Feeling stuck? Struggling to make a decision? Feeling like you've tried everything and none of it has worked?
It's time to unlock the power of brainstorming to help you find solutions to even the most overwhelming problems.
In this episode, I'm chatting with my friend Lizzy Moffett, a former music teacher turned web designer, to uncover how brainstorming and creative problem-solving can help you get unstuck and make better decisions.
Lizzy shares her journey from education to entrepreneurship and the specific strategies that have helped her (and her clients!) turn challenges into opportunities.
What you’ll learn:
- Tips for how to brainstorm effectively, even when you're overhwelmed
- Simple strategies to spark creativity when you're feeling stuck
- The power of finding the “third option” beyond simple "yes or no" decisions
Whether you’re facing a tough choice or just need a fresh perspective, this episode will leave you feeling inspired and equipped to tackle decisions in your life and in your business with confidence!
Links & References:
- Join us at our next PWR Virtual Speed Networking Event!
- For even deeper connections, check out the Powerful Women Rising Community!
- Learn more about Lizzy's web design services: www.lizzymoffettdesigns.com
- Check out Lizzy's networking group for educators turned entrepreneurs: www.e2enetworking.com
- Connect with Lizzy on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram
Connect with Your Host!
Melissa Snow is a Business Relationship Strategist dedicated to empowering women in entrepreneurship. She founded the Powerful Women Rising Community, which provides female business owners with essential support and resources for business growth.
Melissa's other mission is to revolutionize networking, promoting authenticity and genuine connections over sleazy sales tactics. She runs an incredible monthly Virtual Speed Networking Event which you can attend once at no cost using the code FIRSTTIME
She lives in Colorado Springs with two girl dogs, two boy cats and any number of foster kittens. She loves iced coffee, Taylor Swift, and Threads.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello Lizzie, welcome to the Powerful Women Rising
podcast.
Thank you so much.
I'm excited to be here.
Yes, me too.
I'm excited to talk to you.
You and I have known each otherquite a while.
We have a long history together.
Good friend of yours, I loveour friendship story because we
didn't even know each other andI was like hey, want to go to
this thing and then this otherthing and spend like 14 hours
(00:24):
together.
And you were like sure, and wedid, and we still love each
other at the end.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We love each other more Exactly, and I met people
that day that have ended upbeing in my life also, so you
just opened up a whole world forme.
Yeah, I love that, the power ofnetworking right.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Absolutely Okay.
So let's dive in today, Beforewe get started.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
tell everybody a little bit about you and about
what you do.
Okay, so I started out actuallyas an elementary music teacher.
I spent 15 years doing that,and then I made a dramatic shift
over into web design, and thething that's the through line
between those two dramaticallydifferent jobs is that they both
are.
For me, we're all aboutcreativity.
As an elementary music teacher,I got to actually like help the
(01:07):
kids write their own programsor write their own music, and
now as a web designer, I get tohelp people actually sit down
and pull together all thesedifferent ideas they have and
make them into one vision fortheir website.
So that's why this is the topicI'm so excited about.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
That's so cool and I know I, you and I've talked
about this before cause I wasalso in education and I feel
like I've met so many women,recently especially, who left
education and are now pursuingentrepreneurship.
You have a whole networkinggroup for women who were.
Is it women or people?
People yes, people who wereinvolved in education and now
(01:41):
are pursuing entrepreneurship.
And it's interesting becauseall of those people that I talk
to, there's so much carryoverfrom whatever they were doing
before to whatever they're doingnow.
Like I think about that a lot,like I still use a lot of the
things that I learned to be agood teacher in my business now,
just when I'm talking to adultsinstead of talking to high
(02:03):
school kids.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
That's absolutely true, and sometimes it takes a
little while, when you're makingthat transition, to appreciate
all the skills that you'reactually bringing into your new
job.
That it takes there's somerejigging your brain.
That has to happen.
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, so today we are talking about brainstorming.
We're talking about ways tobrainstorm to help yourself when
you're feeling stuck, to getout of that space of like I've
tried everything that there ispossible to try, none of it has
worked.
And so now where do I go fromhere?
(02:39):
And I know that you've used alot of these skills and
strategies in your own businessand to help the people that
you're working with.
So tell me a little bit abouthow brainstorming has shown up
in your business, how it'shelped you, how it's helped your
clients Awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So the most important thing that I think
brainstorming can help us do is,as business owners and just in
our personal life, we get into avery fixed mindset when we have
a decision we have to make,that we start looking at this
very binary this or that, and weforget to even stop and think
like, could there be a thirdoption that I haven't been
looking for?
That's one thing I'm going togive my dad a shout out because
(03:19):
he deserves it.
Growing up, if I asked my dadshould I do this for this option
, he would always make me comeup with a third option before he
would even weigh in, and thatway of thinking has really
carried over my whole life.
So I think the first thing asbusiness owners that we need to
do is acknowledge the fact thatwe're probably seeing limited
options, even though there'smore available to us.
(03:41):
So that's part of what I wantedto bring in strategies for is
to help us find those otheroptions.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think that we I talk about
this a lot on the podcast isthat we see all of these
business coaches and experts andbooks and all of these things
that are like here's the way todo it.
And we're like, oh, okay,that's the way to do it.
So we do it that way.
And then it doesn't work andwe're like, okay, but that's the
(04:07):
way that was supposed to work.
So now what?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right, right, and that is.
We're looking for that thirdoption seeing what else is out
there that I haven't evaluatedcan be so helpful.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, so let's talk about some strategies for
brainstorming, some ways thatpeople can actually do this,
because I think usually when Ithink of brainstorming, I think
like, ok, I'm just going to sitdown and write, like, everything
that I think for the next 10minutes, or I'm going to make a
web, right, like, isn't thatwhat we did in, like, high
school and elementary school,even like, well, let's make a
web.
So what are some of thestrategies or tools or skills
(04:44):
that you have learned that wouldbe helpful for people who are
listening, to help thembrainstorm with their challenges
?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Awesome.
Well, since you actually talkedabout making a list, I'm going
to jump in on that one.
first because I think it's anover-cliched but still really
useful idea.
No-transcript, and for me Ifind that the low hanging fruit
(05:31):
gets put on the paper reallyeasily and quickly.
But the farther I go, the moreI have to actually take like
disconnected ideas and combinethem, and by number eight I
started finding the magic.
So I think actually going backto that, but revisiting how you
do it and making it kind of agame for yourself can actually
still be a really good strategy.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And do you recommend listing like everything we can
think of, or is this?
And then later we think like,ok, maybe number four actually
isn't really feasible, or are weonly listing eight that we're
like yeah, this is actually agood idea and might be doable.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Absolutely.
List everything.
List the silly ideas too.
Give yourself your brain thatmoment of play to think about
that silly idea that doesn'tmake any sense.
But enjoy that moment of comingup with it and it might spur
the next great idea.
So all of the ideas are valid.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, absolutely Okay .
So list eight options, orhowever many options we want,
but it needs to be more thanlike two or three, because the
two or three are like the firsttwo or three that you think of
and then you have to really pushyour brain for the other ones.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's exactly it.
That's the key.
Okay, what else?
Okay, all right.
So another thing that we do isthat, when we are faced with a
decision, we often impose adeadline on ourselves.
That's coming out of nowhere.
We just say I have to make thisdecision before I leave my
computer or I have to decidebefore I pick up the kids.
But we're doing it because wedon't like that sense of limbo
(06:57):
that we're in right.
So we give ourselves a deadlinethat we didn't need and we're
cutting off the time we could bebrainstorming, gathering more
ideas, feeling how it feels inour body like taking that time
to actually make decisions.
So I recommend actuallystopping and evaluating when is
my real deadline?
When do I actually need to havea decision?
Why I'm giving yourself thattime.
(07:20):
I had, um, one of my besties gotinvited to a wedding recently
and he just got the save thedate.
That's it just to save a date?
And he went spinning of like amI going, do I need to take time
off work?
Do I need to buy my planeticket?
There was no need to actuallymake a decision yet.
He had so much time to stillsit in that and decide what he
wanted to do.
So reframing how you see thattime and that feeling of limbo
(07:44):
as gifting yourself that time ishuge.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
That's a really good one.
And that's a good one fordecisions that have anything to
do with anything right, not justbusiness.
Like I'm thinking about thedecision that, like should I
stay in this relationship or not.
Like should I join a gym or not.
Like all of these things thatwe think.
Like I got to make thisdecision by January 1st, cause
that's when my new year'sresolution start.
(08:09):
Or like I have to make thisdecision this week because all
of my friends and family arelooking at me, like when is she
going to leave him?
Right?
Like, but and all of that feelstrue at the time Like it feels
like a real deadline, but I lovethat reminder that it's
actually not.
It's not.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And you're gifting yourself that time and that
perspective shift.
So it's a it's restructuringhow you imagine it in your head,
that it's not limbo, it'sfreedom.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, and one of the things I have had to learn I
really learned this last yeartoo is that there doesn't always
have to be a deadline.
I mean, sometimes you have tomake yourself a deadline because
otherwise you'll never make adecision, and then other times
it's like I'm just going todecide this when I decide it, or
like the answer is going tocome to me when it comes to me,
and I'm not going to push it,I'm not going to force it, I'm
(08:58):
just going to let it come whenit's ready.
Yes, and I think that'simportant too.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Deadlines are so super tricky with creativity,
because sometimes they give youa parameter and they help force
ideas to happen for you, butsometimes they cut you off from
ideas.
So it's really a moment ofplaying into which one is this
Is this going to help me make adecision or is this hindering
the time I could have to make abetter decision?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely Okay .
So listing your options, beingrealistic about when your
deadline is what else?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Okay.
So the next one isbrainstorming with a buddy, but
I have a specific way I like tostructure this.
I got this from a lady onInstagram and I wish I could
give her credit because I wish Icould find it.
But the structure is called getexcited with me for three
minutes, and that's how you'regoing to roll it out to the
person you're brainstorming withis say I just want you to get
excited with me.
(09:49):
This is not the time for you tosay have you thought about how
much this is going to cost orhow are you going to actually
make this work.
Just get excited, because oftenin that excitement, that's
where your best ideas are goingto come in and you're really
going to have your bestcreativity.
And you can always come back tothe logistics of it later, but
your best ideas come when you'relike on the edge of peeing your
(10:10):
pants, excited, having fun,laughing with a friend.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I love that.
I've never heard that before,but it's really true because a
lot of times I think we thinklike we're going to brainstorm
with a buddy because we needsomeone to really help us like
think through the logistics ofit and the realisticness of it
and the analytics and is thisreally a good idea?
And what you're saying is likethere's definitely a time and a
place for that.
But let yourself be in thatspace of like oh my gosh, this
(10:36):
is the best idea, with somebodyelse who's like yes, it is the
best idea, and see what comes.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Absolutely.
It's an especially goodstrategy with, like a business
partner or a life partner thatyou're like I'm not saying I'm
going to redo the whole backyardand make it a garden, but like
let's just play this out for aminute, Like just just stay with
me for a minute, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I love that.
Any other strategies?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah.
So the other one, this one'sreally fun.
This is called think about theopposite, and this is one that's
really fun when you are annoyedat a person or a situation.
So what I do is I actually letmyself picture my most passive,
aggressive, not my best selfdoing what I would like to do in
the moment, like sending thatreally passive, aggressive
(11:18):
social media post or somethinglike that.
So you play that out in yourhead.
How would they respond?
You kind of imagine the wholething.
But then the trade-off withthat is that now you have to
imagine the complete opposite,so you have to go to the
positive.
What could I do instead?
Now, I'm not saying you have todo the positive, I'm not saying
you have to do the negative.
Often, what you end up wantingto do is something in the middle
.
But by taking the time to thinkabout both ends of the spectrum
(11:42):
, you find where the middle isand it often results in a much
better outcome.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, that's a good one too, and it's good because
it doesn't force you into like,no, I have to.
I have to be the nice person, Ihave to be the person that I
want to be, even though you'vestill got that thing inside of
you.
That's like.
I really want to just tell themright.
So like, let yourself live inthat space, let yourself live in
that space and then make thedecision, knowing what it's like
(12:08):
to live in each space.
Exactly, that's really good.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And again, it's just following.
You find that third optionright.
That's really what all of theseare for is finding that thing
that you weren't seeing before.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah.
Can you share with us a storyfrom your own business, or maybe
somebody that you've workedwith recently, where one or many
of these strategies have comeinto play and helped you solve a
problem or make a decision?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Sure, so an easy one is that listing and iterating
idea is how I start with a newwireframe with people just like
coming up with as many optionsas I can so that they have
options to look at and see whatthe possibilities are,
especially with a logo.
That's a great way to sketchout all the different versions.
Get excited with me is kind ofthe space I get to live in every
(12:56):
day, which is why I love my job.
People come to me, um, startinga new business or entering a
new phase with their business,and I get to help them translate
that into their website.
Um, so I, yeah, I get to beexcited with people all day.
Every day.
It's great, um.
And then brainstorming with abuddy.
This is one that's workedreally well with my husband that
we can sit down at dinner and Ican.
(13:18):
I'm always an idea person.
I'm always head in the cloudsand it's been a really good way
to help us bridge what um ourconversation that he can be
thinking logistics and I can behead in the clouds and we can
meet in the middle.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, I had a feeling that I'd like to turn the whole
backyard into a garden was nota made up scenario, not so much.
You came up with that examplereal quick.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
That one could actually happen to that.
We got excited for threeminutes and it turned into three
months.
So we'll see.
Oh, my God, I love that?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, I'm excited to see that, yeah, so what is?
You talked a little bit aboutthis in the beginning too, about
you know the advice that yourdad gave you about like finding
the option C.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow that has been important in
your business decision-making?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
or your personal decision-making, yeah, so
actually I have a really greatstory that shows that and you're
in it.
So I actually, when I wasleaving teaching, had a very
binary mindset that I could be ateacher or I could work in
corporate America, and thosewere my two options.
And so I got invited to what Ithought was just like a social
evening and I went to it and satdown next to a lady who needed
(14:33):
a website.
I had been making websites onthe side, so by the time I left
that meeting, I had a client anda business and I was a member
of that group and everything hadshifted because I found a third
option and had been open to it.
And thank you for hosting thatevent, because that's where that
all happened.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I love that.
I had no idea that you didn'tlike.
Actually, you hadn't alreadydecided to have a business at
that time.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
No, not at all.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
You were just like oh , fun people.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Well, it was a.
It was a way of it was a way ofliving that I hadn't even
considered.
I was like look at all thesestrong women owning their own
business.
Why didn't I even think thatthat could be me?
Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Eye-opening.
Yeah, I've had conversationswith women who come from
families of entrepreneurs andyou know their parents owned a
business or their mom, you know,started her own business or
something like that, and so it'salways been something that's on
their radar.
But I came from the same placeas you.
Like, I remember realizing thatI could make a decision whether
(15:36):
I wanted to get married or not,like we could just live
together and be committed toeach other and not get married,
like that was an option.
I remember having aconversation about, like,
whether or not we wanted to havechildren and like, wait, that's
a choice, and same withentrepreneurship.
It was like I always justthought, like this is what and I
recognize this, there's a hugeamount of privilege being
(15:58):
reflected in what I'm sayingright now but it always was just
you're going to graduate fromhigh school, go to college, get
married, get a job working forsomeone else, have babies that's
your life, yep, and thisrealization that, like, actually
there's a lot of other optionswas really freeing.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And looking at both of our lives through the
perspective of this talk, Ithink it's funny how often we
both chose option C right.
Looking at it that way, we'velived this creative life that
we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, absolutely All right.
Anything that we haven'ttouched on.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean, I know this is a big topic, so there's
probably a lot we haven'ttouched on, but anything that I
haven't asked you about that youreally want to share when
reminding people that we oftenthink of the word creativity and
brainstorming for like artistsand poets, and we give it to
others and don't claim it forourselves, when really all of us
are making creative decisionsall day.
So if somebody doesn't think ofthemselves as being a creative
(17:10):
person, I would really encouragethem to pause when they're
doing everyday things likesubstituting ingredients and
dinner, because it's what theirfamily is going to like more, or
realizing there's a better waythey can structure their laundry
routine.
Even in like the most basicthings in our lives, we're
making decisions that arecreative all day, every day, and
the more you recognize thoselittle decisions, the stronger
(17:32):
you're going to feel, the morecreative, more confident you'll
feel when the big decisions thatneed to come up, that require a
lot of creativity.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yes, absolutely.
That is a really good reminderbecause that is so true and
people will ask, like well, whatare you, are you creative?
What do you do to to let likeleverage your creative side?
Or, you know, when we'retalking about, like work-life
balance, like do you do that'screative?
I'm like I don't know.
I like color once a quarterright, because I'm always
(18:03):
thinking like I don't draw, Idon't act, I don't sing.
Well, I do sing, but it's notvery um, you know, I'm not a
painter, like that's always whatwe think when we think of
creativity, but I think, really,you can't be an entrepreneur
without being creative.
Anytime you have createdsomething that wasn't there
(18:25):
before, whether it's yourbusiness or a website or
whatever.
That requires creativity.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
That's a really good reminder.
That requires creativity.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
That's a really good reminder.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
And so often in life we don't claim so for me.
I didn't consider myself arunner until I ran my first 10K
and then I was a runner.
So often we just need to claimthe label of like okay, no, I am
creative and I am practicing mycreativity so that when the big
decisions come up, I'm ready togo.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, I shared this story.
I used to share it a lot when Iwas doing like more personal
life coaching and datingcoaching.
But I remember an early, earlybusiness coach that I had asked
me do you know what thedifference between canned
tomatoes and premium cannedtomatoes is?
You know what the difference is?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I'm going to guess the price, but I want to know.
Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, and also someone decided to make a label
calling them premium cannedtomatoes.
Like that's it.
And that's kind of what you'resaying about creativity too.
It's like there's no creativitypolice.
There's no like certificationtests you have to pass to prove
that you are creative.
Like you can just decide todaythat you are creative and find
(19:38):
evidence of that.
Like you can just be premiumcanned tomatoes if you want to
be, and charge more for yourself.
Yep, yep, that's awesome.
Okay, so if people want tolearn more about what you do
I've seen some of the websitesthat you've built that are
beautiful and amazing Um, orthey just want to connect with
you because you're awesome.
What's the best way for them todo that?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Thank you.
Well, it's no surprise I'm aweb designer.
My favorite way to be contactedis on my website.
I would love it if you wouldlink that for me in the button
down below.
But I've got.
I'm also going to list a wholebunch of my favorite creativity
resources.
So if you're just looking for aplace for, like good books to
get you thinking, favorite gamesthat I play, like, I'm just
going to list those there alsoAwesome.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That's great, and tell us about your networking
group as well, cause I've beensharing that with a lot of
people recently too.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I really appreciate that.
So it's called educator toentrepreneur, but we shorten it
to E2E, with the number two,networkingcom, and it's meant
for people who are transitioningout of being a teacher into
entrepreneurship in any way thatthat looks.
That can mean I taught karateand now I'm selling Mary Kay.
We are not exclusive, we'reopen to everyone and we're also
(20:50):
great for people who aretransitioning maybe out of
nursing or something like that,anything that it was a very like
hard job that's difficult toleave and to claim your new life
.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, I love that.
I've been to a couple of yourmeetings.
One of the things that I lovedwas having the opportunity to
talk about teacher stuff, like Ihaven't talked about those
stories or those things in along time, and being with people
who can relate to that was verynice.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yes, I found myself in a networking group.
The origin story of this is Iwas in a group that happened to
be in a breakout room with allformer teachers and the
discussion topic in that roomwas finances and we realized all
of us had earned our first yearteacher salary, the first year
of our business, and I was likethere's so much to unpack when
(21:38):
we make that transition and Iwas like there's nowhere to do
that.
So that's the purpose of thisgroup is just to really
celebrate what we accomplishedas teachers.
We're not negative on teaching,but also, how do we use what we
learned in our new life inentrepreneurship?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's a brilliant idea and it'sa great group, so anybody who's
listening that wants to checkthat out.
I will put the link for that inthe show notes as well.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
I would appreciate it .
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yes, thank you so much for this interview, lizzie.
These are great ideas for us touse because, lord knows, we all
have moments ofentrepreneurship where we feel
stuck, we feel confused, we feeloverwhelmed, we have a decision
to make no-transcript.
Hello Lizzie, welcome to the Powerful Women Rising
podcast.
Thank you so much.
I'm excited to be here.
Yes, me too.
I'm excited to talk to you.
You and I have known each otherquite a while.
We have a long history together.
Good friend of yours, I loveour friendship story because we
didn't even know each other andI was like hey, want to go to
this thing and then this otherthing and spend like 14 hours
(00:24):
together.
And you were like sure, and wedid, and we still love each
other at the end.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We love each other more Exactly, and I met people
that day that have ended upbeing in my life also, so you
just opened up a whole world forme.
Yeah, I love that, the power ofnetworking right.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Absolutely Okay.
So let's dive in today, Beforewe get started.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
tell everybody a little bit about you and about
what you do.
Okay, so I started out actuallyas an elementary music teacher.
I spent 15 years doing that,and then I made a dramatic shift
over into web design, and thething that's the through line
between those two dramaticallydifferent jobs is that they both
are.
For me, we're all aboutcreativity.
As an elementary music teacher,I got to actually like help the
(01:07):
kids write their own programsor write their own music, and
now as a web designer, I get tohelp people actually sit down
and pull together all thesedifferent ideas they have and
make them into one vision fortheir website.
So that's why this is the topicI'm so excited about.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
That's so cool and I know I, you and I've talked
about this before cause I wasalso in education and I feel
like I've met so many women,recently especially, who left
education and are now pursuingentrepreneurship.
You have a whole networkinggroup for women who were.
Is it women or people?
People yes, people who wereinvolved in education and now
(01:41):
are pursuing entrepreneurship.
And it's interesting becauseall of those people that I talk
to, there's so much carryoverfrom whatever they were doing
before to whatever they're doingnow.
Like I think about that a lot,like I still use a lot of the
things that I learned to be agood teacher in my business now,
just when I'm talking to adultsinstead of talking to high
(02:03):
school kids.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
That's absolutely true, and sometimes it takes a
little while, when you're makingthat transition, to appreciate
all the skills that you'reactually bringing into your new
job.
That it takes there's somerejigging your brain.
That has to happen.
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, so today we are talking about brainstorming.
We're talking about ways tobrainstorm to help yourself when
you're feeling stuck, to getout of that space of like I've
tried everything that there ispossible to try, none of it has
worked.
And so now where do I go fromhere?
(02:39):
And I know that you've used alot of these skills and
strategies in your own businessand to help the people that
you're working with.
So tell me a little bit abouthow brainstorming has shown up
in your business, how it'shelped you, how it's helped your
clients Awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So the most important thing that I think
brainstorming can help us do is,as business owners and just in
our personal life, we get into avery fixed mindset when we have
a decision we have to make,that we start looking at this
very binary this or that, and weforget to even stop and think
like, could there be a thirdoption that I haven't been
looking for?
That's one thing I'm going togive my dad a shout out because
(03:19):
he deserves it.
Growing up, if I asked my dadshould I do this for this option
, he would always make me comeup with a third option before he
would even weigh in, and thatway of thinking has really
carried over my whole life.
So I think the first thing asbusiness owners that we need to
do is acknowledge the fact thatwe're probably seeing limited
options, even though there'smore available to us.
(03:41):
So that's part of what I wantedto bring in strategies for is
to help us find those otheroptions.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think that we I talk about
this a lot on the podcast isthat we see all of these
business coaches and experts andbooks and all of these things
that are like here's the way todo it.
And we're like, oh, okay,that's the way to do it.
So we do it that way.
And then it doesn't work andwe're like, okay, but that's the
(04:07):
way that was supposed to work.
So now what?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right, right, and that is.
We're looking for that thirdoption seeing what else is out
there that I haven't evaluatedcan be so helpful.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, so let's talk about some strategies for
brainstorming, some ways thatpeople can actually do this,
because I think usually when Ithink of brainstorming, I think
like, ok, I'm just going to sitdown and write, like, everything
that I think for the next 10minutes, or I'm going to make a
web, right, like, isn't thatwhat we did in, like, high
school and elementary school,even like, well, let's make a
web.
So what are some of thestrategies or tools or skills
(04:44):
that you have learned that wouldbe helpful for people who are
listening, to help thembrainstorm with their challenges
?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Awesome.
Well, since you actually talkedabout making a list, I'm going
to jump in on that one.
first because I think it's anover-cliched but still really
useful idea.
No-transcript, and for me Ifind that the low hanging fruit
(05:31):
gets put on the paper reallyeasily and quickly.
But the farther I go, the moreI have to actually take like
disconnected ideas and combinethem, and by number eight I
started finding the magic.
So I think actually going backto that, but revisiting how you
do it and making it kind of agame for yourself can actually
still be a really good strategy.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And do you recommend listing like everything we can
think of, or is this?
And then later we think like,ok, maybe number four actually
isn't really feasible, or are weonly listing eight that we're
like yeah, this is actually agood idea and might be doable.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Absolutely.
List everything.
List the silly ideas too.
Give yourself your brain thatmoment of play to think about
that silly idea that doesn'tmake any sense.
But enjoy that moment of comingup with it and it might spur
the next great idea.
So all of the ideas are valid.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, absolutely Okay .
So list eight options, orhowever many options we want,
but it needs to be more thanlike two or three, because the
two or three are like the firsttwo or three that you think of
and then you have to really pushyour brain for the other ones.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's exactly it.
That's the key.
Okay, what else?
Okay, all right.
So another thing that we do isthat, when we are faced with a
decision, we often impose adeadline on ourselves.
That's coming out of nowhere.
We just say I have to make thisdecision before I leave my
computer or I have to decidebefore I pick up the kids.
But we're doing it because wedon't like that sense of limbo
(06:57):
that we're in right.
So we give ourselves a deadlinethat we didn't need and we're
cutting off the time we could bebrainstorming, gathering more
ideas, feeling how it feels inour body like taking that time
to actually make decisions.
So I recommend actuallystopping and evaluating when is
my real deadline?
When do I actually need to havea decision?
Why I'm giving yourself thattime.
(07:20):
I had, um, one of my besties gotinvited to a wedding recently
and he just got the save thedate.
That's it just to save a date?
And he went spinning of like amI going, do I need to take time
off work?
Do I need to buy my planeticket?
There was no need to actuallymake a decision yet.
He had so much time to stillsit in that and decide what he
wanted to do.
So reframing how you see thattime and that feeling of limbo
(07:44):
as gifting yourself that time ishuge.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
That's a really good one.
And that's a good one fordecisions that have anything to
do with anything right, not justbusiness.
Like I'm thinking about thedecision that, like should I
stay in this relationship or not.
Like should I join a gym or not.
Like all of these things thatwe think.
Like I got to make thisdecision by January 1st, cause
that's when my new year'sresolution start.
(08:09):
Or like I have to make thisdecision this week because all
of my friends and family arelooking at me, like when is she
going to leave him?
Right?
Like, but and all of that feelstrue at the time Like it feels
like a real deadline, but I lovethat reminder that it's
actually not.
It's not.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And you're gifting yourself that time and that
perspective shift.
So it's a it's restructuringhow you imagine it in your head,
that it's not limbo, it'sfreedom.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, and one of the things I have had to learn I
really learned this last yeartoo is that there doesn't always
have to be a deadline.
I mean, sometimes you have tomake yourself a deadline because
otherwise you'll never make adecision, and then other times
it's like I'm just going todecide this when I decide it, or
like the answer is going tocome to me when it comes to me,
and I'm not going to push it,I'm not going to force it, I'm
(08:58):
just going to let it come whenit's ready.
Yes, and I think that'simportant too.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Deadlines are so super tricky with creativity,
because sometimes they give youa parameter and they help force
ideas to happen for you, butsometimes they cut you off from
ideas.
So it's really a moment ofplaying into which one is this
Is this going to help me make adecision or is this hindering
the time I could have to make abetter decision?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely Okay .
So listing your options, beingrealistic about when your
deadline is what else?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Okay.
So the next one isbrainstorming with a buddy, but
I have a specific way I like tostructure this.
I got this from a lady onInstagram and I wish I could
give her credit because I wish Icould find it.
But the structure is called getexcited with me for three
minutes, and that's how you'regoing to roll it out to the
person you're brainstorming withis say I just want you to get
excited with me.
(09:49):
This is not the time for you tosay have you thought about how
much this is going to cost orhow are you going to actually
make this work.
Just get excited, because oftenin that excitement, that's
where your best ideas are goingto come in and you're really
going to have your bestcreativity.
And you can always come back tothe logistics of it later, but
your best ideas come when you'relike on the edge of peeing your
(10:10):
pants, excited, having fun,laughing with a friend.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I love that.
I've never heard that before,but it's really true because a
lot of times I think we thinklike we're going to brainstorm
with a buddy because we needsomeone to really help us like
think through the logistics ofit and the realisticness of it
and the analytics and is thisreally a good idea?
And what you're saying is likethere's definitely a time and a
place for that.
But let yourself be in thatspace of like oh my gosh, this
(10:36):
is the best idea, with somebodyelse who's like yes, it is the
best idea, and see what comes.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Absolutely.
It's an especially goodstrategy with, like a business
partner or a life partner thatyou're like I'm not saying I'm
going to redo the whole backyardand make it a garden, but like
let's just play this out for aminute, Like just just stay with
me for a minute, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, I love that.
Any other strategies?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah.
So the other one, this one'sreally fun.
This is called think about theopposite, and this is one that's
really fun when you are annoyedat a person or a situation.
So what I do is I actually letmyself picture my most passive,
aggressive, not my best selfdoing what I would like to do in
the moment, like sending thatreally passive, aggressive
(11:18):
social media post or somethinglike that.
So you play that out in yourhead.
How would they respond?
You kind of imagine the wholething.
But then the trade-off withthat is that now you have to
imagine the complete opposite,so you have to go to the
positive.
What could I do instead?
Now, I'm not saying you have todo the positive, I'm not saying
you have to do the negative.
Often, what you end up wantingto do is something in the middle
.
But by taking the time to thinkabout both ends of the spectrum
(11:42):
, you find where the middle isand it often results in a much
better outcome.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, that's a good one too, and it's good because
it doesn't force you into like,no, I have to.
I have to be the nice person, Ihave to be the person that I
want to be, even though you'vestill got that thing inside of
you.
That's like.
I really want to just tell themright.
So like, let yourself live inthat space, let yourself live in
that space and then make thedecision, knowing what it's like
(12:08):
to live in each space.
Exactly, that's really good.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And again, it's just following.
You find that third optionright.
That's really what all of theseare for is finding that thing
that you weren't seeing before.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah.
Can you share with us a storyfrom your own business, or maybe
somebody that you've workedwith recently, where one or many
of these strategies have comeinto play and helped you solve a
problem or make a decision?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Sure, so an easy one is that listing and iterating
idea is how I start with a newwireframe with people just like
coming up with as many optionsas I can so that they have
options to look at and see whatthe possibilities are,
especially with a logo.
That's a great way to sketchout all the different versions.
Get excited with me is kind ofthe space I get to live in every
(12:56):
day, which is why I love my job.
People come to me, um, startinga new business or entering a
new phase with their business,and I get to help them translate
that into their website.
Um, so I, yeah, I get to beexcited with people all day.
Every day.
It's great, um.
And then brainstorming with abuddy.
This is one that's workedreally well with my husband that
we can sit down at dinner and Ican.
(13:18):
I'm always an idea person.
I'm always head in the cloudsand it's been a really good way
to help us bridge what um ourconversation that he can be
thinking logistics and I can behead in the clouds and we can
meet in the middle.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, I had a feeling that I'd like to turn the whole
backyard into a garden was nota made up scenario, not so much.
You came up with that examplereal quick.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
That one could actually happen to that.
We got excited for threeminutes and it turned into three
months.
So we'll see.
Oh, my God, I love that?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, I'm excited to see that, yeah, so what is?
You talked a little bit aboutthis in the beginning too, about
you know the advice that yourdad gave you about like finding
the option C.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow that has been important in
your business decision-making?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
or your personal decision-making, yeah, so
actually I have a really greatstory that shows that and you're
in it.
So I actually, when I wasleaving teaching, had a very
binary mindset that I could be ateacher or I could work in
corporate America, and thosewere my two options.
And so I got invited to what Ithought was just like a social
evening and I went to it and satdown next to a lady who needed
(14:33):
a website.
I had been making websites onthe side, so by the time I left
that meeting, I had a client anda business and I was a member
of that group and everything hadshifted because I found a third
option and had been open to it.
And thank you for hosting thatevent, because that's where that
all happened.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I love that.
I had no idea that you didn'tlike.
Actually, you hadn't alreadydecided to have a business at
that time.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
No, not at all.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
You were just like oh , fun people.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Well, it was a.
It was a way of it was a way ofliving that I hadn't even
considered.
I was like look at all thesestrong women owning their own
business.
Why didn't I even think thatthat could be me?
Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Eye-opening.
Yeah, I've had conversationswith women who come from
families of entrepreneurs andyou know their parents owned a
business or their mom, you know,started her own business or
something like that, and so it'salways been something that's on
their radar.
But I came from the same placeas you.
Like, I remember realizing thatI could make a decision whether
(15:36):
I wanted to get married or not,like we could just live
together and be committed toeach other and not get married,
like that was an option.
I remember having aconversation about, like,
whether or not we wanted to havechildren and like, wait, that's
a choice, and same withentrepreneurship.
It was like I always justthought, like this is what and I
recognize this, there's a hugeamount of privilege being
(15:58):
reflected in what I'm sayingright now but it always was just
you're going to graduate fromhigh school, go to college, get
married, get a job working forsomeone else, have babies that's
your life, yep, and thisrealization that, like, actually
there's a lot of other optionswas really freeing.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And looking at both of our lives through the
perspective of this talk, Ithink it's funny how often we
both chose option C right.
Looking at it that way, we'velived this creative life that
we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, absolutely All right.
Anything that we haven'ttouched on.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean, I know this is a big topic, so there's
probably a lot we haven'ttouched on, but anything that I
haven't asked you about that youreally want to share when
reminding people that we oftenthink of the word creativity and
brainstorming for like artistsand poets, and we give it to
others and don't claim it forourselves, when really all of us
are making creative decisionsall day.
So if somebody doesn't think ofthemselves as being a creative
(17:10):
person, I would really encouragethem to pause when they're
doing everyday things likesubstituting ingredients and
dinner, because it's what theirfamily is going to like more, or
realizing there's a better waythey can structure their laundry
routine.
Even in like the most basicthings in our lives, we're
making decisions that arecreative all day, every day, and
the more you recognize thoselittle decisions, the stronger
(17:32):
you're going to feel, the morecreative, more confident you'll
feel when the big decisions thatneed to come up, that require a
lot of creativity.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yes, absolutely.
That is a really good reminderbecause that is so true and
people will ask, like well, whatare you, are you creative?
What do you do to to let likeleverage your creative side?
Or, you know, when we'retalking about, like work-life
balance, like do you do that'screative?
I'm like I don't know.
I like color once a quarterright, because I'm always
(18:03):
thinking like I don't draw, Idon't act, I don't sing.
Well, I do sing, but it's notvery um, you know, I'm not a
painter, like that's always whatwe think when we think of
creativity, but I think, really,you can't be an entrepreneur
without being creative.
Anytime you have createdsomething that wasn't there
(18:25):
before, whether it's yourbusiness or a website or
whatever.
That requires creativity.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
That's a really good reminder.
That requires creativity.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
That's a really good reminder.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
And so often in life we don't claim so for me.
I didn't consider myself arunner until I ran my first 10K
and then I was a runner.
So often we just need to claimthe label of like okay, no, I am
creative and I am practicing mycreativity so that when the big
decisions come up, I'm ready togo.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, I shared this story.
I used to share it a lot when Iwas doing like more personal
life coaching and datingcoaching.
But I remember an early, earlybusiness coach that I had asked
me do you know what thedifference between canned
tomatoes and premium cannedtomatoes is?
You know what the difference is?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I'm going to guess the price, but I want to know.
Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, and also someone decided to make a label
calling them premium cannedtomatoes.
Like that's it.
And that's kind of what you'resaying about creativity too.
It's like there's no creativitypolice.
There's no like certificationtests you have to pass to prove
that you are creative.
Like you can just decide todaythat you are creative and find
(19:38):
evidence of that.
Like you can just be premiumcanned tomatoes if you want to
be, and charge more for yourself.
Yep, yep, that's awesome.
Okay, so if people want tolearn more about what you do
I've seen some of the websitesthat you've built that are
beautiful and amazing Um, orthey just want to connect with
you because you're awesome.
What's the best way for them todo that?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Thank you.
Well, it's no surprise I'm aweb designer.
My favorite way to be contactedis on my website.
I would love it if you wouldlink that for me in the button
down below.
But I've got.
I'm also going to list a wholebunch of my favorite creativity
resources.
So if you're just looking for aplace for, like good books to
get you thinking, favorite gamesthat I play, like, I'm just
going to list those there alsoAwesome.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That's great, and tell us about your networking
group as well, cause I've beensharing that with a lot of
people recently too.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I really appreciate that.
So it's called educator toentrepreneur, but we shorten it
to E2E, with the number two,networkingcom, and it's meant
for people who are transitioningout of being a teacher into
entrepreneurship in any way thatthat looks.
That can mean I taught karateand now I'm selling Mary Kay.
We are not exclusive, we'reopen to everyone and we're also
(20:50):
great for people who aretransitioning maybe out of
nursing or something like that,anything that it was a very like
hard job that's difficult toleave and to claim your new life
.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, I love that.
I've been to a couple of yourmeetings.
One of the things that I lovedwas having the opportunity to
talk about teacher stuff, like Ihaven't talked about those
stories or those things in along time, and being with people
who can relate to that was verynice.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yes, I found myself in a networking group.
The origin story of this is Iwas in a group that happened to
be in a breakout room with allformer teachers and the
discussion topic in that roomwas finances and we realized all
of us had earned our first yearteacher salary, the first year
of our business, and I was likethere's so much to unpack when
(21:38):
we make that transition and Iwas like there's nowhere to do
that.
So that's the purpose of thisgroup is just to really
celebrate what we accomplishedas teachers.
We're not negative on teaching,but also, how do we use what we
learned in our new life inentrepreneurship?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's a brilliant idea and it'sa great group, so anybody who's
listening that wants to checkthat out.
I will put the link for that inthe show notes as well.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
I would appreciate it .
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yes, thank you so much for this interview, lizzie.
These are great ideas for us touse because, lord knows, we all
have moments ofentrepreneurship where we feel
stuck, we feel confused, we feeloverwhelmed, we have a decision
to make no-transcript.
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