Hi guys, welcome back to the podcast. I have been setting the intention to record this episode for the past few days and recording keeps getting slipped under the radar. If you guys didn't already see, I have started a new Instagram and I'm in a season of like being back in the student seat and learning the best ways to make content, while also like incorporating my own creative style and just like learning different tools to help me and all the good shit, and so that's been time consuming. It's also consuming a lot of my energy and, yeah, that is what keeps taking the front seat. And now it's Thursday and like I wanted to record this episode this morning and I didn't. So here we are. It is like 4 pm and I really want to just go down to the beach, but I don't want this to go any longer without being recorded, because it's not what you deserve. What you deserve is a good ass quality episode that is not rushed. So the beach will be there when I'm done, and right now we're gonna talk about pivoting. I feel like I am fucking queen of the pivot, and this is a theme. Like every single week this has been a theme I've been talking about with different friends that I have in the coaching space, and it's just such an important thing to know about and to be aware of, and to be willing to learn how you can incorporate it in your own life. I have pivoted so many times and I'm gonna give you some examples. We're gonna get into some storytelling and also like some tips for how you can apply it into your own life. So, without further ado, thank you so much for being here, for tuning in, for listening week after week. If you love this episode and if you love the podcast, if you love me, go ahead and take a screenshot of this video not this video, this episode share it to your story, send it to a friend, let me know that you're listening, let me know any feedback or takeaways that you have, and in this episode, I'm gonna be sharing about why I created a new Instagram, because I just mentioned that. But I know that some of you have also already been wondering and maybe that's the reason that you came to this episode is because you want the tea of why I am starting fresh. So, yeah, stay tuned for that. That'll be at the end of the episode and let's just let's just get into it.
Speaker 1:So I went through earlier today and I was writing out like the big pivot points that I could pick out from my life, at least like when I was in a period of not in a period, but like when I, while I've been conscious, I guess not necessarily just like changing different things, but while I was in like the space of personal development, at least not necessarily tapped into the spiritual community, but like aware of personal development, because the first thing on the list is when I dropped out of college and I was definitely not into spirituality or faith or anything like that at that point in time. So, before I actually get into that story, let's talk about, like, what I mean by pivoting, and what I mean by that is literally like being willing to stop in my tracks and completely change directions, and this is something that has felt incredibly fucking scary, it's something that has been incredibly fucking difficult and it's also something that feels incredibly divine at the same time. Like there's this behind each one of these things. We're gonna be going through seven different points, unless I think of anything else on the spot, but seven different points where I have been willing to change, where I've been willing to stop in my tracks and change directions, do something completely different, feel scared as fuck while I'm doing. It feels so like in this place of unknown and absolutely trusting that it's the right decision, like some unexplainable sensation of just like literally not even knowing why or how, but it feels right and it makes sense.
Speaker 1:The earliest pivot that I can really think of is dropping out of college. I just remember school never aligning with me, like there were multiple classes that I was really not doing well in. I was not a great student. I didn't really care about college that much. I I think like putting myself back into those shoes is so hard because I was vibrating at such a different frequency it's hard to remember what it was like. But when I think about like being in my body during college, I just remember being more so concerned with everything outside of me and like what other people thought of me. I just was very self-conscious and I really just wanted to be doing something else.
Speaker 1:And there was one class that I was failing. I actually don't know if I was failing it, but I wasn't getting a passing grade good enough for me to not have to retake it for my major. I'm pretty sure it was chemistry that I was gonna have to take over again and I had a test coming up. I just remember being like there is no way that I'm gonna get a good enough grade on this exam that it's gonna bring up my grade enough for me to not have to retake this entire course over again. And at that point I was really evaluating my options of like I don't even want to be in school period. I just I just don't care about any of these classes, like this is just not what I want to be doing.
Speaker 1:And I had no idea that I was gonna be an entrepreneur, but I just knew that like college in that moment wasn't it for me? And I called my boyfriend and I was talking to him about it and I just remember being like like telling him that I would have to retake the class and him saying like just really listening, and being like, well, what are you gonna do? And I was just like I don't think I'm gonna go back. And he was like, well, don't you need it for graduation? Like don't you need a passing grade in this class for graduation? And I was like, yeah, but I don't think I'm gonna go back to school in general, and that was, of course, so scary to decide, because you know, that was I don't want to say like the forced path or like it was. It was the expected path, but it's not like my parents were really like pushing me towards it. There was no one really like you must go to school and do this and whatever like maybe my grandparents if I had to put like a face to that, but Even so, like no one was like you have to go to school, just kind of the road that I was on, it was just kind of the thing to do. So that's what I was doing.
Speaker 1:And when I recognized like the main thing that I can feel from being Back in my body at that point in time is just like the heaviness and like the immediate sinking feeling of Walking into chemistry class or I think it was online, but just like pulling up the fucking page, I just remember it was just like blank energy, like I just felt so ugh, so I dropped out of college and I figured it out after that. There was I don't think there was a point in time after I dropped out that I was unemployed. I'm pretty sure I was. Yeah, I was Working at that point in time. I don't know if I was in gyms yet or not, but yeah, I just figured it out after that. Another time that I completely changed my course was when I was working in person at a gym and this is, at this point, my third gym that I was working in had pretty bad experiences, like a mixture of good and bad. Honestly, the bad, the bad Time doesn't outweigh the good time, but the bad experiences outweigh the good experiences, if that makes sense. Like the bad things were bad enough that, like I look back on that time and I'm like what the fuck? But like most of the time, I feel like I enjoyed working there. It was just like the things that happened. I'm like okay, fuck, no, like not worth it. And so, yeah, I'm at my third gym at this point and somehow this is the worst experience of them all.
Speaker 1:Everyone that's working there is like ex cons. They're all scary as fuck. I mean, I'm not gonna say that they were. I don't know if they actually had all been in jail or whatever. That's just literally the vibe. It was in South Daytona in Florida, so if you're familiar with the area, that in itself should say enough. But yeah, honestly, like a scary place to be. God, there was so much sketch shit happening in there and just melt. I felt so uncomfortable working with the men there.
Speaker 1:It, and I don't know how I found this guy, but I found an online business coach for personal training specifically, and I Don't know if he reached out to me. If I reached out to him, but I just was like whoa, people are doing this online and it's working. Like people are making ten thousand dollars a month. That's crazy. Like what a time. So I was like I Need to get in there and I was looking at, like the requirements for the course, like how much time would be necessary in order to be successful with their program, and something in me was just like Fuck it. Like I need to be Fully in this. I need to just like quit my in-person job and devote all of my energy to making this work, because any time I'm spending on something else, like I'm not giving my full potential to what this could be. And I had only been working at this gym for like a month at the time. But again, it was like it was just what I was doing and I honestly didn't know what else. Like I didn't know what my next steps were. I was Working at the front desk in all of these gyms while studying for my personal training exam, which I took like a week or two after I started working at this new gym because I had just moved and I Took my exam.
Speaker 1:I passed my exam. They were like planning to train me to be a personal trainer because I said I was gonna take my exam and Ended a passing. I started working with my clients in person and I was like this is just not it. This is not who I want to be working with. These people know literally nothing about working out. I'm going back to the very, very basics. I don't know how to Like push someone when they've never worked out a day in their lives, like one of my.
Speaker 1:One of my clients was literally a physical therapy case like 100%. He had just come out of like knee surgery and I Mean this guy could like barely walk and it was just not good and I couldn't believe that they were giving me these types of people to work with. They were like Whatever there? They're insane. But I had just started working there and I had just taken on like a new position as a personal trainer. I just got my Certification to start training people and like training in person was still new to me at the time and I was like fuck it, like I can totally do this online and have people that I want to work with, people that have at least an idea of what they're doing or at least motivated to do it. Like I feel like the people that were coming into Into the gym or just like Conned literally conned, like they didn't really want personal training but they felt like they had to because the salesman was fucking a scumbag. But God, just reflecting on that time, so interesting.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I knew I Needed to get out. I knew how much it sucked and, honestly, how scary it felt working there. I was like fuck this, I need to go. And and Something in me just literally knew I didn't ask Anyone if it was a good idea I maybe talked to John about it a little bit, but like If I tell John that I'm doing something, sure he'll give me a little bit of pushback for, like Only to figure out what my plan is, not because he doesn't believe me. And then it's like, okay, like let's do it, you got it, I, I see you in this, let's fucking go. And that was like the little push that I needed and I quit my job and that was that was that.
Speaker 1:And I became successful at online coaching, like I made, I think, like five to seven K in my first month, which is Nuts because I wasn't tracking anything and had no idea what I was doing and how much I was making. And, yeah, it was kind of wild, but I had to be willing to just fucking make the leap, to completely allow myself to just stop in the direction that I was moving towards and and Take a right like I just I Was doing everything that was In my path in my current position positioning. Like I was Got hired out of gym. I told them I was gonna be a personal trainer, I was getting my certification, like I was moving in that direction to fucking go ham right there and work with people in person. And I was like you know what? I am not happy and I also don't feel safe and I'm not gonna sit here in this Discomfort and just like let my life be that same thing with dropping out of college. I was sitting for, however many, but I think at least four years in school of bouncing around to different colleges and not being happy and and Finally just being like Wait, I actually don't care about what I'm doing, maybe I should do something that I somewhat care about, which brought me to the gym, which brought me to personal training, which brought me online. And this brings me into my next pivot point, where I was making it work as a Business owner.
Speaker 1:I had my business, cassie K fit. I was growing a really good following on social media. That part was fun. It was also stressful, but it was really fun, and I love looking back at my old content because she's so fucking cute. But in general, I didn't really trust myself and I was starting to slow down on my momentum as far as signing clients.
Speaker 1:Like I just was so fixated on the number and thought that more money was gonna make me happier with my business, when the reality was like I didn't feel good in the advice and the support that I was giving to my clients. I didn't feel happy with the clients that I even had like feeling like I could. There were a select few that were like really in it and they were like fuck, yes, I'm motivated, let's go. And I also had a lot of clients who didn't wanna fucking do the work and it felt like I was literally hand holding, pulling them along like let's get it, and there was just like no reciprocated energy on the other side. So I was so hyper fixated on the numbers, thinking that that was gonna make me feel better about what was really going on, which was, yeah, I wasn't aligning with my clients. I wasn't feeling excited at all about the plans that I was building, about the results that my clients were getting. I wasn't even getting them amazing results.
Speaker 1:I feel like I really wanted them to pour into, like the mindset piece and understanding, like, okay, why can I not stick to my habits? Why have I not been treating my body with respect? Like, why is self care more than just like slamming a box of pizza and drinking some wine on the weekends? Like I really wanted them to understand the mindset piece of hey, part of this journey is not just about the physical transformation, it's about why we haven't been choosing ourselves this whole time and why is it so hard for you to not stick to your routine? Like, what does that say about your own self worth? And that wasn't really resonating with the clients that I had because, I mean, that's not what they signed up for. They signed up for the physical transformation and because I was shifting, that doesn't mean that they're shifting too, like they weren't ready for it, and that's okay.
Speaker 1:I also didn't feel good at all making their meal plans. I don't wanna make a fucking meal plan. I don't eat by a meal plan. Why do I wanna make meal plans for my clients? No, I don't believe in them. Boom, I don't track my macros. Why would I make my clients track my macros? But here I was doing meal plans and macro tracking when I fucking knew that I had an understanding of. Now we're getting into the gritty fitness shit, but I had an understanding of whole foods and nutrients and I know what macros are and how to make a plate that is gonna nourish my body, and that's what I would rather teach.
Speaker 1:But it wasn't because I was just doing what I was told, so like what was required of me to do. My job didn't feel good, and yet I was just pushing and pushing and pushing and I felt miserable. On calls and on sales calls I was so anxious, like trying to get people to sign up for something that I didn't even fucking feel good about or believe in. And so where I was willing to pivot is dissolving my business, dissolving, cast business already with other fitness coaches and I thought that that would fix my problem because I don't really need to do a lot of work. They already have their systems and processes and they're gonna give me clients and it's all gonna be sunshine and rainbows because I'll be making good money. Except I wasn't. And yeah, not only was I not making good money, I was also not feeling good about the work. Still, I was even more confused because I couldn't even use my own systems and processes. I was using my teams and that didn't feel good.
Speaker 1:Which brings me to my next point, which, along this journey, I had awakened, I had been really, really triggered and if you guys probably already know this piece of my story, but if you don't go and listen to episode one, because it's really, really important to understanding me and who I am and what I've been through like, go listen to episode one. But yeah, I thought that that would solve all my problems and, yeah, I ended up being really, really triggered at an event and I had this massive breakthrough of holy shit. The reason that I don't this is very simplified, but the reason that I don't trust myself, the reason that I haven't been feeling good in business and all this other shit is because I have this unhealed trauma within me that I've been harnessing and just like carrying around with me since I was eight years old and I'm pretending that it's not there and somehow she's weaving her way into everything that I fucking do. I had no idea that trauma could play out in that way and it was just literally affecting everything. So I decided to hire a mentor, a spiritual life coach, and she is now my best friend and we worked through so much together and I got to a point where I was like I really want to bring this experience to as many people as possible. Like I Feel so liberated after allowing myself to feel the pain and allowing myself to feel the peace, understanding, like, all these different pieces of me and recognizing my patterns, like Learning about spirituality and opening up to the possibility of a god after being a fucking atheist for years. Everything started clicking and that's when I knew I was like I want to do this, and so I actually brought it to the CEO of the business that I was working with and was like, hey, I want to be a life coach. Like do you think that that's something that we can incorporate into what we do with with this coaching business, even though they were in fitness. And she was like fuck yeah, like I love the holistic approach, like let's, let's do it. You let me know what you want to do. And I'm so grateful that she was so open to me doing that and, at the same time, like it left everything in my hands.
Speaker 1:And if I was gonna be creating all that stuff, I was like why do I not just do it on my own? And John, my boyfriend, ended up Asking me. He was like hey, I know that, I know that this is something that you want to do. What if your mentor asked you to be on the team instead? Like what do you want to do? That, would you say. And I was like whoa, that would be incredible, that would be amazing, that would be a dream. And I don't think that they're, I don't think that they're looking to hire, it's just the two of them. You know, like I don't think that they would want to bring on another team member. And I sat with that and I was like ooh, that was really limiting, I should let myself have it. Like I should let myself Want that, want that. And I sat with it, I general on it, and nine days later they offered me the position literally nine days of letting myself fucking have it, letting myself want it, letting myself visualize being on the team and then them being like, so hey, and it ended up working out. So Then I had to make the full pivot of like yes, now this is coming true, this was something that I've been wanting, and now I actually have to. And now I actually have to make a change.
Speaker 1:And, mind you, this was another period of like not being with this team very long, just like at the gym. I had only been working there for like a month and same thing. I think I was working with this team for probably less than a month and All of a sudden, I asked her if I can transition from fitness to life coaching and she says, ok, let's do it. And then my mentors are like, hey, actually, why don't you life coach with us? And I was like that's a dream, I need to quit my job. And so that was one of the first times where I had to have a conversation that I was really, really afraid to have with somebody that I valued and like looked up to, was basically like my boss, and I had to be honest and set the boundary and be like, hey, I'm really grateful for this spot, I'm really grateful that you have trusted in me to create this thing in your baby, in your business. And my dream spot opened up and like I have to go. And she wasn't the happiest but she was like I can't argue with that.
Speaker 1:So, less than a month, I'm in and I'm out and I ended up pivoting and switching to Mindset and life and spirituality, healing, coaching From fitness, and that led to me having to change my Instagram, pivoting my Instagram. I had to switch up the way that I was posting content and that felt scary because I was like, are people going to want to give it? Like, are they going to care? Are they going to give a shit? The answer is sort of my community has grown in a way, and also shrunken a ton. I think that I have had, like I've developed, closer relationships with a smaller group of people than just like having little touchpoints with a greater range of people.
Speaker 1:My Instagram got all the way to, I think, 28 something thousand followers on Instagram and ever since I pivoted, my Instagram has, like slowly, slowly, been trickling down. I'm at 22,000 followers now which, listen, it's not all about the numbers and I'm kind of getting ahead of myself with the reason that I started a new Instagram. We've got one more thing in between these two. But yeah, it's not all about the numbers. But at this point, like my engagement is terrible. There is only like 1% of my audience the people that follow me that are seeing and viewing and coming to my profile and commenting and engaging with me. Like there's literally 1% of my following that is seeing my content. That's fucking horrible, mate. That's terrible. Like why? But I'll continue with that.
Speaker 1:But really that was what I was afraid of, was like, if I switch my Instagram, should I just make a new one? At that point, like, are people gonna want to follow me into this spiritual content? And my intention was kind of to do both because, like, the way that I took care of my body is also spiritual, but I didn't want it to be too confusing for my audience. So I just like cold turkeyed the fitness stuff and was like I cannot touch fitness again on my in my content and so I left Cassie Kay fit behind. I even changed my handle. Shout out to you if you followed me during that time and are listening to this because, like, writer, die, I love you. But yeah, I ended up switching my whole Instagram and yeah, it was scary, but I honestly thought it was just going to work out Like I thought that the algorithm would fucking pick it up, would recognize like what I'm doing now and push it out to the right people. But she never learned. But yeah, before we get to the reason, well, more of the reason why I started a new Instagram.
Speaker 1:In between that time period, after I pivoted my Instagram, after I was coaching with the mindset movement I, there came a point in time where I really wanted more and I have a whole episode on this. I think it's it's called from scratch. I'm not sure which episode number it is, but it's one of the earlier ones where I decided to start my own business again. I wanted to be known for the work that I was doing and I didn't want it to be I'm in the background. I didn't want to just be a coach, I wanted to be part owner of the business and that wasn't an opportunity like. That was an opportunity that was given to me or granted to me. It wasn't my place. So I had to accept that and I did.
Speaker 1:That was one of the hardest pivots that I've had to make and one of the most heartbreaking decisions I've had to make as well is leaving that business, because we were doing such amazing things and we had such an amazing community, and I'm grateful that I'm still connected with the majority of the women that I worked with. I still hear from my old clients all the time and yeah, it's, it's really really special, but it had an expiration date, like my time there, what I learned from there. It was up and it was time for me to take what I learned and what I had been through with the mindset movement and apply it on my own. Like it was time for me to spread my wings and be a leader in my own space. And so I did, and that was incredibly difficult. Like I said, I broke my own fucking heart making that decision.
Speaker 1:And the common theme with all of these things is like it's maybe something that I'd contemplate for a little bit, but to be honest, it's like a short period of contemplation and then quick action, and I think that's what makes me queen of the pivot is because not only have I pivoted so many times, but like I'm moving quick when I pivot, I'm like resisting it a little bit at first, but like, once it's in my face, it's in my face and I got to get it out of my face and you cannot do that with avoidance. There's one thing that I learned like avoidance gets you fucking nowhere. It makes you miserable. It's literally torture to keep doing the same thing over and over and over when it's not working, like no, and that's also what I was doing with my Instagram was I was doing all the things.
Speaker 1:I'm being consistent. I'm using trending audio. Like I'm engaging with my followers and, yeah, my engagement was shit. Like I said, 1% of my audience, which is nuts, and my following is slowly dwindling. And like, yeah, people are also following me as I'm losing followers, but I'm losing faster than I'm gaining. And again, not all about the numbers, but like I'm running a business here and that doesn't make sense, especially when I'm trying to. I'm trying to be seen. I want. I want my following to care about what I'm posting and want to want to see me, period. Like I, it's not all about numbers, but like the numbers that were there were like empty, like they might as well be robots. It literally looks like I fucking bought my following. But no, they were just all there for the fitness content and that's not what they signed on for. So it's something that I had contemplated again for a while.
Speaker 1:Was, you know, tossing around the idea of starting a new Instagram? And I was like I don't want to throw away all the work that I've done. Like I can revive my dead ass account, like dead account. Like on a good day I was getting like 300 people watching my stories. When I have 22,000 followers. How does that add up? On a good day, I'm getting like 300 likes on a post. That's nice, that's awful for like the ratio of likes to followers. It makes no sense.
Speaker 1:So I met up on a coffee date with a friend and she was talking to me about coaching and like different things that I want and she was like, honestly, I think you can really really benefit from starting a new account. And I was like, no, that's not what I wanted to hear. Yeah, because there was a part of me like my ego was attached to the numbers. Like I have 22,000 followers, that's lit, except not really when they're like empty followers. And so we talked about a bunch of different strategy things and we just talked about it some more and I was like you know what? It's way better to have a smaller following with people who are actually engaged and care about me and want to be there and want to like be a part of my work. Like want to want to buy from me and want to be in my programs and want to be making a change in their life. Like that's why I'm on Instagram is not for shits and gigs. Like, yeah, it's fun, but it's also my life's work. Like I, I'm ready to serve Hello, and that wasn't the energy that has been reciprocated. Or, like I, my following wasn't ready to receive that. So I'm going to look somewhere else and I'm hoping that I can build a community on my new Instagram of people who give a fuck Period.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, really like, a common theme for all of these points is like once I know, I know and it feels really scary at first, but like, time and time again, of choosing to pause and change directions to shake things up, I've proved to myself that there is so much safety in a pivot Like, yeah, it feels hard at first, but if you can just commit, then like you're golden. And shout out to my friend Megan we were talking about, like giving ourselves permission to pause, like we have been so ingrained in like this go go go culture where we almost don't see the value in pausing, like we don't think we have the opportunity to pause and to reevaluate and to process. But when we let go of the struggle aspect, when we allow ourselves to get over like the I can't story, it opens up this immense amount of potential for you to step into it. It's like opening up this massive window that's been sealed shut for years and you're like, whoa, that's just dusty. I didn't know that could open. It's like, bro, it was right here.
Speaker 1:When we release the struggle, we can pour our energy into the change that we really want to make. So, whatever is like circling in your brain, whatever the story is of like why you can't, once you allow yourself to just let that should go to, just like call bullshit on yourself and claim the fuck out of the thing that you really want. Instead, then you can just move into it freely. Just don't give a fuck. So, if anything, use this podcast episode as an invitation for you to slow down, to process, to reevaluate and to choose, rather than force your way into the pivot.
Speaker 1:See what is not working in your life right now and what needs to be changed. Where are you playing a role in your own stuckness, in your own unhappiness, in your own discomfort, in your own dissatisfaction? Where are you an active participant in that and how can you open yourself up to the possibility of more Like, get over yourself. Get over yourself. I'm sick of the I can't story because of who the fuck cares. Next, it's time to get over yourself and choose something that's actually gonna serve you.
Speaker 1:We are so scared of making a change for what you get to create the safety in it. Prove it to yourself. It's not so scary. You got this. And if you're trying to navigate a pivot and you're doing it alone and you feel like you need support, hi, queen of the Pivot over here, let's navigate this shit together. Baby, make sure that you are please following me on my new account. It is underscore Cassie Kovacs on Instagram. That is the place to find me, to message me, tag me in your stories when you post this episode on your stories and I'm sending you all the love. Happy pivoting. I will talk to you in the next episode. I love you. Bye.