From Shy Girl to Empowering Women Entrepreneurs with Melitta Campbell

Once labeled the “shy girl,” Melitta overcame her insecurities by embracing her inner strength and finding her voice. Through determination and a passion for helping others, she transformed her shyness into a superpower, building a thriving business and empowering countless women along the way. Today, through her Dream Clients Blueprint, she helps women recognize their true value, attract their ideal clients, and create meaningful businesses that bring them both freedom and fulfillment.Melitta’s mission? To inspire a million women to step into their worth, build the businesses they love, and live the lives they deserve. 
Get to know more about Melitta Campbell and be inspired with the work that she do at https://www.melittacampbell.com/ 
To learn more about myself, Michael Esposito, and find out about public speaking workshops, coaching, and keynote speaking options, and - of course - to be inspired, visit www.michaelespositoinc.com
The Michael Esposito Show is hosted by Michael Esposito and produced by iHeartMedia Hudson Valley. Be sure to subscribe on iHeart Media, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Google Play, YouTube, or the podcasting app of your choice.
This podcast is powered by DenTen.io

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is sponsored by DN ten Insurance Services, helping
businesses get the right insurance for all their insurance needs.
Visit dn ten dot io to get a quote dn
ten dot io and remember, when you buy an insurance
policy from Denten, you're giving back on a global scale.

(00:21):
Hello all, my entrepreneurs and business leaders, and welcome to
the Michael Esposito Show, where I interview titans of industry
in order to inform, educate, and inspire you to be
great my guests today. Became known as the value Whisperer
from the way she guides business owners to think differently
about how they own, communicate, and sell their true value.

(00:45):
She had to first conquer some challenging personal and professional obstacles,
from building a six figure business abroad while raising a
family with little support, to shredding her label as air
quotes the Shy Girl, to become known for her confident
networking and inspiring public speaking. She is an inspirational example

(01:10):
of how life's challenges can push us to discover, embrace,
and live into our true value today. She is a
multi award winning business and mindset coach who has helped
hundreds of women believe in their true value and confidently
build their dream business and lifestyle through her Dream Client Blueprint.

(01:36):
Her thought leadership has been featured in many of the
top business media titles, and she regularly speaks to audiences
around the world, as well as coaching speakers at ted
X events in Switzerland and the UK. She is the
host of the popular podcast The Art of Value Whispering

(01:58):
and is the best selling author of A Shy Girl's
Guide to Networking, the first in a series of inspiring
titles for introverted business owners. Known for her quiet power,
breath of business and marketing knowledge, and ability to uplift, inspire,

(02:18):
and educate, she provides memorable talks that leave your audience
ready to take positive action towards their personal and business goals.
Please welcome Founder Melita Campbell. Welcome to the show, Melita.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Thanks Michael, it's great to be here.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Oh my goodness, I got your intake form last week.
I was prepping a little bit, and to be honest,
I thought I was having you on the show last week.
So I was preparing for you last week and I went,
wait a second, I'm not interviewing her. I had to
scrap it. But when I read your bio the first time,

(03:00):
I was just like, oh my goodness, this is amazing.
I'm going to have this ted X author podcaster on
This is so cool. So it is such a privilege
to have you on here joining me on my podcast today.
Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
I feel I have a lot to live up to you.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Now you've already done it. That's the right. The hard
work is done. You wrote the book, you did all
the talking. So now it's just us just learning from
all of this. So why don't we take a step
back here. You have this beautiful, beautiful story here of
all these different accomplishments that you've done. I love the

(03:36):
value whisperer. I love the shy girl. Take us back
to that shy girl, take us back to where she lived.
Because for most of my listeners, most of you who
are listening right now, you live in the States. You
live probably in New York, somewhere in the Hudson Valley,
or across the country in California or somewhere. But Melita
is joining us from the Swiss Alps, and she has

(03:58):
a very unique story. And I'd love if you could
just paint a picture as to your upbringing.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, so I grew up in a little pound was
not so little called Swansea, which is on the south
coast of Wales. So a lot of people don't know this,
but in the UK you have England and then you
have Wales, which is the kind of bumpy bit on
the side, and it's a different country with a different language.
We speak English mostly, but there's also the Welsh language

(04:26):
and it was just such a wonderful place to grow
up and I'm so grateful we grew up in a
time where we didn't have social media and phones and
all of this tech that we have, but it was
I had a very outdoors life and being an introvert,
I was very into my animals and horses and it
was just the perfect life. Just going out the Gower

(04:49):
Peninsula where I live. It's a nature reserve and it
has been for about one hundred years or so, so
it's not built up at all and you can just
ride all day down to the beach and yeah. It
was idyllic really, but very easy to hide being someone
who was quite shy, and so I found that part

(05:13):
of me was very confident with the animals and the
horses and one on one, but in a group I
always I was quite happy to hang back and let
other people take the lead and decide things for me.
But then that became a habit that I kept for
way too long. But yeah, it was. It was a
happy childhood.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
So you enjoyed the animals and you would see them
and you would play with them, but you were very shy.
How did they how did they serve you in the
sense of being able to help you kind of break
out of the shy state.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Partly, I didn't think they did, because they I would
just hung out with the animals. But I did a
lot of competing, so I won a lot of competitions
with my horse, and so that kind of got me
out of my shell a little bit, because just simple
things like having to go to the registration desk and

(06:12):
speak to someone and say I want to compete, you know,
things like that. I used to burn out up and
feel really awkward doing these simple things, but I had
to do it because I really wanted to compete, and
sometimes I wanted to not ride alone, so I had
to go and speak to other people and ask them, Hey,
do you want to go on a ride together? And
everyone was always like, oh, yes, of course, And it

(06:33):
seemed so natural once you actually had the courage to ask,
but it was it took me a lot of courage
to ask these simple things, but I think it was. Yeah,
they didn't necessarily help with the shyness necessarily probably just
yeah helped me, but it helped me, I think, see

(06:54):
the connection and different ways of communication. So communication became
a massive part of my career and still is. And
I went to an art school. I did a business
degree at art school where you learned about communication through
visual media and different ways of looking at how do
you get a message across how do you appeal to

(07:14):
write people? How do you create an experience that people remember?
And so I think that animals kind of did that
same thing because the way you create connection with an animal,
it's very instinctive, particularly with horses. So yeah, I haven't
really thought about it before, but that's probably one thing

(07:35):
that it did really help me do, was have that
deeper connection and appreciation.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
That's what I was thinking. And in terms of being
a shy, introverted person, how do you identify that as
a kid, because sometimes being shy and introverted means that
you're quiet, and people I think missably miss qualify or

(08:02):
what am I trying to say here. I think judge
quiet people differently, and so there's some overcoming there, and
I think you're kind of catching on to what I'm
saying here. Is so I'm interested in how did you
identify yourself as an introvert and how did you overcome
something of the judgment that you might have received by

(08:23):
being so quiet and shy.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I think I'm not sure I was so aware
of being judged as a child or a teenager. I
just went along with everyone else's ideas, and as a teenager,
I think they were like, great that someone else is
just following along with my crazy ideas. That's brilliant. But
I looking back, if I was to do my time again,

(08:47):
I would definitely be a bit more discerning what I
said yes to you. Sometimes you do for the teenager,
you're like yeah, and then you realize afterwards, oh no,
that wasn't a good That wasn't a good idea at all.
But going into my career being more introbuted, there you
did have the judgment and being interreded and a woman,

(09:13):
and at the time I had blonde hair as well,
which probably didn't help with the whole thing. But there
were certain people who you were just underestimated the whole time.
No one really expected you to do anything good. But
I kind of used that to my advantage because then
it's really easy to over deliver and outperform everything. So

(09:39):
and then you've gained the respect and the credibility. And
I worked for one company and it was an oil
and gas company with a shipping consultancy attached to it,
and so the people running the shipping consultancy were captains.
They were all ex captains who were very used to
running their own ship. They say this, you do it,

(10:01):
but I wasn't really like that. So I remember one
guy came and said, oh, can you type the facts?
And I was like, oh, no, I don't type. And
he went straight into the CEO's office and was like,
why have we employed a girl that can't type? And
so I was The CEO called me into his office
and I was a big I'd been in this role
about a week, possibly two, and I thought this is it.

(10:23):
I'm going to be fired already. But I went into
the CEO's office and he was like, oh, Joe, Lloyd says,
you won't type a fact. So I said, well, yeah,
I don't type. And I didn't think that was my
role hit because I was head of marketing and branding,
and he said, right, I see, come closer. So I
took a step closer and I thought, oh, I was

(10:44):
so nervous, and he held out his hand, shook my
hand and said I never make the coffee either. It
was a really nice signal to me and to like
this this other guy that yeah, that wasn't my position
there and I could stand up for myself, and actually
it was very appreciated. So I've been really lucky to

(11:05):
have in every single role some really powerful mentors like
my CEO in that position that have to help me
to ignore these other people. And my father as well,
he was very encouraging. He worked in it ran a
huge organization, and he always told me that I don't
know why, but when you get into an office, so

(11:27):
many people will think you can't do things and tell
you you can't do them just because you're a woman.
And I want you to know right now, that's nonsense.
Don't believe anything they say. That's really really a reflection
on their own insecurities. You just you do what you
want to do and people will support you and he's
been so right.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
So, yeah, as very intuitive of your dad. What did
he do?

Speaker 2 (11:53):
He was the IT director for the bank's automated cluing
system in the UK. The story that actually prompted him
to say that was we were walking down the corridor
when I was in his office one day and this
really tall guy got down on his knees and he
was talking to me because I was probably about eight
seven or eight at the time. And then we went

(12:15):
to my dad's office and he was saying no. In
those moments where you get to an office and men
tell you you can't do things, just remember the guy
that signs the banknotes got on his knees to talk
to you.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Wow, that's a really really good story. I really like that.
I like, yeah, that's a really great way to paint
a picture of that. So, you know, I asked that
question because it's funny. My wife, I'm obviously extroverted, starting
a podcast and being on all these different media channels here.
My wife is introverted, and I know that as an introvert,

(12:50):
she'd been judged for many years by friends and all
the rest because by being quiet, people make assumptions of you,
and being introverted you're also not trying to dispel those assumptions.
You just go, Okay, that's what they think. And so
you're very quiet. And my daughter is also very quiet.
She just turned nine years old, and so I am

(13:12):
very interested on how as a young person you're able
to try to overcome some of that challenge, because as
we go further in life, and what you just described
in some of your story there is that one of
the judgments that are made about introverted or quiet people
is that they're not passionate. And the truth is is
that passion doesn't Just because I express it through my

(13:36):
words and through being an extrovert, doesn't mean that you're
any less passionate than I am about something. It's how
we express it, and you express it in different ways,
and you've gone on to be a speaker and overcome
your shyness, but you also express it through writing and
obviously a really great writer and writing your book A

(13:59):
Shy Girls. I'm sorry I don't have it in front
of The Shy Girls Guide to Networking, and I'd love
if you could share a little bit more about that
book with us.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah. Sure. So when I so I grew up in Wales,
I moved to London after art school and I got
a job in marketing. But then I moved to Switzerland
twenty years ago, and when I moved I realized one
everything in Switzerland is done through networking, whether you want

(14:31):
to find clients and your career, everything is done that
networking is a really big way of life here. And
I didn't know anyone, so I had to learn to
go out and network and meet people. Otherwise I'd have
no friends, no career, no prospects, no anything. And it
was just terrifying. So I started reading loads and loads

(14:53):
of books about networking, but the sort of common theme.
There was lots of good advice, but there was common
theme that if you're a bit shy and interreted, just
get over yourself. It's like, well, that wasn't very helpful.
And I would go to these events and on the
way there, I was just telling myself all the ways
I was going to mess up, why it was going

(15:14):
to be so awful, how bad I was going to feel.
And then on the way home, I would remind myself
of all the silly things I said, and well, that
person must think you're a right idiot. And so with hindsight,
you know, I was doing all the wrong things, the
complete opposite of what I should have been doing to
help give myself that confidence. And I would go to

(15:36):
a networking event and really force myself to stay beyond
my energy level as well, because I didn't really understand
back then, you know, the interverting. It is more to
do with how you think in how you manage your energy,
particularly in social situations. So I was exhausted on top
of everything else. Then I started to shadow another lady

(15:58):
who was an extrovert. She was an amazing networking and
I thought maybe if I could just go with her,
I can learn how she does things. But after two
or three events with her, it became really clear that
that's just not my style. No, she would network in well,
she'd be in one circle, leaning backward, chatting to someone
else while waving someone else Like, oh my gosh, that's

(16:19):
just not me at all. So I had to find
my own way. Then, by luck, I was on a
leadership training program and we were encouraged to do some
self coaching and take a problem that we have, and
so I picked on networking and we had to figure
out how could we do it. And this is really

(16:39):
helped me to see where we break down why it
wasn't working for me, how I felt and how I
wanted to feel, and what skills could I bring to this,
How could my personality actually be an advantage for me?
And I developed what became in the book the Victory formula,
which is stands for vision, intention, courage and confidence because

(17:04):
the two kind of go together, true self rules and yes,
just to remind yourself you can do this. I think
I've covered all the letters. So I really created my
own rules of engagement. Really, so I reminded myself of
how I want to show up, how I wanted to
be remembered, really the personal brand that we would call

(17:26):
it now, and then created the rules that made it
okay for me to network my way and it works.
I started to get known for my network, and I
was known for one of the most being one of
the most connected people in the region, and I was
asked to speak about my experience and share my advice.
And then people were quite quite surprised when I stood

(17:49):
up and my presentation was a Shy Girls Guide to Networking,
and they're like, but you're not shy, so it was yeah,
it was really interesting. And then of course, most people
come to those kind of events are people that are
shy and struggling with networking, so it really resonated with them.
And then that's when I decided to write the book
to share that all of that advice further, because all

(18:12):
of the books that I was reading, as I say,
they had great advice, but no one tackled this first part,
the mindset that you're just really terrified and don't want
to do it and there's so much holding you back
that you have to think differently. I think it's really
helpful too, so I was really keen to share that
victory formula and it's been wonderful. It's been picked up

(18:34):
by so many people since then. I'm still invited to
speak on that topic. So yeah, it's always fun.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
I would love if you could share a little bit
about the networking piece here, and I want to get
to the speaking as well, but just going to the
networking because you said in Switzerland it's all about networking,
and I'm very curious on what you mean by that,
because obviously stateside in the United States, here networking is big.
We have our chambers of commerce. I'm a part of

(19:03):
that business associations and networking is one of the ways
of which we're successful in business, but I wouldn't say
that it's the only way. I would think that, you know,
going out and meeting new people in different ways, and
we'll call it cold calling, where we're knocking on doors
is one of the ways. Is it that in Switzerland

(19:24):
that's frowned upon? Cold calling? Going into places without any
type of introduction is something that people don't do at
all or does it happen, And it's just that networking
is just the better means of it all.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
I think cold calling and cold outreach, it does happen,
but it's here in Europe, in continental Europe. I think
in the UK it's different, but certainly in Switzerland it's
a much more reserved society and they like to take
their time to get to know people, and they when

(19:58):
they do, their allegiances are really loyal. And so if
you go networking, people like you. They will bring you clients,
They will refer people. You don't have to ask them.
So I remember working with an American coach and he
was saying, go to your network and tell them who
are you going to, what clients are you going to
bring me? It is like oh my gosh, there's no

(20:19):
way I could ask that. They were just like, who
do you think you are? You know, do this properly.
We be friends first, we take some time, we'drink wine together,
and then this follows, you know, So it's a bit
of a longer process, but as I say, once, it's
definitely worth the effort because once people know you, then
you know they will absolutely one hundred percent support you.

(20:42):
And that's kind of just how they do things. But
you know, if you want to get a job, you
can't that. There aren't really recruitment agencies or anything. It's
all done through networking. So there are some jobs that
are publicized, but most of the time they've already gone
to someone that someone met through networking. So yeah, there's

(21:02):
lots of networks and just contacts and meeting people at
lunch and that kind of thing. Not so much in
the evening. A lot of that's for the family weekends
and the evenings of family that in the lunches a
big networking opportunity as well.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
I'm glad you specified that because I agree with you
one hundred percent. And it might be because of my
European background to some extent, but myself, and there's I
think there's a bigger movement because I know several other
people that are like me in the networking scene here
in New York in that it's for us, it's about
relationship building more than it is about the sale, because

(21:42):
we believe in what you just said, which is, if
I build a relationship with you, whether or not you're
a good prospect for me, it's who you know as
well when we're building the relationship, and who you might
want to refer to me. And I think it's also
like what you just said there is if I tell
you to refer to me, you're more than likely going
to be turned off by me. Whereas if I build

(22:02):
a relationship with you and build value and show you
just through our natural relationship, my capabilities, my expertise, when
someone needs what I offer, you'll be more inclined to say, hey,
you know what you should reach out to Michael about
that subject.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah. Absolutely, And because I have taken time to get
to know you, when they do refer you, it's not
just a kind of oh, Michael does something like that.
They'll really share showcase to your expertise and their belief
in you. So it's these referrals become really powerful. So often,
you know, when you go networking, I think a lot
of people think, oh, I need to get clients, But

(22:43):
you know, I think that's really the wrong way to
think about it. You want to think about coffee. Who
do I want to meet again for coffee and start
building this relationship with Because I had a lady, a
saleslady on my podcast who call these people people of interest.
But you don't know in which way interesting until you
get to know them. And I really like that way
of thinking about it, that you go for coffee, you

(23:05):
get to know them, and maybe they're interesting because they've
become a client, Maybe they're interesting because they've become a friend.
Maybe they'll become someone who'll become a real powerful advocate.
You don't know until you have those conversations. But to
see people with a dollar sign on the head, you know,
you can really feel those kind of people straight away
and you kind of avoid them.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
So yeah, yeah, it's so true. And yeah, just in
line with what you just said is when I go networking,
when I go to events, I'm looking to either build
on the relationships that I already have, so seeing the
same people again and having good conversations with them and
learning new things about them, or to your point, meeting

(23:45):
new people for a new relationship. And so I'm I'm
an ambassador for my Chamber of Commerce, and so that
means that I meet the new chamber members first, and
I always tell them exactly what you just said, which
is you go to the networking events, you know, bring
your business cards. You know, we still do things the
American way here, which I don't think will go away,

(24:07):
and I think it's fine for our culture because it's
accepted do that. But really your main goal is who
can you two three people have lunch or coffee with after?
And that's what I tell them is the goal is
not to get to sale, but to get the coffee.
So I believe in what you're talking about. Speaking of

(24:30):
what you're talking about, you're an introvert, you're a shy girl,
and you're doing this project to try to unravel your
shyness and your introvertness. And here comes this book and
the next thing you know, you're thrust it on stage.
Share with us a little bit about that experience of
going on stage and sharing about your book and your
networking and what that was like, what were some of

(24:53):
the processes that you had to do in order to
overcome some of your shyness to get on stage and
talk to this audience about this.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
So the publics keep speaking actually came first. So one
thing that I did, and this was a nice thing
about this victory formula, is it got me thinking about, well,
who do I want to who do I want to be?
What are my values? What do I stand for what

(25:23):
in a meeting, Because I was a level where I
was in meetings with other senior managers and they some
of them just talk nonsense, and I was like, I'm
just really not bothered about that kind of thing. So
as I need to be the champion for my team,
I need to build our credibility, I need us to
be known for this is what we're all about, and
these things forget it. We're not bothered about that at all.

(25:45):
So I just picked three things that I was going
to stand up for and speak up for. Two that
were all important to me and my team and the
direction we wanted to go to and the impact we
wanted to have. So in the meetings we started to
really be a bit more forceful with these three areas.
I wanted us to be known for and I very

(26:08):
quickly built my credibility and then I got promoted. I
think I got like three promotions within twelve months. And
at the time I was working in private banking and
in Geneva, which is very male dominated. To be to
be yeahs an understatement, almost, and so to be a

(26:31):
woman who didn't speak French because it was a French
speaking area, and didn't know anything about banking. In fact,
I'm just calcolic, I can't read numbers and so. And
then to build my credibility to a point where I
was getting repeatedly promoted and I ended up reporting directly

(26:51):
to the CEO. I wanted to use that as an
opportunity to inspire more women, because I'd realized that we
have this understanding or this belief that as women often
round a table in a meeting, we'll say something and
everyone ignores it. Then the guy at the end of
the table says exactly what we just said, and everyone's like, oh,

(27:14):
a brilliant idea. But I realized, once I started standing
up for myself that that wasn't the case. I just
realized I wasn't being bold in the way I presented
myself before and as soon as I was bold, people
were listening to me. But then with the promotion, I

(27:34):
started a women's network to help inspire more women in
the bank to be bold, to own their own value,
and to really take the career in the direction that
they wanted, knowing that, you know, if I can get
to this position, everyone else in the company has got
way more chance. Because, as I say, I didn't have
a clue about banking. I worked in marketing communications, so

(27:57):
I used that it was purposeful because I wanted to
make sure that in all our client communications we were
being really clear to someone that didn't have an insider
knowledge of banking. So it wasn't that I was really
it was a strategic move. But I studied this women's network.
But then I realized, Oh, if I'm going to lead

(28:19):
this network, I'm going to have to present and speak,
and I could present a decent message. As say, I
worked in marketing and communications, but I'd been to some
of these events and conferences where you know, there's always
one speaker that everybody is just like wow, that was amazing,
and I wanted to be able to speak like that,

(28:41):
and so I found toast Masters. So I went along
to toast Masters. But I know you're into toast Masters,
and I'm probably aware that when people come they maybe
take a week or two before they start speaking, but
then they'll do their icebreaker and they're into it. I
took six months before I had the courage to speak.

(29:01):
I kept being timekeeper, so nobody noticed I wasn't actually participating.
It was quite a big group, so yeah, I managed
to fly under the radar and I said, oh, no,
I'm working with my talk. I'll put myself forward soon.
But yeah, I really didn't. But even in that time,
just hearing other people's talks and their feedback. You know,

(29:23):
as an introvert, there's one thing we're really good at
is reflecting and listening and learning just by watching and
being in that room. So the way I presented was
already improving, and people were asking me for advice before
I'd even started to speak, so I was like, wow,
there's really something in this. And as soon as I
started speaking, of course, then that that learning curve just

(29:44):
like shot up and I really got very not to
say very good, but a lot better very quickly. And
in a corporate environment, it's not that difficult to stand
out as being a decent speaker, because normally I asked
one when I started to be I asked one of
my colleagues to sit in the meeting and to say, oh,
could you give me some feedback? And the feedback was, well,

(30:06):
you know, nobody fell asleep. I think that was really good.
So you know, you don't really have a very high bar,
but I set myself by high bar, and so I
was starting to speak. I was presenting a little bit
in French as well. And what I loved about going
to toast Masses and learning to speak was it was
pushing me outside my comfort zone. It was helping me

(30:27):
build my confidence and become a little bit less shy
because I could now structure my thoughts more clearly. I
could tell stories that really got my point across in
a way that had more impact and lasted more than
anything else. So I was learning all of these skinned skills.
So when I was known for my network, the two

(30:50):
kind of things went hand in hand, and I was
ast to speak. By that point. I was quite comfortable,
of course, standing on stage with proper audiences a little
bit different, but it was it didn't feel quite so
over wracking in fact, I was really happy to be
sharing something that was so personal to me. It made
a big difference, and I started to see the difference

(31:12):
it was making for other people as well.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, and that's what I love about toast Masters. What
you just described there too is the space that it provides,
you know, to do to do a role for six
months before actually speaking. I always say that it's a welcoming,
supportive environment. It's a safe environment to where you go
along at your own pace.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
You know.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Public speaking is daunting for anyone, even myself as an extrovert,
as somebody who does this very regularly, who's a past
president of my toast Master's club and still attends weekly
and still performs weekly. It's it's never quite easy, you know.
I mean there is an ease to it as as
you are in a familiar group. It's like when I

(31:57):
stand in front of my toast Masters, it's it's pretty
simplo to get up there and speak. But once you're speaking,
you're on and you have to perform. And so I
always think that when I meet a new member or
somebody who's a guest, that it's really important to support
them in their journey and let them know that when
you're ready is when you come up to speak, and

(32:18):
to never force them because I feel that if you
force somebody into public speaking, then they're only going to
get more scared and turn away from it. Whereas what
you did for yourself by taking on a small role
like timer or grammarian or you know, those little roles
that don't take up too much but give you enough

(32:38):
responsibility to where you have to go up and speak,
I think is a great way to just kind of
just dip your toes in the water and get more
accustomed and acclimated to it. So one, I commend you
for doing it, and too, I commend your club for
allowing you and giving you the time. And I'm a
big advocate of toast masters. I think it's what gets
a lot of people out of their shell because everybody

(33:01):
has a story to tell, and everybody should be able
to have the tools, the skills and the comfort to
be able to share their story, whether it's on a
big stage or just with a friend. I think it
is so vital. So I think that that's really cool,
and I'm glad you got to share that. So of
course you did that, and now share you know, you

(33:21):
got your book, you're networking, you're on stages, you're talking,
and then you're a ted X. You start doing ted
X and start being becoming a coach in there. Tell
us about the journey in ted X.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
It was interesting. I mean, it's very much like being
a Toast Master's evaluator and mental so which I've been
doing for a long time. So it felt like the
next kind of progression for that. And I'd love to
give a ted EX taught myself as well, so I
wanted to get to know you know, with introverts, it's
the novelty often that makes us drain field drains. So

(33:58):
by understanding how it works from inside and behind the
scenes of well, that's going to help me feel more
comfortable when I'm ready to take that next step. So
it really did a lot there. But it was interesting
because at TEDx what was different because Coastmaster's people are
going on this journey and they're learning to speak wheas.

(34:18):
A lot of the people that I was coaching at
ted X were already celebrities. There were people from TV
and radio, people that were extremely accomplished leaders and very
used to the stage. But then the ted X talk
is a little bit different because it's you have to
give this gift, and often the gift comes from your story.

(34:41):
You have to build that credibility. So, for example, one
lady that I worked with, she was a newsreader, but
she wasn't used to being telling her story and being
really personal, so that for her was really difficult. But
the nice thing is they pick up really quickly. So
I was really with the TED events that I was

(35:04):
involved in. Everybody has one or two coaches who compliment
what they're missing. So my expertise was more around the
storytelling and content, not necessarily the delivery. But a lot
of people have that fear of sharing their personal story,
and I say, it's not your personal story, it's not
your story, it's your audience's story. So you being open

(35:29):
and honest about your experience, they're going to see their
story in what you've done, and it's going to give
them the courage to go forward and do things differently,
or think differently, or get behind the cause. So it
was really wonderful to see people then open up and
have that courage and then get really vulnerable sometimes in
sharing their story and what that's been like for them.

(35:53):
And then when they present it and you see the
audience because you're set in the audience and seeing and
feeling how they're really it's like, yeah, it was quite
magical because it's yeah, the talks are just on another
level to toast masses as well. So yeah, I love it. Well.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
I talk about it all the time on my podcast
and maybe when this one airs, I will have done
it already. But that's one of my goals as well
as to be a ted X speaker and to have
a talk. And you're one hundred percent right. The style
of ted and the style of speakers is so different
than what we see in other forums, and it is
very vulnerable, it's very story driven, and it leaves an impact.

(36:31):
The audience always walks away with something tangible, something that
they're inspired to do, and it's just really cool. And
I think that that's why people like yourself, like myself,
who want to create an impact, want to be ted
X speakers. It's like, it's what better stage, you know,
to have set for ourselves. Part of what you do, too,
is you're known as the value whisperer, and it's where

(36:54):
you help female entrepreneurs find their true value. Tell us
a little bit more about the value whisperer.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, so I think this is something that has been
present my entire life, but I hadn't really noticed it.
And so I had go back to when I was
twenty five and I had my dream job, but the
company went into receivership. So I was working in pr
which I was loving, and then I was out of
job all of a sudden and so but it took

(37:24):
me six months to get a new job, and I
went to there so many interviews and with my last
five pounds, I bought a train ticket to get to
this last interview. So this is it, this is the
job I'm going to get. It was for the British Government,
part of their communication pool, and we had to submit
a strategy in advance. We had to do all of
these tests, We had to do so many different things,

(37:45):
and I thought, great, I have cruised through this. Just
the interview left to go. This is going to be easy.
And I think it was ten minutes in I got
thrown out the lead interviewer. There was a panel of
five people, but she just like get out take this
TV with you and I was like, oh, I thought
it was part of the interview because I know the

(38:05):
British government or any kind of political environment. It's quite tough.
People aren't always nice. So thought maybe part of the test. No,
I just cannot stand any more of your lies. Get out.
I was like, but what, sorry, why would you think
I was lying? I've only been telling the truth. And

(38:26):
then she dropped the bombshell, and she said, you know,
all the way through, I'd been saying, well, we did this,
and we did that. So she assumed that I'd been
passing someone else's work off as my own, and in fact,
I was saying we did this, we did that, because
I thought that was what being a team player was
all about. And so I realized that I hadn't you know,

(38:50):
I'd only worked in small companies. I was the only
one doing what I was telling her about. But I
hadn't stolen anyone else's credit. But I hadn't given myself
credit for what I did. I hadn't owned my value.
I hadn't presented that clearly. And so the next interview
I had, I really I spent a whole day going

(39:11):
through like why I came up with ideas a certain way, why.
I was like, no one else could have quite done
it the way I did. What I learned from my mistakes,
how I engage with people everything. And then I got
the phone call before I even got home to say
I got the job. And on the first day, they're like,
that was the most mind blowing interview we've ever had,

(39:34):
and it just really made me see that we need
to really take time to understand our value and there's
a lot to that. It's our values, which I started
to speak about whether when I was in private banking
that how I would present myself, but also your unique
perspectives on things and why you approached something a little

(39:55):
bit differently than perhaps someone else would have and to
really own step into that. So that was the beginning,
and once I made that connection, I became really passionate
about telling everybody, no, you have to own your value.
Don't say that. You know you catch people and they're
saying putting themselves down or I just did this little thing,

(40:16):
and so I was really became a big advocate for
embracing your value and communicating it. It was a big
part of the work I did at the Women's network
I started, and then I became a mum and I
had to leave the office because I just wasn't childcare here.
So I started my own business, and I started as
a communication consultant. I was working for large companies. It

(40:36):
was easy because I had the network by that point,
and I was known for communication in this region, which
is really small, so that was kind of the easy career.
But I started to burn out with that because I
was working with these large companies, working on their visibility,
their communications and strategies, and I didn't really believe a

(40:58):
lot of what they were saying, because is they oh,
we want to tell everyone this, But then you see
them acting in a very different way. So I thought,
I don't really feel comfortable being the one putting out
what felt like propaganda, and so I started to look
for something different. And when I was networking, I just
kept hearing all these business owners saying these things that
I've become so sensitive to. What do you do, well,

(41:22):
I just do this little thing or you know, then
they'd explain and you realize, well, that's not a little thing.
That's awesome. You know. They really weren't communicating their value.
And I started to see people really talented, and I
think everyone that starts a business they really want to
help people. They want to make a difference. But they're
not necessarily good at communicating that. And when I worked

(41:45):
in the bank, I used to coach leaders in their communication,
and I realized that no one's taught this stuff. No
one's taught how to communicate clearly unless they're go to tastemasters.
Of course, no one's taught how to stand up and
say I'm awesome at this, or did say it in
a way that doesn't feel braggy, doesn't feel icky and uncomfortable,

(42:09):
but how to really engage people in your value and
what your business does, but in a nice, natural and
engaging way. And that's what I felt that I could
really contribute something special too, because it brought everything I've
been doing to date together. So that's what I did.
I changed my business became the value as for her.
And that was six years six seven years ago now,

(42:31):
and it's it's felt so different as a business. You know,
every time I'm coming to my business, I just see
more opportunities to help people, and I'm always excited about
the next step. So yeah, I'm really excited. Even though
it's seven years in now, I still really still feel
I'm just at the beginning. There's so far I'd like

(42:51):
to take this idea.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah. I love how you articulated that in terms of,
you know, your story of developing your own practice of
being able to figure out what you're good at and
then sharing that with others. You're one hundred percent right,
and we do see it in Toast Masters. I like
that you kind of like threw the shot out there
to toast Masters, where people don't realize their self talk,
what they're saying to themselves in terms of the negative

(43:14):
self talk, and then they also don't realize their accomplishments
and what they've overcome and their stories. And we see
that with Ted Talks. Like you were just saying earlier,
is that when someone really starts looking at themselves and
their story and what they've overcome, the challenges that they overcome,
and then the jobs that they're doing or the business
that they're creating, and the impact that they're trying to create,

(43:35):
how big it is and how significant it is, they
don't give themselves enough credit. And so I think it's
so important the work that you do in terms of
being the value whisperer of whispering in someone's ear and
letting them know how great they are. I think if
we had more people believe in themselves. If we had
more people who went around and really believed that the

(43:57):
work they're doing is impactful and really believed that they
are great themselves, we would see so much less negativity.
I'll just keep it at that in the world because
so much I think of the negativity that we see,
or so much of the bad business that we see,
is because people are just passing on their own self

(44:17):
limiting beliefs onto others. And so if we could eliminate that,
I think we would have a better world. Then I
know that you're on a mission to do that. I'm
going to shift you as a Oh go ahead, please God,
jump on that.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
I was going to say. There was a talk that
I heard, probably about ten years ago now by a
lady by called Dr Josephine Gross, and she talked about
the sacred commerce, which was the origins of trade in Egypt.
Because you had all these kind of towns or tribes
or whatever they were called at the time, but you know,

(44:49):
they're like, oh, they've got the blue dye, let's go
and kill them all and get it. So it was
a really rough place to be. But then the temples
came in and the priests and priceaid came and saw
trade as a way to maintain peace, but not just
maintain peace, but for people to really give their highest contribution,

(45:11):
to live into their value and to create a better
world together. And it worked. You know, people were really
in alignment with their true purpose and that was you know,
their business was seen as the way that they could
bring that out into the world. But then the pharaoh realized,
hold on a minute, if everyone's really aligned, living their

(45:32):
true purpose and they're all happy, you know, no one's
going to listen to me. So he couldn't have the
propaganda because everyone's like, hold on a minute, that sounds
that doesn't sound right. I'm not going to do that.
So he destroyed the temples and then really brought this
masculine energy back into trade. Whereas before it was the

(45:53):
masculine and feminine were really balanced at the beginning. And
I think I see a shift now of coming back
to that balance that we know, it's not like having
a world that's male or female dominated, but the two
have to work really well together. And when you get
that balance, I think that changes everything. And I think
when you understand your true value, because we all have

(46:16):
the two entities within us. Then you start to feel
that balance, you start to feel that alignment, and everything
starts to work and these amazing opportunities come to you.
You feel more in alignment with what you're doing, and
suddenly your contribution grows and you can see how you
can have more impact in the world. So, you know,
coming back to your statement, I think if everyone was

(46:37):
living in their true purpose and believed in themselves, then
absolutely we'd all have a very different experience of the world.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
I think, yeah, because people would be living in flow.
They would, you know, and you use the word alignment
and you said living into their value, and it's so true.
You know. I don't know, and I'd love for you
to speak on this. I don't know what it's like
in Europe and where you are, but in this state,
it's one of the things that we experience a lot. Here.
You talked about burnout is of course burnout, and a

(47:06):
lot of burnout happens because people are not living in alignment.
They're living the dual life. They're living the life at
work and doing what they have to do at work
in order to keep their job, and then they go
home and they want to be this different person, and
of course it's going to lead to burnout. They're exhausted.
They're living one life and then they're trying to live another.
And what I've learned with myself is that by living

(47:26):
in alignment of like, these are my values, and they're
my values that I carry not just at work but
also at home and vice versa. They're my values at
home that I also carry at work. It's made work
so much easier. I mean, it's right now, you hear
it from me on my podcast right now as we're speaking,
is that this is me. I don't have to fake
who I am for my podcast, for my show and
be this host and be this interviewer. I'm just curious, right,

(47:50):
I just want to have a platform to be able
to speak and meet new people on and that's part
of me living in my purpose. And that's exactly it
is that, you know, the more people can do that,
the lass burnout we'll see here in the States. And
so I'm curious. Is that something that you hear over
where you are of people saying, you know, oh, I

(48:12):
live a dual life, or you know, I just want
to find work life balance. Work life balance is like
a huge term that we use here.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Yeah, and this whole work life balance I hate that
term because you kind of think there's work and then
there's life exactly. It's like, well, no, it's all life, right,
how do you I think it's all about consciously creating
your life in a way that you can enjoy it.
You can feel comfortable, you can feel in alignment, and

(48:42):
when you have when you understand your true value, and
it becomes much easier to be much more self compassionate
as well. So you create boundaries, you say no to
things that you think I can't really see how I
can add much value to that. So I've become a
master saying no. And people are always asking how do
you get so much done? Because I live aboard, I

(49:04):
don't have a family or a support network that can
help with the kids and the dog and the family,
and my husband travels all the while, so I'm kind
of a single parent running this empire will. I love it,
But how do you get so much done? It's like, well,
I don't. There is so much that I don't do

(49:25):
so much. I don't do guilt, I don't do like
any of this. I just focus on, well, this is
what I really care about. This is where I have
an impact and I love it, and this is my
family that I really want to invest time in. And
it's kind of a bit of a messy blend sometimes
if it all works, but there's so many other things
that I just don't get involved in because I can't

(49:47):
really add value. I'm just saying yes because I feel
it's my duty or I feel guilty, or I used
to but now I don't. And yeah, it just gives
you so much more time and space to know you're
doing the right thing and having that self compassion and
looking after yourself first, knowing that that's then going to

(50:08):
enable you to do more good for others. It took
a long time to get here. You haven't been like
instant and automatic. But I have a few phrases that
I keep reminding myself of that, you know, slowest, smooth
and smoothest fast. So when I'm frustrated that things aren't
coming together, I just know everything will come in its

(50:30):
own time. You know, I'm just me. Just take it
back a bit, break it down, do it slower, and
then it all comes together. You know, I don't burn out,
I don't get overwhelmed because I have taken that step back,
or if I'm having a moment where I'm really panicked
and stressed, then I'll go take a bath, or I'll
go and have a walk or a nap, or meet

(50:51):
with friends, do something else. And then when you come back,
you see it differently because suddenly you realize, I don't
need to do all of these things. I can just
do this one thing and that's enough. Because I think
we we tend to push ourselves to be perfectionists. We
want to do the best. We want to be like
good pupils and students that we've been dreamed to be.

(51:13):
But you know, most of the time, BNS is more
than enough. We don't have to keep pursuing a plus
plus in everything. And there are some things that you
know are the gold standard. If you're going to give
a TED talk, for example, you want to give that
the time to get it right, to practice, to do
your best job. But you know, if you're going to
do a podcast interview of social media live, then yeah,

(51:36):
it needs to be decent. But if you have some
arms and ours in there, or if you fluffy your
words a little bit, it doesn't matter that it's the
value was still there. So I think when we start
to categorize what we're doing and say no to a
lot more more things, then we can stay and and
get more out of our day, more have more impact

(51:59):
with the time have available. But I think it starts
with knowing that true value so that you can feel
confident saying no to all the shiny objects and distractions
and things much more easily. Because so more easily, because
it's never easy, but yeah, you have give yourself much
more scope to have fun. Almost I feel guilty sometimes

(52:24):
because oh, I'm so stressed and you're like, oh, I'm
not not at all, And then well you're always be
a look in their face like why not? But yeah,
I think we have much more opportunity to make a
difference if we're focusing just in that sort of zone
of genius. And I think, is it Gay Hendrix that

(52:46):
says that. But it's a process as well. It's not
something that is instantly obvious. You have to know when
I help my clients find their true value. It takes
a few weeks and a lot of deep thinking, and
it's a bit of a tango because you start to
understand your value, start to understand your ideal clients, your niche,

(53:07):
and then it's kind of a bit of a tango
between the two to find that sort of sweet spot
where the two overlap. And if you build everything in
that space, then you're going to love it. Your clients
are going to be delighted, and you're going to have
a big impact. And then it keeps everything simple to you.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Brene Brown boundaries right, Boundaries create freedom. It took me
a long time to learn that. It took me such
a long time to learn that where I want it
to be this free soul, this free creative thinker and
do what I want live without a calendar, just you know,
just go off on my own. And really what that

(53:46):
led to was more overwhelmed and stress because you're always
thinking about what you have to do next, You're always wondering,
you're always saying yes to things, like you said, Whereas
when you have I use a calendar very rigidly. Now,
when you have a calend and you look at it
and you go, here's what I have time for, Here's
what I don't have time for, it actually makes it
a lot easier to say no to things. Where I

(54:07):
look at it, I go I can't do that, I
can't go there, I can't and I'm using can't with
a as a word of power in that it's not
that I can't do it. I'm choosing not to do
these things right, it's a choice. I'm seeing my calendar.
I'm going I'm prioritizing this event. I'm prioritizing this moment
with my family over that other one. And so for me,

(54:29):
the calendar is my boundaries. It allows me to see that,
and there's so much freedom in there. Because to your point,
I get you and I share this similarity. I get
the same question, how do you get so much done?
And I say, it's it's not what I do, it's
what I don't do. That's what I always tell people,
it's what I don't do. The other thing I want
to highlight that you said that I loved is slow

(54:51):
is smooth, and smooth is fast. I absolutely love that.
I'm a skier. I would assume you're in the Swiss
aut helps. Come on, please tell me, Please tell.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Me until I've damaged my knees.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Okay, I'm sorry, yes, right, And I mean, you get
a good code of wax on your skis and you
make them smooth. It doesn't matter what size ski, you have?
What quality? What what? What brand? Ski? You have? You
are moving? You are moving fast?

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Right, Yeah, exactly, you know, and as you know, entrepreneurship
and life it is bump enough as it is. So Yeah,
if we can give ourselves a nice smooth one of it,
it's much easier.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
I think so too. You're you're also someone who you know.
It's so funny as the value whisperer doesn't consider herself
a leader, but so many people call on you to
be a leader, and I'd love for you to just
give your impression or talk about leadership.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
Yeah, I think I think it comes back to this
communication that with my team, and I've worked in corporate
and now in my business, I never assume that I
have all the answers. And I think this comes back
to my art education because when you go to art school,
even though I did a management degree, you know, you're

(56:14):
always taught. There's always a better way, there's always a
different way to look at things, There's always a different idea.
You know, take inspiration from everywhere and then you know,
sit with it, see what comes out of that, and
then you know, see what else. You know, at one
point we had to make these this painting to represent something.
Actually it was a leadership What what does leadership represent

(56:36):
to you? And made this painting and then we had
to rip it up and I was like, well, I
really loved this painting, like whip it up. Oh my goodness, yeah,
will now really represent leadership with the pieces? I was like,
oh okay. So you know, it was always break things down.
You can put them together a different way to have

(56:58):
a very different impact, and you see things differently, and
I think that has stayed with me throughout my entire career.
So I've always been really curious, and I'm more from
the point of view of listening to other people and
making the connections that people have missed a little bit
and taking that forward. So I love listening to my

(57:19):
team and seeing what ideas they have, never assuming that
I've got the best idea, but say, well, I know
I've got my idea, what are yours? And then putting
that all together, we always come up with something better
and something often that's simpler, or you know, I'd be
thinking about, oh, we have to do all of this
complex stuff, and then they come up with something that's

(57:41):
really like, oh, if we did this, It's like huh, yeah,
that would fix it. So I really like my team
to be more collaborators. But because of that, and I
think they are able and they feel comfortable to step in.
So when I was pregnant and I felt awful, my

(58:02):
team just stepped in and covered everything. And that was
a big leadership. That's because I had been doing like
one hundred and twenty percent in my business in my role,
and I realized they could have been doing this all
the time. I could have been doing eighty percent, and
they could have picked up us like easily because they
had been part of that journey. They had been part

(58:22):
of the team we wanted to create. And we discussed
when I mentioned earlier that I went into these meetings
with a clear idea, this is what we stand for,
this is what's important to us, and we're going to
let everything outside. We discussed that as a team. You know,
I'm going into this meeting to represent us. What does
that look like? I'm thinking this, but you know, is

(58:44):
that what's really important to us. Let's discuss this. And
we had a big sort of power out around that
to all agree because I needed them to stand up
for the same things too. If they were going through
a meeting on our behalf. Then we needed that coherence
and that consistency. Yeah, so it's I don't necessarily feel

(59:05):
that as leadership, but but then yeah, maybe.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
It certainly is leadership because leadership is bringing others in, collaborating,
as you said, supporting other people's ideas, but also offering
the guardrails. I think leadership is a lot of the guardrails,
and you just describe that there. You know, you're helping them,
You're helping them along the way find their own right.
You're a coach, and in coaching, we know this, right,

(59:35):
it's not about us solving the problem for our mentee
or the person we're coaching. It's about helping them find
the solution. And that's true leadership, right, And that's what
you do with your team. And the other cool part,
like you said, is when you start delegating, you start realizing, wow,
I don't have to do all of this by myself,
which is really really cool when you start delegating, because

(59:57):
the more people that you could delegate to, the more
you can get done, and the more people that are involved.
Of course, and I'm talking about too many chefs in
the kitchen. I'm talking about the more people involved that
at a productive level. The more input you get at
that level, the smarter the ideas. And sometimes you're right

(01:00:18):
as the leader, as the owner of the organization, we
overthink things, we overcomplicate things, and it takes that outsider's
perspective to come in and say, hey, what if you
just did it this way and it's so much simpler.
And I think again, it goes back to your leadership
qualities for yourself and for everybody listening, is that it
takes a true leader to be able to listen to

(01:00:38):
others insight. It takes a true leader to be able
to listen to other people's insight. Let's go back to
toast masters for a second. Here. Toast master's slogan is
where leaders are made something along those lines, right, And
when you think about one of the most valuable part
of a toast master's meeting, isn't it the feedback?

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
Yeah, the evaluation. It's always brilliant. And as I said
before I even spoke, I learned so much from those
evaluations alone, and it wasn't even on my talk. So
you're learning about Oh this is good, it's about or
do I agree? So, yeah, you learn a lot. And
the nice thing about the way I brought my team

(01:01:22):
in to help us define, well, what do we represent,
what do we stand for? What's important to us? Was
that when I had performance reviews, I wasn't the one
that said you were good at this, you were bad
at that. I just asked them where do you think
you've been performing given what we're trying to achieve here,
And they were always so tough on themselves, like, oh, well,

(01:01:44):
I'm really bad at this and I could have done
that so much better. I was like, oh, actually, I
thought you were really good, you know. So it actually
gave me a nice opportunity to be the good guy.
But it was really interesting how to do that approach
and understand how see themselves and what's important to them
because the perspective is always a little bit different. But

(01:02:06):
it gave me a nice sort of coaching moment with
them as well, to be a mentor and help them
see where they can where they can I agree this
could be better. What do you need to get there?
So and so is really good at that? Should I
set up a meeting you can go and speak to
this person really help see what's going to help them

(01:02:27):
get to their goals and understand their motivations, what's important
to them, where they want to go. So it was, yeah,
it was fun. I kind of miss it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
And that's exactly what leaders do, right. Leaders. Leaders support others,
Leaders help others accomplish their goals. That's a true sign
of a leader is helping somebody else accomplish their own goals.
So certainly a leader. Another thing that I got to
bring up here, which is, you know you live a
life of irony, which is you know you are introverted,

(01:02:59):
you're shy, yet you wrote a book, You're a master networker,
you're on stages, you're a ted X coach, and then
you're also a podcast host and so you have the
Driven Female Entrepreneur podcast. I'd love if you could share
a little bit about that with our audience.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
Yeah. As I said, speaking is my way of maintaining
my bit of courage, because otherwise I would just shrink
back and disappear for sure, and I would just maybe
post on LinkedIn once in a while.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
Yeah, the muscle atrophy otherwise, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
So, So podcasting was the way that I could make
sure that every single week I'm showing up and I'm
adding value and I started with the Driven Female Entrepreneur
podcast and my motivation was for that was I just
saw so many women and I think men fall into
this as well, but my network is mostly women. I

(01:03:55):
just saw them thinking, oh, I'm really struggling with this,
but everyone else finds easy. I were like, I'm a failure. Like, no,
no one finds this stuff easy. No one builds their
business in six months and is making six figures. You know,
very few it. You know, they just didn't see the
reality because they didn't have a network and what seemed

(01:04:17):
interesting And maybe from your perspective you have a different view.
But all the women that I know that started a business,
and out of I think I've interviewed more than one
hundred and fifty women on the show. Now, out of
all of those women I interviewed, plus my clients and network,
one person, one woman intended to start a business, but
everyone else it was a life event. They had some

(01:04:39):
health thing, their parents get got sick there, they moved country,
they had kids, and they couldn't go back to the
corporate environment. So they started a business. But because they
hadn't intended to, they hadn't really planned, they hadn't got
the research. They didn't have the network. So they were
starting a business, which is probably hard enough, but they

(01:05:01):
were isolated. They didn't have access to the support and
the networks and the knowledge that they needed, which was
then they would turn into the internet and just seeing
successful people and therefore thinking, oh, you know, I'm not
successful successful in six months, therefore I'm no good at this.
So I wanted to take the opportunity to draw the
curtain back and show people what a real journey looks like.

(01:05:24):
So that's always the first question I was asking these women.
I was like, well, how did you get started? What
was that like versus reality? And yeah, tell us how
that's been. And I never interviewed someone that's been in
business for less than five years because I wanted to
have that kind of perspective. And it was so interesting
and it gave women a so much more courage and

(01:05:44):
they were like, oh, you know, I'm not missing anything.
I just need to keep going. I just need to
And so I was being a sort of pocket mental
if you like. But now the show yesterday transition, So
now this year it's going to be the Art of
Value Whispering podcast because it's time to step up and

(01:06:07):
share more of my perspective. My audience were reaching out
and asking for that. My solo episodes, I still got
a lot more listeners and my interviews, so I was
taking that. I was like, Okay, yeah, people want to
hear more from me. So and although everything I've done
so far on the show, I've loved and it really
has had an impact, and those business schools are using

(01:06:29):
it as an example of female leadership and entrepreneurship in practice,
which I was really proud of. But now I want
to take people on the journey. So rather than just
having these interviews with lots of different people, I want
to take people step by steps through finding their value,
believing in themselves, finding their niche. So many people go

(01:06:50):
around in circles about their niche because they're thinking about
it wrong, I believe. So I want to sort of
set the record straight in a lot of things. And
as I was saying, it's all about communication and connection
and people aren't being taught this ever, and then they
start a business and most of your business success comes
from your ability to communicate, and so I really want

(01:07:12):
to start sharing more of my expertise in this and
bringing people on guests men and women who are living
into that, who are thinking a bit differently about the
way that they embrace their value and weave that through
their business to make an impact. So I'm really excited
for where it's going to go. I'm hoping it's a

(01:07:33):
wise move and not completely foolish to believe behind everything
we've built that I mean, the podcast is. I've re
named it rot because I want those episodes to still
be there inaccessible. But yeah, I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
That's really really cool. I commend you for that that
switch there that you're doing because I believe it's it's
very heavy lifting. I mean, at least from my perspective.
I really enjoy the interview style because I feel it's
kind of a nice tennis match of a back and forth.
And also the heavy lifting for me is not much

(01:08:09):
because all I have to do is really just listen
and ask you follow up questions while you share, right,
But when you're speaking by yourself which I've attempted to
do a podcast by myself on more than one occasion,
it's a lot of heavy lifting because it's just you
and you have to have the content and know the
content really really well to be able to speak on

(01:08:31):
it for fifteen minutes, half an hour, an hour on
a weekly basis. As you said, you put your podcast out,
so a lot of heavy lifting. It sounds like what's
cool for you though, which is also important for everybody
here is you have one a great network and two
a great support system from your following. And I think

(01:08:51):
that when you can feed off of your followers and
their questions, their comments, their concerns, their ideas, it helps
you as the individual to be able to go on
and speak on some of those topics. So it kind
of will guide the way for you. And you're already
saying that because that's why you're doing it, is because
they're kind of guiding you towards this.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
Yeah, exactly. So I have I've spoken a lot about
this and that. Then so I have my kind of
set presentation that I give, and but then the questions
people ask and really understanding why people get in such
a pickle over their marketing for example, And you know
recently there was one lady in a talk and she
was like, but how is it possible to be consistent?

(01:09:33):
How can I post on social media every single day?
And like, well, I don't think that's what consistency means.
I think consistency means consistency of your message, of the
way you make people feel about the impact you have.
So you know, hands on if I put my hands up,
I'm not consistent on social media. So there's some weeks
on there every single day and others where I forget completely.

(01:09:55):
I'm like, oh no, I haven't posted anything for a
couple of weeks, so you know, I I'm not consistent.
But I've been to events in all across Europe and
towns quite far from here, and people almost always I
can't remember an event when this hasn't happened come up
to me and thank me for my content, even though

(01:10:17):
I haven't been consistent. But because that meant that consistency
of message to value the impact it's having on people
is there, then people remember it because they can take
it away and do something made them feel a different
way or gave them permission to think differently, So that's
what gets remembered. So it was really interesting, So I thought, yeah,

(01:10:38):
that could be already a great podcast because it's not
something that people talk about. There's a lot of people
talking about social media and posting every day, and at
the same time, I was like, I don't know, who
is it watching their clock being they should have posted
by now right right, not me. So I think this

(01:10:58):
idea of consistency and how people show up and there's
a lot of pressure being put on people unnecessarily. I think,
as I said, I've built my business part time on
my own around this, my growing family in a country
where I don't really speak the language or understand what's
going on half the time. But it's that consistency of
message and all of the kind of simplicity I've brought

(01:11:22):
into my business that have helped me with that. And
I think when it comes to marketing, people think they
need to do more, they need to add in things
rather than marketing being what you do anyway is just
how you do things. Is your marketing, You are your marketing,
you are your lead bag, bit. And so I think
there's some mindset shifts that can help people already feel

(01:11:45):
a lot more relaxed about their marketing and how they
connect and bring people into their business. And yeah, I'm
excited to share it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
I think that's so cool, And I mean, right on
topic with your quote that you love from Richard of Brandson,
which is if it's no longer fun, stop doing it.
I mean, I think with what you just said there
is that if your marketing isn't fun, if your social
media posts aren't fun, then stop doing it. I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Yeah, And more to the point, if your marketing isn't fun,
you'll automatically stop doing it anyway, but not in a
way of thinking, oh, let me do something different. You
just you know, if you don't enjoy what you do,
you don't do it. So it has to come from
the heart, I think, And I heard an old mentor
of mine told me that people do two things in life.

(01:12:35):
They do what they love and they do what they're
being watched on. And the challenge for us as business
owners or leaders, no one's watching, you know, you have
to make yourself do these things. And so if you
don't love it, you don't do it. So you have
to get yourself a coach or someone to hold you accountable.

(01:12:55):
But yeah, it's hard. But if you love what you do,
if you're in your zone of genees, you're living your value,
Suddenly everything just becomes so much easier.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
I think that that's amazing. I think that that's amazing.
It's been really a pleasure of getting to know you
and having you on the show today. I feel like
I need to have you on more often because you
have so many great valuable insights to offer. Where can
people learn about your podcast that you have launched and
are rebranding?

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
So my podcast is on all the platforms. So if
you search Melita Campbell or the Art of Value as
Spring or even the Driven femal are not female entrepreneur,
I'm pretty sure that will still get picked up, you'll
find it. Or if you go to my website Melita
Campbell dot com, then you can click through on the
button that says podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
That's so cool. That's so cool. Yeah, it's been really
wonderful having you on. I'm going to have to have
you on my toast Masters. You have an open invite
to come to my toast Masters. You and I will
network a little bit about that after the call here today,
I'd like to offer you just an opportunity to share
anything else that you would like that maybe I didn't
ask in this podcast so far.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
Yeah, I think we have covered so much. I don't
think there's anything additional, But I would like to encourage
people to just try and keep things simple. You understand
what's important to you, and give yourself permission to lean
into that and not feel duty bound to do anything else.

(01:14:24):
Because when we make our highest contribution, it feels great
and we benefit the world, as he was saying, So yeah,
keep things simple and give yourself permission to do things
the way that feels right for you. I think if
we lean into that, that already gives us a lot
of clues as to where we should best be working.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
Awesome, awesome, And then just again for our audio listeners,
where can they find your book? Where can they find you?
How can they book a call with you?

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
So through my website it's the easiest meldacammeel dot com.
You'll find me on every social media platform. And my
book is likewise, in any bookstore, a real bookstore, you
can order it if they don't have it on the shelves,
and it's on Amazon and Waterstones and all the online
places as well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Awesome, awesome, Well, it's been a pleasure having you on today.
Thank you so much for coming on the show, and
thank you so much for your patience in getting on
the show. I know it's been a long time coming,
so I am so excited that we finally got to
connect and have you on today. This has been a wonderful,
wonderful show with you. Thanks so much for coming on.

Speaker 2 (01:15:26):
Thanks, I've really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
Thank you for listening to The Michael Esposito Show. For
show notes, video clips, and more episodes, go to Michael Espositoinc.
Dot com backslash podcast. Thank you again to our sponsor
dan ten Insurance Services helping businesses get the right insurance
for all their insurance needs. Visit Denten dot io to

(01:15:48):
get a quote that's d n ten dot io and
remember when you buy an insurance policy from Denten, you're
giving back on a global scale. This episode was produced
by Mike at the iHeart Studios in Poughkeepsie. Special thanks
to Lara Rodrian for the opportunity and my team at
Mike Lesposito in