Episode 87: Investing in YOURSELF with Hallie Bulkin MA CCC-SLP, COM

Quick disclaimer. All information, content and material of this podcast are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis and or medical treatment of a qualified healthcare provider. Hi, and welcome to episode 87 of the Untethered Podcast. All right, guys, so today we're going to chat about investing in yourself and what that really means, because it's just not something that's talked about a lot in our industry. It's usually looked at from the point of view that we need to invest in our clinical skills and we need to take courses. And yes, that is true, but we also need to invest in ourselves and we need to work on ourselves. And, you know, how can we be the best for our patients or for the team that works for us or that we work alongside of or our families? You know, not just the families we work for, but our own personal families. Whether you are married, have a child, have a partner, maybe you are not married, maybe you are single, and it is the family that you have, your extended family, this is ever reaching outside of just your clinical skill set. And so the whole idea here is that we need to be looking at how can we put as much time and energy into ourselves and our growth and not just focus on the clinical skills? Because that's what I see so often from so many of the therapists that I work with. And, you know, this will definitely apply more if you are a business owner or if you plan to be a business owner. However, you can arguably apply this to yourself in general, not just a business. So, you know, keep listening because investing in yourself is really working on yourself. Okay? So number one, you need to invest in building your confidence. And this is something that can come along with investing in clinical programs. And that is something that we've seen in my Feed the peds program, in my MYO mentorship. We do see as clinical skill sets grow, so does confidence. Right? There's also a community and a mentorship that plays into both of those. Those settings. And that is highly connected to why we've seen so much increased confidence. It's not just about being competent in your skills. It's about being confident, too. And I have a whole episode on that, so go back and listen to that. But the idea here is that you might need to invest a bit further in building your confidence, especially as a business owner. By the way, on December 10th, Thursday, December 10th at 1:00pm Eastern Time, we are doing a free masterclass. Not we, I am doing a free Masterclass for you all. Just a thank you to help you set the groundwork for 2021. This is going to be called. It's called Biz Plan on a Napkin. And basically it is to help you truly, simply and effectively put your business plan for next year on a napkin. It's going to be very simple because I don't believe in complicated and lengthy biz plans. Unless you're someone who's got some big enterprise you're setting up and you need like a bank to be to invest in you. That's a different story. But for most people, they do not need a big, fancy, formal biz plan. Okay, so we're going to be talking about biz planning on a napkin. Go to feedthepedes.com bizplan on a napkin and you will be able to add yourself to the list to get all the updates. Okay. We'll link that in the show notes and this episode as well on the website@untethered podcast.com. okay, so let's talk about honoring your intuition. And intuition might be something that's a new concept for you. Maybe it is, maybe it's not. I am somebody who follows my intuition. I have learned to trust my gut. And when I feel called to do something or something kind of comes through me in a way I can't really explain. But I'm like, I've got to do this or I've got to put this message out there, I do it. And it's always served me really well. It's helped me become very aligned in the work that I'm doing with you all, with the families that I've treated, with the therapists that work for me, with the business owners that, you know, I help guide. And when you learn to listen to your intuition, it helps you to actually make better decisions. Valuing that intuition, right. But not allowing, like, thoughts or feelings or like, words from other people's mouths or social media posts. Right? If you don't allow that to take away from what you know to be true, it can be so empowering. And you guys, I have, I am working with somebody one to one on these very things myself. So even though it is something that I do well, it is something that I still see coaching on and mentorship. And this is where I invest in myself. So I am not just sitting here telling you, hey, invest in yourself. I do exactly. I am walking the walk, ok? I am doing exactly what I am advising you guys to do. What I want you to do is to start to pay attention to like, how you feel, right? Like, what is your gut telling you about something? Do you feel like this is a good idea or something about it? You're kind of like, oh, I've got, like, a bad gut feeling about this, right? Like, follow your gut. And I say this all the time in my programs because I truly believe that you should always follow your gut. I've also told this to moms of infants who are getting turned away for, you know, from taus assessments and feeding evals, being told like, everything's fine, yada, yada, whatever. Like, and I go, mama, follow your gut, right? So I am a big believer in that. If you've got a strong feeling or sense about something, it is always a good idea to follow your gut. Whenever I haven't I paid for it big time. Okay, we won't get into all that. But I've learned my lesson, and I have learned to trust my intuition, and that definitely helps me with my business decisions and life decisions. And that is something that I'm actually in this mastermind that I'm creating for 2021. That is something that I'm going to work on with my mastermind students. So, anywho, honoring your intuition, that's a big one. Okay, now the next thing I wanted, I want to talk about is childhood versus adulthood, right? Like, as a adult, we have to put our adult hat on. We have to adult some days when we don't want to. And sometimes our inner child needs to be let out. We need to remember who we are and not lose ourselves in the process, right? We need to figure out, like, what brings us joy. And maybe that is even going as far back as to, like, thinking about what you did when you were younger, before you had all these responsibilities in life. Like, what were those things? What were those simpler things? Like, take yourself back, right? Remember what you're passionate about. Remember what you enjoy doing, and make a list and pick something from that list and go do it, right? It could be like running around in a field, kicking a soccer ball. I mean, it doesn't have to be something super complicated, right? It could be coloring. Pull out a piece of paper, draw a picture and color it in. I mean, it could be something so simple. But the whole idea is that we've got to, like, let that inner child out. And this is something that I've even had some mentorship on recently, because sometimes my inner child wants to come out a lot, and I don't feel like adulting, and then I have a hissy fit. Okay, guys, I'm not perfect. I'm not going to pretend to be perfect. If anybody tells you they're perfect, that these things don't happen, like, run far away because they're lying, it's just about how you manage it when it comes up for you, right? And so sometimes it's about shifting your thought process, shifting your energy toward it. Shifting how you think about that thing is bringing up certain emotions for you. And then it's about how you deal with it and move forward. Right. Some of us get stuck and we just kind of stay there and it festers and we say it's triggering us and all these fun things and other people choose to go, hmm, well, all right, I'll do what I'll do with that and move on. And I recognize that that feeling was there, but I choose to feel this way instead. Okay? And with that comes the next tip. Choose happy. Seriously, it's a choice. If you struggle to find it, seek help. Because there are obviously psychological and mental types of things that may be beyond your control. And so, yes, if you feel like you need to absolutely seek help. If you feel like you have control of whether or not you are happy, choose happy. It really is a choice, and it really is that simple. And everyone truly deserves to be happy. So allow yourself to be happy. And then if you really are struggling with that, that's when I recommend that people seek some other assistance. Okay, sorry. The dog was barking, so I had to pause this. Getting back to it. All right, so we were talking about two's happy. Okay, so let's move on from there. So now, treating your business like a relationship is something that I recommend because, you know, like we say, if you are not in a good place with yourself, you don't love yourself. It can be very hard to find love in a relationship. Right? And you might even, let's say, attract the wrong people to your relationship because like attracts like. Or, you know, they do say opposites attract, but sometimes beyond that whole thing, you just sometimes energetically attract the wrong person for you in a romantic relationship. And it oftentimes has to do with the energy that you're putting out in the world right now. Okay. And, you know, this might be a little woo for some of you, but stay with me here. The same thing applies to business. Whether it is your clients, you attract, the professionals that are working for you or professionals you're collaborating with. The list goes on, guys. So I like to say, treat your business like a relationship because, again, you need to be in a good place and you really need to love yourself and what you're doing in order to attract the right people to your business. Okay. And on that, on that front, work on both your business and yourself. Arguably yourself first, as I just mentioned. Right. I'll give you an example. So I actually joined a program a few years back with the intention of, of it being for my business. Like, I was like, I am investing this into this. I am going to work on my business. I was like, woo, here we go. And I got into that program and it was like, holy cow. I was like, I have got to work on myself first. Whoa. Okay. And so I did, I worked on myself for 12 weeks through that program and then I did the program again. And the second 12 weeks I worked on my business. And from there I've continued to do both. And so it's really, really important that we recognize that we have to be in a good place of a good mindset in a solid being and recognize who it is, identity wise, that we want to be and really fully, truly embody that before we're going to step into a business where we want to do big things. Because how can we lead other people if we can't even lead ourselves? Right? And again, nobody's saying you have to do this alone. This is where it comes to investing in yourself and finding that right person to help you along this journey in that path. And I've had many mentors over the years. I've done different programs and you know, each time I do something, I take something different away from it. Even when I put myself back through the same program, I got something different out of the second time. Because we grow. You grow over time, things change, right? So it's important to, we always say, like be a lifelong learner when it comes to our clinical skills. The same thing applies when it comes to growing yourself and your business. All right, all right. So that's the last thing that I'm going to kind of wrap up with here today. This is a quick episode is invest in a coach. OK? Treat yourself in 2021. I know for some of you, 2020 has been quite a ride. I know for others, and I say quite a ride because for some people it's been a fun roller coaster of ups, downs all around. Have felt really down, other people have felt really high and kind of like riding on a wave. It's been different for everybody. And so, you know, whatever it's been for you, 2021 isn't here yet. You can set your intentions for what you would like to happen in 2021. That's why you should definitely get on the free on the biz plan on a Napkin training. Thursday, December 10, 1pm and again, if you can't make it live, it will be recorded, but there will be a free guide for those of you who do join. I'm creating a little, a little like PDF to help you kind of ditch that formal biz plan mentality, to help you fast track yourself to six to seven figures in business. You know, what you can do instead of having that formal biz plan in place basically, is what this, this nice little PDF is gonna walk you through. So that will be a bonus tool that I am giving out to those who attend live and only to those who attend live. So don't ask me for it if you're not attending live. But one December 10, 2020. And this again is to help kind of set us up for 2021. So for anybody who is interested, what we will be discussing, let me pull that up here so I can tell you exactly what I promised you all. Basically, what we're going to do is we are going to set our goals on a napkin. So I'm going to ask everybody to bring a napkin and a pen or pencil or whatever, something to write with, and we are going to really lay out the roadmap very simply for your goals in 2021. Okay. And you're going to see how simple my process is and how well and beautifully it works. I'm going to talk about the number one mistake that most people make when biz planning that costs them time and money. Okay? It's going to seem small, but it really has big consequences. I'm going to talk about why perfecting your biz plan is the worst way to start to grow your business, to start or grow your business. And you're going to leave feeling really confident and good about 2021, clear, like, ready to really conquer those goals. Okay? And so that's where I. My goal for you guys with this is I wanted to give you a free tool just to help you set yourself up for 2021. Because I know for 2020 it's been a ride for many, like I said, for better or worse. And this is really a great way to grab 2021 by the horns by, you know, investing in you. This is just invest, investing some time in yourself. Okay? Because this is free. There's no financial investment here for this particular masterclass and your future business desires, right? Invest in you and your future business desires by spending an hour with me next week or this week by the time you listen to this. So when it comes to what you decide to do next year, as far as like a mentor or a business coach or whatever, like I said, it might be something you do with me or it might be something you do with somebody else, I am unattached to that in the sense that you will know what is best for you. Right? Follow your gut, follow your intuition, seek the person that you know like and trust right to lead you and make a commitment to yourself today because you will be so grateful that you did a year from now. So I really want to encourage you all to work today from where you want to be 12 months from now. Or if that's kind of far off, make it ten months from now or six months from now, right? We'll talk more about this on the free Live Masterclass, but I wanted to give you all some tips that you can really start to put into place to invest in yourself. Because it is just as important to invest in yourself as it is to invest in your competencies as a therapist and other investments that you might be more used to making. So hope this is a helpful one and I would love to hear from you all what you're doing to currently invest in yourself. This is Holly. Talk to you guys soon. Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you want to hear more of these Myo Tots, Airway and Feeding related episodes, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or pledge a small amount on patreon.com theuntetheredpodcast if you found value. Others you know in this space will too. So be sure to share this episode on your media social social media platforms and join us over on Facebook on my Facebook page @HALLIEBLCAN BIZ, on Instagram at Alibulcan. And you can head over to theuntetheredpodcast.com to grab a copy of the Show Notes, where you can also subscribe to be kept up to date on the latest podcast episodes.