Melodie Dewsbury - How to Pivot Your Business with Confidence (Without Burnout or Self-Doubt)

When momentum stalls in your business, the instinct is to push harder. Add more platforms. Try new trends. Hustle louder. But what if the real answer isn’t force… it’s alignment?

In this powerful conversation, Julie sits down with returning guest Melodie Dewsbury to unpack what it really takes to relaunch your business from a place of clarity instead of chaos. From saving for tools and leaving a role that no longer fit, to launching a website after clients were already lining up, Melodie shares the honest, unpolished truth about starting again.

Inside this episode, we cover:

✨ How to pivot your business without burning out
✨ Reframing failure as data (not identity)
✨ Building confidence through action
✨ How to overcome self-doubt as a woman entrepreneur
✨ Why your website is your storefront and social media is the living room
✨ Simple SEO strategies that turn pages into lead engines
✨ Email marketing that compounds results
✨ Pricing with authority (and letting silence do the work)
✨ Fractional marketing support and smart paid ads
✨ Breaking cultural conditioning that keeps women waiting to feel “ready”

If you’ve been feeling stuck, stalled, or quietly craving a pivot, this episode offers a grounded roadmap forward.

🎧 Subscribe for more conversations on ethical influence, business growth, and women building aligned success.

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I’m Julie Fairhurst, and this is where stories turn into power.

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Transcript

Melody’s Pivot And Backstory

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Women Like Me Stories in Business. I'm your host, Julie Fairhurst, and I've got a return guest, which I just tore this out of my ear. Sorry about that. I have a re return guest today, and it's Melody Drewsbury. Now, she is a fabulous lady. She's written in one of my books, and she's uh she's just a wealth of business knowledge for women. So let me tell you a little bit about her, and then we'll dive in. So, Melody is a woman who understands that entrepreneurship isn't just launching something beautiful, it's about navigating the internal battles that come with it. Today we're going to talk about what keeps women stuck in business, how to move through self-doubt, and what it takes to really get started, especially when fear is louder than confidence. So, Melody, thank you for being willing to come and do this. This is such a topic that we need. We need some, we need some clarity, we need some advice. Really important. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Thanks, Julie. So I just want to say thanks for having me on again. I think this is my third time though. Perfect. And I just I every time we finish talking, I just love the conversation that comes out of it. And I think you and I could probably sit down and talk for hours and hours. Yes. Just thanks for the opportunity. Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, so I'm Melody. I live in Mission, BC, with my little dog and partner and stepson out here. And I have definitely been on a journey. I think my journey really started when I was when I got divorced in 2017. And I was no longer able to continue what I was doing as a teacher. And I needed something, I I needed a change. I needed to to first of all fix and heal me. And I knew I wasn't gonna have that in the same industry that I was in. So yeah, I pivoted. And long story short, I've been in affiliate marketing, I've been in coaching, I've gone back to corporate, I've done marketing for many clients and have taught women how to show up on online and on social. And I'm now just finding my groove again with my own marketing company that I started in the fall. So yeah, new adventure. And perfect. It really is a testament to the fact that like everything you do is a stepping stone to get you to the next, the next spot.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

So you know, that is that is so true. And sometimes we think, oh, the next step, right? But but when you get there, it's energizing because you're now at that next step. And and even for myself over the years, it's been like, why is it taking so darn long? And funny enough, just this last some I'm gonna say from the spring of 2025 till till now, I really feel things sort of moving in the direction that I've wanted them to go. So I think things happen when we're ready. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. If we did it when we weren't ready, we'd maybe fail. I don't know what we would do.

Readiness Versus Forcing Progress

SPEAKER_00 3:33

I feel like when you're I well, I know for me, when I try to make things happen when I'm not fully ready, I it's just friction. It doesn't work. Yeah. And then I get frustrated and then I'm I stop and pull back. You know, like I started last year to start my business again, and I thought it was gonna be, you know, empowerment coaching. And I just hit a wall every time I started. And I was like, okay, something's not feeling right. And then when I started to think about this last year in the summer, all I got were like gut feelings. Yes, do it. Like it was like someone was like behind my head here, going, Go for it, do it, do it. And it was like, I can't ignore that. So then when I started, everything fell into place and it was so easy. It was actually crazy how easy it was.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, it's so true. When you're ready, then the door opens and goes, Oh, okay, now you're ready. You know, out you go and away you go. And and and then it just not that it's ever super, super easy, but it's but it's easier.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah, because you're like you say, you're not banging your head against the wall, going, What what's happening? Why is nothing working?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, it's that alignment piece.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah. So what do you think women should do then if they're banging their heads against the wall?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

I think if you're banging your head against the wall, you need to just stop. Like stop and and just pause, like do an audit. What's working? What am I enjoying? What's lighting me up? What is draining me? Even when I started this really quickly, I was like, oh, that kind of work drains me. I'm not offering that anymore. When it, you know, like social media, for example. And to just really say, like, okay, what is my ideal day? What's my ideal workday? And what really what like what's my purpose? What am I here to do? And work around that and create your offers or create your business around that because you can. Like someone told me once, I had a coach tell me you can't make money off just inspiring people. You have to have an offer. And I was like, I think I can. And I told you I missed four years. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, there is a niche for everything, and there is the service for everyone, and you just gotta find what I think lights you up the most. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

And I agree. If it's if it's if you feel like that door's not opening and you're just pushing and pushing and and nothing's really happening and and it's defeating you, yeah, then I agree. It's time to stop. Leave it for a few days or a week if you have to, or you know, get your mind off it. And then when you're feeling a little bit lighter, go back to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

There's a couple of things I like to do that really actually help me. So I'll take like a day, and I'll like, I won't think about anything for for a while. I'm like, okay, put it off. And then I'll go do something like outside. I'll go for a walk, I'll go for a workout, I'll go sit in the hot tub. I call my I actually want to do like Monday morning hot tub meetings with myself because I get so inspired for something in the hot tub or going for a drive or something like that, even where you're just you give yourself the space to let it all go and then do something that brings you joy and gets you like fresh air and movement and all that stuff, and you'll find it just starts to flow back.

Behind The Scenes Of Starting Again

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah. I think movement is a big one because you know, if you're sitting at the at your desk with a pen and paper or at your computer, that can really cause if you're stagnated, it's gonna, it's gonna just increase it. So I think definitely whatever that movement is for you, vacuum. I don't know, just get up and do something else. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. So why did starting a business look, what did this, what did starting your business look like behind the scenes? So not the polished version.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Start, okay, so yeah, behind the scenes. So, first of all, I'm in a partnership where when I started my business the first time in 2019, it was just me and I could just quit my job and do what I wanted because I had the support myself. Now I had someone that I had to check in with and be like, hey, this is my idea. What are your thoughts? How do you feel about this? So that was the first step was getting him on board. And I was kind of balancing the idea, well, maybe I just need a different job. And so I was on LinkedIn and looking around. And every time I was looking at a job, I felt this like it was almost like a huge pang of anxiety or stress. And I was like, that can't, that can't be it. And so behind the scenes was a lot of like, okay, well, what would this look like? Well, how would I structure things? How would I do things different? How am I gonna stand out? Because, you know, like marketing, anything is is saturated, right? So what am I gonna offer that's different? And then getting things started in the, you know, in the background, like just starting to save money so that I had, you know, subscription fees and all that stuff ready to go, and getting the business license and just planning, really planning. I started the business without a website because I didn't think I was gonna be starting so quickly. The way that it just happened kind of snowballed, and then and then I I left my position where I was at, and it just like total snowball. So it was really cool. So I'm I've only like published my website last week. Um so like I started before I was right. I put myself out there, I started having conversations with people. Thankfully, I have a pretty like wide audience, so I kind of like spread the word, and then people are like, Oh, you're doing this again? Like, okay, great. So that was really awesome. But yeah, just the planning, just and not the physical planning too, but like the emotional planning. Like in my mind, my last business failed. So I had a lot of self-doubt that was starting to creep in, even though I knew that things were different this time. I have a different offer and you know, completely different business, and I knew it would be easier to sell than what I was doing before, but I still had this like, oh, but you struggled. So you might struggle this time. Right. And so doing the work around that too, like planning how I would how I would tackle these obstacles, just the mindset obstacles too, and like being prepared. Hey, if this starts to creep in, you're gonna do these things to like nip it in the bud kind of thing.

Tackling Self-Doubt With Evidence

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Yes, yes. That's the and that's the worst, isn't it? It's just that tiny little Mr. Doubt who sits on your shoulder saying, Oh, well, this isn't gonna work. It didn't work last time.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, and is my own worst enemy, and that can stop me dead in my tracks.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Well, it it can stop most of us, and it's it's hard to to to overcome. And we start to internalize those kinds of things. And it's it's it's it is very difficult for all for all of us, but but I think that if we know that doubt isn't real, yeah, then we can push forward. We just have to tell ourselves, you know, this is not real. This is, you know, this like famous, super rich people go bankrupt and then build their fortunes again.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Yeah. So, you know, failure, failure is just a part of life. And and what it does is it leads us to something better.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

And I think that and leads you it leads us to the direction that we're supposed to go. Because I remember for myself, I pivoted because I was doing some stuff that I didn't really want to do. And I didn't want, and I knew I didn't want to do it, but I thought, well, well, that's gonna be easier for me. So maybe I should just do it. But then I thought to myself, but that doesn't light me up. Yeah, I I don't care. I'm I'm doing this. And then once you set that mind, got that mindset going, then and you're in the right direction, then it starts to flow.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yeah, for me, it's because I know that your brain will just believe what you tell it. It believes the facts, right? So when you sit down and you go, okay, well, you know what? I have all these people that want to work with me. So what makes me think that these are the only people in the whole world that are gonna want to work with me, right? Or, you know, I've gotten this many clients before. Why do I think I can't get clients anymore? I do great work, like all those pieces that you you sit down and you show your butt like literally right on on a notebook, all the the reasons why that limiting belief or that self-doubt is like null and void. And then you're like, oh, right. Like, what am I doing? Why am I doubting myself? Yeah, look at all this evidence. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

That's it. Build the evidence, yeah, build the evidence. Yeah, and read it every day. And as soon as Mr. Doubt starts sneaking in there, then yeah.

unknown 12:22

Yeah.

First Steps For Aspiring Entrepreneurs

SPEAKER_01 12:22

So what do you think is the first step to entrepreneurship? So if somebody's sitting there at a nine to five job and they're not happy, or they just want to start to prepare maybe for retirement or something, and they they're looking at, you know, what else is there in the world? I I don't want to, I don't want to do the regular thing anymore.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

I think you have to have two things. You have to have a really great offer. You have to have something that you're okay doing over and over and over until, you know, you die.

unknown 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

And then um, the second thing is you you just have to have the determination. Like not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship. Not everyone is cut out for a nine to five, right? We're all we all have different qualities. And if it's something that you really want, then it's gonna be, you know, sending emails at eight o'clock on a Saturday morning or nine o'clock on a Tuesday night, or you know, missing friend events because you're you're trying to build your funnel or whatever it is. But yeah, you have to have something that is like marketable, like proof of proof of that's what I'm looking for. I can't think right now. You have to have something that someone's gonna want to buy. There you go. Exactly. Okay, yes. That's the first thing. And that can be anything, right? If you've got one or two people that are like, oh, I want that proof of proof of market or I can't remember the point, it doesn't matter. Yeah, but then you can go from there. But make sure that you have something that you can sell first, and then you have to have the determination and everything else, you can either hire out or do yourself, or yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

For sure. Absolutely, you can. So, did you feel ready when you moved when you started this next business, or did you feel like because I know you were working for someone else at the time, and so did you feel like you were ready, or or you were you not ready, but but you just felt like it you should go for it?

Burnout, Alignment, And Life Design

SPEAKER_00 14:15

You know, what's funny is this time I actually felt ready. So when I when I was running my business before and I went back into the corporate world, I was like, I'm not gonna be here long. I know that I want to come back to something and I want to do my own thing again. I love it so much. I just didn't know what that looked like yet. And I think I needed those few years to just like breathe because I was really burnt out from the first time. Breathe and build some more skills and like get some more business sense, like learn how it works behind the scenes. And honestly, just like just the belief part because people were saying to me, like, why aren't you doing why aren't you running your own business again? I'm like, because I'm not ready. I just I want someone else to deal with everything for now. Yes. And I just I want to show up for a little while. I want to focus on family and relationship and stuff like that myself. And then it got to a point where I was like, okay, now it it doesn't make sense to work for someone else, if that makes any sense. And you know, not that anything was bad with that company, it was just as it was a stepping stone, and I I really was like starting to get depressed and anxious a lot because I knew I wasn't in the right place. And so everything was a struggle, every day was a struggle. And so I was ready. I was very, very ready. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

And that's that's a that is a typical sign. Yeah. If you're just burnt, feeling burnt out, and just to get up and oh my gosh, I have to go do this again, yeah. That's a sign that you might be looking for an exit strategy out of there. Totally, totally. Yeah, yeah. There's nothing worse than because if you think about it, you like I love what I do. When my husband comes home from work because he works outside of the home, you know, we have our dinner and then we sit down and watch the news or whatever we're doing. I've got my compute, my laptop in front of me, sitting on my lap. Yeah, and I'm doing social media. I'm doing, you know, and I'm there with him, you know, I'm not zoned out and you know, we're chatting and stuff, but but I'm still working right till I go to bed at night. And I'm not that it doesn't burn me out. And it I find it quite exciting because I can see it all happening. Yeah, but it takes so much time sometimes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

And you can still burn out doing what you love, you can still have days where you're like, F this, like, yeah, exactly. But then you come back to it or you pivot or you make changes. If something is like, you know, if you're sitting there writing your blog, and because I was just writing my blog this morning, which I'm actually really excited about, but I don't love doing for other people, right? Then don't do that, right? Yes, yes. Yeah, I don't I don't want to show up on 12 different platforms, I don't want to dance on TikTok. I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Why would I do that if it's if it drags me down?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Absolutely, absolutely. I it is such an enlightening thing to hear you say because so many of us think, oh, I have to do this, I have to do that, but you really you don't.

unknown 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

If it's if it's dragging you down and it's making you not happy, then then don't do it. And you're probably not meant to do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

That's funny because my blog this morning that I was writing is exactly that is what's the best marketing strategy, and it's really applicable to anything because it's you know where you can focus your time. That's the best strategy, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

So, in your experience, what do you think keeps women stuck the most? Either like stuck in just I think stuck in terms of not being able to move forward.

Creativity, Community, And The Paper Box Collective

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Mindset for sure, but and maybe mindset and you know, family circumstances. Like for a long time I thought I couldn't go on my own again because you know, I had to help pay the mortgage and I had to do this. And yeah, I don't make enough money, then you know, now I'm a failure in my relationship. So there's that, you know, the the pressure in that sense, and then the mindset behind that too. But I would say just mindset like if you're stuck, go do something different.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, get out of it. You gotta get out of it. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. I listened actually to talk last night while I was in bed, put my headphones on, and and it was so good. I didn't listen to it all because I started to get tired, but what I did listen to, and I'm gonna finish listening to it, was talking about how many he was talking about how many people die.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

And and that, do we ever really live? Yeah. We're always so afraid of what's next, or of dying, or all of those things, but all those things stop us from really living. I found it very enlightening when I was listening to it last night. And I thought, yeah, like it does stop you from like what does it mean to really live?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

And what are you losing by not following your dreams or by not doing the thing? Like you can't afford to stay stuck in where you are because now you've got because I mean, in that in the last year of working for this company, all of a sudden I've got back pain, I've got hip pain, I'm I'm anxious, I'm depressed, I'm and I'm like, this can't all be a coincidence, right? And it wasn't that I hated my job, I didn't hate it at all, but it was just I wasn't aligned with what I was supposed to be doing. And my body was like actually telling me like this is like get out. I could not afford to stay in that job longer, yeah, physically.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

And I think, and I think that's what has to happen.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Your body, that's what our body does. Our body says, Oh, you don't want to listen? Okay, you'll listen if if this happens. Yeah, oh, you'll listen if this happens. I always say, you know, you can go with a smile on your face or you can go kicking and screaming, but you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

And if you go tomorrow, are you gonna be happy with where you are in life right now? Yeah. Like, I mean, I don't have it all together. I'm not making six figures, like I'm only a few months into business, but yeah, I am happier than I have been in a long time. And that is so important. Yeah, that's everything to me.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

So yeah, and and I remember this woman one time said, happiness or money is not the way to happiness, happiness is the way to the money, yeah. And it makes sense if you think about it. Because if we're doom and gloom, if we're depressed, if our bodies hurt, we're not obviously happy. And if we're not happy, then what are we attracting to ourselves? Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So your your business is is um a collective.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

So I have two businesses because I'm for those of you who know human design, I'm a manifesting generator, and so I'm like passionate about everything, and I always want to learn how to do everything and have my hands in all the things. So the paper box collective is the name of my business, and that incorporates my marketing, which is the paper box collective, but then also kind of incorporates DIY Love, which is my second business that I just really do for fun to get out of the house and make new friends and be creative. And so DIY Love is I run sign painting parties, I paint signs for people. Sometimes I do like furniture refinishing. I've got a dollhouse that I'm building. Like I just I'm making candles now. Like it's just my my hobby passion and sometimes make money at it.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

But what a great I look like I can fund it. Yeah, but what a great, oh what a great because we all are we're creative beings. We're meant to create in some shape or form.

unknown 22:03

Yeah.

Services: Websites, SEO, Ads, And Fractional Marketing

SPEAKER_00 22:03

And so for you, yeah. I know that when I don't engage in those activities, I'm I'm I'm not fulfilled, I'm ready. I'm restless, I'm anxious, I'm depressed. It's like I have to actually schedule it in. I know that about myself.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

But then, like, thankfully with the paperbox collective, I do things like build websites and run paid ads, and I get to be creative with copy and writing and things like that and strategy, like social media strategy. Yeah. So I get to also like make things happen for business owners with their marketing, but I get to be creative in the same aspect and it's really great.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

So well, tell us who you tell us a typical person you would work with then. Who's your typical person?

SPEAKER_00 22:45

So a service-based business owner, typically, but I don't like to say that I work with a certain industry. I want to work with a certain type of person. So someone that is like ready to move forward, is taking their business seriously, you know, has the funds to invest, that kind of thing. Or the they could be starting out too and not necessarily established, but they're serious, they're ready to go and and hit the ground running. So generally they're service-based, but I do have a couple of like product-based business owners that I work with. But yeah, I wouldn't say any type of, I mean, I've worked with photographers and realtors and consultants, therapists, healers, coaches, like they're all across.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

And what exactly are you are you helping them with?

SPEAKER_00 23:31

So for a couple of them, I'm literally building their website, getting their SEO sorted out so they can be searchable online and make that their lead generation machine with other clients. I'm just strictly running paid ads for them. I have a couple email marketing clients, and then I have a couple of like fractional marketing clients. So that basically is like me being a marketing manager for their business without having to pay me in-house or pay for someone full-time. I come in for a few hours a month, we talk about their goals, we create the plan, and then they go and and do the things, or I have like a tiered service where like I then take over some of the tasks as well.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

But people really like that because they get the support without having to shell out so much for a full-time employee. So that's basically, yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

So what do you what do you think the what are the changes? What's going on right now in social media marketing?

What’s Working In Social Media Now

SPEAKER_00 24:30

That's a whole other podcast doing. Yeah, I know. You can do it in just a little condensed one there. For sure. So right now in social media, what you're finding is authenticity is key, right? We're we are not, we don't want to go on social and see a bunch of business posts. We don't want to be sold. We want to be entertained, we want to relate, and we're looking for connection these days. So those things are really important. So in your strategy, when you're creating your social media posts, do things that are different. Like stop doing the trends. People are kind of over that. You know, you'll actually probably do better if you avoid the trends and you do something original than if you are just following what everyone's doing. Trending audio is not big right now. Again, like just be unique, be authentic, create what works for you. Authority is still key, building a building authority, like showing your authority. And yeah, just showing that side of your business or you that you don't see from a website or like your blog or email. Like I like to say that like your website is your professional representation, and then your social media is like, okay, here's what we do, and then social is like, here's who we are.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

So you get to just have fun with it and be creative and don't feel like you have to be there 24-7. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

A lot of a lot of women hate social media. I don't know why hate is a strong word, but they don't like it, and they don't like doing it. But do you think it's a must these days?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

They they don't like doing it because they think they have to dance in lip sync. They think that they have to, you know, show up a certain way or they have to show up every day, like four times a day. I mean, I know some people that are posting four times a day. You don't have to do that. I post three times a weekend, that's a lot. Yeah. So no, I I don't, yes, social media is a must, but it's not like it was five years ago where you had to be on there all the time. I think it's a great tool as a secondary, like a secondary landing page, right? A secondary source for someone to go and and check out who you are and and build that credibility. And it's also like I think I mentioned in the last podcast we did, all of your social media is searchable now. So if you look up the paper fox or even not the but paperfox collective in marketing, you're gonna see a whole bunch of my social media posts because now they're searchable.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

So searchable on Google, you mean?

Showing Up Without The Pressure

SPEAKER_00 27:04

On Google, yeah. Oh that's good to know. Great for visibility as long as you're using keywords like marketing, web design, email. Yeah, right? Service-based business owners, you're gonna you're gonna start showing up and not huge visibility. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

It and it's yeah, it's it's um, I think you're right about women. I think it's it's the fear that they're that they have to they have to act. They have to, you know, get up and and be something that they're not.

unknown 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

That and the fact that they probably have so many other balls that they're juggling in the air that it's like, oh, I have to go and like put my makeup on and do a video and like whatever. But I mean, I show up with no makeup on all the time, and I did run one reel in my pajamas while I was typing on the computer, like you know, my double chin was showing, and I'm like, whatever, because it doesn't matter, like the lifespan is like seven days, maybe so.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yes, yes, exactly. Yes, and but people want real, they want it, yeah. They want real, and I think that that's from my experience. I'm seeing that more and more. Yeah, they don't want fake, they want real, they want to know who you are, especially with AI.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

There are so many AI videos out there that you don't even know if it's real. So just go on and and talk and talk imperfectly and have pauses. Yes, exactly. Wear your house coat, it doesn't matter. I mean, maybe not your house coat for business videos, but you know, I I know exactly what you mean.

Using AI And SEO To Boost Visibility

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Yeah, and so many of those videos. I know my husband was watching one the other night and he's like, What do you think of this? Is this real? And I'm like, No, no, it's not, it's not real. It's just it's um, I mean, there are some of them are entertaining, but it I don't know. I don't know. I guess we'll see where it all lands at the end of the day. You know, I think AI is fabulous. I think that it's a great tool to help you with your business. One time I I went on, this was a couple months ago, and and I wasn't getting this the type of engagement on my YouTube that I thought I should have been getting. So I said, you know what, tell me what I'm doing right, tell me what I'm doing wrong, and tell me what you think I need to change.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

And it did. And some of it was dumb. And some of it, though, was really true and really good. So I went and started making those changes, and my engagement has increased.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Yeah. You do. So I was so what I what I what what AI told me is that YouTube, it's so I've always thought volume, volume, get as much stuff out there as I can, right? Just keep throwing as much out there as I can. But and that used to be true, but it's no longer true. And so now what Google is or what what YouTube, Google, YouTube is looking for is similarity, themes. And those are the things that they that they pushed along with other and fitting in with other ones. So one of the things it's said to do was start doing hashtags. And I'm like, oh, hashtags on, but then I realized so I would type in a hashtag, and then I realize it pops up in YouTube and connects you to, you know, 4,000, you know, but it's it seems to be working, and I changed my SEO. And I changed, and I changed my covers because silly me was saying conversations with Melody. Yeah. That's what's that? That's not searchable. That's not that, yeah, that's not searchable. And that's not even interesting. Yeah, right. And so I went back and I'm like, look at all these ones I did. Why would I have not put a proper name on there? So I just redid some covers, redid some names, and and just freshened it up. And and so now when I'm loading, I'm keeping in mind what's the theme of my website.

unknown 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

And that, and I'm trying to make sure that that because we all, because everybody we talk to is, you know, all the podcasts will have some similar type of theme to what we're talking about. And so I make sure those are in the comments. And it seems to be knock on wood. It does seem to be working for me.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

So we'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Sounds like you got a good hook and you got some good keywords and you're Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Well, and it, but it was interesting because I thought because I I would go on to YouTube and I'd go into like, I don't have time to sit here and watch 60-70 videos to tell me how to get better results. And I don't know if you really know what you're talking about or not. And but I actually printed that out and put it in a little binder to refer back to from AI. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Yeah. It's super helpful. And yeah, I think it, but then comes, you know, the people that are misusing it, and then you got videos of you know, babies and dogs talking, and you're like, okay, but I don't want this. I want real human connections. We do we always want human connections. Yes, yes, yeah. Yeah, I do love it for brainstorming. Yeah, I use it to help me cope sites because sometimes I'm like, why isn't this working?

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Yes, yeah, oh, for sure, for sure. Yeah. So I think there's definitely been a great movement in AI, depending on how you want to use it. But all the other, you know, the actors, you know, like I don't know, the rich people talking about diet pills. Like, it's not real. It's not real. Yeah, I know my husband one day, what do you think? I'm like, no, Oprah's not talking about diet jelly things on social media.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Gosh, she's everywhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she sure is.

Confidence, Conditioning, And Visualization

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah. So what do you think women wait? Why do you think women wait to feel confident before they act generational, uh, whatever you want to call it, where we've been, we have been trained to not believe in ourselves, to you know, we have decades and decades of women can't do that, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:27

That's built into our DNA. You know, men just have such an easier time of saying, I'm gonna do this, and then do it. And you know, for some reason, we don't have that same luxury. We should, we can start, but we have, you know, this mechanism inside us that's like, you know, or or the fact that we have so many other things going on, right? And we don't put ourselves first. So I don't know if it's I know a lot of it is confidence, but then a lot of it is also like logistics and burnout and taking care of family and your job and your husband and your right.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Yeah, by the time you're done with all of that, who wants to sit in front of the TV with a computer on your lap doing social media? Yeah, on top of it all. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah, that's what I think. Um, but I I mean, I was confidence coaching before, and the biggest thing I said was and some people disagree with this, but I stand by it, fake it till you make it. If you have to pretend you are, I mean, it's all about what you're telling your brain.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

So visualize yourself as that confident person. Start doing the things that a confident person would do, confident woman would do, or a confident man, or a confident brain. Yes. And you'll start to just develop those habits where you start to do those things naturally, and then it just becomes easy to put yourself first and say, no, I'm betting on myself here.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Yeah. We were watching the Olympics, and it was the half-pipe skating that the girls were doing. Wow, they were amazing. But the reason I brought it up is because there was this one girl who was getting ready and she and and she was doing this.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

She was standing there with her eyes closed, and she was and at first I thought, is she dancing? Because she kind of looked like she was dancing, right? But she wasn't. She was visualizing, doing it, visualizing herself skiing that high half pipe. And and so it visualize visualization works. Yeah. And so I think, you know, fake it till you make it. Visualize yourself doing it.

Pricing, Boundaries, And The Power Of Silence

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ask ask GPT or reach out to me. I've got a visualization exercise we can have for anyone that's watching this, but that just helps you understand like who are you trying to be? Who does who does this woman look like? How does she act? What does she wear? How does she talk to people? How does she stand like in front of you know others? And and, you know, how does she, yeah, just how does she behave? It's a really great exercise. Or ask GPT if you want. Like, yes, what kind of there's a book I think I've talked about this before because I talk about it everywhere. It's like called the Bible of self-development. Someone told me that once, and I'm like, oh my gosh, it really is. But it's um called The New Psycho Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. And it in a chapter in there is about the theater of your mind and how creating like any situation, visualizing it beforehand, leads to success because you have already done it, right? And so it's easier to do because you know how to bring yourself through that situation. It's a really great book for anyone that's yeah, just let me write it down. What's it called again? So it's a mouthful. It's called The New Psycho Cybernetics, C Y B E R N E T I C Sychos.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Okay, got it. I'm gonna look it up. Yeah, yeah. I yeah, I mean, and sports people, you know, teams, all of those, they all visualize themselves out there playing in the fields before they actually go out there to do it.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

So there it is, it works, it can work, but but but we have to do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to see it in your mind before it can become reality.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

I do it during sales calls. I I visualize people saying yes, I visualize me talking about any objections they might have. Um, I visualize, you know, everything of this podcast. Yeah. Speaking in front of other people, meeting people at networking. How am I gonna act? How okay, don't be weird, Melody. You know, yeah. How am I gonna hold myself? What how am I gonna stand? Things like that. Yeah, really, really, really powerful.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Yes, it is so powerful. Absolutely. So, have you ever questioned whether you should continue? Like, have you ever like, well, I guess you probably have in the past thought, is this really what I'm supposed to be doing? Maybe I should just go get a nine to five job. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Yeah, I've always because it's that friction again, right? When things start to become harder, like internally, I'm like, I don't, this doesn't feel right. Yeah, then yeah, you gotta pivot. That's okay to pivot too. I mean, yes for manifesting generators, we apparently pivot a lot. Yes. You get bored, we master that one thing, and then we get bored something else. So yeah, it's okay to say, oh, this isn't working. How do I shift this? You're not married to anything. If the offer is not working, change it, right? If no one wants it, you can't keep sitting there and selling something that's not gonna no one's gonna buy. Exactly. You you gotta you gotta be prepared to to change things for sure.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Yeah, and and and then you I think you eventually get to that, oh yeah, this is what is working, this is what will work for me. Because just because something works for someone else doesn't mean it's gonna work for me.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

And think about all those celebrities that like are overnight successes. No, they're not overnight successes. Some of them, like I think was it Steve Jobs? Like he was 40 when Apple was became a success, and he'd been doing so many things before then, and other like Oprah, Oprah again, like she was she had been like rejected so many times.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yes, yeah, yeah, so many, so many of them. But but you you're right, we always we see what's in front of us, we don't see what's you know, it's that iceberg, right? You see the top of the iceberg, but you don't know what's happening below the water.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Or there's this picture of like there's two men in a cave and they're digging, and the one man, he's like, Oh, I'm so tired, I'm I'm gonna give up. And the gold is just right on the other side where he's digging, and the other guy's like, Yeah, I don't care, I'm gonna keep going. I mean, and then he's you know, that's the same thing, right? You will eventually find success if you stick it through and and just keep keep at it.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Keep at it, absolutely, yeah. What do you think about like have you had a difficulty with with family members or friends who aren't aren't encouraging with what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Not not encouraging. I've I mean, I have family members and friends that have been like, oh, I'm so excited, and and they're like, Okay. Yeah, you don't get it. But I also have you know, several friends who are so pumped for anything I do. And there's the Sarah, if you're listening to this, this is she's just always so happy. She's like, I don't know what you're doing, but it's great. Like, I love watching your stories. She's like, I'm not even a business owner. She's like, I'm just so proud of you. So there's there's people like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Um I guess that's just shows find find the ones that support you.

Money Mindset, Generosity, And Growth

SPEAKER_00 40:44

Yeah. Yeah. What's been really great is so we moved to Mission three years ago, and it was only last summer that I started actually meeting people out here, not for lack of trying, but I reached out to a couple other business owners that I found out were out here. And now I've got this small community out here, which is really great of females, and they're amazing. They're always we're always shouting each other out and and sharing wins, and it's been really awesome. But that actually caused me to create a Facebook group for mission business owners specifically because there's not much out here for us. So, on top of building my business, I'm now also building this community and doing like networking and things like that. So if anyone is listening in in this area, come join us. Yeah, it's just getting started. But the having that community is so, so important. And this one's for men and women. And I've even had a couple men reach out being like, Thank you for doing this because it's lonely. And I'm like, wow, like that's yeah, helpful. So yeah, finding those people that get you, they're going through the same thing, they're having the same conversations, right? You know, I'm not gonna sit down with my family and talk about mindset because they're not really interested in that. But when I get together with these people, we could talk for hours. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yes. I know when I when I tell my boys, oh my goodness, I've got such a great idea, they're like, okay, Maha. And I'm like, I'm not even telling you about my good ideas anymore.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

I'm gonna go call Melody. Yeah, exactly. Forget it.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, you you guys, you non-believers. So if a woman listening does nothing and stays stuck, what do you think would happen to her in a five years from now? Illness.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

I would say illness, mental or physical. That's how it manifests. I I believe that's how it manifests when you're not just when you're not happy or when you're burnt out, that's when all the other medical issues start happening. That's my take.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

No, no, I I agree. I agree because if you're feeling stuck and if you're, you know, the and if you're feeling stuck, that's just one emotion. There will be all sorts of other emotions that would come along with that. It's gonna it, I believe it comes out somewhere. Yeah, it has to show up somewhere, and usually that's physical.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

Yeah, usually physical or mental or in your relationships or yeah, like I guess not worth it to stay stuck. No, can't afford to.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Yeah, no, exactly. For your mental health, your physical health, and possibly your your financial income as well. Yeah. I know I I've been I'm in a group right now every Wednesday night. We get together and we're going through a book. It's called, well, I'll just say it as a swear word though, but rich as fuck.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Oh, yeah, yeah. I know. I think yes, I've seen it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

And so we're yeah, so there's, I don't know, there's maybe 20 or 25 of us on there. And it's interesting to see that, but also interesting to see how we still don't think we're worth it.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

We still don't think we're worth the the money, the or or the big money or uh charging or charging properly. And and so I there's just so Much for, and I'm just so hopeful that the next generation is not going through what the rest of us have gone through.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Because that's come from our our our ancestors, right? That's come from our grandmothers and our and our mothers and our aunties. And but I see that as changing. Like I see there's a shift changing so for you know for women, and hopefully they're going to be showing their daughters that it's okay. We live in a society where we have to have money to live, people.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

That's so true.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

There's nothing wrong with money. Money's good.

SPEAKER_00 44:46

It's okay to like it.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

It's very okay to like it. And you know, we take care of if you don't have money, you can't take your care of your family properly. And these days you can't even eat properly. Can't eat.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

I feel you can't give back.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

No, and you can't give back. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

You can't do the things that make you happy. You can't make other lives people other people's lives better either. So no, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

So and it's a choice, so you might as well choose to have more.

unknown 45:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Why choose to have less or to stay mediocre?

SPEAKER_02 45:15

Yeah.

Support Systems And Local Community

SPEAKER_01 45:16

You know, I I I I talk to women sometimes and they say, Well, I just, you know, I just want to be comfortable. And I think, okay, well, if the$10 million check lands on your doorstep, I'm over here being uncomfortable. Feel free to send it my way. Like, what does that mean? I just want to be comfortable. I think that's a safety thing we say. Because, oh, well, I'm not greedy. I'm not, you know. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not about greedy. It's not about greed. You know, it's exactly what you said. I have I have 26 ladies in Kenya. My husband and I paid for their roof on their new church. Now it wasn't overly expensive because Kenya is their money is worth so much less than ours. But there's other things we'd love to do, but we, you know, we can only do so much. They need their cement floor put in. So if I had all that money, there's so many people that I would help. There's so many good things I could do with that money. And I think that that's where we fall down, where we think, oh, well, you know, I don't want to be greedy. I don't, you know, I don't want to take more than my share. But think, but think about what like the things you could help with in the world.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

And it's energy. Money is energy, it's everywhere. It can come to you, and it's not like you have to hold it forever. You let it go, and then more comes to you. Like this whole, like, oh, I am only gonna have this much, isn't serving anybody because it it has to flow, right? It's that karmic like revolution. It comes to you, you give it out. It comes back, you give it out. Like that's right. You do that by hiring people, you do that by you know, subcontractors, by charity, by helping your family, by tipping at restaurants, tipping at restaurants, going out to eat, letting service, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

You're keeping the restaurant going.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

Yeah, you're you're provide you're contributing back to the economy. And like you can still like money amplifies who you are. So if you're a good person with your with your money now, or you're doing things like you're gonna just still like be that same person. It's not like that money's gonna change you, right? Um, you know, and yeah, I just you can still be happy with 10 million dollars, yeah, or you can be miserable with 10 million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

You can, you can be you can be either way. Yeah. I used to I remember years ago when things were tough. I remember thinking, well, I'd rather eat a steak than a hot dog. If I had a choice. Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah. It's um it's a it's a big uh block that uh that uh that uh men don't seem to have it as much as women. It's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

I find that as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:59

I've started saying, like, okay, Melody, charge what you're worth, not that you're worth anything, but like charge what you're worth, and then add some add some more because you're likely undercharging, yes, right. And what are other people doing? How do you compare to others in the space?

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Yes, and there are people out there, you know, that will pay. So this this this woman who's written this book, she was saying that um that she has freebies, short free courses. She still does all of that for people that can't afford it, but then she but then how she affords to keep her business running and do all of those other things for people that can't afford it is that she's got people she charges 10,000, 20,000,$25,000, and people pay it. Yeah, there are people out there that are willing to put out the money if they if they feel that they're going to get value back from for it.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

And it's a confidence that you put out if you waffle, well, then they're gonna pick up on that energy and they're gonna go, oh, she's not really sure. Maybe you know, yes, right? Like when I tell someone I'm like it's this price, yeah. Yeah, that's it. And I used to go, it's this price, but you know what? If you can't afford it, maybe we can work so no, it is this price. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

You were giving people an out before they even had an opportunity to say yes to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Yeah. And that also was because I was in like the coaching space. It was like I was confidence coaching and teaching, educating, really. Yes. Whereas now I'm like, no, like I'm building you a website, it's gonna cost this much because I know there's this many hours and this much.

If You Stay Stuck: The Real Costs

SPEAKER_01 49:40

It's a lot of work putting a website. Oh my gosh, so much work putting a website together.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Yeah, which is unfortunate because so much success can come from like coaching and education as well. But it's just it feels to me like a different so it's easier for me to show up now. Yes, and say this is my price. Yeah. But because I've now built that confidence saying my price for marketing, I'm also like, yeah, sure, I can help you with your, you know, yeah, I can coach you if you want, but it's also gonna be his price, like yes, of course, of course, yeah. Translates.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

Yes, yeah. I remember I went in for a beauty treatment. This was several years ago, and the and the girl said to me, Oh, would you like to book for your next session? And I stood there and I was I was silent because I was thinking about dates in my head. Yeah, but she became uncomfortable with that silence, and she's and she said, Well, you can just call.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

And I'm like, Okay, but I was ready to book, but then she gave me an out. So I took the out and I actually didn't, I mean, it was nothing, nothing to do with her or the salon or anything, but I just didn't go there, ended up going somewhere else. But she had me, had she not interrupted that silence. So when there's when we ask for business or we say our price, there's silence, and that silence then it it's you're giving the person an opportunity to think. Let them think for a second, totally, you know. But we just so often were like, oh, well, don't you know what? Don't worry about it. We we we can work something out.

SPEAKER_02 51:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

And where that person was just on the cusp of saying, okay, yeah, let's do that, you know, but we we don't out of our own uncomfortableness. Oh, true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

And that from a marketing point of view, like she should have had steps to then send you an email, send you a text message. Exactly. How is your service? Do you want to come back? How's this date? Right? Make it able to say yes. Yes. Instead of saying, Do you want to book your next service? She should have said, Does Tuesday the something work for you?

SPEAKER_01 51:40

It's exactly what she should have said, right? Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. But she, yeah, she left me, she let me off the hook.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

Well, everybody who's watching, Melody is gonna have the information where you can reach out to her if you need any coaching or you've got you're in business and you need some help getting your business assets up and running, she is amazing. So she will be able to help you with that. So all of her details will be in the show notes for you. So don't hesitate to reach out to her. That's what she does. So you're not bothering her, and she would love to help you. So, Melanie, before we go, I want to ask my last question to you. So, if you could sit across from the woman who's doubting herself right now, what would you tell her? You're sitting on the couch with your friend.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

I probably have to stop myself from like lecturing, like going into a whole podcast episode. I would say take baby steps. Like, what's the one thing you can do tomorrow that either one will make you happier, two, move the needle, or three, push you like in the right direction? What's one thing? Start with that and then build off that.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

That's excellent advice because then it's not overwhelming.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

No, yeah. You can't look at the whole thing and try to accomplish all that once. No, once once the one thing today that I can do.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Yeah, yeah, love that. That was great advice. Well, thank you, Melody, for coming and doing this again with me.

unknown 53:09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 53:09

So much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

Well, you're welcome. So just remember, everybody, go into the show notes and then you can find Melody's information. And as I said, if you're struggling a little bit and you need some extra help, do not hesitate to reach out to her because she's fabulous, as you can tell. So okay, Melody. Well, thank you so much for doing this, and we'll see you again one day soon, I hope. I hope so. Thanks, Julie. Okay, take care, everybody. Bye bye.