Building in Public: What It Takes to Show Up Before You Have It Figured Out

What does it actually look like to build something before anyone is paying attention?

Molly started with a personal blog, written to process her own life. For months, nothing happened. No readers, no traction, just blind faith and a lot of content that never saw the light of day. Then one post went viral. An NBC reporter found a completely different post. And suddenly the Today Show came calling.

What followed was years of quietly, intentionally building - through pivots, experiments, and a lot of showing up before she knew exactly where it was all going - into a thriving business.

Molly is now an expert in all things LinkedIn, helping female coaches, consultants, and fractional professionals show up confidently on the platform in a way that feels real and actually doable.

We talk about what it takes to build in public before you have it all figured out, why community is one of the most underrated tools for solopreneurs, and how to get out of your own way so the right people can actually find you.

You'll Learn

⭐ How to show up publicly when you're still figuring it out

⭐ What women specifically struggle with on LinkedIn, and how to move through it

⭐ Why community needs change by season and what to look for

⭐ How strategic connections on LinkedIn matter more than follower count

⭐ What it means to choose your work every single day

Key Insights

Blind Faith Is a Strategy Months of content that no one read. No traction, no validation. And then one post changed everything. Molly credits the breakthrough entirely to just not stopping.

You Have to Choose It Every Day Building a business, showing up on a platform, putting your voice out there - none of it just happens. It's an act of choice, every single day.

LinkedIn Is More Intimidating Than Any Other Platform Only about 3% of LinkedIn users actually create content. That means the bar to stand out is lower than you think. You just have to be willing to show up.

Community Needs Are Seasonal Sometimes you need a lot of support. Sometimes the group chat feels like noise. Both are valid. A good community makes room for both.

Timestamps

02:00 How Molly and Kristin met - and why LinkedIn gets the credit

05:00 The sabbatical, the nursing school pivot, and how a blog started everything

09:00 The best and hardest parts of working for yourself

13:00 Six months of silence and the post that went viral

16:00 The Today Show call she thought was spam

19:00 On evolving publicly and the vulnerability of not having it figured out

22:00 The community she built for women creators on LinkedIn

26:00 What it actually means to be a content creator — and why it matters now

35:00 The LinkedIn algorithm, the ebbs, and how to work with it

42:00 Nervous system regulation and what it has to do with showing up

48:00 What shaped her as a leader that would never show up on a resume

51:00 Legacy: having people's backs, unconditionally

Resources and Links
Connect with Molly on LinkedIn
Find host Kristin Belden on LinkedIn or at BeldenStrategies.com
Sign up for Kristin's newsletter Big Deal Energy: BeldenStrategies.com/newsletter

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone who needed to hear it — and consider leaving a review. It helps more women find these conversations.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hi friends, welcome back to Kind of a Big Deal, the show where we celebrate women building lives and careers with intention. I'm your host, Kristen Belden, and I have such a good one for you today. This episode is a testament to when LinkedIn works its magic. I met today's guest through a mutual connection, and I'm so glad that intro happened. Molly is a LinkedIn expert and strategist who helps female coaches, consultants, and fractional professionals show up confidently on the platform and get discovered by the right people. And she's wildly good at it, in a way that feels accessible and real, not like you need to completely overhaul your life to make it work. But what I love about her story is how she got there. She started with a personal blog, writing to process her own life, dating, relationships, figuring out what came next. For months, nothing happened. And then one post went viral, an NBC reporter found a completely different post, and the Today Show came calling. What followed was years of building, quietly, intentionally, through a lot of blind faith, into the business she runs today. We talk about what it actually takes to show up publicly before you have it all figured out, why community is one of the most underrated tools for solopreneurs, and how to get out of your own way on LinkedIn so the right people can actually find you. She is warm, she is generous with her knowledge, and this conversation is full of things you're going to want to write down. Let's get into it. Hi, Molly.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Hi, it's great to see you.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Same. So good to see you. I feel like I can hear New York in the background. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

No, yes. That is the reality of living here. Even the best noise canceling you'll hear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

I I happen to love it. I lived in San Francisco for many years and I still I actually miss some of the chaos. I I understand, you know, some folks that doesn't do it for them. But when I hear that, I'm like, that sounds like life.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah. Well, it's totally. There's so much happening here all the time. And they say that if you live in New York City, you just automatically have a higher level of cortisol, just like because all of the activity. And when I learned that, I was like, oh. I don't know, but I love that.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Well, that then gets us back to our nervous system regulation, which we were just talking about briefly.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yes. That has been a big part of my year. Just expanding and figuring out how to support more people through my own nervous system.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

So to be able to do that, well, I definitely want to hear more about that. Um, but before we dive in, just a little, you know, very brief intro. So this conversation for me is really a testament, actually, to when LinkedIn works its magic because I we met through a mutual amazing woman, Rayland Logan, who I interviewed a few months back. And I don't know about you, Molly, but she and I connected at first on LinkedIn. And so I would have never been introduced to this incredible community of women that she's convening had it not been for her and I just getting chummy on the platform. Um, did you two know each other before?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

We were connected, but we actually met through Pia Silva's group. So we I think we're connected and then we met through that, and then I went to that event, and then you were there, and then she's got something in a couple weeks that I'm gonna be for.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Yes. Are you gonna join that one?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

So Molly is running a wildly successful business. She is currently really, as I'm watching it, happen in real time, kind of expanding some of the way she's offering her knowledge. Um, she's an expert and authority in all things LinkedIn, and she helps female coaches, consultants, and fractional professionals feel confident showing up on the platform and helps them get discovered by ideal clients and strategic partners. And who doesn't want more of that?

unknown 3:56

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

No complaints. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

One of the most amazing things that I have witnessed about her is really just her willingness to share so much of her knowledge. I think a lot of times there's this balance, specifically with either strategists or consultants as it relates to what it means to share your knowledge freely. And I think you have people on both sides of the fence as to, you know, kind of what their approach is to that. I have always just been not only really impressed by your approach, but also that the information feels really accessible. It doesn't feel like, oh my God, I have to commit to, you know, three months of doing something every day. It's like it also feels like these are things that you can actually implement in your real life. And that feels very important, I think, to any consultant or strategist or coach because everybody's strapped for time. That's the one asset we don't have typically. And I'm sure we'll link out to all of your incredible work, but I always look forward to her posts. Her newsletter is one of the only ones that I have kept in my inbox. Um and I recently joined a challenge that she led, which was in partnership with another incredible org, the Prosper Network. Um, and it was just daily tasks to really optimize your LinkedIn presence. And it was again just this good routine of being in that practice. So I can't wait to dig in on all the things that you're leading today. But if we can, I'd love to rewind, um, jump in our time machine and kind of go back to the early days. You've worked independently and owned your own businesses, it feels like through pretty much the majority of your career. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yeah. I worked in tech sales for five years, and then I took a sabbatical and started a blog. Honestly, like started a blog to start to process my reflections and what I was doing with my life now and my dating life and all sorts of things. And that's what kickstarted this. So I was actually, I don't know that I've ever really shared this. I was gonna go back to school and become a nurse and work in school. Really? Yeah. Oh, how cool. Yeah, I left the finance, tech, sales world, took some time off. I was like, what do I want to do with my life? And so I started applying to schools, and the timing is crazy. It was the end of 2019, and I couldn't get into this one class because it was a very last-minute decision, and I couldn't get into the one class that like kickstarted my sequence, and then the pandemic started, and I was like, Wow, good thing I didn't go into healthcare.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

That was the universe looking out for you on that one, I think.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

I almost did a huge pivot. I mean, I think I still sometimes I'm like, should I should I go back and do that? Um, but yeah, I just I I've been on such a health journey. I clearly love working with women and supporting them, and I've had amazing support teams and care, and that felt like a really smart thing, but I couldn't get into that class. So I couldn't because health science classes are so specific and I like couldn't get into that one that I needed.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

So yeah, yeah, that's so interesting. It's so funny you say that because I definitely have had those moments. I too have had some really incredible. I've had like, you know, several pregnancies that were not the easiest, and the post-care that you can receive when you are with an amazing team. I literally like they are angels on earth. I am so in love with all of them, and it is such a special vocation, and I think it really does require a special person. And clearly, you your through line that I'm starting to already recognize is your care for people and your desire to hold space for them. So it's not surprising, I suppose.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yeah. I haven't really talked about that. I should write about that actually.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

You should, absolutely. I would definitely read that. I mean, there's always it's like the sistership concept, right? Or the sliding doors, right? What are the decisions that we've made that somewhere out there, some version of us is living that life? And you know, if we're not careful, it can get a little tricky around the grasses greener, but just to be present with the decisions we've made. I always say there's really no wrong decision, especially when I'm chatting with women in their early career. I I really believe that in my soul. Like there is no, you will make whatever decision you make, and then you make it work in the best way you know how. And you can always change too. There's always that.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

I love that. Yeah, you can make it work totally. And I think we need that reminder of you can choose something and then decide different. Like we have choice, we have agency, and we get to try again and pivot and make mistakes. I don't know that anyone's free of regret or has had the perfect linear. No.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

No, no. It introduce me to them if you have.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Right. I would love to have them.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yeah, I think that, you know, if we're very lucky, then we have our careers are long. And so I think when you're starting out, though, it feels like, oh my gosh, if I don't make this decision, then it's gonna domino into all of these different spaces that I may or may not want to be in. And the reality is people reinvent themselves all the time. And I'm sure you've seen it in your work, right? I'd be so curious that people are, especially if they're expanding or moving into a bit maybe even a different space and what that means to then show yourself to the world in that way. But I have so many questions for you. You are one of the ones that I wrote down so many questions, and like we are not gonna get to all of these. Um, but when you think about your journey and you know, starting with your blogging and then to where you are today, um what do you think is like one of the best things about working for yourself? And then what's one of the most challenging?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah. I think that answer has really changed. In the beginning, I was like, wow, I can go get coffee in the middle of the day, I can go to a workout class, I can go to the beach with my friends. So that was really fun for a while. And don't get me wrong, I still love that. But I think now in this season, what I so love about working for myself is like I can build anything, I can create anything. I have total creative freedom. Like when I worked in corporate, I had an idea, 17 people had to approve it, and then it took three months and then it never happened. And it it just the timing was gone. And so now it's like, wow, if I have an idea, I can build it, I can ship it, I can like wow, that is to be a creative person and get to do that is such a gift. And I just I love that. I don't know if you feel the same.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Yes, yes, with the slight caveat that because I'm still really only a couple years in, I have worked autonomously for you know many, many years. Um, I've had the real just gift of even when I was in a full-time role, I worked for organizations where I did have a lot of movement and a lot of freedom. But I think when you're a couple years in after launching your own thing, I have launched other businesses, but with other people. This is my first time doing it totally on my own. And so I think that creative freedom is incredible and also at times super daunting because I don't have anybody to bounce it off of. I have incredible networks of other business owners and solopreneurs, but I don't have anybody on the daily to be that sounding board. And I think that it is both amazing and incredibly tricky for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yeah, I so see that side too. Yeah, yeah, it's an interesting path we take as being solo. It's I don't think it's the easiest. I think it's it's a hard path. Yeah, yeah. So much falls on you and to exactly what you said. It can feel like an echo chamber, and yeah, it's the harder path, I think, in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah, yeah. I think it's there's these moments. It's like I can go back and forth literally hourly, between like, this is amazing. I'm doing incredible things, I love it, and then I'm like, what am I even doing? Why am I doing this? Does anybody care? Like it's like hourly, not even daily.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

I was gonna say 20, yeah. I I a 24-hour cycle for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

But hourly I relate to too. Yes, that's crazy. Um, do you I find actually I'm noticing this for myself, and I actually wanted to share this with somebody recently. That is louder for me when I'm tired or I'm overworking myself. Like the if I don't take a moment to step away, because it's really easy, I think, especially as a solo founder, to if you really care about what you're doing and you love what you're doing, it's not like, oh, hustle for hustle's sake. I actually really love what I'm doing. And so I can get really ensconced in a way that is not super healthy. And so I have to remove myself. I can always feel it when that voice is starting to turn up of like the negativity or the like, what are you doing? Usually a lot of that is because I'm tired or I need to just take a minute to step away.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Oh, totally. Yeah, it's the hungry, angry, lonely, tired checklist. It's like, oh, oh, I just need to eat something.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

But also, I totally relate. If if I start to get resentful or irritated, I'm like, you know what? I probably it's not that I don't like any of you, but it's like I need I need a little too much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Tell me a little bit about you talked about starting with your blog and now today with what you're leading, which we will dig into, but what did the middle road look like? What were those kind of like middle businesses or coaching experiences that you had?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah, I was reflecting on this the other day. There's so much that people don't see. Like there is a period where just nothing happened. I moved back to be with family during the pandemic. I was working out of a spare office and you know, my mom's house. There was so much content that never saw the light of day that no one ever read. It was months and months of just nothing. I would say like six to nine months of just nothing happened, just very isolated, very much blind faith, trying to figure this out, putting things out. No one noticed, no one read. Thankfully, it was the pandemic, so no one really knew. The timing was phenomenal. Like no one knew no one was good. Everyone was kind of just like, what's this happening? Yeah.

unknown 14:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

So it was a great time to just go inward, dig deep, figure things out. But I do, I this is my theory. If you try enough, eventually luck kicks in. And it was November, December, January, February, March, April. Yeah, it was about six months in. I published a blog and it went immediately viral. Oh, it's like, yeah, it just blew up. Like, I'll never forget. I was looking at it and like a thousand people had reacted to it within an hour. And I was like, oh my gosh. It's so jarring for your nervous system. Just suddenly all these strangers are like coming at you and it keeps growing, and it's like a snowball.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

And you're like, wait a second, what did I just do?

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Literally, because it's never what you expect. It was just like another day in the life of Molly. I put a blog out, made lunch, and like didn't really have a what was it about?

SPEAKER_02 15:15

What was it about?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

It was a breakup blog, yeah. Oh which I since learned is very popular content. I was just writing it for myself. It was a series of just like what I had learned in the last few years, and I have finally come to peace. So at the ending of that relationship, I was also 28, like I was young, you know. This was many years ago. Uh and so that just really was the turning point. It kicked everything off. It gave me this validation. Suddenly I had a name. Suddenly, the editors wanted more content from me. Suddenly I felt like people were listening, like I should keep going. It was just that moment that I just needed to keep going. So I started taking all my writing more seriously. I started working really closely with editors, learning long-form content, how to storytell. I was getting a lot of feedback. It was so just like an incredible time to be developing that craft. And at this time, Medium was a really popular blog. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

They switched CEOs and it's since died, fortunately. It's a shame. It's so simple.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

I was gonna say they were like really riding a wave there for a while.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

They really were. So if you were a writer or a content creator or a thought leader, you could really develop your craft. You could work really closely with the staff of these big publications. So that year I ended up winning a big award. Like one of my blogs, not even that one, one of my other blogs that year was the most read in this publication. Maybe about nine months after that, from Medium, an NBC reporter found a different blog and she cold pitched me. She was like, Do you want to be featured on the Today Show? And I was like, What? What? Did you freak out? I was like, This can't be real. This must be spam. But yeah, I was I had finally moved back to the city now. The pandemic was a little bit less intense. And I was like, Oh my god. And it wasn't even she it wasn't even the most popular, it wasn't the viral one. A lot of interesting she found like a way more niche kind of undercover blog. And so that was a wild experience. Getting interviewed by a journalist and a major publication. I was not, I had no media training, no one prepared me.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

It was actually a really terrifying experience.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Oh, absolutely. I can only imagine.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Because I thought it was like a chit chat, but no, it was very intense. I had no idea how it was gonna turn out. I was really nervous. I was like, is she gonna go with that? Did I say the right thing? So things it it was kind of like that hockey stick. Things kind of took off after that. That big piece. But I do really credit that to so many things that never got any attention, no one read. It was just blind faith for many years, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Yeah, that's so I think that's such an important reminder for myself included. But I think right, if you don't have a super clear, it's it's not like when I started my business, it was like, okay, I know I'd want to do X for X for X. It was like, okay, I have a general sense of where I think I can be of best service, but I'm not 100% sure what that looks like yet. But the blind faith comes from, but I know I'm going in the right direction, and I know I have a point of view, and I know that I want to be building something, and that alone is enough to carry me. But I think it's really hard sometimes when you do feel like you continually, you know, are putting yourself out there. And I think particularly, and I'm so curious, specifically since you also support women. Do you feel like women have a difficult time allowing themselves to evolve publicly? Like what it means to be putting yourself out there in that way.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Oh, totally, totally. It's I mean, it's I don't want to discount, it's very vulnerable. It's very vulnerable to let people see you in all stages. I think transition or um when you don't have that total clarity or if you haven't landed on the other side, I think that's the hardest part. I think putting something out there and not knowing how it's gonna turn out and then knowing you're gonna be responsible. Like, what if this doesn't work and I've now built this and it's a really real risk? And I tell women, yeah, it might not work. I've had that happen. Yeah, yeah. And then you have to you have to share about that. So it's I think a bit like dating, you know, or see partnership, marriage to love, to put yourself out there, you you're going to get hurt.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

A hundred percent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Someone's gonna have your feelings.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Yes. Yes. And you have to, I like that you just said that because I think it's also my husband and I talk about this all the time. Like we choose each other every day. You have to choose each other every day. And I think it's the same with a business or building content or choosing storytelling or whatever it is. You have to choose it. You have to, it's an act of choice, it's not something that just happens, right? And so, um, yeah, you are inherently making yourself vulnerable by saying that you want something out loud that can feel really scary. You've talked a lot about community and how important it is to build community. Um what are you seeing that people are really seeking from community?

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, such a great question. Yeah, I'm in many. I recently launched one, and the response really took me by surprise. People really just really, really deeply in our wiring. Sorry, the sunlight. We got some sun. People really deeply in their wiring just want someplace to belong and feel included and know that they can show up somewhere. I think yeah, I I think especially as solo founders, just uh having an outlet. I think communities our needs for it change in seasons. If you're in a big transition or going through something, you may just really want a lot of support. If you're really busy, it might feel really noisy. So I think my friend Sylvie and I talk about this a lot, how seasonal the community needs can be. But I think it's knowing we're not alone. It's knowing that people are out there, it's knowing that people are listening, it's knowing that there's support, like a slack message away.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

I think also I think about this a lot too. I think we both need to be surrounded by people a little bit ahead of us that are expansive and show us what's possible. And then I think we want to mentor and give back to people that are not quite there yet. So I think like a good community kind of lets you have both.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah, I love that. I don't think I ever would have thought of that, but I think you're totally right. Like, because it yes, we are compelled, especially if you're a service provider of any kind, right? It's like you are. In some way, shape, or form, looking to provide in some way. And so to have that ability to mentor or develop or lift up. Tell us about the community that you launched and what's it all about.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yeah, yeah. So I, you know, my whole work is getting women more visible, specifically on LinkedIn. It's a very male-dominated, and my quite a microcosm of the bigger systems that exist.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

So I want to hear more about that. So that tell us about the community and then we're gonna get back to that.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

So I just think being a woman and selling or promoting yourself or sharing more vulnerable things or flexing your credibility, I think is uniquely intimidating and vulnerable. And uh I just didn't find there was a great specific space for women creators on LinkedIn, the platform. I've been in LinkedIn communities, and I kid you not, I had to go to so much effort to find the women. There would be like 600 people and like maybe 20, maybe five were women.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

And so I would literally really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Yeah. So I would have to find the women, and just because they were another woman, I was like, Do you want to connect? You're a woman, I'm a woman.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

And so um the the but the bar of of similarities are pretty low.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

I know. So I think again, LinkedIn will test you to all varying degrees. It's a ruthless algorithm. You can either get amazing feedback or you can get a lot of crickets agreement or crickets, especially AI. Like I've posted some AI content recently, and the people that have come for me are just really I think we're just in an increasingly polarized time. So to have somewhere where you can go and be and bend and be like, hey, this post is getting a lot of feedback, I don't know what to do, or be like, hey, I'm really excited about this, or I'm really nervous to launch this. So it's really a space for female content creators that want to be using LinkedIn. And yeah, it's going great so far. A lot of different strategy trainings and ways to just uplift and support each other, but also I'm really, really big on the power of strategic connections on LinkedIn. It's a it's a social graph algorithm. So it's so important to know the right people, be interacting with the right people. So I've kind of created it in a way that there will be a pathway to your ideal clients through the other members in the group and helping them really think through who they should be best engaging with and getting to know. So that's a really big problem.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

No, but that's I mean, it's so it for somebody that knows the platform as well as you do, I think it's almost like the first step for some people has to be like just get comfortable with doing it, just get some kind of habit down, which for me and I'm sure for others, was the hardest part. It was rip the band-aid off. I mean, I went through a coaching program that they were very, very clear on if you don't create your brand, somebody else will for you. And you need to be thinking about what your intention is and whether whatever your platform is, LinkedIn was one, but they their argument was always know where your audience is, of course, first. But if you're choosing LinkedIn, then like you won't know necessarily what's hitting all the time because it's also not the way everybody engages on the platform. I have to remind myself that because I've now been doing it enough to where I'm like, okay, I've seen the ebbs and the flows, I've seen like when I'm in somehow in the like good graces of the algorithm.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

It's so crazy. But I will say, and I don't know that this is true for everyone, but I actually kind of like the ebbs because it then allows me to know. I get to experiment a little bit more, and there's two people that are seeing this, so like it's okay. It's like there's a little bit more room to get a little wild, I think, in my mind. Um, because inevitably it'll flow back at some point. Hey, quick pause before we get back into it. If you're listening to conversations like this one and something keeps nudging you, like I know I'm at some kind of turning point. I just can't quite see it clearly yet. That's actually exactly what I do. I work with women leaders who are in the middle of something: a career shift, a business that's ready to evolve, a moment where what got you here just isn't cutting it anymore. Sometimes what you need most isn't a whole program or a big engagement. You just need a few hours with someone who can help you see what you're too close to see yourself. That's the clarity session. It's a focused, one-on-one conversation where we dig into where you are, where you want to go, and what's actually in the way. You walk away with real direction, not a list of homework, but genuine clarity on your next move. If that sounds like what you need right now, I'd love to talk. You can find all the details at Beldenstrategies.com slash clarity. Okay, let's get back into it. So are you seeing um that women well, I guess another question for you is when you say content creator, like you created a community for content creators, but what do you mean by that when you think of a because I think sometimes folks think that means you just, you know, write all day or you do whatever. What what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Yeah. It's a good question. I think of it as you are putting your thoughts out there, your expertise out there, your sharing frameworks, your thought leadership, your beliefs, you're you're creating that into consumable content to grow your business. Which I kind of argue that you have to do now. You have to people need to know where you stand and what you believe in and what your work is. And you do have to be a little exceptional in 2025. And so being able to demonstrate that through public-facing mediums content, I think, is increasingly important.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

I'm a little biased, but I do.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

No, I agree. I agree. I would have never, I come from a media and journalism background. And so for a while, I was like literally philosophically against it because it was like, I'm not gonna be another voice that is just like churning out stuff for the sake of business strategy. I just literally couldn't do it. I I had to really get clear on what do I think matters and what feels worthy of sharing. And once I honed in on that, it was a lot easier to rip that band-aid off. I still had a lot of growing, I still have a lot of growing to do, but just to take that first step, I had to really be convinced that there was a voice to share. And you probably know the more recent stat on this, but of the amount of LinkedIn users there are, it's like a very tiny fraction that actually utilize the platform in that way. Is that still true?

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Yeah. I think it was 1% years ago. I think maybe it's 3%, but that is still.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Because I did the research for a post on this over the summer, and I could pull it up, but I I want to think Instagram and the others are at least 10% or more. I don't know if it was quite 30. I've got it written somewhere, but yeah, LinkedIn is by and far the lowest because I just think it's that much more intimidating and people don't really understand how it works. And yeah, there just are norms and better ways to how I would write a story on LinkedIn versus Instagram are so different. And I think that's really fun. I think it's fun to find the puzzle of like, here's what we leverage here, here's what we leverage there. I don't know that everyone sees it that way, but it's low. I think there's still a lot of opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

Yeah, I think part of it too is it's always been kind of known as this more buttoned up you present your professional side of yourself, right? There's so this idea of sharing outside of just what the more buttoned up version of yourself is can feel quite foreign, I think, for folks.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Totally. Totally. It's I won't lie, there's a lot of landmines you kind of have to navigate and know what to. Yeah, and everyone has a different definition of professionalism and what's on what's on brand for you on LinkedIn might not be on brand. It's easy to overthink. That's what I will say.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yes, something I am really good at.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

We're the same.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

When you think back to, we'll come back to so much about LinkedIn, I'm sure, but when you think about your early days, you know, we talked a little bit about how your your vision of what it means to be a solo founder has shifted a bit over the years. But when you think about your idea of success, if you rewind back to those early days and what your vision of success looked like, has that evolved over the years to where you're at now and and what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Oh, that's such a great question. Yeah, yeah. As a starting blogger, I wanted to be in Cosmo. I wanted to be, I wanted to write a book, I wanted to be a New York Times bestseller, I wanted the multi-multi-million dollar business and to be leading giant retreats. And um, I do not want those things. Some of those I want. And I pitched Cosmo so many times. I probably pitched them like 50 times back in the day in nine.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Cosmo, if you're listening, are they still around?

SPEAKER_00 31:30

I know, right? Are they? I haven't thought about that magazine principle in my teams.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

I've had to do a lot of unlearning from growing up with those magazines, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

I was just setting the Ven and we were talking to a stylist who was there, and she was like, so many of my clients come to me with Cosmo conditioning.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Oh my god, Cosmo conditioning, that's brilliant. I'm gonna be thinking about that now.

unknown 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

But I think I think when you're a nobody and you're trying to find your way, that like validation.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

The pedestal you want it.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

And now I couldn't want anything more opposite. Like I feel so now what I'm really seeing through launching this community and getting to work with so many different people and get to be involved in their business, like just the impact. Like that that word was thrown around so much, but now I'm like, wow, the impact just really feels great. That's what I want. And I want that at resonant scale. Yeah, I really wanted to write a book at one point. We'll see if that ever happens. But I don't those external things, they just they don't light me up anymore. Really in my heart, what's important is you know, improving my craft every day, writing, creating service is a huge value of mine. So teaching is really important and being generous. And I found that a lot of those, like I said, I have some really great media, and so much of that did not come from striving and trying to get it and pitching. It came from being myself, being authentic, being generous, and it all worked itself out.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah, isn't that amazing? I mean, I it's interesting. I just read through um there's a really beautiful book called The Desire Map, and it's really about have you heard of this book? Yeah, you're the same. Okay. Yeah. It's it's amazing. It's amazing. And it really is her whole premise is like how do you align yourself with language that you and how you want to feel before you're just putting these goal posts in the sand or the mile markers that you want to hit, because so many times if we're not really digging in, we can be creating these goals in our mind that sound right or feel right based on a previous version that we had of a success. But when you really ask yourself some more reflective questions, it can be like, wait a second, I don't know that I actually want that. Maybe there's something else here, anyways. Long story short, one of my words, it doesn't have to be like a word, but it has to be something that generates some feeling for you. And mine is palms up, which is in my mind, just like, how are you approaching every day from a just exactly what you said? We can hold on so tightly. There's another book, The Emyth. I'm sure everybody has, you know, talks about that one too. But this idea that we're holding on so tightly and some bizarre sense that we have control, I think, especially when you're building a business. I think when you're within an organization, it's maybe um you can control things a little bit differently, whether or not it's gonna go well, but you are still controlling things. But when it's building a business or thinking about entrepreneurship, there has to be this kind of like, I don't know exactly, right, what's gonna happen. And if we're not paying attention, then the universe might also be saying, hey, knock, knock over here. There's something interesting. But if you're holding on so tight over here, you're not even gonna hear that like there's a little knock, you know? Oh, totally, yeah. I think about that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

And they say it all the time, like, let go of the how, let go of the how.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I know.

unknown 35:15

I know.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

But now I really get it. I'm like, oh, if I hold loosely this vision and keep taking action and keep showing up and keep in my case, being generous and helping and being of service, it all works itself out. Like, honestly, so many of my visions came true for 2025. I'm like, oh wow, that happened. That really came true. I want to bet it came true, but not in the way I thought, but in a great way. And I mean, I'm I'm pretty spiritual, so I let go of the results, trusted the universe, but smiled.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

Is there any specific example that you could share of something that you had in mind that manifested that maybe looks a little different than what you were expecting?

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah, so my big goals for 2025 were digital products and then partnerships. I was like, I really want to get good at partnerships this year. That's what I want. And I pitched a bunch of them and I asked really directly for intros from the people that I knew that were connected. But probably the best partnership I got this year was the Maven partnership. I've been doing a lot of teaching with them. And that one came so organically in a way that I never would have expected. Like I launched something and then someone on their exec team reached out and I was like, oh my gosh, this is the exact partnership I wanted, didn't know that was how it was gonna look. And it totally and it's just taken off my business in ways I couldn't have imagined.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

Really? That's amazing.

unknown 36:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

So it it's truly over the summer, just the visibility that that partnership and platform brought in. I account for so much of my growth in the last quarter. But that came, it just came completely organically through just doing what I love and just showing up and being involved in places, and there it was, you know, eight months into the year.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Yeah, that's amazing. That's so cool. I I was just talking about this with um the last woman I chatted with, and it's really around some sentences that Mel Robbins had shared in one of her episodes. And one of the sentences is if I keep showing up, life will reward me. And I think it's such a beautiful way of thinking about it because it's not if I keep showing up, I'll make a million dollars, or if I keep showing up, I'm gonna, you know, do X, Y, or Z. It's just that life will reward me and being open to what that looks like. I think I have never been more the last two years, I have evolved tremendously from what I was holding on to as a version or a vision of success. And allowing that and allowing it to be to organically reveal itself to you is also a really bizarre practice if you're used to like driving results and getting shit done. It's like it's hard.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

And I also want to say I did plenty of gripping and trying to control too.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

So it's it's it's both.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

It's it can never be perfect a hundred percent. When you think about LinkedIn specifically, so why LinkedIn? I guess that's the first question. Like, what makes you want to double down on supporting people to use this platform?

SPEAKER_00 38:27

Yeah, it's a great question. That also was not planned whatsoever. It was a good guy friend of mine after all my blog success. He was like, You should really put these on LinkedIn. These are good. He was like, You resonate or you speak to the corporate woman who was in your position when you left. He's like, I think they're all over LinkedIn. You should really try it. And so I don't know why. I was like, all right, and a few people, other people had said that. So I was like, let me just try it, let me readapt my content and put it onto LinkedIn. And this was 20 summer 2021, so almost five years ago now. You can imagine it was such a different place.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Weird LinkedIn wasn't a thing back then. No, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

But what happened was the style of that of LinkedIn for how I like to communicate and how I like to show up in content, it's still is, it's just the perfect match. Like I'm very, I'm very deep thinking, I'm very data, I'm very storytelling, I'm very nothing extra. Like I'm I keep things simple and direct, and I'm very teaching and values led. And so that's really the essence of LinkedIn. So it was just perfect alignment for how I already communicate. And so it just it worked immediately. Like immediately, I was getting tons more traction in a way that I was like, wow, other platforms don't I've not seen this kind of yeah, the visibility was just off the charts. So it was very motivating, and that's not the case for everyone. I think I lucked out. I think again, the time of the platform, also I think my unique kind of combination of skills. And so it just was very motivating. I was like, I want to figure this out. I'm gonna do this all in for a year. I'm gonna double triple down. So I remember I was staying up until like 1 a.m., 3 a.m. just like batching content and experimenting with things. And by the end of that year, there was all these founders that were reaching out. They were like, wait, can you help me do that? It looks like it's going so well for you. I have no idea how LinkedIn works. And I was like, Oh, that's interesting. You know, let me see what I can do. So then I just started pro bono teaching my friends and trying to adapt what I was doing for their business. And one of my good friends to this day, we're doing a collaboration next month. She had never like she had LinkedIn from Corpora, but I never used it. And now she runs five years later. She runs her entire, she was my first ever client. She runs her entire business on there, all her like it was really life changing. It was no kidding, it changed her entire life.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

So it took, I was doing it freelance for maybe two more years, and then in 2023, I was like, I'm gonna make this into a real thing, and I'm gonna go all in and figuring it out. So I think it's to what we talked about before. I think it's easier to get visible on there than any of the others. And I think it's a really fun puzzle to try and figure out how to communicate on there that I really like and appreciate.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

So well, and for those that don't want to do the puzzle, you get to do it for them.

unknown 41:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

They get to show up and like put the last piece in. It's like they get to put their stamp on it still. Um, it's interesting you were saying just about sharing the way you share information. And I've had a lot of conversations recently around this line between like vulnerability slash authenticity, slash whatever you want to call it, and um oversharing for lack of a better word. And I think this is true not just on LinkedIn, to be very clear. I think we're having this conversation in so many different spaces, whether you're in an office or a boardroom or you know, showing up at an event. But I think on LinkedIn in particular, there seems to be a lot of chatter around either what's appropriate or what the right approach is. So I'm just I'm curious what your perspective is on that.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's such a fun conversation because it really just reveals our own judgments, our own biases, how we feel. I my because I talk about this a lot. I think you just have to know A, what your brand is, like what you want to be known for. Shape your storytelling around that. Because what's on brand for me, it's not on brand for other people. I want to be known for being brave, courageous, resilient. I'm gonna share stories from that lens and ideally kind of package it in a way that meets a LinkedIn audience where they're at. So I think that's the first piece. But I also think you really have to be clear about what's your motive. Are you trying to get validation? Are you trying to get pity? Are you trying to get something other than inspiring, being of service, teaching? And so I think I think I coach clients around this a lot. I think sometimes there's an impulse to share something that we're either like working through or uncomfortable with ourselves, and so we're looking for people to support us or validate us or telling us we're doing the right thing. And I I have an opinion about that. I really think until you have either the lesson or the empowered perspective, I think it can do more harm for your nervous system to put something out there. And because then everything's hinging on people's responses. And so if it doesn't go well, that that's gonna be really dysregulating.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

And so I have some clients going through stuff right now, and I'm like, listen, this will be amazing content in like two years. Two years and I've been there. I've been there. I this year I shared about some significant grief and loss I went through two years ago. And when it was happening, I was a content creator and I was like, this is gonna be amazing. This is gonna be so inspiring in two years.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

And so I think we have to work so much nervous system, but like when we ever we have an impulse to share something, it's like, wait, let's slow down.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

Check in with yourself.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

What's the motive? Because I just really care about people, their nervous system. And if we do things too quickly or not from the right place, it can do more harm than good. Vulnerability hangover. That's a real thing. So there's so much to this conversation, but I hope.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Yeah. No, I love it. I love it. The coaching program I went through, Alana Golan, who founded it, she's incredible. And she talks about that a lot. I mean, so much of her story is based on losing it all, starting over, right? But she's like, I could not have told that story when I was going through it. She says your scars have to be a bit healed before, you know, you don't want to be opening up that wound. And that is not, there's other more appropriate places, hopefully, to be sharing that, right? Um, so I I totally get that. I think I'm also really, really curious about what you just shared around this question of what do you want to be known for? I struggled with that mightily when I started out on my own. And if this is not giving up too much of your coaching or processes, so feel free to tell me this is a a no-go. But for anybody that is just starting out in that way, right? You're you're in a corporate job and you think you might want to launch something on your own, but you're not totally sure how to make that transition, or you've built your business, but you know it's time to evolve it. And so you're seeking kind of what that new identity is. There's so many different versions here where it is about an evolution, or maybe it's the first time you're even thinking about it because you really weren't thinking about your brand at all. If you're just starting out, are there questions that you would encourage people to be asking themselves to kind of start to at least go in the right direction?

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Totally. Yeah. I think there's two ways I could talk this through. One is I think of a Venn diagram into three parts. So A, if you're starting out and and you have a sense of who you want to be working with, or maybe still figuring that out, just like what are the values of those types of people? So lawyers, for example. The people who want to hire lawyers, they really care about ethics, probably. They care about competency, they care about risk taking, they care about integrity. But people who hire creative agencies, they want disruption, they want outside the box thinking. So you kind of want to think through what are the values of the people I want to resonate with or attract, and then shape your storytelling through that. So for me, my clients, they value resourcefulness, resilience, courage, boldness. And so I have to think through in my life when have I what's so values, but then also like what do you want to be known for? So again, back to that question. There's things that I have developed my resiliency that I don't really want to be known for. Like I don't want to be known for certain types of loss that I've experienced or just life things. So I'm not gonna share about those. But then there's another circle of what genuinely happened, what's your actual authentic experience? And there's a little triangle in the middle where those all intersect of what you can storytell from. So that's kind of how I like to think about it. But I think at the very least, like reflect back on your life. What were those pivotal moments? What were those moments when you took the chance or you that shaped you? And that that's a great starting point of like, wow, yeah, I negotiated or I advocated for myself, or I um moved, or I left the job, or I left the marriage, whatever it is, that can be a good starting point. And then thinking about the takeaway from that. So if I left the job or I left the marriage, or I negotiated, like what's the thing I want people to get from that? You know, like it's it's worth it when you bet on yourself, or don't stay too long, or I don't know. So thinking about the takeaway, yeah, your actual experience. I mean, there's so much that goes into it, but I hope that helps kind of.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

No, I love it because I think um, and maybe you're seeing this too, but in my support of women, I have noticed that it can be actually quite challenging to even remember some of those moments, or like we don't tend to, which is the whole title of this series, kind of a big deal, right? Because we don't tend to own our wins or the impact we're having. It's like on to the next, on to the next, like go, go, go. Like, and there's this constant ticker tape of all the other things that you're supporting or holding or navigating in life. And so to actually sit and allow yourself to reflect, which has been some of the most fun conversations I've had, are like, oh wait, I totally forgot I even did this thing, or like, wait, this is actually a really cool part of my story. And I think we really don't allow ourselves that very often. And so to even start that practice can feel clunky at first, honestly. You're like, I don't know, like what have I done? I just did the thing. And you're like, no, no, no. All those things though stacked up to get you to where you are today. And there's so much wisdom in that. And I think that we we just don't we don't do that a whole lot.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

So totally, yeah. Honestly, the best content is just they have good memory, they're good at recalling, they're good at going back into the archives and like they were present to their own experiences and can like I think journaling is great. Totally. Having someone hold that space for you and be able to listen and ask the right questions is invaluable in my experience.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

I have two questions I'd love to end with. One is I was asked this question at a recent meetup, and I thought it was brilliant. What is something that has shaped who you are as a leader that would not wind up in your resume or bio?

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Oh man. Such a good question.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

And you can think about it. If you don't have like that one for me, I was like, oh, I have to really sit with that for a minute because it's there's so many things that could have led to who we are today. But if there's anything that comes top of mind.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Oh man, you know, I don't know if this is quite it, but I'll try and answer it. I think the leaders who showed me grace when I was kind of a um a torpy 20-year-old. Um because I had a lot like my early 20s. I'm like, oh my gosh, I was such a crazy to think about. And you know what? I had a boss who was like, Molly, this is such a dumb thing you're doing. You handled this oh, I should write about this, actually. He was like, he was like, You handled this terribly. You shouldn't. He was like, I do not recommend you ever go through life and do this like this again. And we appreciate you, we love you, I can see your potential. You're amazing, you're good at what you do. So just like being shown grace when I was just off. And now I look back and I'm like, God, what a leader that took. A leader to be like, Oh, kidding.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

You suck. I hate you. This is a terrible decision that you that is impacting our company. And I'm gonna show you grace and wish you the best. And I should really write about that. I have many experiences in that company because I was 23, 24, 25. My brain was not developed.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

I know. Isn't it wild that we're out there making decisions when we have zero like zero business doing that?

SPEAKER_00 51:57

Well, my company, I worked, it was a startup. I led, it was like an 800 million dollar partnership that they put me in charge of. Because there just weren't enough. That's what how it is in Startups World. You just get totally. And I look back and I'm like, I was 23 years old into huge multi-multi-million dollar decision makers. And I thought that was a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 52:20

It's so cool though. I wondered too, I've thought about this for myself a lot. I was thrown into the deep end a lot over the course of my career, just like things I had zero business doing or leading. And I I actually look back now, and I think a few of the folks that were putting me in those positions were doing it on purpose in a good way. It was, hey, I know you can handle this, but if I tell you X, Y, and Z, you're gonna overthink it, just get in there and you're gonna have to like sink or swim. And I wonder how much of that too, even just being in those spaces at such a young age helped shape, right? Like the way you show up in your presence and your leadership.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Yeah. Yeah. I I really I just respect managers and leaders who deal with younger people.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Like, oh my gosh, no kidding. I know, I know, which is why, yeah, I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

Okay, last question um that I ask literally everyone because and the answer can be it's so different based on who I ask. And it really is for a today answer, not for a forever answer. But because so much of my work really is focused on as you're evolving into what's next, you're starting to think more and more about what is the impact you're trying to have, what are you trying to build? And honestly, it's really like what is the legacy that you're trying to leave? It's a kind of beautiful thing that we're constantly working on and building in real time. So I ask everybody, um, what does building a legacy mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 53:56

That's a good question, too. I mean, not to be so practical, but I think just like what you want to be remembered by, what you want to leave behind, what how you want actually maybe this is it, like how you want people to feel when they think back on you. Do you want them to really admire and feel like you inspired them to do something, or you um courageously did something, or you shifted a perspective, or you created something new? I think this new yeah, how people feel about you when you are mentioned. I think that's maybe how I'd put it.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

So, how how would you want people to feel about you?

SPEAKER_00 54:45

Uh I really want people to know that I have their back and like I'm in their corner and I see the best in them and I see their potential and just so fiercely want them to own all parts of themselves and feel confident, you know, stepping out and being courageous and that I have their back. If it goes badly, I have their back. If it goes great, I have their back, and just knowing that unconditional support for their work and their gifts.

SPEAKER_02 55:12

Yeah, heck yes. Yes, I feel that from you, and I barely know you. So I feel like you're you're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Right. I'll take it.

unknown 55:21

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 55:22

You're amazing. Thank you so much for spending some of your time. I know you have a crazy amount of things going on. So this is really uh a gift to get to chat with you.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

This is such a treat. You're a fantastic interviewer, and like what a cool conversation we got to just have. So thank you for facilitating and holding space for it.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

I can't wait to see you uh over a glass of virtual champagne.

SPEAKER_00 55:45

But if not over then, um yeah, in the meantime, we'll see each other online too.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

All right, good to see you.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Bye, Kristen. Talk soon. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 55:55

Thank you so much for listening and spending some of your time with me here. I hope our conversation sparked some new ideas for you. If you enjoyed the episode, please make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's next. And if you're ready for even more tools and stories, head on over to beldenstrategies.com slash newsletter. I share fresh insights, stories, and tools for women leaders every week. Until next time, keep building, keep evolving, and remember that you are kind of a big deal.