Podcast Introduction:
[00:00:00] Elizabeth: I took the time to really understand what focuses me and lights me up. As I said before, you have to figure that same thing out for yourself. Each person has something that they have experienced that they've been through that they can teach others or help consulting on businesses or something like that. We all have it in us. It's a matter of taking the risk, putting ourselves out there and not let take getting some of those limiting beliefs out there.
[00:00:30] Aneta: We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life, but what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead, it's the breath depth and purpose of each day that matters most? Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian Kuzma and join me weekly as I interview guests who made changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention. Gratitude and joy be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.
[00:01:04] Aneta: Thank you for joining me again on the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My guest today is Elizabeth Coluby. Elizabeth Coluby's mission as a marketing coach and consultant is to help a thousand business owners craft clear impactful marketing that attracts their ideal clients and to have the confidence to take action.
[00:01:24] Aneta: She draws on over 20 years of experience in marketing and financial services and technology products. Elizabeth has a BS in applied economics from Cornell and an MBA in marketing in Latin America from Thunderbird. She is a citizen of the world. She lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. Previously, she lived in Taiwan, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, and eight U. S. states. Elizabeth speaks Spanish, some Portuguese, and a little Mandarin, and is learning Italian. She loves to travel, watch foreign movies, connects with people on a personal level, and help businesses succeed.
[00:02:01] Aneta: We had so many interesting conversations today, just really talking about her own journey. In the corporate world to entrepreneurship. How she found her niche, why she is so passionate about helping small business owners craft their messages, and marketing in general. We really talk about fears that she's had to overcome fears that I've overcome as well. Moving into the entrepreneur space. I think you're really going to enjoy the conversation today. Take a listen.
Podcast Interview:
[00:02:30] Aneta: Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining me today. It's so nice to have you with me.
[00:02:35] Elizabeth: Absolutely. I'm so excited to be here.
[00:02:38] Aneta: Well, I've been so looking forward to our conversation because you and I, we've known each other for years. We used to work together, but you have so many exciting things that are happening in your life right now. And I would love for you to start at the beginning and share with us a little bit about your experience and your journey all along the way.
[00:03:01] Elizabeth: Where do I start? Let's see. So we met about five years ago when I joined the most recent bank, but I've been with banking for about 30 years and in marketing for more than 20 of those years.
[00:03:14] Elizabeth: And what happens in banking often every couple of years is they have layoffs. So I got caught up in the most recent layoffs in March and took a moment we were already working together a little bit, but took a moment to reflect and say, okay, what do next? I'm 59 years old this year and I've had a long career in banking, but what do I want to do?
[00:03:39] Elizabeth: And really it came to me that I love marketing. I love talking about marketing. I can talk about marketing all day long. I love teaching people little things about how to do marketing because so many business owners have their specialty and they're so afraid of marketing, and marketing is only communicating what you do.
[00:04:01] Elizabeth: So it's a matter of getting that message really clear and knowing who your target audiences are and things like that. And so I decided that in this next wave of my life, I am going to work with business owners and help them craft clear impactful marketing messages that really attract their ideal clients. And then have the confidence to take action because a lot of us have limiting beliefs that stop us from actually taking action. So it's sort of a little bit of both of what I want to do in this next phase of my life.
[00:04:34] Aneta: Yeah, I love it. And I think it's such a natural fit for you. And I guess the question I have is when was the last time before a couple of months ago where you asked you sat with yourself, did the reflection, and said, what do I really want to do? Like, how long ago do you think that actually was?
[00:04:52] Elizabeth: I mean, I did it superficially many times over the years but then my limiting beliefs, my fears would come up and I wouldn't necessarily make a change. I make little changes, but I've been working on my own limiting my beliefs and imposter syndrome for years. Spent a lot of money on it and I've made huge progress, but each time I'd go to that fear place and get another job or accept what was ever offered to me. And this is the 1st time I'm sort of saying, no more. I need to do something different for my soul, and for myself, and bring my full self to everything I do every day. So I'm having fun so far.
[00:05:37] Aneta: Well, I can tell that you're having fun in the process and I want to talk a little bit about the marketing piece, but first I do want to tap into something that you said about sharing that you had limiting beliefs. I find this over and over again. I had it for years. My clients, so many of them have the same sort of doubts or worries or stories that we tell ourselves. But knowing you and working with you, I never ever would have guessed. And so I wonder how many of us are walking around with these masks where we seem confident and we are confident of course. But we still are doubting ourselves in the process.
[00:06:17] Aneta: And so what have you found working with some of your own clients now as you're working with small business owners or others who are getting their business off the ground, do you feel like they're also struggling with some of the same limiting doubts or beliefs in their business?
[00:06:31] Elizabeth: Well, absolutely. So, first of all, going back as an executive at a bank, I needed to project leadership and confidence. That doesn't mean it was actually what was going on inside me. There are a lot of doubts. I was feeding into things I was being told, which may have been more reflections of the other person than me.
[00:06:51] Elizabeth: I wasn't really speaking up in all cases. Now, if you know me, you know I speak up a lot, but in a lot of cases, I wasn't speaking out because I was self-doubting and just playing small. I find that a lot of the business people I work with are really experts on their business.
[00:07:10] Elizabeth: They're an ESG, Environmental Society of Government Specialist or Manufacturing or whatever they're doing and coaching. And I have a lot of coaching clients. But they don't know how to communicate it. As I say, they sort of vomit over everybody and give the clients everything when it should actually be more like a dating situation. You should intrigue them to want to learn more.
[00:07:35] Elizabeth: You should be very clear on your messaging. Just don't tell them everything all at once. You give them little bits and pieces along the way. So that people can absorb the information, reflect on it, and then want more. And so many business people are all about themselves, which great that you've been in business for 75 years, but what does that do for me? You really should be talking about what you're doing and making them, I love the Donald Miller philosophy of making the customer. The hero of the story and they have a problem and you're trying to help them solve it. It's not about you. It's not about how long your business is, not about all the services you give. But what can you do for that one client or prospect?
[00:08:20] Aneta: Yeah. And I love that you actually bring and use that philosophy in your own messaging. You've been doing a lot of videos and posts really talking about yourself, but the services that you provide and who you work with. And it's so clear and so concise about who I serve. What will I get you? What is the pain point you're trying to overcome? So for those that aren't that familiar with the process walk us through maybe what you take people through in order to get that really clear and concise marketing message.
[00:08:51] Elizabeth: Absolutely. So what I say is my mission is, I want to help 1000 business owners craft clear impactful messaging that attracts their clients to them, to their business, and then have the confidence to take action. So what does that mean? So first of all, what are your goals? How do you set a goal? How do you set a smart goal? How do you set a stretch goal so that you know exactly what you're trying to achieve? And the stretch goal is good because you may not know how to get there, but you'll figure it out along the way.
[00:09:21] Elizabeth: And then the next thing I do is really go deep on who is your avatar. Who is that ideal client? What is their age? What do they look like? What are their motivations? What are their hobbies? What is the problem that you're trying to solve? And Get to the point where you've named them and have a picture and then I advise my clients to frame that picture and every time they're writing marketing content, you look at that picture, you're writing to that person and all the other people like that person will be attracted to the message. The challenge is people want to be everything to everybody, in a business. They want to serve everyone. And then your message is muddled because you're trying to do too many things in it and you're not speaking specifically to one person.
[00:10:08] Elizabeth: So if you can get to the point where you're like, Michelle is my avatar and that's who I'm going to speak to. And I know everything about Michelle. I know some people who name it after a real person. I know some people who name it after a movie character and some people just make it up and it doesn't matter as long as you are really clear and that person lives, and breathes in your mind and then you market to it and then, you know what channels and what messages. And how often and all of the other details come together and then it's just a matter of executing and putting your message out there.
[00:10:45] Elizabeth: So I have a current challenge. I'm not very comfortable being in front of the camera. I've always been that marketer who's planned from the back end. And so my current challenge is to do 30 videos in 30 days once a day. So I'm stretching myself and encouraging my clients to stretch themselves at the same time.
[00:11:04] Aneta: Yeah, well, I love it because the only way to really stretch ourselves, and push ourselves out of our comfort zones is to take daily action. And like anything, the first time you do it, you have so many thoughts, so many ideas, so many worries you do it. You get some positive feedback, you watch it and you're like, well, this was pretty good, but I know what I would do differently next time. And you continue to tweak and refine it. I just think that nowadays, and I don't know how you feel about this. I feel that people respond to authenticity.
[00:11:34] Elizabeth: They want real conversations. They want the real person showing up and they're not necessarily looking for everything to be so perfect or buttoned up. They want professional, but not necessarily buttoned up, which is so different. Then maybe the way we were trained in the corporate world, which was never to make any mistakes, 47 versions. All of these things. So did you feel like you had to detox or sort of untrain yourself and let go of some things that you picked up along the way into your career?
[00:12:05] Elizabeth: Absolutely. I mean, fake it till you make it. You have to be professional. You have to be polished all the time and your thoughts have to be clear and crisp.
[00:12:15] Elizabeth: And that's not real life. We're all a mess and we're all learning along the way. So I have 20 years in marketing. Does that mean I know every detail about social media? No, because my training was in other channels. So I'm learning things along the way. And the other challenge is, marketing is all about test and learning because what works one day in marketing the next day may not work.
[00:12:41] Elizabeth: Times change, channels change, clients change, the environment change, something. So you have to constantly be testing and learning to figure out what works. The other thing I've seen is I was just talking to a client last night and they had just done a masterclass and they wanted to be professional by having video and music and the slides and all these things.
[00:13:02] Elizabeth: And it didn't go as well as she wanted it to, because it wasn't her. If she had just spoken to the camera as she had done in prior masterclasses, she would have been much better off, but she was trying to do too much of the technology that got ahead of her. And, I thought it was a great try, but let's learn some lessons and go back and go, let's make it simple.
[00:13:25] Elizabeth: It's about you and you telling your message. You don't need music. You don't need slides to tell your message, in her particular case. Now, in my case where I'm trying to teach a lesson about how to do something or how to think through your avatar, I'm going to use slides. And I'm also really comfortable with them because of my corporate experience of presenting from slides. But not everybody needs them. So try and figure out what works for you and not try to mimic other people and what they're trying to do.
[00:13:54] Aneta: Yeah, sometimes I talk to folks and especially if they start a new side hustle or if they start a business after they've been in the corporate world for a while, sometimes people will say, I wish I've done this sooner, but I always feel like nothing is wasted. None of the lessons that we learned, the good and the bad things that we want to repeat things we don't want to repeat. What are some of the biggest things, the positives that you take from your corporate experience that you know that you're going to continue to use and maybe you already use in your new business?
[00:14:24] Elizabeth: I think it gives me a lot of authority and credibility. I've done this for 20 years. I can list all the new products I've developed. I can list the campaigns and their success. And because I worked at large institutions, the numbers are big in terms of touching customers or acquiring new customers and things like that. It also was great training and leadership.
[00:14:43] Elizabeth: I did a lot of training over the years on presentation skills, on leadership skills, on developing other people, which are all coming into play here and inspiring me to try and take some of those lessons that I'm now realizing how many other businesses don't necessarily do that because that was my life and sharing them along the way.
[00:15:09] Aneta: And one of the things that you said earlier is that sometimes small business owners try to be all things to all people and it's hard. And so sometimes I see individuals like you and me who come leave corporate and need to spend a little bit of time actually also getting clear because we've had so much experience because we've worked in so many different areas and we have these different skill sets. Tell me a little bit about your process where you maybe thought you wanted to focus your business in one area and got to the place where you determined, no this is really what feels really good at this moment for me.
[00:15:47] Elizabeth: Yeah, when I first got laid off, or actually just before that I was thinking I wanted to do consulting and teaching. And as I came out of it and it was an unexpected layoff, I was not anticipating it. I was talking to people about what I wanted to do and talking to administrators at universities and went, I love imparting information. Do I want to really teach at the university level? Because there's structure there, there's their timing, there's their agenda, their classes, or do I want to develop my own content?
[00:16:26] Elizabeth: So developing my own content and coaching is where I landed. It's a little scarier because it's more on me, but it gives me a lot more freedom. So my big driver is geographical freedom. One of the things I always say is the average American lives in seven homes in their lives. I'm in house number 30. And I'm not done yet because I moved so much when I was younger I want that geographical freedom to work. Have a business that I can run where I'm working in one place, maybe California for a couple of weeks, and then I go to Florida, and then I'm home in Ohio, or I go to Paris for a couple of months, And I can run my business and keep it going there and it's not a distraction.
[00:17:14] Elizabeth: That means I have to build it in a certain way. So I have been doing some consulting on different projects of different sizes. I am building my coaching business and I've been doing a lot of one on one coaching. So I'm actually in the process of transitioning to group coaching. So I'm going to be doing a masterclass on August 17th.
[00:17:34] Elizabeth: And if anybody wants to join me or just reach out to me and we can talk individually. But by giving that course and getting that group together, not only can I help guide, but we can help each other and be a supportive environment. We're all growing our businesses or going into a new niche. And how do we support each other as business owners in order to grow and what works and what can we try?
[00:17:57] Elizabeth: And I'm not going to admit, say that I have every answer. I know a lot and I have a lot of connections, so I'm going to bring in experts. But at the same time, marketing is my passion. My last role was actually leading teams for software development and that's a big building of apps. Things like that. That's a big business.
[00:18:17] Elizabeth: I like the constant challenge of marketing the new things happening all the time versus something that has a three-year timeframe. So that's why I went to marketing sort of a convoluted answer, but that's how I got focused on marketing. And I got down, get real quiet, and said that's what lights me up. That's what excites me.
[00:18:35] Elizabeth: In fact, and I'll tell one more story. I went on a course creation five-day challenge and I went into it expecting to develop leadership training to provide to corporations because that was what my focus was at that point. And after the first day, I was like, that's great. And I can do that.
[00:18:56] But what lights me up is marketing and helping business owners through marketing. So I pivoted quickly and use the rest of that class to build what my current offering is. This is currently a six-week one-on-one challenge on how to build it and really go deep on your marketing, your avatar, your vision, and your goals so that you can then have the confidence to move forward.
[00:19:19] Aneta: Yeah. I love a lot of things that you just stated, but just going back to this idea you start somewhere. You investigate, you take action, you ask questions, and then you follow your energy. There are many things that many of us can do really well. There are things that we can do.
[00:19:38] Aneta: We have experience doing this, but if you are and a place in life where you can actually design it the way you want it, really want it, why not? And I see so many people stop just short of really asking themselves the question and finding what their top motivator is for you. It was geographical freedom. And so then designing around what could a business look like that supports that, but also one that lights me up.
[00:20:06] Aneta: So tell me where the sense of geographical freedom comes from. Is this something that is based on your background? I know you love to travel and you've lived in many areas you've said. So tell us a little bit more about that.
[00:20:18] Elizabeth: Sure. Well, I grew up in Asia and Latin America and my father's business job took us around and I love connecting with people. And connecting, especially culturally talking to them about what drives them, and what their background is because of my upbringing and my education, I speak a couple of different languages, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese, and I'm studying Italian right now. Took a little German in there for a trip to Austria last year, but language to me helps you understand the culture.
[00:20:53] Elizabeth: How they say things indicates what's important in that culture. And I feel like I've been blessed to have multiple weeks of vacation every year and use them, but going to France for a week or Singapore or Mexico only cuts the surface. And it doesn't really get you to understand when I've really lived in Taiwan, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, and been able to spend deep time, extended time and really get to know the locals, really get to know the culture.
[00:21:28] Elizabeth: I've learned so much more and I've appreciated the culture so much more than seeing some highlights of sightseeing places. So my goal is to go for two to three months every year as I go into my retirement age. So I have 15 different places I want to go to, but one year maybe I keep saying France cause it's the top of my list, but one year it's France. The next year at Singapore, the next year at Sydney, and the next year it's Geneva. The next year it's whenever.
[00:21:55] Elizabeth: I have 15 different places already mapped out and I'm studying the language the year before I go each time to be able to not really necessarily have conversations, but just to understand more about the culture and be able to do basic readings, which are appreciated in so many places that you are at least trying.
[00:22:14] Elizabeth: The last time I went to Italy, I spoke Spanish the whole time because I didn't have time to prepare for it. And I did fine. But this time I want to go back to understanding and knowing more Italian words so that I can sprinkle them in. I'll probably still speak Spanish because that's the deepest language I have besides English and it will just naturally come out because it's so similar, but I want to wrinkle in or understand or be able to say, I understand what that's saying or I heard a couple of words that I know and be able to connect more. So it's more of a deeper conversation. And really, in some ways, I think I should have been an anthropologist in a prior life because I just love culture and connecting with people so much.
[00:22:58] Aneta: Well, and who's to say that you're not going to have an opportunity to be a social anthropologist, because with your business, really, there are no limits. I mean, do you have any clients today that are international that aren't necessarily based in the U S?
[00:23:14] Elizabeth: Absolutely. I have a feng shui master in New Zealand, she has a physical business and she wants to go online and offer feng shui online. I'm talking to a couple of coaches and one in Scotland and one in I think she's in France and nice France, but yeah, it's unlimited because it's just a matter of scheduling time and it's hard to get all of that group together at one time but you could do it. I can do it individually. We can do it by recording. We can vary the times. I mean you're my mindset coach, but my coach for creating my class, this online course that I'm doing is based out of Singapore. Doesn't matter where we are in the world. As long as you have an internet connection and email and things like that. It's all doable in this day and age, which is so amazing.
[00:24:07] Aneta: It is so amazing. And because I think we don't have those barriers to entry before, now with Zoom and with other platforms in which you can get people together, Calendly to set up calendars, et cetera, you have the technology. And then it's a matter of desire will to pull the right people together to attract them with your messages. So tell me a little bit more about it. Who do you think your ideal client is for the masterclass or give people that are listening maybe an opportunity to self-identify themselves if the class might be a good fit for them?
[00:24:41] Elizabeth: Fantastic. Yeah. So I'm looking at two different things, two different areas. So one is somebody who's just starting out and probably a little overwhelmed or frustrated. They've been told they need to identify their ideal client, but they're not quite sure what that means or how much detail they need and what to do after that what does that mean? Do I just say it's a woman, 45 to 65 years old, who wants a business? No, I need to know a lot more details in order to know how to attract them, how to talk to them, and what kind of words resonate.
[00:25:13] Elizabeth: So it's both the starter population who is just getting together and as well as people who are going into a new niche and they know who they've been before, but they want to attract a different ideal client. Or it could even be and this is not necessarily going to be my masterclass focus, but it could be a business that has been trying to do everything to everybody and needs to pick some and focus.
[00:25:39] Elizabeth: And I probably want to work with them a little bit differently and more individually, but can work with all of them because it's all about identifying that person and then figuring out what are the critical details of how to think about that person so that you can communicate clearly to them.
[00:25:58] Aneta: Excellent. And for those that have never participated in a master class, I know I'm part of a master class and you're part of one. What do you think some of the advantages are when you do have a community of other people who are going through the same process? Like, what do you think some of the benefits are versus just 1 on 1?
[00:26:15] Elizabeth: So my group is going to be a mastermind, which is a community of people working together. But a master class is just a 60 to 92-hour short class in that you get to experience the teacher and learn some things. You come away with some practical experience, but it's very limited in what it's trying to achieve. A mastermind is a group where you have support and help each other. You're all going through similar situations and it's very supportive and uplifting and about learning. So I'm going to be doing a master class to then promote my mastermind group.
[00:26:53] Aneta: Excellent. Yeah. And I do find so much benefit in the mastermind. The first mastermind I joined was this year and I think there are about 30 of us and it's so amazing because there's no competition. Everyone is so eager to support one another. There's no overlap necessarily. And so people are there to help, to be supportive, and to share. And as a facilitator, I think it probably makes it actually, even more, makes it easier to be able to have those discussions. Because you're able to pull in not just on your own experience, but everyone else's at the same time.
[00:27:29] Elizabeth: Well, and the other thing is there are 7 billion people in this world. None of us need 7 billion clients. we need our, 10 to 100, wherever you are in that range. And so even if we were both in the same mastermind and both had the same niche, your personal experience would attract different people than my personal experience. And so I don't understand this whole competition with each other because we can all learn and grow and we have different energies and we're going to attract different clients.
[00:28:05] So I work openly with everybody because even if I was working with another marketing coach, consultant, they're going to have a different approach, they're going to have different expertise, they're going to have different thoughts and we can be better together than we either were individually. So I love cooperation, camaraderie, community, and bringing people together because I think we can all learn from each other.
[00:28:32] Aneta: I completely agree with you. There's no way we can take care of everybody, nor would we want to, because it does in coaching, whether it's a group or one on one, the rapport and the energy that has to align, it's just so much better and easier when it does. And when we are authentically ourselves. That's when the right people are going to be attracted. If you try to pretend to be someone else, you might get someone as a client, but they may not be right for you and you may not be right for them. So, yeah, you might as well...
[00:29:04] Elizabeth: If you're only in this for the money, that's going to come across. One of my coaches is says you have to love your who, and really willing to do everything you can to help them be successful. And that goes along with my personality. I'm forever helping other people and giving and really want to cheer on everyone else's success.
[00:29:27] Aneta: Absolutely. So you did mention that this is a brand new chapter for you and you spent some time in reflection, thinking through it, what would you tell someone else that may be in the same boat? A lot of people have lost their jobs recently, or maybe they're considering saying, I may want to work less than 10 years, but it would be so great to do something that lights me up. What would you tell them if they're kind of on the fence just cause they're still a little worried and maybe have some fears?
[00:29:57] Elizabeth: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people have fears. I still have a lot of fears about paying my bills. But I was blessed by the opportunity. The bank that laid me off in March gave me a very nice severance package, and so it opened up the opportunity for me. If I hadn't had that I would have jumped to the next corporate job. And so having that, figuring out how to get that financial freedom to get just a window of opportunity to really focus and not try and do this. Now, a lot of people have to do it part-time and a lot of people are doing their full-time job and are coaching about that same, like I have a colleague who's a voiceover artist, and then he's coaching people on how to become voiceover artists. So it all is in sync, but it's also a lot of work to start your own business and you have to be up on it.
[00:30:47] Elizabeth: I took the time to really understand what focuses me and lights me up. As I said before, you have to figure that same thing out for yourself. Each person has something that they have experienced that they've been through that they can teach others or help consulting on businesses or something like that. We all have it in us. It's a matter of taking the risk, putting ourselves out there and not let take getting some of those limiting beliefs out there.
[00:31:17] Elizabeth: So one of the things I did was I set certain financial hurdles and I said, if I get to this date, I have to have made this much money. And if not, then what is the outcome? Okay, if I pass that, then I get to this date. And that way I can sort of like continue to focus without the fear overtaking me and paralyzing me. And if I don't make my financial goals, then I know what my other step is. But every time I get the fear comes up on me, the imposter syndrome comes up and I'm like, I'm not at that date. I've made my goals so far. I haven't hit this date. Let's just focus on doing everything we can to hit that date. And then when that day hits. Focus on the next one and keep going and it's just taking little steps. It's just sometimes it's breathing. Sometimes it's like, yes, I understand little one that your fear is there and we're okay and calming them down.
[00:32:18] Elizabeth: It's also about getting an environment that's supportive. I mean, I have multiple different groups I'm a member of and people are so helpful and supportive in different ways and my community of friends are being so supportive as I go through this journey and giving me lots of love. So I keep focusing on that, but at the same time though, if you let those fears build up and overcome you, you can be paralyzed.
[00:32:45] Elizabeth: So what does it take for you to calm them down, to have a plan in place, and have minor hurdles that you're going to make along the way in order to make this all happen? And what is plan B if they don't? And how do you keep plan A going even if you would have to lean into plan B maybe? How do you envision it all together?
[00:33:06] Aneta: Yeah. I love that exercise and it's so important. I think fears come from a very emotional place, and it's a nervous system dysregulation. And so when we are in those states, we can't actually leverage our full cognitive abilities. We are paralyzed. We aren't thinking clearly. It's very difficult to use critical thinking skills, but getting the fears on paper and identifying ways to minimize and diffuse them.
[00:33:34] Aneta: It is so helpful. And like you said, then saying, okay. Here's this action I can take here's another one and also focusing on having a plan B, of course, so you feel like you're not stuck, but continuously going back to your vision of why you're here in the 1st place, because sometimes that is so much bigger and more inspiring and motivating than the fears. And if we continue to focus on that, that's when we can get the second drive and go, okay, I can do this. I know why I'm doing it. So you fall in love with your why as much as you fall in love with your who as a business owner.
[00:34:11] Elizabeth: Yeah. And part of my why goes back to my father was an inventor. He was with bell labs. He had multiple patents in his name. So creative. He was an engineer and he died when I was three. And so I feel like I had such a limited time, but I also am like, he did great things in his 28 years on this earth. I need to be doing great things too, so he's my inspiration, but he's also that source of the fear.
[00:34:39] Elizabeth: I always talk about how I grew up on social security. Now my dad was very good at planning. He had been ill for a while, so he paid off the house and yes, we lived on social security, but we also remember swimming in Santa's Club when I was little. So we weren't hand to mouth, but I feel that fear translated into, I need a paycheck.
[00:34:59] Elizabeth: And that fear kept me in a corporate job for a long time until I recognized it and said, okay, I have money in the bank. I have the ability to get a job. Do I really need a paycheck? How can I overcome that fear by thinking about money a different way in order to have the freedom to do this and not keep limiting myself, because for so long it was, I need a paycheck? And that was a very limiting belief and it also kept me small.
[00:35:31] Aneta: Yeah, and it's a learned behavior. I mean that is the normal and one that we follow, when you're 16, if you get your first job, that's what counting on what it's going to be, and I wait forever. I also knew if I work harder, I'm going to get a little extra and I'll put the effort in. And so I think we're conditioned and used to that and it definitely, you couple that then with some limiting beliefs and whether you can do it on your own and adults challenges or operative obligations, and you could see why, why we feel there.
[00:36:05] Aneta: But money is an exchange of value and energy. And so the awesome part too, is that you don't have to limit yourself. There is no cap on what you're able to do. If you go all in and you find your passion and you're able to connect to the right client. And so that's the beauty of it as well, is that you don't have to limit yourself. It doesn't have to be the exact amount every two weeks.
[00:36:31] Elizabeth: Exactly. And it could be more. So I'm getting used to a variable paycheck is something I've never had. I've always been so many hours, so much paycheck. I mean, I was the good girl in school where you followed the rules and you went forward and you got promoted to eat from grade to grade. And this is being a little bit of a rebel for me. To try and bend the rules and do them differently than I have in the past that other people haven't had in the past. And it's exciting. It's really exciting. It's scary, but it's also exciting.
[00:37:07] Aneta: Of course.
[00:37:07] Elizabeth: And I've always been one to take advantage of opportunities and take risks. So it isn't that, but just not having that safety net necessarily. Not the same safety net I've had in the past.
[00:37:19] Aneta: Right. So let's talk a little bit about your support system because you said that it's important to have a support system. So I'm curious what your kids, you have young adults and children, and I did too when I left and started my own business. So what is their feedback been for you? Are they watching and curious or are they supportive? Like, what does that look like from them?
[00:37:45] Elizabeth: They've been really supportive. But I think they're watching because they've been brought up in the same society where we expect them to go to college and then get a job. I have two sons in college age. My older son had a lot of medical issues with five concussions in his life and has some anxiety and ADHD. He is wonderful one on one. So he's a professional snowboarder. We're not sure what that means yet. But he's taught for two years and has wonderful reviews and has a great clientele out in Utah. And then he's trying to figure out what that means off-season. And does he chase perpetual winter by teaching snowboarding down in New Zealanders or Argentina? Cause he speaks Spanish. He can, we don't know.
[00:38:29] Elizabeth: The other son is younger and he's in engineering. So he's very much that engineer mentality and they're both sort of watching and looking. I think both of them, we've raised them to be independent thinkers. I'm not sure either of them will go into a corporate job. Both of them have said, Mom, I do not want to sit behind a computer all day, which is what they see us doing in my old job. But I'm also co-opting him into helping me. So my snowboarder also was a film major. And so he's going to help me with AV and film and editing. My husband is going to become the COO of making sure my financials are working and everything's logged in QuickBooks and things like that, because that's just not my expertise and that's not where I'm going to get the most energy or even want to do so I kept avoiding it.
[00:39:20] Elizabeth: So I'm like, good, you can do this. And then I just talked to my son that my younger son today, who's the engineer, and said, what would you want to do in this kind of company? How can you participate? And so we're all in this together. So I think they're watching. They're both very supportive of everything that's happened. In terms of go for it and try it. Just try it. Be happy.
[00:39:46] Aneta: I love that. And it's so interesting. I work with some young adults and it's really interesting just to see their philosophy and how they approach school and life and work and all of these things. It's interesting because they [00:40:00] tell us they don't necessarily want to sit behind a desk. They see some of the things that we've done and that didn't necessarily bring us a lot of joy to work nonstop, but they also have their own sense of fears too. I think that in some ways, maybe we were a little bit more naive because we didn't have social media.
[00:40:20] Aneta: We didn't have access to all this information, you sort of fumbled your way muddled your way through your early career, and just sort of found your way into different roles. I think it's different for them. It's almost like they have additional pressure because they know so much and then they also know what they don't want to watch their parents
[00:40:41] Elizabeth: I think that's absolutely true. Everything about their lives for my kids, at least, they've grown up with a smartphone their whole life. We, I mean, I didn't get my first email address till after I'd worked for eight years. Then I went to grad school and I remember I got my first email address my last semester of grad school because it has just coming up. It's so different. And so, yeah, we were able to make mistakes and not be on a public stage.
[00:41:09] Elizabeth: They're also more creative. They're not willing to comply. Like my father and my stepfather, we moved a lot because the company said we were moving and therefore we moved. We had some freedom in saying yes or no as to whether we wanted to move for the job or other things.
[00:41:27] Elizabeth: And the youngest generation, some people who work for me, I'm thinking of, or my kids are like. Why do I even have to move everything? I can do everything right from here and still perform and still get the job done. So my support, my friends are here. I have a home here. Why should I move across the country to do it?
[00:41:47] Elizabeth: There are benefits for going into the office and meeting people and working together face to face, but I think you can accomplish those same benefits with a quarterly offsite, not necessarily going into the office every day. And having the right connection, slack, teams, whatever it is to talk to the people you're working with.
[00:42:08] Elizabeth: And you don't need to uproot your whole life, find a new school for your kids, find a new home. And I've done this like I said, 30 times. I've done that a lot and it's been disruptive in my life. It's also led me to some amazing experiences that I've enjoyed, and I have friends all over the world because of it.
[00:42:27] Elizabeth: But there's also a sense of loss every time I've done that, where I'm losing connections with people along the way. So they have something going for them. I think they're much more willing to put themselves out there and be creative. And not really in some ways it's important because they're on the stage and everything's in fashion. Sometimes they're like, I just don't care.
[00:42:51] Elizabeth: I'm going to do this because this is what I want to do. And as long as you can pay your bills, that's our attitude with our boys. It's like, we want you to have a living wage to pay your bills. For whatever lifestyle you want to have, we're not going to give you a trust fund because that's not our world and that's not our assets we have. But at the same time, build the skills to be able to get your worth and then be able to live your own life and grow up wherever you want to live. If you want to live in Timbuktu, or you want to live down the street from us, it's great.
[00:43:26] Aneta: Yeah, it's so interesting. It'll be interesting to see what they're able to do. All of the younger generation, I'm really curious. I definitely think that for as much as sometimes older generations complain about them, I don't see them changing for us. So it will be it'll really interesting as they continue to set healthy boundaries, and maybe teach us a couple of things.
[00:43:50] Elizabeth: I've learned a lot from the younger generation on setting boundaries. Absolutely.
[00:43:55] Aneta: So Elizabeth, I asked everybody a question about the title of the podcast, which comes from a Diane Ackerman quote about living the width of your life. What does that mean to you?
[00:44:06] Elizabeth: It's really great question. To me, it means going out of your comfort zone. So if you were to just stay in your comfort zone for the length of your life. You'd live a long life, but what about all the opportunities you've missed? What about the opportunity to hike Machu Picchu or help someone grow by teaching them something or engaging with them? How do you bring your full self to the world I mean, I love the quote and I'm going to mess it up, but something about you can live your life or you can skid into death in the sky with like skid marks and everything is given up. And that's why I want to live.
[00:44:52] Elizabeth: I want to live to the fullest in terms of I'm a foodie. I love art. I want to travel. I love information and insights and I love sharing those. So why only share them with a lot of small groups I work with versus putting myself out there and sharing them and having a larger impact on the world? And it's really about going differently outside your lane, both sides to really, to me, that's what the width is. It's like stopping in the center lane where you're just on the straight and narrow, but do different things, try different things, figure out what makes you tick, what lets you out.
[00:45:35] Aneta: Yeah. For sure.
[00:45:36] Elizabeth: It may not be what you think. I mean,
[00:45:38] Aneta: I love that so much.
[00:45:40] Elizabeth: So I want to just tell you my engineer son this summer taught himself to play guitar is writing poetry, has been learning how to cook different meals. He is just putting himself out there and trying things. It's been a summer of creativity for him and it's been really inspiring to watch.
[00:45:58] Aneta: Yeah, I bet. And it is inspiring and that's why I ask everyone this question because everyone has a slightly different answer, but in the end, it's all very similar and very similar to what you're saying is really expanding on what the with mean and not just the goal. I think that the quote you're looking at starts with the goal of life not to arrive safely at death. yeah. And then the rest. And I love that. It's such a great reminder too, right? It's not just parachuted to the end. But it's really, what do you do in between?
[00:46:33] Elizabeth: Or live your life in bubble wrap where you don't really get to experience the hard things and the challenging things because I find that those hard and challenging things are usually what I remember best and laugh over afterward.
[00:46:47] Aneta: Absolutely. They make the best stories. Well, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for just all your wisdom. And it is so inspiring to see all the amazing things that you are doing in such a short amount of time what you've been able to do already. And I will include in the show notes, a link to all the places that folks can find you and to the details about the master class and then the mastermind as well, how folks can work with you.
[00:47:15] Elizabeth: Fantastic. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time and I love all of our engagements and conversations. I always come away so inspired.
[00:47:24] Aneta: Me too. Thank you. Have an amazing day.
[00:47:27] Aneta: Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you're inspired to finally take courageous action on a personal or professional goal that has been on your heart for some time, then follow this podcast because every week we'll have intimate, authentic conversations with guests who have redefined success, created healthy new habits to support optimal health, and finally release the stories and limiting beliefs that kept them stuck and a life they didn't love. If you want to start or grow deeper in your own transformation journey, then I am happy to answer questions on a one-to-one 30-minute transformation strategy call at no cost to you. Head onto my website to book your slot today, and I will see you next time.
End.