November 14, 2024 • 23 mins
Sami Bedell-Mulhern discusses her journey of reevaluating her business and personal commitments for 2025. She reflects on the founding of her marketing business in 2017 and the subsequent launch of Color Street and her blog/podcast. Sami emphasizes the importance of aligning commitments with personal and professional goals, sharing insights from Amber McCue’s Plan-A-Thon. She encourages listeners to share their 2025 commitments and stay accountable.
In this episode we discuss
- Sami’s approach to planning for 2025 and the personal reflections that led her there
- The importance of evaluating your commitments and aligning them with your goals
- Strategies for balancing work and personal life responsibilities
- Sami’s journey to show up more authentically, both in her business and personal life
- The power of kindness and understanding in today’s divided world
Want to skip ahead?
[06:26] What are you committed to doing?
[08:44] How do you want to frame your day?
[16:53] Determining my own identity.
[20:35] Power of kindness! We are more alike than we are different.
Resources
Amber McCue’s The Planathon: https://ambermccue.com/blog/the-planathon/
Digital Marketing Therapy podcast: https://www.thefirstclick.net/podcast/
Grab more resources at https://easystylewithsami.com
Follow us on Facebook at https://facebook.com/ssmulhern
Follow us on Instagram at https://instagram.com/ssmulhern
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Easy Style with Sami.I'm your host. Sami
(00:03):
Bedell-Mulhern, each episode, Iinvite a friend, family member,
colleague or just someone I'vemet on this journey called life,
to come and share their personalstyle and approach to business,
parenting, life and everythingin between. You'll hear
motivational and inspirationalstories that will help you
refine and build your ownpersonal style. Remember, style
(00:25):
is easy when it comes fromwithin.
So today I'm recording a soloepisode, which is not really
normal for this podcast, butthere's just been a lot of
things that have kind of beengoing on in the last few months,
as I have been planning for2025, things that have been kind
of going on with my family, kindof why I set up my business the
(00:48):
way that it is, and kind ofwhere I'm going now. I know the
election just happened, so thatis very top of mind for a lot of
us. This is not going to be apolitical conversation, so don't
you worry about that, but it isaffecting, kind of how we're
deciding, how we show up andrelationships and all of the
things, unfortunately, not goingto dive deep into that. And I
(01:11):
promise you that this journeythat I've been on started months
ago.
I started this business of minein 2017 my marketing business,
consulting with clients,supporting them in their
websites and marketing efforts,trying to get more customers,
get more reach, get morerevenue, more donations, all of
(01:34):
the things. And then a few yearslater, maybe almost four years
later, three years laterstarted, or three years ago,
started color street because Iagain, wanted to kind of
diversify my income streams. Andfrom that, started easy style of
sand me the blog and thepodcast, just because I love
(01:55):
kind of that connection in thatpiece. And so I was, I was going
into this year, or going intoplanning for 2025 and kind of
figuring everything out. I kindof realized that I've been going
on this path and startedeverything for very specific
reasons, and then the day to daylife just gets going, and all of
(02:16):
a sudden you're doing all the todo's, and you're focusing, and
you kind of lose sight of isthis thing that I'm doing going
to get me to where I wanted togo and what I wanted for my
myself, personally,professionally, with my family?
Am I over committed? Am I doingthe things that are leading to
the reasons for why we are doingall of this in the first place?
(02:37):
And so that's kind of thejourney that I've been on is
really rethinking, like thingshave been great, and I've been
having fun and, you know, doingall the things, sometimes I'm
overextended, sometimes I'm not,but so I just kind of wanted to
share this process that I'mgoing through with you, because
part of it is also how we showup, how we choose to be
(02:58):
vulnerable. And that's reallywhat this podcast is, for me in
general, is sharing the storiesof amazing people who I've
connected with, and sharing kindof how they've moved through
certain elements of their life,how they continue to move
through it, how they share theirstories and how they're growing
and building in a particulararea or overall.
(03:22):
And so I thought, you know, ifI'm going to ask my guests to
come on and do that, then maybeI should do something similar as
well. And I've done a little bithere and there, but it just now
seemed like the right time tokind of have this conversation,
to kind of share where we're atand where we're going, what I'm
excited about, what I'm workingtowards, what I might even let
go of so I hope that you'll justkind of stick with me for this
(03:45):
episode. I really don't enjoyrecording solo episodes as much
because feel like I'm rambling,and I love just kind of the back
and forth conversation, so thiswill probably be a shorter
episode, but it's also somethingthat allows me to be accountable
to myself, because I can nowshare that information it's out
(04:07):
there in the universe Now,granted, this podcast does not
have 1000s or hundreds of 1000sof listeners. I do it because I
love it and I love sharingstories and having conversation,
but by sharing what I'm kind ofworking through and how I am
going to show up next year holdsme accountable to you also and
to myself, because now it's notjust something that's swirling
around in my head, and I thinkthat that's so important, it's
(04:29):
so important to put yourintentions out there, to share
them with someone else, becauseit makes it easier and more
likely that you're going to doit yourself. And this is not
just work. What I love about theopportunity in my job is that I
can really think holisticallyabout me as a complete human.
And that's kind of where thisstory begins. So every year I
(04:53):
join Amber McCue in herPlan-A-Thon. I shared that with
you all in my emails on socialmedia, so you've probably heard
of it before. Sure, and reallyit's meant to help entrepreneurs
and business owners, and mostlywomen who want to put their
plans together for the upcomingyear, like, what are we going to
do? What are we going to do inour business next year? And I do
(05:16):
love her, because, again, shedoes think about things
holistically. And what is thelife that you want? How are you
building the business and therevenue around the life you
want, as opposed to buildingyour life around your business?
Right? I really love that. SoI've done this since 2017 so
I've done a lot, and I am in hermastermind and in her coaching
(05:38):
program, so I know Amber prettywell. And you know, you always
hear what you need to hear whenyou need to hear it. And so we
were in a session, and she said,Okay, well, you've got your
plan. You know what your goalis, right? You know where you're
headed. I still haven't quitefigured that out just yet, but
I'm close. But you you know kindof this is the goal that you
want. There are 100 ways thatyou can hit that goal, right?
(06:02):
Let's just say it's a revenuegoal. There's so many different
ways that you can hit thatrevenue goal based off of the
way you break up projects thatyou're working on, the jobs you
take XYZ, whatever that mightbe. But how you do that is you
can come up with so manydifferent things. And so she
said, now that you have yourplan, what are you committed to
(06:26):
doing? What are you committed todoing? Because it's easy to say,
Oh yeah, I'm going to create aYouTube channel, and I'm going
to create all these videos, andI'm going to do a podcast, and
I'm going to do this, and I'mgoing to be on all the social
media channels, and I'm going tostart doing Tiktok. But will you
do it? And it's twofold, right?It's skills, budget time, but
(06:47):
it's also energy. Like, youknow, she shared the example,
and this is the same she'sshe'll say, I'm gonna do more
video. I'm gonna do, if she'sfor the last few years, I'm
gonna do more video. But shedoesn't do it. And it's not
because she doesn't know how.It's not because she doesn't
have the team to support her.It's not because she doesn't
have the budget to make ithappen.
It's that for her. It's notsomething that excites her and
(07:09):
lights her up in that regard. Soinstead of doing it because you
should, and if you're watchingthis on YouTube, I'm shooting in
air quotes, it's okay. Well, ifI know that that's something
that's going to help me get tomy goal, but I know I'm actually
not going to do it, then I'mhurting myself versus doing a
different strategy that I'mgoing to be much more excited
(07:31):
about, that I can be much moreconsistent with that. I can test
and then we can go from there.And so it was just what I needed
to hear in the moment, because Isay to my clients all the time,
do as I say, not as I do,because, again, I know a lot of
the strategies, but there's alot of things that I just won't
do, not because I don't knowhow. Just when I sit down to try
(07:53):
to think about it, it's like toomuch. So I'm going to focus my
efforts on something else. So Ilove it, because it's what are
you committed to doing? And theother piece that I love about
this is, you know, as we kind ofcome up with a plan for how we
want our lives to look, youknow, how many hours am I
working? So, for example, mykids are in school by 2:30 I'm
(08:20):
starting pickup, and we moved alittle bit farther away from the
school, so my pickup, which usedto be a total of like, maybe 45
minutes, is now, well, that's alie. Maybe closer to an hour is
now two hours, because of theback and forth and the back and
forth and the way the kidsschedules work. We're also out
of district, so they can't ridethe bus all of the things. So by
(08:42):
two o'clock or 2:30 I need to bewrapped up, and by 4:15 I'm home
and I'm done working. It's timeto start dinner. It's time to
get things moving. It's time to,you know, spend some time with
the kids, whatever. You know, myhusband is typically off work
around 4:35 o'clock. So, youknow, we're just kind of winding
(09:05):
down. Plus, I know my brain justdoesn't work well in the
afternoons. So what does thatlook like? Then? How do I get my
stuff done?
Because working more doesn'tnecessarily mean you're getting
more done. So I'm really tryingto think about all of the things
that I've committed to, and arethey actually getting me to
where I want to be, personallyand professionally and within
(09:28):
the time frames and thepriorities that I've set, like,
what are my non negotiables? Andthen I can get really specific.
So when we think about what arewe committed to? My commitments
So for example, one of thethings that we're considering
is, I have this podcast, but webrought it back. We decided to
bring it back every other week,because I love doing it, but
that's just too much to do aweekly episode. I am on like
(09:48):
episode 282, or 283 of thedigital marketing therapy
aren't changing as far as likeme, wanting to show up for my
podcast, which I've been doingfor years, and we've changed it
up a few times. We've done twoepisodes. We've done an
interview one week, and. In aquick facts, fast fact, Friday,
one Friday. So they're justshort episodes. We've gone to
just doing one episode. We've,you know, we're toying with the
idea doing two or every episodesevery other week on that
(10:08):
audience, but now I can kind offree up that space. So same. If
podcast, also, because what weknow is we're still gonna be
able to give that impact andmake things happen. But we have
so much content that's out therethat we can repurpose, and so
how can we kind of adjust andchange that's going to change my
workload, that's going tochange, you know, my ability to
you think about your personallife, something that I always
(10:28):
potentially invest that, thatmoney somewhere else, for a
different goal, right? All ofthe things we can kind of
navigate, and there's a lot ofwork that goes into putting
these podcasts together, theediting, the show notes, the
promotion, and to be quitehonest, it's the it's the back
have on my list is spend moretime with my kids, spend more
end that we're not doing thatgreat on. It's the promotion and
the execution and getting thecontent out there for people to
(10:51):
hear that we're not doing thatgreat at.
But it's been a long time sinceI have really taking a look at
time with my husband, great. Butwhen I really sit down and say,
(11:20):
Okay, well, what does that looklike? And what am I committed
to? If my husband and I say,Okay, well, we're committed to a
(11:55):
weekly date night, okay? And Ialso want to make sure that I'm
spending one on one time with mykids each week. Okay, so now
(12:31):
that's, you know, maybe two orthree nights a week that we've
my businesses as a cohesivething, right? We're making some
big changes to another platformthat I have called nonprofit
boot camp, which I partner withsomeone on. So we're working on
already gotten blocked off, andI know that I can only work
making some adjustments there aswell. So what does that look
(12:55):
like? And you might be in aseason where you're like, you
know what? I have to work moreright now, because I know I'm
building something, and we'regoing to get this to this next
step, and then I'll be able toscale it back once I hit this
between the hours of, well, Imean, it's kind of all over the
goal, or you might begin aseason where you're like, things
are great. My job is perfect.I'm exactly where I want to be.
I'm very satisfied and happywith that, and now I want to put
(13:17):
some more effort and commitmentinto this other part of my life
that I have not been nurturing.So that's where I'm at. Long
place, because I get up earlyand work before we start getting
story short, I don't know yetwhat our whole picture is going
to look like, but I'm excitedabout it, because it was just
that one sentence, what are youcommitted to, which can bring
you back to your goals and yourplans and really help you
(13:40):
identify what you'll do, and I'mhoping you know that for you, it
the kids ready for school, but Iknow I have limited hours during
will make you feel moresuccessful in your life overall,
in whatever area you choose toimplement this in, because
you're going to be doing thethings that you enjoy and
cutting out the things thatmaybe don't quite make sense,
right? Maybe it's well, thisthing is bringing me money or
(14:01):
the day, so it's, am I allowed?Am I willing to work weekends to
helping support me, but I don'tlove doing it. So if I don't do
that thing, but I do this thing,then I can bring a different an
additional revenue stream, andmaybe I can hire somebody, or a
VA or a virtual assistant, orsomebody I can come in and help
with that part of it, right? Sothat I don't have to do that. I
fill in for that? Is that gonnaso when you start to put all
can focus on this other thing,which I'm much better at with.
(14:23):
Then I can increase that revenuestream, or I can work towards
that job promotion over here, ifI work with my team and say,
Hey, only I can do this, isthere somebody on the team that
can help me pull this together?You never know. There might be
these things together now, I canstart to see all my commitments,
somebody that's like, oh mygosh, I love that. Like we have
a client. Who, you know, intheir CRM, they've the person
(14:48):
who's helping manage a CRM, andthe grant reporting loves
creating reports and data andall of that. Like, she's perfect
for they're beautiful, they'regreat. They're fantastic, right?
That is not me. That is not mybest at skill. So I'm not. Gonna
and I can go, Wait a minute.These are all the things that
I'm not gonna be the one thatraises my hand and says, Yeah,
please. Can I help you write areport so you never know.
There's people around you thatmight be like, Yeah, I would
totally take that on. Like,that's my jam. That's the way my
(15:08):
brain works. I love that.
And then now you're able to moveinto the commitments that are
I've said are important. Theseare all the things that I care
where your zone of genius is. Soit's kind of like that whole big
thing, so long winded way ofsaying, What are you committed
to in 2025 really think about itand write it down, and make sure
that you have capacity in yourwork life, in your home life, in
(15:29):
your personal life, withyourself that you're putting in
about. These are the things thatI things that I said I'm
and committing to the thingsthat you care about. Soapbox,
that's my thank you for comingto my TED talk I will never be
on the TED Talk stage, becausethat's terrifying to me, but
something I really want you tothink about. And then the next
committed to. In order to hitthese goals that's too much, I
piece for me, where I'm reallytrying to kind of pull it
(15:52):
together and figure it out, isreally how I am going to
navigate showing up. So once Iknow what I'm committed to, you
know, I tell like I saidearlier, do as I say, not as I
can't do that. Or there's somespace maybe for me to fill in a
do is kind of how I operate. Iam very much somebody who is not
(16:12):
comfortable or loves to, like,put my face out there, which I
know is weird because I'm heredoing these podcasts all the
time. But when it comes to,like, social media posts and
like, really just showing up instories and like, you know,
couple things time with mygirlfriends, or maybe I switch
potentially going on Tiktok,like, I that's where I kind of
get nervous when I decide toshow up as myself in the
(16:33):
language, which is why I likedoing the interviews so much
more. I think because it's moreabout them. I love having
interviews with people. It'smore about them, pulling up
their stories, having thosekinds of conversations. So I'm
some things to monthly whatever.But then you can start to kind
really trying to figure out,like, who am I? Because I think
as women, as moms, we wrap upour identities and those around
us, and I'm somebody who hasalways been in a relationship,
(16:56):
and so I'm starting to realizethat, like, I've always had kind
of my identity attached tosomeone else, not that they're
of map it all out. And that'swhat I'm excited about doing
controlling me or not anegative, but just something
that has always been a part ofme. And then I had kids, and
then my identity is being a mom.And so when I think about who am
I really? What is mypersonality? How do I show up?
right now, is really kind oftaking holistically, what is
(17:18):
It's terrifying, because I mightstart showing up on social media
and being more myself, and youmay be like, Oh, that is not who
I thought she was, and she isobnoxious. I don't agree with
her views on anything. I can'tbelieve whatever, and I need to
what is it that I'm trying toget done, and then Will that
let that go. Because, like, Itell my clients, our customers
will find us. Our people willfind us. Our listeners will find
(17:40):
us because they connect with us,and not because we're trying to
sell them something, right? Andso I'm really pushing myself to
not use as many stock photos, tostart taking more photos, to
still drive the revenue that Ineed from my business, from
start engaging, to start havingfun, to start really showing how
and why I created thesebusinesses and why I care about
(18:01):
them so much. You know, why didI choose Color Street? Why did
it turn into a blog? Why did itturn into a podcast? Why do I
color street, you know? Is therea way that we can start to
love these stories? Who arethese stories about how can I
connect with more people andshare more people stories?
And so this is where I sayyou're going to hold me
accountable. I'm, you know,working on really figuring out
what those categories are, andwhat do I care about and what do
(18:22):
I want to talk about? I lovetravel, even though I don't get
monetize this podcast or theblog, right? All those things
to do it as much. I love tocook. I am learning more about
beauty and skincare and makeupand actually having fun with it.
It's a way that I can connectwith my daughter now. So for her
opening night of her show thatshe just did. She helped me do
are kind of coming into play.
my makeup. She said, Mom, youwant me to do it like I wear my
(18:45):
makeup, or like you I was like,okay, like, I'm not a 15 year
old, so let's keep it together.But it's just, you know, finding
joy in the things that we do,and then letting that joy come
through. And, you know, lettinggo the fear of, well, people
will think I'm fake. People willthink like, Who does she think
she is? She's not a beautyinfluencer this I know people
(19:09):
will, you know, make fun of her,because I'm literally always in
sweats. I never go anywhere. I'mnot a fashionista, even when I
was going out all the time,whatever. But you know what?
It's okay, because I'm nottrying to be those things, but
like, I play all these things inmy head of people are going to
judge me, and instead, peoplewill judge me. Doesn't matter. I
(19:30):
need to let it go. So showing upauthentically and being more
myself online is something thatis a goal for me in 2025
something I'm committed to, andsomething that I'm working on
just kind of sorting out whatthat looks like, because it does
give me a little bit of anxiety,and that's okay, and I'm I'm
letting go of the fear thatpeople won't like me, and
(19:52):
letting go of the fear thatpeople will back away from me. I
think the cancel culture pieceis just, you know, but. It is
what it is. And I'm going to dome, and I hope that you do the
same, even if you're not likedoing a huge thing on social
media, even if that's not partof your business, I think just
feeling more comfortable in yourskin and showing up as you in
(20:13):
general, is just going toattract all of the right people.
I know I said I'm not gonna getpolitical, and I'm not, but it's
the thing that is tricky rightnow is how divided people are
and how judgmental we are allbeing about what has just
happened and not understandingor feeling. And I should say not
(20:37):
understanding, but understandingthat kindness still matters, and
whether we agree with people ornot, we need to be kind to
others. And the best way toincrease kindness and to bring
people together is to modelthat. And so that's one of the
things that I really want to do,is show kindness, show caring,
show that we are more alike thanwe are different, and that we
can come together and havehonest conversations and be nice
(20:59):
to each other. And that's howwe're going to solve things,
move through things, actuallycreate politics that is more
inclusive and not exclusive. Andit's going to take all of us
working together to do that.
So that is me starting to stepinto showing up for you. I am
(21:19):
still going to be doing thispodcast. I'm very excited about
it, and looking for morewonderful people to interview.
So if there's somebody thatinspires you or that you love,
let me know. I would love toreach out to them and have them
as a guest on the show. I'mstill going to be having the
blog on easy style of Sammy, andI would love your topics. We've
covered so many things, fromcommunication to beauty to
recipes to business, to directsales, all the things, and we
(21:43):
can talk about it all. Sowhatever is going to help you
and support you, I want to knowabout it so we can create some
content around it. And I'llstill be here running my
business for nonprofits andhelping support them in their
donor outreach and growth. But Ilove it all. So I'm working on
my commitments. I'm working onmy boundaries. I'm working on
(22:04):
letting go and being vulnerableand being myself. And my
daughter is going to yell at mefor all the pictures that I take
because she hates them all, soshe's gonna teach me how to use
my phone better. I don't know.I've never been good at taking
pictures, and I'm excited aboutit. I'm excited about where
things are going. I'm excitedabout kind of how we're growing
and evolving, and how I hopethis podcast, not just this
(22:29):
episode, but all of the otherepisodes, inspire you to take
that scary step and do somethingthat you've never done before.
So with that, I hope that youwill subscribe wherever you
listen, like I said, episodescome out every other Thursday.
You can find resources andadditional information for this
episode ateasystylewithsami.com/32 and I
(22:55):
hope that you will share withme, either on social media or
email me. CME, ateasystylewithsami.com that's s,
a, m, i, love to know whatyou're committed to for 2025 and
how you plan on upholding thosecommitments to yourself, because
you are the most importantperson in your life. Okay, I
love you so much. Thank youmuch. Thank you much. Oh, my
(23:17):
goodness. Feels like a Monday,but it is a Tuesday, and I
appreciate you, and thank youfor listening and share this
with a friend who might need agentle nudge on what they're
going to commit to in 2025 seethe next one. You.
Welcome to Easy Style with Sami.I'm your host. Sami
(00:03):
Bedell-Mulhern, each episode, Iinvite a friend, family member,
colleague or just someone I'vemet on this journey called life,
to come and share their personalstyle and approach to business,
parenting, life and everythingin between. You'll hear
motivational and inspirationalstories that will help you
refine and build your ownpersonal style. Remember, style
(00:25):
is easy when it comes fromwithin.
So today I'm recording a soloepisode, which is not really
normal for this podcast, butthere's just been a lot of
things that have kind of beengoing on in the last few months,
as I have been planning for2025, things that have been kind
of going on with my family, kindof why I set up my business the
(00:48):
way that it is, and kind ofwhere I'm going now. I know the
election just happened, so thatis very top of mind for a lot of
us. This is not going to be apolitical conversation, so don't
you worry about that, but it isaffecting, kind of how we're
deciding, how we show up andrelationships and all of the
things, unfortunately, not goingto dive deep into that. And I
(01:11):
promise you that this journeythat I've been on started months
ago.
I started this business of minein 2017 my marketing business,
consulting with clients,supporting them in their
websites and marketing efforts,trying to get more customers,
get more reach, get morerevenue, more donations, all of
(01:34):
the things. And then a few yearslater, maybe almost four years
later, three years laterstarted, or three years ago,
started color street because Iagain, wanted to kind of
diversify my income streams. Andfrom that, started easy style of
sand me the blog and thepodcast, just because I love
(01:55):
kind of that connection in thatpiece. And so I was, I was going
into this year, or going intoplanning for 2025 and kind of
figuring everything out. I kindof realized that I've been going
on this path and startedeverything for very specific
reasons, and then the day to daylife just gets going, and all of
(02:16):
a sudden you're doing all the todo's, and you're focusing, and
you kind of lose sight of isthis thing that I'm doing going
to get me to where I wanted togo and what I wanted for my
myself, personally,professionally, with my family?
Am I over committed? Am I doingthe things that are leading to
the reasons for why we are doingall of this in the first place?
(02:37):
And so that's kind of thejourney that I've been on is
really rethinking, like thingshave been great, and I've been
having fun and, you know, doingall the things, sometimes I'm
overextended, sometimes I'm not,but so I just kind of wanted to
share this process that I'mgoing through with you, because
part of it is also how we showup, how we choose to be
(02:58):
vulnerable. And that's reallywhat this podcast is, for me in
general, is sharing the storiesof amazing people who I've
connected with, and sharing kindof how they've moved through
certain elements of their life,how they continue to move
through it, how they share theirstories and how they're growing
and building in a particulararea or overall.
(03:22):
And so I thought, you know, ifI'm going to ask my guests to
come on and do that, then maybeI should do something similar as
well. And I've done a little bithere and there, but it just now
seemed like the right time tokind of have this conversation,
to kind of share where we're atand where we're going, what I'm
excited about, what I'm workingtowards, what I might even let
go of so I hope that you'll justkind of stick with me for this
(03:45):
episode. I really don't enjoyrecording solo episodes as much
because feel like I'm rambling,and I love just kind of the back
and forth conversation, so thiswill probably be a shorter
episode, but it's also somethingthat allows me to be accountable
to myself, because I can nowshare that information it's out
(04:07):
there in the universe Now,granted, this podcast does not
have 1000s or hundreds of 1000sof listeners. I do it because I
love it and I love sharingstories and having conversation,
but by sharing what I'm kind ofworking through and how I am
going to show up next year holdsme accountable to you also and
to myself, because now it's notjust something that's swirling
around in my head, and I thinkthat that's so important, it's
(04:29):
so important to put yourintentions out there, to share
them with someone else, becauseit makes it easier and more
likely that you're going to doit yourself. And this is not
just work. What I love about theopportunity in my job is that I
can really think holisticallyabout me as a complete human.
And that's kind of where thisstory begins. So every year I
(04:53):
join Amber McCue in herPlan-A-Thon. I shared that with
you all in my emails on socialmedia, so you've probably heard
of it before. Sure, and reallyit's meant to help entrepreneurs
and business owners, and mostlywomen who want to put their
plans together for the upcomingyear, like, what are we going to
do? What are we going to do inour business next year? And I do
(05:16):
love her, because, again, shedoes think about things
holistically. And what is thelife that you want? How are you
building the business and therevenue around the life you
want, as opposed to buildingyour life around your business?
Right? I really love that. SoI've done this since 2017 so
I've done a lot, and I am in hermastermind and in her coaching
(05:38):
program, so I know Amber prettywell. And you know, you always
hear what you need to hear whenyou need to hear it. And so we
were in a session, and she said,Okay, well, you've got your
plan. You know what your goalis, right? You know where you're
headed. I still haven't quitefigured that out just yet, but
I'm close. But you you know kindof this is the goal that you
want. There are 100 ways thatyou can hit that goal, right?
(06:02):
Let's just say it's a revenuegoal. There's so many different
ways that you can hit thatrevenue goal based off of the
way you break up projects thatyou're working on, the jobs you
take XYZ, whatever that mightbe. But how you do that is you
can come up with so manydifferent things. And so she
said, now that you have yourplan, what are you committed to
(06:26):
doing? What are you committed todoing? Because it's easy to say,
Oh yeah, I'm going to create aYouTube channel, and I'm going
to create all these videos, andI'm going to do a podcast, and
I'm going to do this, and I'mgoing to be on all the social
media channels, and I'm going tostart doing Tiktok. But will you
do it? And it's twofold, right?It's skills, budget time, but
(06:47):
it's also energy. Like, youknow, she shared the example,
and this is the same she'sshe'll say, I'm gonna do more
video. I'm gonna do, if she'sfor the last few years, I'm
gonna do more video. But shedoesn't do it. And it's not
because she doesn't know how.It's not because she doesn't
have the team to support her.It's not because she doesn't
have the budget to make ithappen.
It's that for her. It's notsomething that excites her and
(07:09):
lights her up in that regard. Soinstead of doing it because you
should, and if you're watchingthis on YouTube, I'm shooting in
air quotes, it's okay. Well, ifI know that that's something
that's going to help me get tomy goal, but I know I'm actually
not going to do it, then I'mhurting myself versus doing a
different strategy that I'mgoing to be much more excited
(07:31):
about, that I can be much moreconsistent with that. I can test
and then we can go from there.And so it was just what I needed
to hear in the moment, because Isay to my clients all the time,
do as I say, not as I do,because, again, I know a lot of
the strategies, but there's alot of things that I just won't
do, not because I don't knowhow. Just when I sit down to try
(07:53):
to think about it, it's like toomuch. So I'm going to focus my
efforts on something else. So Ilove it, because it's what are
you committed to doing? And theother piece that I love about
this is, you know, as we kind ofcome up with a plan for how we
want our lives to look, youknow, how many hours am I
working? So, for example, mykids are in school by 2:30 I'm
(08:20):
starting pickup, and we moved alittle bit farther away from the
school, so my pickup, which usedto be a total of like, maybe 45
minutes, is now, well, that's alie. Maybe closer to an hour is
now two hours, because of theback and forth and the back and
forth and the way the kidsschedules work. We're also out
of district, so they can't ridethe bus all of the things. So by
(08:42):
two o'clock or 2:30 I need to bewrapped up, and by 4:15 I'm home
and I'm done working. It's timeto start dinner. It's time to
get things moving. It's time to,you know, spend some time with
the kids, whatever. You know, myhusband is typically off work
around 4:35 o'clock. So, youknow, we're just kind of winding
(09:05):
down. Plus, I know my brain justdoesn't work well in the
afternoons. So what does thatlook like? Then? How do I get my
stuff done?
Because working more doesn'tnecessarily mean you're getting
more done. So I'm really tryingto think about all of the things
that I've committed to, and arethey actually getting me to
where I want to be, personallyand professionally and within
(09:28):
the time frames and thepriorities that I've set, like,
what are my non negotiables? Andthen I can get really specific.
So when we think about what arewe committed to? My commitments
So for example, one of thethings that we're considering
is, I have this podcast, but webrought it back. We decided to
bring it back every other week,because I love doing it, but
that's just too much to do aweekly episode. I am on like
(09:48):
episode 282, or 283 of thedigital marketing therapy
aren't changing as far as likeme, wanting to show up for my
podcast, which I've been doingfor years, and we've changed it
up a few times. We've done twoepisodes. We've done an
interview one week, and. In aquick facts, fast fact, Friday,
one Friday. So they're justshort episodes. We've gone to
just doing one episode. We've,you know, we're toying with the
idea doing two or every episodesevery other week on that
(10:08):
audience, but now I can kind offree up that space. So same. If
podcast, also, because what weknow is we're still gonna be
able to give that impact andmake things happen. But we have
so much content that's out therethat we can repurpose, and so
how can we kind of adjust andchange that's going to change my
workload, that's going tochange, you know, my ability to
you think about your personallife, something that I always
(10:28):
potentially invest that, thatmoney somewhere else, for a
different goal, right? All ofthe things we can kind of
navigate, and there's a lot ofwork that goes into putting
these podcasts together, theediting, the show notes, the
promotion, and to be quitehonest, it's the it's the back
have on my list is spend moretime with my kids, spend more
end that we're not doing thatgreat on. It's the promotion and
the execution and getting thecontent out there for people to
(10:51):
hear that we're not doing thatgreat at.
But it's been a long time sinceI have really taking a look at
time with my husband, great. Butwhen I really sit down and say,
(11:20):
Okay, well, what does that looklike? And what am I committed
to? If my husband and I say,Okay, well, we're committed to a
(11:55):
weekly date night, okay? And Ialso want to make sure that I'm
spending one on one time with mykids each week. Okay, so now
(12:31):
that's, you know, maybe two orthree nights a week that we've
my businesses as a cohesivething, right? We're making some
big changes to another platformthat I have called nonprofit
boot camp, which I partner withsomeone on. So we're working on
already gotten blocked off, andI know that I can only work
making some adjustments there aswell. So what does that look
(12:55):
like? And you might be in aseason where you're like, you
know what? I have to work moreright now, because I know I'm
building something, and we'regoing to get this to this next
step, and then I'll be able toscale it back once I hit this
between the hours of, well, Imean, it's kind of all over the
goal, or you might begin aseason where you're like, things
are great. My job is perfect.I'm exactly where I want to be.
I'm very satisfied and happywith that, and now I want to put
(13:17):
some more effort and commitmentinto this other part of my life
that I have not been nurturing.So that's where I'm at. Long
place, because I get up earlyand work before we start getting
story short, I don't know yetwhat our whole picture is going
to look like, but I'm excitedabout it, because it was just
that one sentence, what are youcommitted to, which can bring
you back to your goals and yourplans and really help you
(13:40):
identify what you'll do, and I'mhoping you know that for you, it
the kids ready for school, but Iknow I have limited hours during
will make you feel moresuccessful in your life overall,
in whatever area you choose toimplement this in, because
you're going to be doing thethings that you enjoy and
cutting out the things thatmaybe don't quite make sense,
right? Maybe it's well, thisthing is bringing me money or
(14:01):
the day, so it's, am I allowed?Am I willing to work weekends to
helping support me, but I don'tlove doing it. So if I don't do
that thing, but I do this thing,then I can bring a different an
additional revenue stream, andmaybe I can hire somebody, or a
VA or a virtual assistant, orsomebody I can come in and help
with that part of it, right? Sothat I don't have to do that. I
fill in for that? Is that gonnaso when you start to put all
can focus on this other thing,which I'm much better at with.
(14:23):
Then I can increase that revenuestream, or I can work towards
that job promotion over here, ifI work with my team and say,
Hey, only I can do this, isthere somebody on the team that
can help me pull this together?You never know. There might be
these things together now, I canstart to see all my commitments,
somebody that's like, oh mygosh, I love that. Like we have
a client. Who, you know, intheir CRM, they've the person
(14:48):
who's helping manage a CRM, andthe grant reporting loves
creating reports and data andall of that. Like, she's perfect
for they're beautiful, they'regreat. They're fantastic, right?
That is not me. That is not mybest at skill. So I'm not. Gonna
and I can go, Wait a minute.These are all the things that
I'm not gonna be the one thatraises my hand and says, Yeah,
please. Can I help you write areport so you never know.
There's people around you thatmight be like, Yeah, I would
totally take that on. Like,that's my jam. That's the way my
(15:08):
brain works. I love that.
And then now you're able to moveinto the commitments that are
I've said are important. Theseare all the things that I care
where your zone of genius is. Soit's kind of like that whole big
thing, so long winded way ofsaying, What are you committed
to in 2025 really think about itand write it down, and make sure
that you have capacity in yourwork life, in your home life, in
(15:29):
your personal life, withyourself that you're putting in
about. These are the things thatI things that I said I'm
and committing to the thingsthat you care about. Soapbox,
that's my thank you for comingto my TED talk I will never be
on the TED Talk stage, becausethat's terrifying to me, but
something I really want you tothink about. And then the next
committed to. In order to hitthese goals that's too much, I
piece for me, where I'm reallytrying to kind of pull it
(15:52):
together and figure it out, isreally how I am going to
navigate showing up. So once Iknow what I'm committed to, you
know, I tell like I saidearlier, do as I say, not as I
can't do that. Or there's somespace maybe for me to fill in a
do is kind of how I operate. Iam very much somebody who is not
(16:12):
comfortable or loves to, like,put my face out there, which I
know is weird because I'm heredoing these podcasts all the
time. But when it comes to,like, social media posts and
like, really just showing up instories and like, you know,
couple things time with mygirlfriends, or maybe I switch
potentially going on Tiktok,like, I that's where I kind of
get nervous when I decide toshow up as myself in the
(16:33):
language, which is why I likedoing the interviews so much
more. I think because it's moreabout them. I love having
interviews with people. It'smore about them, pulling up
their stories, having thosekinds of conversations. So I'm
some things to monthly whatever.But then you can start to kind
really trying to figure out,like, who am I? Because I think
as women, as moms, we wrap upour identities and those around
us, and I'm somebody who hasalways been in a relationship,
(16:56):
and so I'm starting to realizethat, like, I've always had kind
of my identity attached tosomeone else, not that they're
of map it all out. And that'swhat I'm excited about doing
controlling me or not anegative, but just something
that has always been a part ofme. And then I had kids, and
then my identity is being a mom.And so when I think about who am
I really? What is mypersonality? How do I show up?
right now, is really kind oftaking holistically, what is
(17:18):
It's terrifying, because I mightstart showing up on social media
and being more myself, and youmay be like, Oh, that is not who
I thought she was, and she isobnoxious. I don't agree with
her views on anything. I can'tbelieve whatever, and I need to
what is it that I'm trying toget done, and then Will that
let that go. Because, like, Itell my clients, our customers
will find us. Our people willfind us. Our listeners will find
(17:40):
us because they connect with us,and not because we're trying to
sell them something, right? Andso I'm really pushing myself to
not use as many stock photos, tostart taking more photos, to
still drive the revenue that Ineed from my business, from
start engaging, to start havingfun, to start really showing how
and why I created thesebusinesses and why I care about
(18:01):
them so much. You know, why didI choose Color Street? Why did
it turn into a blog? Why did itturn into a podcast? Why do I
color street, you know? Is therea way that we can start to
love these stories? Who arethese stories about how can I
connect with more people andshare more people stories?
And so this is where I sayyou're going to hold me
accountable. I'm, you know,working on really figuring out
what those categories are, andwhat do I care about and what do
(18:22):
I want to talk about? I lovetravel, even though I don't get
monetize this podcast or theblog, right? All those things
to do it as much. I love tocook. I am learning more about
beauty and skincare and makeupand actually having fun with it.
It's a way that I can connectwith my daughter now. So for her
opening night of her show thatshe just did. She helped me do
are kind of coming into play.
my makeup. She said, Mom, youwant me to do it like I wear my
(18:45):
makeup, or like you I was like,okay, like, I'm not a 15 year
old, so let's keep it together.But it's just, you know, finding
joy in the things that we do,and then letting that joy come
through. And, you know, lettinggo the fear of, well, people
will think I'm fake. People willthink like, Who does she think
she is? She's not a beautyinfluencer this I know people
(19:09):
will, you know, make fun of her,because I'm literally always in
sweats. I never go anywhere. I'mnot a fashionista, even when I
was going out all the time,whatever. But you know what?
It's okay, because I'm nottrying to be those things, but
like, I play all these things inmy head of people are going to
judge me, and instead, peoplewill judge me. Doesn't matter. I
(19:30):
need to let it go. So showing upauthentically and being more
myself online is something thatis a goal for me in 2025
something I'm committed to, andsomething that I'm working on
just kind of sorting out whatthat looks like, because it does
give me a little bit of anxiety,and that's okay, and I'm I'm
letting go of the fear thatpeople won't like me, and
(19:52):
letting go of the fear thatpeople will back away from me. I
think the cancel culture pieceis just, you know, but. It is
what it is. And I'm going to dome, and I hope that you do the
same, even if you're not likedoing a huge thing on social
media, even if that's not partof your business, I think just
feeling more comfortable in yourskin and showing up as you in
(20:13):
general, is just going toattract all of the right people.
I know I said I'm not gonna getpolitical, and I'm not, but it's
the thing that is tricky rightnow is how divided people are
and how judgmental we are allbeing about what has just
happened and not understandingor feeling. And I should say not
(20:37):
understanding, but understandingthat kindness still matters, and
whether we agree with people ornot, we need to be kind to
others. And the best way toincrease kindness and to bring
people together is to modelthat. And so that's one of the
things that I really want to do,is show kindness, show caring,
show that we are more alike thanwe are different, and that we
can come together and havehonest conversations and be nice
(20:59):
to each other. And that's howwe're going to solve things,
move through things, actuallycreate politics that is more
inclusive and not exclusive. Andit's going to take all of us
working together to do that.
So that is me starting to stepinto showing up for you. I am
(21:19):
still going to be doing thispodcast. I'm very excited about
it, and looking for morewonderful people to interview.
So if there's somebody thatinspires you or that you love,
let me know. I would love toreach out to them and have them
as a guest on the show. I'mstill going to be having the
blog on easy style of Sammy, andI would love your topics. We've
covered so many things, fromcommunication to beauty to
recipes to business, to directsales, all the things, and we
(21:43):
can talk about it all. Sowhatever is going to help you
and support you, I want to knowabout it so we can create some
content around it. And I'llstill be here running my
business for nonprofits andhelping support them in their
donor outreach and growth. But Ilove it all. So I'm working on
my commitments. I'm working onmy boundaries. I'm working on
(22:04):
letting go and being vulnerableand being myself. And my
daughter is going to yell at mefor all the pictures that I take
because she hates them all, soshe's gonna teach me how to use
my phone better. I don't know.I've never been good at taking
pictures, and I'm excited aboutit. I'm excited about where
things are going. I'm excitedabout kind of how we're growing
and evolving, and how I hopethis podcast, not just this
(22:29):
episode, but all of the otherepisodes, inspire you to take
that scary step and do somethingthat you've never done before.
So with that, I hope that youwill subscribe wherever you
listen, like I said, episodescome out every other Thursday.
You can find resources andadditional information for this
episode ateasystylewithsami.com/32 and I
(22:55):
hope that you will share withme, either on social media or
email me. CME, ateasystylewithsami.com that's s,
a, m, i, love to know whatyou're committed to for 2025 and
how you plan on upholding thosecommitments to yourself, because
you are the most importantperson in your life. Okay, I
love you so much. Thank youmuch. Thank you much. Oh, my
(23:17):
goodness. Feels like a Monday,but it is a Tuesday, and I
appreciate you, and thank youfor listening and share this
with a friend who might need agentle nudge on what they're
going to commit to in 2025 seethe next one. You.
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