ClubFuckItBucket E5

Sam. Foreign, Welcome to Club Fuck It Bucket. We're so excited to have you here. Club Fuck It Bucket is where doers of things decide to throw all their fears of risk and failure into their Fuck it Bucket and just say, you.

Know what, y', all, it.

I'm doing the thing. And we'll just go from there. So today I have one of my very favorite fucketeers with me. She is a renowned weenie expert, and she's going to talk today about how not to suck at life and business and having fun. So give us a comment and a shout out if you're here. Throw questions at her. Katie McManus is absolutely amazing and hilarious and super fun. So, Katie, come on out. Let us know that you're here. Say hi to Katie. And I cannot wait to hear what you have to tell us today.

Oh, my gosh.

That was like the best introduction that I ever got to make on this.

Right?

You're the pinnacle.

I'm going to add fucketeer to every single intro I ever do of myself right now. Like, totally A tear and a weenie expert. Like, that just has to happen. If you're a weenie in the audience, I'd love to hear you, like, out yourself because, like, we're all weenies. We're all terrified of going and doing things. There's no. There's no moment where it feels good to do something scary, right? Like the horror movie where they split up to go look for the monster on their own. Like, that's not a good moment. And that's how, like, that's life. You know, we go out and we look for the monsters. But the story I really want to talk about is, is when I was really young, so I was living in Massachusetts, I was studying philosophy and French in college. And I kind of had this aha moment with one of my professors who told me how much she made because my goal was really to be a French professor and how much she made. And I was like, that's not enough. That's not enough. I make more money waiting tables in the summer. Like, that's not enough. And so I went.

You kind of have to be like a philanthropist to want to be a full time professor.

Yeah. And here's the thing that really got me was that she wasn't even a tenured professor. She couldn't be. For every tenure track job for the, like, liberal arts, there were something like 359, like, published doctorate candidates for that job. And it's like, I like French, but I don't like it that much to.

Be that you're like, I'd rather just focus on French kissing instead of French.

Moving on, going to France and having a nice vacation because I can afford it, because I make a shit ton of money. Right? Right. So I was like, okay, cool. I really have to reevaluate my goals. And so I went home that summer and literally in like 20 minutes, I looked up, you know, different things that I like. So like, I loved, you know, knitting and I loved wine because I literally just spent, you know, a half a year living in France the year before. And I didn't know anything about being a sommelier or winemaking or anything. But in 20 minutes, I did all my research. I figured out that I didn't want to be a winemaker. I wanted to be a wine drinker and wine cellar. And so I found two schools that would train me to be a sommelier and I applied to one of them. I got approved, like accepted like two days later. And I announced to my parents that I would go back to school for one more semester because that was as a weird transition year where Obamacare was going to take effect so I could stay on my parents health insurance. So I said, I made this plan. I was going to stay for one more semester and then I was going to move to California and become. Become a sommelier and quit school and, and basically just completely upend my life. And I did it. And I literally drove cross country with a friend that I met that semester. I had another friend lined up, but he like, got a girlfriend. You know, the girlfriend wasn't okay with him. With me, oddly. Hi, puppy. But it, it worked out. It was, it was like a three month program and I ended up staying in California for nine years after that. I want to say, Erica, the same thing happened with one of my film teachers in my last semester of college. Oh, no.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, so I mean, like full supporter of continued education. And also, you know, you don't necessarily need a degree to be successful because I went from being a sommelier for a couple years to being an actress for a little bit, to managing a couple retail shops, to, you know, landing in sales. And then you just have like coach and. And it just kind of. I fell into every single thing that I needed to do to become that. Right?

I mean, so you're just like a fucketeer by nature, right? You're just like the, the world just threw this opportunity at me. It sounds interesting. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, but trust in myself that I can figure it out. And so I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna jump off the cliff and build the airplane on the way down.

Yeah. You know, honestly, talking about this, I feel like I need to get branded matchbooks like they used to have in those really swanky bars, because literally, my life has been like, this doesn't work for me. Light a match, burn it down, move on. Right.

You know, what's that saying? Let the bridges I burn light the way or something?

Yeah, yeah. I've been really good at not necessarily burning bridges as I do it, but just saying, you know what? I'm gonna leave the things here that don't work for me, and I'm gonna change things. And it's always worked out better than I could ever imagine. Right.

So let me ask you, because this has been my experience, and so it'll be interesting for me to hear it from someone else who also has gone through multiple different careers and multiple different industries and kind of followed the heart and the universe. How much of your willingness to just try something new and then learn all of the things and then take those with you to the next thing that you do. How much do you think that.

That.

That just mindset and way of life has contributed to your success as a coach and owning your own business?

Oh, I mean, I wouldn't be able to be running my own business and be a coach if I hadn't done that, you know, that. I mean, I think I really attribute my success in sales, my success in everything, to the things that I learned from the previous thing that I did and all the things before. You know, I think one of the most formative things that I did was I taught knitting for a while in San Francisco as a knitting teacher, and it was one of the best things I could have done to be able to run group programs and to train, because, you know, not everyone learns the same way, you know, and so. And you have to figure it out on the spot with your knitting students. Like, do I have to explain it to them? Do I have to show it to them? Do I have to literally guide their hands? Do I have to use an analogy? Do I have to do this? Do I have to. Do I feel like, do a headstand and tell them upside down? Like, being able to think on your feet like that, you know, with something that was so tactile that you could see that they were getting it or not. Right. Really helped me in working with my clients to this very day, because I'm able to. To Explain things to them in a way that I know they're gonna get right. Right.

I love Chris goes about Too Little House on the Prairie, but used to teach knitting. Yes, that's.

I changed dresses because it looked too little house on the floor. I changed the whole outfit, Chris. It wasn't just the flirt.

That's all right.

That's all right.

If we need to, we can do a whole, like, Ma and PA reenactment of Michael Landon and all of it.

I mean, you have to know yourself because I've never actually seen the show. I just know the fashion. Right.

Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. So one of the things that I think, one of the characteristics that I see across the board with people who are interested in being on the club, Fuck it bucket podcasts and who are fucketeers and fuck shit uppers and all of the things, is that they have kind of a natural levity at their core. And so one of the things that I love about your business and you and your personal brand and who you are is you show up on LinkedIn literally wearing a hot dog costume and telling people, don't be a weenie, just go do the thing. And yet LinkedIn is like, it's a professional platform and it's supposed to be all serious.

How.

How did you manage to navigate building a business that results in very seriously, positively impact results for your clients, but also have core at the fun of it?

Well, you know, I, I feel like.

I know I said at the core of the fun of it. I mean, fun at the core of it.

Well, it's funny you asked that because, you know, the core of my business is I teach bravery. Right. Because going out and starting your own business is a brave ass endeavor. Right. And the fact that I tell people, you know, stop being a weenie, I'm poking at the fact that you're being afraid and you're letting fear run your life. And if you continue to let fear run your life, you're never going to have the life you want. You're going to have the life that's handed to you. Right. And so I had to really like walk my talk, you know, if you're afraid of looking stupid, if you're afraid of looking silly, if you're afraid of people being like, what the hell is she doing? It's gonna get in the way of a lot of other stuff. And so showing people that you can actually show up in a weenie costume or a hot dog costume, by the way, I need to get a new one. If anyone has any recommendations for, like, good hot dog costumes? I spilled coffee on my current one and I also. I kind of have an idea for, like, a beach set up where I go swimming in it. So I plan on sacrificing it to the ocean. If you have any recommendations of hot dog costume manufacturers that I could get in touch with, please DM me.

Maybe Michelle here in Aukit might have one because she's got the pickle costume.

Yeah, she's got the pickle. I don't know if pickle costume manufacturers also deal in hot dog costume. Oh, my gosh.

I'm going to get a ketchup costume and Chris Hennessey is going to get a mustard costume. And. And then all four of us are going to come together and chase you around. Yeah. Like, lick your eyeballs or something. Oh, my God. This is. This is going to be the greatest LinkedIn in real life event.

Oh, my God. Ever. Oh, my God. Yes. Yes to all of it. Except for licking my eyeballs. Yeah, no, that's. That's essentially it. And also, I find that I get to be more creative when I'm having fun, and I have more fun when I'm making other people laugh, you know? And that's it. That's it. Like, and what's the point of building a business if it's not going to be fun? Like, this is literally. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey. Right, Right.

Chris is like, you don't pay me enough for this. Chris is like, listen, I'm a last producer, and if anyone can hire me so that I can fire April as a client, totally fine, whatever.

Chris.

Can you. So we only have a couple minutes left, but I would let. I know that you told us about one time when you were a beginner, so you left something and went. But can you. When you're thinking about your business and starting the business, can you tell us about a time when you had to do something for the business that you were a complete and total beginner at and you fucked up?

Well, I mean, starting the business. So. Okay, so I am not a believer in plan A's and plan B's. I think your plan A should incorporate everything that you need to be successful. Right. So, you know, a lot of people come to me and they're like, do I have to quit my job to start a business? And I'm like, if you're the kind of person who can. Who has that sink or swim, swim success mentality, then sure, quit your job. It'll motivate you to be more successful. Most people are not that person. Most people are far more creative and secure when they have an income. And I know this because I quit my job way too early. Quit my job. I started my business and realized how hard it was. Immediately started getting in my own head. Started, like, just getting busy with busy work and not actually working on the business. And I panicked and I got your ADHD procrastination brain.

What?

More of like you freak out that you're going to screw it up, so you do stuff that's safe. Like, you know, go and order business cards. Like, literally. A girlfriend was cleaning out her, her apartment. She found some of my old business cards that she'd asked for. And it's like dating coach, executive coach, this coach. And I was trying to do everything right and it just wasn't. It wasn't working. But, you know, so I went down this journey where I'm like, trying to launch this business, but also trying to get a job as like, my failure plan. And I got myself into a massive amount of debt. Massive, like so, so far into debt that I nearly had to declare bankruptcy. Right. It was just. And literally I'm three months away from, from being debt free completely.

You know, that's amazing.

But like, literally, I, in the name of starting my business, in the name of really fucking it up in the beginning and managing things poorly, you know, I kind of burned down my life. And I think honestly doing that made me so much more resilient to stress and to potential things going wrong. Because I've been through the worst. Right, right, right.

Yeah, that's. I feel like once you have been in the place where the worst is happening or is imminent, some people, not everyone, but some people, and the people I find who are the most successful actually will start to switch their perspective and then start to say, what's the best that can happen? Because you're not worried about the worst. You already survived.

Already survived. And if you end up there again, you know, you can survive again. It's not the worst case scenario anymore.

Exactly. Exactly. Okay, so we're at Time. Thank you so much for coming and joining us. You know, I just. I love you. For, for those of you who don't know, who haven't seen the videos, Katie and I met in real life a few weeks ago when I was on my way home from Canada. We. We had a slumber party at an Airbnb. This is the first time we met.

Right. We met. We just had a slumber party in twin beds next to each other. Yeah.

She rolls up to the Airbnb wearing a hot dog costume, and I'm running through the parking lot going like, one of those, like, what are those, like, weird, tall dancing guys that they have outside of the. That's what I look like. So, yeah, weenie and I'm a noodle man. And, like, we're both screeching at each other. I just, like, almost knocked my computer off.

Oh, my God.

And then we just. We had such an amazing time and our slumber party and. And we really, really connected. If you don't know Katie, then you should, because she is walking sunshine, a literal joy to have in your life, and also really smart and so. And not afraid to. To, you know, call you out on your bullshit and push you to take things to a different level. So, Katie, will you just tell everybody where they can find you, how they can connect with you? All of those things?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you can go to katiemcmanus.com pretty simple. I'm very active on LinkedIn. If you want to go there and hang out with me and see a lot of my posted content, then you can do that. But katiemcmanus.com is where you can find out all the information you need on me. Probably too much information, to be honest, but, you know, there you go.

What's too much?

We don't have filters.

Everybody, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so glad. Katie, thank you for taking the time out of your day.

If you want to.

Yeah.

So excited.

If you want to be on the Club Fuck It Bucket live show, then. Then shoot me a dm. I prefer pictures of puppies or your deck if you're trying to get my attention, not pictures of other things. Thank you very much. D, E, C. Yeah, I like landscape outside.

Right, okay.

Yeah, but mostly puppies. Puppies is my preference. Shoot me a dm. I will send you the information where you can apply to be on the show and keep. Keep going out there and just up and have a great week.

I'm always.