0:00

Hey everyone , welcome to the no

0:02

Excuses Coaching podcast . I'm your

0:04

host this week . Alana Banks , ryan

0:06

and I are doing solo

0:08

episodes . Life just

0:10

gets in the way sometimes and we couldn't find a

0:12

time to get together and record

0:15

, but the show must go on

0:17

. This week we're going to be talking

0:19

about something that I've been

0:21

leaning into a lot lately , which is joy

0:25

. You may be wondering how does this connect to

0:28

the tough love season ? This

0:31

week , I was at a conference

0:33

called Becoming Her in

0:35

Toronto . It was a

0:37

conference put on by a woman named Sam

0:39

Hewitt . It was all

0:42

about women in business , being

0:44

an entrepreneur , juggling

0:46

all of the things that women

0:49

juggle . There was some amazing speakers

0:51

there . The

0:53

introduction , or I guess the

0:55

woman who kicked off

0:57

the conference , was

1:00

talking all about leading with joy . I thought

1:02

her speech was

1:04

really great . Immediately I

1:06

started making notes because I was like this is going to be

1:08

a perfect topic for the podcast

1:12

, something that I believe really strongly

1:14

in . I think aligns with a lot of the stuff

1:16

that we talk about on a regular basis when

1:19

it comes to leading with joy . Why

1:23

is that important ? Why would we want

1:25

to lead with joy ? Why do

1:27

we want to lead with joy ? What

1:29

is the importance of prioritizing

1:32

joy as a leader , even when

1:34

we're faced with busyness , when we're faced with

1:36

challenges ? It's not really about

1:38

disregarding your responsibilities

1:40

or avoiding difficult decisions

1:42

, but it's really about

1:45

finding ways to infuse

1:48

joy into your leadership

1:50

journey , into your entrepreneurial

1:52

endeavors , into your

1:54

work in general . When

1:57

we think of leadership from a place of

1:59

joy , leading with joy , this really urges

2:02

you , as a busy entrepreneur , to

2:04

recognize that joy isn't just a nice

2:06

to have , it's not a reward , it's not

2:08

something that you get once

2:10

you've finished X , y or Z . It's

2:13

actually an essential ingredient for

2:15

effective leadership , for effective

2:17

leadership of yourself and other people

2:20

. When we lead

2:22

with joy , when we have

2:24

this mindset , it

2:27

allows us to feel

2:30

inspired , it allows us to be

2:32

creative . It just helps

2:34

you have a healthier mindset and a healthier

2:37

way of being . The

2:40

big thing . For me especially and I think why

2:42

I'm leaning into joy right now is because

2:44

for a while

2:46

, there was a big part of me who was

2:49

leaning away from joy and

2:51

who was kind

2:54

of stuck in the weeds of being

2:56

an entrepreneur and the grind

2:58

and creating

3:01

the content and looking for the next

3:04

sale and trying

3:06

to land clients . It's

3:08

easy for us to default to that mode

3:11

of this is hard and it's

3:13

not going the way I planned , or this

3:16

is happening , and now that's happening . Then you

3:18

start comparing and then there's that

3:21

whole comparison game that you get into on

3:23

social media . But

3:25

if we could step back for a minute and

3:29

remember why we are

3:31

doing what we are doing , why we've decided

3:33

to have our own businesses , why

3:35

we've decided to be solopreneurs

3:37

or go off on our own , and

3:40

a lot of the time it's probably

3:42

and I mean I can speak for myself it's

3:44

probably because you were seeking more joy . You were seeking

3:47

more freedom , more peace , more

3:49

flexibility in your schedule , and

3:52

it's sometimes easy to

3:54

fall away from that right , and we've had tons

3:57

of conversations on the podcast about the

3:59

importance of having to put the work

4:01

in and put time in , and you can't just

4:03

float around and expect

4:06

that you're going to have this amazing

4:08

business that's making tons

4:10

and tons of money . But

4:12

you can also be

4:14

joyful and get the work

4:16

done and look at it from a lens of

4:19

like this is fun for me , this is something that

4:21

I really wanted . When I get

4:23

to do these certain things that make me happy

4:25

, then you know it doesn't really feel

4:27

like work , anyway . So let's

4:29

move ahead . I wanted to go through the points

4:32

about how to lead

4:34

with joy , and

4:36

number one on the list

4:38

is to be curious , right

4:40

, to have a curious mindset , to

4:42

be asking questions and

4:44

be interested and you

4:48

know , I think your intuition plays a lot with this

4:50

as well like kind of asking

4:52

yourself like why is this

4:55

happening ? Or , you

4:58

know , just really being open-minded

5:00

to the way things are happening

5:03

for you and in your business . And

5:06

when we have that curious mindset

5:08

, when we're always thinking that this is something

5:10

for our greatest good or this is something that's

5:12

leading us to more

5:15

expansion in our business , then

5:18

it just makes the whole experience

5:20

a lot more enjoyable , doesn't it ? It makes

5:22

it feel fun and fresh

5:25

and exciting . So

5:27

stay curious , be curious , ask questions

5:29

. If something

5:31

is coming up for you , follow those

5:33

breadcrumbs and see where it leads

5:36

to , because you never know right , it can

5:38

feel really unexpected . Number

5:40

two on the list is do what you

5:42

know . And

5:44

this one is , I think , super important

5:47

, because often we get super

5:49

fixated on what we think

5:51

we should be doing and

5:53

we refuse to do what we

5:55

know . And sometimes we

5:57

can , you know , we can ignore

6:00

what we know because we think that we should

6:02

be doing this or that because

6:04

that makes you seem more what's

6:07

the word I'm looking for ? That makes you seem

6:09

more serious or

6:11

more sophisticated

6:13

, or people are going to think that

6:15

you're more legit because you're

6:18

doing it this way . But what

6:20

if you just decided to create something

6:22

from what you already know and then go

6:24

from there ? And I remember

6:27

early days being part

6:29

of a coach program and

6:31

the person that

6:33

was leading was talking

6:35

about how she had actually

6:37

worked with a really high level coach , and

6:40

the high

6:42

level coach had said to her , like she was

6:44

kind of starting out her coaching business and she didn't

6:46

really know what she wanted to teach . And

6:49

so this person asked her like what

6:52

do you ? What

6:54

are you really really good at ? And she's like well

6:56

, you know , I'm really good at

6:58

Pinterest . I'm really

7:00

good at , like , figuring out Pinterest

7:02

and using it . And I

7:05

think she was using it for maybe

7:07

home decorating or photography or something

7:09

I can't remember the specifics , but she was really really

7:11

good at using Pinterest

7:14

. And so this high-level coach

7:16

said to her well , why don't you

7:18

create a master class all about Pinterest

7:20

and how you use it and show people

7:23

how you can , how

7:25

you can use Pinterest , and so

7:28

she did that and that gave her a

7:30

boost of confidence to

7:32

, you know , keep going . And

7:34

it's not that she was becoming a Pinterest

7:37

coach , but what

7:39

it did was it allowed her to

7:41

show off her expertise as established

7:44

credibility , show

7:47

herself that she could do it and

7:49

that she could get people interested

7:51

in something that she was really interested in . And

7:54

when you're teaching something that that

7:56

feels easy and fun and

7:58

it's already something that you know inside

8:00

and out , then people feel that

8:03

right people , really People

8:05

want to come and be in that energy and learn from

8:07

you because you just know

8:10

it inside and out . And so this

8:13

might be a hard pill to swallow for some people

8:15

because it might just seem so

8:17

basic . But if you are

8:19

struggling , you know , do what you know . And

8:21

that's why I'm really excited about

8:24

our upcoming class

8:26

all about everything

8:28

you need to know about starting your podcast

8:30

, because I Really do

8:32

feel like I know the ins and outs of podcasting

8:34

and I'm , like , so excited to share

8:36

that information with everybody and it

8:39

just seems like a very simple class to put

8:41

together . So if you're

8:44

interested in that , you can go to the show notes

8:46

of this episode and Click

8:48

on the link to register . It's Thursday , march

8:51

21st , at 10 am Eastern time , and

8:53

Ryan and I are going to be sharing all the tips

8:55

and tricks and secrets that we've

8:58

discovered as we've become podcasters

9:00

. So , moving on to number

9:03

three and this

9:05

is a good one too this is all about asking

9:07

better questions . When

9:10

you're , when you're leading with joy , you're

9:12

not necessarily asking more questions

9:14

, but you're asking better questions , and

9:17

so these are questions

9:19

that are going to allow you to Really

9:23

dive deeper with people

9:25

, with yourself , with discovering

9:28

what

9:30

it is that makes people tick

9:32

or what it is that People

9:34

are looking for . Because

9:37

you kind of want to be like a

9:39

bit of a detective , right , you

9:42

don't really want to ask like all the questions

9:44

to understand

9:46

, necessarily , but what you're wanting to do

9:49

is , like , really ask

9:51

questions that are going to give you insights

9:53

and new information into

9:56

, like , what exactly you

9:58

want to build or create

10:00

or teach . And when

10:03

we're asking better questions , we're

10:05

really , you

10:08

know , we're actively listening right to

10:10

the responses that we're getting , but then what

10:12

that does is it might open up more

10:14

discussion . It might open up unexpected

10:18

conversations that lead to

10:20

something more , something more interesting

10:22

, and Highlight

10:25

maybe something that's going wrong

10:27

or something that you know isn't working

10:30

, or it may highlight

10:32

something that is working really well that you're you

10:34

weren't even expecting . It

10:38

also allows you to reflect right

10:40

when we're asking better questions . It

10:42

gives us an opportunity to sit back

10:45

and reflect on , you

10:47

know , a question that you might have

10:49

asked or where

10:51

there might be opportunities for improvement

10:53

, and this

10:56

just creates a more Wholesome

11:00

way of looking at problems , looking

11:02

at situations , looking at things that you've

11:04

created , even when it can be . You

11:07

know , working with a team or working

11:09

with more people Is

11:11

really getting feedback right and and

11:13

more information to understand what

11:16

more could be done as a leader

11:18

in the space , or

11:21

even as a leader of a team , and

11:24

even when it comes to just leading yourself right

11:26

, sitting and reflecting on how

11:29

could I have done that differently ? What

11:31

could I have taken away from this call

11:34

or this meeting or this presentation

11:37

or this podcast episode

11:40

? Right , so it's just an opportunity to

11:42

consider where there's opportunities

11:44

, where there and

11:46

where there might be opportunities for improvement , and

11:50

number what number are we at now ? Number

11:52

four is don't

11:54

expect to know everything , and

11:57

I think that this one is super important , because

11:59

sometimes we can feel like we know

12:02

everything , right . But

12:05

it's important to go

12:07

into all situations and even

12:09

this this , I think , really speaks to especially

12:12

if you're part of any kind of like coaching groups

12:14

or like mentorship or anything like

12:16

that , and even

12:18

when you're going on client calls , I think it's

12:20

really important to go

12:22

in there with an open mind and not

12:25

and go in with like a learner's mindset

12:27

, right Like with the opportunity

12:29

that there's always something more I could be

12:31

learning from this client

12:34

or from this group that I'm part of

12:36

or this thing that I'm reading , because

12:40

when we go in with an open mind and we don't

12:42

expect to know everything , then that

12:45

just like opens the door for you to

12:47

be learning and understanding

12:49

at a deeper level . No

12:51

one likes to be surrounded by someone who thinks that

12:53

they know everything and

12:55

you

12:58

know . I think that the way

13:00

that this woman described that in the speech she

13:02

was talking about was be a tourist

13:05

right , and oftentimes

13:07

you don't want to be the tourist right . You want to blend

13:09

in , you want to like look like you're

13:11

part of that culture or you live there

13:14

. But the

13:16

good thing about tourists is they have no shame

13:18

, right Like they don't . They can

13:20

ask questions , they ask where things are

13:22

, they want to know more , and

13:25

there's no shame in that , and I think that

13:27

it's a great way to lead , because

13:29

it shows that you're open to growth

13:32

. It shows that you're open to other

13:35

people's perspectives and opinions and

13:38

ways of doing things and

13:40

you know , this makes me

13:43

think of when I was , when I had my

13:45

online fabric store . I had

13:48

a lot . I really wanted to hire someone

13:50

, but I was just really feeling

13:53

stressed out about hiring someone because I had

13:56

my specific way of doing everything

13:58

and cutting my fabric and filling

14:00

the packages and all of that kind of stuff , and

14:03

I was blocking myself

14:05

from gaining more time

14:08

and being able to spend more time on

14:10

my business rather than in it . And

14:13

when I finally let that go and

14:15

hired someone , she actually

14:17

had a way better system

14:20

of cutting the fabric and packing the

14:22

packages and doing

14:24

everything than I did , and it was in my blind

14:27

spot , and so this is why

14:29

it's important to be

14:31

the tourist and ask

14:34

questions and ask for help , and

14:36

not expect that you are the

14:38

only one that knows everything . So

14:41

number five on the list is speed

14:44

up and adapt

14:46

faster . So

14:49

the question here is are you the type of person

14:51

who adapts really quickly ? Or

14:53

are you the type of person who likes to just

14:55

sit in the mess ? Because

14:57

really , the person who adapts the fastest

15:00

is the person who's going to win , because

15:02

things are always changing , especially

15:04

in this field . As a coach , as

15:07

someone who's working in the

15:09

personal development world . Things

15:11

are changing , people are changing . The way people

15:13

consume , information changes all

15:15

the time and

15:19

I don't know if you've noticed this . But also the

15:22

collective is waking up

15:24

. They're becoming more

15:26

aware of this work and personal development

15:29

and we really do need to

15:31

change and adapt to

15:33

sharing at a deeper level with some people

15:35

, because a lot of people

15:37

have woken up and they don't necessarily

15:40

need to know the basics anymore . But how can

15:42

you take them further ? How

15:44

can you develop

15:46

your programs and

15:49

your coaching to meet all the needs

15:51

of all the people , not just

15:54

people who are still in the

15:56

beginning phases ? But how can you adapt ? How can

15:58

you grow with your clients or your

16:00

community as they get smarter

16:03

and smarter and more aware

16:06

and open to all this information ? Those

16:09

are the people that are going to win in the end , because

16:11

they're adapting to the changing needs

16:13

of

16:15

the people that are in their world . Number

16:18

six is be the exception , and

16:21

I think we've talked about this a few

16:23

episodes ago . This

16:26

is really about just ignoring the collective narrative

16:28

. If you see everybody

16:30

doing a specific trend

16:33

, do something . That's the complete opposite

16:35

, and I think this really speaks out to

16:37

your content on social media

16:40

, or even

16:42

what you're offering as a coach Put

16:45

the blinders on . I think it's really important

16:48

sometimes to just put the blinders on and do

16:50

your own thing and tap into your intuition

16:52

. Tap into what you know

16:54

and what you want to be doing and how

16:56

you like to do it , because when

16:59

you're working in that frequency , when you're

17:01

working from that level of just like

17:03

all , in feeling

17:05

joy , feeling like

17:08

you know exactly what you're doing and you're not

17:10

blending in with the collective , then

17:12

you're going to stand out , aren't you ? So

17:15

be the exception and

17:18

trust that your joy

17:20

and your excitement about what you're doing

17:22

is the thing that's going to draw a lot of people

17:24

in . I

17:26

think that one speaks for itself , but be the exception

17:29

, and I think with this one too , there

17:31

comes a lot of fear of

17:33

judgment , or will

17:36

I get it wrong , or people going to think I'm weird

17:38

, and that's

17:40

something that you really need to release , because

17:43

chances are , as an entrepreneur

17:45

period . You are part of

17:47

the exception because you're not following

17:50

the crowd , you're

17:52

not following the traditional way of

17:54

having a nine to five job and working

17:56

for someone else . You've decided to go out on your

17:58

own . So continue to expand

18:01

into that version of you who wants

18:05

to go out on their own and be the exception

18:07

. You decided to become

18:09

an entrepreneur for a reason because you're

18:12

creative , because you're inspired

18:14

, because you have your own ideas , because you

18:16

have your own way of doing something . So

18:18

let that part of you shine and

18:21

release the idea that you have to blend

18:23

in with the collective of all the other entrepreneurs

18:25

out there because it's

18:27

boring and

18:29

we've talked so much about this . So

18:32

it's really about releasing that

18:34

fear . And if people

18:36

think you're weird , that's good , because

18:38

then that creates something for them to talk about

18:40

. And

18:44

the more you can bolster up your

18:46

own self-worth

18:48

and your own value and recognize that you're

18:51

enough just the way you are and let go

18:53

of that whole idea that there's something

18:55

wrong with you and

18:57

that actually what makes you special is

18:59

that you are part of the exception

19:01

. That

19:03

goes a long way , and the more you can step into

19:06

that and the more you can lean into that and bring

19:08

your joy online , the

19:11

more successful you're going to be . The

19:13

next one , number seven , is

19:15

this seven . I can't

19:17

keep up , but anyway . Number next is

19:21

what is the last ? One is

19:24

transform . Often , and

19:26

this one is such a good one because

19:29

I think that there is this narrative there

19:31

that you find your niche , you do your

19:33

thing and then that's what you continue

19:35

doing . But that's not true , because

19:37

we're ever evolving , we're learning

19:39

, we're

19:42

always learning new things

19:44

and changing and wanting to

19:46

try new things . So

19:48

recognize that you're going to transform

19:50

and you're going to change and your beliefs are

19:52

going to shift and your way of doing

19:54

something is going to change . And

19:57

actually we were talking about this last week , because

19:59

I remember I was talking about a

20:01

podcast that I'd listened to , where

20:03

she had completely changed her whole

20:06

way of basically doing her work , her

20:08

whole process . So

20:13

this goes back into the whole being curious . The

20:15

more curious you are , the more you're going to learn

20:18

, the more you're going to grow and then , obviously , the more you're

20:20

going to transform . So

20:22

don't be afraid of that transformation

20:24

, don't be afraid to try new things , step

20:27

into whatever is bringing you

20:29

joy in that moment and allow

20:32

that part of you to shine , and

20:34

the more you do that , the more is

20:36

going to give permission to other people to do

20:39

that and the people that follow you and the people that

20:41

you work with . That's going to give them permission to

20:43

transform and recognize that . This

20:45

is all part of the journey , this

20:47

is all part of the process of being

20:49

here and doing

20:51

what we love . So

20:54

, just to recap , if you're going to lead with

20:56

joy , you want to be curious

20:58

, you want to do what you know , you want

21:00

to ask better questions , you

21:03

want to be a tourist . Don't expect

21:05

to know everything . You want

21:07

to speed up so that you

21:09

can adapt , you want

21:11

to be the exception and finally transform

21:15

often . So

21:17

those are the seven

21:20

ways you can lead with joy lead

21:22

others , lead yourself . And

21:24

so , to wrap it all up , really , the

21:26

tough love or reminder here

21:28

is that leading with joy requires

21:31

a sense of self-awareness and

21:33

intentional choices , and

21:36

it might require letting

21:38

go of those perfectionistic

21:41

tendencies . It might

21:43

require saying no to certain things

21:45

, it might require

21:47

creating boundaries to protect

21:49

your own joy . And so you

21:52

can ask yourself and this is

21:54

something that I've been asking myself a lot lately

21:56

is will this decision

21:58

bring me joy ? Will

22:00

doing this thing bring me joy ? Will hanging

22:02

it with this person bring me joy ? And if the answer

22:05

is no , then it's like I'm

22:07

not available for it . And

22:11

it's really a reminder that , as a leader

22:13

a leader of yourself , a leader of

22:16

other people it's

22:18

a reminder to take care of yourself

22:20

so that you can avoid that burnout

22:23

that I think a lot of entrepreneurs can feel

22:25

at some point . And

22:29

when you can protect yourself in this

22:31

way , when you're leading with joy , when you're asking

22:33

yourself what do I need in this moment that's going

22:35

to bring me joy , then

22:37

you lead with authenticity and

22:39

then you allow yourself to inspire

22:41

others . And

22:44

, ultimately , that tough

22:46

love message that we're

22:48

getting across here by

22:50

leading with joy is

22:53

that it's simply not enough

22:55

to just succeed

22:58

or survive in your business . You

23:01

really need to find ways to cultivate

23:03

joy and infuse that

23:06

into your leadership practices

23:08

, whether that's leading yourself or leading other

23:10

people or leading your business . How

23:14

can you connect it back to joy ? How can

23:17

you connect it back to something

23:19

that is helping you

23:22

thrive rather

23:24

than just merely survive or succeed

23:26

in the business ? Because , at the end of the day

23:28

, what's the point

23:30

and

23:32

there was another really awesome

23:34

discussion at this conference with

23:36

Joanna Griffiths from Nix

23:38

she's the founder of Nix and

23:42

someone asked her how

23:44

she balances

23:47

and I love this because we've talked about

23:49

this on the podcast a lot as well around

23:51

work-life balance

23:53

, or how do you balance your time and

23:56

she was talking about how a

23:58

mentor of hers didn't

24:01

call it work-life balance

24:03

, but they called it work-like rhythm . So

24:06

how can you be in the rhythm of joy

24:08

, how can you be

24:11

in this rhythm of thriving

24:13

rather than merely surviving ? And

24:16

part of that rhythm and

24:19

the way you can tap into that is

24:21

by recognizing that you

24:23

are working for a much bigger purpose

24:26

than just surviving

24:28

or just succeeding in the business

24:30

. You want to attach

24:32

whatever it is you're doing with

24:34

a greater purpose , something

24:37

that's way higher than just yourself

24:39

and your business . And whatever it is you're doing

24:41

, what are you tapping into

24:43

? And so I thought that was a really great

24:46

reminder and a really great way to

24:48

look at your business and detach

24:51

from it a little bit and recognize

24:53

that you can have

24:55

joy and you can tap

24:57

into that whenever you want to , and

25:00

that

25:02

there's always more fuel

25:05

in the tank when you're working for something that

25:07

is much higher or bigger

25:09

than yourself . And

25:12

in Joanna's case , she's working

25:14

to impact women

25:17

on a global level

25:19

by creating

25:21

a whole new category in

25:25

underwear for women leak-proof

25:28

underwear . So

25:30

that's what makes the

25:32

hard days easier when you know that

25:35

you're working for more than just yourself . This

25:37

is to ultimately impact women

25:39

worldwide , and

25:42

so you can always find joy . You can always find

25:44

more in that than

25:46

you can when you're just kind of doing it for yourself

25:48

. So that's it from

25:50

me . That's all I wanted to say about this whole topic

25:53

of leading with joy . I hope you enjoyed it . If

25:56

you have any questions , I'd love to hear from you . You

25:58

can always message us at it's no

26:00

Excuses podcast

26:03

on Instagram . You can follow

26:05

me on Instagram . At Atlanta Banks Coaching . You

26:08

can follow Ryan RyanMathisMLP

26:10

. And

26:13

just a final reminder that we're running

26:16

the just hit record everything

26:18

you need to know about podcasting

26:21

class March 21st

26:23

. Thursday , march 21st , at 10 am

26:25

Eastern time . We're going to be sharing

26:27

everything . We've learned everything

26:29

. We know all the resources

26:32

pretty much anything you need to know

26:34

to get that podcast that you've been

26:36

dreaming about off the ground . And

26:38

I had a conversation recently with someone who

26:41

was saying to me oh , I

26:43

don't have time to start a podcast and

26:46

really it's not all about whether

26:48

or not you have time . It's really about is

26:50

it a priority and

26:53

why do you want to have a podcast ? You want to have a podcast

26:55

because it's authority building

26:57

. It allows you to get your message

26:59

out there . It

27:02

legitimizes you as a coach

27:04

, because if you have a podcast

27:06

, there's this sort of persee

27:09

or this perception that

27:12

that's cool or

27:14

that you're doing something that a lot of people

27:16

aren't doing . So having a

27:18

podcast , while it might seem like it takes

27:20

up a lot of time , it actually doesn't . Ryan and I

27:22

spend maybe two

27:25

, three hours a week putting

27:27

this podcast together and

27:33

the benefits of that far away

27:35

the time that we spend actually

27:37

sitting down and recording and editing . So

27:40

I highly recommend

27:43

taking the class . I'd love

27:45

to see you there . We will answer all of your questions

27:47

and

27:50

give you all the resources you need to

27:52

get going . So that's it

27:54

for us this week . I hope you enjoyed

27:56

this and we will talk to you

27:58

next time . Thanks , everyone .