363 4 Business Lessons That Changed Everything for Me
What it really takes to build momentum
that lasts.
In this episode, Kelsey is sharing four of the biggest business lessons she has learned over the past 7+ years of running my personal brand and consulting agency.
These aren’t just strategies, they’re mindset shifts that have shaped how she navigates both work and life.
From staying consistent without burning out, to making space for personal wins (not just business ones), she’s pulling back the curtain on what’s really helped her stay grounded and inspired, even when things get hard.
She also chats about the magic of showing up as your full, authentic self and how leaning into an abundance mindset can open way more doors than you'd expect.
She also chats about:
Why your podcast doesn’t have to be polished to be powerful
How letting your audience into your world creates unshakable trust
The secret sauce behind why people actually hire you (hint: it’s not just your credentials)
The power of genuine referrals and how to start making them more intentionally
A simple abundance mindset shift that changes how you show up for your community
Episode Time Stamps:
[02:27] The danger of perfectionism and why it’s better to just start
[07:15] Business Lesson #1 - Win in life while building your business
[12:00] Business Lesson #2 -Balancing consistency vs alignment
[18:44] Business Lesson #3 - Why your brand should sound like you
[24:47] Business Lesson #4 - Living with an abundance mindset and the power of referrals
To connect with Kelsey:
Access the transcript for this episode:
-
Hey Visionaries, welcome back to a solo episode of the podcast.
01:01
I'm super excited to be here with you today after sharing a couple weeks of incredible interviews.
01:07
But I really keep hearing from you guys that the solo shows are the ones that hit different and I want to give you guys more of those.
01:15
So goal is to do at least one or two solo episodes per month and sometimes I have these totally scripted out.
01:23
Other times I am just off the cuff chatting with you guys, sharing whatever comes through me, channeling the things that are on my mind, topics of the day.
01:34
And my truest hope is that if it interests me or if I'm feeling fired up or feisty about something, that perhaps it interests you as well.
01:45
And I really do believe that the only reason I have not burned out from doing this podcast.
01:52
350 episodes, 7 years recording interviews, recording solos, editing it, mostly myself.
02:01
The only reason I'm still here is because I do what feels good.
02:05
I mean, I think there's this notion that we have to have everything perfect before we put it out to the world.
02:11
We have to ask a million questions before we start the podcast.
02:15
We're like, OK, do I have a good?
02:18
Call to action.
02:19
Is my hook OK?
02:20
Is my cover art perfect?
02:22
What about the title?
02:24
Is this edited properly?
02:26
Did I say too many ums?
02:27
And it's like, well, if you keep getting caught in that spiral of wanting it to be perfect, trying to alter it to the point where you're driving yourself insane, you might not love it anymore.
02:41
And that's when you quit and you quit before it gets good.
02:45
And so.
02:46
My biggest piece of advice to anyone who's wanting to try something new, who's starting.
02:50
Maybe you're gonna start posting on LinkedIn and you're like, oh, I should buy this new LinkedIn training and I should learn everything there is to know.
02:59
No, just go post.
03:02
Scroll LinkedIn, add a bunch of your friends, add your colleagues, add the people who you look up to.
03:08
Look at how they're doing.
03:09
If they're getting tons of engagement, they have incredible performance.
03:14
Then that's going to tell you everything you need to know.
03:18
You don't need to learn from the people who aren't actively practicing the thing that you want to do.
03:24
So go find someone who's a practitioner of whatever you're doing.
03:27
If you want to start a podcast, listen to one of the top podcasts or not even the top.
03:31
Like go listen to someone who is also in your industry, who's also hosting a podcast and just hear what they're doing.
03:38
And then what I want you to do is actually say.
03:41
What did I like about their podcast and what didn't I like?
03:45
This is actually the whole catalyst to why I started the Visionary Life podcast 10 years ago or seven years ago.
03:51
But I started listening to podcast 1015 years ago and I remember listening to some of them thinking, wait, like, I don't even really think this person's doing a great job.
04:04
I think I could do better.
04:05
Their audio quality's horrible.
04:07
The thoughts that they have on these topics, I could do that.
04:10
I could interview someone.
04:12
I'm just as curious as they are, maybe more.
04:15
And I had this nagging feeling that even though I didn't have a background in podcasting or journalism or media or sound production or sound engineering, all the things, I did have a deep curiosity and a deep reverence and love for the art of podcasting.
04:34
Podcasts kept me.
04:36
So motivated.
04:37
They made me feel so connected when I moved to Toronto in my 20s and was kind of rebuilding my network from scratch.
04:46
I would put my headphones in while I was taking the subway places.
04:50
I put my headphones in while I was biking downtown to go to the gym.
04:55
I put my headphones in while I was running on the treadmill.
04:58
Like it was just while I was walking my dog, everything.
05:03
It made me feel so much more connected and inspired.
05:07
And in those early stages of starting a business, I felt like it was so valuable to pop a podcast in my ear.
05:15
And really, that was the catalyst for me saying, you know what, I want to start one of these selfishly.
05:19
I wanted to talk to cool people, pick people's brains.
05:23
And so I did it.
05:24
So yeah, I mean.
05:26
Of course, there are things that we do need to have professional training on, but if you're somebody who has a curiosity, who's excited to potentially learn by doing, I think that's a beautiful skill set to have.
05:40
OK, you're going to hear some beeping.
05:42
I'm walking on my treadmill right now, but I'm realizing, oh, that's really hard while recording a podcast.
05:47
So even though I I want to get lots of movement in today because otherwise it's kind of a crappy day outside.
05:54
Maybe this isn't the time to get my steps in.
05:58
OK, so we're going to pause it and we're just going to record together just like this.
06:03
All right, I'm back.
06:04
I caught my breath.
06:06
I remember I once listened to a podcast where both hosts, there was an interview and they were both walking on treadmills and it was so distracting.
06:13
And so here I am thinking that I could get away with it with you guys, but I really can't.
06:18
I can walk the rest of the day.
06:19
It's all good.
06:20
I saw this really funny Instagram reel.
06:23
It was from Health Nut Nutrition and it basically said like on the days when I'm beating myself up for not being active, I realize I'm a mom, I'm always active.
06:33
And it's this video of her chasing her toddlers and like getting up and getting down and making snacks.
06:39
And like, you know, even on the days when I don't have a formal workout planned, I just think being a parent is.
06:46
One of the most active pursuits of my life.
06:49
It keeps me fed, so perhaps I don't need to be walking on the treadmill.
06:53
All right, you guys.
06:54
So today I'm just going to be sharing a handful of business lessons that I wish I had learned sooner.
07:01
Things that have struck A chord with me over the past many years and that I feel a duty to share forward.
07:10
So let's get into business lesson #1.
07:15
OK, business lesson #1 is to live your life and win in your life while you're starting your business.
07:24
It might be tempting when you're excited about starting your business, about being in a launch season, to just like go all in and work, work, work and to kind of put your hobbies aside and to not make space and time for personal achievements.
07:40
And then.
07:42
When hard days happen in your business, and believe me, they happen, you start to feel like you're not winning anywhere.
07:50
And the truth is, growing a business is hard.
07:52
Making sure all your clients are happy and that everything is pushing forward is a huge pursuit.
07:59
And so instead of putting so, so much pressure on the business and needing to get your validation, your wins, your successes only out of work.
08:10
I would highly suggest ensuring you have hobbies that you are training for something or pursuing some accolade or some personal meaningful project outside of work.
08:24
I really think that if you are winning in life then you are going to be so much more motivated and steady within your business and.
08:35
Some examples of how I do this in my own life.
08:37
Number one, like a small win could be that I keep my sourdough starter alive and that I love baking.
08:43
And if I gift myself an hour while Freddie naps to bake some sourdough discard banana chocolate chip muffins, to me that's winning.
08:53
Last year I decided to sign up for a four hour solo mountain bike race.
08:59
Personally, I love athletics as a way to boost my confidence and win.
09:03
I've always been a very active person.
09:05
It just brings me so much joy.
09:07
It's how I do a lot of my processing.
09:09
I think it's my own version of therapy if I'm being 100% honest.
09:13
And I signed up for a mountain bike race and that helped me to feel so much confidence that really rippled into my business.
09:21
There are so many different ways you can win.
09:23
It's going to look different for all of us.
09:25
But make sure that you have a few things where you feel like you're progressing, you're growing, you're succeeding, so that even on the challenging days, even in the harder seasons of business, you are winning.
09:39
I feel like I often get this comment that I'm a very balanced person, that I'm one of the most consistent people that people have ever met before and.
09:52
I don't think it's that I'm doing much different than the average person, but I think it's that I never place too much emphasis on any area of my life.
10:02
I'm never like measuring my success or my joy in business.
10:07
I'm never so obsessed with like training for cycling that I abandoned everything else.
10:13
I really try not to get too hung up if I have done all my meal prep or I haven't done it all.
10:19
I really try not to.
10:20
Put all of my eggs in one basket, so to speak.
10:24
And instead I really just try to like flow through the week with a a confidence and a balance between my personal life, my hobbies, my family, and try not to ruminate if something is not going perfectly.
10:41
So I think this is more of just like that stoic mentality, like the high highs, the low lows.
10:47
We try to be consistent, but we also want to live in alignment.
10:50
But I think if you're constantly checking in with yourself to say, where do I want to bring more joy into my life?
10:55
Where am I maybe ruminating or placing too much emphasis and tying my worth up in something?
11:02
These are maybe like deep thoughts, right?
11:04
For the journal, for your meditations.
11:07
But I really do think that in finding things to win with every single day and.
11:14
In a simple reframe too, it's like do the things that bring you joy every day.
11:19
Don't just save those for two weeks of vacation.
11:23
Don't just win in a big launch or in a season where you had a really successful month.
11:28
Find the wins in your business every single day.
11:31
There's always something that you can do to feel like you've progressed or sparked.
11:38
Creation or motion in the business.
11:40
And I think if we don't find those things, then nobody's really finding them for us when we are solopreneurs.
11:46
So lesson #1, make sure you're winning in multiple areas of your life, not just in your business.
11:54
OK, business lesson #2, I kind of alluded to it in #1 is this concept of consistency versus alignment.
12:03
And it almost has like a masculine, feminine energy to it.
12:06
Consistency is more like in the masculine everyday we must output the same amount, be consistent whether you feel good or bad.
12:16
And there's parts of that story that I do align with in the sense that like if I have a coaching call booked, I'm going to be consistently 110% for others, no matter how I'm actually doing outside of my office, I really believe.
12:30
And having that consistent energy that someone else can count on because they have paid a lot of money for a session.
12:37
There's also the other end of the spectrum, which is living in alignment.
12:41
So you may have committed to posting five days a week on Instagram and you're really feeling like you want to be consistent.
12:48
But if it starts to feel out of alignment, you may decide like it's not for me or I am going to deviate from this original goal of posting four or five times a week.
12:58
And so I think this is a really important conversation for all business owners is where am I at in that balance of consistency, which is going to help grow the business, make sure there's structure.
13:10
We need a strong foundation to grow any sort of business and alignment of like listening to what your heart wants and and following what is working, what isn't, what's bringing out the best in you,
15:12
Let me share a couple examples and stories around this consistency.
15:17
OK, I talk about this all the time, but I have had the podcast for over 7 years.
15:23
I've recorded.
15:24
350 episodes or even Instagram.
15:27
I've been on Instagram since 2013, so that's 12 years now.
15:31
I've been posting consistently.
15:32
I have over like 3000 or thirty-five 100 posts.
15:36
That's a lot.
15:37
Have I wanted to record a podcast each week?
15:40
Have I wanted to be on Instagram every single week for the last 13 years?
15:45
Not necessarily.
15:46
However, I have a business goal, right?
15:49
Like.
15:50
Yeah, I'm constantly wanting to grow myself, grow my brand, reach more people, extend my network, extend my impact.
15:59
So it's a strategic business decision to be consistent and to sit down and produce content.
16:06
And lucky for me, I love what I do.
16:09
I love what I talk about.
16:10
So it is in alignment.
16:12
But I also have to exercise that muscle.
16:15
Like, would I rather be out biking right now instead of recording this podcast?
16:19
You better believe it.
16:20
But did I go biking for 3 1/2 hours last night with all my friends?
16:23
And then we came here after we had drinks in my backyard at the picnic table.
16:28
Yeah, we did.
16:29
And so could I be biking right now?
16:31
I absolutely could.
16:33
But the consistency of saying I will show up for this podcast, having a podcast editor that I owe this episode to, I'm going to show up, right?
16:42
So we can put those structures in place so that we're not always leaning into, well, it feels more in alignment to just, you know.
16:48
Sit on my back deck and have an espresso right now.
16:52
But of course there's the alignment piece, right?
16:54
I think always checking in, like, am I happy with what I'm doing and making those minor tweaks without totally burning things down?
17:03
This is where I think alignment can be detrimental to a business owner.
17:07
And hey, if you want a lifestyle business, if you don't have financial pressures right now, just do everything in alignment.
17:13
That's the goal.
17:14
But if you have a certain financial need, if you have a business in mind or an empire you're building or built, you're building something to sell, then you can't just fall back on, well, it's not in alignment or it's not feeling good today.
17:32
So next time you show up for any marketing, for any business event, ask like, does this feel like something I'm just showing up for or is it truly something I want to be doing?
17:43
Before you buy an online course about, you know, getting on Pinterest like a very specific social media platform because some online guru told you to do it, ask yourself like, is this an alignment for me?
17:55
Will I be consistent posting on Pinterest if I really just don't care for the platform?
18:02
So.
18:03
There are many things that I don't do because they simply don't feel aligned and I know I won't be consistent with them.
18:10
Like using many chats right now, it's just not aligned for my business strategy.
18:16
I'm not on Pinterest.
18:17
I don't do text message marketing.
18:19
I don't do meta ads right now.
18:20
I don't do a lot of things because I I want to be consistent with the things that I am doing and I think that.
18:30
Requires you to admit to yourself that you can't do it all and that it's OK to just be consistent with a few platforms versus trying to be all of the places.
18:39
Business lesson #3 is actually inspired by a recent conversation that I had with a client.
18:44
This particular client is actually starting a podcast, which always makes me so excited and they were asking.
18:53
Like, do I have to be super polished and professional?
18:57
And am I allowed to share personal things in this podcast?
19:03
And I thought for a second, like, well, you can do it however you want, which is pretty cool about podcasting.
19:09
You can literally just sit down with a microphone and see what comes through like I do.
19:13
But I also think that.
19:15
In the context of a podcast for someone who's running a coaching business working very intimately with their clients, there's this incredibly unique opportunity to share beyond the professional white button-up jacket or share beyond the power suit that they normally wear in their meetings, and instead to open up about really anything and everything that's on their mind because.
19:45
Podcasts often act as something that people tune into once they've already bumped into your brand.
19:52
So here's what I mean by that.
19:54
Somebody might have found you through a friend.
19:58
Maybe their friend hired you as a coach, and that coach is saying, oh, like, you absolutely need to work with my friend Monica.
20:05
She's an incredible executive coach.
20:08
So that person's like, well, OK, I have been wanting to hire an executive coach.
20:13
So they Google Monica's business coach's name or executive coach's name, or I don't even know who Monica is anymore.
20:20
OK, I got confused.
20:21
But anyways, they end up on Google.
20:23
They find your website.
20:24
They go to your website.
20:25
They're like, yeah, this is totally the coach that I need.
20:28
They see you have a podcast.
20:29
They decide to tune in to a couple of your recent episodes.
20:33
What are they listening for here?
20:35
Well, they're listening for somebody who is teaching on the subject matter at hand.
20:39
Sure.
20:40
They're looking for somebody who potentially, in this case of an executive coach, is professional, has experience, clearly has the tools in order to advance this person's career or whatever their goal is.
20:51
And they're probably looking for someone that they that they vibe with, who has good energy.
20:56
And you guys, I'm not even joking the amount of times that somebody has said to me when I asked them like, why did you hire me, even though I know they met with three or four other business coaches.
21:07
They'll say, I don't know, I just, I felt your, I felt your energy was good or I just had a good feeling about you or I really liked your vibes.
21:16
I like the vibes of your website.
21:19
What does this tell us?
21:20
It tells us that what we do is so much more than our expertise.
21:24
It's not just being 100% let me talk about my subject matter, but instead cracking into the personal stories, the insights, the things.
21:35
That make us uniquely us.
21:37
Because I'll tell you, there are hundreds of thousands of business coaches.
21:42
There are hundreds of thousands of nutritionists out there.
21:44
There's hundreds of thousands of mortgage brokers out there.
21:48
So unless you decide to do it differently, unless you decide to maybe share a little bit more about what lights you up, makes you tick.
21:57
Maybe you have chickens in your backyard and a veggie garden.
21:59
Talk about that.
22:01
You don't need to make an episode around that because that's not what the podcast is about.
22:04
But lead in with a story about tending to your garden and how that's related to executive coaching that you do.
22:13
I do this all the time in my show, so if you're a long time listener of Visionary Life, you know I talk about it all.
22:18
I shared my birth story on this podcast because at its core, I just want you to know all facets of me.
22:25
I want you to know that I'm willing to show up.
22:27
I'm willing to follow my heart and my gut and also create content that I feel is meaningful.
22:34
And honestly, I create for an audience of one, which is me.
22:37
Does it make me happy?
22:39
Yes.
22:40
Do I have more structured content?
22:42
Yes.
22:42
Do I have calls to action on my emails?
22:45
Do I have ad reads in this podcast?
22:46
Yes.
22:46
But at the end of the day, if I'm not happy with the content I'm creating.
22:50
It's just gonna all fall flat or I'm not gonna do it right.
22:54
So what I would say is don't be afraid to bring yourself into the brand, to share parts of you that of course the ones that you feel comfortable with.
23:04
I don't think you ever need to disclose vulnerable details.
23:07
Not at all.
23:08
There's different levels of how we want to show up online, but don't be afraid to let us in on a little bit of behind the scenes.
23:15
Share what is exciting to you right now, what you're learning about.
23:20
To me, that's so much more interesting than like five ways to have a structured landing page that converts.
23:28
There's a time and place for me to dig into that content, but so much more these days.
23:32
I'm tuning into people who are just riffing and sharing their stories and laughing and bringing a light-hearted energy to the Internet.
23:41
So there you have it.
23:42
That's lesson #3.
23:44
We're going to close out with one final lesson.
23:47
This one was brought to me by a meditation I was listening to.
23:51
I'm kind of off my meditation game, I'm not going to lie.
23:55
But the other day I started to feel that little stress creep in.
23:59
I started to feel the, I don't know, maybe it was just too much on my plate, a lot, a lot in my cluttered brain.
24:06
And so I was like, OK, I got to go sit on the back porch.
24:10
Put in my meditation I listened to What did I listen to?
24:14
Bob Proctor featured on I think it was on the Jay Shetty or On Purpose podcast.
24:22
Regardless, I ended up listening to this beautiful Bob Proctor abundance meditation and I really love the Deepak 21 Day Abundance Challenge.
24:32
So if you haven't done that, go check it out.
24:34
It's free on Spotify.
24:36
And that really introduced me just to this mentality, this mindset around abundance of knowing that there is enough to go around at any given time, and that all the proof we need that there is enough for everybody is to look outside and to see the infinite leaves on the tree, to stare up at the sky and see how infinite the sky is, to look at the river.
25:03
And notice that it never stops flowing.
25:06
It's never running out of water to look at the blades of grass and to just see like they're they're constantly sprouting right now.
25:13
All of the flowers, all of the tree buds are blooming.
25:17
There is abundance everywhere and how this relates to business.
25:22
I am somebody who doesn't default to giving referrals very often.
25:26
I don't know what it is like.
25:28
I'm not always walking around thinking.
25:31
OK, who can I refer that person to?
25:32
Or oh, I just met this person, who can I connect them to?
25:36
But I noticed like people do that for me and and it makes me upset that I'm not doing that for others.
25:42
And and even just recently, like one of my friends, Michael, he voice noted me on Facebook and he's like, hey, I was just chatting with this person, Vanessa, and I she's looking for someone like you.
25:52
Can I introduce you guys?
25:53
And I was like, yes.
25:55
And that happens and I'm so incredibly grateful to have a business.
25:59
And to have a a service that is referrable, people refer me to a lot of marketing projects.
26:07
And then I thought, wait, do I like reciprocate this amount of referrals?
26:11
And the answer that came to me was no, not enough.
26:14
And So what I did was as I went about my last couple of weeks, I kept asking in conversations, in coaching calls, who could I refer this person to?
26:24
I got on a conference call with a.
26:30
A team, we'll call it in Ontario, who's putting on a conference and they picked me to speak at one of their events.
26:37
But then I thought, oh, they have another really big event.
26:39
I wonder if they're looking for a keynote speaker cause I know someone.
26:42
I know.
26:42
I wonder if they're looking for an MC cause I know someone.
26:45
I wonder if they're looking for someone to facilitate a workshop on social media cause I know someone.
26:51
And I tried to keep that mentality over the past couple of weeks and I think I've made about 5 or 6 referrals and my goal is to keep on doing that.
27:00
It feels good for the soul.
27:01
Life gives to the giver.
27:03
Referrals are such a beautiful way to grow your business.
27:07
So just to know that people are out there and that your messaging is clear enough that people can refer you, I think is a beautiful thing, but it is a total mindset shift.
27:15
So here's your prompt if you have not made a referral or a connection lately.
27:20
Give it a shot, right?
27:21
There are a few people who are always popping into my mind now for referrals, and it just makes me realize, like, if you're good at connecting with people, if you're always keeping in touch, if you're always showing up, you will get referrals.
27:35
So not only should you make referrals, but also just create content, show up, voice note your your close business friends and see if there's any referrals on the other side for you.
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