April 1, 2025 • 27 mins
AMAZING NEWS Y'ALL - your girl is officially an entrepreneur!! What!!
As I'm navigating starting my own business for the first time and TOTALLY being pushed out of my comfort zone, it only makes sense to start a podcast series on how to stop playing small and start stepping in faith. Right??
This is the only solo episode in the whole series, which sets the stage for interviews I'm recording with some of the most inspiring and insightful entrepreneurs in my local hometown of Wilmington, NC.
In this episode, I'm reflecting on the five biggest lessons I learned during my time working in corporate America.
From navigating office politics to mastering leadership skills, I'm sharing real-world insights to help you stop playing small and start stepping out in faith.
Whether you're aiming to grow in your career or seeking motivation to make bold moves, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways :)
Key Topics: ✅ Overcoming self-doubt and imposter syndrome ✅ Lessons in leadership and communication ✅ Embracing faith-based decisions in business ✅ Tips for stepping outside your comfort zone
🎧 Tune in and discover how to apply these corporate lessons to elevate your life and career :)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:24):
What's up you guys?
Welcome back to TheWrestling With Life podcast.
I am your host, m led on themic, as always, baby, and I am
screaming, crying, throwing up.
Just so freaking pumped tobring you Series number three.
On the podcast, we're talking abouthow to stop playing small and start
stepping in faith, And right offthe bat, I just wanna let y'all know
(00:47):
that this is going to be the onlysolo episode in the entire series.
This is the only time we're gonna betalking one-on-one, and then every
episode in this series afterwardsis gonna be interview style.
And I am bringing in some of thebrightest, some of the most inspirational,
some of the most baller people.
In the tri-state area, in my currenthometown of Wilmington, North
(01:11):
Carolina, who are doing this exactthing, who are not playing small,
who are stepping in faith, who areentrepreneurs running their own business,
taking risks, doing the dang thing.
You know what I'm saying?
And I could not be more excitedto sit down with people who know
what they're talking about when itcomes to taking risks, stepping in
faith, starting their own business.
(01:32):
And I am especially excited to talk tothem about this because Drum roll please.
I have some exciting news to share Y'all.
Your girl has officiallystarted her own business.
Yeah, I started my own business.
You heard that right?
I have left corporate America.
After five years of having corporate jobsand, and working for corporate America, I
(01:55):
have decided to make a pivot and to workfor myself and start my own thing and.
Y'all.
I could not be more excited,but also more terrified.
This is the most risky thing I thinkI've done maybe in my entire life,
but I truly believe that this iswhat God is calling me to do, and I
(02:15):
feel so confident and so excited inthe direction that he's taking me.
So in this episode, I would liketo lay the groundwork for all of
the interviews that we're gonnabe hearing in later episodes.
And I would like to share with youthe five biggest lessons that I have
learned during my time in corporateAmerica, because it was not an easy
(02:37):
ride for me at all, as you will hear.
And there are a lot of reallytough life lessons that I've had
to learn and to come to terms with.
I wanted to share them with youbecause I'm about to make a, a big
life pivot, a big career pivot, and Idon't want to forget about everything
that corporate America taught me.
You know, there's a lot of opinionsout there about working for the
(02:59):
man and working for someone else.
And to be honest with you, itprovided a lot of security for me.
It provided so much growth and somany learning opportunities for me.
The networking opportunities were crazyand corporate America is not all bad.
And I, I really enjoyed mytime in that world, but it's
time to open a new chapter.
(03:20):
You know what I'm saying?
So yeah, I wanna share with youwhat I learned during that time.
And then at the end of this episode,I'd also love to share with you
what I'm doing going forward.
Like what you can expect from me, whatbusiness services am I offering, what
am I doing, and how I'm also looking topartner with local people in Wilmington,
North Carolina to make that happen.
(03:41):
So stick around for the endif you guys wanna hear that.
I would really like to start off thisepisode by sharing a little background
on my time in corporate America where Ispent the last five years of my career.
I'm gonna keep this short and sweet,but if you don't know me, I just
wanna give you some backgroundas to who you're talking to.
I. And how I have the, the audacityand the credibility to show up and
(04:03):
share these things that I've learned.
Okay, I grew up in a small townin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and
I have always been just a verydriven, very focused individual.
I hate losing, I love being on top and.
I don't know how to bring anytype of energy to anything that I
do other than a hundred percent.
If it's not a hundred percent, itdoesn't feel good enough to me.
(04:26):
So this is, this goes for myrelationships, my sports that
I've played in the past, any of myathletic endeavors, um, my career of
course, I just have to bring it all.
I'm so freaking passionateabout everything in life.
I care so, so, so much.
I was a soccer player, a trackrunner in high school, I actually
earned a soccer scholarship to goplay soccer for Ashland University.
(04:50):
So I go to college.
I'm a full-time college athlete, and whileI'm there, I decide to study marketing.
When I tell you that the samepassion that I had for everything
else then transitioned into mycareer while I was in school.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
That's what happened.
So while I'm in school, I have fourdifferent internships in marketing,
(05:11):
and I purposefully do all differentindustries for each internship so I
can really get an idea of what I want.
To do going forward once I graduate andy'all, I fell in love with marketing so
quickly because it's so freaking creative.
It's so interesting and Imajored in marketing, minored in
psychology because marketing andpsych actually go hand in hand.
(05:34):
Like it's so interesting understandingwhy humans do what they do.
Is psychology and that is core tounderstanding how to be a good marketer.
Once you can get inside your client,your prospect's head and understand
what pain point can you solve for them.
What problem do they have and how canyour product or service fix that for them?
(05:54):
You're golden.
That's literally how you sell.
and while I was in school, I especiallyfell in love with social media marketing.
I just found it so interesting.
I loved creating content and Iloved kind of testing the waters
and seeing what worked to getengagement, what didn't work.
And I quickly landed myselfan internship in school that.
Landed me a full-time job onceI got out of school and once I
(06:16):
graduated into the real world.
I started my career in Columbus,Ohio, working for a really large
corporation doing social media marketing.
And really quickly, the biggest lifelesson that I learned at that time in
my life was that you cannot attach youridentity and your worth to your career.
You know why?
(06:37):
Because it can be takenfrom you at any time.
It can also evolve, and also your workperformance is going to vary based off of.
External factors thatare out of your control.
So let's dig into that a little bit.
Okay, so I lay in myfirst job outta school.
I'm working in corporate America, andwe all know what happens in 2020, right?
(06:58):
Covid hits.
Boom.
I get laid off from my job onlythree months in, and I just told
you how much time I had put intobuilding my career already before
I even graduated college, right?
So already I'm a very driven person.
And I, and I put everythingthat I, I put a hundred percent
into everything that I do.
So naturally, I am identifyingso much with how much I can
(07:22):
achieve, how successful I amin my career, and basically the
output that I can provide, right?
And when that job got taken from me, somuch of my world came crumbling down.
It really took a hit to my self-esteem.
Because what I didn't realizeat the time, which of course
I know now, is that I thought.
Me not doing a good enough jobwas the reason that I got let go.
(07:45):
Mind you, I got let go alongside 60%of the organization because we were
in the middle of a global pandemic.
Okay?
But 22-year-old little M led,who was fresh out of college,
did not realize that at the time.
And it took a huge hit tomy ego and into my pride.
what I have learned since is no.
That has nothing to do withmy identity, so rather than
(08:09):
place my identity in my career.
I have learned, and I have tocatch myself with this because
it's still my natural tendency.
I have learned that my identitycan only come from God.
It can only come from my creator.
It can only come from the one whoalready says that I'm enough and
already says that I don't have to provemyself or prove my worth through my
(08:30):
career, through my athletics, throughmy academics, whatever it is, God
tells me that I am inherently worthy.
Because of him, because ofwhat his son did for me.
And so y'all, if you're earlyin your career, or maybe if
you're not, maybe you've beenin your career for a long time.
That's your tendency and you tend to justattach your worth to your performance.
(08:53):
I need you to really gut check that.
I need you to examine that, and Ineed you to draw into that and look
at that and ask yourself if you areputting way too much pressure on your
external success in this world to giveyou worth and give you validation.
If you are, I would.
Really, really caution you on thatbecause at any given point in time,
(09:15):
your job can be taken from you, yourjob security, your job title, money,
whatever security you're finding in thatit can be stripped from you at any time.
And I learned that rightout the gate of my career.
Okay.
This leads me to number two.
This is a perfect segue into the secondlesson that I've learned in my career.
(09:35):
Business is not personal,nor is anything in life.
Okay?
So if a business lays you off, ifa business does not hire you, if a
client doesn't wanna work with you,if another entrepreneur doesn't
wanna collaborate with you, if youapply for a job and you don't get it.
If you start a business and youdon't get customers right away, none
(09:59):
of this is personal to you, okay?
None of this is areflection of your value.
This ties so well intothat first life lesson.
Business is not personal, okay?
When a business is making cuts or theyare choosing not to hire someone, or
they go with a certain candidate overyou at all times, they are doing.
(10:22):
What is best for their organization?
Okay?
A lot of times these corporations willrestructure and they have to reallocate
their funds to different places toliterally keep the business afloat, okay?
A lot of the times it is afinancial thing for them and has
absolutely nothing to do with you.
Now, if you get fired from your jobfor misconduct, that's a completely
(10:44):
different conversation, okay?
So it is not rejection.
This is key here.
Okay?
It is not rejection.
It is redirection.
I am such a firm believer that knows,and closed doors are simply God
pivoting you in a different direction.
We have free will, right?
(11:04):
We have, we have controlof our day-to-day choices.
But all in all, who's in charge Y'all.
The man upstairs.
The man upstairs is guiding oursteps and he is the one who is
ultimately calling the shots for us.
He has already written whatwill happen before it happens.
He is the author.
We are the poem, okay?
(11:25):
He is the author.
We are the poem.
So it is not rejection, it is redirection,and I need you to pound this in your head.
Business is not personal.
Do not take any sort of careerrejection as a reflection of you.
If you do take things personallyin business, and let's be honest,
that's your pride flaring up.
(11:45):
That's your pride saying that you'retoo good for what's happening to you.
Meanwhile.
What do we, what do we talk abouton the podcast all the time?
We're not entitled to anything, right?
We're not entitled to anything.
Anything good that weget in life is a gift.
So if you're taking it personally andyour pride is flaring up, that's gonna
cause you to act out in emotion andanger, and to project your feelings
(12:07):
of not enoughness onto other people.
That's gonna result into bridgesbeing burned, and that will come
back to bite you in the butt.
Okay.
One of the reasons why I actuallyfelt pushed into starting my own
business is because my positionrecently got eliminated at my
former corporate nine to five job.
Okay?
(12:27):
I already learned this lesson once.
That business wasn't.
Personal.
So I was able to handle thatsituation in a way that was
like, okay, totally understand.
Thank you so much for the experience.
Thank you for the timethat I did have here.
Thank you for what I learned.
I kept that businessrelationship in a good place.
So guess what happened?
(12:48):
When I decided to start my ownbusiness, I literally brought them
on as my first client because.
I knew what, I knew that theposition being eliminated was
not a reflection of my worth.
It was a financially motivateddecision and I was able to
keep that relationship intact.
So when there was opportunity or there waswork to be done and they were ready for
(13:12):
someone to come back in they called me.
They hit me up and that would nothave happened if I burned the bridge.
So seriously, y'all, Icannot tell you enough.
Business is not personal.
Okay?
That's number two.
Okay, so number three lesson that I'velearned in corporate America, nobody
is expecting you to be an expert.
(13:33):
Okay?
That's your pride talking baby.
And especially those of usin our twenties and thirties.
Let's be real guys.
We are babies in our career,especially when we're working with
people who are in their fifties andsixties and who have been around the
block many more times than we have.
We are not experts, and Ithink it's really important for
everyone listening to hear this.
(13:55):
No one is expectingyou to know everything.
And in fact, when you have a postureof humility and you can ask for help,
admit your mistakes and own the fact thatyou don't know everything that you're
open to learning, that is going to openmore doors than if you're the sassy.
Know-it-all.
Who can't take constructive criticism?
Who can't own up to a mistake, whocan't ask for help when they need it?
(14:18):
Who's promising the world becausetheir pride is telling them to do
that and then can't deliver that isgoing to make you fall on your face.
Okay, so drop the idea thatyou have to know everything,
that you have to be an expert.
And embrace the fact that you arestill young and you are still learning.
I remember when I got my very firstinternship when I was in college, I was
(14:41):
working for a medical device companyand I remember being so nervous starting
that internship because I expectedthese medical marketing professionals
that I was working with, I wasexpecting that they wanted me to know.
Everything that there was to know abouttheir business, I thought that's what
I had to do to impress them, to get theinternship period, and then to have an
(15:03):
accomplished internship performance.
I expected that my knowledgelevel should be on theirs, and
that was just not realistic.
How could little 19-year-old me have thesame level of knowledge as a 60-year-old
medical marketing professional?
It was just not gonna happen.
But if we're being honest with ourselves,how much do we actually hold ourselves
(15:26):
to that standard in career situations?
How much pressure do we feel tofake it till we make it, and to
try to impress people around usbecause we wanna be taken seriously?
I'm raising my hand over here.
Okay.
I had to get really real with myselfthat that's just not realistic and
that nobody is actually expectingthat from me, and that that's a
limiting belief and a delusion thatI put on myself that was actually
(15:49):
holding me back when I could humblemyself, say I didn't know something.
Ask for help, admit my mistakes,not try to hide when I messed up.
I was honest, that opened up so manymore doors for me than when I ever
tried to fake it until I made it.
Okay, so seriously, y'all recognize thatno one is expecting you to be an expert.
(16:13):
I. Number four, Fear isso normal, especially when
you're doing brand new things.
We're gonna be talking a lot aboutfear in this series number three.
Okay.
As I'm sitting down with theseentrepreneurs, I've already recorded
some of the episodes to date as I'mrecording this episode, and a common
theme that keeps coming up is fear.
(16:34):
Fear is so normal.
It is human.
Okay.
I think there's such a misconception,especially in the career world when you're
taking risks, that there are fearlesspeople out there who don't care, who
don't have human emotions, and who aren'tafraid when they're doing something
new and that's complete BS y'all.
As I have been startingto launch my own business.
(16:56):
I have had legit mental breakdowns.
I have been so scared.
I have been questioning if I shoulddo this probably like 10% of the time.
90% of the time.
I'm excited.
I'm jazzed.
I'm ready to go.
But that 10%, yeah, the fear is real.
The limiting beliefs are real.
The imposter syndrome is real, butletting it stop you is a choice.
(17:21):
Letting fear hold you back fromdoing the things that you wanna
do, taking the risk that you wannatake, and this is in your career.
This is in life, period.
That's a choice.
That's the only choice thatyou have in the matter.
You don't have a choice about fear.
Fear is gonna happen.
Fear is inevitable.
But letting it stop you is the choice.
(17:42):
So do it.
Scared baby, do it.
Freaking scared.
And how I'm at least ableto do this is because I have
trust that God will provide.
Is it perfect trust?
No.
No.
I wish it was, but it's not perfect trust.
But most of the time I am able tolean on the Lord and trust that
he is going to provide for me.
(18:04):
He's gonna provide the clients,he's gonna provide the money, he's
gonna provide the success, and itmight not be how I want it to look.
It might not be in my timeline.
It might not be in the quantity orthe quality that I want it to be.
It might not look anythinglike I want it to look.
But do I trust that God will provide?
Yeah, I do.
So that's what gives me thestrength and the courage to do it.
(18:25):
Scared.
If you're not sure where youstand with God, what is it that
gives you the confidence to do it?
Scared.
What do you trust in?
What do you believe in yourself,in others, in your situation?
What evidence is there inyour life that points to the
fact that it's gonna be okay?
I think as humans, we tend tofixate on all the what ifs.
(18:45):
Everything that could go wrong,every possible thing that could
result in us ending up failing orbeing rejected or looking silly.
Right?
But what about everythingthat could go right?
What about everything thatcould go right, y'all?
Do we ever stop toactually think about that?
I don't know.
Do you?
I know I don't enough.
It's something that I'mreally, really working on.
(19:05):
What could go right,how could you succeed?
How could God come through?
How could you actuallyshow up and ball out?
You know what I'm saying?
So reorient your mind on what could goright and watch that change everything.
Fear is normal.
Letting it stop you is a choice.
Okay, and this leads me to numberfive, the last big lesson that I
(19:29):
have learned in corporate America.
Okay.
Choose relationships over transactions.
Okay.
The solid genuine relationships I havebuilt has led to way more opportunity
than any skills or knowledge thatI've accumulated over the years.
Okay.
(19:49):
A lot of us tend to think that reallysuccessful people get places because
of their skill, their intellect,their knowledge, their grind, their
hustle, and all of those things.
A hundred percent play into it.
But the concept of self-made is bs.
Nobody is self-made.
Everybody is a product of whothey've come in contact with.
(20:10):
The knowledge and advice that peoplehave given them over time, ways that
people have extended a hand offeredsupport, offered opportunities to them.
You need to get out of the mindset thatyour success is solely dependent on you.
It's not.
It is dependent upon therelationships that you build.
Transactions don't matter.
(20:30):
Okay.
As I'm starting my social media andpodcast business, there are so many
people out there who are already offeringthe same service that I'm offering,
but what's going to make me stand outis my why, the way that I approach
relationships, my why y'all going forward.
(20:52):
My why is that I want tomake people feel confident.
I want to help people be their authenticselves via social media, via podcasts.
I want them to be able tolevel up their marketing game.
By being themselves, by owning it.
That is what does well in podcast form,in social media form, being who you are.
(21:13):
Not saying what you thinkneeds to be said, not doing
the trendy thing all the time.
It's by being.
You.
That's what I want these brands to know.
That is my why.
And so fostering those real relationshipswith them, understanding who they are,
what their business stands for, that ishow I know I am going to be successful.
(21:34):
Because one, that's what'sgonna help them the most.
That's what's gonna deliverthe most value to them.
Help them to get comfortable on camera intheir own skin, creating amazing content
that actually shows what their brandis all about and shares their story.
If I showed up to this, this businessof mine transactionally, and all I
cared about was money, I would flopso quickly because relationships
(21:57):
are so much more important thantransactions because guess what?
What you give out is what comes backaround your willingness to help other
people and to really take the timeto make sure that they succeed when
you're offering a service to them.
Come, that's gonna come back around.
And I'm not just talking about money,I'm talking about relationships.
I'm talking about opportunities.
(22:18):
If you have the opportunity to choose arelationship over a transaction, do it.
Do it and carry that with you,not just in business, but in life.
So many times I see people flying throughtheir interactions with other humans.
Everybody is just trying toget to the next freaking thing.
Everyone is stressed, overwhelmed,overworked, and no one takes the time to
(22:41):
slow down and really genuinely connectand see, and hear, and love other people.
I. In life, in business, I am tellingyou this is something that is going
to separate you, and it is what hasseparated me and made me successful
in my corporate career, and whyI know I'm going to be successful
in my entrepreneurial career too.
(23:02):
guys.
I genuinely believe and know and haveexperienced everything firsthand that
I just told you, and that's why I'mso freaking passionate about this.
Okay?
Take it from me.
I have lived these experiencesand I have learned a lot.
And now finally, I'd just liketo close this episode by sharing
what the, the interview seriesis gonna look like going forward.
(23:24):
And first, I'd like to tell you abouthow I'm starting my own business.
So yeah, your girl is officially.
A freelance marketer and what thismeans is I am now ready to take all of
the marketing knowledge that I learnedin the corporate world, and I am
getting ready to, to work for myself.
I'm gonna be partnering with localbusinesses in Wilmington, North
(23:47):
Carolina, which is my current hometown.
I. And I'm going to be helpingthese business owners take their
marketing game to the next level.
And like I said, I'm doing thatthrough authentic social media.
I'm doing that through authentic podcastproduction as busy entrepreneurs,
I. Business owners have no time toworry about social media, and if
(24:07):
they're interested in launching apodcast, I can tell you it takes a
lot of man hours to make that happen.
I definitely know what I'm doing in termsof the social media world, the podcast
world, but where I really don't know whatI'm doing is running my own business.
Marketing myself is so differentfrom marketing another business.
(24:28):
Let me tell you.
So I am sitting down withlocal entrepreneurs who have
been there and done that.
Or who are currently doing thattoo, and I am diving deep with them.
We're gonna be talking about the fearthat comes up running your own business,
the limiting beliefs, the self-doubt, theways that people have failed and had to
pivot and had to pick themselves back up.
(24:49):
how faith plays a role in that.
How leaning on the Lord and steppingin faith helps us to not play
small and helps us to take risks.
And these entrepreneurs are amazing.
Like I said, I've already recordeda couple of the episodes and I am
just so impressed by the tenacityand the conviction and the tunnel
vision, honestly, that they have.
(25:10):
And I'm so excited for youguys to hear from them.
With that being said, if you are alocal Wilmington business owner and you
would like to collaborate on a podcastepisode, or you would like to talk about
how I can provide you with social mediaservices and podcast production services.
I would absolutely love to talkand you can get in touch with me by
(25:30):
clicking the link in the show notes.
Y'all, I cannot wait foryou to hear this series.
I honestly think even if you're notinterested in becoming an entrepreneur,
this is going to be so insightfuland provide so much wisdom and so
much life advice to you that youcan apply to any area of your life.
(25:52):
I'm sweating, I'm screaming,I'm crying, I'm throwing up.
I'm just so freaking excited forthis time of my life and to see
what God does with it and how heprovides, and I really hope that y'all
will stick around for the journey.
Let's get out there y'all this week.
Let's get after it and let's step in.
Faith.
Let's stop playing small and Iwill see you next week Bye y'all.
What's up you guys?
Welcome back to TheWrestling With Life podcast.
I am your host, m led on themic, as always, baby, and I am
screaming, crying, throwing up.
Just so freaking pumped tobring you Series number three.
On the podcast, we're talking abouthow to stop playing small and start
stepping in faith, And right offthe bat, I just wanna let y'all know
(00:47):
that this is going to be the onlysolo episode in the entire series.
This is the only time we're gonna betalking one-on-one, and then every
episode in this series afterwardsis gonna be interview style.
And I am bringing in some of thebrightest, some of the most inspirational,
some of the most baller people.
In the tri-state area, in my currenthometown of Wilmington, North
(01:11):
Carolina, who are doing this exactthing, who are not playing small,
who are stepping in faith, who areentrepreneurs running their own business,
taking risks, doing the dang thing.
You know what I'm saying?
And I could not be more excitedto sit down with people who know
what they're talking about when itcomes to taking risks, stepping in
faith, starting their own business.
(01:32):
And I am especially excited to talk tothem about this because Drum roll please.
I have some exciting news to share Y'all.
Your girl has officiallystarted her own business.
Yeah, I started my own business.
You heard that right?
I have left corporate America.
After five years of having corporate jobsand, and working for corporate America, I
(01:55):
have decided to make a pivot and to workfor myself and start my own thing and.
Y'all.
I could not be more excited,but also more terrified.
This is the most risky thing I thinkI've done maybe in my entire life,
but I truly believe that this iswhat God is calling me to do, and I
(02:15):
feel so confident and so excited inthe direction that he's taking me.
So in this episode, I would liketo lay the groundwork for all of
the interviews that we're gonnabe hearing in later episodes.
And I would like to share with youthe five biggest lessons that I have
learned during my time in corporateAmerica, because it was not an easy
(02:37):
ride for me at all, as you will hear.
And there are a lot of reallytough life lessons that I've had
to learn and to come to terms with.
I wanted to share them with youbecause I'm about to make a, a big
life pivot, a big career pivot, and Idon't want to forget about everything
that corporate America taught me.
You know, there's a lot of opinionsout there about working for the
(02:59):
man and working for someone else.
And to be honest with you, itprovided a lot of security for me.
It provided so much growth and somany learning opportunities for me.
The networking opportunities were crazyand corporate America is not all bad.
And I, I really enjoyed mytime in that world, but it's
time to open a new chapter.
(03:20):
You know what I'm saying?
So yeah, I wanna share with youwhat I learned during that time.
And then at the end of this episode,I'd also love to share with you
what I'm doing going forward.
Like what you can expect from me, whatbusiness services am I offering, what
am I doing, and how I'm also looking topartner with local people in Wilmington,
North Carolina to make that happen.
(03:41):
So stick around for the endif you guys wanna hear that.
I would really like to start off thisepisode by sharing a little background
on my time in corporate America where Ispent the last five years of my career.
I'm gonna keep this short and sweet,but if you don't know me, I just
wanna give you some backgroundas to who you're talking to.
I. And how I have the, the audacityand the credibility to show up and
(04:03):
share these things that I've learned.
Okay, I grew up in a small townin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and
I have always been just a verydriven, very focused individual.
I hate losing, I love being on top and.
I don't know how to bring anytype of energy to anything that I
do other than a hundred percent.
If it's not a hundred percent, itdoesn't feel good enough to me.
(04:26):
So this is, this goes for myrelationships, my sports that
I've played in the past, any of myathletic endeavors, um, my career of
course, I just have to bring it all.
I'm so freaking passionateabout everything in life.
I care so, so, so much.
I was a soccer player, a trackrunner in high school, I actually
earned a soccer scholarship to goplay soccer for Ashland University.
(04:50):
So I go to college.
I'm a full-time college athlete, and whileI'm there, I decide to study marketing.
When I tell you that the samepassion that I had for everything
else then transitioned into mycareer while I was in school.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
That's what happened.
So while I'm in school, I have fourdifferent internships in marketing,
(05:11):
and I purposefully do all differentindustries for each internship so I
can really get an idea of what I want.
To do going forward once I graduate andy'all, I fell in love with marketing so
quickly because it's so freaking creative.
It's so interesting and Imajored in marketing, minored in
psychology because marketing andpsych actually go hand in hand.
(05:34):
Like it's so interesting understandingwhy humans do what they do.
Is psychology and that is core tounderstanding how to be a good marketer.
Once you can get inside your client,your prospect's head and understand
what pain point can you solve for them.
What problem do they have and how canyour product or service fix that for them?
(05:54):
You're golden.
That's literally how you sell.
and while I was in school, I especiallyfell in love with social media marketing.
I just found it so interesting.
I loved creating content and Iloved kind of testing the waters
and seeing what worked to getengagement, what didn't work.
And I quickly landed myselfan internship in school that.
Landed me a full-time job onceI got out of school and once I
(06:16):
graduated into the real world.
I started my career in Columbus,Ohio, working for a really large
corporation doing social media marketing.
And really quickly, the biggest lifelesson that I learned at that time in
my life was that you cannot attach youridentity and your worth to your career.
You know why?
(06:37):
Because it can be takenfrom you at any time.
It can also evolve, and also your workperformance is going to vary based off of.
External factors thatare out of your control.
So let's dig into that a little bit.
Okay, so I lay in myfirst job outta school.
I'm working in corporate America, andwe all know what happens in 2020, right?
(06:58):
Covid hits.
Boom.
I get laid off from my job onlythree months in, and I just told
you how much time I had put intobuilding my career already before
I even graduated college, right?
So already I'm a very driven person.
And I, and I put everythingthat I, I put a hundred percent
into everything that I do.
So naturally, I am identifyingso much with how much I can
(07:22):
achieve, how successful I amin my career, and basically the
output that I can provide, right?
And when that job got taken from me, somuch of my world came crumbling down.
It really took a hit to my self-esteem.
Because what I didn't realizeat the time, which of course
I know now, is that I thought.
Me not doing a good enough jobwas the reason that I got let go.
(07:45):
Mind you, I got let go alongside 60%of the organization because we were
in the middle of a global pandemic.
Okay?
But 22-year-old little M led,who was fresh out of college,
did not realize that at the time.
And it took a huge hit tomy ego and into my pride.
what I have learned since is no.
That has nothing to do withmy identity, so rather than
(08:09):
place my identity in my career.
I have learned, and I have tocatch myself with this because
it's still my natural tendency.
I have learned that my identitycan only come from God.
It can only come from my creator.
It can only come from the one whoalready says that I'm enough and
already says that I don't have to provemyself or prove my worth through my
(08:30):
career, through my athletics, throughmy academics, whatever it is, God
tells me that I am inherently worthy.
Because of him, because ofwhat his son did for me.
And so y'all, if you're earlyin your career, or maybe if
you're not, maybe you've beenin your career for a long time.
That's your tendency and you tend to justattach your worth to your performance.
(08:53):
I need you to really gut check that.
I need you to examine that, and Ineed you to draw into that and look
at that and ask yourself if you areputting way too much pressure on your
external success in this world to giveyou worth and give you validation.
If you are, I would.
Really, really caution you on thatbecause at any given point in time,
(09:15):
your job can be taken from you, yourjob security, your job title, money,
whatever security you're finding in thatit can be stripped from you at any time.
And I learned that rightout the gate of my career.
Okay.
This leads me to number two.
This is a perfect segue into the secondlesson that I've learned in my career.
(09:35):
Business is not personal,nor is anything in life.
Okay?
So if a business lays you off, ifa business does not hire you, if a
client doesn't wanna work with you,if another entrepreneur doesn't
wanna collaborate with you, if youapply for a job and you don't get it.
If you start a business and youdon't get customers right away, none
(09:59):
of this is personal to you, okay?
None of this is areflection of your value.
This ties so well intothat first life lesson.
Business is not personal, okay?
When a business is making cuts or theyare choosing not to hire someone, or
they go with a certain candidate overyou at all times, they are doing.
(10:22):
What is best for their organization?
Okay?
A lot of times these corporations willrestructure and they have to reallocate
their funds to different places toliterally keep the business afloat, okay?
A lot of the times it is afinancial thing for them and has
absolutely nothing to do with you.
Now, if you get fired from your jobfor misconduct, that's a completely
(10:44):
different conversation, okay?
So it is not rejection.
This is key here.
Okay?
It is not rejection.
It is redirection.
I am such a firm believer that knows,and closed doors are simply God
pivoting you in a different direction.
We have free will, right?
(11:04):
We have, we have controlof our day-to-day choices.
But all in all, who's in charge Y'all.
The man upstairs.
The man upstairs is guiding oursteps and he is the one who is
ultimately calling the shots for us.
He has already written whatwill happen before it happens.
He is the author.
We are the poem, okay?
(11:25):
He is the author.
We are the poem.
So it is not rejection, it is redirection,and I need you to pound this in your head.
Business is not personal.
Do not take any sort of careerrejection as a reflection of you.
If you do take things personallyin business, and let's be honest,
that's your pride flaring up.
(11:45):
That's your pride saying that you'retoo good for what's happening to you.
Meanwhile.
What do we, what do we talk abouton the podcast all the time?
We're not entitled to anything, right?
We're not entitled to anything.
Anything good that weget in life is a gift.
So if you're taking it personally andyour pride is flaring up, that's gonna
cause you to act out in emotion andanger, and to project your feelings
(12:07):
of not enoughness onto other people.
That's gonna result into bridgesbeing burned, and that will come
back to bite you in the butt.
Okay.
One of the reasons why I actuallyfelt pushed into starting my own
business is because my positionrecently got eliminated at my
former corporate nine to five job.
Okay?
(12:27):
I already learned this lesson once.
That business wasn't.
Personal.
So I was able to handle thatsituation in a way that was
like, okay, totally understand.
Thank you so much for the experience.
Thank you for the timethat I did have here.
Thank you for what I learned.
I kept that businessrelationship in a good place.
So guess what happened?
(12:48):
When I decided to start my ownbusiness, I literally brought them
on as my first client because.
I knew what, I knew that theposition being eliminated was
not a reflection of my worth.
It was a financially motivateddecision and I was able to
keep that relationship intact.
So when there was opportunity or there waswork to be done and they were ready for
(13:12):
someone to come back in they called me.
They hit me up and that would nothave happened if I burned the bridge.
So seriously, y'all, Icannot tell you enough.
Business is not personal.
Okay?
That's number two.
Okay, so number three lesson that I'velearned in corporate America, nobody
is expecting you to be an expert.
(13:33):
Okay?
That's your pride talking baby.
And especially those of usin our twenties and thirties.
Let's be real guys.
We are babies in our career,especially when we're working with
people who are in their fifties andsixties and who have been around the
block many more times than we have.
We are not experts, and Ithink it's really important for
everyone listening to hear this.
(13:55):
No one is expectingyou to know everything.
And in fact, when you have a postureof humility and you can ask for help,
admit your mistakes and own the fact thatyou don't know everything that you're
open to learning, that is going to openmore doors than if you're the sassy.
Know-it-all.
Who can't take constructive criticism?
Who can't own up to a mistake, whocan't ask for help when they need it?
(14:18):
Who's promising the world becausetheir pride is telling them to do
that and then can't deliver that isgoing to make you fall on your face.
Okay, so drop the idea thatyou have to know everything,
that you have to be an expert.
And embrace the fact that you arestill young and you are still learning.
I remember when I got my very firstinternship when I was in college, I was
(14:41):
working for a medical device companyand I remember being so nervous starting
that internship because I expectedthese medical marketing professionals
that I was working with, I wasexpecting that they wanted me to know.
Everything that there was to know abouttheir business, I thought that's what
I had to do to impress them, to get theinternship period, and then to have an
(15:03):
accomplished internship performance.
I expected that my knowledgelevel should be on theirs, and
that was just not realistic.
How could little 19-year-old me have thesame level of knowledge as a 60-year-old
medical marketing professional?
It was just not gonna happen.
But if we're being honest with ourselves,how much do we actually hold ourselves
(15:26):
to that standard in career situations?
How much pressure do we feel tofake it till we make it, and to
try to impress people around usbecause we wanna be taken seriously?
I'm raising my hand over here.
Okay.
I had to get really real with myselfthat that's just not realistic and
that nobody is actually expectingthat from me, and that that's a
limiting belief and a delusion thatI put on myself that was actually
(15:49):
holding me back when I could humblemyself, say I didn't know something.
Ask for help, admit my mistakes,not try to hide when I messed up.
I was honest, that opened up so manymore doors for me than when I ever
tried to fake it until I made it.
Okay, so seriously, y'all recognize thatno one is expecting you to be an expert.
(16:13):
I. Number four, Fear isso normal, especially when
you're doing brand new things.
We're gonna be talking a lot aboutfear in this series number three.
Okay.
As I'm sitting down with theseentrepreneurs, I've already recorded
some of the episodes to date as I'mrecording this episode, and a common
theme that keeps coming up is fear.
(16:34):
Fear is so normal.
It is human.
Okay.
I think there's such a misconception,especially in the career world when you're
taking risks, that there are fearlesspeople out there who don't care, who
don't have human emotions, and who aren'tafraid when they're doing something
new and that's complete BS y'all.
As I have been startingto launch my own business.
(16:56):
I have had legit mental breakdowns.
I have been so scared.
I have been questioning if I shoulddo this probably like 10% of the time.
90% of the time.
I'm excited.
I'm jazzed.
I'm ready to go.
But that 10%, yeah, the fear is real.
The limiting beliefs are real.
The imposter syndrome is real, butletting it stop you is a choice.
(17:21):
Letting fear hold you back fromdoing the things that you wanna
do, taking the risk that you wannatake, and this is in your career.
This is in life, period.
That's a choice.
That's the only choice thatyou have in the matter.
You don't have a choice about fear.
Fear is gonna happen.
Fear is inevitable.
But letting it stop you is the choice.
(17:42):
So do it.
Scared baby, do it.
Freaking scared.
And how I'm at least ableto do this is because I have
trust that God will provide.
Is it perfect trust?
No.
No.
I wish it was, but it's not perfect trust.
But most of the time I am able tolean on the Lord and trust that
he is going to provide for me.
(18:04):
He's gonna provide the clients,he's gonna provide the money, he's
gonna provide the success, and itmight not be how I want it to look.
It might not be in my timeline.
It might not be in the quantity orthe quality that I want it to be.
It might not look anythinglike I want it to look.
But do I trust that God will provide?
Yeah, I do.
So that's what gives me thestrength and the courage to do it.
(18:25):
Scared.
If you're not sure where youstand with God, what is it that
gives you the confidence to do it?
Scared.
What do you trust in?
What do you believe in yourself,in others, in your situation?
What evidence is there inyour life that points to the
fact that it's gonna be okay?
I think as humans, we tend tofixate on all the what ifs.
(18:45):
Everything that could go wrong,every possible thing that could
result in us ending up failing orbeing rejected or looking silly.
Right?
But what about everythingthat could go right?
What about everything thatcould go right, y'all?
Do we ever stop toactually think about that?
I don't know.
Do you?
I know I don't enough.
It's something that I'mreally, really working on.
(19:05):
What could go right,how could you succeed?
How could God come through?
How could you actuallyshow up and ball out?
You know what I'm saying?
So reorient your mind on what could goright and watch that change everything.
Fear is normal.
Letting it stop you is a choice.
Okay, and this leads me to numberfive, the last big lesson that I
(19:29):
have learned in corporate America.
Okay.
Choose relationships over transactions.
Okay.
The solid genuine relationships I havebuilt has led to way more opportunity
than any skills or knowledge thatI've accumulated over the years.
Okay.
(19:49):
A lot of us tend to think that reallysuccessful people get places because
of their skill, their intellect,their knowledge, their grind, their
hustle, and all of those things.
A hundred percent play into it.
But the concept of self-made is bs.
Nobody is self-made.
Everybody is a product of whothey've come in contact with.
(20:10):
The knowledge and advice that peoplehave given them over time, ways that
people have extended a hand offeredsupport, offered opportunities to them.
You need to get out of the mindset thatyour success is solely dependent on you.
It's not.
It is dependent upon therelationships that you build.
Transactions don't matter.
(20:30):
Okay.
As I'm starting my social media andpodcast business, there are so many
people out there who are already offeringthe same service that I'm offering,
but what's going to make me stand outis my why, the way that I approach
relationships, my why y'all going forward.
(20:52):
My why is that I want tomake people feel confident.
I want to help people be their authenticselves via social media, via podcasts.
I want them to be able tolevel up their marketing game.
By being themselves, by owning it.
That is what does well in podcast form,in social media form, being who you are.
(21:13):
Not saying what you thinkneeds to be said, not doing
the trendy thing all the time.
It's by being.
You.
That's what I want these brands to know.
That is my why.
And so fostering those real relationshipswith them, understanding who they are,
what their business stands for, that ishow I know I am going to be successful.
(21:34):
Because one, that's what'sgonna help them the most.
That's what's gonna deliverthe most value to them.
Help them to get comfortable on camera intheir own skin, creating amazing content
that actually shows what their brandis all about and shares their story.
If I showed up to this, this businessof mine transactionally, and all I
cared about was money, I would flopso quickly because relationships
(21:57):
are so much more important thantransactions because guess what?
What you give out is what comes backaround your willingness to help other
people and to really take the timeto make sure that they succeed when
you're offering a service to them.
Come, that's gonna come back around.
And I'm not just talking about money,I'm talking about relationships.
I'm talking about opportunities.
(22:18):
If you have the opportunity to choose arelationship over a transaction, do it.
Do it and carry that with you,not just in business, but in life.
So many times I see people flying throughtheir interactions with other humans.
Everybody is just trying toget to the next freaking thing.
Everyone is stressed, overwhelmed,overworked, and no one takes the time to
(22:41):
slow down and really genuinely connectand see, and hear, and love other people.
I. In life, in business, I am tellingyou this is something that is going
to separate you, and it is what hasseparated me and made me successful
in my corporate career, and whyI know I'm going to be successful
in my entrepreneurial career too.
(23:02):
guys.
I genuinely believe and know and haveexperienced everything firsthand that
I just told you, and that's why I'mso freaking passionate about this.
Okay?
Take it from me.
I have lived these experiencesand I have learned a lot.
And now finally, I'd just liketo close this episode by sharing
what the, the interview seriesis gonna look like going forward.
(23:24):
And first, I'd like to tell you abouthow I'm starting my own business.
So yeah, your girl is officially.
A freelance marketer and what thismeans is I am now ready to take all of
the marketing knowledge that I learnedin the corporate world, and I am
getting ready to, to work for myself.
I'm gonna be partnering with localbusinesses in Wilmington, North
(23:47):
Carolina, which is my current hometown.
I. And I'm going to be helpingthese business owners take their
marketing game to the next level.
And like I said, I'm doing thatthrough authentic social media.
I'm doing that through authentic podcastproduction as busy entrepreneurs,
I. Business owners have no time toworry about social media, and if
(24:07):
they're interested in launching apodcast, I can tell you it takes a
lot of man hours to make that happen.
I definitely know what I'm doing in termsof the social media world, the podcast
world, but where I really don't know whatI'm doing is running my own business.
Marketing myself is so differentfrom marketing another business.
(24:28):
Let me tell you.
So I am sitting down withlocal entrepreneurs who have
been there and done that.
Or who are currently doing thattoo, and I am diving deep with them.
We're gonna be talking about the fearthat comes up running your own business,
the limiting beliefs, the self-doubt, theways that people have failed and had to
pivot and had to pick themselves back up.
(24:49):
how faith plays a role in that.
How leaning on the Lord and steppingin faith helps us to not play
small and helps us to take risks.
And these entrepreneurs are amazing.
Like I said, I've already recordeda couple of the episodes and I am
just so impressed by the tenacityand the conviction and the tunnel
vision, honestly, that they have.
(25:10):
And I'm so excited for youguys to hear from them.
With that being said, if you are alocal Wilmington business owner and you
would like to collaborate on a podcastepisode, or you would like to talk about
how I can provide you with social mediaservices and podcast production services.
I would absolutely love to talkand you can get in touch with me by
(25:30):
clicking the link in the show notes.
Y'all, I cannot wait foryou to hear this series.
I honestly think even if you're notinterested in becoming an entrepreneur,
this is going to be so insightfuland provide so much wisdom and so
much life advice to you that youcan apply to any area of your life.
(25:52):
I'm sweating, I'm screaming,I'm crying, I'm throwing up.
I'm just so freaking excited forthis time of my life and to see
what God does with it and how heprovides, and I really hope that y'all
will stick around for the journey.
Let's get out there y'all this week.
Let's get after it and let's step in.
Faith.
Let's stop playing small and Iwill see you next week Bye y'all.
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