77: Behind the Scenes of Our Mastermind: An Entrepreneurship Support System
Entrepreneurship Support System
Having support throughout life is important. As an entrepreneur, having a support system is one of the most underrated elements to weathering the storm of being a small business owner. Being an entrepreneur is a rollercoaster. Some days you feel like a maniacal genius whose energy couldn’t be more aligned, and other days you get *this close* to deleting your URL and shredding your LLC. Having people in your life who not only support you, but understand because they are also business owners can reduce isolation, spark creativity, and inspire joy in your business. This post and podcast will cover the ways in which being a part of an entrepreneurship support system through a female mastermind improved our collective businesses.
How We Run Our Mastermind Group
Our female business mastermind group meets twice per month. While we started out with loose mastermind group rules (start and end on time, give and take, be kind), we didn’t have firm rules. Currently, our group runs like this: each of us is given three minutes to check-in, and we each get twenty minutes to “deep dive.” We consider “deep dives” to be space for each of us to use as we need, whether we focus on business or personal stuff. Sometimes, we use a deep dive to process a launch that didn’t go as planned, to talk through a new offer, or vent about something in our lives we need loving support for.
Additionally, twice per year we’ve started doing mini-retreats. In these mini-retreats, we each take it on ourselves to teach a specific skill or share our unique business wisdom with others. There is space to goal-set, business plan, and time for reflective and aspirational journaling, too. In our time together, we’ve helped reiterate the importance of rest and creativity in our businesses.
Coping With Entrepreneur Isolation
Entrepreneur isolation is real. While our women’s mastermind is a mix of introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts, we all agree that trying to build “community” in a sea of thousands on a Facebook group wasn’t what we needed. We all experienced some version of isolation. Feeling alone in our work and in our businesses sometimes led to analysis paralysis, feeling behind compared to other business owners, or a deep sadness of feeling stuck in our work.
What complicated matters in dealing with isolation were searching for help didn’t turn up much since there’s a lot of toxic positivity in the online entrepreneur space. You know, the noise that sounds like “high vibes only,” “rise and grind,” and “look on the bright side!” Therapists Samara Quintero and Jamie Long say toxic positivity comes from the overgeneralization that everyone should be happy, regardless of what’s happening in life or business. This toxic positivity can lead to hiding how you really feel, dismissing real emotions, and “pushing through” or feeling guilty when you feel anything other than happiness.
Having each other to talk to and have someone really “get it” has been powerful in our emotional and mental resilience. Another member shared that having the space to process a bad business investment helped her heal so she could move forward in her business. AKA the opposite of toxic positivity and a true way to cope with isolation.
Taking a Risk in Business
Taking a risk and business can be equal parts scary and necessary. One member of our mastermind shared that being in community with others allowed her to branch out and launch a new group coaching offer she’d been toying with. Another member said that real tools, suggestions, and feedback from the mastermind allowed them to create a self-paced course. Mindset and confidence-building to grow her team and offer products was another part of taking an expansive risk in yet another mastermind member’s business.
The advantage of taking a risk in business is to see what outcomes can happen. Sure, an offer might not go as planned, but being in a mastermind with others allows us to review what went well, what didn’t, and what lessons to take from the business risk moving forward. Taking risks with support can help you in achieving your business goals.
Talking About Finances
In our group, money talk is definitely on the table. We talk about finances, what we are hoping to earn, investments we’ve made, and big financial goals. In addition to the tangibles of the financials of our businesses, we routinely are talking about money mindset. Money mindset is what shapes our beliefs about money. As business owners, cultivating healthy money mindset, not just financial goals, is crucial in having a healthy business.
Work-Life Balance for Entrepreneurs
Work-life balance tips for entrepreneurs aren’t a “nice to have,” it’s a “need to have.” As one member of the mastermind shared, owning a small business is personal; therefore taking care of ourselves is a cornerstone of having a sustainable business. While all members of the mastermind share that striving for work-life balance is elusive, we all do a good job of reminding one another that business isn’t everything.
Some tips we’ve found for work-life balance are here:
Think of it as work-life separation instead of balance. For some of us “balance” is harder to navigate than “separation.” Creating boundaries as an entrepreneur is challenging and ongoing. Set guidelines like powering down your laptop at the end of the day, or putting up an auto responder on your email on weekends.
Know that your energy for work will change over time and seasons. There will be times where you put in more hours than you usually do, and times you close your laptop early. Unlike a 9-5, give yourself space to honor your energetic changes. That means during a launch, you might work more than normal, and leading up to time out of office, you may have less screen- or face-time with clients.
Keep in mind other parts of your identity. As a small business owner, it’s hard to separate what you do from who you are. Nurture other parts of your identity. Some we have and work on nurturing are soccer player, bread baker, library connoisseur, musician, gardener, friend, astrologer, partner, pet parent, parent, auntie, and more!
Tips for Starting a Mastermind Group
Some tips for starting a mastermind group complied from our group members are shared here:
Find others in a similar stage of business. Trying to create a group where some folks are in the start-up or ideation phase of their business with others who are looking to expand their team likely won’t be a good fit. Get people together who are in similar stages of their business journey.
Get comfortable making an uncomfortable ask. Reach out to someone else in a similar field or in a similar stage of their business. Meet up for a coffee and if they feel like a good person, make the ask. “Would you be interested in meeting up a few times a month to talk shop?”
Start with an end date in mind. When starting a mastermind, commit to a few weeks or a couple of months. That way, if it doesn’t feel like a fit, no one has to do the awkward “it’s not you it’s me” thing. You can simply say, “I’m glad we met, and I don’t think now is the right time to keep meeting.”
Create rules or guidelines members can adhere to. Community guidelines for cultivating safety are powerful. While ours came out organically, if you are meeting with people you don’t know, sharing some boundaries or guidelines can be helpful in creating safety.
Be ok with a shifting of the format. Perhaps you want skill-building to be included in your mastermind (like we did when we started out) but over time, space for brainstorming feels more important. Be open with your group about whether you are ok or not with the shifting format.
In this post and the corresponding podcast, we’ve covered all of the benefits of being in a business mastermind community with each other. I hope it’s been helpful if you too are considering creating an entrepreneurship support system of your own!
About Lauren
Lauren Ranalli is an award-winning self-published children’s book author, the Director of Marketing and Communications for an international non-profit, marketing coach for aspiring and self-published authors, and the mom of two high-spirited children. Visit her on Instagram at @lauren.ranalli_author or at www.laurenranalli.com to receive 2 FREE resources, Finding Social Media Success, and Daily Marketing Strategies for Authors.
About Monica
Monica Kovach is a former art therapist and counselor turned web designer for therapists at Hold Space Creative. She's passionate about making therapy more accessible by helping therapists present themselves in a more accessible way. She lives in Michigan with her two kitties, Bubbles and Pearl, and when she's not designing websites, she can usually be found somewhere in nature. Take her free quiz “What Type of Therapist Are You?” here.
About Julie
Julie Tobi works with creative entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs who are feeling stuck, on the cusp of change, and wanting more fulfillment in work and life. As a huge proponent of work/life separation and loving how you spend your time, Julie helps people live the life and do the work they actually want to be in. When she's not working with clients, you can find her doing life in Michigan with her husband and their three kids, connecting with friends under the full moon, and getting lost in a good book. While you can find her on Instagram, it’s best to add your name to her newsletter and get free coaching straight to your inbox.
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Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Welcome back, everyone to the mind money balanced podcast today is an extra special episode because I'm staring at three smiling faces who've been a part of my business and personal life for the last two and a half years, I am bringing on my mastermind friends, so I will let them introduce themselves. But for today's episode, you're going to get a kind of peek behind the curtain of what support business owners need and how it goes beyond just the business side of things. So I've got three women here today, Lauren, Monica, and Julie. And I'm going to have each of them introduce themselves and then we'll dive into the background of how we know each other, and what the heck a mastermind is. So Lauren, if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Lauren Ranalli: Yeah, Hi, friends. First of all, it's fun to see you like outside of our regular meeting. So this is fun for me as well, but I'm Lauren Rinaldi. I am a self published children's book author, as well as a marketing and communications specialist. My main field of work is in public health and health equity, but I am also doing author coaching and marketing coaching with aspiring and self published authors. And I'll say I'm also a mom of two because I feel like that factors in a lot of times to the conversations we have around work.
Lauren Ranalli: So true. Thanks, Lauren. Monica.
Monica Kovach: Hi, I'm Monica Kovach. I'm the founder and owner of Hold Space Creative where I design websites for private practice therapists and coaches. I used to be a therapist and coach myself and fell in love with web design, and have been doing that ever since.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Thanks, Monica, and Julie.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Hi, everybody. My name is Julie and I am a coach, primarily for creative entrepreneurs, but I work with people who are not entrepreneurs as well. And I really help people make decisions that feel right for them right in their core, right in their bones so that they are doing life and business in a way that feels good and is enjoyable. My background is in counseling, and I've been a creative entrepreneur and other iterations as well. So I have been a wedding planner, and a florist, and I fuse all of that together my counseling background and my entrepreneurial background into my work with people.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: So back in July, the four of us did a vaccinated mastermind retreat and we shared some stories and posts out onto Instagram and to our respective email lists, and I personally got a ton of responses from people saying, Who are those people? How did you meet them? What is the mastermind? I want that! And so we decided it would be fun to bring everybody on to talk about our experience in the mastermind. So to give you all a little high level overview of what we do, we meet twice a month for two hours; we are big fans of timers, everybody gets equal floor time or air time to kind of do a quick check in and then deep dive on what's going on in their business or personal life that they just want some support or feedback on. We've been meeting twice a month since May of '19. Is that right? Yeah, May of 2019, which is just wild. And a big question was, How did you all meet? And we have a web of ways that we have met over the years. But I think I'll share how Monica and I met and then Julie, I would love for you to share because you're the only one who knew all of us. So Monica and I met through the magic of Instagram, we met up for a coffee date and we were just kind of lamenting about how lonely entrepreneurship can be and how it felt hard to find community in the spaces where so many online entrepreneurs are supposed to find community in those massive Facebook groups or in those like massive podcast support groups, and it just didn't feel good enough. Monica, do you want to add to that at all?
Monica Kovach: Yeah, I think um You just hit it right on the head. You know, I was in a lot of those big kind of business online groups, but I didn't know anybody in my personal life that was doing business in this way. I have some family members that are business owners, but not online business owners, not female. So it was like really important to me to like, find community. I was really looking for that at that time.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah, and so Monique, and I kind of brainstormed, you know, some names of folks. And we had some overlapping names and we reached out to them and Julie was one--Well, Julie and Lauren were obviously both on the list, but Julie was one who knew all of us. Julie, do you want to share how you connected the dots?
Julie Tobi: Yes. So super exciting. Lindsay was actually one of my first clients back when I was a wedding planner, that was my first season. I fell in love with her and her partner and was super excited to assist with their wedding. So that was how Lindsay and I first met. Somewhere along those lines, I also became connected with Lauren; Lauren and I we live in the same area. We're both moms of kiddos about the same age, her oldest and my oldest are six months apart, and we actually were in a book club together. And our paths crossed that way than we realized that we had kids the same age. And that was really exciting to meet Lauren in that way. And then Monica and I also in the same geographic area; we met at a one--actually it was a two day retreat near the city where we live in and we really connected there over the content and I felt really drawn to her and her energy and made sure that we stayed connected.
Lauren Ranalli: This is Lauren, I'll add that interestingly enough, Julie, Lindsay, and I all worked in the same building at jobs none of us are still at, we've all since left those jobs. But we, the three of us, just we kept kind of running into each other a little bit, like physically like in the kitchen of that building running into each other. And I think Lindsey you and I had both randomly taken the same day off of work, and wound up sitting next to each other getting pedicures. And that's when he told me about this mastermind idea at first. And I was like, Ooh, tell me more.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yes, which is like so powerful in terms of community and how it all works. I love online, obviously, I think we all have an element of love for the online space, and that it can extend us and connect us with people we otherwise wouldn't have been connected to. But there is something really powerful about those literal run-ins, you know, in the pre-COVID world where you'd be out and about doing things. So over the past two and a half years, I'd say our format has kind of ebbed and flowed. Does someone want to talk about how it used to be versus kind of how it is now?
Lauren Ranalli: I can do that. This is Lauren again. And yeah, I mean, when we first started meeting, we were obviously we were meeting in person as you mentioned twice a month in sort of two different locations; we were rotating based on, you know, the locations where we all live. And once a month, we were really focused on skill building, right? Like we would, we would sort of assign each other or assign ourselves topics to talk about and teach others. So like Lindsey, I remember you did a session on like business expenses as a self employed professional and Monica did something on website building. And Julie did a really cool session on like inner voice. And I think I did something at the time on, maybe social media. And then we would use the alternating times to sort of deep dive and talk about our businesses, and things that like we were struggling with or excited about or needed to plan out. And truthfully, our businesses started taking up so much more time and space for each of us. And we had so much more going on that eventually we're like, we just need to dedicate both meetings a month to talking about this. And so that's one way that it's morphed. And then obviously, with COVID, we stopped meeting in person and transitioned to online and I don't know if somebody else wants to share about that. But that that's been an interesting transition as well.
Julie Tobi: One other thing that's really interesting that I think we all forgot about which I also forgot when we first started meeting, I think we did weekly for six weeks, something like that. And then we decided it was clear to me that we were in this for the long haul with each other. And that once a week probably wasn't sustainable with us wanting to do this. You know, we're still here doing this two and a half years later, so at some point after maybe week six, we switch to it being twice a month.
Lauren Ranalli: I totally forgot about that. You're right.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Does anyone remember what some of the initial goals they had, when they came into the mastermind, like what they were working on are what they were hoping to get out of this community space?
Julie Tobi: I just knew I liked you all and wanted to be around you. (laughter).
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: (Laughter) I feel like that's enough.
Julie Tobi: I probably have goals, but right now, this is Julie, I just remember really enjoying you all and wanting to be a part of it. And maybe, as I say that what was so lovely and is is that I was a part of something. And again, like you were saying at the beginning, Lindsay, and Monica, that I feel a part of things in so many other ways, but as a small business owner, largely in an online space, so not entirely, it felt nice to feel a part of something that was us and intimate and small.
Monica Kovach: Something else I would add, and I don't think we've mentioned this yet, this is Monica, that we Lindsay and I talked about finding people for this group that were in a similar stage of business. And because we didn't want to feel like there was any sort of like, differential and we want to just kind of like all be on equal playing fields. And so I think that's why at the beginning, we started with this element of like teaching each other because it really was skill sharing. It wasn't like, you know, some of us had to bring others along or anything like that. And then we just kind of naturally together flowed into like, a different stage of business. And like Lauren said, we just didn't have the time or capacity to put together those, like, teaching masterminds anymore. And so yeah, I think that was a that was an important aspect to the beginning.
Lauren Ranalli: When you both were like initially conceiving of this, did you intentionally pick or reach out to people in different professions? I can't remember if we've talked about this, but it has, we've all noted that it's a really important component here. While we're we all started off at the same phase of business. As Monica mentioned, the fact that we're in different fields has been really, really helpful. And I can't remember if that was intentional.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah. So Monica, and I did the brainstorming. I don't recall if we specifically wanted people outside of our niche or our professions, but I would absolutely say that it has lended itself to a richer space, because you have folks who are thinking outside of what is the norm in your business, and you also don't have, not that I feel in competition with other therapists, but you don't have that element of like, shiny object syndrome in terms of comparing yourself to another therapist who's three and a half years into their business or another author who's published three books, right? Like, you have the difference of, you can just extend yourself more grace in a strange way. But Monica, I don't remember specifically carving out that criteria, do you?
Monica Kovach: Not really, I have a vague memory of talking about, like, supervision, you know, like, since you're a therapist, I have a background as a therapist, and we I remember talking about like, not wanting it to be like that, where it's like it maybe this was along that vein of like not wanting to--wanting something different where we could like pull from different perspectives from different fields.
Lauren Ranalli: Yeah, I think that's been so hugely important for us. And I, you know, for anyone who's listening, who's thinking about building a mastermind or joining an existing mastermind, I personally think that that has made a real difference for us. Because if I was in a group with other authors, it would feel different. And it's, you know, that you don't want to have that sort of, you know, I don't know, underlying sense of, as Lindsay mentioned, like, competition and it's not even competition, but what's so freeing about this group is that if I put out a newsletter or something that I have created myself, and all of you can see a way how that same topic could be applied to your own audience. I feel great about you using it. I feel great about using, I'm going to run with this and I know you all have done that for me as well, where I'm like, Ooh, Monica love that tutorial. Like I'm going to do something similar and it's so supportive. Whereas I feel like if you're in a space with others in your exact same field, it would feel different at least for me.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah, I feel like you're right, Lauren would end up feeling more of like a, like a writer's group, or like Monica was saying with therapists like a supervision group. But this is very different and that it specifically is around our businesses. But as we've kind of hinted it change over time, and went from a skill building to a business development, and then now I would say, a good chunk of our time, not all of it, but has shifted into the personal. Does anyone want to speak to that transition?
Julie Tobi: Yeah, this is Julie, and I remember this mastermind, when the shift really happened, so clearly, because it was really powerful. And I have goosebumps right now thinking about it. But we had all been business business business, talking about business and in one of these groups, Monica said, basically, I don't want to talk about my business today, I want to talk about something personal. And she put something personal on the table. And we were all there for her held space for her and it was really lovely. Because what Monica did is, she gave us all permission to do the same and so there have been countless mastermind sessions where we're talking about personal and we're talking about business. A lot of the time, I am only talking about personal. I love you all for that so much and I really am so grateful that that day, I don't know if it felt like a risk to you, Monica, I've never asked you that. But in that moment, Monica was like, forget it. We're talking about personal stuff. And I'm really grateful that you did that.
Monica Kovach: Oh, you're gonna make me cry. I do remember that day and that it was a big deal for me and I, there was some like, questioning in me of like, Is there space to talk about this? I don't want to distract from our original goal and envision, but it was just the type of thing that was--that was all there was to talk about for me and sometimes that's how it is. And then, and then from there, like you said, Julie, it just opened up this reality that business and personal life are intertwined. They always are and you can't really talk about one without the other. And yeah.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah, I still remember that day, Monica. And Julie, thanks for reminding us of that, that shift. And I think that was the other thing that I previously couldn't pinpoint was so difficult about like all of these online communities, was that it was all about pushing through and pushing past discomfort all for the sake of growth, but without a look at the human side of being a small business owner and a being an entrepreneur. What are other kinds of surprises that have come out of these twice a month meetings for y'all?
Julie Tobi: One thing, for me that's been surprising is that we just keep going. And not that when we started, I didn't have an end time in my mind. I didn't think Oh, we'll do this. I think we did that when we did it weekly, it was kind of, Let's see how it goes and then we'll decide the plan moving forward, but we never had an end date and I think like even every time we say how long we've been doing this, my jaw drops because I'm like, Oh, wow, it has been that long. So that just kind of surface level has been so surprising that we keep it going and want to; there's no obligation, there's nothing behind it other than genuinely wanting to do this.
Lauren Ranalli: Yeah, I'll say sort of teasingly. I think one thing that surprised me the most is how much I've become interested in astrology. With all you, because you all have such like a knowledge of it. And how often we'll be, you know, in a session and talking about this, and someone will say, Well, that makes sense. Because, you know, it's Virgo season and Sagittarius rising and whatnot. And you all have like, seen my face so many times. I'm like, I have no idea what you mean. Um, but you've gotten really into it, especially at our last retreat. And so that's actually something that like surprised me in a really fun way.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Oh my gosh, I love that so so much. It's funny, Lauren, as you're talking about that; what surprised me is actually, I, for people who know what these, these things I'm about to say are, you'll get what this mean. So I'm a Virgo son, I'm a Scorpio rising, I'm an Enneagram, eight, I have a lot of heat, essentially, I have a lot of like, go, go go. And what we're all referencing is this, this retreat, we did a three day, two night retreat, where we were, we had this like, beautiful list of things we were going to do for our business. And we got there and realize, like, yes, we need like a little bit of business, but we need about 10% business and we need about 90%, nervous system restoration and calibration. And I did not know how badly my body needed just space for community, space for rest, space for fun, space for journaling, and not growth. And initially, I don't know if y'all remember, but we initially had talked about monetizing that about tech making it like a retreat, where we would present on different skills and people would come to us we were going to like, you know, all the different ways we intertwine. We're gonna talk about like how to use creative writing, and you know, different ways to think about your website and how to check in with your inner voice. And then we're like, scratch that we just need each other. And that has also been a huge, that was a big surprise and support as well. What about like checklist items? What are checklist items, projects, you've completed things that you've done business or personally, that you're comfortable sharing, that you think were specifically buoyed by this group?
Monica Kovach: I an go first on that one? That, to me, that's, that's been like one of the biggest things I came to this, we started this group and I was really struggling to, to do a few big things in my business one being asked, you know, transition from a service based business where I was doing only custom design work to products to like selling website templates, and, and developing them and all that, and there was so much mindset stuff, and like confidence building that I had to do to do that. And to just talk with you all about, like my Ideas and brainstorming that was huge. And then off of that, starting to grow a team. Like that was another really big thing that I had to like I had a lot of hurdles, internal hurdles to jump over, and just the opportunity to just lay out all of my like, fears, worries, insecurities to you, and have you all just kind of like, support that. But also I don't know, just kind of like point out the areas where I might be keeping myself stuck. I think that's a really big thing that I've gotten from this group to where we like, call each other out when we're dealing it and things like that. So those are the two big things for me, and there's definitely more.
Lauren Ranalli: Monica, I totally agree with you, especially when you're talking about like the calling out, I always love you know, in our when, when one of us is sort of presenting or like just talking through a problem. And you know, like Monica, you'll say to me, Lauren, if I were having this problem, the advice you would give me, you know, and we all do that for each other because we know each other so well right now, which is just really amazing and astonishing. Um, you know, for me, personally, Lindsay, in terms of like, what has come out of this business wise, when I, when the group first started, I'd published one children's book and I was doing some like one on one assessments for folks, not even authors, just other business owners on their Instagram and sort of like doing like an audit, essentially, if their Instagram and making suggestions. And really what that was driving me towards was the coaching. And so I since then, I mean, in addition to putting out, you know, the other two children's books, I have transitioned away from that to doing online courses and online author trainings, as well as one on one coaching. But that was not something that I was like really even on my radar when I first joined this group and if I hadn't joined this group, I feel very confident that I wouldn't be doing any of that I just wouldn't have had the space to think about it and talk about it with people and get like real tools and suggestions and feedback on how to make that happen.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah, I the specific things, I mean, both Monica and Lauren, what you've said have really resonated with me just having the space and support to process all the mind stuff. I also didn't realize how much of a verbal processor I am until we kind of gotten to this routine, because I would say three out of the four times that it's my turn to like deep dive, which is where we each get equal floor time to say what we need some feedback or advice on. I'll start by saying like, I don't know where I'm going with this, I just need to say it all out loud and see what happens. And then I'll spend like 10 minutes just like talking out loud. And everyone just like, Mm hmm. Like very therapeutically supportive, but in a friendship way too, right? Like, what I appreciate, too, is that the group has been like, Do you want advice? Or do you want? Do you just need some support? Specifically, what's come out of this is a huge, huge, it was a personal professional intersection. You know, last summer, I went through a really really traumatic business coaching experience and felt so much guilt and shame and embarrassment for having made that "investment in my business that quite literally blew up in my face," and there were many times where I just needed this group, to cry. And if you know me, when I cry, it is not pretty, I really hold it in until I can't any longer. So the fact that y'all have seen me cry so many times. And you know, for the folks who are in walking distance, actually, I think we all went on walks during that time, I was like, I need to walk I need to get out of my house, where are you? Can you meet up with me and being able to be that vulnerable to say, I need this, I just need some outdoor time, or I just need to move my body or I just like need you on the phone was so terrifying and also such a huge part of growth of being able to say, a mistake doesn't define me. And that shame didn't have to eat me up. But that's not a tangible. I know, I asked the question like check off a list, but it is in a lot of ways in that now I can bring to my clients, a business building is rocky, and it will hit your ego and your, your personality and you will do so much more inner work being a business owner, then then so many other areas, I think and I'm just so grateful to have had your support along the way.
Julie Tobi: I can think of some of those walks both that time that you're talking about and others where we've said to each other, we can walk and talk or we can just walk and I will walk next to you, you don't have to talk if you don't want to. So it has been lovely to support each other in that way. When I think about specific things for me something that comes to mind. And again, at first like Well, that's not specific. But this ability to not wait to make decisions and one in particular that comes to mind is when I thought that I wanted to add group coaching, because first I was only doing individua and I remember physically sitting we I remember what location we were at for that particular mastermind and thinking, I want to add group. I think pre mastermind, I probably would have just waited and thought, I'll add it later, or let me refine it 1200 times before I say this is what I'm doing, when being in a group with you all who are active and making changes and iterating their business and things like that. I was like, Yeah, me too. And so I added groups where I don't I don't really know that I would have done that or done it at the time that I did if I hadn't been in a mastermind with you all.
Unknown Speaker: Yeah, just sounds like growth and support all around and in a myriad of ways. This question came up a few times when I posed the question out on Instagram about you know, what do you want to learn from us? And a version of this question was asked a few times, which was like, How do you make time for personal versus professional goals? How do you know when it's time to kind of focus on one thing versus another? How do you use this group? Anyone have thoughts on on how to balance those?
Lauren Ranalli: I can share a little bit i I'm in a slightly different situation than everyone else in the group. Where is that like for me this authorship work is, I don't want to use the term side hustle, but it's it is like a side part of my profession. I have a full time public health profession and I have a family and you know, and then I'm doing this on the side. So this has been like a real struggle for me that you all have helped me through a number of times. It's like how much time can and should I dedicate to this? And even just looking back at some of our goal planning sessions, which are usually some of my favorite sessions of the year. We typically do it twice a year, kind of end of year and mid year check in, you know, and but they change last time, you know, I, when we did our last round, my goals were a lot about how I wanted to feel about the business how I wanted to, like, just focus on exciting, engaging content, and whereas previously, it had been like, I want to sell this many trainings, and I want to release the book on this month, or whatever it is. And I still had some of those, and those were important, but really just thinking about, like, how I wanted the business to positively impact my life. And I remember, I remember a distinct shift, when we did our mid year goal planning last year around wanting the money from this business, to support fun things in my life that, like I knew this wasn't going to be, you know, this wasn't the area of my work that was going to pay our mortgage, you know, I want but I was like, but I want to put this money aside for a vacation or for some self care or versus just fun things. And to me, that was one way that I sort of integrated the personal and the professional goals.
Monica Kovach: Yeah, and I can kind of piggyback off of that, I think it's very similar for me, you know, it's in these goal setting, you know, sessions that we have, we all make a point to not only set business goals, but set personal goals and what was it like, a year and a half ago, the end of 2019, we did a planning session for 2020. And I think I know, I'm like, what is time? But I'm, like, in, I think in that section for right around, then I had made a goal to buy a house. And then obviously, like, my business is my full time job. It's my full time income and so that I knew that, underneath that there were things that needed to happen in my business to make that happen. And so, um, so yeah, that in goal setting, that's, and I met the goal, I should say, I bought a house--
Lauren Ranalli: Yay, Monica!
Monica Kovach: Yay! Yeah. And it was along the way, because those big goals, bring up, bring up stuff, too and so it was helpful to have you all to just kind of like talk through my process and how it was going along with the business stuff. So yeah.
Julie Tobi: I think for me, when I think about how to spend time on personal and professional, I try to take a pulse on how I'm feeling and if I find that I am more in a rumination pattern about the professional goals, that means I actually need to stop and focus on the personal. So I kind of check in with myself about how am I feeling? And I don't actually ask myself that. But just being mindful of how am I feeling. And if I haven't been doing that kind of pulse check in with myself, then those professional goals that I'm trying to focus on, they're not going to happen or work anyway. So I just try to make sure that I'm like in the right place, that I am doing self care, that I'm taking care of myself and my family, and all those things otherwise trying to set professional goals won't, it won't, it won't even matter, though, it would be pointless to spend energy there.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah, so well said I know for me, I often come back to like the why of starting the business. And for me, it's twofold, right? I have the mission of my business, which is to help people get their minds and money in balance. But I also have the mission of why private practice instead of, you know, working somewhere else as a clinician providing financial therapy under somebody else's umbrella. And for me, it's really about cultivating a lifestyle that feels good for me. So my business is very, very personal in that way. And last year, I lost sight of that, because we were all working from home. So I would just be like, Well, I have nothing else to do. Like I'll just keep working. And then at the end of the year when I was doing my year end like wrap up or looking at my numbers. I was like, Holy shit, I only took eight days off (or I guess it was 2020). Yeah, but it was just like wild wild. So for me kind of keeping that at the forefront of they have to dovetail and my business has support has to support my professional life and vice versa. So for anyone out there listening who's like, oh, this sounds so great, I need this in my life, how would you advise them on seeking out a group like this, and you can be specific on like, size of the group, how often you meet any ideas on how to get something like this off the ground if someone wants to replicate it.
Monica Kovach: I mean, just speaking from my, my own experience, since like Lindsay and I are, we kind of initiated the plan, like where I started from was like, just this very real feeling of like loneliness and just wanting community and trying some things, joining meetup groups and things like that nothing really feeling right. And then I'm trusting my gut to reach out to Lindsay just because, literally, we had, like, friended each other on Instagram, and I liked what she was doing. And I was just like, and then I realized, like she was nearby. And, and then we, and I don't know if we mentioned this, but we literally, like, we didn't meet up with the intention to start a mastermind, we just met up for coffee. And then, and then this was the weird thing. This the morning that we were meeting up, we had both kind of thought to ourselves, like, I wonder if she'll she'd be open to a mastermind, like, we both thought that to ourselves. And then we met up, we're talking. And then kind of at the same time, like, I've had this crazy idea. And so I think all of that to say, as far as starting a mastermind group, like, I think I was just clear about, like, what I needed and wanted at that point and then I saw I recognized it when I found it, you know, and silenzi out and, and build a connection with somebody, and then and then it just kind of flowed from there. So I know that's very non tangible. But that's kind of like what my experience was.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: And I'm totally going to go back in time and figure out what was going on astrologically when we met up now, I'm so curious, and like what was happening that morning? (Laughter)
Lauren Ranalli: You have to report out to all of us on what was happening in that very morning. Um, so I think my thoughts are less around how to form a mastermind and more about what to do once you form one. I mean, we talked about it earlier. But I do think that there's real value in joining together with other entrepreneurs who are not in the same exact business as you. But one thing that I will say, well, a couple things. But one thing I will say that is is really important that we do is we talk about money, and like, and I think that's not something that's easy for everyone, it was not easy for some of us in this group and in this room, and like we've gone all gone through like our money stories and some issues that we have, instead of talking about money or making money off of, you know, business. But I think it's such an important thing. And so I don't know how to say to people, like just make sure you talk about money, but like, make sure you talk about money, talk about pricing, and like fee structure and get people's thoughts and feedback on it. Because as we all know, in this group, like whenever we talk about this, and I pray something out, the whole group is like, Lauren, it's too low, like just you're pricing yourself too low. And then when other people do it, I'm always the one who's like, I don't know, how does that feel? Right? But it's so important to talk about. And I think especially as women, we don't talk about it enough and we've talked about it in a number of senses. I mean, we've talked about it in these businesses. We've talked about it in terms of annual goals. I know like Julie, when you were applying for a new job, and I was applying for a new job, we talked about salary negotiations, right? And like, what should we be talking about and thinking about? So I definitely think that in your mastermind, you should talk about money. And the other thing I realized that we haven't talked about in terms of our format is it's not just the twice a week, or sorry, twice a month meetings, but we have a very active Slack channel as well, which is really a true value for us in terms of just like ongoing communication where we can send something out and say, Hey, I need a second set of eyes on this. It's, it's in my newsletter for tomorrow, or it's part of a launch strategy, where we share like quick wins and just get to, you know, have another opportunity to sort of connect with each other or we send screenshots of like really weird client communications that we had and we can all have like a good a good laugh over those. So I think for us, that was an important piece. Okay, and if I had to do a third sorry, I know I'm like long winded here. But if I had to do a third, I would also say to Julie's point about how we started off once a week for six weeks with no plan to move forward, even though I totally forgotten that. I do think that's important because it gives you an out like you don't, this could have gone a totally different way. Like we could have all gotten in a room together and been like, these women are weird. Like, this is not who I want to spend my time with. Good thing, it's only six weeks. Now. I'm like, Yeah, six years from now, we'll still be doing this. But I do think that like giving yourself an out at the beginning is probably a good safety net.
Julie Tobi: I love the recap, Lauren, of all those amazing things that other people should be doing that I had forgotten, some of that would maybe not seem normal, but for example, the money talk, we do it so much and so effortlessly, that I didn't realize that we didn't do that the first time we met it was like a slow build, but I think it was also happened pretty quickly. We're like, alright, money on the table. Um, but one thing that I also don't know, we did share that when we first started, we were meeting in person. And now we've been mostly zoom with we did the in person retreat. And I think once maybe Lindsay and Lauren were in the same place on Zoom together. But I do think and we've talked about this with ourselves how I was gonna say powerful, which sounds so cliche, but maybe how I don't know me wanted, you can fill in that word for me when I continue, but how great it was, and how quickly we were able to be comfortable with each other and be vulnerable and open up. Because we were physically in the same room. I do think that matters. I know. Now, we're also much more accustomed to zoom if people weren't before, because of the pandemic, but being in the same room with each other, like hearing Lauren's pencils on the paper, and, you know, putting sticky notes on the wall, stuff like that I think really helped us come together as quickly and beautifully as we did.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Yeah, so, so true. How those those in person, that energetic exchange really, really matters. So final question. It's like a three parter, which is, I know, so bad and interviewing, but we're gonna we're gonna deal with it. What are you working on right now? And how can people find you if they want to work with you or learn more about you? Anyone want to start?
Julie Tobi: So one thing I'm working on right now, is how I talk about my business. Because up to this point, I have primarily worked with creative entrepreneurs. And there's been this evolution where the number of people who are on my newsletter or find me online, who then tell their partner to work with me, and I mean, their their life partner, their husband, their fiance, their wife; I work with a lot of partners, which has been an evolution that was unexpected, and most of them are not entrepreneurs. So what I'm finding is thinking about how I want to talk about the work that I do, because largely, it's not business specific, though a lot of business things come up. The common thread is people wanting fulfilment, enjoying how they spend their time, having boundaries around their work, having work life separation, all of these things that are not just unique to creative entrepreneurs. So I've thought about how to talk about what I do in a way that expands beyond creative entrepreneurs, and working with people. So that's what I'm working on right now. People can find me on my website is JElizaCreative.com. That's also when I am on Instagram. But if you hop over there, you will not see any activity for the last several months because I don't like hanging out there. So if you would like to find me and learn more about what I do, my website is the place to go: JElizaCreative.com
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Proof that you don't need an active social media presence to have a sustainable business; for anybody out there listening who feels like they have to be all the places you don't. Permission granted. What else? What do you guys working on and how can people find you and work with you?
Lauren Ranalli: This is Lauren. So I am working on a few things right now. I have a fourth children's book that should be coming out sometime next year. I'm not going to commit to a date COVID taught me not to commit to a date. But I'm also working on some new trainings for authors. I do a lot of work around on helping people through the self publishing process helping people kind of create a brand if you are on instagram and social media, I have some trainings around how to really maximize that and create content that connects with others. And all of my information is over at LaurenRanalli.com and on Instagram I'm @Lauren.Ranalli_Author and I work with authors of all genres. So if you are thinking about writing a children's book, or a chapter book, or a novel, or self help book, I would love to connect with you and just talk about that process. Thanks.
Monica Kovach: And this Monica and I am working on--So I design and build Squarespace templates for therapists and coaches. So if you're a therapist or a coach, and you want a well designed website, you don't really have the design skills. I do all of that for you. And I'm also in the process of building a team. So I have lots of really exciting things coming up in 2022, all centered around my Squarespace templates. So you can find me and work with me by going to my website at HoldSpaceCreative.com. My social media handle is @HoldSpaceCreative and I also have a free personality quiz on my website, which is really popular. I know you all have taken it is at hold space, creative calm slash quiz. And it's a personality quiz to find out which type of therapist or coach you are, and I teach you how to design your website based on your personality.
Lindsay Bryan-Podvin: Ooh, and I am working on a lot of the things that I kind of mentioned. I'm working on also expanding my team, I brought somebody on at the end of June. And I'm excited that they'll be taking on some more responsibilities. Hopefully before the new year, we're looking at a December date. And you know, the mental gymnastics that had to be done for me to really relinquish control and trust somebody else and watch how beautifully they've done. And that's been amazing. I'm working on--I don't know exactly yet, but I have a feeling 2022 is going to be maybe not a hard pivot, but like a slight curve, I guess we'll say and just being open to whatever that looks like. And if you are listening to this podcast because Monica or Julie or Lauren told you about me, I'm at @MindMoneyBalance on Instagram on my website is of the same name. And with that we went 10 minutes over what I was hoping we would do, but actually I'm really proud of us. That is--we're also conditioned, I should say, our check ins are three minutes and our deep dives are 20 minutes. We have it down to a science now where we'll be like, okay, my check ins done and it'll be like cool. You have five seconds left, like we have it so figured out, like how much time we've taken up and done all this stuff. So it's been it's been really fun. I'm so honored that the three of you joined me today and I'm so honored to be in community with you all and I will obviously share everybody's handles and websites on the show notes and out in the world.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai