Episode 12: From Choir Camp to Business Strategy: Not the Tale You Expected

What does choir camp have to do with business strategy? More than you'd think.

In this episode, Bel shares what happened when she stepped well outside her comfort zone and joined Soul Song Choirs earlier this year. As a self-described non-singer who didn't even make it through high school musical auditions, spending a weekend at choir camp was, by her own admission, an experience times ten.

But somewhere between the harmonies and the clapping at the wrong moment, two business insights landed hard.

The first is about age. One of the things that struck Bel most at camp was how impossible it was to guess anyone's age. In a room full of women spanning 40 to 70, nobody was sitting on the sidelines waiting for permission. And if you've ever caught yourself thinking "why would I start that now?" or "isn't it a bit late for me to be doing this?" - this one's for you.

The second is about doing the thing that scares you. Whether it's showing up on social media, launching a podcast, pivoting your business, or creating a new program - most of us know the fear. We also know we've survived harder things. Bel talks about why Gen X women in particular have more proof of their adaptability than they give themselves credit for, and how that matters more than most of us realise.

This episode is also an honest reflection on what it feels like to be in a business that no longer fits. If you've built something that made sense for your 30-year-old self but feels misaligned now, you're not alone, and you're not stuck.

In this episode:

• Why Bel joined a community choir (and what that has to do with you)
• The age thing - why it's a mindset issue, not a timing issue
• Doing scary things: social media, podcasting, pivoting, and starting fresh
• The question Bel asks herself instead of "what if it doesn't work?"
• Why Gen X women have more proof of their resilience than they realise

The question worth sitting with this week: What would it feel like to be in a business that is actually aligned with who you are right now?

Where to find Belinda:

Website: www.belindabayliss.co Instagram: @belindabayliss.co Facebook: Belinda Bayliss Co

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute professional psychological advice. If you are experiencing mental health concerns, please reach out to a qualified health professional.

Transcript

0:00

hi, I'm Belinda. If you're a woman in business somewhere in your forties or fifties, juggling probably more than you should and still trying to sustain a business you care about, this podcast might just be for you. Welcome to Gen X Women in Business. If you're new here, welcome to the podcast. We are a space for Gen X, Xennial, and Millennial women who are learning to do business differently. I'm so pleased that you found us. If you're a regular listener, thanks again for your time. Really do appreciate every time someone presses play on our little podcast So today I wanted to talk a little bit about my experience at choir camp. A little bit like band camp, probably somewhere in the same vein. But as somebody who isn't a singer, it is definitely an interesting experience to put myself outside of my comfort zone and join a choir. And I did this for a number of reasons. One is that space of doing the things that don't come naturally, that require a little bit of grit, but also about creating levels of community in my life. So not just my business community, but also reaching out to other spaces to create that level of connection, which I think is super important to women, humans, midlife. I think connection is important across all the spaces. Given that this is a business-style podcast, what does it have to do with business? I actually reflected on two really significant spaces that choir camp overlapped with business strategy mindset. So let me reflect a little bit on my choir first. So At the beginning of the year, I joined Soul Song Choirs. Now, they are national across Australia. I think there's 17 choirs, multiple directors, and one amazing midlife woman running it all. It is a community that welcomes everyone. It is the most inclusive space that I have seen in years. And part of the welcoming is there's no audition, which is really fortunate for me, bit of a non-singer, as I mentioned. So it's a space that I can go and be part of something bigger than myself and really put myself outside of my comfort zone. So every year they run a camp. Actually, they run multiple camps across Australia where they have choir locations. So going along and being amongst people that I barely know in a space that is semi-familiar was a bit of a challenge. For the last decade or two, my community spaces have been business spaces, somewhere where I'm confident and comfortable, and I know my stuff. So to put myself into a space where I really don't know my stuff, and I'm really not familiar with the other people, is new and different and challenging, but not in a way that I have to run away from So I wanted to share the two things that I felt relate to my podcast community. The first one is age. as I mentioned, the choir is incredibly inclusive across such an age range. So there are young adults through to the not so young adults. And I think they shared that the oldest choir member is in their 90s. So it is a space that has such a range. But what I found was a group of men and women, although mostly women to be honest, but a group of women who aren't being defined by their age, who are getting in and participating. And I know for midlife women, including myself, that sometimes the age thing does show up. Why would I join a choir in my mid-50s when my last choir was school, And I didn't make it through the auditions to even be in my school's musical. But I think that for many of us, our mindset can move to, "I'm too old for that," or, "Why would I start that now? Why would I start something new?" And I definitely feel that in business, there are a lot of women who might be more cautious around starting a new business, or maybe launching a new product line, or expanding to a second store, or creating another online course. So I think what the weekend gifted my mindset is that we can actually do these things at any age, and that being older doesn't need to be a barrier. And I think for me, whenever that little voice is showing up of, "Why would you do that in your mid-50s?" There's a couple of responses there. One is, why not? The second one is, if not now, when? And the final thing is that there are women doing amazing things in all age groups. So it's not the age that's the barrier, it's the mindset Which leads me beautifully into my second observation, and that is the gift of doing the thing that scares you. So as I explained, as a non-singer, camp for me was a really strange and foreign type of space where for two days there was lots of singing and harmonies and parts and notes and being louder in this bit and silent in this bit. And certainly a fear for myself that there was gonna be a time where I made a noise when I shouldn't, or I clicked at the wrong stage, or I did a clap at the wrong stage. So I was being really mindful of how that showed up for me I was absolutely 1,000% outside of my comfort zone, so outside of my comfort zone times 10. And that was a really novel experience But when I thought about business, so many of us either put ourselves in that space of discomfort or we shrink away from it. So for many women who are moving into a digital space, the idea of being on social media and the absolute hunger pit that is social media content can feel really busy and overwhelming, and maybe even scary. So sometimes we lean into it, but other times we find we step away Other things about putting ourselves out there might be starting a podcast or even guesting on a podcast To put our voice and our thoughts and our ideas out there in a permanent space for other people to listen to can be incredibly scary. But at the same time, this is an element of growth that is so unique for business women, But also so rewarding It might be smaller than social media or being on a podcast or even launching a podcast. It might simply be launching a new product line. It might be starting a new business, creating a new program. all of these ideas can be incredibly scary, and sometimes I think as women in this phase of life, we forget the wisdom we hold. We forget our ability to be adaptable and flexible and to pivot. If we think about it, for many of us, we were the generation who used typewriters and had to change typewriter ribbons at high school. We may have even learnt shorthand. Not me personally, but I know many of my friends did. This is a skill that's long gone, but we've adapted from typewriters to electric typewriters to computers from microfiche through to journals, to online journals, to computers, to the fact that we can pretty much run a business from our phone And we're a long way from landline phones where we had to stretch the cord to get any privacy. We can do the things that feel scary. We can do the things that maybe are challenging because we've got proof. It's what we've done all of our lives. We are the generations that have gone through multiple changes and not only survived, but flourished. We are still here. We are still loud and proud and living our best lives. And I think that's really important to remember, that we are capable of change. The other thing I notice though is that for many businesswomen that I speak to, they find themselves stuck in a business that no longer aligns for them. So it might have worked really well for their 20-year-old self or even their 30-year-old self, but when we reach our 40s and 50s and even our 60s, something sort of changes. Our idea of what is acceptable and non-acceptable changes. It might be that we are no longer willing to give our business everything because we want to balance it with living so that we're not just all about the business, but we are all about a business that supports the life we want to live. So for a lot of women, that pivoting away from the business that you know and trust is scary, and I totally understand as somebody who has recently pivoted. And the question I would pose here is one I regularly use for myself, and that's what if it does work? How would it feel to be in a business that is aligned, that suits who you are today, and that feels nourishing and joyful to be part of every day? Where your shoulders don't need to drop when you think about another workday. How would it be to live in an inspired, amazing business that suits who you are? And I think that while my choir experience isn't a comfortable jacket yet, I'm really hopeful that sticking with it in the amazing supportive community that was there will help me become a better and more confident singer, even if I'll probably always want to live in the back row. I'm also curious about what is it that you can do to help yourself move your business into that joyful, connected space. So I think that's pretty much my musings for this week. I'm hoping that you can find some resonance in there and a way that you can reflect on how you are living in alignment or misalignment with your own business Again, thank you so much for pressing play today. If you found this helpful or something resonated, please share with a friend who you think might get the same. Of course, comments, likes, subscribes, five-star reviews, all let the platforms know that this podcast offers something useful. And at the end of the day, my podcast, my baby podcast, is all about helping and supporting women in business who are doing the amazing things if you'd like to find out more about the work that I do, you can find me on my website at www.belindabeyless.co, Or you can find me same name, Belinda Bayless Co on both Insta and Facebook Thanks again for listening. Hope your day is awesome. Bye And now the boring but necessary part. The Gen X Women in Business Podcast is produced for general educational and informational purposes only. Nothing shared here constitutes psychological advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and should not be treated as such. If you are experiencing mental health concerns, please seek support from a qualified professional where guests appear on this podcast, their opinions and views are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Belinda Bayless Co. Or the Gen X Women in Business Podcast. Always seek the advice of a qualified professional with any questions you may have.