96: Stepping into the Right Room

You know, every expert was once a beginner and you bring your own unique perspective and skills to the table. And that's why it's always worthy.

I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing

the most creative and impactful work of my life.

But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your

life doing something that lights you up.

I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom

you want, and is wildly profitable.

Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Welcome back to another episode of the Professional Creative Podcast. Today we're tackling a topic that really has a tremendous impact on personal and professional growth. But it's often overlooked. This concept of being in the right room. It's not just about the physical space that you occupy. It's also about the intellectual, emotional and motivational climate that you choose to immerse yourself in. Your environment can either spur you on towards achieving your highest potential, or it can hold you back from really accomplishing your dreams. So I want to talk today about how we can be really intentional about stepping into the right room. Now, to put that into perspective, I think it's important that we talk about the impact of being in the wrong room. So the wrong room, you know, it is perhaps a job where no one values your growth, or a circle of friends who are discouraging rather than inspiring, or even some people in your family who really don't understand your aspirations. There's a quote from Jim Rohn that says you are the average of your five closest friends. Now, whether that's actually true for you or not, I do think that it's really impactful to think about. So I think that health is one really easy way to think about this. If your five closest friends aren't healthy, right? They don't eat well, they definitely don't exercise, they drink too much, they stay up late, they don't get enough rest, and they expect you to be right there with them having a blast the whole time too, right? It's going to be really hard to stand out from the Crowd because it just feels good to fit in. But as opposed to that, if your five closest friends did eat really healthy and had a couple of restaurants that everyone enjoyed because they were good for you and you worked out together, right? And you had that accountability, which makes it just fun. Everyone was showing up to the same workout class together and then you could share recipes and go over to each other's house and maybe you decide to stop drinking and prioritize your sleep. I mean, in that type of a group, then you can't help but be inspired by the people around you. And the same is true for so many of the mindsets and habits that we have in our life and also the soil that we're using to plant our business growth and seeds in as well. Because if you're planting it in soil that is nutrient deficient, right, you're just not going to grow. But if you plant it with soil that's rich in support, right, and the ability to understand where you're going and get you to where you want to go and encourage you, and maybe there are people who are doing similar things who are willing to share about their experience and their wins, then you just begin to walk and then you begin to run and then you begin to like, run on one of those, like moving sidewalks. So you're just gaining so much more momentum, so much more quickly. Research consistently shows the incredible power of being in the right environment. So for example, studies show that supportive mentors and peers can increase your career success and satisfaction and commitment to your profession, hands down. Another interesting fact from Harvard Business Review says that weak tie connections, so they're not necessarily your best friends, but maybe they're peer to peer. So maybe you're in a mastermind with someone or you're in a coaching group like we've been talking about with someone who knows someone. It's those weak ties that actually end up bringing you more opportunities than anything else in your life. Various studies also show that peer groups influence your academic achievement, your job performance, and like we already mentioned, your health outcomes. So by choosing a room where everyone is focused on the same types of growth and achievement that you are, listen, that can change your trajectory of your entire life in very tangible ways. There's also numerous studies that show that networking is crucial for career advancement. These studies suggest that 80% of jobs are found through networking, which you can only do if you're in the right room. So from my perspective, I wasn't always in the right room. And even to this day I use that language in my Mind. Like for instance, I've stepped into the wrong room recently. I thought it was going to be the right room. I very intentionally sought it out and placed myself in it. I won't go into the details, but it was basically like a large group business accelerator program. And as soon as I got there, so I was physically, physically there, I thought, oh no, oh no, this is the wrong room. It was just an immediate feeling like we don't have a lot in common in terms of why we're in business or our overarching big goals and dreams. Right. And as opposed to that, I've stepped in other rooms that just feel like these are my people. This is the room that's really going to stretch my mind and show me what's possible. The first time that I did this in a really big way was by joining a Mastermind back in 2019. And I have never left, I never will leave. Because every time I place myself in that room, I am just so inspired and also so stretched. Like things that I didn't even know I should be aiming for or have in my goals are presented to me in a way that I'm just so incredibly thankful for. And so we've got to be intentional. Intentional about just getting around people who are thinking big and going bigger places. Like I love to be like the dumbest person in the room. Like I love to be the person in the room who is the least successful or at least close to it. Right? Because then I'm just a sponge and I can really soak in what is possible. Now you might have this in your day to day life as well. Your family may be the perfect place to really dream with you and help you reach your goals. And you may also have a friend group. For me, I do have some friends, but not a ton who are also entrepreneurs and doing the same types of things. Now if you think about it like our world is pretty unique. I'm talking about like softwares and tools and hosting events and virtual conferences and you know, email providers and nurture sequences and like all of that kind of stuff is just language that doesn't come supernaturally to your day to day people. So sometimes you have to very intentionally step into a room who is speaking that language so that first of all you can feel not alone, right? But second of all, really get pushed and be amongst people who are just a step ahead of you or at least in stride with you so that you can jam on, you know, the newest and latest and greatest new software, new techniques, things that worked for you Things that work for them and just really make progress from that perspective. So I have done this time and time again. I've shifted my friend groups a little bit. This one is primarily around my health goals. So I very much like to be in good company when it comes to my health goals. I want to be inspired by the people around me. I want to know that we're all really looking to become the best version of ourselves. And that's not always easy to find. People who are reading professional development books that you can talk to about what you're learning, or really working on new habits so that they can improve their skill or the things that they're doing in their life, People who are looking to grow their spiritual life, that's incredibly important. And people who can just show up with you when you need someone. So if you wanna start thinking about this, I would say first of all, just do a self assessment. Before you can really find the right room, you've got to know what kind of room you're looking for. And I do think that you'll know if it's the right one or the wrong one from your gut right away. But it's also really important to think about your goals, and maybe not just your career goals, but also your personal and interpersonal goals. What are your core values and what drives you and what do you stand for? What do you stand against? All of these things are critical because if you don't stand for something, you'll really just fall for anything, right? So once you understand a little bit more about what you're looking for, you can start seeking these intentional rooms, friend groups, communities, workspaces, social programs, masterminds, coaching programs, it'll all become much clearer for you. And then once you've done that self assessment and you know what type of circle you really need to step into to develop yourself, you'll start researching. So find groups of people. Maybe it's a workplace or a community or a Facebook group, or again a mastermind or a peer led mastermind or a coaching program that are where these people are hanging out. And go put yourself in that room. It's so cool. I get so excited about it because like we're in charge of that. We're in charge of where we place ourselves and what we choose to really stretch and push ourselves towards. Then you're going to want to network. So once you find your place, like really go all in, attend the events, attend the calls, join the community, reach out for mentorship, show up to your peer group calls, like go all in I know that, you know, sometimes it's like, well, I'm just going to put one foot in the door, I'm going to keep the other one out. And so I might listen to a little bit of stuff, but I'm not going to be all in. And I've got to tell you, when you go all in, that's when you get the most out of the reason and you're there in the first place. Afterwards, you'll just kind of evaluate and adjust as you go. So after you've spent some time in this new room, just do kind of a self check in. Make sure that you're learning the right things, that they really are aligned to getting you closer to your goals. And, you know, adjust if you need to. Don't be afraid to exit the room and find a better fit. So before we wrap up, let's just talk about a couple of things that I think you might be feeling as we talk about this. First is that you can do it all your own. And listen, I know that we're all incredibly driven, we're strategic, we can piecemeal the Internet together with the best of them. But I didn't realize until I stepped into a room that really had big thinkers, mentors, and an incredible network what I was missing. It is actually, I think, the key to success. So while you can do it on your own, it's going to be slower, it's going to be more difficult, it's going to be more lonely. And so why would you do it all alone when you can do it with other people? The next one is, well, it's too late to change my circle. And I want to talk to those of you who just feel stuck because it's really never too late. People change careers, they move cities and towns and in all stages of life. And what's important is really owning what you want and taking the action in order to make it happen. Now, some of you likely have some people in your family that really might not be supportive. And I'm not about to tell you to break family ties unless it's, you know, something that you actually need to consider, which may be true for some of you. But if you're feeling like maybe you have a friend group or a family group that you really can't, you know, step away from, then you've got to just enforce some boundaries and then very intentionally make sure that you do have another group that just gets you, that speaks your language, can support you in your big goals, stretch you to think about things you've never thought about. And that'll counterbalance a little bit, meaning the circles that you have now don't have to be the only circles that you have, even if you have to keep them. Sometimes when you grow and you're really driven to be the 10.0 version of yourself, you'll lose people along the way because everybody's not interested in being the 10.0 version of themselves. And quite frankly, they don't want you to be either. And so with that, you do have to kind of wrap your mind around the fact that you may lose some people along the way on this journey to becoming better. And then finally, I want to talk to any of you who feel like you're not worthy of being in a room full of successful people. Because what I've got to tell you is that everyone starts somewhere. You know, every expert was once a beginner, and you bring your own unique perspective and skills to the table. And that's why it's always worthy. You are worthy in and of yourself without any accomplishment. Your innate being is worthy. So you are enough and you do have something to give and you absolutely have a lot to learn, which is really the posture we should always be in, no matter how far along we get. A posture of a student. So listen, if you are ready and you think that you might like to be in one of my rooms. I'm so excited to share about the professional creative coaching program. It's brand new, something that I've been working on for over a year, and it's just a coaching program with once a week calls where I share a strategy, a habit, a philosophy, a framework that has very tangibly helped my business grow. You have accountability pods and you've got me coaching you every single week. And it's pretty amazing. We're really excited about it and most of all, excited about the impact that it's going to have on everyone who's in the program. So if you're just listening to this, I did just do an episode that tells you a little bit more about this program. It's number 95. But you can also just head on over to Instagram and send me a dm. If you're interested in learning more about the coaching program, I'd love to just be able to ask you some questions, make sure that I think I can actually help you and that this is the right room for you and we'll go from there. I would love to meet you and hear more about your goals. So my friends, whether it's with me or someone else, make sure that you have just the right room to push you and stretch you, support you and encourage you. My friends, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for you.