it. And that is okay. But sometimes sharing something we don’t feel is perfect can be such an empowering thing to do, basically a way for us to own what is happening, to recognise that we still have power in that moment, even when it feels like we don’t have any control. And to bring some to feel some sense of control in this situation by saying out loud and talking about it. And I hope that people’s comments about these honest shares, like the people who sent me feedback, saying that my honesty was something that encouraged them the most, I hope that that will encourage you to share if you’re feeling nervous about sharing something so honestly, as well. And just here’s another bit of feedback from Lisa, who mentioned the honesty thing as well.

37:08
Hi, Ruth, it’s Lisa, therapy in the shed. So I wanted to share my thoughts on your podcast as it comes to an end. Just really wanted to say what a rich and affirming resource it’s been for me, and I’m genuinely excited to see what you do next. So what have I most valued, our most valued, for sure your willingness to share all your messy learnings that you’ve experienced along the way. Your courage to be deeply visible on the stuff that didn’t go as planned has been refreshing. And I’ve also really appreciated with your candour and showing your community how you’ve grown and evolved as a result of all the experiment in that you’ve done over the last few years, and that’s just been so cool to see that you are now kind of emerging, evolving, repositioning yourself. And I think if anything that must be so so valuable to so many people to see that work, like literally as it’s happening. So yeah, I just wanted to say it’s been an absolute joy to listen to, it’s made running on the treadmill and longer car journeys, not feel so onerous. That’s my usual listening spots. And I just wanted to say thank you. I really appreciate your generosity and putting that out to the world. And I will be looking out for your next thing, your next podcast.

38:36
And honestly, the biggest gift of doing things you didn’t think you were capable of, is that knowing that you are so much more capable than you thought you do something you realise you don’t die, and you learn and retrain your brain. And you know, that you are so much more capable than you thought. And you know that you don’t even know what you’re going to do with that yet. It’s so exciting. It just expands the possibilities. So, so much. And I know I’ve talked about this before in Episode 93, to be precise, but what the term quietly ambitious really means to me, is being honest and open with yourself about what you really want, not what you should want, what you really want in your heart and then opening yourself up to the possibilities of how that might happen. And I have a lovely clip from Alana, kind of all about this really

39:31
shaver Ruth, it’s Alana here. Yeah, I would love to tell you about how the term quietly ambitious, allowed me to reconnect with my ambition. After it felt like I would never be able to do the things I wanted to do in life due to living with a chronic illness. It came at exactly the right time and it allowed me to gently step into my ambition. Again, and look at the things all the things that I’ve always wanted to do, or you know, have had on my list to do for so long and, and start to take tiny micro steps towards them, allow myself to own them again, and, and not have that thought of, well, if I, you know, can’t even get control of my health however I’m I meant to achieve anything in my life. And it allowed me to know that I can have a chronic illness and I can be ambitious and have dreams and desires and go after them in life. So yeah, that’s really what the term quietly ambitious has meant to me over the years. And I thank you for bringing it into my life. And I’m gonna do a cheeky blog, as you said, that was all cool. So for anybody who lives with chronic illness and is looking for a way to bring it into their life, as something that they can utilise, and understand, and that allows them to tap into the wisdom that their body holds. My name is Alana Holloway, I am a chronic illness coach. And my website is Alana holloway.com. Thank you.

41:18
And I love how Vanessa in this next clip also shared that finding a way to set big goals that really aligned to her was one of the key takeaways from the podcast. And the episode she mentioned in this one, by the way was 103.

41:33
Hi, everyone, my name is Vanessa from normal systems.com. I wanted to say thank you to both for her podcast. And in particular one episode. It was episode number 103, from zero to five figure months how I had built up both my online businesses from zero. And there’s one key thing that I really loved in that episode. And it was talking about when you’re building from zero, making sure that wherever you’re at your business, so your ecosystem and everything else can support three times what you’re doing now. And it was just a lovely, gentle way to hear that. Because so often anything about scaling comes with that very tech burr hustle thing, which is not my style at all. And it was just really lovely. I’ve heard stuff before but hearing it from birth, and in the context of this episode, it just, it just is one of those times where it’s sunk in for me. And that sort of thing is something that really appreciate. So thank you for this good luck with the next podcast and everything else you have going on.

42:35
So after all of that, why am I ending the podcast if it means so much to me if it means so much to the listeners, and what is next. So when I fully let go of my first business in 2020, after having been winding it down for a couple of years, I learned the lesson that you can feel more than one thing at once about a thing that you do now, it was kind of a different sort of ending because I had known for a long time that I was working to move away from what I was doing in that business. But I still had so much gratitude for what I had created. And it was only at the point of ending it that I really took the time to appreciate it I had been so focused for so long on getting away from it that I had forgotten all of the incredible stuff about it. Now obviously, I’m pleased to say this is not the case with the podcast and actually deciding to end it has been difficult because I am aware of so much of the good stuff about it. But I will say that the practice of putting this final episode together and yes, it definitely has taken me longer than I had planned. It’s definitely become more than I planned to do with all of these clips. But actually, it’s been the very best experience and I actually shared in my Facebook group, as I was putting this together that we don’t give ourselves enough recognition, we absolutely don’t like going through all of your comments, listening to the clips. realising how far I’ve come with the podcast has given me the chance to really honour what I have created here. And it is incredible. It is incredible in so many ways, especially given just how afraid I was when I started. But anyway, I just want to encourage anyone listening to take the time to fully honour what you’re doing. Because if you don’t pause, you will not realise how far you’ve come like I did not realise how far I’d come until I paused and looked at this. And you probably have something now that your past self would have been very, very grateful to have anyway, I have not answered the question of why it’s coming to an end. So I just want to say that maybe I did share this in one of the other episodes, but the process of putting my book together which like I said, a lot of it was based on some of the episodes of the podcast really helped me to reflect on this journey. And what that book really showed me is that I feel like that book is a chapter of the journey. It’s a chapter of the story, right. And I feel like I’m ready for the next chapter. And I could absolutely continue sharing on the quiet ly ambitious podcast. And obviously, over time I have changed and I have evolved. And you, you can see that if you have listened to the podcast for a while, or if you go back and listen to the archives now. So it’s not that I couldn’t continue here. It’s just that it felt right to bring it to a proper close and to start something with a blank slate. And it doesn’t sound very strategic does it? Like I had the feeling that it’s right. But you know, this is a huge part of the way I run my business. I’m a huge part of the strategy. I love following a process. And I’m massively into following my intuition and what feels aligned. And I just had this nagging feeling that quite the ambitious for me was a chapter and that chapter is coming to a close, you know, it’s not a full break, because a break away, because the podcast is still here, the book is still here, people are still going to listen to it. But I see it as chapter one. And whatever’s coming next is chapter two. So interestingly enough, as soon as I made the decision and set out the plan in motion, decided when it would all wrap up. I had so many ideas, I have so many ideas for the next podcast, I have loads of name ideas, I have loads of episode ideas. And I’m really, really excited. And I think what I said earlier about how although I created this podcast, and I you know, control what goes into it, the podcast has become a thing of itself. So this, I think, is another reason why it just feels energetically right, to close this chapter and then to feel into the vibe of the next one. Okay, so that’s why I’m letting it go. It’s nothing to do with not enjoying it. It’s nothing to do with not wanting to podcast because I do. There is a small element of me that no element of decision, I should say that is about practical logistics because I have been really I used to have much more of a specific process and was much more organised about it. And I’ve definitely been doing it a lot more. I can think of the word but just haphazardly is that the word? I’ve been doing it more haphazardly, lately. And, and I feel like you know, I don’t I don’t want to show up for the podcast in that way. I don’t feel like it’s doing it justice. I don’t feel like recording episodes last minute is the good way to do it and not having a plan for the season. It’s not that I have everything planned out. But yeah, so there is that part of me that is looking forward to a fresh start with the way that I do it. But again, I could have continued doing this podcast and just and just got it on on better track. So it’s not really about that there is an element of me that is excited about a clean slate with that. But yeah, it’s mainly just to do with my intuition, the energy that the podcast has in itself, and going into a new podcast that has a slightly different energy is still going to be me still going to be me talking about all the stuff to do with the way I imperfectly experiment in my business. So it’s not going to be hugely different. But I do feel like there’ll be a different energy to it. And if you get it, you get it, you know what I mean? And if you don’t, that’s fine. But that is my process. I’m going to share with you how we can keep in touch but I have one more clip that I want to share from Ava before I do.

48:25
Hi, this is Eva. I’m the founder and I’m the motherhood and pop parent coach under my company called the curious mama. And I’ve been listening to quietly ambitious podcasts for the past two years plus, and it has really helped me to understand that I can tap into my own superpower and magic of myself, me as a business owner as a introvert in this space of online business world where there’s a lot of broad marketing techniques, and it’s full of bias and noise. And I think listening to the episode has really made me to kind of ponder about how I can build the business in a way that honours me. Honest sensitivity honours my energy and in terms of honours my capacity as a mom to two beautiful children and also person who believes that I need to design my life in a way that reflects my values and also reflects the way that supports what’s happening my life right now. So yeah, I’m really sad that Callie ambitious is closing. But I’m really, really happy for Ruth. We look forward to what’s going to be happening in the next question of a new series of podcasts. Thank you for being such an inspiration.

50:19
And oh my goodness, can I just say that there’s really something special about firstly, shamelessly asking for support and asking for testimonials, memories kind words, it can feel like taking up a lot of space. And I know that it looks it can look easy when you see someone else doing it. But the process of actually doing it yourself can feel a lot. So I just wanted to share that. And I also wanted to say, as these messages have been coming in, I’ve really tried to fully receive them in my body. So I’m not talking about just like listening quickly and be like, Oh, that’s nice, but like, how does it feel for people to say these kind words about something that I’ve created, and that really is a powerful experience, and I think that being able to fully receive kind words and testimonials from people is a practice that helps us you know, build our muscle for receiving in general. So I just wanted to mention that. Okay, so how can you keep in touch? How can you find out when the next podcast is coming out? So, the best the very best way to keep in touch is via my email newsletter, that is Ruth poundwhite.com forward slash newsletter. My newsletter is the hub of everything I do whenever I’m doing something new. I will always tell you about it at my newsletter. If you want to follow along on social media, I am at Ruth Poundwhite on why did the Why did the name of the platform just leave my brain right then I’m at Ruth Poundwhite on Instagram. If you want to join the Facebook group, you have to be a buyer but I do have really cheap stuff. I should say really good value stuff. Low price, good value. You can get like my $10 affirmations. If you go to Ruth poundwhite.com forward slash everything, just buy whatever from there and then you will get an invite to the private Facebook group. And where else I’m also on Tik Tok a little bit but I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know where that’s going. But you can follow me on Tik Tok as well, please do. And before we wrap up this final episode, I wanted to share some words of wisdom for anyone who might be finding it hard to show up right now. Because I think really when I look back over 130 episodes of the podcast that is one of the key things that comes through for me like just how much I showed up for this thing. And like I said, I have done it imperfectly. I have been doing it haphazardly at times. But it is incredible, to consistently show up for something and then at the end of it, you have an incredible body of work. So I just wanted to share these words of wisdom in case you’re finding it hard to show up or in case you genuinely find it hard to show up consistently. Or if you find it too much. Here is a clip from Episode 69 Where 10 online business owners all people who had been guests on the show shared their words of wisdom for how to keep showing up even when it’s hard and honestly this podcast is proof that it is so so worth it and that you never know where it is going to lead you.

53:22
I think the best way you can show up in your business is the best of yourself on a given day. You have to trust that people are seeing your work and benefiting from your work even when they’re not validating you externally

53:36
forgiving myself for the fact that I don’t have 24/7 motivation.

53:40
Your story’s important and the world needs to hear it.

53:46
So thank you for being here and keep doing what you’re doing because your work really does matter.