The Great Transition - Transitioning into Entrepreneurship and Coaching

The Great Transition - Emily Merrell and Lexie Smith share the things they did wrong and right when transitioning into entrepreneurship and coaching. They share lessons learned, what tactics helped them fast track success, and give listeners actionable homework to help them do the same.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• How Em and Lex transitioned into full-time entrepreneurship
• Advice on how to transition into entrepreneurship and coaching seamlessly
• What helped Em and Lex fast-track success in their businesses 
• Your most important asset as a coach and entrepreneur 
• The reality of what it takes to make it and what activities you must commit energy to
• Takeaway homework to help you transition more seamlessly as a business owner

Follow Em & Lex on Instagram at @readysetcoachprogram

Learn more about the Ready Set Coach Program at Readysetcoachprogram.com

Snag free resources from Ready Set Coach here.

Learn more about Six Degrees Society and THEPRBAR inc.

Transcript

Lexie Smith   
Hey, good morning. How's it going?

Emily Merrell  
Good. I see you dressed up for a call today,

Lexie Smith  
as I always do. I think we need to talk about our weekends because everyone listening, I think that what Emily did versus what I did is such a fair assessment of who we are as people at this point in life. So Emily, tell everyone about your wonderful weekend.

Emily Merrell   
What I was like, what was the weekend? What was that? Yeah, two days ago. Friday, I went out, I went out like I did a girls night actually was recruited by a friend who was also a client, who was like, Emily, I have a feeling you're gonna be an amazing wing girl. Can I enlist your services. And so we went out starting at seven o'clock, which felt wildly late, which is insane for like, ultimately to say that. And we went to a bar, where i i grabbed people, and I asked them their age, and they were 23 and 23. I was like, Carry on, carry on, continue doing your life. And then we went to a place that some might call it club, or like it was like a cocktail lounge. And then it had not like it had so many different rooms. It was actually really cool. It's called if you're in Denver, it's called beacon. It was in Rhino. And it had I'm actually going to take you here. When you come and visit. We're getting a babysitter. We're going out. We're gonna

Lexie Smith  
Oh my god. Okay, so prepping. Now we might go to a concert too.

Emily Merrell  
There's a lot. These are things I was thinking about last night. But yeah, it was really fun. And I teed up two conversations for people. And then we went to a third bar. And by midnight, I became a pumpkin and went to bed. And then Saturday. I had a one year old's birthday party, which was basically like a rage, and a rage. A rave, I think is what they're called a rave.

Lexie Smith  
You're cooler than me, right? I didn't go to one of those in college.

Emily Merrell  
Back in Malta, and then Sunday, I worked out and I walked a lake for a very long time, had Indian food had people ever played games and watch the abs when I was your weekend.

Lexie Smith    
So you say like I had people over so casually to me that it's such an event if I have people over so Emily's like I did this and this and this. And I'm like, um, I packed

Emily Merrell  
it a pizza by myself too. I want to point that out.

Lexie Smith  
Impressive. If I wasn't off dairy for breastfeeding at the moment, I would indulge. So my weekend was I packed and that was a lot. Yeah, I was going on their first trip this this week. Tomorrow actually which we're excited about. But yeah, I packed and yep, that that pretty much sums it up. I packed went to bed I woke up I actually wasn't feeling super hot. So I took it easy, but just a parallel of I hear Emily's weekends every Monday and I'm like, oh my God within in my 20s. But um, well and

Emily Merrell  
then Monday night we went to Third Eye Blind the concert. Yeah. And she came back Sunday opened up for them. And I felt 100 years old, like literally think these are songs from middle school and high school and they're in their 50s now, and it's just such a weird feeling to these bands that were like hunks are in their 50s

Lexie Smith  
and their 50s. Yeah, you know, I here's what I'd say people I can I love doing activities. I call these activities, right? I just need them spread out. Like if I did if I had the weekend you just had Emily, I'd need a solid three weeks to four weeks of permitting before I reemerged into the world socially again, but I'm pretty sure you probably it's Taco Tuesday. You're doing something tonight, aren't you?

Emily Merrell  
People are Greg's out of town. So in my childcare has fallen through this week. So my son is napping, but he is going to be on every call with me today, which is going to be a pleasure, I'm sure and an event. Yeah, and then Taco Tuesday, but have I showered yet? No.

Lexie Smith  
So your hair looks great. Speaking of babies, I have a snoring baby next to me. So if you guys hear like a sound in the background throughout this entire episode, that is what you're hearing you We're hearing Ashlyn, and this is a very timely thing to bring up, because what Emily and I thought we would talk about today are transitions. And we want to go over two really big transition moments in both of our lives, starting with the first transition from working in, you know, quote, unquote, corporate to entrepreneurship. So Emily, tell me a little bit about your transition. That first one,

Emily Merrell  
it was, it was interesting, because I was 28 years old. And when I quit, it was the most empowering feeling I ever had in my entire life. Like it was a full body. Yes, I'm quitting. I'm doing this thing. I felt alive. But I was a psychopath. Lex, shockingly, what? No, it was like it was. So I quit in December, are actually right after Thanksgiving. And then my last day was in December. So my company really officially started in January of 2016. But the moment I had my last day, I essentially like started hitting the ground, running actually sat at a dinner party and I sat next to someone who became my first business coach, it was the first time I had heard the word business coach, and I would network, I kid you not, I would go to a 6am workout class, and then have an 8am breakfast and network to like midnight, at that night, rinse and repeat. And I just felt like I thrived on adrenaline, and was not healthy. I'm definitely like, survived on cheese plot later, platters platers. Wow, my brain platters that I had at events. And I was just meeting people. And I was connecting with every person that I could, and I wasn't the one finding these connections, people routine them up for me, I would meet someone, I would tell them what I was doing. And someone would say, you should meet these 10 people. And I would meet these 10 people. Nothing necessarily would happen with these interactions. But it was definitely deposits like it was little life deposits and down the road, I've been able to tap those connections to this day. Be it partnerships, be it a fever that I need. It's been it's been very fruitful, but a very exhausting. I also want to note that when I transitioned to entrepreneurship, it also meant saying no to things that although I wanted to do them, I couldn't do them. And my friends were foodies loves going out to really fancy dinners. How to say no. And it was actually really empowering and learning to say no, because I'm quite a people pleaser, by nature. And by saying no to something, I was able to say yes to something else. And oftentimes, I would go go go Monday through Friday, and then Friday through Sunday, I would babysit. I would babysit on Friday nights. Saturday mornings, I

Lexie Smith    
hire you. Sorry.

Emily Merrell 
I have a kid now. Yeah, I would love to. And yeah, I would babysit because I knew that it was when I was not working on my business. I needed to be saving money for my business.

Lexie Smith   
So you were in New York at this time? Yeah,

Emily Merrell  
yeah, I was in New York at this time. My rent was God 1600 a month for my you know, in a two bedroom, 625 square foot, six floor walk up apartment. And so I would rent out my room. I would rent out my room to people to like, if I was traveling for two weeks, I would turn that two weeks into a four week travel and then rent it out for a month. So I wouldn't have to pay rent. I would I took jobs doing like event planning and doing various things. Knowing that like my main expense that I just wanted covered, was my rent. Yeah, that was really my only expense in life like food I could get at events

Lexie Smith  
to Shay. Yeah. What would you say? You know, looking back for someone who's about to embark on that transition, or they're thinking about that transition? Do you have any tips, advice, takeaway that you might offer?

Emily Merrell
I wish I had implemented weekend boundaries sooner for myself like and allowed myself the opportunity to have pleasure during the weekends. I definitely had that mindset, like the moment I closed my laptop, I wasn't making money and I was failing. So I always felt like I had to be plugged in or on or connected. And I wish I had pulled that plug later. It really was my husband to help me uncover that I could, you know, just work Monday through Friday and like, have the weekends to myself. And then down the line. I hired a coach whose specialty was about carving out vacation working less and working smarter in your business. And like every single session, she would start off by asking us how many vacation days we'd taken this month. And it was like, if you hadn't to get mad at you and I really loved that I loved that mentality. It's like you need to, you need to work smarter and you need to work more purposefully and intentional. So that would be one piece of advice and then the second You wouldn't be just to know that your friends aren't going to get it. Your friends might not understand what the heck you're doing. It might judge you they might, you might feel judged. But like those horses with blinders on, keep those blinders on. Because what I ended up finding out is a lot of my friends became entrepreneurs after me, like I was the person who was able to give them permission that this was a viable career, and that what I was doing wasn't crazy. So

Lexie Smith  
I feel like so much of your network, so many people I have met coming into the online world, who are your friends as well? are in the entrepreneur space. Were kind of opposite to that. I really, you know, except for the friends I've met virtually none of my. I'm thinking, yeah, none of my friends are entrepreneurs. So it's, it's hard for them to relate. Yeah, yeah, dot dot dot yet.

Emily Merrell   
Yeah, they'll always and then it'll be interesting. Because then what I found happened, I became like, kind of like a confessional for people where people would come to me and they're like, I have this poll. I have this itch, I have this desire to start a crafting business or fill in the blank thing. And I was the only sounding board that they've really seen, modeled to them who had had an idea and actually taking a leap of faith to use that idea.

Lexie Smith   
Yeah, well, in you were coaching them. In fact, right and accidentally coaching.

Emily Merrell   
What about you, Lex? I know you did it a little differently. And what was your transition link?

Lexie Smith  
Yeah. So in episode one, I shared more about the why behind my transition. So I'll skip that some of the things I want to point out, I at the time of going into full time, entrepreneurship, lived in Ventura, California. And that is relevant, because I had initially built my career up in Los Angeles and Los Angeles, vers Ventura are very, very different in terms of natural networking opportunities, in terms of just a business community. So when I transitioned, I started doing all the things that I'd done in LA to build up my career, meaning seeking out all these different events, all these different, you know, going to a Chamber of Commerce event going to these like coffee, networking events, trying anything I could to get my name out there, but very different crowd. Holy cow not was not what I was expecting. It was not, you know, the crowd, the more Oh, how do I want to describe it, let me tell you what it was, it was more, it was an older crowd, there's nothing wrong with ages, a lot more traditional careers, it would be more of a traditional BNI, the business networking International, you know. And what I was doing was, was so not comprehensible to them. PR was not because my first business was the PR bar. And I was shook. I was like, wait a minute, I'm doing all the things I knew worked in a big city market. Now I'm not in a big city. And the whole landscape was different. And I quickly understood that my business was not going to be built on the ground where I lived, which I think is something worth pointing out pointing out to anyone listening, geography does matter. And I am so grateful to have an online business model that allowed me to pivot. So what I did when I found out Ventura wasn't poppin, so to say, in the way that I needed it to be, wow, that just made me sound real cool. I started going into LA and I started and that's, you know, about an hour no traffic. So at traffic, you know, it could be two hours one way in the car, it's, it's a commitment. And I found a local downtown Los Angeles networking facility that I partnered with, and I partnered on an event series and I started, you know, really having to drive back and forth. If I wanted to get my name and do some substantial networking. Then the pandemic hit pretty quickly, I went, I transitioned in January of 2020. And then I met shortly thereafter, which again, was me traveling to LA to a conference to a network. And all of a sudden, in person networking was off the table. So actually, the fact that I was in Ventura no longer mattered, right? The whole world had to now get really creative, and I my hat goes off to you. And because you had literally a networking company, that you had to figure out how to put online. So Anyways, long story long. Some takeaways I want to reflect upon, it wasn't. You can't predict the way it's the world. I'm not saying that. There's another pandemic. We're actually we're still in it on the rise. But what I thought entrepreneurship was gonna look like right away. It was not so I had to be really flexible. I had to be really self motivated. I'm a very self motivated person, but I just but not Warren Buffett, say if you are looking to become an entrepreneur, you need to be motivated. You need to be someone who has the capability to be self motivated, or surround yourself with a community or coach who can help motivate you and keep you accountable. And you also have to be financially prepared. Um, you touched on that a little bit with your rent, I prepared for my transition didn't entrepreneurship for about six months. And at this time in my life, I was married, and I had just come off, you know, having a really financially fruitful career. And so I was able to methodically put aside money to prepare for not making money for for a minute. And I know not everyone has the luxury of that I'm very, very blessed. And I'm very, very fortunate. But that was, I didn't necessarily have the financial pressure that made me necessarily desperate within those first three months, I certainly felt like the pressure to want to succeed. That's part of my personality. But I think energetically that was a really big thing for me is I didn't come off as, Oh, my God, I need you to work with me because I had prepared.

Emily Merrell  
Yeah, and I think that we've talked about this too, but that allowed you to be generous, and that you be strategic about who you could partner with and come from a place of give not like, not everything was a monetary exchange at that point in your life. Right? Yeah,

Lexie Smith  
yeah, exactly. I didn't have kids, I just want to be really transparent with understanding that I I was fortunate to, to be in this situation I was and by all means, was not rolling in the dough wasn't you know, I needed to make money. It wasn't I wasn't in a situation where I couldn't not make this work by any means. Yeah,

Emily Merrell  
it wasn't a hobby, it was something that you were definitely give yourself. Runway for, though. I think I think this is something that we definitely see as people who sign up for the course and then quit their job. And they're like, I need to make this work. But there is so much about building that community and doing, I don't want to say hustle because it comes off negative. But it's like there's a little bit of grit that goes into it. There's, you know, rejection, there's meeting people, there's collaborating with people and laying this foundation before these people convert into referrals or convert into potential clients. It was the other thing I wanted to mention based on the money is I was scrappy, and not having much money. It allowed me to be really, really, really, really scrappy at the beginning. So I was hosting events in person, new at asked, like, what's something I wish I had done earlier, I wish I had hosted events virtually sooner. But I was so I had so much ego about that. And then I also wish I had delegated a lot of my events sooner, but had a lot of ego around that too. Like I was the only person that could run my business. And so having that mindset that right from the get go that you're not the only person that can run your business. Like can you ask someone for help? Is there a way to delegate some things that are very time consuming for you that you can normally hire someone $20 a month just to do some Canva designs for you that might take you 20 hours in this person it takes 10 minutes, things like that. Yeah,

Lexie Smith  
you know something? I think I did, right? But I'll offer to everyone because I think anytime you start a business there's you need to understand that it is going to take time now. What can you do to make it go faster? Well, something I did from day dot was I hired a coach. Now I will say I was building a coaching business. So there was many reasons I wanted to do that market research to see how she did it. She was very successful. But I will say it fast tracked me without having made that large investment which was terrifying by the way, I had no income coming into my business at that point. You know, I had all the trying to explain to my husband like he luckily I'm very blessed. He believed in me but I'm about to put you know this five figure investment down on the stranger on the internet. You actually she was not even she's she was younger than me not that that matters matters actually. I'm young myself but like there was on paper when you're like explaining it. You're like, oh, wow, this is there's nothing guaranteed here. But I really do attribute the things that I learned and the fact that I was able to grow my business at the rate I did early on to the fact that I bit the bullet and invested in me by investing in her by investing in that coach. I was investing in myself and I was investing in my business and she was able to give me some things and give me some guidance. Not all of it that I took I heard it all you know I took what landed and i i Let go of the rest but that is one thing that helped fast track me. And is there anything that maybe you did or when it did click or Wednesday. Things finally did start falling into place that helped your journey go a little bit quicker.

Emily Merrell 
I definitely think having that coach right from the get go. Even from setting up payroll for myself, I set payroll up really early on because of her advice, got an accountant, she was really great at helping me surround myself with the right people I needed to surround myself with and also been very strategic in introductions. And sometimes a coach can just be that door opener for you to or that person that can open doors to the next version that you would have to find on LinkedIn their name and stalk them for a little bit. But like a warm intro goes a long way. I thought she was really helpful. I also had a friend who worked at the Meatpacking District. And she hired me for these like contracts and events. And a they were really good company. So like I plant Google's neighborhood night out. So I can say I worked for Google Now, I worked for some really high profile places. But I'm also working and doing these events. It reinforced how much I didn't want to be an event planner. And I didn't want to just do events for the sake of doing events. And working for her even in a contract capacity. I think I was like a three month contract to five month contract. I did it a few times for her. It just made me recognize that I I love and I'm passionate for what I do. But I also and I say this a million times that I want to say to everyone, it's okay to have these side jobs as you were building your dream. Yeah. And I think that's that's one of the things that people feel a lot of shame around. And it's okay to get that job that pays the bills as you build the dream that will pay the bills one day, and you're

Lexie Smith  
way better at visuals than me so why don't you kick this off? Okay,

Emily Merrell  
so guys, close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now imagine that you're living on an island sipping spicy margaritas in between coaching calls effortlessly signing 10 came up.

Lexie Smith  
Well, doesn't that sound like every other Facebook and Instagram ad you've seen from coaches? The reality for most new coaches, you find yourself spending countless hours searching for your ideal clients doing all the free trainings and working tirelessly as you attempt to differentiate yourself in a saturated market way to be a

Emily Merrell   
buzzkill. Relax, but yes, that's way more accurate. However, what if? What if what what is the magic formula to building a profitable and sustainable coaching business? Didn't have to be so complicated? What if attaining your version of a dream life didn't have to remain on your faraway someday list? What if someone took the time to sift through all the crap that's out there and finally created a program built specifically and only for well intentioned and qualified coaches and coaches to be just like you?

Lexie Smith  
Hey, we

Emily Merrell 
did that. That's what I'm getting at LAX. It's time

Lexie Smith
for you guys to meet em. Annise business baby ready site coach.

Emily Merrell 
It's a turnkey program built by coaches for coaches that focuses on teaching coaches how to build a profitable business that supports their lifestyle.

Lexie Smith  
Learn more at ReadySet coach program.com

Emily Merrell  
Now enrolling

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, that's such a good point. You know, I didn't take on any like miscellaneous, necessarily babysitting job, but what I did do off the book was so I was had a peer coaching business, I did take on a couple of done for you PR clients, which was not the business model I wanted, but it kept you know, allowed me to invest in that coat invest in that coach from the get go things like that. So you know, smoking mirrors, right? Like know that there are things happening, people don't just wake up successful, there's you know, there is some grind and grit involved. The other thing I will mention I did that helped fasttrack because I partnered from the get go with with like minded communities that were a little ahead of me. So they already had established audiences. And I'll give a shout out to the forward female because they were my first ever partnership and they were an in person event space at that time they've had to transition. So that was really, really helpful. Having that partnership. Also, I will say, a big part you can't just get a coach and that think you're going to be successful. There's a lot of follow through involved. You know, something we say is you can lead a horse to water but you can't force them to drink. I I'm guessing this for you too. And but not only did I hire the coach, I followed through and I actually did the things I was being coached on. Yeah, everyone does. Yeah, I did my homework

Emily Merrell  
year. Merck, it motivated me. And it's funny, I always thought I was a one on one person. And then when I joined my first group, I was very resistant to join a group. I was like, No, I'm someone who needs one on one support, I get lost in groups, blah, blah, blah, every objection, yada, yada, and actually found the group really empowering. Because I've seen these people making lots of money, and taking lots of vacation and doing a lot of things. And it felt like it immediately triggered my inner competitive person to are like, I want to make lots of money. And I want to take lots of vacation. And I want to come to this call saying that I've taken 60 days of vacation in the last few months, or, you know, that type of thing. I liked that. But Lexie has talked about partnerships. And that's such a great point, I think same, I'd cross collaborated with everyone. And I also came with a give right out of the gate, like I would give people who had bigger audiences the chance to host an event where I would interview them on my blog. And when I started my Instagram, like, when I quit my job, I think my Instagram was 300. I had 300 people, and now we're at like, 12.4 1000, something like that. And it's just, it was a lot of collaboration, I did a lot of giveaways too, you know, strategic email giveaways, where I was able to grow my list, I was able to grow my Instagram. So there was a lot of give that happened. And it's funny, you bring up partnerships, one of the first partnerships that I did, and I'm really grateful that I had worked in fashion too, because it was able to leverage a lot of connections, and a lot of vendor relationships that I held on to and I nurtured dearly, and brought over to entrepreneurship land when I when I quit. But I did this event, this dinner series, or it was just like one dinner event with this brand called of Mercer. And they were, they are a band that was making work were more more attractive, because it like all the work work was and tailor or felt very corporate, and they wanted to make it sleek, and washable, and all those things. And we, we did a dinner and it got covered, they had a PR agency. And so they got covered by lots of coverage in the press, I had some influencer connections that were like, micro influencers at the time, which is hilarious because this person now I think has like 800,000 followers, and she had like 12,000 at the time. And it's, again, having these relationships, and they were now I invited them before they were a big deal. I'm still able to text these people and invite them to things and they'll do favors for me because I believed to them before people believed in them.

Lexie Smith 
Yeah, oh, that's that's such a good point. Um, and let's, let's talk about that for a second. Because my transition into entrepreneurship went the way it did. Because for the, you know, however many years prior eight years prior, I had been building my network and my career very intentionally, you know, I said, I was in a good position when I became an entrepreneur, but I didn't say was when I first moved to LA, with literally just my recalled Saturn Ion and clothes in the back of my seat, I had three jobs and literally $800 That I'd collected from God, money that I had to go to the goodwill literally down the block to buy furniture with, like, I didn't start with, you know, where I transitioned at. But what I did over eight years was the only network nurturer give be a kind human. And so when I did become an entrepreneur, and it was time for me to, to maybe I love the way you say like put some deposits or ask for some deposits out. I had that because I put in the effort and the work and the nurturing for years. Right. I'm a huge you know, and this is, I think, innate. And both of us this is also I think, in align with our career paths. And you know, PR especially, I was really mindful to not burn bridges along my way and to be a nice person and try to have a you know, I like to think I am but have a good reputation. Just because I left one job, you know, I didn't say screw everyone there. I really did. You know, as I moved along in my career, continue to nurture the people. I met along the way a client of ours, Emily, another Emily, who we both know, just launched an amazing community, my founder circle shout out. She is someone I met in 2014 in Los Angeles, and we are in 2022. Like there's a reason that she's someone that, you know, we've been able to work with, collaborate with and have as a client, because for years that is someone that you know, I've stayed in contact with and I know you're very much the same.

Emily Merrell  
I currently have I think I mentioned this on a call. I've a girl that I went to middle school with. She's a massage therapist, she's in my mastermind and you know she lives in Denver or she lives in the Denver area, and we were able to stay in contact with one another since middle school. And she had finally left the corporate spa world and started her own business. And it was something that I was always giving her tips and tricks. And when the opportunity was open, she seized at it. And it's so cool to see that too. Like, you don't have to be selling your friends you can be giving to your friends. But you also want to extend that invitation because what they need is to be invited in, they don't know that they can be part they can sit at your table, and unless they get that formal invite.

Lexie Smith
Yeah, another example for new guys about not even a year, six months into the PR bar. I launched a podcast pitching and sipping. And the way I felt that first season was from my network, my network of journalists, my network of influencers and PR people that I had, and founders that I had cultivated, not just since becoming an entrepreneur, but from my entire career. So things that you've been working on since you know, you began life really Middle School with your Emily, like, these are people that can be involved in your transition. And they can look in different ways from telling a friend about your business to being someone, you know, an ear to listen to someone that you end up working with. Your it's cliche to say, but your network is your net worth, there's some validity to that, I would say

Emily Merrell 
100%. And it's funny, there was a moment I remember, there was like an a moment where I was just ready to Facebook perch, I was going to purge all these people, like I've been talking to these people, it's not worth it. And luckily, I didn't leave, they got distracted, I did something else. And when I started six degrees, I bet your bottom dollar I went through when I launched a market, I would do at the time, it was easier to search, they've changed the way that it is at the moment, but you can search like friends in Atlanta. And I would find all my friends in Atlanta and I would reach out to them. And I'd be like, Hi, I don't know, if you remember me, we were in the same sorority or we were in fourth grade together or fill in the blank thing. I want to invite you as my guest to this event. And we're launching this is what it's about. We're launching in Atlanta, I would love to see you there. And it was so cool because I was able to reconnect with people that I might have written off otherwise as a particular way because we didn't have something in common during that time we knew each other. But I was able to get to know them. Where they were, when we reconnected where they are in your career where they were in their family where they were geographically. So you know, before you Facebook purge, know that you are building your community. And you're sitting on a lot of potential value without even recognizing it. And my mantra and you've heard me say this 1000 times Lex, but it's built your network when you're not looking and tap it when you are. Hmm.

Lexie Smith  
I love that. And I do want to address for the people listening to this saying, Hey, cool, I'm in LAX. That's all fine and dandy, you guys, you guys dandy. You guys seem really sociable. You know, I'm not like I'm not someone who's an extrovert. I'm not someone who's in PR marketing. What advice would you have to give to that person wanting to transition into entrepreneurship and coaching?

Emily Merrell  
I was gonna say Did you listen to her earlier section where we talked about what we did this weekend? We're very different. Um, yeah, it's interesting. My sister is actually the exact opposite of me. Like she's very introverted. She's very intentional about her friend intentional, but her friends, she's not going to be nice to you just for the like, she's, she's always so nice. But she's not like, I'm an I'm like a I'm a Golden Retriever puppy. Basically, like, I just love people. And I like want to like you and sniff you and whatnot. And she's more like a chihuahua that wants to like hang out, away from people with select individuals.

Lexie Smith
I hope she listens to this or ever listen to this one part. Like,

Emily Merrell
what are you just saying about me? But the point being is, I used to have my sister be my ambassador for 60s when I when she lived in LA and she would hate me for it. And like I can't believe I'm doing this I hate you know, all I want to do is go home, I want to I don't want to talk to people. I don't I hate meeting new people. She would do it and she put on a good face. I gave her a script. She called me right after the event. And she like Emily. It was amazing. I met this really nice girl who did this. And this person who does that. And we're going to grab drinks next week and this and that. And the list. The lesson I got out of it is sometimes you just need to push yourself a little bit over the hump and be intentional and be like this is going to I'm going to commit to one thing that is uncomfortable for me every single week. Could be a coffee date with a stranger that you met on Instagram. You could join something like Bumble BFF and just friend Deeks, you're in the same mindset people want friends, you could go to a networking event, but do one One thing that's a little uncomfortable, because discomfort also equals growth. And it equals personal growth and professional growth. So if you set a goal for yourself before you do this thing, like I'm gonna walk out with one plan from this event, then and you're solid, but start start small.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah. I love that advice. Here's what I'll have to add to it. I'm like sitting there thinking, what kind of dog am I? A rescue dog? Maybe I can hide and not want to see anyone. But like, once I like I can also like turn it on and you want to adopt me? This is terrible reference. I don't know what kind of dog am I? I am an extroverted introvert. Right? So I can turn it on. Like, if you may meet me at an event, you probably be surprised honestly, to know that I'd prefer to be home with Netflix with my my baby and I come across pretty social. Um, that is because I'm very, very intentional with my energy. And that is kind of to piggyback on what you're saying one of my biggest pieces of advice, I joke that okay, I'm if we're doing all these things, when I come visit you in Denver, I need to prepare. But I'm also serious, like, if I prepare my energy, I didn't do anything this weekend. Because I know I'm about to be social for 10 days, because I'm going up to Oregon. And I know me, and I know my energy and I know my personality. And I needed to have nothing going on in my life to prepare for that. If you want to be an entrepreneur and have a coaching business specifically, the reality is you are your business, you are your product and to be successful, you're you're probably going to have to do a fair amount of networking. I really don't know someone who has a successful coaching business who, who isn't doing that to some capacity. So if that just makes you cringe, I don't know, tell me if you disagree, Emily, maybe take a beat and really have a heart to heart with yourself and say, Are you willing to get uncomfortable? Because that is going to be what it takes?

Emily Merrell  
Yeah. Well, it's so funny. I think a lot of people go into coaching and they're like, Oh, I just love holding space for people. But I don't like finding new people. I don't like putting my face out there. I don't like being the center of attention. I think that's the crux of it. I don't like the attention. Yeah. Which is fair. Like it's so uncomfortable. I have resistance to selling on Instagram and putting my face out there making it Emily Merrill show and I am an extrovert. So I think that's something they think about if you've been in a behind the scenes role for the last 20 years of your life. How are you going to manage like switching? Switching intensities? Like how are you going to manage to be in front of the scenes? And can you start building that personal brand? And I think there's something about building your personal brand, even when you're at corporate?

Lexie Smith  
Oh, yeah, that's a huge one. I won't say her name. But there was a gal in our last cohort that we just graduated who has a very successful career at a very well known company. And she was very timid, even announced that she wanted to do coaching. But she was very aware that she needed to create a personal brand. So I know in our one on one sessions, that's what we focused on, because she wasn't ready necessarily to pull the trigger on launching her coaching business. She knew that creating her personal brand and nurturing her personal network, even though she was more behind the scenes. Now, what set her up for when she did make that switch

Emily Merrell 
even started on Instagram. I feel like I feel like that's probably the biggest thing that we hear to Lex is like, Oh, God, I don't want to do stories. What are you talking about? You want me to show my face? I don't have any pictures of me. And as an entrepreneur to you will build your portfolio with pictures of you. You will one day even invest in a photographer who will take branded photos of you. And it's it took me a while to like get around to actually doing a photo shoot I did. I truthfully don't think my first photo shoot of me alone. It might have been like 2019 or 20. Wow. And then because I also did events and so I would, you know, say it at the event like at the beginning of the event, just take a few headshots of me or take a few I would do hairstyling and headshot event. So I'd be like, Oh, I'm fine on headshots. So I didn't have just like loan pictures of me reading books and journaling and doing all of those things until I formally sat down and was like, Okay, I'm ready to invest in this.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah. Okay, this is making me come up with our homework for today's episode. So I want you guys to play around with kind of the theme we've been talking about and ask yourself, what do you need? To have the energy to show up to nurture your network to show up to put yourself forward, I want you to have a really real conversation with yourself. What do you need? Do you need a community around you? Do you need someone hyping you up? Do you need to honestly, delete those judgey Facebook friends, because you just don't want to hear hear from them. Take an inventory and have a heart to heart with yourself. If you keep coming back to you just don't want to and there's just some sort of wall or resistance. You need to break through that wall before you're gonna be able to successfully have a business of your own. Yeah,

Emily Merrell  
I had a client who is recently divorced. And she's like, I can't post on social media, I can't post about my divorce. What if this person this person, this person, I was like, okay, good. Let's go in and block them all. So on the call, we blocked them all. And then I was like, You have no excuse now post posted. And it was so liberating for her because she eradicated the people that she was most fearful of their judgment. And I think there's so much we can have a whole episode on judgment, the fear of like what other people are going to think about you. And at this point, I don't know about you, Lex, but like, I've taken that fear. And I've varied that a long time ago, because people are gonna love me or they're gonna hate me. That's the reality of it. We're gonna be like, is she in a cult? And what is she doing? Why is she doing that? Or she's gonna, they're gonna be like, that was really inspiring. And that really resonated with me.

Lexie Smith
Yeah. So take an inventory of what you need. And then your point to follow up, is if you're, you're ready to do this thing. We want you to schedule a networking event. Now if you are an extrovert, and that sounds like easy homework, I want you to find three new networking events you can go to even if you're still in corporate, but to nurture and build your network. In the next month. If the idea of networking terrifies you find one and I will say I have a great suggestion of where to look so serious society plugging Emily's networking group, but genuinely, I love six degrees society, it's phenomenal place to start. It's really intimate. And I think personal. Yeah. Approachable.

Emily Merrell
Yeah, it's networking. For people who hate networking, pretty much. My bonus homework for you is find a give, find something that you can have in your back pocket that makes it easy to continue the relationship with the person you're meeting. So some examples that we gave earlier, it could be interviewing someone for a blog, or like I'm laying blacks, I don't have a blog, it could be an Instagram Live series, it could be just going in, in live on Instagram with someone interviewing them. If that feels hard, you could also do just send them your Calendly and like a free 15 minute audit of their pantry, or if that's if you're a health coach or something like that. Another thing that I love to do, if you have none of the above things, is I used to when, like in the olden days, my co working space had workout classes and they were free. It was really cool co working space. So what I would say is like, I want to continue this conversation, I work out at 7am. Every morning, I would love to invite you to join me as my guest. And I'll treat you to coffee afterwards. So we can catch up in person and have that one on one time. Can you join me next Thursday at 7am. And I'd make a plan right there. And I would put it on their calendar, send them the calendar invite. So it was something that they're committed to something that made us both feel really good. It was also something before my work started. So I can be super present with that person in that moment. So there are so many ways that you can continue the conversation, find one that feels authentic and good for you.

Lexie Smith  
Yeah, here's my line, feel free to steal it. If you are you don't necessarily feel like you have a give top of mine. Use the line. What is one thing I can do to support you? Repeat it for the people in the back? What is one thing that I can do to support you

Emily Merrell  
feel free to use that? Hmm, I love that. I think that's a great one. And I'm gonna say one more thing to on top of that. Want to say that you also when that person comes back to you and says how can I support you? There's been 1000 moments that I've said, Oh, no, I'm good. Thanks so much. So like, How can I support you? Like I just don't give me attention. I want to give you attention. No, that was such a rookie mistake. Emily, have that flag ready to fly. So it could be something super easy like, Hey, I'm actually looking for awesome speakers to speak up on my podcast or I'm looking for great speakers for my events or I'm looking to be connected with more people who have eating disorders because I'm a health coach specializing in eating disorders. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be for people to help you out. But don't forget to have something To fly when your flag is ready to fly.

Lexie Smith  
Oh, brilliant. Thank you. I think that was a great one more thing to add such a good point, I've for sure been been guilty of that one. So we gave you guys a lot of homework, I'm gonna run through it real quick. You're gonna first do an inventory have a real heart to heart with yourself with what you need to do to make space to network, right is you know, are you the golden retriever? Like Emily, you already had that unlock? Are you the rescue dog last year where you need to play it accordingly. Okay,

Emily Merrell  
I bite you, but it's okay for you.

Lexie Smith   
Number two is you're going to actually put a networking event on your calendar. You're an extrovert, we want you to find three. And then that kind of bonus homework on that is prepared your gift, what is something you can give and we give you a few tips and tactics of how to bridge that and don't forget to fly your flag.

Emily Merrell    
Beautiful, beautiful. Well, thank you so much for joining us on our episode on transitions today.

Lexie Smith  
We will talk about more transitions later in the show. But this was a big one. This was the first one. Go ahead. Reach out to us on our Instagram at Ready Set coach program with your biggest takeaway your questions. We'd love to know what kind of dog you are. You're a dreamer, like em are the rescue dog like me. that would that would make our day. So until next time. Thank you so much for listening to the ReadySet. Coach podcast.

Emily Merrell  
Thank you. If you're enjoying the ReadySet coach podcast, please leave a review wherever you are listening. For more information about Ready Set, coach, Visit Ready Set coach program.com