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Main Street Reimagined Podcast
This is a podcast for dreamers, creators, developers, and entrepreneurs to learn, share, and be inspired to change your community through small business.
Main Street Reimagined Podcast
Episode 47: Coffee, Mentorship, and Allowing Leaders to be Human with Megan Gerber
What does it take to transform a community while simultaneously transforming yourself? Megan Gerber's journey from classroom teacher to downtown entrepreneur to leadership coach unveils the profound connection between personal growth and entrepreneurial success.
When Megan noticed her high school students in Chillicothe, Ohio lacked consistent adult support outside school hours, she took a remarkable leap of faith. With no business experience but boundless determination, she founded both Paper City Mentoring Project (a nonprofit supporting teenagers) and
(a full-service café that helped fund the mission). "I knew it was crazy. I knew I didn't know how to do it," she admits. Yet that commitment before complete readiness became her first entrepreneurial superpower.
Throughout eight years of business ownership, Megan encountered what she calls "full walls" – seemingly insurmountable obstacles that threatened her dream. Her approach to these challenges reveals a crucial mindset: "I allowed myself the time and space to just step back for a second and recalibrate and say, this is how I thought I was going to build this business. That didn't work, so I'm going to figure out another way." This resilience and adaptability sustained her through financing hurdles, pandemic pivots, and countless leadership tests.
Beyond business mechanics, Megan discovered the profound personal growth inherent in entrepreneurship. "If you want to do a lifetime of personal inner work, just become an entrepreneur," she reflects. This realization eventually led her to pursue a master's degree focused on the human dimensions of organizations, and ultimately to her current role coaching leaders through their own growth journeys.
Today, Megan helps executives, small business owners, and leaders navigate the intersection between effective leadership and authentic humanity. Her core message resonates with startling clarity: "If you want to be a better leader, be a better human." Through one-on-one coaching and workshops tackling issues like anxiety, she guides clients to the self-awareness that transforms their leadership presence.
Guest Links:
https://web.facebook.com/papercitymentoringproject
https://web.facebook.com/papercitycoffee
Main Street Reimagined:
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Henry Development Group:
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Luke Henry:
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#MeganGerber #ChillicotheOhio #FemaleFounders #EntrepreneurJourney #PaperCityMentoring #FromTeacherToEntrepreneur #WomenInLeadership #CommunityRevitalization #MentorshipMatters #RealTalkLeadership #EmpoweredWomenEmpower #SocialImpactBusiness #HeartLedLeadership #SmallTownBigDreams #AuthenticLeadership
you will run into full walls that feel impossible and they feel like they're going to shut your whole dream down. That actually will happen and that happened multiple times and I had a temptation to not never to give up, but to just be really defeated. But I allowed myself the time and space to just like step back for a second and recalibrate and say, ok, this is how I thought I was going to build this business. That didn't work, so I'm going to figure out another way.
Speaker 2:This is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast, a show for people ready to start a movement, their ideas, their mindsets and their inspirations, as well as some of the highs and lows along the way. This is a place for dreamers, creators, developers and entrepreneurs to learn, share and be inspired to change your community through small business. Enjoy the show. Hey friends, this is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast. I am Luke Henry and I'm so glad that you are joining us this week. You're in for a treat.
Speaker 2:I've been excited about this conversation for a while and you are going to enjoy, I think, hearing the story of my friend, megan Gerber, who is here in studio with me today. We've been spending a little bit of time in downtown Marion with the tour and lunch here, and Megan hails from Chillicothe, ohio, and we met a while back and instantly had a kinship around love for small towns and development, and you're going to hear her story of going through a whole series of things that led her to where she is today. That included having a downtown business for eight years, and she's going to talk about that, and as well as where she is today with doing some really meaningful work around coaching entrepreneurs and leaders, and so we're going to dig into some of that, and there is a lot of ground to cover. So with that, megan welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for also showing me around, marion, and shout out to the village of people who are investing in making it such a cool place. Yes, I really enjoyed it. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:We kind of compared notes about just what it takes to make a community thrive, to make downtown special and all of the dreamers and doers that take part in that really meaningful work. And so you saw it in your hometown of Chillicothe and we're going to talk about that some and we're seeing it here in Marion and it's exciting Just the great work that's being done all over by really passionate people. So thanks again for coming up and so let's start. I've been able to hear a lot of your story but I'd like for you to share with our listeners just kind of your story, starting with being born and raised in Chillicothe and your first career, and then your second career and now kind of your third career and that whole journey here, yes, I don't like to be bored.
Speaker 1:I can relate, that's cool. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:I think that don't like to be bored. I can relate. That's cool yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:I think that's part of the entrepreneurial spirit actually. It is. Yeah, I would be honored to share, especially just because I think so many people and places are the reason that I'm sitting here. So I'd love to honor them. I was born and raised in Chillicothe and that's Southern Ohio, and I'd also like to shout it out as Ohio's first and third capital, because some people don't realize that.
Speaker 1:So I just want to say that Um, and also just some really cool, um, significant historical places in Chillicothe and Ross County and some cool things happening there in a historic downtown so just a great place. It's taken a lot of dreamers, creatives, entrepreneurs and leaders to get it to where it is today, which is a pretty vibrant downtown, is today, which is a pretty vibrant downtown. Um, just, I've seen a lot of people sacrifice a lot and put their passion in to make it, um, a really vibrant place, and it wasn't always that way. It wasn't that way.
Speaker 1:When I was growing up, downtown was really dead, and so that has just happened in the last 10 years and so to be a part of that has, you know, shaped the town and definitely shaped me, so it's been really cool. So I grew up in Chillicothe, I went to college and studied English education. I knew I wanted to be an English teacher and I taught middle school and high school English and Luke was sharing with me just the experience of being around middle schoolers Cause he has to.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, it is takes a very special teacher.
Speaker 1:They're wild and wacky and stinky and smart and brilliant and creative, and I love being around them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're all of that. Yeah, they're just really fun.
Speaker 1:They're so fun and they're so smart, and especially this next generation. I've been talking a lot to people about just how much I've learned from their empathy and their kindness and their perspective of the world and their perspective of what it means to be a leader. I think we have a lot to learn from the teenagers. And so I always try to listen to them.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, I taught for six years Real quick aside there. I just thought of this because we've talked a lot in our time together today before we started recording about our wounds from COVID, timeframe A lot of wounds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so something we'll get to, exactly how you ended up working with a lot of youth. But in your work with youth, do you feel like you know that what are now middle schoolers were, and maybe even high schoolers were, really shaped by covid and how? What was your observation of like the impact that you saw that make and kind of how that changed? You know, like each generation has like things that they're kind of known for being affected by, because they're at kind of a critical age of development when a major event happens. What's your observation?
Speaker 1:there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have seen that firsthand and it's significant, I think, the impact that it's had, and I was actually just talking to my cousin who has a 20-year-old son and she was sharing with me a story that I've heard over and over again and it's basically just about the mental health struggles that started during COVID and I think that's been the main consequence that we've seen of kids who already are living in a time of more isolation than we've ever seen social isolation because they are the iPad there they socialize so much more online and are often disconnected in real human conversation and connection and even when they're together, they're on their phones and, um, when you threw COVID on top of that, their only social space, which was school, was ripped away from them.
Speaker 1:And so I think the mental health that's actually where we had to turn, which I know we haven't gotten there yet, but for our nonprofit that supports teenagers, we had to instantly start figuring out how do we support the mental health of our teenagers because they are really struggling, and so just an increase in depression, anxiety and even like, especially, social anxiety and willingness to be independent and take risks.
Speaker 1:Even we've seen a decline in our students even wanting to get their driver's license, even wanting to get their driver's license, and so it's interesting the way that this even greater social isolation has crept up on them, because they're now saying, like we've learned and figured out how to cope without being around people, and so why do we need our driver's license? We don't need to drive anywhere, which I don't know about you, but when it was like the day we turned 16, that is life changing. I have my freedom, I'm going to go hang out with my friends constantly, and it's just a different time. And so you know, obviously, covid, I think really increased the conversation on mental health, think really increased the conversation on mental health. But the teenagers and the kids that had school, that social piece ripped away from them, I think, were impacted the most.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah and just finding ways. Recently had some conversation with some educators and administrators you know, talking about, like, the needs of students coming out of high school into the workforce. Again, you saw this in your work, which, again, we'll get to. I feel like we're kind of talking about this out of order, but we'll get there. I promise to your listeners, but that it's so important to teach those social skills, not just for the benefit of work. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:For sure, and it's interesting. I've been leading a workshop recently, so this is on my mind. But our brains are wired for two things survival and belonging. And it's interesting because when you take away that sense of humanity and community away from people, that is such a significant impact on even your brain and the way you show up in the world and your emotions. And so I think because we are so wired for belonging and that was taken away from all of us, but especially the kids. I think that's why it's directly related to mental health. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we could probably talk about that for a while. But back to your story.
Speaker 1:So you became an English teacher middle school, high school, and, towards the end, just kind of knew that I wanted to do something else. I wouldn't have been able to articulate at the time that I have that entrepreneurial spirit. But I know that now because I don't think it is something that will ever die in me. But I felt something kind of brewing inside of me and I didn't even know what that was of me and I didn't even know what that was, but I started to see a significant lack of support for my high schoolers.
Speaker 1:Um, we, I'm obviously from a really under resourced area, and I had so many kids coming to me and expressing um, basically, that they had no adults outside of school who knew where they were If they had dinner. Definitely not thinking about their future, really, people showing up to care consistently. And so that's a hard thing to carry as a teacher, without wanting to be a part of the solution, and you can, you know, shout out to all of the educators and coaches and everyone who is showing up for these kids at school, but the reality is a lot of times these kids leave the school building and you have no control after that. And so, long story short, I started researching and there were no resources for teenagers in my county and I just started to think like the biggest impact and saw in research on the trajectory of a teenager's life is if they have one significant adult support them and show up consistently for them. So a mentor we call that.
Speaker 1:And I knew that to be true in my own life and so decided, with another teacher, to quit teaching and start the Paper City Mentoring Project, which is a nonprofit where we train and equip adults to mentor high school students who could use someone in their corner. And um also decided to start a coffee shop slash full restaurant in downtown Chillicothe to help support and um bridge the gap for the nonprofit and be the home base for it. So that's called Paper City Coffee, and so I quit teaching, started a business, started a nonprofit, had to learn food service and had to learn coffee and listen. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Um, I think you just have to be willing to be wrong and learn from that and you have to be extremely resourceful, and that's what got us through, and also, I just had an incredible community of support behind me working to build that together.
Speaker 1:It was not it certainly it was not just me, and so I owned the coffee shop for eight years and I ended up selling that, so we opened in 2016. I ended up selling Paper City Coffee last May 1st. So eight years almost, and the nonprofit is still going. It's evolved and has grown significantly and just doing really cool things with teenagers in the community and we're now even we have school based programs that were out in the schools and so just a lot of really cool things going on with that. I'm still on the board, so I'm still connected with the nonprofit but have moved on from the business. But that is that season of my story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, on from the business.
Speaker 2:But that is that season of my story, yeah, yeah. So let's, let's dig in there a little bit more, because there's a lot that I think that listeners of this podcast would really enjoy hearing about, and one of those is I often talk with entrepreneurs on this podcast and we talk about the leap moment. And you know, do you recall? You know the specific moment when you'd been thinking about this for a while, you'd been dreaming about it for a while. Obviously, you're talking about the nonprofit piece, the coffee shop and restaurant piece, and there's a lot that's swirling around, and at one point you had to say like Okay, I'm just I'm stepping off the diving board and this is.
Speaker 2:You know whether that's signing a lease or you know filing something, or you know taking some step, you know applying for the loan. What was that? Do you remember a very specific time where you're like, okay, I'm in it now and the only, the only way is forward?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, let me also. Let me just preface this by saying I think the only reason I was able to take that risk aside from, you know, the privileges that I have in my life is because I was very naive.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Many of us can say that Exactly I did not know what.
Speaker 1:I was very naive, yes, yes, many of us can say that Exactly. I did not know what I was getting into and I've said so many times that I don't know if I would have done it if I could see clearly the path ahead of me.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Because it's uphill Right, it's tough.
Speaker 1:It's really rocky, and I also want to add that I can look back and say I think I actually would choose to do it all over again, because it really shaped, and it shaped who I am as a person and a leader, and I don't think I would have evolved in this way without the it's, someone told me the other day. They were like if you want to do a lifetime of personal inner work, just become an entrepreneur amen it forces that experience.
Speaker 1:you have to face a lot of demons, I think, if you want to show up as a certain type of leader, which I know we'll probably get to later. But, um, I think the moment that I knew I was going to jump off the diving board was when I told the people that I loved about the idea and that that's obviously very early on in the stages of dreaming. But once I get something in my head and I say I'm going to do it, then I'm going to do it. And so I knew it was crazy. I knew I didn't know how to do it. I trusted. I was like, okay, I'm serious about this, I'm actually going to make this happen. Yes, and I love that. And you use the word committed.
Speaker 2:And I think that there is this distinct moment where people go from interested to committed and some people like that that aren't able to make the leap.
Speaker 2:I think it's because they don't ever get to that committed phase and and it is a decision it wasn't after you had all the financing, it wasn't after you had, you know, gotten the perfect business plan together. You committed first and then you figured it out, right, right. And I think that that is so often where people get hung up, they get stalled, you know, trying to like well, I need to see the whole path before I take the first step onto it, and it's like, no, there's got to be a degree of of, you know, commitment, a degree of faith, and just you know that I take this first step, then I'll figure out the second one, then the third one, and that's how it goes, right.
Speaker 1:I mean, that was your experience. It sounds like.
Speaker 2:And so you're, you know, tactically, I mean you're, you're trying to learn coffee and food and layouts and health department requirements.
Speaker 1:And you know I mean talk to us a little bit about that and how that played out. Yeah, um, it was just a crash course in so many things, and what I did do that I think served me so well is surrounded myself, because I obviously know the power of mentoring.
Speaker 1:I surrounded myself with people who I was willing to ask really dumb questions to and be a fool around and admit how much I don't know and just really soak in their wisdom and knowledge. Because the reality is you're going to make a million decisions a day as you're building a business million decisions a day as you're building a business and some of those decisions are going to pan out and they're going to be great, and some of those decisions are the wrong decisions, and you're going to learn that the hard way.
Speaker 1:But sometimes you can swallow your pride and ask someone who's been there before and learn from their mistakes, so you don't have to make it yourself. And so I think that was a really wise move of me is I asked a lot of questions and kind of sat in the council of smart, successful people and listened to what they had to say Not that I always did it the way they told me to, because sometimes I wanted to do it my way or a different way, and but I at least had more information to make a better decision, and so, um, I think that was probably the the best thing that I did for myself as a young leader is surround myself with a lot of wisdom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And so, just one step at a time, you figured out each piece, how it was going to fit together.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And what was kind of the timeline from when you decided to when you opened, and were there significant milestones in between there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was about a year from like. Okay, this is the idea, I'm really committed. And I finished out the school year as a teacher and then we opened in the fall of 2016. And in that timeframe, you know, we had to of. This is I want, wanted to do everything as excellently as possible, and that required so much work and so much learning on on my end. And so I think I didn't realize how much work and how many hours I would be working for the first couple of years of owning a business. And it's significant, and I was used to working a lot as a teacher, but this was on another level and I just had to be willing to do all of that and to learn something new basically every single day. I mean I had to figure out scheduling and payroll, let alone managing people, I mean.
Speaker 1:I think managing high school students was just the best preparation for me.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine a better prep actually, that really taught me a lot about leadership and creating a safe space for people. But I think I just had to enter with a really good balance of confidence, basically blind confidence and humility. Yeah, I ran my classroom this way. I, when a student would ask me a question and I didn't know the answer, I'd never pretended to know the answer. I just said I don't know the answer to that question. Let's figure that out together, and I think bringing that into building a business really served me as well. I think that earned respect. I'm sure some people looked down upon it and I don't really care, but I think it earned respect of my team people who worked for me that I led with a confidence but also with a humility, or at least I tried to. Sometimes I really fail at that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now that's really great advice and I love that. So we also talked a little bit before we went on here about the whole journey of also financing this thing. So I mean this was significant.
Speaker 2:You didn't have hundreds of dollars squirreled away from your teaching days to go write a check for this stuff, yeah, and you really didn't have a track record at all, as an entrepreneur. Yep, and so a lot of folks again kind of get stuck at that phase in the process and get discouraged. What did you do and what would you tell people that were, you know, trying to do what you did?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I won't get too specific because I think it's different for everyone, but I think this goes back into just being willing to be so scrappy and learning that you will run into full walls that feel impossible and they feel like they're going to shut your whole dream down. That actually will happen, and that happened multiple times, and I had a temptation to not never to give up, but to just be really defeated. But I allowed myself the time and space to just like step back for a second and recalibrate and say, okay, this is how I thought I was going to build this business. That didn't work, so I'm going to figure out another way. And so, whether that is with financing or leadership or anything in your life, you just have to use your failure as information to fuel what actually might work. And that is what helped me figure out how to finance it. And what I will say is I think, if you are a person who you lives your life in a way that people are willing to trust you and follow you, it makes that a lot easier of a process because people will rally behind you.
Speaker 1:And people really rallied behind me because I think I had spent a lot of time in my community, building connections and building genuine relationships and trust with people. And I think I mean think about it. I was like go. I was first of all going to before we opened, going to every single place that would let me in to tell our story and to cast the vision the Lions Club, the PEO, that I would call and say can I come tell our story? I'm opening this coffee shop and starting this nonprofit. First of all, no one in Southern Ohio. I had never heard of that business model. I made it up.
Speaker 1:And so when you're standing in front of people, it's helpful to have some credibility, and so that's actually one of the things I appreciate so deeply about having that small town that raised around me so hard and so strong that I this is not a story of my success, this is the story of like Chillicothe's success of building this coffee shop and this mentoring project. And so, yeah, I was just anyone who would listen. I would say here's our vision, here's the plan. I was like slinging iced lattes and cold brew out of the trunk of my car for free. Yes, Just to like. Hey, if I can give you this coffee, will you listen to what we're about to build? And so you know I think you've probably talked about the importance of storytelling in marketing. We did get that right. It's like telling the story of this vision that we're building, and that was a really big part even of securing finances or fundraising, so I will say that's also really important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so good, so good. Thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, so good, so good. Thanks for sharing that. And yeah, it's just. I mean, really, what I see you know in your story is that you've been planting these relational seeds for a long time in the community and then, when it came time to harvest because you attended to those relationships, there was relational capital that you'd built Because you attended to those relationships.
Speaker 2:There was relational capital that you'd built, that you were able to kind of cash in, so to speak. And yeah, I mean I don't want to glaze over the fact that not only were you trying to get money from like conventional lenders for this business, you were also fundraising for the nonprofit through. You know kind of that model and doing both and you were running them completely independently.
Speaker 2:So there was no mixing of anything there in terms of funds, but you were mixing the mission and the people on the business side. So you know, once you did clear all these hurdles and figure out how to make coffee and how to set this thing up and get a team together and train everyone and start to putting out a product consistently with excellence, which is so much harder said. It's just crazy hard yeah. Yeah. Then it is to just say, yeah, this is what we're going to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was a lot of grace given and I really value that. Um you know lots of learning curves, but we, using the word committed again, we were committed from the get go um to try, try our best to get that right and continue to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So so then talk about how these two missions did intersect in the business and the nonprofit, and what that looked like on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis and how you were bringing in these different communities and really creating a place of inclusion. That also was doing great work. And you're running it for a profit I mean the business part of it anyway. Right.
Speaker 2:And it needed to be sustainable. This couldn't just be a missional thing that was being funded by someone else. You needed to pay your personal bills Exactly With this endeavor. So that's a lot of things to try to manage.
Speaker 1:So much to manage and it evolved through the years, especially once COVID hit. Through the years, especially once COVID hit, we learned that relying on the coffee shop for the majority of funding for the nonprofit was not sustainable because obviously then if that is unsuccessful, then the nonprofit dies and we aren't willing to let that happen. That's the whole heartbeat of what we're doing and so, yeah, so we set it up as two entities, the nonprofit and the business, which basically, you know, coexist and support the mission of helping to mentor teenagers. But I think the beautiful piece that became Paper City Coffee is because we set out to build this thing around a mission of uplifting and supporting and mentoring teenagers and making, giving them a hub in our community where I think so many people felt welcomed and included and valued and seen, and people who felt like they were outliers in Southern Ohio for some reason, for many reasons I think, started to hang out at this place because they felt like they belonged and it became a. Really that is what I'm most proud of, I think of that space is what it became for a lot of people and and for me also, like that place saved me a few times and I went through some really challenging things in my personal life and having that safe space to to lean on even though it was also such a source of stress because it was a business I was running, the community of people that was growing there um was just really beautiful and so, um, I think I got distracted from the question, but basically we're two separate entities.
Speaker 1:But the mentors and teens, that's their home base for the paper study mentoring project. So they hang out at the coffee shop, they eat and drink for free Um, that's where PC&P has their like after school events. Sometimes we'll do like life skills classes or just social events.
Speaker 2:Are the mentees also working there?
Speaker 1:We have definitely had many mentees come through working at the coffee shop I shouldn't say many, some mentees, um, which has been very cool and also, you know, for the mentoring project. We help them with job shadowing and figuring out, and sometimes their mentors will help them with applying for jobs, or so they would certainly express to us if they wanted to work at the coffee shop and we could start figuring out a plan to make that goal happen, and so that was also really cool to have them as part of the staff. So, yeah, so long story short, the mentoring project has evolved and we rely more heavily on grant funding. We've been able to secure a lot of grants and more community funding than we were getting, because Paper City Coffee was providing a lot of financial support for the mentoring project, and so, you know, we've had to adjust the model to make it more sustainable for both, and I'm really glad that we were able to pivot to do that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I mean it seems like, seems like it was. It was busy and successful very busy and successful.
Speaker 1:And um you know COVID, it's like a trigger word. Yes. Um, that was another beast where it was not busy or successful because it couldn't be Um and we had to pivot for both the nonprofit and and the business. But um, yeah, it became, and still is, a really buzzing place in the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Well, so cool. Um, there's, I mean, a lot that we could talk about there, but just a really unique model and really challenging to get going. But you know, the commitment, I think, is just what you keep coming back to. And it's impressive and that commitment has stayed, as you realize that things needed to evolve and change and grow and just having that mentality all throughout, I think, is what it takes to make any endeavor successful clearly for profit or nonprofit, and it's so great that you were able to transition it as well.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit about how that came about where you started to get this sense that, hey, maybe this chapter is sort of coming to a close. I mean, you know again in our conversation you can share a little bit about, you know kind of how that came about. But then how did you successfully transition this? Obviously, it took a lot of heart for you to say this. Is you know, my baby, that I've grown? Now to eight years old.
Speaker 2:Right For you to say this is my baby, that I've grown now to eight years old Right, and to give it to someone else is going to be challenging, but I care about it enough and it's important enough to the community that I want to make sure that that happens successfully. Again, not easy to do, correct.
Speaker 1:What did you learn or what can you share from that process? I think I'm still processing, letting that go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:Honestly, just because it was the biggest part of my life and, I think, also the most beautiful and rich source of community that I've ever experienced. So walking away from that piece was also really challenging. So it's been a lot to process. Um, I felt for a while, um, that a couple of things, you know. I think it was so cool to see this dream that I had, that really just started out as a little idea, be able to come to fruition as a result of a lot of people and their hard work and their love. And it was growing and and I think I started to realize, um, that there was going to be, there were, there was going to come a day where I personally had given Paper City Coffee everything that I had to offer as a leader. And I think that was a really hard conversation to have with myself that at one point it would need something and someone else.
Speaker 1:And I got to that point and also I needed something else, like I was ready to move out of Chillicothe for a couple of other reasons, but that was a humbling experience to look at something you've built and say like, oh, this is, this is actually going to outgrow me, which you know, I. I know that I have the capacity. I could have stayed there for the rest of my life and and run that business, but how beautiful that someone else can step in and grow and change it and evolve it in a way that my skill sets wouldn't have done. And I poured everything that I could have into that place and I felt really comfortable walking away, knowing that I couldn't have walked away if I felt like there was unfinished business or I hadn't given it my all.
Speaker 1:And I was also really, really picky about who I even entertained conversations with about who was going to buy the business, and it wasn't until I started talking to the current owners. There were a couple of other people possibly interested, and it just worked out that these current owners, who were two of my former students and their husbands this family took over and they are much different than me and younger than me, and I think they have a lot more energy than me at this point, and they had a lot of passion about parts of the business that weren't my strengths, and so it was really cool to say like okay, like this is, there's a new season for this beautiful thing that I was a part of building and I'm not going to be a part of it. So that was. It was such a bittersweet experience for me to walk away from that business, but it was the right decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so, so fascinating, and you have done such a great job so far, sharing not just some of the tactical business things, which obviously you understand and you executed, but a lot of the heart, the thought process and the emotions below the surface that you were dealing with as you've gone through these different seasons of life that have been very unique each of them. And so I think that that dovetails really well into where you found yourself after that transition and what you're doing today and, more importantly, why you're doing that, and I think it really was born out of these challenges and growth opportunities that you've had through your personal and professional experiences to date.
Speaker 1:So talk a little bit about that funny, because not a single thing in my life is the same now as it was five years ago. Everything is completely different, but I love it. It's all been kind of building to this point, which has been really cool, as I was learning how to be a leader which I think I learned a lot about what that looked like when I was a teacher but then leading a team in running a business I was became just really really obsessed and focused on how do I become a leader, the leader that these people need to show up for them, and how do I give them the space to really show up here as human beings and I and support and empower them. And I became really obsessed with that. So I found I decided like, whatever I do in my life next, it's going to have something to do with that, and this is just like the part of this business that really fuels me.
Speaker 2:And did you decide that before you transitioned the business or you sold it? Okay, before I transitioned the business, you were kind of figuring this out. Yeah, what the next chapter was? Definitely yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so I found this master's program at the University of Texas called Human Dimensions of Organizations it's basically the people side of work and so I spent two years flying back and forth to Austin, texas, while still owning the business, and studying basically how do we show up as humans, for humans, in these spaces in a way that creates the healthiest workplace possible, and that's like really putting it in layman's terms.
Speaker 1:But it was such an incredible experience and I got to learn from a lot of other leaders in my cohort who were equally as obsessed with there has to be a better way for leaders to show up in these spaces and support their teams, and so that was a really incredible journey for me. No-transcript, and I don't think I was prepared for the mental and emotional labor that it takes to show up consciously as a person who I'm proud of, who these people trust, who is safe, who is compassionate and who leads really effectively. I didn't. I was not prepared for how deep that work was and how heavy the burden is that it is to be a leader so often, and you know, you know we've talked a lot about that today.
Speaker 1:It's just a it's a heavy burden really support their teams and really live a life that is so aligned that they can show up in their spaces and they can create this workplace that is healthier, where people are allowed to show up as themselves and also are doing incredible work. And so I'm now working as a coach and a consultant, so I kind of do both. I do one-on-one coaching, whether it's with executives or small business owners or any women who is in a woman who's in a leadership position um, and really digging deep into the personal work that goes into being a great leader, and I think people don't realize how much actual deep personal work it takes to show up as the kind of leader that you really want to show up as not just for your team at work, but also for your family and for your friends and for everyone in your life and for yourself.
Speaker 1:It takes so much work, and so I'm really working in the intersection between being an effective leader and being the human that you really want to be, because I really believe that the quote if you want to be a better leader, be a better human, and so my coaching is really kind of paralleling that personal and professional journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. We've had a lot of great conversation about this today before we started recording and you know, I think this is really meaningful work because I think we both know, and I'm sure listeners know if they're not themselves. Leaders who are just running and gunning and going 100 miles an hour and just never paying attention to their own self or their patterns, their behaviors, their, their baggage, uh, and some of that, and it's really hurting their ability to be effective in leading the people that they care about personally and professionally.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:And again, I know this is born out of you know just your own experiences. Because when you were sharing over lunch you said uh, I know this is born out of you know just your own experiences. Because when you were sharing over lunch you said you know, at maybe more than one point in your career you lost yourself Totally. And I mean, how often do you see that and how do you help those people kind of find themselves again?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting because I just was reading an article about how many people currently are turning down promotions because they are avoiding leading other people, because I think we're starting to see the level of burnout that's happening in because of that mental and emotional labor that it takes to be an effective leader labor that it takes to be an effective leader.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was. I had really developed unhealthy patterns that would eventually lead me to abandoning myself and that never ended well for me or my team or my family. And I had to make a lot of mistakes and fail as a leader a lot of times before I started to realize oh, there's a lot that's happening here with my team, with the situations that are stressing me out, with my schedule, there's so much of this that I'm actually responsible for. And it wasn't until I kind of turned the lens inward and started to kind of deal with my own crap that I started to show up as a leader in a more present and conscious way, because I had finally tapped into the self-awareness and taken responsibility for the part I was playing as the leader. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I see that so often and it's really really, really cool to watch the people that I'm working with as a coach, to watch them start to identify the root causes of some of their behaviors that are holding them back or that are causing them resentment in their team or their relationships, or their lack of boundaries or all of these personal things that they're now starting to face and that are freeing them up to actually be able to show up as the leaders they want to be. It's really cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's not easy. I would just like to say it's, which is why, like one of the reasons I'm doing this work, is because I wish I would have had a coach to sit with me and and be able to ask these really hard questions and have some accountability and have a lot of compassion for how much is on a leader's plate and say like, okay, what information is this behavior telling you about yourself and what part you have to play in the conflict that's happening on your team?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did a little bit of a sort of role play coaching earlier and, you know, I think that it seems like the way that you're able to add a lot of value to your clients and through those conversations, just asking really hard questions that that many of us don't take the time to really process, what it was in our past.
Speaker 2:You know what it is that our ego is working really hard over time to try to cover over and, uh, uh, to get down to that takes some excavating, and it's often not a job that you can do on your own. And so, um, you know, through through therapy and coaching, that's often the way that some of that is unlocked a little bit.
Speaker 1:So, um, yeah, I feel I feel really honored because you're right, it's kind of a sacred space that you have to have and build with someone to be able to cultivate that awareness and get really honest with yourself. And that is my work as a coach is creating that safe space where you can process really honestly and kind of get to a point where then there's healing on the other side of that Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you have any stories that you're able to share? Of course, not the people, but the situations where there was a real breakthrough that somebody was able to come to.
Speaker 1:I'm laughing just because I think she would laugh that I'm sharing this story. But I think I mentioned the word resentment earlier and that's because this story is just kind of fresh in my mind. I'm working with a client right now and she owns her own very successful business and we have been working on some conflict that she's having with the person who's managing her office and working through that and recently she has been able to have a lot of self-awareness when she's starting to feel that conflict happening, awareness when she's starting to feel that conflict happening. She's feeling it in her body and she's been learning how to listen to that. And she kind of like came to me last session and she was like you're not going to believe this, but in the middle of this conversation, this conversation, I could feel in my chest that this feeling was happening. And she said I decided because of the work we've been doing and I knew you would ask me to do this, she said I decided to get really curious about that feeling in my chest. So I got really curious with it and she said you know what happened? I said what she said.
Speaker 1:I realized that I was so resentful of her because I had told her that she could work X amount of hours a week, and that's the amount of hours a week.
Speaker 1:She's been working, but I've been working more hours a week. She's been working, but I've been working more hours a week than that, and she's like whose fault is that? That's my fault, and so just her. That's a really basic example, excuse me, of her bringing awareness to the part that she was playing in that conflict and that she was feeling, and she realized, like I, for months, have been letting this resentment build up, and it was only because she hadn't sat with why she was feeling that way, that that was just building and they were starting to nitpick at each other. And so, thankfully, after having that realization, she's been able to adjust expectations and also she's been able to adjust her schedule so that she's meeting her own needs of like oh, that information is actually telling me that I'm working too much and what I need to do is adjust my schedule so that I am not resentful for my team who's working less than me. I'm just now working the amount of hours that I need to work, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean it's a great example and is interesting. You kind of using the specific language because my next question was going to be around curiosity.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's just, um. I think, such a powerful concept that, when we can like go into conflict, whether it's with ourselves or with someone else, with curiosity instead of judgment or, you know, emotion, we can come out with some really helpful insights.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. I think if I could tell a leader one piece of advice, it would just be always lead with curiosity. I actually think that's the most important characteristic that you can have as a leader, and if you can remain curious with yourself, it's going to allow yourself the space to remain curious for other people. It's really hard to be curious and compassionate, for if you haven't given yourself that first um, we can pretend. I did that for a long time.
Speaker 1:I pretended to be really curious and really compassionate, but on the inside I was like burning with fire and resentment, similar to the client I was just talking about, and it's because I was trying to offer something to my team that I wasn't even giving to myself. And so it wasn't until I made some major changes in my own personal life and I was willing to be curious and compassionate with myself that I could have actual, genuine curiosity and compassion for the people sitting in front of me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really very powerful and you've shared a lot of wisdom here through this and it's obvious the way that you're able to get to the heart of the matter with clients and I just think that the work you're doing now I mean it's just really fascinating, to kind of connect the dots in reverse to be able to see how everything that you're doing now is a product of the experiences you had, the challenges and struggles you had, and the just the battle that was all of these different situations, but coming through them gave you this new level of compassion and empathy for the people that you're that are still doing the work and are still in the day to day battles that you're able to, to help and, and not just from a place of theory, but from a place of having been there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I think that's really meaningful. I'm really trying to show up in ways that I really needed and I didn't have someone and it's funny that I'm saying that I'm not thinking about this still right now. But the mentoring project we have a quote that we live by and it's be who you needed when you were younger. And I think what I'm trying to do now is be who I needed when I was leading a team. I really could have used that support and, honestly, I was able to find that support with people in my life who were able to provide a safe space for me to excavate personally. And it wasn't until I was willing to dig deep and get really honest with myself and kind of cut the crap that I was able to really start to be a better leader. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, really great. So if folks want to kind of follow along with what you're doing, you know how are they doing that and just if they want to learn more about your services, or if you're sharing you know content from time to time along these lines. I want to make sure that we're connecting people. Those resources Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you, um, you can go to Megan Gerbercom Very easy to find me. Um, my Instagram is Megan dot Gerber and you can find me on LinkedIn, megan Gerber and. Um, I also have a link tree, so if you're linking anything, I can give you that and it kind of sends you everywhere, okay. And also, if you're not really interested in one-on-one coaching but you're interested in the things we're talking about in this conversation, I'm also starting to lead some online workshops that have been really incredible and because of the community of people, of leaders, who are showing up to them.
Speaker 1:I'm just wrapping up one called unraveling worry and it's really getting to, um, the roots of our anxiety and how. That shows how anxiety shows up in our behaviors and it becomes a loop in our thought patterns and it affects how we show up in relationships, it affects how we show up as leaders, it affects everything, and so learning how to unravel that anxiety and especially because anxiety, I think, is one of the things that keeps us from being present with the people who matter the most in our lives and being present leaders and so I have had such great feedback and participation in this workshop that I have a feeling I'll probably start to do more just things that leaders and people in general are trying to navigate, and I think there's a really cool thing that happens when you come together in community and you learn from diverse perspectives. I have learned a lot from the people who have showed up to that workshop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's great, yeah, great. Well, yeah, we'll be sure to link to that. I might take you up on that and follow along and learn from this that you're sharing, from your own learning and your story that you've shared a little bit of today. So I really appreciate that and I'm looking forward to visiting with you to Chillicothe. Having a great tour guide always makes for a better experience. And so Chillicothe has been on my list so we're trying to coordinate that. I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1:We'll make it happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to see the good work going on down there.
Speaker 2:So thanks so much for being with us Thanks for sharing your story and just your experiences. I know that it's going to help somebody that's listening in. So if that's you listener, be sure to hear what Megan is saying. Maybe this is one you go back and listen to a second, maybe a third time, as she really shared some important thoughts and tactics to excavate some of the thoughts and worries and anxieties and heaviness that comes with being a leader. So I hope that you feel seen and heard with this messaging and that you do something about it and take care of yourself.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of opportunities as leaders to multiply our effects to those that we're leading, but we've got to be able to show up ourselves. So I hope that you'll come back and follow along with our next episode. It would mean the world to me if you'd rate and review this podcast so it reaches some more folks. And if this again was helpful to you also, please share it with somebody else that you believe that it could help. So we'll see you next time on the Main Street Reimagined podcast. Thanks for listening to the Main Street Reimagined podcast. To learn more about Main Street Reimagined Henry Development Group or our work in downtown Marion, ohio, please visit MainStreetReimaginedcom If you want to connect, or if you know someone who we need to interview, shoot us an email at info at MainStreetReimaginedcom. Until next time, keep dreaming and don't be afraid to take the leap.