EP92: Pedestals, Microaggressions, and Showing Up: Lessons from Shanel Evans

Shanel Evans doesn’t just share her story — she lays bare the unspoken class dynamics and systemic barriers she faced climbing the corporate ladder. From her days as a finance director to building a six-figure business on her own terms, Shanel’s journey is a powerful example of what happens when women challenge the norms of traditional workplaces. Her raw, honest take on navigating the intersections of gender, race, and leadership in male-dominated industries offers both a reality check and a call for change.

Through Shanel’s lens, we see how a startup environment became her proving ground, allowing her to lead with innovation, drive diversity initiatives, and build a nonprofit that thrived on strategies most people overlook. But the boldest move? Leaving a "safe" finance career to embrace her passion for marketing and entrepreneurship — right in the middle of a global pandemic. Shanel’s leap wasn’t just about changing careers; it was about claiming her time, energy, and purpose on her own terms. Her story reminds us that while entrepreneurship is far from easy, it can be the most liberating decision you’ll ever make.

In a business world addicted to hustle culture, Shanel is the antidote we didn’t know we needed. Her anti-hustle philosophy flips the script on working harder by showing us how to work smarter. She calls out the toxic cycle of overworking, offering value-driven strategies that honor both your goals and your well-being. And when it comes to the pedestal mentality — whether you're the one putting people on it or stuck on one yourself — Shanel challenges us to dismantle those assumptions and open doors we didn’t think were possible. This conversation is a bold reminder that women entrepreneurs aren’t just changing their lives — they’re reshaping the future of business itself.

Guest Bio:
Shanel Evans, founder of Socially Savvy and co-founder of FyreSavvy, is a seasoned Business Advisor and Marketing Consultant. With a track record of managing $3B project launches and launching her own successful company via social media, Shanel has revolutionized the art of engagement. Through her unique 100K V.I.B.E. Methodology, she empowers clients to captivate their online audience with strategic creative development. A community-driven force, Shanel also serves as a Team Administrator for an award-winning youth track & field non-profit and a Board Member for the Donna M Saunders Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Connect with Shanel: 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanelevans/
• https://www.facebook.com/shanelevansVA
• www.structureandsoulpodcast.com -- podcast

Download the Pink Flamingo Method for magnetic messaging: www.fyresavvy.net/pinkflamingomethod

Chapters

• 0:30 Challenging Gender Norms in Corporate Environments
• 10:39 Transitioning to Entrepreneurship and Time Management
• 16:23 Building Relationships Beyond the Hustle
• 26:27 Breaking the Pedestal Mentality

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:30

Welcome to the Business Blasphemy Podcast, where we question the sacred truths of the online business space and the reverence with which they're held. I'm your host, sarah Khan speaker, strategic consultant and BS busting badass. Join me each week as we challenge the norms, trends and overall bullshit status quo of entrepreneurship to uncover what it really takes to build the business that you want to build in a way that honors you, your life and your vision for what's possible, and maybe piss off a few gurus along the way. So if you're ready to commit business blasphemy, let's do it. Hello, hello, blasphemers, welcome, welcome. We have a treat for you today. Okay, I'm going to be full disclosure. I was so scared not scared nervous to ask Chanel to be on the show. I don't know why, but she backhanded me verbally and basically in the best possible way and said the words stop putting people on pedestals, and it was a wonderful reminder and it's actually a really great introduction to Chanel's style and her ethos around business. So let me introduce her first, then we're going to get into it, because you're going to have such a great time today.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Chanel Evans, who is also my coach just going to put that out there for full disclosure. Chanel Evans is the founder of Socially Savvy and the co-founder of Fire Savvy. She's a seasoned business owner, a business advisor and marketing consultant with a track record of managing $3 billion in project launches and launching her own successful company. Via social media, chanel has revolutionized the art of engagement. Through her unique 100K vibe methodology, she empowers clients to captivate their online audience with strategic, creative development. A community-driven force, chanel also serves as a team ambassador for the award-winning youth track and field nonprofit and a board member for the Donna M Saunders Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness. Chanel, thank you for being here.

Speaker 2: 2:30

How are you? I am good, I'm ready to dig into this conversation because I'm not fighting to be here.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Huzzah, all right, so I want to jump right in with. We both are former corporate shills, as I like to affectionately call us. So you worked. We both worked at one of the same big four professional services firms not the same one, but you know the same one internationally. So we kind of share that background. What was it like for you to try to build a career in what is still traditionally a very male-dominated space?

Speaker 2: 3:05

Yeah. So I started my accounting career, graduated from Michigan State with an accounting degree, and one thing that I love about business students in general I mean, of course I'm biased to Michigan State, but business students in general, like it's almost like you're going to get a job right. Like you know, there's some majors where you're not really sure. But a business degree, any type of business degree, you know that you're going to get a job degree, any type of business degree, you know that you're going to get a job. So I had interned with what was then Coopers and Libran, you know one of the big six firms or big eight. They might have been eight at the time, I don't know, I'm totally dating myself, but when I graduated I knew I had a job Right and that kind of takes off some of the pressure because you know that you don't have to kind of jump through a ton of hoops like normal. You know interview process does right. You intern, you do a great job, they like you, they like your personality.

Speaker 2: 4:00

Now you have a full-time job and I'll say, like I don't know that I realized that I was in a male dominated space until I left, because I didn't necessarily see a ton of differences. I saw class differences in terms of, okay, you're the newbie and you're just an associate, but I'm a senior manager or I'm a partner. I saw class differences. I didn't see a ton of like gender differences until I looked back in retrospect and realized there were not very many women, you know, in that partner role.

Speaker 2: 4:35

If there were women that left that were like a senior manager, you know role, that kind of mentioned the thing of work-life balance and anybody that knows accounting world, especially working in a big five, big four, whatever we're numbered down to at this point, you know there's a time of time, time span, where you know that you are literally working 12 hour days, 14 hour days it's mandatory, which is now, when you think about it in hindsight, it's like that is wild to even just inflict mandatory overtime on people. Just know there's no vacation, don't think about taking sick time, don't think about going to get your hair done, any of that stuff. So but I left that firm at some point because I was, I was pregnant and it was pretty clear that I was not going to be welcomed back with having any type of a work-life balance.

Speaker 1: 5:29

That is. I mean there's so many threads there we can pull from. A, the leadership piece, like so few women in the leadership position. I know when I worked for one of the big four over in the UK there were literally no women beyond senior manager and that was like really, really, and there was only the one. Everyone else was a dude and I never made it past senior either, which was shocking and I actually had.

Speaker 1: 5:56

I remember having lunch with one of the really lovely ladies in the IT department and she had been there forever, like she was you know furniture at that point. And there was, there was there was a really high profile role that had been posted internally and I was just talking to her and I was like you know what I'm going to apply for this role? And she looked me dead in the face and she goes, don't bother. I said why she goes. Well, a you're a woman and B you're not white.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Oh wow, and that was, and I mean I have dealt, as I'm sure you can probably attest to, like I've dealt with racism my entire life. I don't like playing the. I never did. That was the first time someone had told me blatantly to my face that it was going to be, because you always kind of know and you always wonder throughout your career, but this was the first time someone to my face said to me that's going to be the biggest obstacle, wow. So I mean and I don't like to have this conversation but like, but did you ever feel that? I mean, was it, maybe it was just a UK thing versus you? No, no, no.

Speaker 2: 6:51

It definitely was, but it was in. So I grew up in Detroit, which is predominantly, you know, black city, right, and in my professional world was not, did not represent the community that I lived in. So what I found it was a lot of not just blatant like oh, you're Black, you can't do this, but it was a lot of like microaggression, asking questions in a way that would kind of intimidate you. So like, for example, I worked with this one partner and he was pretty, you know, pretty vocal, pretty outgoing, pretty vocal, whatever. And he just comes into the room and he goes what's your dad do for a living? And that question itself, at face value, is a normal question. Yeah, I guess Right. But to ask like a 20, what? 22, 23 year old, you know African-American associate, what's your dad do Not like? What do you know? What do associate? What's your dad do not like? What do you know? What are you doing the weekends? What school did you go to? All of this kind of stuff, just flat out like what's your dad do? Yeah, almost like it was a part of racism, but it's also that classism part, like I'm only gonna talk to you if your dad does x, y and z.

Speaker 2: 8:05

Yeah, it was interesting because, like, my dad is a as an attorney, right. So then they're kind of like, oh, my dad's an attorney, and right. So then they're kind of like, oh, my dad's an attorney and he's an associate dean at Michigan State Law School. So then I kind of gained the respect of that partner because my dad had actually, I guess, had a job worth mentioning. But I was chatting with somebody else about it whose family dynamics were quite different and they were like that's kind of a rude question, because one my dad is not around, and if your dad wasn't in a place of you know, had this job of prestige, what would you say? Like that's, that's kind of rude, it's embarrassing to answer that question.

Speaker 2: 8:44

So it was a lot of just kind of like micro type stuff, not just flat out you're black, you're a woman, but you can, kind of you can, you can see it, you know, and it's one of those things I mean you know as well as I do. It's one of those things you know it and I know it. But explaining it, like I said, at face value, somebody be like, well, that's just, that's a normal question. Yeah, maybe, but when you add in the tone, when you add in the nuance, when you add in the setting, is it appropriate or is it not? I'm'm going to leave it as not.

Speaker 1: 9:14

And I think as a woman too woman of color, woman you know the spectrum of it. There's this kind of unspoken, I guess, rule that I mean we have to work doubly hard to get pretty much anything. So, calling that kind of thing out, you're like do I rock the boat? Do I not rock the the boat? Do I just suck it up and take it? Do I laugh it off? And there's so because I used to get so much flack from like when I would share stories like this from the people around me. We're like well, you should have said something. I'm like well, if I didn't think like legitimately, feel like my job could possibly be on the line, I would have right. But the number of microaggressions and the number of just flat out aggressions we have to just kind of take on the chin, yeah, because of that is kind of I don't know, it's unfair. So what, what is your villain origin story Like? How did you then become an entrepreneur? Sure?

Speaker 2: 10:05

So you know what, even in my college days, I always knew I wanted to do something entrepreneurial. But you know one, I don't have any entrepreneurs in my family. So it was very much like, no, you're going to get a job. You are, you know. You got this nice degree, go get a nice job. You had an internship, all of that kind of stuff, right. And I followed that path, knowing at the bottom of my heart at some point I was going to build a business. I didn't quite know how it was going to shape out, but I knew that I was always going to be an entrepreneur in some form or fashion.

Speaker 2: 10:39

Luckily, my accounting world was very broad and so when I left you know the firm I ended up in corporate accounting. I was a finance director for a global construction firm and I started with that company when we were a startup, basically Right. And so anybody that has worked in a startup type environment knows that, especially if you working with a company that has money. So now you get to have all the bells and whistles right, you can do all the stuff, it's worth it. You working with a startup and they ain't got no money, but you working with a startup division of a multi, you know, billion dollar company. You got money and resources to do what you need to do. You don't have to buy your own supplies, right Exactly.

Speaker 2: 11:21

But what that meant was is that my role was super broad. I was brought in as a corporate finance director but, like when I started, we didn't have a bank account. So you know everything from you know setting up corporate structure, business development, marketing. I was the only black person in my role. So then that meant DEI work, that meant heading up committees. So I say all that to say is that you know, I got to see other sides of business outside of accounting and finance and really grew to love business development and what that looked like and coordinating with different departments in the marketing side of it, and my DI work also kind of played a role, as I was like you know what.

Speaker 2: 12:04

Like I'm seeing these contracts available to business, I'm seeing these contracts being set aside for Black and minority and women-owned firms, but you go look at their website and it doesn't represent and it doesn't warrant that level of contract. So that's kind of in the back of my mind. Then, also during that time, my husband and I started a nonprofit organization where we empower youth through the sport of track and field. We started with eight kids and three of those were my own girls, but we quickly grew to a nationally recognized organization and I built that organization through social media. I basically treated what most people would treat as a community nonprofit as a business and so putting corporate parameters around our nonprofit, reaching out for corporate sponsors, growing it through social media, actually having like a professional online presence, and people would start coming to me like, okay, who doing y'all social media Like this, you know, kind of fire, and it was me. So I started taking on, you know, these kind of I'll call them like hobby projects where I was doing like marketing for companies on the side at the time. Then I also left my corporate finance world. So I'm doing like this accounting finance, basically like a fractional CFO for organizations, but I still am dabbling with marketing and business development on the side. So now I'm living in these two worlds fractional CFO, fractional CMO, if you want to call it that and my heart really wanted to be more in the business development. Marketing space Started, a pandemic comes and I mean I was making decent money with both.

Speaker 2: 13:47

But I was very much torn because I'm like, well, you know, you literally just going to throw away your CPA license? Are you going to continue doing bookkeeping and keep that safe job, safe money? And then the start of the pandemic comes Right and, as many of us, we had these light bulb moments, that kind of go off. They were weighing on us and I was like you know what, chanel, you're literally living in both worlds. You have this finance role which could have been entrepreneurial I didn't want it to be, but it could have been seen as that and then you have this marketing that you love and you love. It excites you, you love going out. And so I was like you know what, chanel, if you don't lean all the way in right.

Speaker 2: 14:29

This moment, when the world has literally shut down, we kind of all, all of our expenses, for the most part, kind of decrease because you're not going out, you're not traveling, all this kind of stuff. When you almost basically have like a built-in cushion to give permission to go out and do it, it sounds like you know what, if I don't do it now, if I don't now, I'm never going to. And so that's why full leap into like full-time entrepreneurship, launched my social media agency and, quite honestly, I haven't looked back since. Has it been easy all the time? Hell, no, nope. Have I learned a lot? Bump my head, absolutely, but I would not look back. I don't look back at all.

Speaker 1: 15:09

I'm curious to know because you had mentioned this at the start about you know the mandatory overtime when you're in corporate. Yeah, Right, Like you start at eight but people showing up at six and they're leaving at seven because it's just, you know, last person in, last or first person, last person out just looks good to be. Yeah, that kind of becomes ingrained in how you operate. So I'm curious to know when you became an entrepreneur and suddenly we're like in charge of your time 100%. How much of a challenge is that for you?

Speaker 2: 15:37

It's a big challenge. It's, it still continues to be a challenge. One cause I like my clients, I like the work that I'm doing, but I like what I'm building as well. And then you also have to keep in mind so I went full into my agency right at the pandemic, when clubhouse was popping so, and then you know, social media doesn't turn off Right. So I'm literally on on clubhouse for hours, you know, hanging out, having conversations, meeting new business besties, you know, under the guise of building my business, but at the same time some of it really wasn't about building business, it's just that you don't know how to turn it off.

Speaker 1: 16:20

Yeah, yeah, which I love. I love your transparency around that, because one of the things that you talk about, that you made mention of, especially in the form, was the whole anti-hustle you know chasing. Were you always anti-hustle? Is that something you had to learn? Is that something that you know came as a result of just experience, or have you always kind of known hustle and chasing is actually sabotaging a lot of your business growth.

Speaker 2: 16:46

To some degree I've always known it, probably because I'm an accountant right.

Speaker 2: 16:52

So, you know, I knew early on, even in my corporate role okay, they're I'm, they're paying me as a CFO, but it really don't make sense for me to be making copies because they got somebody that does that and they're paying me too much to do some of this stuff, right? So I kind of the accounting finance definitely plays a huge part into, like, my business philosophy, because I can attach things to and attach to dollars, whether it makes sense, whether it doesn't, whether it's an investment or a cost. So you know in some ways that that hustle mentality comes in, because you're like I just got to chase more. I got to chase more where I'm like, no, how about I just charge more? Right?

Speaker 2: 17:31

Sometimes we can't always see it for ourselves. But how, how, how? How can I price myself in a way that it makes sense, so I don't have to hustle? How can I charge myself in a way that I can be able to take time off and, you know, hang out with my kids at their track meets or whatever? So I will. I will say I've had to. Sometimes I have to be reminded of it, but I don't think that I've ever been the type of person where I'm like you know what I want to do. I want to work, you know 10, 20, 15 hours. I'm like no, I want to chill and go to the beach, like that's, I mean, I know how to make the money to do it.

Speaker 1: 18:04

Exactly. That's the thing, yeah. So how do you like, how did you reconcile that in your head of like, especially when so much of what we're taught is your output is equal to you know? Time is money. Basically right, like that's the mantra.

Speaker 2: 18:23

So how? How did you kind of reconcile I can charge more but not do more, yeah, so I, you know, we, we don't always see it for ourselves. So I recognize, you know, we don't always see it for ourselves. So I recognized, you know, probably within like the first year or so of my agency, I was doing a lot, I was doing almost everything, even though I had a team, like my hands were in everything. I was in all the client deliverables, I was in all of you know, the review and I had a team.

Speaker 2: 18:46

But I still felt like I could not figure out how to not get paid for the task and get paid for my brain, and so I needed to be able to kind of separate the two and say, ok, yes, your clients are paying for you know content and social media strategy and Canva graphics and copy, but do you have to be the person doing it or can you execute the? You have to be the person doing it or can you execute the strategy and not be the person doing it? And you know, you and I both have, you know, somebody in common Donna, donna. St Louis was my client, my um, what client? And coach at the time, and she's like okay, let's start everything that you do, for let's just pull a strategy session, for example, every let's start everything you do.

Speaker 2: 19:29

Okay, what would you need to do to charge more? And I'm like hell, I wouldn't do anything more. She's like that's my point, increase your pricing. So sometimes it is, you know it, but you can't figure out how to do it. And then sometimes it's literally you gotta have somebody that can be a mirror to you and say, sis, you're doing too much. You know, pull some. Either pull some back or charge more for what you're doing.

Speaker 1: 19:51

Right. So when you're working with clients, what would you say are some red flags for you that you see that their hustle is actually costing them growth?

Speaker 2: 20:02

Yeah. So if I see that they are hindered in being able to take on more clients, that you know, typically is a red flag, because if your ability to grow is tied to you delivering the work, then that's a problem, right, because then there's always going to be a cap on how much you can do, how much you can service a client. So, like I have a client who is a mental health professional right, you know, her client book is 40 hours, okay, well, when you going to use the bathroom, when you take lunch, when you gonna go pick your kids up, and so her, you know she had to revamp how her business was structured because otherwise she becomes cat. But then you become stressed, you become burned out, you're working late, you're missing, missing out on, you know, hanging out with your friends or doing stuff with your family.

Speaker 1: 20:51

So there are, like, definitely some signs that are there yeah, that was a hard one for me and it still is. I mean, you, you can, you can vouch for that right, like I still. What did you send me the other day about? Oh, the meme where the woman was crying about how hard she has to work while she's going off to do more work.

Speaker 2: 21:10

Yeah, yeah, that's like you know, I mean and I'm not, I mean I'm joking about it, but I'm not, I don't take it lightly we like, we like to work Right, yeah, we like the work, we like the recognition, we like the authority that it brings. So some of that hustle becomes our own hustle, because we're always chasing the next thing right. So I'm not ignorant to that part of it, but the stuff that we can control. Sometimes we gotta take a step back and say, okay, why am I doing this? Am I doing it because I don't want validation? Am I doing it because I want to shine? Am I doing it because my business isn't structured the right way? So there are signs. Whether it's the business structure or it's because of something else, there are signs.

Speaker 1: 21:56

Yeah, I mean, I love working. I also love pasta, but if I eat pasta every damn day, it's going to be problematic, right, right.

Speaker 2: 22:04

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 22:07

So moving to social media, when it comes to social media, where do you, where do you see people, business owners, particularly established business owners? I think because new business owners.

Speaker 1: 22:17

We know that, you know they have a learning curve. But when you, when you've got an established business owner, where are they missing the mark when it comes to using social media to build relationships? Because I know one of the things you talk about a lot is connection and community. Yeah, so where are they kind of going? I don't want to say going wrong, but where are they going wrong when it comes to that?

Speaker 2: 22:35

Yeah. So one thing that I see is particularly with established business owners. They think of social media as very transactional. I post, people see me, they click the link, they buy Instead of I post.

Speaker 2: 22:48

I'm going to share some stories. I'm going to share what makes people relate to me. I'm going to think about my client and why they're intrigued by my timeline and we're going to build a relationship. I'm going to cheer that person on. They're possibly going to cheer me on. We're going to build a relationship and then, because now they've gotten to know a glimpse into my world, they're going to click the link. We're going to have a conversation, they're going to buy and I think, once we kind of get out of this transaction, like social media owes me something and my timeline owes me something, versus it truly being a conversation. That's where I see the shift for new business owners. A lot of times they don't know what to say, but I find that established business owners like I got so much to say. But why should I put it on? Why should I put it on social media? Because you're building relationship.

Speaker 1: 23:41

that's what it boils down to so would you say that sometimes people just get impatient or like, how do you measure um success? I'm going to put that in air quotes because success is, I know it's different for everybody, but how do you measure success when it comes to community and connection?

Speaker 2: 23:57

So you get it right when it starts reflecting in your bank account, I mean. But then, but then also it comes in forms. You start to recognize you have like this ecosystem, and it's not just social media. So now you're getting clients from social media, you're getting clients from organizations that you are a part of, you're getting clients from people referring you and it all kind of works together, right.

Speaker 2: 24:26

So your social media timeline is like Ooh, like I didn't know that she won that award. But then if you never post that award, and then your timeline doesn't see it, but then the organization that you were a part of they recognized you and gave you an award, right. So it's like this, this whole kind of like ecosystem so that's what success looks like to me is not just relying on that one thing. It's like oh, it's the referrals, it's the social media, it's the content I'm putting out, it's the messaging, it's the referrals, it's the social media, it's the content I'm putting out, it's the messaging, it's the organizations I'm a part of, and they all kind of blend together so how do you do things differently?

Speaker 1: 25:01

to everyone else out there who's doing what you do yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:05

So one thing that I'm big on you mentioned is community and connections, but more so also like making social media be in a continuation of your in-person connections and a continuation of your in-person conversations. So what? By that I mean, okay, I'm going to a local event and I'm going to do some speed networking. I'm not thinking that I'm walking away with a client from that speed networking event. If I do, cool, right. But a lot of times it is creating enough curiosity in person or spending time. So people know that you're a real person, that they're like. You know what. I want to continue that conversation with her and now get to know her.

Speaker 2: 25:50

That's where social media now comes in at. It's such a powerful way to take your in-person experiences and now it's expanding your online footprint. So that's how I would do things. That's how I do things. Different is that I'm big on, like, being a local superstar and local is relative to everybody, right but I'm big on really showing up in person in powerful ways that now, when people see me online, it creates another level of conversation, another level of curiosity and we really kind of accelerate that know, like and trust with each other.

Speaker 1: 26:27

So, speaking of relationships, there is one thing that you mentioned, that you wanted me to talk to you about, and I think we should, and I'm going to call myself a little bit out of this as well putting people on pedestals. Yeah, how, where, what, when, why does that become problematic and how do we stop doing that? So I think it's.

Speaker 2: 26:45

It's it's two angles to this. There are the people that put others on pedestals right, and then there are people that are on pedestals right, and then there are people that are on pedestals right, and so when we put somebody on a pedestal, we kind of make a lot of assumptions about what they will, what they won't do. I want this person on my podcast, but because she is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank, she's going to say no. I want to invite this person for a coffee chat, but because she is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I'm going to say no. I want to ask that person a question, but I don't want to because X, y and Z right.

Speaker 2: 27:25

So then we kind of block ourselves from opportunities because we make assumptions about what somebody else will or won't say because of this pedestal we've put them on, whether it is they make a lot of money or they dress a certain way, or she's so busy, she got kids, we make up all of this stuff, right. So we block ourselves from opportunities. But then this also kind of sparked a thought when we were chatting earlier about it is sparked a thought when we were chatting earlier about it is. Then you have people who they're on pedestals. It's not necessarily that they want to be there or that they created this pedestal, but they're self-aware enough to know that people see me in a different way than I see myself, right? So if I know that Sarah, you know, is thinks I'm on a pedestal, she thinks whatever.

Speaker 2: 28:17

However, she said it that I'm too busy to be invited on her podcast, I have to be self-aware enough of my pedestal and my positioning to say you know what, sarah, I would love to be on your podcast, cause now I'm taking myself off the pedestal, right? You know what I'm saying. I'm taking myself off the pedestal, right? You know what I'm saying. I'm taking myself off this invisible pedestal and relating to Sarah and saying, you know what, there are people I want on my podcast too, that I feel like I can't ask because of X, y and Z.

Speaker 2: 28:44

So I think we got to just be mindful of I don't know this positioning, this class, whatever we call it One, stop putting people on pedestals, because you never know, like sarah asked me and of course I want to be on it, right, but then being able to say, you know what sarah might be afraid to ask me because x, y and z. Let me just go ahead and just break the ice and and we do it. I'm making light of it in a podcast type situation, but we make. We do it all the time in different scenarios. So whether you are the person who put somebody on a pedestal, whether you on a pedestal, get down off of it so you can relate to the people enough. So now you both are open to new opportunities.

Speaker 1: 29:28

I love that and it was, and it was actually a really big wake up call for me because I didn't realize I was doing it and I think it doesn't matter what stage of business you get into, whether it's business, professional career, like whatever I think we do it to. I think it's some in some at some degree, or to some degree we do it to everybody. Yeah, yeah, it's super weird, but you, you challenged me to invite people that I was too afraid to invite and every single one of them said yes. So I don't know what I was too afraid to invite and every single one of them said yes. So I don't know what I was afraid of. But there you go. Okay, I got two more questions for you.

Speaker 2: 29:59

The first one is what is something your business did that you didn't expect. I, when I launched my agency, I did not. The whole reason why I was hesitant on launching my agency? Because I was making quote good money as a fractional CFO and I was like there's no way that I'm going to be able to make that. Doing social media for people Right, that's, that's like my dad is still like wait a second, you do what Like? You help people be on social yes, that I help people go viral and get clients like Right, but I kind of embrace some of that Right. Go viral and get clients like right, but I kind of embrace some of that Right. I was like I want to do this social media thing, create this agency, but I don't know that I can bring in the same amount of money as I was doing in accounting. And then when I broke six figures, multiple six figures in less than a year, it was like wow, I'm literally making my salary in my business.

Speaker 2: 30:53

Now, of course, we all know, you know, money is relative and the age I don't want anybody thinking I'm glorifying six figures and the agency is like big money. However, doing it in the way that I did it, in all of the challenges that I put in, hurdles that I put in my mind to get to that place, that was big for me.

Speaker 1: 31:11

Yeah, yeah. And if you could be remembered for one thing, what would that be?

Speaker 2: 31:17

Dang. No, the one thing that I want to be remembered for is really changing the landscape for women entrepreneurs. I think that there are so many brilliant ideas and so many brilliant women on the planet, but we let you know life and you know kids and all of this other stuff, kind of getting away from really showing up, and so I really want to change the landscape for women entrepreneurs to just follow dreams but also be profitable while we're doing it.

Speaker 1: 31:52

Yeah, you got to stop being scared of money. Yeah, stop being scared of success. Yeah, I have one more question. What's one thing somebody out there right now struggling with social media, struggling with connection community, like doing the thing that they need to do, yeah, what's one thing that they can sort of do now that would start to to change the script for them a bit.

Speaker 2: 32:14

Yeah. So think about where you want to be in 90 days. You know what do you want to be celebrating. What do you want to look back and say, wow, like I am working with you know, sarah, or I've launched a podcast, or I have this certification. What do you want to be celebrating 90 days from now? Now, start showing up as that person, whatever it is for you. You know, all of us, we're going to have a different goal. We're going to have a different dream of what we plan on celebrating. Because when you start to see those milestones for yourself really start to come to life, you can't help but show up for them, because you're like either your ego going to get stroked and you're going to chase the next thing your goal, you know, goal oriented, you're going to be chasing the next thing or you're going to be helping so many people that you're like, yes, I was able to show up and now you know I'm able to really, you know, create. You know that momentum, I love that.

Speaker 1: 33:06

And that's a soundbite. Where do you want to be in 90 days? Show up as her now, right, there's so much like I'll do it when I'll wait until Right. Yeah, I love that, chanel. Thank you very, very much. I learned so much about you. This is really interesting. I love it. So where can people find you? Where can they stalk you? Where can they? What can they do?

Speaker 2: 33:26

Yeah, I'm all over social. You can follow me on LinkedIn. Chanel with an S. Chanel Evans. I'm on LinkedIn. You can join my newsletter there and I look forward to seeing you somewhere online soon, yay, all right.

Speaker 1: 33:39

So I will put that link in the show notes. And Chanel's got a super, super awesome gift for you as well. It's the pink flamingo method which I have been using and, honestly, it's absolutely crackers. So make sure you check that out, chanel. Thank you very much. And, as always, you can have success without the BS, and nine out of 10 times that BS is in your head, so I will talk to you next week. I'll see you later. That's it for this week. Thanks for listening to the Business Blasphemy Podcast. We'll be back next week with a new episode, but in the meantime, help a sister out by subscribing and, if you're feeling extra sassy, rating this podcast, and don't forget to share the podcast with others. Head over to businessblasphemypodcastcom to connect with us and learn more. Thanks for listening and remember you can have success without the BS.