July 8, 2025 • 52 mins
Ever wonder how some creatives seem to make massive progress while you're still waiting to feel "ready"? This conversation with Izzy Stevens blows the lid off that myth. As an award-winning director, Netflix trilogy lead, and founder of Indie Spunk, Izzy has mastered the art of taking bold action before confidence arrives.
"Walk in like you belong there," Izzy advises about entering intimidating spaces. She shares how she crashed Sundance Film Festival without an official selection, armed only with a bold pitch that started with "The world operates like a sex cult for women." By confidently presenting her feature film concept, industry professionals assumed she belonged—creating connections that would have been impossible had she waited for an invitation. That's the magic of authentic visibility.
Fear of judgment once paralyzed Izzy, who admits she used to nearly have panic attacks before sending business emails. Now she runs a thriving multi-six figure mentorship business by embracing what she calls the "Freedom Formula"—focusing on five daily priorities instead of endless to-do lists. This approach allowed her to complete multiple drafts of her feature screenplay in under 12 months while still nurturing client relationships and maintaining creative flow.
The most powerful revelation? Confidence isn't a prerequisite for success—it's the byproduct of action. "Just take the steps. Invest in yourself, invest in mentorship, invest in moving forward," Izzy urges. She suggests a practical approach to quieting the inner critic: identify limiting beliefs, thank them for their protective intention, then consciously choose new beliefs that serve your goals better.
Ready to stop overthinking and start creating momentum in your creative career? This episode provides the permission slip you've been waiting for. Your belief system might be lying to you about what's possible, but as Izzy demonstrates, walking through fear is the ultimate shortcut to confidence.
You can follow Izzy Stevens on Instagram: @indiespunk
For more information on Izzy's Freedom Creator Mentorship Program:
https://niki_sterner--indiespunk.thrivecart.com/freedom-creator/
For more information on Izzy's Script to Screen Program:
https://niki_sterner--indiespunk.thrivecart.com/script-to-screen/
For more information on Izzy's Watch Me Make A Movie Program:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Niki Sterner (00:01):
Welcome to the Confidence Shortcut, the podcast
for ambitious creatives andentrepreneurs who are ready to
stop overthinking, take boldaction and finally step into the
life they've been dreamingabout.
I'm your host, Niki Sterner.
Mom, actor, comedian andproducer.
After years of playing smalland waiting to feel ready, I
went on a courage quest andfound a shortcut to confidence.
(00:21):
Each week I'll bring you realstories, simple steps and
conversations with experts inmindset courage and confidence,
plus heart-to-hearts with fellowcreatives who are turning their
dreams into reality.
It's time to get unstuck andstart showing up.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to the ConfidenceShortcut.
I'm your host, Niki Sterner.
(00:41):
Today's guest is Izzy Stevens,an absolute powerhouse in the
creative industry.
She's an award-winning director, a film and TV actor with
serious creds we're talkingtwo-time network series regular
and lead in a Netflix trilogykind of vibe.
Izzy has been featured on ABCNetwork, amazon Prime, at the
(01:02):
Cannes Diversity Showcase,fantastic Fest and the
Oscar-qualifying Holly ShortsFilm Festival.
But that's not all.
She's also the founder of IndieSpunk, where she helps fellow
creatives become the nameeveryone knows, without the
exhausting hustle of constantlyproving yourself.
If you're looking to masterauthentic visibility, build a
(01:22):
bold personal brand, make bankand wake the industry up to your
magic.
Izzy is your girl.
I cannot wait for you to soakup her wisdom.
Welcome to the show, IzzyStevens.
Yeah, hi, I mean even more thanthat, though, Izzy.
You mean so much to me becauseyou were the reason that I was
(01:44):
able to have a breakthrough,because I started out in your
filmmaker breakthrough groupwhen I was really confused and
didn't know what path to take inthis industry, and so I will
forever be grateful for yourmentorship on my path, and I
think of you almost every day,so I'm so thankful that you
could be here on the path, and Ithink of you almost every day,
(02:05):
so I'm so thankful that youcould be here on the podcast.
Izzy Stevens (02:09):
So, but I love you .
I was we were just sayingbefore we we started officially
that just witnessing you and howfar you've come and what you've
been able to achieve in yourcareer in such a short space of
time, I am floored by you.
I'm inspired by you.
I just have loved mentoring youand working with you.
It's been such a highlight forme.
So you know, this is a two-waystreet, and what you have
(02:33):
brought to the table and whatyou've constantly.
I would just remember momentsthat I love that this is a
confidence podcast, all aboutconfidence, because there is no
one better to teach it.
I just remember moments whereyou would come to the table and
be like I am feeling vulnerable,I don't know what I'm doing,
I'm not sure how to do this andhow to move forward, and yet you
continued to ask the questions,apply yourself, move forward,
(02:54):
trust yourself and understandthat like it is a process.
And look at you now.
I am honestly just blown awayby you and I love that you're
doing this and sharing yourwisdom with more people, because
you have so much to give and somuch to share and, just like,
in so many ways, you're justgetting started.
Niki Sterner (03:12):
Thank you, Izzy, thank you for saying that.
And you just witnessed themagic of Izzy Stevens right
there.
You guys, she is the person whopulls you out.
When you are second guessingyourself and you're in tears and
you're wondering, I don't knowhow to do this.
She gives you the next step andshe gives you the confidence.
She, like, holds your hand andfeeds you.
This stream of words just liftsyou up and so I just I can't
(03:37):
tell you how many times you didthat for me.
Or I was just like I don't knowif I can do this.
And you were like, yes, you can, and here's how we're going to
do it.
And this is.
And you would even ask me forwhat?
What do you think is your nextstep?
And you would listen to it.
Wasn't like you were justtelling me what to do.
You were there like holding myhand, saying what do you think?
And then you would.
You were just so there.
Bit about Izzy Stevens rightnow.
(03:58):
Oh, okay.
So right now I am in thedevelopment process of my debut
feature film.
Izzy Stevens (04:11):
So, as you mentioned, when you read such a
glorious version of my bio, I'mlike this is amazing, ultimate
hype, feeling so good.
I am juggling right.
I'm juggling my business as amentor and in my mentorship
business, I help creatives makefilms.
I am juggling right, I'mjuggling my business as a mentor
and in my mentorship business,I help creatives make films.
I help creatives buildbusinesses that sustain their
creative careers, and I also ama filmmaker and an actor in my
(04:33):
own right as well, and somultiple projects going on all
accounts, which is forever andalways my.
I guess my kryptonite is manyideas and then, as I've evolved
over the last, I would say I'vebeen in the industry almost 13,
14 years professionally now,which is wild to me.
It has been a learning curve ofnot telling myself I'm wrong
(04:56):
for so many ideas, and I know somany creative people are going
to relate to this.
You're not wrong for having somany ideas.
You just need to know how tohandle them, delegate, build a
team, understand what'simportant for your energy and
what's not important for yourenergy, and I think that that
has been the biggest strengthover the last few years in my
life has been knowing how to bespecific in my energy, potent in
(05:18):
my moves and like reallyfocusing on the moves that move
the needle, and so my businessis thriving and I'm obsessed
with it.
I love working with people justlike you, nikki, who are
building creative careers,building businesses.
They're my favorite, you're myfavorite people to work with
always, so that is a place Ilove to pour into.
And, of course, my filmmaking,which is a very different flavor
(05:40):
of me.
I make psychological thrillerfilms with fierce female
protagonist leads that areunapologetic and often unlikable
, and I just am having so muchfun in the development process
of this feature film.
So that's where we were justtalking about my new program,
Watch Me Make a Movie, which isbasically an inside look of how
I'm doing every single stepalong the way.
(06:02):
So my business and filmmakingreally do blend together in so
many ways.
I love to draw all of thewisdom that I gained through my
film career and my business andpour into my clients so they can
get further faster.
That's like the whole reason Istarted the business and that's,
yeah, that's what I also.
I'm a human and I like to drinkwine and travel and hang out
(06:23):
with my friends and my familyand my people and everything
like that.
So yeah, all the above.
Niki Sterner (06:29):
Tell me more about what you do, cause, like even
today, I was like brainstorming.
I want to learn how to writesongs and I want to learn how to
work the camera.
Actually, I have a camera and Idon't know how to run it yet.
So there's like things that Iwant to do as a creative.
How do you balance and juggleall of those?
Are there methods that you have?
Izzy Stevens (06:50):
Yeah, definitely so I.
There's something that I teachin my mentorship program, which
is called Freedom Creator.
You have been a part of thatprogram.
That is the freedom formula,right, which is the way that I
think is just the fundamentalpractice of my days, of my life,
and it's essentially I justthink that, like we can die on
(07:13):
the list of our to-dos right?
It's so easy for us to sit downand write a to-do list Like, oh
, how am I going to get all ofthese things done?
And so I am anti to-do list.
I am pro setting the standardsbefore the list comes, which
means that I have basically fivethings that I do every day,
(07:35):
five, a formula of fivedifferent areas that I need to
serve and show up for everysingle day, and once I've done
those things, my day can be doneif I want.
Anything else is extra, and sothat's how I really run things.
The five things are I take careof.
What am I going to do to takecare of myself?
What am I going to do to takecare of my clients today?
What am I going to do to takecare of my community today?
(07:57):
What am I going to do to takecare of my business sales today,
and what am I going to do totake care of my creativity today
?
And sometimes those thingsblend, but for me it's about we
are all so busy.
We are all multi-hyphenate,creative people that have many
pots in the boil.
As you're saying, you'regetting your film in festivals
right now.
You're going and winning awards, you're doing panels, nikki,
(08:17):
you're building this business,you've got a podcast.
Like you've got a lot on yourplate, and so it's not about
doing everything perfectly.
It's about doing the rightthings intentionally and
potently with the limited timethat you have.
And I just find that for me, Ithrive creatively when I have a
tight space of time.
Like I know I have 10 minutesto do a pitch for my program.
(08:37):
Like I'll sell and talk aboutmy programs on my instagram
stories, on email all the timeevery day, and if I know I only
have 10 minutes, that task willtake 10 minutes, and that has
been a process of discipline.
It's not as easy as like go anddo the thing.
It is sometimes about learningthe process and understanding
how to do that effectively,which is why I always have
(08:58):
mentorship and I am a mentorbecause I like helping people do
things in a more specific,potent way, and that's really
how I have all of these thingson my plate.
My days don't feel stressful, mydays don't feel overwhelming,
and that is a choice we get tomake.
I, a long time ago, reallyidentified with oh, I feel
(09:19):
overwhelmed, I'm over.
It's overwhelming the amount ofthings that I want to do and
witnessing, recognizing andholding myself to the standard
that no, no, no, overwhelm is achoice.
I don't have to feeloverwhelmed by this.
I get to feel empowered by thisand I get to say no to what
doesn't need to be done rightnow, and not everything needs to
be done to the height ofperfection in order for it to
work.
That mentality and beliefsystem has been instrumental in
(09:42):
me being able to do all of thesethings in my life.
Niki Sterner (09:46):
It sounds like you're taking messy action
forward.
You're not going back throughand redoing something 10 times
before you post it.
You're just being real andauthentic.
Izzy Stevens (09:56):
A hundred percent done.
Done is always yeah.
Done is always better thanperfect.
And because that's been mymentality, my ability to do
something in a short space oftime but at a high level, has
improved because I'm constantlydoing it.
So in the beginning of learninga new process or learning a new
(10:17):
skill, you're not going to bethe best in the world at it.
That 10 minutes that you have itmight not prove to be creating
something that's perfect andimpactful, but you do that 10
times, 20 times, 30 times.
You get to a point where it'slike really simple and really
easy and effective.
And that's how, in my business,I can put a quick little story
(10:40):
sequence up and then have a fewinquiries from dreamy clients in
my DM saying, oh, I'd love towork with you.
That's not happened overnight.
I've been working in mybusiness as a mentor for almost
five years and it's now gottento the place where that gets to
be really simple.
It was not simple in thebeginning, right, it wasn't the
easiest thing in the world inthe beginning, but you get there
(11:01):
and you learn the skill to beable to show up for those things
and follow through in a waythat's effective.
Niki Sterner (11:08):
If you're a creative craving momentum in
your business and your art, youneed to check out Freedom
Creator by Izzy Stevens.
Izzy was my breakthrough mentorwhen I made my short film Sweet
Body.
She helped me show up online,own my voice and build real
traction.
That film went on to win fourawards, including Best Director
and Best Dark Comedy.
Inside Freedom Creator, you'llmaster authentic visibility,
(11:31):
personal branding and spunkybusiness strategy.
So you become the name everyoneknows, without constantly
trying to prove yourself.
Click the link below to jointhe program that helped me go
from stuck to unstoppable.
I'm curious, izzy do you setaside certain hours of your day
where you're checking those DMsand stuff?
Izzy Stevens (11:52):
Yeah, so you know I have gone through phases of
that.
I'll be very transparent.
I am not your typical like typeA scheduled person.
I'm definitely a creativeperson that likes to feel that
my day is flexible.
So there have been seasons Ilike to talk in seasons because
(12:12):
I think that's just a moreapproachable way to understand
our energy types.
There have been seasons of mylife and my business that I have
absolutely needed to schedulethings out or it wouldn't get
done, and there are seasons oflife where just that has been
effective for me.
Yes, but in this very moment,like, for instance, I'll use the
(12:33):
example of my film, my featurefilm.
I think it was this time lastyear.
I'm just looking at the month,what month are we in?
June, okay, so last beginningof last April I started writing
my screenplay and I don't knowif you remember this, but we
talked about this in filmmakerbreakthrough, where, because my
(12:55):
thing as a mentor is, I'm notgoing to give you a one size
fits all it.
There is no such thing as a onesize fits all structure or
approach to making your life,your career, your business work,
which is why I like mentorshipin an intimate setting, because
we need to find out what worksbest for you and so you can
thrive within that structure.
I used to say you probably haveheard me say this I'm just not
(13:15):
the kind of person that canwrite every single day, because
I like my energy to feelspecific and concentrated in a
specific area, and so I'msomeone who can write for a long
period of like.
I can write for five hours orsix hours on one particular day,
twice a month, say.
And that was really a storythat I was telling myself and I
(13:38):
knew I wanted what I know aboutmyself and like I had done a lot
of mindset work around all mybelief systems and shifting the
ways that I see the world andsee myself to support me better
and I decided that's actually abelief that I have been telling
myself.
That's not true, necessarily.
So I'm gonna change this.
I'm gonna write every singleday.
I'm gonna watch.
(13:58):
I'm going to now set thestandard that I am someone who
can write every single day, andso five days a week actually,
you know what I wasn't, I waswriting seven days a week.
So now that I'm recalling, Idecided, great, I'm going to do
this and therefore, yes, at thatpoint I needed to schedule that
.
I needed that to be the firsthour of my day.
(14:18):
I needed to keep that just forcreative work.
So I very strictly scheduled anhour every single day for my
writing process and that's how,in under 12 months, I had four
or five drafts of my featurefilm done and we're moving into
development, which is actuallyvery quick for feature
filmmaking and the writingprocess.
(14:40):
Most people will spend manyyears perfecting their script,
but I knew I wanted to get it.
I wanted to move intoproduction this year and so I
went.
I'm just going to go for it anddo it, and in doing so, the
belief changes with action.
Right?
This is such an important thingto remember that for everyone,
your belief system isn't goingto change overnight by you
(15:02):
deciding and you saying theaffirmation in the mirror just
like I can write every day, Ican write every day.
The belief changes when youactually do it.
When you say I'm going to writeevery single day.
I'm not just going to tellmyself I can, I'm actually going
to do it and in doing so now Ihave so much more flexibility
and malleability in my creativeprocess.
So that was a situation where,yes, I scheduled it.
(15:24):
In terms of the DMs and talkingwith clients, I have definitely
gone through phases where I'veneeded to give myself boundaries
.
It's really especially in thebeginning part I would say the
first few years of my businessso easy to just be reactive to.
Oh my God, someone messaged me.
Oh my God.
Oh, I got to be in there andrecognizing that's actually not
helpful for my energy, for myproductivity and for my
(15:46):
concentrate.
It just doesn't serve anyone.
So there have been times whereI've been like you know what,
I'm only going to check it threetimes a day.
These are the three times I'mgoing to check it and otherwise
I'm not going on social mediawith all of these things.
Now I feel like in the beginning, having that real discipline
was so formative and effectivefor me that I can now I don't
(16:09):
need the specific scheduling infor those things to feel good
and thrive in the structure.
I can actually feel it's likeintuitive eating right.
Like if you need to reteachyour body, how to not a
nutritionist, love what I'msaying suddenly giving food
advice, but it's similar, right.
Like if you need to reteachyour body how to not a
nutritionist love what I'msuddenly giving food advice, but
it's similar, right.
It's a great analogy where, ifyou feel like out of touch with
(16:30):
your body, you need to relearnhow to listen to its hunger
signals, and then you can get toa point where you're eating
intuitively and you stop whenyou're full.
It's the same thing.
You just have to learn to.
You give yourself thatstructure and then you can learn
to be flexible within it.
Niki Sterner (16:46):
Yeah, I would love to ask you about two different
things that you've done recently, and the first one is the
Sundance festival that you wentto, oh yeah.
And then also the event thatyou just held.
Izzy Stevens (16:59):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Niki Sterner (17:01):
If you could talk us through like the preparation
and like your mindset that youhad to do before going.
Izzy Stevens (17:07):
Yes, Okay great, yeah, amazing, okay.
So yeah, I remember that youwanted to talk through this
Sundance piece.
I'm so excited, excuse me.
So, as I said, I startedwriting the feature screenplay
last year around this time andwhen it came to the end of 2024,
(17:27):
I knew I wanted to test thewaters with how I was going to
pitch this film.
So most people, especially in acreative process, will
instinctively want to wait forvalidation before they make the
thing right.
They want to wait for people toinvite them to the festival.
(17:48):
They want to wait for people tosee your value and tell you,
yes, you should make this orhave the script land at some
festival or some award orcompetition.
That gives it credibility,whereas that's a.
I think that there is time anda space for that and we're doing
all of those things as well,but I know for me, the best way
(18:13):
to understand if something islanding with people is by going
and seeing.
If it's landing is by openingmy mouth and talking about it
and seeing if people glaze overor people lean in.
And so going to Sundance was achoice that my producer and I
made and, of course, like we gointo such depth around the
pitching process and how Iactually do that in Watch Me
Make a Movie.
So if anyone's curious aboutthat, that's definitely the
(18:34):
place to join and hear aboutthis process.
Okay, so my producer and I wereon the phone.
We're talking about thisversion of the script.
We both were like it's ready,like let's do this, let's go.
And I will say also because Ithink there will be questions
naturally around this bringingon a producer was something that
(18:56):
happened quite organicallybecause again and these are
skills I have built over a longperiod of time I was able to sit
down at a casual brunch with aclient and great producer,
another someone who came throughmy programs I helped make films
and now they're making films.
(19:16):
And they were sitting down infront of me.
We're having a catch up andthey're like tell me what you're
working on right now.
And I said, oh yeah, I'mwriting this script and this is
what it's about.
And they went I don't want tojump the gun here, but I want to
produce it Like how do you feelabout that?
And I went you know what?
Absolutely let's go.
And I trusted this personalready had a great rapport with
(19:37):
them, worked with them as aclient, worked with them in my
business as well knew that thatwas a fit.
So that was something thathappened really organically and
they wanted to sign on evenbefore they'd read the script.
And that is the power of knowinghow to talk about things and
it's so important.
I think artists really wanttheir work to speak for itself,
but you need to give your art avoice.
You need to know how to pitchit, talk about it casually, in a
(19:58):
way that makes people lean inand go tell me more.
I want to know about this, Iwant to be a part of it and time
and time again, like that's whyI know that you were a part of
filmmaker breakthrough that's somuch of the skills that we were
honing in that my mentorshipsis not just making great art but
knowing how to talk about it.
So people are excited and justhaving someone come on board in
the process of the right thescript was still getting written
(20:20):
.
We come to the end of the yearlast year and we both went.
What about Sundance?
Like what if we just went?
And I said this is so geniusbecause we just I just need to
walk into rooms where people areoperating and making films at
the top of their game and see ifthis film resonates, see if the
(20:41):
way that I'm talking about it,the way that I'm pitching it,
resonates.
It gave us a really greatdeadline.
I love deadlines because ithelps me thrive, like that
structure helps me thrive.
It gave us a deadline to lockdown a specific tone of pitch
way that I was talking about itand it's so, like everyone do
this.
Just go and put yourself inrooms where you feel intimidated
(21:03):
and walk in like you own it andwalk in like you're supposed to
be there and walk in like it'smeant to be because walking into
.
So here's what happened.
We went to Sundance.
We were game planning.
How are we going to talk aboutit?
Who's going to say what in theconversation?
And we get there and myproducer gets so sick, so sick,
couldn't actually attend most ofthe festival.
(21:24):
It was just me and we laugh.
Now we're like I think thatthis happened all by kismet,
because you got me here.
I probably wouldn't have goneby myself in this situation.
So we went to Sundance.
We didn't have tickets to anyfilms.
This is the thing aboutSundance too, and for many
festivals all of the panels arefree.
We, because of a certain likecredit card I had, I could get
(21:46):
into a specific lounge.
There were other lounges thatyou can go into for free.
So I was like I'm just going toshow up on the strip in Park
City and walk into rooms andtalk to people and bring this
pitch that I've got in my bonesand see how it lands.
And it was the strangestblessing that of course, I
(22:10):
wished she was next to me thewhole time, but walking into a
room by myself, I don't have acrutch, I don't have a fallback,
I just have myself and I havemy hand that I'm outstretching
to the first person that I seeand I'm saying hi.
And they're saying, oh, whatare you here for?
Right?
And I say I'm here for my film.
Oh, amazing, what's your film?
The fact that you're here witha film at Sundance means
(22:31):
everything to the person thatyou're talking to, even though
you're not necessarily here witha film in Sundance, right?
So I'm like I said I'm herepitching a film.
Everyone was like, oh, are therepitch labs here?
We didn't know that they did.
I said no, no pitch labs.
There's no reason.
I'm just here talking about myfilm and watching, purely not
(22:52):
because I needed to get anythingfrom this, except watching how
people responded to what I wassaying and this is also just a
superpower I happen to have.
I'm very intuitive, yeah,emotionally intuitive, like I
can kind of read energy prettywell, like if you're blinking a
lot or if you're looking away orif you're scratching your head,
it's like okay, they're tuningout, maybe they're not
(23:14):
interested, or if they'releaning, some of the most
fascinating responses to mypitch, which is quite bold, it's
like a quite a quite an intense, um, I guess like way to talk
about the world is how I starttalking about the film.
I basically say you know, Ibelieve that the world operates
like a sex cult for women.
(23:35):
It's like a very, a veryintense beginning and that's
specific and that's how I wasstarting the pitch.
And so some people would belike huh, okay, and some people
like oh my God, what Tell memore?
And it was always fascinatingseeing who reacted in what way
and what was resonating.
And it was so funny because weactually it got to a point where
(23:58):
people were introducing me asthis is Izzy, the sex cult
director, and people justassumed because of the way that
I was owning myself, owning thestory, talking about it
confidently and making quitebold statements and telling
stories.
People assumed that the filmwas already off the ground,
which in my mind, it is, even ifyou know at that point you
don't have funding or anything.
(24:19):
Film was already off the ground, which in my mind, it is, even
if you know at that point youdon't have funding or anything.
Films off the ground.
The film's supposed to be atSundance.
The I'm connected.
It was like people are startingto introduce me.
I'm saved in all of thesedifferent industry contact
phones as Izzy sex cult directorjust happened to be something
that resonated a lot and I wentgreat, that's really interesting
(24:39):
, that this is a marketablepiece of the film.
We're going to go home andhighlight that it was something
that we realized.
Okay, this is a marketablepiece of the process, of the
pitch, not necessarily the mostimportant part of the narrative,
right?
Not necessarily the thing thatyou're going to take when you
actually read the script orwatch the film.
(25:01):
It's not going to be the thingthat you're left with.
You're going to be left withthe emotional resonance, the
slap in the face that the filmleaves you with in a, we hope, a
really empowering way.
But in terms of the pitch, youneed to know how to talk about
it in a way that gets people'sattention and holds people's
attention and wants them to andhelps them want to learn more.
(25:23):
So it was fantastic.
We walked away from thatfestival with multiple
connections.
I would not have had peoplethat I met randomly in line for
things or in lounges that havenow been become a part of the
process or helped us on our wayjust incredible connections.
And most people would say, oh,I'm going to go to one of those
(25:44):
top film festivals when I get in, but I because I said that to
myself for years oh, I'm notgoing to go to Sundance until
I'm in Sundance.
But truthfully, it's the bestplace to go to meet like-minded
people.
Every single person in all ofthose rooms wants you to win,
cares about you, are excited tohear your ideas and when you
walk in like you belong there,people assume you do.
(26:06):
And that's exactly how yourfilm can build momentum and how
your film can get made.
And it gave us so much momentum.
Seemingly nothing on the page ofwhat our film had except the
script and a verbal pitch tovery quickly become something
that was getting seriousmeetings and people who I was
(26:26):
seeing have films in thefestival say how can I help you?
How can I be a part of this?
I love the idea.
I want to help you.
I want to see how I can beinvolved.
Your energy, the energy thatyou bring into the room, has
everything to do with yoursuccess.
I will die on that hill forever.
Niki Sterner (26:43):
If you've got a film idea but no clue where to
start, or you're tired of tryingto figure it out alone, Script
to Screen by Izzy Stevens is thecourse you need.
I actually worked with Izzy andused this exact roadmap to make
my short film Sweet Body, whichwent on to win four awards,
including Best Director and BestDark Comedy.
She guides you through theentire process writing,
(27:06):
directing, producing and evengetting into festivals.
It's the most down-to-earth,actionable system I've ever used
.
Click the link to join Scriptto Screen and finally bring your
film to life.
Join script to screen andfinally bring your film to life.
I'm wondering, Izzy, did you dolike visualizations of yourself
(27:27):
, like in the pitch room atSundance, before you actually
went there, and that kind ofthing?
Izzy Stevens (27:31):
So I love that you asked this question because I
do visualizations for my clientsall the time.
Like I run, I walk peoplethrough meditations and hypnosis
and I do all of those thingsintermittently through my life.
And I say intermittentlybecause I'm not perfect, I'm not
every single day doing ahypnosis or a visualization, but
there have been times whereI've done a big mindset shift
(27:53):
boost in my, in myself, where ithas been every single day and
my clients do our hypnosistracks every single day.
But in this situation, ifyou're asking about the actual
prep that was involved, I cantalk till the cows come home and
talking to people hasn't been adifficulty of mine.
(28:15):
Walking into rooms hasn't beena difficulty of mine, but the
prep that I did do was get theverbal pitch out of my mouth as
many times as possible indifferent ways, with.
That's what I will always say topeople in terms of preparing to
go into something like thatjust know how to talk about
yourself, because we've allexperienced the cheesy, awkward
(28:36):
networking event where it's likewhat do you do?
I'm an actor, I'm a director,what do you do?
And it's like what do you do?
I'm an actor, I'm a director,what do you do?
And it's dry, and so for you tobe able to, off the cuff, have
something prepared by rote thatyou can then be organic and
flexible with is so incrediblyimportant to know how to talk
about yourself and your projects.
That's what I focused on.
(28:57):
If I was someone that struggledwith walking into a room and
talking about things, then, yes,I probably would have done a
lot of visualizations of feelingthat confidence and shaking the
hand and basically mentallyrehearsing and visualizing that
conversation going well.
But I'm very grateful to havebeen someone who's naturally
good at that.
But it's something that you canabsolutely learn.
(29:19):
The skill of Many of my clientsdo.
Niki Sterner (29:22):
Which program?
Because I've done the FreedomCreator and the Filmmaker
Breakthrough.
Which one is that in that or isit in both, where you come up
with your pitch and what you'regoing to speak?
Izzy Stevens (29:33):
Yeah.
So Freedom Creator is the livementorship program.
We do both filmmaking andbusiness growth in there, and so
that that's really the placewhere we talk about your
visibility.
I have a course on this as well, called become visible.
If you're like, I don't wantthe live mentorship piece, I
just want to go through modulesand understand this piece of it,
like how to become visible, howto talk about myself, how to
feel confident in that space.
(29:53):
There's meditations andhypnosis is in that course as
well.
So that's a great program ifyou just want to go through and
like learn the foundations ofthese things.
But Freedom Creator is theplace where we hone in on your
messaging, on your personalbrand and how to talk about it
and be about it so that peopleare excited about the work that
you're creating and want to be apart of it.
(30:14):
Yeah, freedom Creator is theonly live long-term mentorship
that I do now and I just lovethe incredible results that my
clients are getting from that.
It's so exciting, that's sogood.
Niki Sterner (30:27):
Okay, I want to hear more about how you took the
idea of the event that you justheld and made it possible.
Oh yeah, can you walk usthrough that?
Izzy Stevens (30:37):
Yeah, absolutely Great question.
So we last week had a liveevent and I have done which you
guys, nikki is so the greatest.
I just Nikki is just likeslight segue, but we I will
intimately hold live eventsthroughout the year for my
(30:58):
community and extended community.
Not just my clients are invited, everyone's invited.
And Nikki reached out to melast year and said I'm coming to
LA, like, can we do something?
And literally because of you,put this, put one of the one of
our live events on last year andI just love that about you.
You're just, you're like you'rea manifesting queen.
I love that.
So that was that.
(31:19):
You know, for the most part,we've just done pretty casual
things like oh, we'll all meetat this place and we can grab
drinks or food and just hang outand chat.
This was a very different event.
This was akin to another liveevent that I did, which was my
podcast launch party.
Yes, I have a podcast.
You go check it out.
Go listen to me ramble on overthere as well.
Yes, so it's called Indie SpunkUnfiltered.
(31:43):
We, I had a podcast launch party, and I guess it's actually
important to talk about thedifference, because that podcast
launch party was I'm using airquotes, trying to do it right.
Trying to do it right, tryingto do it professional.
We had press.
I I hired a pr company who Iwill continue to work with and
(32:05):
love very much, and we weredoing a guest podcast, live
taping, and it was thisincredible location but because
of the way it was organized, itdidn't feel as indie spunk.
The spunkiness of this company,this brand, my brand that I've
built in this community isreally about community and using
(32:26):
resources, and so this eventwas such a different experience.
I knew I wanted to highlight myclients.
My clients have made manyaward-winning, incredible films.
It's like, just like yourself,gone from never having made
anything before to now you're anaward-winning filmmaker, I'm so
proud of you.
And so I wanted this to be anevent that highlighted my
(32:48):
clients.
Also, my producer and I, whohas her own business as well, we
were like let's do this as acollaboration.
Let's do and with JumpsuitPictures is her business, beck
is my producer and her companyis called Jumpsuit Pictures.
Shout out to the bee's knees ofproducers.
So we went you know what?
Let's do an event.
(33:09):
But okay, here's the thing.
It was an opportunity that wedecided to take advantage of,
because my partner manages oneof the distillers at this cafe
in Los Angeles and we, formonths and months and months
before the film even hadhappened we've been talking
(33:29):
about doing an Indie Spunk eventthere, because the space is
available, and so the biggesttakeaway for anyone on this is
what's around you that you cantake advantage of in a positive
way for your community.
What resources do you alreadyhave available?
And that's what I will say isthe difference between the
podcast party that I did andthis event.
The podcast party was how do Imake this happen?
(33:52):
And this event was oh, look atthe resources that are around me
, how do we utilize theseresources?
How do we actually enjoy theseresources?
Versus like how do we utilizethese resources, how do we
actually enjoy these resources?
Versus like how do we find alocation?
How do we make this happen?
It was like, oh, look, alocation's available, and we
really wanted to put somethingtogether for awareness of the
(34:12):
film.
We kind of just made it up aswe went, I think for two months.
We knew we were going to put iton up until the event, and in
that moment we went okay, let'ssee if we can get some sponsors.
We got incredible sponsors.
We had Final Draft gave usmultiple copies of the script
writing software.
We had Vacation Sunscreen.
That sent us a big box of stuff.
(34:33):
We had the actual location wasfully sponsored at Regent Coffee
in Los Angeles, which is thebest coffee shop ever.
Everyone go to Regent on York.
It is seriously so good andlike just they have amazing
events.
They fully sponsored us.
So the location wascomplimentary.
We had who gives a crap, giveus all of this toilet paper.
We had Element, which is myfavorite hydration sticks.
(34:56):
So incredible sponsors.
Body Data we had a few others.
Did you reach out to them, izzy?
Yes.
So we had a specific and again,like in Watch Me Make a Movie, I
have given everyone thetemplate of how we pitch to
sponsors.
I literally give you everythingin that.
I need to get in there yeah,get your butt in there.
(35:18):
And even down to talking toinvestors and like sending
screenshots of what investorsare saying to us and the
meetings that we're getting onthe books.
I'm I literally am sharingeverything in that program
because I really want people tosee how simple it gets to be to
make work happen, make yourfilms happen and have
connections and visibility inthe industry.
So we put together a one sheetbut it was two pages of
(35:40):
information about myself and mycompany, beck's company, the
partners that we've had before,sponsors that we've had in other
areas of our businesses andwhat we can offer them.
And we got, I think, eight,seven or eight sponsors and we
probably sent out maybe ahundred pitches.
(36:01):
So that's just to give people anawareness of no isn't no right.
It's like you kind of have tobe pretty diligent If it's not
right for them right now, it'sprobably going to be right for
them at a later time.
I always say, like, nurtureyour relationships in the form
of planting a seed to grow atree, versus trying to pluck
fruit from a tree and take in atransactional way with
(36:22):
networking and with peoplesaying yes or no to you.
They're not saying no to you,they're just saying no, not
right now.
So giving I'm like sprinklingin all of this advice for people
.
I hope that's supportive.
So, yeah, that's how we did it,yeah, that's.
And we had three short filmsplay and then we had a teaser
pitch for our feature film, play.
(36:42):
It acted as this event was tobring awareness around our film
and hopefully to fundraise.
But we didn't know that we knowvery rarely do live events make
money and we actually made 1.3thousand dollars with just the,
which was incredible with afterall of our mini expenses.
(37:04):
Most of the things were donated, so that's great.
I mean, it pays for some of ourfeature film, legal fees of
forming the company and all ofthat stuff, and we're so really,
more than anything, we justwanted to have a launch event
for the film and talk about itand it was very effective and we
had so much fun.
Niki Sterner (37:23):
So did you basically do a pitch for the
audience that was there for your?
Izzy Stevens (37:27):
film.
Yeah, we had a another thingthat I've I'm sharing and watch
me make a movie is the.
It's three minutes and 17seconds.
You'll, when you watch it,nikki, you'll be like oh I see,
because I'm literally using theexact pitch video formula that I
teach in Crowdfund, hero, mycrowdfunding course.
Same thing, it's always thesame.
You're setting the tone, you'rebringing yourself credibility
(37:50):
organically, you're telling astory, you're talking about the
project and when you watch thatthree minute and 17 second pitch
video, maybe 10 seconds of thewhole pitch is actually talking
about what the film is about.
Right, the rest of it is tonesetting and engaging story and
(38:12):
you know sharing the why behindthe film and that's really, at
this point in time, what'simportant for people to know.
Niki Sterner (38:20):
Confidence doesn't come first.
Action and habits do.
That's why I created theConfidence Kickstart Morning
Routine, a 15-minute free guideto help you build habits that
actually work.
You'll get powerful journalprompts, a guided audio
meditation and my three-partConfidence Shortcut System,
mindset Path and Action.
It's the exact routine I use toget up on stage and speak up.
(38:41):
No more shrinking or secondguessing the link's in the
caption.
Grab it now and build theconfidence to move forward every
single day.
That is so good.
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.
Thank you so much, izzy.
I want to go into theconfidence quickfire round with
you now before we end, but Imean I could talk to you all day
on this.
Izzy Stevens (38:59):
I know, me too.
I'm like wait.
Oh my gosh, this time has flown.
I adore you.
This is so fun.
I know, oh, okay, so the firstquestion is I want to know your
definition of confidence Walkinginto any room fully in your
skin, not needing a thing, butknowing that you belong there.
Niki Sterner (39:19):
I love that Because, yeah, we're.
When we don't have that, we'relooking for approval.
Izzy Stevens (39:23):
Yeah.
Niki Sterner (39:24):
Yeah.
Second one is what's one boldmove you made before you felt
ready?
Izzy Stevens (39:28):
Oh, my God, every single day of my life how many
do you want to list here, geez?
I mean wow, how about mostrecent one?
It's like second nature to me.
One bold move Let me think wehave an investor meeting on the
books that we were like we couldlive forever in perfecting the
pitch moment.
(39:49):
But let's take this meeting andsee what happens.
And I guess that I guess theconversation that we're
currently having with thisperson who's expressing massive
interest in our film, becausethis is something that's second
nature to me.
Now I don't think twice about it, but what I did think was when
I started my business it was soscary, it really scared me and I
(40:13):
did not feel ready and I didnot feel qualified and I did not
feel that I was allowed to andthat the imposter syndrome and
the mental screaming in my headfrequently when I was doing
outreach and starting thebusiness and doing all of the
things was loud and I thankmyself and could cry with
gratitude every single day thatI moved through that period of
(40:36):
my life and have become theperson I am now, because you
just can't always see theresults of your efforts until
later and it did take me yearsto really see when I saw other
people starting businesses andtaking off immediately and I
thought what's wrong with me,what's happening?
Why isn't this working?
And I'm so grateful for thatperiod of struggle because it
(40:57):
made me a better mentor and itmade me a better business
teacher and it made me a betterfilmmaker and it made me a
better human.
And I just you know your mindwill lie to you.
Your mind wants to keep yousafe.
Your ego wants to keep you safeand secure in doing the thing
that feels safe and secure andit's because it's trying to
protect you.
But you know best, your gutknows best.
(41:17):
You know what you're here to do.
You know what you're here atBorn to do and you can stretch
yourself and challenge yourselfand you don't have to listen to
that fear voice.
You can keep moving.
I would have moments when Istarted my business, I'm telling
you, I remember sending thefirst 11 pitches out to people
to try and get referrals forclients and every single time
having almost a panic attack,crying on the couch with my
(41:37):
partner.
Panic attack, crying on thecouch with my partner, feeling
so anxious to put myself outthere and call myself a coach
and like what am I even doing?
People are going to think X, yand Z about me, like all that
noise, and I'm just so gratefulthat I kept moving and kept
going and I was so scared andI'm so grateful, because having
a thriving multi-six figurebusiness that supports people is
just.
(41:57):
I wake up and I think, thankyou, thank you me, thank you, we
did it, we made it happen, andeveryone that's listening, you
can do what you want to do.
Just take the steps.
Take the steps, invest inyourself, invest in mentorship,
invest in moving forward.
Take the step.
Niki Sterner (42:18):
Okay, the next one is how do you quiet your inner
critic?
Izzy Stevens (42:22):
Yeah, take the action, and maybe a more
practical way of doing this,because I think everyone says
that I'll just go.
It's yeah, sure, but what?
How do I take the action?
The one of the processes that Iteach in depth in Freedom
Creator that I'll talk in ashorter space of time here is
understanding, witnessing yourbelief and then choosing that
(42:43):
you change it, which I talkedabout early on in this call
Self-awareness of what yourbelief system is telling you,
and your belief system is builtfrom a very early age.
Regardless of what happened toyou or didn't happen to you.
We all build an inner criticthat is based on something or
(43:04):
things that have happened orconditioning that we had.
That's no one's fault, but itis our responsibility and our
job to change the story in ourbrain.
And so for me, it's aboutwitnessing oh, there's a belief
system here that actually isn'tsupportive of me, that isn't
serving me, and first of all, Ineed to get really self-aware of
that.
I need to see where that'scoming up.
I need to witness it and say,oh hi, I see you.
(43:26):
That's the belief right there.
That's what's happening andthat's perpetuating an action
that I'm taking that is notproductive and not supportive to
me and what I want.
So recognizing and witnessing.
There it is, there, I see it,and not meeting it with oh, you
did it again.
You're so bad.
Look at you Like you're havingthis thought and it's bad
Instead.
Oh, I forgive you, I love you,thank you, thank you for trying
(43:46):
to protect me.
I witness you and I see you andI love you and I forgive you
and I thank you.
And also we now get to changeand having that conversation
with yourself.
That's really honest writingthat belief that is not serving
(44:06):
you and then writing down abelief that will serve you.
Saying what would, what would abelief that serves me?
Look like you write it down andthen I like to say you try it
on like a pair of pants.
You try that belief on like apair of pants, walk around your
house with it and just see whatit feels like and practice that,
rehearse that, rehearse thatbelief and take action from that
belief.
Ask yourself if I believed this, what would I then do?
How would I move?
How would I take action?
And that is how you take action, despite your inner critic.
(44:26):
That is how you take action anddo it anyway.
Right, it's about puttingyourself in the situation of you
don't have that inner critic.
What if you didn't have thatvoice?
What would you be saying toyourself and what action would
you take from that place?
And then going and doing thebrave thing and taking that
action yeah, the brave thing.
Niki Sterner (44:46):
I love that you said like we as in, like you're
taking your inner critic withyou, like you're not just
throwing them away, like that'sa part of you.
Yeah, loved it, accepted it,thanked it, and we are changing
together.
Izzy Stevens (44:59):
Yes, I love that Okay.
Niki Sterner (45:01):
The next question what's one habit that's helped
you build real confidence?
Izzy Stevens (45:07):
Okay, so I talk about.
Historically, I've had a quitea fear of visibility, which
seems probably the antithesis ofwho I am, because I teach
visibility.
But the reason that I'm able toteach it is because I used to
feel very, very scared and verycaged around showing myself
authentically, and that has todo with growing up in a film
(45:29):
industry that asks you to beperfect, that asks you to look
perfect and present well and, asa woman, be quiet and be polite
and don't ruffle feathers.
And so I think for me, thebiggest shift has been learning
how to put myself out thereonline.
I can be very real andauthentic in a one-on-one
(45:49):
conversation.
I've always been that way.
But in a situation where Ican't see your reaction, I can't
see how you're going to feelabout this.
I can imagine it and, of course, my fear and ego wants to tell
me that everyone's gonna hate me, right?
But through showing up online,talking about my services,
selling programs and services inmy business, talking about my
(46:09):
films, talking about my creativecareer online, the process of
doing that every single day forfive years has turned me into
someone who it doesn't matter tome what you think like with
love.
Here's the door.
You don't need to love me, youdon't even need to like me and
if I'm not for you, that is sookay.
Like, go find your people.
If it's not me, that's fine.
(46:30):
I now feel so socked into myself, my belief system and who I'm
here for and who I love to workwith.
That is what I get to show upfor and who I make content and
who I make programs for and whoI make films for are those
people and so recognizing thatthe people pleaser is just that
fear of not being liked, andrecognizing and healing that
(46:53):
part of myself over the lastfive years, I would say
definitely my business taught me, has taught me so much Like you
will face with filmmaking aswell, and business like you face
your ego and you can choose tolet the ego run the show or you
can choose to say no, I'mevolving past this and I don't
need like not needing everyoneto like me, feeling like I'm now
Okay If you go and disparage meor talk badly about me to
(47:17):
someone else, not my business, Idon't care and because I do, I
know who I'm here for andknowing that and trusting that
and trusting myself, theultimate lesson for me is that
I've got me and that I get me,and that people other people
will make it their full-time job.
Not to understand you, that'sjust what will happen.
(47:37):
Like people will, and that'stheir stuff, that's their ego.
And with love like that's notmy business, that's their ego,
and with love like that's not mybusiness.
My business is moving withintegrity, moving with what I
believe to be the truth of theworld and how I see myself, and
(47:57):
showing up with full love forthat person and these people in
this community.
So that's what I always focuson and that's a big part of the
healing of my visibility that Ihave gone through to now become
who I am today.
I love that.
Niki Sterner (48:06):
That's such a great story.
That's such a great share, izzy, because, yeah, I would not
picture you being someone whowas afraid to share yourself
because you're so authentic andit's such your vibe.
So it just goes to show youthat you can change with the
growth mindset, like who you arenow does not have to be who you
are down the road.
Izzy Stevens (48:26):
Yeah, a big, big one.
I mean, even when we in thebeginning of Freedom Creator,
the first one of the firstlessons is to script out a story
and go live on social media,and it scares everyone.
Some people are some people oh,I've done this all the time, I
know how to do this, I can dothis but talking about yourself
and sharing a story like that ina live setting is incredibly
(48:47):
vulnerable and it's the firstkick in the pants step to really
showing up authentically for acommunity and for yourself.
And it's just one of the mostliberating things that you can
learn to do for yourself is toshow up, and now I get to show
up without a script and talkabout things that are important
to me and authentic stories thatgosh, 10 years ago never, never
(49:09):
, would have done, ever.
Niki Sterner (49:13):
I remember doing that.
Yes, yeah, it was so nervewracking.
And look at you now.
Izzy Stevens (49:18):
Oh my gosh, on a podcast, your own podcast, you
going live your presence onsocial media and beyond.
I think this is.
I probably I imagine that youwould really resonate with this
when you realize that it'sactually not about you.
Even though you're talkingabout yourself and you're
showing up, it's actually aboutwho you're talking to and your
community and positivelyaffecting the world in that way.
(49:42):
And so that when you can getinto that, when you remember
that part that this isn'tactually about you, it's about
the movement that you'rebuilding, the brand that you're
building that inspires, whateverit is that you want to inspire,
it's a really easy way to getout of your own way and stop
identifying too much with it andinstead pour into your
community.
Niki Sterner (50:02):
Yeah, you do such a great job of reminding us
about that.
I do remember you saying thatover and over again to me and
the group.
Yeah, it's so such a greatreminder.
Okay, we're going to wrap thisup with your favorite book or
resource.
That changed how you think.
Izzy Stevens (50:18):
Oh my God, there's so many.
Okay, I really loved changingthe Habit of being Yourself,
which is Dr Joe Dispenza.
Yes, thank you, that'sbrilliant and it did.
I read that a few years ago andit really did change things for
(50:38):
me.
But I would say ElaineWelteroth's More Than Enough is
such a beautiful book and I loveit so much.
I love her.
She's a genius.
A beautiful book and I love itso much.
I love her.
She's a genius, she's brilliantand I highly recommend that
book.
Yeah, beautiful, yeah.
Niki Sterner (50:52):
All right, well, thank you so much, izzy, for
coming on here.
How can people keep up with youCome?
Izzy Stevens (50:57):
find me on Instagram at IndieSpunk, and DM
me if you listen to thisinterview and anything resonated
.
I'm obsessed with hearing frompeople.
Dm me and I'd love to connectwith you and hear all about you.
So that's the best place.
And yeah, we can drop any otherlinks that people want from
this as well.
So, yeah, everything'savailable.
(51:17):
But yeah, indiespunk I share alot of stuff on that page.
And come over, come join us,come over.
Niki Sterner (51:22):
Join definitely.
Izzy Stevens (51:25):
Thank you so much, izzy.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much, nikki.
This is amazing.
Niki Sterner (51:28):
Thanks so much for listening to the Confident
Shortcut.
I hope today's episode wokesomething up in you, reminding
you that your dream matters andyou can start now.
If this sparked something,share it with a friend who needs
it too.
And don't forget to follow meon Instagram at Nikki Sterner
and join our Facebook communityat the Confidence Shortcut.
Ready to take the next step?
Check out my free guide, theConfidence Kickstart, linked in
(51:50):
the show notes.
Keep showing up, keep takingaction and remember the shortcut
to confidence is courage.
Welcome to the Confidence Shortcut, the podcast
for ambitious creatives andentrepreneurs who are ready to
stop overthinking, take boldaction and finally step into the
life they've been dreamingabout.
I'm your host, Niki Sterner.
Mom, actor, comedian andproducer.
After years of playing smalland waiting to feel ready, I
went on a courage quest andfound a shortcut to confidence.
(00:21):
Each week I'll bring you realstories, simple steps and
conversations with experts inmindset courage and confidence,
plus heart-to-hearts with fellowcreatives who are turning their
dreams into reality.
It's time to get unstuck andstart showing up.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to the ConfidenceShortcut.
I'm your host, Niki Sterner.
(00:41):
Today's guest is Izzy Stevens,an absolute powerhouse in the
creative industry.
She's an award-winning director, a film and TV actor with
serious creds we're talkingtwo-time network series regular
and lead in a Netflix trilogykind of vibe.
Izzy has been featured on ABCNetwork, amazon Prime, at the
(01:02):
Cannes Diversity Showcase,fantastic Fest and the
Oscar-qualifying Holly ShortsFilm Festival.
But that's not all.
She's also the founder of IndieSpunk, where she helps fellow
creatives become the nameeveryone knows, without the
exhausting hustle of constantlyproving yourself.
If you're looking to masterauthentic visibility, build a
(01:22):
bold personal brand, make bankand wake the industry up to your
magic.
Izzy is your girl.
I cannot wait for you to soakup her wisdom.
Welcome to the show, IzzyStevens.
Yeah, hi, I mean even more thanthat, though, Izzy.
You mean so much to me becauseyou were the reason that I was
(01:44):
able to have a breakthrough,because I started out in your
filmmaker breakthrough groupwhen I was really confused and
didn't know what path to take inthis industry, and so I will
forever be grateful for yourmentorship on my path, and I
think of you almost every day,so I'm so thankful that you
could be here on the path, and Ithink of you almost every day,
(02:05):
so I'm so thankful that youcould be here on the podcast.
Izzy Stevens (02:09):
So, but I love you .
I was we were just sayingbefore we we started officially
that just witnessing you and howfar you've come and what you've
been able to achieve in yourcareer in such a short space of
time, I am floored by you.
I'm inspired by you.
I just have loved mentoring youand working with you.
It's been such a highlight forme.
So you know, this is a two-waystreet, and what you have
(02:33):
brought to the table and whatyou've constantly.
I would just remember momentsthat I love that this is a
confidence podcast, all aboutconfidence, because there is no
one better to teach it.
I just remember moments whereyou would come to the table and
be like I am feeling vulnerable,I don't know what I'm doing,
I'm not sure how to do this andhow to move forward, and yet you
continued to ask the questions,apply yourself, move forward,
(02:54):
trust yourself and understandthat like it is a process.
And look at you now.
I am honestly just blown awayby you and I love that you're
doing this and sharing yourwisdom with more people, because
you have so much to give and somuch to share and, just like,
in so many ways, you're justgetting started.
Niki Sterner (03:12):
Thank you, Izzy, thank you for saying that.
And you just witnessed themagic of Izzy Stevens right
there.
You guys, she is the person whopulls you out.
When you are second guessingyourself and you're in tears and
you're wondering, I don't knowhow to do this.
She gives you the next step andshe gives you the confidence.
She, like, holds your hand andfeeds you.
This stream of words just liftsyou up and so I just I can't
(03:37):
tell you how many times you didthat for me.
Or I was just like I don't knowif I can do this.
And you were like, yes, you can, and here's how we're going to
do it.
And this is.
And you would even ask me forwhat?
What do you think is your nextstep?
And you would listen to it.
Wasn't like you were justtelling me what to do.
You were there like holding myhand, saying what do you think?
And then you would.
You were just so there.
Bit about Izzy Stevens rightnow.
(03:58):
Oh, okay.
So right now I am in thedevelopment process of my debut
feature film.
Izzy Stevens (04:11):
So, as you mentioned, when you read such a
glorious version of my bio, I'mlike this is amazing, ultimate
hype, feeling so good.
I am juggling right.
I'm juggling my business as amentor and in my mentorship
business, I help creatives makefilms.
I am juggling right, I'mjuggling my business as a mentor
and in my mentorship business,I help creatives make films.
I help creatives buildbusinesses that sustain their
creative careers, and I also ama filmmaker and an actor in my
(04:33):
own right as well, and somultiple projects going on all
accounts, which is forever andalways my.
I guess my kryptonite is manyideas and then, as I've evolved
over the last, I would say I'vebeen in the industry almost 13,
14 years professionally now,which is wild to me.
It has been a learning curve ofnot telling myself I'm wrong
(04:56):
for so many ideas, and I know somany creative people are going
to relate to this.
You're not wrong for having somany ideas.
You just need to know how tohandle them, delegate, build a
team, understand what'simportant for your energy and
what's not important for yourenergy, and I think that that
has been the biggest strengthover the last few years in my
life has been knowing how to bespecific in my energy, potent in
(05:18):
my moves and like reallyfocusing on the moves that move
the needle, and so my businessis thriving and I'm obsessed
with it.
I love working with people justlike you, nikki, who are
building creative careers,building businesses.
They're my favorite, you're myfavorite people to work with
always, so that is a place Ilove to pour into.
And, of course, my filmmaking,which is a very different flavor
(05:40):
of me.
I make psychological thrillerfilms with fierce female
protagonist leads that areunapologetic and often unlikable
, and I just am having so muchfun in the development process
of this feature film.
So that's where we were justtalking about my new program,
Watch Me Make a Movie, which isbasically an inside look of how
I'm doing every single stepalong the way.
(06:02):
So my business and filmmakingreally do blend together in so
many ways.
I love to draw all of thewisdom that I gained through my
film career and my business andpour into my clients so they can
get further faster.
That's like the whole reason Istarted the business and that's,
yeah, that's what I also.
I'm a human and I like to drinkwine and travel and hang out
(06:23):
with my friends and my familyand my people and everything
like that.
So yeah, all the above.
Niki Sterner (06:29):
Tell me more about what you do, cause, like even
today, I was like brainstorming.
I want to learn how to writesongs and I want to learn how to
work the camera.
Actually, I have a camera and Idon't know how to run it yet.
So there's like things that Iwant to do as a creative.
How do you balance and juggleall of those?
Are there methods that you have?
Izzy Stevens (06:50):
Yeah, definitely so I.
There's something that I teachin my mentorship program, which
is called Freedom Creator.
You have been a part of thatprogram.
That is the freedom formula,right, which is the way that I
think is just the fundamentalpractice of my days, of my life,
and it's essentially I justthink that, like we can die on
(07:13):
the list of our to-dos right?
It's so easy for us to sit downand write a to-do list Like, oh
, how am I going to get all ofthese things done?
And so I am anti to-do list.
I am pro setting the standardsbefore the list comes, which
means that I have basically fivethings that I do every day,
(07:35):
five, a formula of fivedifferent areas that I need to
serve and show up for everysingle day, and once I've done
those things, my day can be doneif I want.
Anything else is extra, and sothat's how I really run things.
The five things are I take careof.
What am I going to do to takecare of myself?
What am I going to do to takecare of my clients today?
What am I going to do to takecare of my community today?
(07:57):
What am I going to do to takecare of my business sales today,
and what am I going to do totake care of my creativity today
?
And sometimes those thingsblend, but for me it's about we
are all so busy.
We are all multi-hyphenate,creative people that have many
pots in the boil.
As you're saying, you'regetting your film in festivals
right now.
You're going and winning awards, you're doing panels, nikki,
(08:17):
you're building this business,you've got a podcast.
Like you've got a lot on yourplate, and so it's not about
doing everything perfectly.
It's about doing the rightthings intentionally and
potently with the limited timethat you have.
And I just find that for me, Ithrive creatively when I have a
tight space of time.
Like I know I have 10 minutesto do a pitch for my program.
(08:37):
Like I'll sell and talk aboutmy programs on my instagram
stories, on email all the timeevery day, and if I know I only
have 10 minutes, that task willtake 10 minutes, and that has
been a process of discipline.
It's not as easy as like go anddo the thing.
It is sometimes about learningthe process and understanding
how to do that effectively,which is why I always have
(08:58):
mentorship and I am a mentorbecause I like helping people do
things in a more specific,potent way, and that's really
how I have all of these thingson my plate.
My days don't feel stressful, mydays don't feel overwhelming,
and that is a choice we get tomake.
I, a long time ago, reallyidentified with oh, I feel
(09:19):
overwhelmed, I'm over.
It's overwhelming the amount ofthings that I want to do and
witnessing, recognizing andholding myself to the standard
that no, no, no, overwhelm is achoice.
I don't have to feeloverwhelmed by this.
I get to feel empowered by thisand I get to say no to what
doesn't need to be done rightnow, and not everything needs to
be done to the height ofperfection in order for it to
work.
That mentality and beliefsystem has been instrumental in
(09:42):
me being able to do all of thesethings in my life.
Niki Sterner (09:46):
It sounds like you're taking messy action
forward.
You're not going back throughand redoing something 10 times
before you post it.
You're just being real andauthentic.
Izzy Stevens (09:56):
A hundred percent done.
Done is always yeah.
Done is always better thanperfect.
And because that's been mymentality, my ability to do
something in a short space oftime but at a high level, has
improved because I'm constantlydoing it.
So in the beginning of learninga new process or learning a new
(10:17):
skill, you're not going to bethe best in the world at it.
That 10 minutes that you have itmight not prove to be creating
something that's perfect andimpactful, but you do that 10
times, 20 times, 30 times.
You get to a point where it'slike really simple and really
easy and effective.
And that's how, in my business,I can put a quick little story
(10:40):
sequence up and then have a fewinquiries from dreamy clients in
my DM saying, oh, I'd love towork with you.
That's not happened overnight.
I've been working in mybusiness as a mentor for almost
five years and it's now gottento the place where that gets to
be really simple.
It was not simple in thebeginning, right, it wasn't the
easiest thing in the world inthe beginning, but you get there
(11:01):
and you learn the skill to beable to show up for those things
and follow through in a waythat's effective.
Niki Sterner (11:08):
If you're a creative craving momentum in
your business and your art, youneed to check out Freedom
Creator by Izzy Stevens.
Izzy was my breakthrough mentorwhen I made my short film Sweet
Body.
She helped me show up online,own my voice and build real
traction.
That film went on to win fourawards, including Best Director
and Best Dark Comedy.
Inside Freedom Creator, you'llmaster authentic visibility,
(11:31):
personal branding and spunkybusiness strategy.
So you become the name everyoneknows, without constantly
trying to prove yourself.
Click the link below to jointhe program that helped me go
from stuck to unstoppable.
I'm curious, izzy do you setaside certain hours of your day
where you're checking those DMsand stuff?
Izzy Stevens (11:52):
Yeah, so you know I have gone through phases of
that.
I'll be very transparent.
I am not your typical like typeA scheduled person.
I'm definitely a creativeperson that likes to feel that
my day is flexible.
So there have been seasons Ilike to talk in seasons because
(12:12):
I think that's just a moreapproachable way to understand
our energy types.
There have been seasons of mylife and my business that I have
absolutely needed to schedulethings out or it wouldn't get
done, and there are seasons oflife where just that has been
effective for me.
Yes, but in this very moment,like, for instance, I'll use the
(12:33):
example of my film, my featurefilm.
I think it was this time lastyear.
I'm just looking at the month,what month are we in?
June, okay, so last beginningof last April I started writing
my screenplay and I don't knowif you remember this, but we
talked about this in filmmakerbreakthrough, where, because my
(12:55):
thing as a mentor is, I'm notgoing to give you a one size
fits all it.
There is no such thing as a onesize fits all structure or
approach to making your life,your career, your business work,
which is why I like mentorshipin an intimate setting, because
we need to find out what worksbest for you and so you can
thrive within that structure.
I used to say you probably haveheard me say this I'm just not
(13:15):
the kind of person that canwrite every single day, because
I like my energy to feelspecific and concentrated in a
specific area, and so I'msomeone who can write for a long
period of like.
I can write for five hours orsix hours on one particular day,
twice a month, say.
And that was really a storythat I was telling myself and I
(13:38):
knew I wanted what I know aboutmyself and like I had done a lot
of mindset work around all mybelief systems and shifting the
ways that I see the world andsee myself to support me better
and I decided that's actually abelief that I have been telling
myself.
That's not true, necessarily.
So I'm gonna change this.
I'm gonna write every singleday.
I'm gonna watch.
(13:58):
I'm going to now set thestandard that I am someone who
can write every single day, andso five days a week actually,
you know what I wasn't, I waswriting seven days a week.
So now that I'm recalling, Idecided, great, I'm going to do
this and therefore, yes, at thatpoint I needed to schedule that
.
I needed that to be the firsthour of my day.
(14:18):
I needed to keep that just forcreative work.
So I very strictly scheduled anhour every single day for my
writing process and that's how,in under 12 months, I had four
or five drafts of my featurefilm done and we're moving into
development, which is actuallyvery quick for feature
filmmaking and the writingprocess.
(14:40):
Most people will spend manyyears perfecting their script,
but I knew I wanted to get it.
I wanted to move intoproduction this year and so I
went.
I'm just going to go for it anddo it, and in doing so, the
belief changes with action.
Right?
This is such an important thingto remember that for everyone,
your belief system isn't goingto change overnight by you
(15:02):
deciding and you saying theaffirmation in the mirror just
like I can write every day, Ican write every day.
The belief changes when youactually do it.
When you say I'm going to writeevery single day.
I'm not just going to tellmyself I can, I'm actually going
to do it and in doing so now Ihave so much more flexibility
and malleability in my creativeprocess.
So that was a situation where,yes, I scheduled it.
(15:24):
In terms of the DMs and talkingwith clients, I have definitely
gone through phases where I'veneeded to give myself boundaries
.
It's really especially in thebeginning part I would say the
first few years of my businessso easy to just be reactive to.
Oh my God, someone messaged me.
Oh my God.
Oh, I got to be in there andrecognizing that's actually not
helpful for my energy, for myproductivity and for my
(15:46):
concentrate.
It just doesn't serve anyone.
So there have been times whereI've been like you know what,
I'm only going to check it threetimes a day.
These are the three times I'mgoing to check it and otherwise
I'm not going on social mediawith all of these things.
Now I feel like in the beginning, having that real discipline
was so formative and effectivefor me that I can now I don't
(16:09):
need the specific scheduling infor those things to feel good
and thrive in the structure.
I can actually feel it's likeintuitive eating right.
Like if you need to reteachyour body, how to not a
nutritionist, love what I'msaying suddenly giving food
advice, but it's similar, right.
Like if you need to reteachyour body how to not a
nutritionist love what I'msuddenly giving food advice, but
it's similar, right.
It's a great analogy where, ifyou feel like out of touch with
(16:30):
your body, you need to relearnhow to listen to its hunger
signals, and then you can get toa point where you're eating
intuitively and you stop whenyou're full.
It's the same thing.
You just have to learn to.
You give yourself thatstructure and then you can learn
to be flexible within it.
Niki Sterner (16:46):
Yeah, I would love to ask you about two different
things that you've done recently, and the first one is the
Sundance festival that you wentto, oh yeah.
And then also the event thatyou just held.
Izzy Stevens (16:59):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Niki Sterner (17:01):
If you could talk us through like the preparation
and like your mindset that youhad to do before going.
Izzy Stevens (17:07):
Yes, Okay great, yeah, amazing, okay.
So yeah, I remember that youwanted to talk through this
Sundance piece.
I'm so excited, excuse me.
So, as I said, I startedwriting the feature screenplay
last year around this time andwhen it came to the end of 2024,
(17:27):
I knew I wanted to test thewaters with how I was going to
pitch this film.
So most people, especially in acreative process, will
instinctively want to wait forvalidation before they make the
thing right.
They want to wait for people toinvite them to the festival.
(17:48):
They want to wait for people tosee your value and tell you,
yes, you should make this orhave the script land at some
festival or some award orcompetition.
That gives it credibility,whereas that's a.
I think that there is time anda space for that and we're doing
all of those things as well,but I know for me, the best way
(18:13):
to understand if something islanding with people is by going
and seeing.
If it's landing is by openingmy mouth and talking about it
and seeing if people glaze overor people lean in.
And so going to Sundance was achoice that my producer and I
made and, of course, like we gointo such depth around the
pitching process and how Iactually do that in Watch Me
Make a Movie.
So if anyone's curious aboutthat, that's definitely the
(18:34):
place to join and hear aboutthis process.
Okay, so my producer and I wereon the phone.
We're talking about thisversion of the script.
We both were like it's ready,like let's do this, let's go.
And I will say also because Ithink there will be questions
naturally around this bringingon a producer was something that
(18:56):
happened quite organicallybecause again and these are
skills I have built over a longperiod of time I was able to sit
down at a casual brunch with aclient and great producer,
another someone who came throughmy programs I helped make films
and now they're making films.
(19:16):
And they were sitting down infront of me.
We're having a catch up andthey're like tell me what you're
working on right now.
And I said, oh yeah, I'mwriting this script and this is
what it's about.
And they went I don't want tojump the gun here, but I want to
produce it Like how do you feelabout that?
And I went you know what?
Absolutely let's go.
And I trusted this personalready had a great rapport with
(19:37):
them, worked with them as aclient, worked with them in my
business as well knew that thatwas a fit.
So that was something thathappened really organically and
they wanted to sign on evenbefore they'd read the script.
And that is the power of knowinghow to talk about things and
it's so important.
I think artists really wanttheir work to speak for itself,
but you need to give your art avoice.
You need to know how to pitchit, talk about it casually, in a
(19:58):
way that makes people lean inand go tell me more.
I want to know about this, Iwant to be a part of it and time
and time again, like that's whyI know that you were a part of
filmmaker breakthrough that's somuch of the skills that we were
honing in that my mentorshipsis not just making great art but
knowing how to talk about it.
So people are excited and justhaving someone come on board in
the process of the right thescript was still getting written
(20:20):
.
We come to the end of the yearlast year and we both went.
What about Sundance?
Like what if we just went?
And I said this is so geniusbecause we just I just need to
walk into rooms where people areoperating and making films at
the top of their game and see ifthis film resonates, see if the
(20:41):
way that I'm talking about it,the way that I'm pitching it,
resonates.
It gave us a really greatdeadline.
I love deadlines because ithelps me thrive, like that
structure helps me thrive.
It gave us a deadline to lockdown a specific tone of pitch
way that I was talking about itand it's so, like everyone do
this.
Just go and put yourself inrooms where you feel intimidated
(21:03):
and walk in like you own it andwalk in like you're supposed to
be there and walk in like it'smeant to be because walking into
.
So here's what happened.
We went to Sundance.
We were game planning.
How are we going to talk aboutit?
Who's going to say what in theconversation?
And we get there and myproducer gets so sick, so sick,
couldn't actually attend most ofthe festival.
(21:24):
It was just me and we laugh.
Now we're like I think thatthis happened all by kismet,
because you got me here.
I probably wouldn't have goneby myself in this situation.
So we went to Sundance.
We didn't have tickets to anyfilms.
This is the thing aboutSundance too, and for many
festivals all of the panels arefree.
We, because of a certain likecredit card I had, I could get
(21:46):
into a specific lounge.
There were other lounges thatyou can go into for free.
So I was like I'm just going toshow up on the strip in Park
City and walk into rooms andtalk to people and bring this
pitch that I've got in my bonesand see how it lands.
And it was the strangestblessing that of course, I
(22:10):
wished she was next to me thewhole time, but walking into a
room by myself, I don't have acrutch, I don't have a fallback,
I just have myself and I havemy hand that I'm outstretching
to the first person that I seeand I'm saying hi.
And they're saying, oh, whatare you here for?
Right?
And I say I'm here for my film.
Oh, amazing, what's your film?
The fact that you're here witha film at Sundance means
(22:31):
everything to the person thatyou're talking to, even though
you're not necessarily here witha film in Sundance, right?
So I'm like I said I'm herepitching a film.
Everyone was like, oh, are therepitch labs here?
We didn't know that they did.
I said no, no pitch labs.
There's no reason.
I'm just here talking about myfilm and watching, purely not
(22:52):
because I needed to get anythingfrom this, except watching how
people responded to what I wassaying and this is also just a
superpower I happen to have.
I'm very intuitive, yeah,emotionally intuitive, like I
can kind of read energy prettywell, like if you're blinking a
lot or if you're looking away orif you're scratching your head,
it's like okay, they're tuningout, maybe they're not
(23:14):
interested, or if they'releaning, some of the most
fascinating responses to mypitch, which is quite bold, it's
like a quite a quite an intense, um, I guess like way to talk
about the world is how I starttalking about the film.
I basically say you know, Ibelieve that the world operates
like a sex cult for women.
(23:35):
It's like a very, a veryintense beginning and that's
specific and that's how I wasstarting the pitch.
And so some people would belike huh, okay, and some people
like oh my God, what Tell memore?
And it was always fascinatingseeing who reacted in what way
and what was resonating.
And it was so funny because weactually it got to a point where
(23:58):
people were introducing me asthis is Izzy, the sex cult
director, and people justassumed because of the way that
I was owning myself, owning thestory, talking about it
confidently and making quitebold statements and telling
stories.
People assumed that the filmwas already off the ground,
which in my mind, it is, even ifyou know at that point you
don't have funding or anything.
(24:19):
Film was already off the ground, which in my mind, it is, even
if you know at that point youdon't have funding or anything.
Films off the ground.
The film's supposed to be atSundance.
The I'm connected.
It was like people are startingto introduce me.
I'm saved in all of thesedifferent industry contact
phones as Izzy sex cult directorjust happened to be something
that resonated a lot and I wentgreat, that's really interesting
(24:39):
, that this is a marketablepiece of the film.
We're going to go home andhighlight that it was something
that we realized.
Okay, this is a marketablepiece of the process, of the
pitch, not necessarily the mostimportant part of the narrative,
right?
Not necessarily the thing thatyou're going to take when you
actually read the script orwatch the film.
(25:01):
It's not going to be the thingthat you're left with.
You're going to be left withthe emotional resonance, the
slap in the face that the filmleaves you with in a, we hope, a
really empowering way.
But in terms of the pitch, youneed to know how to talk about
it in a way that gets people'sattention and holds people's
attention and wants them to andhelps them want to learn more.
(25:23):
So it was fantastic.
We walked away from thatfestival with multiple
connections.
I would not have had peoplethat I met randomly in line for
things or in lounges that havenow been become a part of the
process or helped us on our wayjust incredible connections.
And most people would say, oh,I'm going to go to one of those
(25:44):
top film festivals when I get in, but I because I said that to
myself for years oh, I'm notgoing to go to Sundance until
I'm in Sundance.
But truthfully, it's the bestplace to go to meet like-minded
people.
Every single person in all ofthose rooms wants you to win,
cares about you, are excited tohear your ideas and when you
walk in like you belong there,people assume you do.
(26:06):
And that's exactly how yourfilm can build momentum and how
your film can get made.
And it gave us so much momentum.
Seemingly nothing on the page ofwhat our film had except the
script and a verbal pitch tovery quickly become something
that was getting seriousmeetings and people who I was
(26:26):
seeing have films in thefestival say how can I help you?
How can I be a part of this?
I love the idea.
I want to help you.
I want to see how I can beinvolved.
Your energy, the energy thatyou bring into the room, has
everything to do with yoursuccess.
I will die on that hill forever.
Niki Sterner (26:43):
If you've got a film idea but no clue where to
start, or you're tired of tryingto figure it out alone, Script
to Screen by Izzy Stevens is thecourse you need.
I actually worked with Izzy andused this exact roadmap to make
my short film Sweet Body, whichwent on to win four awards,
including Best Director and BestDark Comedy.
She guides you through theentire process writing,
(27:06):
directing, producing and evengetting into festivals.
It's the most down-to-earth,actionable system I've ever used
.
Click the link to join Scriptto Screen and finally bring your
film to life.
Join script to screen andfinally bring your film to life.
I'm wondering, Izzy, did you dolike visualizations of yourself
(27:27):
, like in the pitch room atSundance, before you actually
went there, and that kind ofthing?
Izzy Stevens (27:31):
So I love that you asked this question because I
do visualizations for my clientsall the time.
Like I run, I walk peoplethrough meditations and hypnosis
and I do all of those thingsintermittently through my life.
And I say intermittentlybecause I'm not perfect, I'm not
every single day doing ahypnosis or a visualization, but
there have been times whereI've done a big mindset shift
(27:53):
boost in my, in myself, where ithas been every single day and
my clients do our hypnosistracks every single day.
But in this situation, ifyou're asking about the actual
prep that was involved, I cantalk till the cows come home and
talking to people hasn't been adifficulty of mine.
(28:15):
Walking into rooms hasn't beena difficulty of mine, but the
prep that I did do was get theverbal pitch out of my mouth as
many times as possible indifferent ways, with.
That's what I will always say topeople in terms of preparing to
go into something like thatjust know how to talk about
yourself, because we've allexperienced the cheesy, awkward
(28:36):
networking event where it's likewhat do you do?
I'm an actor, I'm a director,what do you do?
And it's like what do you do?
I'm an actor, I'm a director,what do you do?
And it's dry, and so for you tobe able to, off the cuff, have
something prepared by rote thatyou can then be organic and
flexible with is so incrediblyimportant to know how to talk
about yourself and your projects.
That's what I focused on.
(28:57):
If I was someone that struggledwith walking into a room and
talking about things, then, yes,I probably would have done a
lot of visualizations of feelingthat confidence and shaking the
hand and basically mentallyrehearsing and visualizing that
conversation going well.
But I'm very grateful to havebeen someone who's naturally
good at that.
But it's something that you canabsolutely learn.
(29:19):
The skill of Many of my clientsdo.
Niki Sterner (29:22):
Which program?
Because I've done the FreedomCreator and the Filmmaker
Breakthrough.
Which one is that in that or isit in both, where you come up
with your pitch and what you'regoing to speak?
Izzy Stevens (29:33):
Yeah.
So Freedom Creator is the livementorship program.
We do both filmmaking andbusiness growth in there, and so
that that's really the placewhere we talk about your
visibility.
I have a course on this as well, called become visible.
If you're like, I don't wantthe live mentorship piece, I
just want to go through modulesand understand this piece of it,
like how to become visible, howto talk about myself, how to
feel confident in that space.
(29:53):
There's meditations andhypnosis is in that course as
well.
So that's a great program ifyou just want to go through and
like learn the foundations ofthese things.
But Freedom Creator is theplace where we hone in on your
messaging, on your personalbrand and how to talk about it
and be about it so that peopleare excited about the work that
you're creating and want to be apart of it.
(30:14):
Yeah, freedom Creator is theonly live long-term mentorship
that I do now and I just lovethe incredible results that my
clients are getting from that.
It's so exciting, that's sogood.
Niki Sterner (30:27):
Okay, I want to hear more about how you took the
idea of the event that you justheld and made it possible.
Oh yeah, can you walk usthrough that?
Izzy Stevens (30:37):
Yeah, absolutely Great question.
So we last week had a liveevent and I have done which you
guys, nikki is so the greatest.
I just Nikki is just likeslight segue, but we I will
intimately hold live eventsthroughout the year for my
(30:58):
community and extended community.
Not just my clients are invited, everyone's invited.
And Nikki reached out to melast year and said I'm coming to
LA, like, can we do something?
And literally because of you,put this, put one of the one of
our live events on last year andI just love that about you.
You're just, you're like you'rea manifesting queen.
I love that.
So that was that.
(31:19):
You know, for the most part,we've just done pretty casual
things like oh, we'll all meetat this place and we can grab
drinks or food and just hang outand chat.
This was a very different event.
This was akin to another liveevent that I did, which was my
podcast launch party.
Yes, I have a podcast.
You go check it out.
Go listen to me ramble on overthere as well.
Yes, so it's called Indie SpunkUnfiltered.
(31:43):
We, I had a podcast launch party, and I guess it's actually
important to talk about thedifference, because that podcast
launch party was I'm using airquotes, trying to do it right.
Trying to do it right, tryingto do it professional.
We had press.
I I hired a pr company who Iwill continue to work with and
(32:05):
love very much, and we weredoing a guest podcast, live
taping, and it was thisincredible location but because
of the way it was organized, itdidn't feel as indie spunk.
The spunkiness of this company,this brand, my brand that I've
built in this community isreally about community and using
(32:26):
resources, and so this eventwas such a different experience.
I knew I wanted to highlight myclients.
My clients have made manyaward-winning, incredible films.
It's like, just like yourself,gone from never having made
anything before to now you're anaward-winning filmmaker, I'm so
proud of you.
And so I wanted this to be anevent that highlighted my
(32:48):
clients.
Also, my producer and I, whohas her own business as well, we
were like let's do this as acollaboration.
Let's do and with JumpsuitPictures is her business, beck
is my producer and her companyis called Jumpsuit Pictures.
Shout out to the bee's knees ofproducers.
So we went you know what?
Let's do an event.
(33:09):
But okay, here's the thing.
It was an opportunity that wedecided to take advantage of,
because my partner manages oneof the distillers at this cafe
in Los Angeles and we, formonths and months and months
before the film even hadhappened we've been talking
(33:29):
about doing an Indie Spunk eventthere, because the space is
available, and so the biggesttakeaway for anyone on this is
what's around you that you cantake advantage of in a positive
way for your community.
What resources do you alreadyhave available?
And that's what I will say isthe difference between the
podcast party that I did andthis event.
The podcast party was how do Imake this happen?
(33:52):
And this event was oh, look atthe resources that are around me
, how do we utilize theseresources?
How do we actually enjoy theseresources?
Versus like how do we utilizethese resources, how do we
actually enjoy these resources?
Versus like how do we find alocation?
How do we make this happen?
It was like, oh, look, alocation's available, and we
really wanted to put somethingtogether for awareness of the
(34:12):
film.
We kind of just made it up aswe went, I think for two months.
We knew we were going to put iton up until the event, and in
that moment we went okay, let'ssee if we can get some sponsors.
We got incredible sponsors.
We had Final Draft gave usmultiple copies of the script
writing software.
We had Vacation Sunscreen.
That sent us a big box of stuff.
(34:33):
We had the actual location wasfully sponsored at Regent Coffee
in Los Angeles, which is thebest coffee shop ever.
Everyone go to Regent on York.
It is seriously so good andlike just they have amazing
events.
They fully sponsored us.
So the location wascomplimentary.
We had who gives a crap, giveus all of this toilet paper.
We had Element, which is myfavorite hydration sticks.
(34:56):
So incredible sponsors.
Body Data we had a few others.
Did you reach out to them, izzy?
Yes.
So we had a specific and again,like in Watch Me Make a Movie, I
have given everyone thetemplate of how we pitch to
sponsors.
I literally give you everythingin that.
I need to get in there yeah,get your butt in there.
(35:18):
And even down to talking toinvestors and like sending
screenshots of what investorsare saying to us and the
meetings that we're getting onthe books.
I'm I literally am sharingeverything in that program
because I really want people tosee how simple it gets to be to
make work happen, make yourfilms happen and have
connections and visibility inthe industry.
So we put together a one sheetbut it was two pages of
(35:40):
information about myself and mycompany, beck's company, the
partners that we've had before,sponsors that we've had in other
areas of our businesses andwhat we can offer them.
And we got, I think, eight,seven or eight sponsors and we
probably sent out maybe ahundred pitches.
(36:01):
So that's just to give people anawareness of no isn't no right.
It's like you kind of have tobe pretty diligent If it's not
right for them right now, it'sprobably going to be right for
them at a later time.
I always say, like, nurtureyour relationships in the form
of planting a seed to grow atree, versus trying to pluck
fruit from a tree and take in atransactional way with
(36:22):
networking and with peoplesaying yes or no to you.
They're not saying no to you,they're just saying no, not
right now.
So giving I'm like sprinklingin all of this advice for people
.
I hope that's supportive.
So, yeah, that's how we did it,yeah, that's.
And we had three short filmsplay and then we had a teaser
pitch for our feature film, play.
(36:42):
It acted as this event was tobring awareness around our film
and hopefully to fundraise.
But we didn't know that we knowvery rarely do live events make
money and we actually made 1.3thousand dollars with just the,
which was incredible with afterall of our mini expenses.
(37:04):
Most of the things were donated, so that's great.
I mean, it pays for some of ourfeature film, legal fees of
forming the company and all ofthat stuff, and we're so really,
more than anything, we justwanted to have a launch event
for the film and talk about itand it was very effective and we
had so much fun.
Niki Sterner (37:23):
So did you basically do a pitch for the
audience that was there for your?
Izzy Stevens (37:27):
film.
Yeah, we had a another thingthat I've I'm sharing and watch
me make a movie is the.
It's three minutes and 17seconds.
You'll, when you watch it,nikki, you'll be like oh I see,
because I'm literally using theexact pitch video formula that I
teach in Crowdfund, hero, mycrowdfunding course.
Same thing, it's always thesame.
You're setting the tone, you'rebringing yourself credibility
(37:50):
organically, you're telling astory, you're talking about the
project and when you watch thatthree minute and 17 second pitch
video, maybe 10 seconds of thewhole pitch is actually talking
about what the film is about.
Right, the rest of it is tonesetting and engaging story and
(38:12):
you know sharing the why behindthe film and that's really, at
this point in time, what'simportant for people to know.
Niki Sterner (38:20):
Confidence doesn't come first.
Action and habits do.
That's why I created theConfidence Kickstart Morning
Routine, a 15-minute free guideto help you build habits that
actually work.
You'll get powerful journalprompts, a guided audio
meditation and my three-partConfidence Shortcut System,
mindset Path and Action.
It's the exact routine I use toget up on stage and speak up.
(38:41):
No more shrinking or secondguessing the link's in the
caption.
Grab it now and build theconfidence to move forward every
single day.
That is so good.
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.
Thank you so much, izzy.
I want to go into theconfidence quickfire round with
you now before we end, but Imean I could talk to you all day
on this.
Izzy Stevens (38:59):
I know, me too.
I'm like wait.
Oh my gosh, this time has flown.
I adore you.
This is so fun.
I know, oh, okay, so the firstquestion is I want to know your
definition of confidence Walkinginto any room fully in your
skin, not needing a thing, butknowing that you belong there.
Niki Sterner (39:19):
I love that Because, yeah, we're.
When we don't have that, we'relooking for approval.
Izzy Stevens (39:23):
Yeah.
Niki Sterner (39:24):
Yeah.
Second one is what's one boldmove you made before you felt
ready?
Izzy Stevens (39:28):
Oh, my God, every single day of my life how many
do you want to list here, geez?
I mean wow, how about mostrecent one?
It's like second nature to me.
One bold move Let me think wehave an investor meeting on the
books that we were like we couldlive forever in perfecting the
pitch moment.
(39:49):
But let's take this meeting andsee what happens.
And I guess that I guess theconversation that we're
currently having with thisperson who's expressing massive
interest in our film, becausethis is something that's second
nature to me.
Now I don't think twice about it, but what I did think was when
I started my business it was soscary, it really scared me and I
(40:13):
did not feel ready and I didnot feel qualified and I did not
feel that I was allowed to andthat the imposter syndrome and
the mental screaming in my headfrequently when I was doing
outreach and starting thebusiness and doing all of the
things was loud and I thankmyself and could cry with
gratitude every single day thatI moved through that period of
(40:36):
my life and have become theperson I am now, because you
just can't always see theresults of your efforts until
later and it did take me yearsto really see when I saw other
people starting businesses andtaking off immediately and I
thought what's wrong with me,what's happening?
Why isn't this working?
And I'm so grateful for thatperiod of struggle because it
(40:57):
made me a better mentor and itmade me a better business
teacher and it made me a betterfilmmaker and it made me a
better human.
And I just you know your mindwill lie to you.
Your mind wants to keep yousafe.
Your ego wants to keep you safeand secure in doing the thing
that feels safe and secure andit's because it's trying to
protect you.
But you know best, your gutknows best.
(41:17):
You know what you're here to do.
You know what you're here atBorn to do and you can stretch
yourself and challenge yourselfand you don't have to listen to
that fear voice.
You can keep moving.
I would have moments when Istarted my business, I'm telling
you, I remember sending thefirst 11 pitches out to people
to try and get referrals forclients and every single time
having almost a panic attack,crying on the couch with my
(41:37):
partner.
Panic attack, crying on thecouch with my partner, feeling
so anxious to put myself outthere and call myself a coach
and like what am I even doing?
People are going to think X, yand Z about me, like all that
noise, and I'm just so gratefulthat I kept moving and kept
going and I was so scared andI'm so grateful, because having
a thriving multi-six figurebusiness that supports people is
just.
(41:57):
I wake up and I think, thankyou, thank you me, thank you, we
did it, we made it happen, andeveryone that's listening, you
can do what you want to do.
Just take the steps.
Take the steps, invest inyourself, invest in mentorship,
invest in moving forward.
Take the step.
Niki Sterner (42:18):
Okay, the next one is how do you quiet your inner
critic?
Izzy Stevens (42:22):
Yeah, take the action, and maybe a more
practical way of doing this,because I think everyone says
that I'll just go.
It's yeah, sure, but what?
How do I take the action?
The one of the processes that Iteach in depth in Freedom
Creator that I'll talk in ashorter space of time here is
understanding, witnessing yourbelief and then choosing that
(42:43):
you change it, which I talkedabout early on in this call
Self-awareness of what yourbelief system is telling you,
and your belief system is builtfrom a very early age.
Regardless of what happened toyou or didn't happen to you.
We all build an inner criticthat is based on something or
(43:04):
things that have happened orconditioning that we had.
That's no one's fault, but itis our responsibility and our
job to change the story in ourbrain.
And so for me, it's aboutwitnessing oh, there's a belief
system here that actually isn'tsupportive of me, that isn't
serving me, and first of all, Ineed to get really self-aware of
that.
I need to see where that'scoming up.
I need to witness it and say,oh hi, I see you.
(43:26):
That's the belief right there.
That's what's happening andthat's perpetuating an action
that I'm taking that is notproductive and not supportive to
me and what I want.
So recognizing and witnessing.
There it is, there, I see it,and not meeting it with oh, you
did it again.
You're so bad.
Look at you Like you're havingthis thought and it's bad
Instead.
Oh, I forgive you, I love you,thank you, thank you for trying
(43:46):
to protect me.
I witness you and I see you andI love you and I forgive you
and I thank you.
And also we now get to changeand having that conversation
with yourself.
That's really honest writingthat belief that is not serving
(44:06):
you and then writing down abelief that will serve you.
Saying what would, what would abelief that serves me?
Look like you write it down andthen I like to say you try it
on like a pair of pants.
You try that belief on like apair of pants, walk around your
house with it and just see whatit feels like and practice that,
rehearse that, rehearse thatbelief and take action from that
belief.
Ask yourself if I believed this, what would I then do?
How would I move?
How would I take action?
And that is how you take action, despite your inner critic.
(44:26):
That is how you take action anddo it anyway.
Right, it's about puttingyourself in the situation of you
don't have that inner critic.
What if you didn't have thatvoice?
What would you be saying toyourself and what action would
you take from that place?
And then going and doing thebrave thing and taking that
action yeah, the brave thing.
Niki Sterner (44:46):
I love that you said like we as in, like you're
taking your inner critic withyou, like you're not just
throwing them away, like that'sa part of you.
Yeah, loved it, accepted it,thanked it, and we are changing
together.
Izzy Stevens (44:59):
Yes, I love that Okay.
Niki Sterner (45:01):
The next question what's one habit that's helped
you build real confidence?
Izzy Stevens (45:07):
Okay, so I talk about.
Historically, I've had a quitea fear of visibility, which
seems probably the antithesis ofwho I am, because I teach
visibility.
But the reason that I'm able toteach it is because I used to
feel very, very scared and verycaged around showing myself
authentically, and that has todo with growing up in a film
(45:29):
industry that asks you to beperfect, that asks you to look
perfect and present well and, asa woman, be quiet and be polite
and don't ruffle feathers.
And so I think for me, thebiggest shift has been learning
how to put myself out thereonline.
I can be very real andauthentic in a one-on-one
(45:49):
conversation.
I've always been that way.
But in a situation where Ican't see your reaction, I can't
see how you're going to feelabout this.
I can imagine it and, of course, my fear and ego wants to tell
me that everyone's gonna hate me, right?
But through showing up online,talking about my services,
selling programs and services inmy business, talking about my
(46:09):
films, talking about my creativecareer online, the process of
doing that every single day forfive years has turned me into
someone who it doesn't matter tome what you think like with
love.
Here's the door.
You don't need to love me, youdon't even need to like me and
if I'm not for you, that is sookay.
Like, go find your people.
If it's not me, that's fine.
(46:30):
I now feel so socked into myself, my belief system and who I'm
here for and who I love to workwith.
That is what I get to show upfor and who I make content and
who I make programs for and whoI make films for are those
people and so recognizing thatthe people pleaser is just that
fear of not being liked, andrecognizing and healing that
(46:53):
part of myself over the lastfive years, I would say
definitely my business taught me, has taught me so much Like you
will face with filmmaking aswell, and business like you face
your ego and you can choose tolet the ego run the show or you
can choose to say no, I'mevolving past this and I don't
need like not needing everyoneto like me, feeling like I'm now
Okay If you go and disparage meor talk badly about me to
(47:17):
someone else, not my business, Idon't care and because I do, I
know who I'm here for andknowing that and trusting that
and trusting myself, theultimate lesson for me is that
I've got me and that I get me,and that people other people
will make it their full-time job.
Not to understand you, that'sjust what will happen.
(47:37):
Like people will, and that'stheir stuff, that's their ego.
And with love like that's notmy business, that's their ego,
and with love like that's not mybusiness.
My business is moving withintegrity, moving with what I
believe to be the truth of theworld and how I see myself, and
(47:57):
showing up with full love forthat person and these people in
this community.
So that's what I always focuson and that's a big part of the
healing of my visibility that Ihave gone through to now become
who I am today.
I love that.
Niki Sterner (48:06):
That's such a great story.
That's such a great share, izzy, because, yeah, I would not
picture you being someone whowas afraid to share yourself
because you're so authentic andit's such your vibe.
So it just goes to show youthat you can change with the
growth mindset, like who you arenow does not have to be who you
are down the road.
Izzy Stevens (48:26):
Yeah, a big, big one.
I mean, even when we in thebeginning of Freedom Creator,
the first one of the firstlessons is to script out a story
and go live on social media,and it scares everyone.
Some people are some people oh,I've done this all the time, I
know how to do this, I can dothis but talking about yourself
and sharing a story like that ina live setting is incredibly
(48:47):
vulnerable and it's the firstkick in the pants step to really
showing up authentically for acommunity and for yourself.
And it's just one of the mostliberating things that you can
learn to do for yourself is toshow up, and now I get to show
up without a script and talkabout things that are important
to me and authentic stories thatgosh, 10 years ago never, never
(49:09):
, would have done, ever.
Niki Sterner (49:13):
I remember doing that.
Yes, yeah, it was so nervewracking.
And look at you now.
Izzy Stevens (49:18):
Oh my gosh, on a podcast, your own podcast, you
going live your presence onsocial media and beyond.
I think this is.
I probably I imagine that youwould really resonate with this
when you realize that it'sactually not about you.
Even though you're talkingabout yourself and you're
showing up, it's actually aboutwho you're talking to and your
community and positivelyaffecting the world in that way.
(49:42):
And so that when you can getinto that, when you remember
that part that this isn'tactually about you, it's about
the movement that you'rebuilding, the brand that you're
building that inspires, whateverit is that you want to inspire,
it's a really easy way to getout of your own way and stop
identifying too much with it andinstead pour into your
community.
Niki Sterner (50:02):
Yeah, you do such a great job of reminding us
about that.
I do remember you saying thatover and over again to me and
the group.
Yeah, it's so such a greatreminder.
Okay, we're going to wrap thisup with your favorite book or
resource.
That changed how you think.
Izzy Stevens (50:18):
Oh my God, there's so many.
Okay, I really loved changingthe Habit of being Yourself,
which is Dr Joe Dispenza.
Yes, thank you, that'sbrilliant and it did.
I read that a few years ago andit really did change things for
(50:38):
me.
But I would say ElaineWelteroth's More Than Enough is
such a beautiful book and I loveit so much.
I love her.
She's a genius.
A beautiful book and I love itso much.
I love her.
She's a genius, she's brilliantand I highly recommend that
book.
Yeah, beautiful, yeah.
Niki Sterner (50:52):
All right, well, thank you so much, izzy, for
coming on here.
How can people keep up with youCome?
Izzy Stevens (50:57):
find me on Instagram at IndieSpunk, and DM
me if you listen to thisinterview and anything resonated
.
I'm obsessed with hearing frompeople.
Dm me and I'd love to connectwith you and hear all about you.
So that's the best place.
And yeah, we can drop any otherlinks that people want from
this as well.
So, yeah, everything'savailable.
(51:17):
But yeah, indiespunk I share alot of stuff on that page.
And come over, come join us,come over.
Niki Sterner (51:22):
Join definitely.
Izzy Stevens (51:25):
Thank you so much, izzy.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much, nikki.
This is amazing.
Niki Sterner (51:28):
Thanks so much for listening to the Confident
Shortcut.
I hope today's episode wokesomething up in you, reminding
you that your dream matters andyou can start now.
If this sparked something,share it with a friend who needs
it too.
And don't forget to follow meon Instagram at Nikki Sterner
and join our Facebook communityat the Confidence Shortcut.
Ready to take the next step?
Check out my free guide, theConfidence Kickstart, linked in
(51:50):
the show notes.
Keep showing up, keep takingaction and remember the shortcut
to confidence is courage.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.