S2. E1 - Welcome back

Hello listeners

Thanks for joining us for another year and another season of Real Talk for Women in Business. 

Leeha and Nichol welcome everyone into the new year (even though we are a quarter through the year) and share their goals for 2022. 

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Visit us at: 

https://meridiandigital.com.au

https://nicholstark.com.au

Transcript

Welcome to the 2022 season of real talk for women in business. Hi there. My name is Leah  and I'm the founder and brand strategist at Meridian digital. We help the owners of growing service-based businesses. Connect with clients through tailored, all inclusive digital marketing packages. Having one point of contact means that we get a deeper understanding of.

And the result is a cohesive, memorable brand that you feel aligned to, and that helps you attract more of the clients you love to work with. We're here to inspire and cheer you on to achieve the business of your dreams today, tomorrow. And for years to come and right here with me is my colleague and friend Nicole Stark. 

Hi, my name is Nick. I'm the founder and driving force behind Nichol Stark coaching, where I intuitively coach and empower heart-centered business owners, such as yourselves, who've become stuck or lost your voice to connect to all aspects of your life so that you can attract the life and business that not only you desire.

But deserve, this is done through my one-on-one and group coaching packages.

 Awesome. Well, we are so excited to be back for 2022, and it might feel like we're kicking of a bit late, which we are, but we've had a lot going on in the last couple of months, but we're super happy to be here. What I thought we'd do really quickly is just a wrap up of where Nick and I ended up in 2021.

You know, COVID over the last few years has really thrown a spanner in the works for many businesses. And a lot of my clients, you know, for them, their business has changed or evolved, or maybe they've  struggled with some rough times. But 20, 22, you know, I feel like we're on the up. I feel like we're becoming more resilient as business owners.

, I know I feel more resilient as a business owner after where I ended up in, in 2021, like the first half of 2021 for me, I felt really stagnant and I had big goals and I felt like I really wasn't achieving them by the time I got to the end of the year, , I'd done the, the last half of the year was the biggest.

I've ever done in a half year, I had some wonderful clients that I was working with and, you know, I'm still wrapping up a couple of projects, but yeah, I felt really inspired going into this year. How about you Nic?

Yeah, same sort of thing. I it's towards the end of last year, I was just exhausted because there were a lot of people that I was working with that were shifting or had been made redundant or their love had been altered so dramatically through the pandemic and through lockdowns that my time was spent really working with those people, to just move through, , you know, to sit with what had been going on, but to move through and to really help them work out where they were going to go next.

It was exhausting, like emotionally, physically, mentally, all of it. I was just, I was zapped by the end of it. , I also was doing a lot of study last year, so that was on top of. , working with all of these, these beautiful people. And then by the end of the year, I have to admit when it came to a podcast, it was like, nah, can't be fucked.

Like I was beyond it. I love doing it. We've learnt so much, but I'm done. And so I finished up at the  start of December and pretty much I've only just really kicked off at the, you know, at the end of January. ,

Yeah.  I was a little bit envious of you because you got to actually pull back a bit and stop and put those boundaries, I guess, in, for yourself where it's like, right. I'm finishing on such a date in December and I'm not back until the middle of January. And I had every bloody intention of doing that.

I feel like I haven't had a break in my business for two or three years, like an actual break where I stepped away. And I guess the rebrand as listeners will know, I've gone from being Mind your Words, to being Meridian digital, and that all unfolded in the last half of last year. And I had planned to have January off and with the projects I was working on, we had some scope changes and, you know, shit that just came up and couldn't be resolved before the Christmas cutoff.

So my break in January just hasn't happened. And you know, in that I've rolled out the new brand myself. Trying my hardest to work on my own friggin website and it's really not happening, but you know, what I'm going to do now is I'm aiming to have all of June off. Like I need to feel like I've had some downtime and step away from the business to really reflect on, you know, where I've come from and where I'm headed.

Yeah, , , rest is so important with what we're doing. Is it business people, whether we've got just ourselves or a full team, if we don't take that time to stop and reflect and rewind and. All of that sort of stuff. We are not doing ourselves , any good. We're also not helping our customers and our clients or our team members.

So it's really important. And this was the first time. So my whole working career I've always worked right up until Christmas Eve and pretty much started New Years day. So, or the day after. So it was a big mental shift for me as well.  It's not like that I knew I needed to do and happy with it knew I'd had a lot of things I had to do.

I got back, but that was the decision. At that time and it was good.

Yeah. Well, 20, 22 is going to be. Yeah, it's going to be a big year. We've got some big plans for the pod.  Like Nick said, by the time we got to end of last year with everything that had happened with the shutdowns and, you know, I've been really lucky because I haven't really been impacted by the shutdowns, but I know Nick was and Nick's family.

 And we got to the end of the year and, you know, we love doing the podcast, but I guess some lessons learned for us are really around scheduling. And trying, I guess, to make them a little bit shorter, but still packed jam packed full of value and the no bullshit kind of stuff that we're all about when it comes to, you know, communicating what's going on in business, how we can help you to, to grow your business, but doing it in a way that isn't covered in, you know, magic dust.

It's, the real reality of being a business owner, being a mom in business, being, you know, Somebody who, who wants to grow their business, but isn't quite sure how to do it. And doesn't want all the fluff that kind of goes with, you know, oh, growing a business. It's awesome. It's so much fun.

It's, you know, you're going to get the flexibility and the time back in your life to spend with your family. And, you know, I'm just saying to you, that's bullshit. , you can get there, but it's a lot of fucking hard work and, , you know, we're experiencing that firsthand.  our AME this year with the podcast is to be.

A lot more structured. It's not just going to be Nick and I, we are, we've got some amazing guest speakers lined up that we're going to be interviewing and, you know, providing some amazing value to you and always feel free. If there's something you'd like us to talk about, or if there's a guest speaker that you think would be awesome for the pod, please email us.

We would love to hear, hear from.

Yeah, that's cool. And, and we'll also do throughout that as well, a few individual ones. So one of the challenges we had being our own business owners and trying to co-host was, it was not always easy to get each other. Same time. Yes, it's great to schedule, but our own  schedules got in the way of that.

So we'll also do, , more individual ones as well. So probably just to wrap it up, I'd love to talk about, , what our business goals are for this year. So we've just talked about, that's going to be jam packed and we've got a lot happening. , what's happening with you?

Yeah. So, , yeah, rolling out. More and more services with Meridian, digital, starting with my brand strategy, , service. So, you know, brand starting with a brand strategy before you're heading into developing your website or your marketing stuff is so important because it's really about understanding what you stand for as a brand, how you want your brand to be perceived by your ideal clients, how they think feel, and interact with your brand.

And getting that foundation in place is going to guide you when it comes to making those really important decisions around. What, you know, maybe what your brand identity looks like. So brand identity is different from the strategy, because it's all about your visuals, your logo, your colors, how you want your words and how you want your brand to speak and connect with your clients.

So that's why it made so much sense for me to roll this service out first. So I taking it right back to the beginning. So. , I'm working with my first client at the moment through this process.  We're doing brand strategy, brand identity, and then heading into developing her website and the copywriting.

 I'm so excited. I really feel like I've landed in the right place with this and that I can deliver. Tremendous value to my clients and really help them feel confident in their business and their brand as they move forward. And, , something that I am really excited about is that Nick is involved in that process as well.

So, , Nick is going to be doing some coaching with the clients that I work with. And like just having that partnership, but it feels, and it has worked so well with this client that I'm working with and I'm just loving it. So I'm really excited where I'm heading. , and the other thing is, , you know, personally, I'm building a house, I've got a lot of stuff going on at the moment.

And it's re recognizing that even though this year might not be about. Growth in, it will be about growth in terms of being a business owner and rolling out new services, but it might not be my biggest year in terms of sales and the amount of clients I've got. And I'm a hundred percent okay with that because I need to really nail this process and feel confident in the direction I'm going, but also be kind to myself as a mom and a business owner and somebody who's building a bloody house.

And if you've ever built a house before, you know how fucking stressful it is,

Oh, I'm just laughing because I haven't done it, but I've seen other people do it. And I do not want to be there.

Well, we're on to our second builder, so,

so what about you Nic?  What's in store for Nichol Stark coaching.

I'm actually really excited about the sheet because last year. As I mentioned, it was a lot of just supporting people as are going through a really difficult time, probably more difficult than they've ever been through. So that was the bulk of last year. This year is really about my growth. So last year was awareness.

This year is really growth. So I've, I've got, , five day challenges that will be happening, which we'll be looking specifically at people that have their, their own businesses and need a bit of a, a kick in the ass to either get restarted or reset. Or really rethinking who they are. So, , a few five day challenges, I've got some group coaching coming up because I've found that with group coaching, collaboration and working with various people, , can really benefit, especially people that work on their own.

We hope that you're looking forward to 20, 22 as well. I mean, I know that you're a month and a bit into it already, but I hope that it's, you know, turning out to be one of your best using. And we'd love to support you. , so please keep listening to the show.

If you enjoy today's show, don't forget to leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, or wherever you are listening from. It will really help other people just like you to find us, which, you know, we'd love to help or leave an impact with as many people as we can. And that's that's it. So yeah, we look forward to 2022 and our business and for the pod.

Excellent. All right, we'll see you next time. Thanks everyone.

Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's show, don't forget to leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, or wherever you were listening from. It will help other people just like you to find us. To be notified when our next episode is released, be sure to hit subscribe. And finally, if you've got a burning question or a topic you'd like us to cover, please email us at realtalk.wib@gmail.com we would love to hear from you until next time keep smiling and take care