Well , hello . This is Kimberly Brock , and for over 20 years I've been running my own businesses that have not only been profitable but personally fulfilling to me . So now I'm on a mission to help other new business owners , just like you , make money doing what you love to . Now we're going to have some fun , so let's get started .
Speaker 2Well , hello , this is Kimberly .
Speaker 3It's episode 299 , and I am so thankful that you're here today , because I'm here to give you some encouragement for those of you that are dealing with any kind of chronic illness , something that maybe has physically been bringing you down for some time , or maybe you have an autoimmune type of cancer , anything that you have Now . Again , many of you have more serious things than I can even imagine . But I'm just saying , if you are in the midst of trying to build a business or even start a business , while you're dealing with some type of chronic issue or illness , then today is for you , because I'm going to give you three ways that you can cope , three things that you can do that I think are very important so that you can actually build a successful business , and I know that you can do it . I'm here to encourage you and I'm excited for today's episode . If you're new here , welcome . I'm so glad that you found this podcast . I have no doubt it's going to help you along your business journey .
Speaker 3Whether you're in the idea stage , starting or growing , this is for you . And whether you're starting a podcast for your business , this is for you . You know , all I want is for you to be able to build your business dream okay . So I provide you with simple business fundamentals to help you get there and build a sustainable business . The last thing I want is for you to just throw this together and just like hope for the best . Nope , hope is not a plan . You are going to start strong , you're going to start smart . You're going to do things in a way that actually sets you up for years and years of success . So that's what I do . I have all types of free and paid workshops and programs to help you . They are ready for you right now . You can start on everything now and get moving , whether you're in the idea stage , you're trying to nail down that idea , whether you're starting and you're trying to , like , piece this together . What are the steps ? Am I doing anything right ? Am I doing everything right ? What am I doing ? How do I do this ? Start with my Just Getting Started Boot Camp . If you're starting a podcast , I do have some workshops and things for you with that . And if you're trying to grow your business , you're like , how the heck , now that I'm open , what the heck do I do ? How do I start marketing this ? Like , what's my plan for getting consistent sales ? Make sure you check out everything down below because I would be honored to help you and I know that all of this will propel you forward .
Speaker 3And , if you've been listening a while , thank you so much to all my loyal listeners . Y'all are wonderful and kind and grateful and I am so honored to be working with you . I always say I am so honored to be a small part of your big business journey . This is a big part of your life . No matter what size business you have , it is a big part of your life and I'm so excited for you .
Speaker 3Also , too , if you've been listening to this podcast and you have found value in it and you really like it and you tune in each week and you have never left a review , would you be so kind to hit the 5-star rating right now ? Whether an Apple podcast or whatever player it is , just hit 5 stars . And if you have 30 seconds to write a written review , that would mean the world to me . I would love to know if it's your favorite episode , if there's a topic that you love , if you have been encouraged or empowered by this podcast , what's your favorite thing about it . I would love to hear in the review . That kind of thing makes me so happy , so that's it Okay . On to the episode .
Speaker 2Well , hello friend , how are you today ?
Speaker 3How is everything going ? What is shaking with your business ? I need to know . I get so excited hearing about all that you're doing and I just love all the updates in the Facebook group and in my programs to see what you're doing , what you're working on and how things are flowing for you . I do know that today's topic is serious . Actually A lot of my stuff is very lighthearted , but today it's serious . But I want it to be something of encouragement to you and to help you see that you can make it through .
Speaker 3I know a lot of you are dealing with chronic illnesses and I don't know what it is for you . Maybe you have some type of autoimmune , maybe you have some type of cancer , maybe you just have some type of chronic illness that's going on . Maybe it's hereditary , maybe it's something you caught , maybe you've been sick a while . Whatever it is , I want to encourage you today that you get to still pursue your dream and you can still make a difference in this world through your business , even with all of that going on . I'm going to give you three coping mechanisms today because I think they will totally help you , and I want to start out by saying that you know I've got some type of autoimmune going on . That has happened since COVID and when I got it in 2022 . And it's been crazy trying to navigate all of that while running a business and having a family and having personal time and and living my life just with navigating this . And I can only imagine for some of you , I've had friends that have gone through cancer treatments and then recurring cancer and then just all sorts of things and my heart just goes out to you . It really does . My heart goes out to you today because I know it
can be hard trying to make money , trying to do something that makes you feel fulfilled , trying to have an outlet , a creative outlet all your own . So you don't have to think about that . Maybe you have something going on or you're trying to figure something out or dealing with family issues and things like that it can be . And just a little bit of backstory . Some of you who have worked with me in my programs already know the story , but I just want to share for those of you that are fairly new to , just so you are aware that obviously I stated I got some type of autoimmune after COVID and it happened immediately , within about three weeks actually , and it was after actual COVID . I know everyone asks me is it from the vaccine ? I did get vaccinated prior to that , the year before , and I was fine and I had had COVID the year before . So I got it like two Valentine's Days in a row . It was crazy . And so , anyways , I got it February 2022 .
Speaker 3And then by March , things were weird with my muscles and all this stuff was going on . Long story short , I'd been to neurologists , rheumatologists everyone's trying to figure it out and I found out that I had adrenal insufficiency in the beginning . That had gone on for almost two years and I didn't know why I didn't have energy to walk . I , you know , worked out my entire adult life , from like 18 and on . I've always been a member of a gym . I worked out six days a week doing fun things like F45 , orange Theory , everything , everything . Never had any problems , never really been sick I mean hardly ever sick in my life and after this , some weird stuff starting happening with my muscles . Anyways , I had adrenal insufficiency , so something happened to my adrenal glands .
Speaker 3I had gone to Mayo Clinic , finally , and they had run some labs , not knowing what they were going to find . They were just like didn't really think anything was super wrong with me . It was kind of bizarre . I was getting kind of what's the word ? Dismissed a little bit because I looked totally healthy and I don't know weird stuff was going on . That was kind of intangible , like I can't explain it all . Anyways , they ran , ran some labs and found out I had basically zero cortisol . I had like 0.4 . And y'all have heard all about cortisol right now , right In the health industry , everyone talks about high cortisol equals high stress and everyone's got it high and mine was 0.4 . So not good .
Speaker 3And I started a whole treatment for six months and recovered from that . But in the meantime I knew I've like I still got joint pain , I have weird things going on . I'm not feeling right but like mentally I feel good , if that makes any sense . Mentally I have felt good . I didn't feel like it was in a brain fog or anything like that , just something with my body was weird going on and I kept going to the rheumatologist and I'm like something is wrong . My joints are weird . I still can't really work out . I can walk but I can't really lift any weights , which was bizarre . Again , I was doing a bazillion push-ups before all this started and trying to do pull-ups and all the stuff , anyways .
Speaker 3And my rheumatologist had recently , like I guess maybe about a year ago , said whatever autoimmune this is , it's going to rear its head over time . So for any of you that have had an autoimmune that you haven't really known which one it is , he said it will rear its head . You will start getting more clues . And sure enough , we started getting more clues . I thought we were kind of really close , maybe six months ago , maybe even a year ago . I thought we were kind of really close , maybe six months ago , maybe even a year ago . I thought we were closer .
Speaker 3But come to find out , we think right now , as of recording this , that it's in my spine and it has then affected all the nerves coming out of my neck all the way down to my lower back , and so I have back pain and it's not ankylosing spondylitis which a lot of you may have heard of . That's more of a fusing of your vertebrae , but it is an axial spondyloarthritis and I sound like I know what I'm talking about and I really don't , but it's like an axial , if anyone knows about this . Anyways , it's all in my spine , so it causes inflammation of my spine . That's the easiest way to state it . But it started now to give me headaches because it's all up in the back of my head and so it's like getting worse . But I'm on a biologic and so we just started that . They said it takes like three months to kick in . Anyways , my point is that that's what I'm dealing with , and every day my back hurts somewhere , if not all of it . I have mentally felt totally fine until a little bit recently . My head is starting to feel heavy and I don't know if that's from the biologic or that is from this . I have no idea . But I'm trying to cope , and so my heart goes out to all of you who are trying to cope and deal with life and have fun in life and have this career .
Speaker 3As a business owner , I don't know how I would have had a regular full-time job that I've had to go to with all of this going on . The amount of doctor's appointments that I've been to now I think I've seen is it six neurologists , maybe seven now rheumatologists ? What else have I been to ? I've been to Long COVID Clinic , because they call it Long COVID , because it's just like I don't feel like I have Long COVID , like I don't feel like I still have COVID , but just like effects of COVID , I don't know , they kind of lump you into that . I've talked to physicians at two Long COVID clinics . I've been to Mayo Clinic , I have been everywhere .
Speaker 3So if any of you have any of this weird autoimmune with your spine , reach out to me . Start with Kimberly Brock is my handle on Instagram . Reach out , I would love to know what is going on with you . But anyways , that is all happening and in fact today I don't feel great . We were on a cruise last week and I started not feeling well and my back was hurting so bad that my clothes hurt . And when my husband just like touched my back a little bit , like all the nerves were just so sensitive you couldn't touch me
because the around my rib cage was so sensitive . Very bizarre , very bizarre . I don't have that now this week , but just don't feel super great .
Speaker 3And I came up here to record this podcast episode and I'm like this is sad . Like I love recording this podcast . I mean I love it . Every week I do it , but I'm like pushing in here to the last minute . This is the day before this is to go live and I'm recording it and this is what it is . I mean , this is what it is . I've had like five days to come up here and record this .
Speaker 3I just haven't felt great enough and I'm just kind of moving around , going what am I doing ? Like what is happening right now , and the good news is I still get to do this . I still get to do this and it's going to be fine . Like I know there will be an end to all this craziness and somehow , some way , I will find a way to cope right . Whatever medications , however many more rheumatologists and neurologists or whoever I need to go to , like I will do it . Like I don't back down . I'm not going to be a person that gives up . I'll just keep going until I can get the right kind of help , and I feel like I do already have good help . But here's my point For those of you that are going through it I feel your pain and I want you to know that , but I also want you to know that you can't give up on this dream and that you will do what you can when you can . And so today let's talk about it . Let's talk about these three coping mechanisms , because I know they will help you and you can do this . If I can do this , you can do this .
Speaker 3Okay , so the first coping mechanism that you are going to put in place for how to manage your business with a chronic illness , whatever it is that you have . And and again , I am in no way elevating anything I've gone through above a lot of you who've had it way worse , way , way worse , with cancer treatments , and I've known people that have had leukemia and all sorts of things , and it breaks my heart , it really does , and I would never say that mine is any more than yours , that mine is any more than yours , and it's not , it's less Like . I truly believe many of you have had it way worse , way worse . I mean , I have felt good most of the time , but just with physical impairment with my back and stuff . Anyways , number one , give yourself some grace . This is a season of life , whatever is going on in . Maybe you have a disease , a chronic illness . You know , disease activity can be very active , during certain years even .
Speaker 3And to know that this is a season and to give yourself some grace for what you're going through , a lot of us that are business owners are very determined . We're not going to stop , we're going to keep going . We're not going to wallow in our misery . I do not wallow in my misery . I try not to complain ever , unless my husband asks me how are you feeling ? And I'll say I have a headache or my neck is hurting and end of story . We are not going to be sitting here dwelling on it .
Speaker 3And sometimes , though , that is hard for people like us , because we put pressure on ourselves to do and go and we want to succeed and we want to be successful , right , but sometimes we just have to go . You know what I have ? To give myself some grace . I can't record the podcast episode today , or I can't do this today , but maybe I can tomorrow . And I think you have to have that good attitude , because that's what happened Yesterday . I think .
Speaker 3I came up all three days here to record this episode since Monday . Monday I came up . I knew I could have recorded it Saturday or Sunday , but I just didn't even come up here Monday , I think , I came up , and then I was like I can't do it . Yesterday I came up , I can't do it Today . I was like I'm doing this , now it's tomorrow . This thing needs to go live . So I have to get all this uploaded today and do all of this , but I've given myself grace .
Speaker 3I didn't beat myself up yesterday or the day before . I just said I can't do it today and I think we have to have that attitude . Because we beat ourselves up . It almost gets you in this like loop of misery . It's like this vortex that we can suck ourselves into . Do not let your brain suck you into a vortex .
Speaker 3In fact , y'all , I have a good book recommendation , a really good book recommendation . I actually listened to it on audiobook . It is called Don't Believe Everything you Think . I listened to it on Audible . It was amazing . There is the physical book and other books by this author , joseph Nguyen . Don't believe everything you think . It was like a two-hour audio book . It was amazing . So my recommendation to y'all today don't believe everything you think . Get it on Audible if you want to listen to it . I thought it was so good .
Speaker 3I think we have to not give in to our thoughts a lot of times , because our thoughts will put us in that vortex of like I can't do anything , I'm a victim , I just I'm going to opt out of life and you cannot do that . But at the same time , you have to give yourself grace . So I think it's learning how to be calm when , if you don't feel good or whatever's going on like , you just have to learn to be like , it's fine . I'm just going to rest a little bit , I'm going to get up , I'm going to do other things , but I'm not going to wallow in my misery , I'm not going to make everyone miserable around me . I'm just going to give myself grace that maybe right now I can't do that , I can't do this or that I'll put it off .
Speaker 3One of my one of my clients sits in one of my podcasting programs . You know she was worried about her one of her podcast episodes not being released on time one of the weeks and she's fairly new to podcasting and I said and hers had nothing to do with her being sick , so this is probably a bad example , but she has other stuff going on with her podcast and I said you know what ? You don't have to worry about it , you just don't need to release it . On the day that you normally release it it's late , that's fine . Like , give yourself grace , it's okay .
Speaker 3Nobody really cares , and that's a horrible thing to say and I hope that that did not come off rude and I hope to any of you doesn't come off rude when I say , well , nobody really cares , like I told myself that if I can't get this out tomorrow , nobody really cares . They will be disappointed the ones who like to listen to it Thursday morning in their car on the way to work , because I have clients who tell me they do that and that's awesome and such a compliment . But at the same time they will be like , okay , her podcast episode isn't out , and if it was a week late , it was a week late . Like it's going to be okay , give yourself grace , it's not that much pressure . What we do is not like if if our podcast doesn't get delivered or website doesn't get updated . Now , if you had something that you told a client that you would deliver , you need to try to do your best to do that right .
Speaker 3But my point right now is if things can wait , things can wait and give yourself some grace and don't beat yourself up , because the mental side of beating yourself up actually makes all of this worse and it doesn't give you the permission to relax and heal , because then you're on edge , because you're so mad at yourself and you're your worst enemy and you're beating yourself up . You have to just give yourself grace and say this is the season that I'm going through and that's okay . And then that's the big picture is this is the season . But then also the smaller picture of , like today , like I can't do what I wanted to do If I wanted to record a podcast episode . It's okay if that's late , that is not the end of the world , okay , or your website isn't updated or you haven't figured out some kind of technology . So give yourself grace . Please tell yourself that you will give yourself grace , just like you would give a friend grace . Give yourself grace during this time and realize that it's a season . So that's number one , your coping mechanism .
Speaker 3Number two hire out and delegate as needed . If your business requires you to have stuff that needs to get done Like when I had my online boutiques . Like stuff had to get shipped , we had to respond to customers that were asking about their order or wanted to place an order , so I had to start getting help right Now . I wasn't sick at the time . It was because I had three children at home and everything else going on and two businesses , and so I had to delegate . You can delegate personally , which is step one . Anything personal you can delegate Grocery shopping . Get on Instacart , yard people pool people , babysitters , whatever it is , organizers to help you organize your inventory , I don't know what it is . Delegate and get people to help you as needed .
Speaker 3Luckily for my business now this coaching business I can run it very much myself . I mean , I have things that I hire out and I could get people to do more , but really a lot of this . If I just feel a little bit good enough each day , I can get everything done that I need to do . So for me it's not like I have to do . You know I have to outsource anything major right now . Now , if I was doing a lot of videos or things like that , I would definitely have to outsource all editing and do all that . So I would have to do it and luckily now , with me knowing how to edit my own podcast , it's really not that hard . So as long as I just feel good for a little while , I can get all that done . But you have to delegate and hire out as needed .
Speaker 3Again , step one is personally . Step two is within your business . If you need someone to help you ship products and do things like that or work on your website , then you can do that , but you should be delegating as needed right now again , because this is
a season and your illness may take a turn for the better here coming up . Your illness may take a turn for the better here coming up , and I'm very optimistic that mine will , once we find the right medication . So I know it's just a season . So , number one , I've given myself grace . Number two I've hired out when I needed to , and that's what you need to do as well . Okay . So , number one , give yourself grace . Two , hire out and delegate as needed . Number three focus on helping people the best you can when you can . Focus on helping people the best you can when you can .
Speaker 3So when you are showing up to help someone , maybe you've got a coaching call , maybe you're dealing with a client , helping them figure out their order , doing a customer service call , whatever it may be , you be the best that you can be at that time . You are here to help people . You are here to make a difference in people's lives with your business . That's what you set out to do when you did this right . This wasn't just some rando business that you're starting . It's actually something from your soul that you wanted to help people with and you wanted to make a difference . Maybe it's to bring more joy to their life , make them feel better about themselves , have better relationships , look better , feel better , have better fitness . Whatever it is that you do , again , you could make candles or sell jewelry and just make people happy . You set out to make a difference for people with that because you knew how much it meant to you . You know how happy it makes you , you know how it's changed your life . So that's what you're doing for other people .
Speaker 3So remember that when you do feel good enough or when you do have to deal with a client , even when you're not feeling good that you do the best you can do . Right then Okay , when you can be the best that you can for your people , don't just be there wallowing in your misery and being like I am not feeling good and not giving them the service that they deserve . I've been on coaching calls . I've been on group coaching calls where I have not felt that great , but you can bet that I'm going to have a little caffeine before it started and I'm going to put my makeup on and I am showing up to help my people and what's amazing is I'm usually on a high when that's happening Now . When I'm done , I may collapse and be like , okay , you know , my head is hurting or my back's hurting or whatever's going on , and that's fine . But that that hour that I was with them , I was helping to the best of my ability and I was hoping that they couldn't tell that I'm any different than any other day .
Speaker 3And that's what I want you to remember is that when you show up for your people , you show up and that's hard right , because you're like , but I don't feel good , I know , but this is what you do for your people . You show up to be the best you can be when you can . Okay . Now , if you have to tell them like I'm not feeling my best today , but I'm on great , tell them that
and I'm sure they'll give you grace . I don't think it's something you need to say all the time , especially if they know you have a chronic illness .
Speaker 3Most people are very kind and will give you grace , but the thing is we don't want this hurting your business where people say you know what , I think I need to go somewhere else , I think I need to hire somebody else , I need to order from somebody else . We don't want that ever happening . We want you to keep this rolling along through whatever you're going through , because there is going to be an end in sight . Things will get better . We have to hope that things will get better , right , because we're doing things to get better . We're not wallowing in this and we're not just letting it happen . We are taking whatever measures we need to take , whatever doctors , whatever tests , whatever it gets tiring . It's tiring to be like that , but you can't ever be that person that's just like oh no , I'm just gonna live with this forever and never do anything . Now some of you may be saying I actually have gone through everything and I'm going to have to live with it . Okay , so that's the season that you're in . It can still change . It can still change and get better .
Speaker 3I think we have to have this attitude , or maybe we just don't need a business right now . If we're not going to have that attitude and I don't think you want that I don't think you don't want a business . Now , some of you , it may be true . Maybe you need to close your business for a while , maybe you need to put it on pause , and I think people would give you grace if you said , for the next six months . We are regrouping . Just know that it does hurt your business in some way because you kind of have to regain that momentum after , but you may have to do that .
Speaker 3I hope that that's a last resort . What I hope is that you can give yourself grace enough so that you can you can show up when you can show up , that you can delegate and keep this ball rolling and keep the momentum rolling while you may not feel your best , but when you do show up , that you show up as best you can when you can , so that you can keep the momentum of your business going , keep it rolling so that when you do feel better , then things can still keep moving . We're not starting from zero , we're not backing way up . Does that make sense ? So listen , my friends , most people at some points in their life go through some kind of physical season where they don't feel great . Maybe they have something going on , and maybe it's not even with a chronic illness , maybe it's a personal situation . So everyone is going to go through that season and all of these things apply .
Speaker 3So , no matter what you're going through today , if you're saying , well , I don't have any kind of chronic illness and I'm healthy and fine , don't have any kind of chronic illness and I'm healthy and fine . Know that your day will come , even if it's short term , even if it's you get COVID that you have for a long time , or you get the flu or you get pneumonia or you get something that like drags you out . Remember to give yourself grace , remember to delegate as you can and remember to show up the best you can when you can , because I believe that when we do these three things , we keep the momentum going in our business , or we at least maintain what we're doing to keep the ball rolling , so that when things get better , we're not so far behind the eight ball , we are still rolling along . Does that make sense ? That's what I'm doing , because I know God's going to take care of me . I'm going to figure out some kind of way , whether it
be with medication or whatever , and it may take time , and I'm going to have good days and bad days , hopefully a lot more good days ahead .
Speaker 3But this is our dream , this is what we want to be doing . We want to be helping people through our business , and so we have to focus on the positives and focus on hope and focus on helping those people that we set out to serve , and remember that our businesses are such a gift and this is such a blast that we get to do this that you have to keep all that in front of your mind and when you do that , it actually gives you hope and it gives you a more purposeful life through your business , instead of wallowing in any misery that you may be going through . Okay , what a gift that you get to be a business owner and you get to do this . It's such an honor . So that's it .
Speaker 3Y'all know I'm here If you need help with anything . Yeah , even though I'm going through stuff , I schedule all my coaching calls and everything around my schedule that works for me when I feel my best , and the good news is I'm sure I'll be fine in like a week or so , but I've just kind of had some weird stuff going on . But I hope and I don't feel that it's affected my clients in any way . I'm still showing up for them and I want to show up for you . So I'm so excited to help you and I don't want you to go through this alone as you're starting and building your business . I'm here , I know that you can do it and I'm excited to get you moving on the right foot so you can build a successful business too . So that's it , y'all . Have a great day Again . You can reach out to me down below and through any of the links , or you can DM me at startwithkimberlybrock on Instagram . I'd love to chat with you and hear about your business . Okay , that's it . Have a good one . Bye now .
Speaker 2Now this episode may be over , but our relationship does not have to end here . Head on over to KimberlyBrockcom and , yes , you can get more valuable information for your journey and you know what . You don't need to go through this alone . I would love to help you . Thank you so much and have a great day . Bye .