Ep 191 - From 'I love your energy' to 'but what do you do? - My branding wake-up call

Welcome to Ep. 191

A raw, behind-the-scenes moment where I asked for unfiltered feedback from my mentors and received the kind of mirror I didn’t know I was starving for. This episode is for you if:

• You ask hot-seat questions but rarely get the clarity you crave
• You sense there’s something in the way - but can’t quite name it
• You want to lean into emotional resilience while building a brand-loud business

I share the unvarnished reflections I received: what’s been hiding in plain sight, what’s been soft-sold, and what’s ready to be owned. We walk through what happens when “energy” meets strategy and why some of us resist naming what we actually do.

Inside this episode:

• The moment I chose to ask for blind spots instead of strategy.
• The feedback that landed like both a hug and a kick: “I love your energy… but I don’t know what you do.”
• Why this feedback cracked something open and what it revealed about my messaging, my hesitation, and the way I show up.
• How imposter syndrome disguised as “humble energy” kept me from owning my strategic brilliance.
• The clarity, the muscle-testing, and the inner recalibration that followed.
• My invitation to you: treat your hot seat like a sacred investment. Ask the questions that could net you double emotionally, energetically and financially.

This episode is more than a reflection. It’s an initiation into clarity, integrity, and owning your voice with strategy behind it.

If you leave only one thing in your body from this call - let it be this:
The next time you catch yourself softly hinting at what you do, or hoping people will “get it,” speak it out loud. Build your brand with clarity. Lean into your power. Let your message land like a signature on a soul‑led contract.

Key Moments & Searchable Topics

[00:00:45] Asking for feedback - when you expect it to sting, but know you need it 

[00:03:10] The blind‑spot hot seat: why I asked for mirrors, not strategy 

[00:10:40] “I love your energy, but what do you do?” - the feedback that hit hardest 

[00:13:00] Why soul-led entrepreneurs hide their strategy under ‘energy’ 

[00:14:30] Muscle‑testing clarity: owning your strategic brilliance 

[00:16:00] Imposter syndrome disguised as humility (and how to call it out) 

[00:18:45] Treat your hot seat like an investment - what question will bring you 2x value 

→ Learn more at jessicaread.com

→ Book your free 30-min Mirror Call to clear what's blocking your next level

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to Resource with Jessica Reed. This is the podcast for visionary entrepreneurs who are here to build a thriving business and luminous life, fully resourced from the inside out. Here we unlock the magic of inner alignment, emotional mastery, and energetic strategies, so you can lead with clarity, confidence, and ease. This is your space to shed what no longer serves you, embody your highest potential, and expand into the next evolution of your business and soul's work. You are meant for more, and it all starts here.​Okay. Some real talk for you today, my friends. I am wondering, have you ever asked for feedback from a mentor or from a pr, even though you knew that there was every single chance that it might actually sting a little? But also having this knowing at the same time that it is exactly what you needed to hear because this was me last week. And honestly, oh, I'm so glad that I asked the question because it just cracked something open within me. And even though there was this element of discomfort. I am so grateful and really reflecting on how I have allowed myself to learn to sit in uncomfortable feelings so that I can then receive things that are delivered with love, but things that may have sent me like off crying into a corner, you know, only a few years ago, and this is because I have done work to detach my worth. From my business outcomes and to, as I said, learn to sit in uncomfortable emotions. So I was sitting in my mastermind, little bit of context. I was sitting in my mastermind on our last hot seat call and I was thinking about what am I gonna ask? What am I gonna ask in this call? And leading into it, I thought, do you know what, all I'm gonna do is I'm not gonna ask a strategy question. I'm not gonna talk about my launch plans. I'm not gonna ask for the next step. I'm just going to ask for my blind spots. Now, these women here, and Carl, Tracy and Carl, um, are my mentors in this mastermind. They have known me for four years, and some of my peers in there have also known me for four years. And so sitting there, I said, I want you to just give it to me straight. What do you see? Are my blind spots. I'm going to just sit here, close my eyes and receive. So I just put my mirrors up and I just let them tell me what they could see, and I could feel myself bracing. I was like, I'm a little sweaty, a little nervous, but what came through? Was, I guess, oh, probably equal parts. Fuck yes. And equal parts. Oh, holy shit. But a lot of it actually deeply affirmed exactly what I knew deep down that I was stepping into. You know, you've heard me talk about the rebirth recently. You've heard me talk about the Fuck Yes. Frequency. And some of it, honestly, it just hit me so hard because there were some things too that I didn't actually even realize that I'd been hiding, and then I was able to really clear these up straight away as well. So this episode today is for you. I'm going to share all of the feedback that I got. Okay, so this is for you. If, first of all, you feel like you don't get enough out of the hot seat questions that you are asking with your mentors, with your masterminds, whatever, if any of my ladies are listening, like we are gonna level up our questions. This is for you if you feel like there is something in your way, but you can't quite identify what that is. This is for you if you have quite a logical brain and you wanna undertake a belief that I'm going to share with you about how to get the most financial value out of your hot seat questions or out of the questions that you bring to your mentors. So now also full disclaimer. Today I am recovering from a cold. So bulk recording day, not the best idea, but I have been, I have been recovering and I'm much, much better. I have much more of a voice than I've had the last couple of days, but I may need to pause for a little coughing fit every time again. And if we have not met, my name is Jessica Reed. I actually just am gonna go on a completely different tangent. I was just thinking about what I just shared there as the, as having the cold, and we have spoken about ascension symptoms so many times on this podcast, our whole program about navigating ascension symptoms. I am just so sure that this cold is the shedding of anything that is remaining in my body from this rebirth process. Everything has to go down to come back up. Okay. And I have seen this huge shift in my frequency and that I'm seeing bits and pieces in my environment that are trying to keep me back. And this cold is just one of those things. Not today. Uh, I know, sorry. A little bit of a manage gen diversion there. If we ever met, I am a business mentor. I blend frequency and strategy. Okay. I help women entrepreneurs to activate the frequency that initiates their strategy. Okay? You could say this is maybe where strategy, soul, and frequency all collide. So today, as I said, I'm gonna take you behind the scenes of the moment in the hot seat and really share with you the, the reflections and the feedback that I received from my high level peers, from my multimillion dollar mentors. Um, as I sat there and literally just opened myself up for. Anything, anything and did not go and cry in a corner afterwards and did not have my feelings hurt. And I think that's probably the biggest reason why people would avoid asking questions like this, because if someone came up and said something that either you didn't agree with or they have a completely different perspective, or they see something about you that you're maybe sabotaging yourself with. Then, there are comments that you can receive that may feel like your feelings are getting hurt. That may feel like, well, it depends on what meaning you're making of it, but again, this is why we do that emotional resilience work. Okay. I don't know if you've heard me talk about the Ascension Academy. It is rebirthing into visibility, rebirth, moving into next year. I launching in February. And honestly, if you wanna put a deposit down now and, and be in that, please just come and let me know. But we do a massive amount of work on emotional resilience in the Visibility Rebirth Program. So this is something that no entrepreneur can skip. You just, you just can't, you have to build this muscle of emotional resilience. So as I was sharing hot seats, these are, and actually, do you know what? Let's take a step back. If you don't know what a hot seat is, it is a opportunity for you to ask a question to your peers and to your mentor. Now, the way that Tracy and Kyle run their hot seats is that you ask the question and then essentially you shut up and everyone just pause into you. They, they can ask you a clarifying question, but otherwise you just receive. You don't defend. You don't speak. You just receive. And so I decided, and I was like the last person on the call too. So I'm sitting there the whole time like, oh, I'm gonna ask this question. But I decided that the question that I wanted to ask this time needed to be something that was gonna propel me forward in a way that I hadn't before. And asking the question, what are my blind spots from people? I love long-term mentorships. My, uh, so my mastermind mentees have just renewed for their third year, which is amazing. It means they get to know, I get to know their business, but it means my mentees get, uh, my mentors, sorry, get to know my business as well, really deeply. But they also get to know me. They have been with me since I was charging$50 a session. They have been with me through the evolution of working with stress and anxiety and having a tapping circle membership, and then moving into business mentorship through launching my mastermind through all of the ups and downs, the high ticket expansion like they have been, and all of the identity that's come along with that. So I decided in this call that I actually wanted mirrors, not strategy, nothing else just mirrors. I wanted to know what they could see that I couldn't, what were my blind spots? And I loved every bit of it, to be honest. I absolutely loved every bit of it. So let's talk about the actual reflections first. We had our, my peers, and one of them came forward and she was like, you need to be running big events. You need to be teaching in front of lots of people. And I was like, I love this so much because, oh, I didn't say this, but in my head, obviously you're not speaking in the hot seats. In my head I was like, this is what I'm thinking next year. Um, maybe some sort of beautiful retreat. But speaking and reaching more people, and it's so funny because I actually had to bust a belief about reaching more people. Than small, intimate groups because I have the channel of intimacy in my human design. I took that so literally in the terms of how I could actually reach or serve bigger people. And so it was really great to have this conversation and hear this feedback and hear how people are seeing me. And then she said, I feel like you've illuminated recently, but you're not quite fully expressed yet. And as she said that I had been playing this week only with like the only then this week with the sensual expression that had been craving embodiment from myself. And I had been again, holding that back, like I was holding back the fuck yes frequency. This was the next level. And so I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, I love that they're seeing this. I love that they're seeing this and with anything, you know, you get to take it on board and some things resonate and some don't. And then I had the best feedback ever and that was from someone who I'd only really gotten to know a bit this year. And we've met once, um, this year. And she said, I love your energy. I love everything that you say. I feel like I didn't even wanna work with you, but I don't know what you do. I was like, oh my goodness. Something clicked in me because I had been going back and forth between how to clearly describe that my work is where frequency and strategy intersect to build the business. So essentially. It is, we are becoming the woman who can hold the business and then crafting the strategy that will get us there. And it was just really interesting because then I think about all my content that I put out, where I just assume people know what I do, all the conversations I have where I just assume people know what I do. And so now I've been able to go and get really, really clear on this. And like really clear in the way that I say it. And I've, and I've updated my Instagram bio and I'm saying it in my captions and I'm saying it in my content. I said it at the beginning of this podcast, so that feedback of like, I love your energy. It's like I wanna be in it. I want what you have, but actually don't know what you do. That was probably the best feedback that I could have received. So then was my mentor's turn and they essentially said that they see me holding back on my strategic brilliance. And it was really interesting to reflect on this because I know that in my mastermind space where again, we are frequency first, but we are aligned. Leverage strategy. And I think about the way that I coach in there, and we are just dipping in and out all the time of strategy, mindset, emotion, strategy, mindset, emotions. And we are, we are literally just dipping out in and outta that. And I think about the way that I coach them and I think, no, no, no, I don't hold back on that. But then I think about what I'm seeing front facing and what I'm putting out. And I was like, oh, okay. No wonder people are confused. No wonder they don't know. Well, does she do mindset or does she do strategy or, or does she do both? And so I realized that I actually need to speak more clearly about the way that I teach strategy because it is very different. It is not the masculine colds, corporate way of strategy. It's very different. Okay? We co-create with our businesses here. But it was just so interesting too, to sit and listen to them reflect. You know, they have watched me coach within the mastermind for four years, and they were like, we have seen your strategic brilliance over and over again, and it's almost like you hide behind the other pieces. And I was like, oh, okay. So I'm gonna feel into that. So then I did some muscle testing and actually my mentor gave me some things to test. Now let me. Just open this up'cause I wanna read them to you. Oh, there is a inquiry here about the Mastermind for 2026. That's exciting. All right. Things like, I believe that my unique approach makes me a powerful leader. I tested yes to that. I believe my message is compelling and valuable. I tested. Actually, I broke it down. Compelling. I tested. No, because I still felt the confusion within myself. Valuable. I tested, yes. Then we got to the interesting part. Part of me feels safer teaching energetics than strategy, and then I was like, yes, and I was like, oh, okay. All right. There is something here. Not that I'm going to go and change the way that I teach anything, but again, it's about me actually owning my brilliance and being really clear with you. On how I can help you. So I was like, okay, there is, there was something there and I was able to really quickly identify what it was for me that was actually holding me back. And it was just a little imposter syndrome thing. And since then I have caught myself three times going to go back down that same pathway of thought and I have interrupted it and changed it. And I can tell you I muscle test differently to these statements now. So I doubt my ability to deliver strategic outcomes. I got no, I know that I deliver good strategic outcomes. Sorry, I just had a little sneezing fit. Uh, and then, and then other, I believe my strategic mind is valuable and needed. I said yes, but then I allow myself to fully own my strategic brilliance. I said no. So as I said, now I am muscle testing yes to these, but it was like, what a brilliant thing to have awareness of. So much clarity. And then the final thing that I just really took away was Carl saying, you deserve to receive so much more. All I'm going to say to you is go bigger. And I was like, okay. Okay. So it was really amazing to hear what was reflected back to me. The things that weren't in my awareness, like the level of cl. Well, I actually did have a moment, to be honest, about a week or so ago where I thought, is it clear what I do? You know, those little drop-in thoughts. But it wasn't fully in my awareness. It wasn't in my awareness that I was not allowing myself to be seen in strategic bullying. And so all of this and then, and then the reaffirmation of you have big things ahead, like go bigger. I see you doing these kinds of events, being, you know, all of this. It's like, okay. They also see something that I see as well. So there was a lot of validation, but also a lot of aha moments. And like I said, none of those pieces, even when Carl said at the beginning, you know, look, I'm gonna say this. But as I say it, I'm not your ideal client, and to be honest, you know, what you do is not my cup of tea. Not in those exact words, but it's like, that's okay. That didn't upset me. It didn't upset me in any way, shape, or form. And that is again, because I, I'm not well, one, I don't wanna be for everyone. And two, because I have completely detached my worth from the outcome of my business. Okay. This is the emotional resilience work that we do. This is how we become more comfortable and confident in being visible and being authentic, and being fully expressed in being able to set our big stretchy goals and being able to tell people our big stretchy goals in being able to sit in front of a group of women and say, tell me what you see that I am missing. Tell me where I can improve. Tell me where my blind spots are. So I want you to think about the questions that you are asking, the quality of the questions that you are asking when you are coming into your spaces. Okay? Think about that. Think about how you would respond with that kind of feedback. We have to, if we don't disconnect from that, if we can't be seen like that in a safe space. With mentors and peers who love us and care about us, then what are we gonna do when someone criticizes us on a Facebook post? You know, it's emotional resilience and building. And honestly, that emotional detachment, like I honestly feel like that just gives us full permission for self-trust. It really, really does. As I wrap up here today, I wanna leave you with a little bit of a, um, a bit of a, a question that I know that some of your brains are gonna absolutely love. So, for me, that hot seat question and the answers were priceless. If I make my statement clear and 3, 4, 5, 10 people then go, oh, I know what she does and I wanna work with her. Then I've suddenly made, you know, 30, 40, a hundred thousand dollars. Because I asked one question and I sat in some uncomfortable emotions and a little bit of sweat. Okay? Also, that ROI wasn't completely financial. It's also identity based, which is priceless. But what I want you to think about, if you were in a hot seat today, if you were gonna go and ask your mentor a question today, if you have that opportunity to be mirrored back by your peers today. I want you to put a dollar value on that hot seat. Tracy and I were talking about this at lunch the other day, and I loved it. I want you to put a dollar value on that hot seat and whatever that dollar value is. I want you to think about what is the question that I can ask that is going to make me more than that? Oh, what a motivating question. Okay, so if you value your hot seat at say,$500, all right, what is the question that I can ask that's gonna make me at least a thousand dollars in my business? Just think about it and let me know if you come up with your question. If you come and tell me, come and tell me on Instagram, Jess, I'm going into my next mentorship asking this question. I'm going onto my next hot seat asking this question. Come and tell me,'cause I actually really, really want to hear what this is activated within you. So this is the end of our episode today, and honestly, I feel like this is also your invitation to grow bigger, to be seen, to let yourself be fully expressed, to ask the questions that are going to really drive you forward to build the emotional resilience. To have your feelings hurt a little. Like it's okay. It really is. Okay. So until next week, thank you so much for joining me on Resource again. Come over to Instagram, tell me more questions you're gonna ask if you want to put a deposit down for Visibility Rebirth starting in February, by the way, too. Let's have a chat. That's all you gotta do is just come to Instagram and tell me that you're interested. All right. I will see you all next week. Bye for now. Thank you for tuning into resource with Jessica Reed. If today's episode spoke to you, I'd love for you to share it with another soul led entrepreneur who is also ready to rise. Make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and stay connected because when you are deeply resourced, you become unstoppable. Until next time, my friend, stay resourced. Stay radiant and trust in the magic that is you.