100. Celly and Lessons Learned Over 100 Episodes

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck, and this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast, where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Well, hello. Hello, ladies. Oh, my goodness. Here we are at episode 100. This is so crazy and so fun, and I'm trying not to say I don't believe it, because I really don't believe it, but it's really true. This is really what's happening here. We are 100 episodes into this podcast, and thank you so much for being here to celebrate with me. I am feeling celebratory, but I'm also feeling very reflective and thoughtful and contemplative. And so I have a fun episode, but a contemplative episode for you. I want to share with you today all the lessons that I've learned. Or actually, let's see, not all top four. We would be here for a while if it were all the lessons, but I want to share with you Today the top four lessons that I've learned over recording 100 episodes of this podcast. And this is really exciting for me. And I want to just invite you to celebrate with me and in a way that also is applicable to you, like, think about something in your business or in your life or in your day that you want to celebrate. And I want us to just take a moment and really sit in the energy, the spirit of celebration. Because I feel like often, I don't know if you're anything like me, but if you're listening to this podcast, you just might be the kind of woman that is a go getter. She's a goal getter. You are the kind of person that is not afraid to work hard and go after what you most want. And then when you achieve those goals or you get to that, you're like, okay, what's next? Right? So I think it's so important for us to just sometimes sit in celebration. And I feel like that about this podcast. It's like I'm like, okay, 100 episodes down, what's next? And I'm planning ahead. I've got so many fun things to share about, share with you about what's coming up in the episodes to come. But just for now, let's just take a moment and sit in the feeling of celebration. And if it's hard for you, like it is hard for me to celebrate yourself, think about something or someone that you have celebrated recently and just Like, I have had a lot of birthdays in my family. January is a big birthday month. Actually, even December, the second part of December and January is like, I don't know, we've got five different birthdays in our family, and so one of them being my son's. And so we just celebrated my son's birthday. And so I'm just thinking about how it felt to celebrate him, right? To. To gather with his friends and sing Happy Birthday and just, you know, watch his face light up. And, you know, just. I'm feeling that, and I want to just feel that also for myself and for this podcast and all that we have accomplished here together. And I want you also to just sit in the moment of celebration with me and appreciation and acknowledgement and. Oh, I just. It feels so great. So thank you, thank you, thank you for taking that moment with me to celebrate. And it's not over yet. We have this entire episode to celebrate. But I'm also feeling contemplative and just, like, what have I learned over 100 episodes? I never thought I would get this far. I don't know. It's funny to think because, you know, well, I'm going to go get right into the lessons. All right. Okay. So. And that thought that I was just about to have flows right into lesson number one. So lesson number one that I have Learned over recording 100 episodes of this podcast is just do it, right? It's funny because I thought about starting this podcast for four years, and I thought about it, I listened to other people's podcasts and compared and despaired and thought, well, what am I going to create that's going to be so special that, you know, it's going to be better than so and so and more valuable than so and so and. And, you know, what kind of equipment do I need to have? And microphone and studio, and how am I going to do the lights? And, I mean, it's a podcast. There's no lights needed. I mean, we actually put this on YouTube now. So I do have lighting, but it's like, you know, our brains always go to all. We put so many things in our way sometimes, right? And really, all that this podcast wanted was just to be born. So lesson number one is to just do it. That any time you can decrease the time between making a decision, like I made a decision a long time ago that I wanted a podcast, I had that desire, right? Anytime you can decrease the time between that desire, between that decision and then actually implementing the faster, you will achieve your goals, right? I mean, I'm not. I don't beat myself up about this because I really believe that everything happens in the time it's supposed to happen. But thinking back to four years before, the two years it's been since I started this podcast, I would be like six years into this podcast, right? I would be, like, at episode 300. And so I don't beat myself up about that. But it's like. And this. We'll go into the next one. But it's like the more we engage with our ideas, you know, the faster we will achieve our goals. And so I had the idea to create this podcast, and I really wanted to do it. And so that desire and then the decision and then the implementation, the more I can tighten up that timeline, the faster I will achieve my goals. The. The more value that you will get out into the world, the more impact that you will have, right? And so that's lesson number one. And I believe that all the ideas that we have about our business, about, you know, marketing ideas, ideas for new products or services, they all come to us for a reason. And when we drag our feet or wait for perfection to descend upon us, like I did about this podcast, I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to have the perfect interview guests and the perfect equipment, and I didn't know how to edit audio. I didn't know, you know, and so I. In delaying. So I believe that these ideas come to us for a reason. But when we delay implementing them, putting them into practice, I. I believe we also delay our blessing. Right? I mean, I had a lot of learning, so like I said, it did happen in the time it was supposed to. But I also believe that had I decided and acted, I could have experienced all of the blessings and all of the learning and ultimately successful even quicker, right? Even sooner. And so when we wait for perfection, we delay our blessing, we delay our learning, and we delay our ultimate success. So this is what I'm now thinking as a result of the le. This lesson I have learned is like, whatever I have to think, whatever I have to feel, whatever I have to do to set myself up for success, I'm gonna just do it. Like, just cut out all of the friction, you know, identify all the areas of friction, right? And by that, I mean, you know, all the things that are keeping. Keeping me from implementing my idea, cut all that out as much as I can and just implement, right? Because I believe God is conspiring in our favor, right? And then when we drag our feet, we delay that blessing. We delay all the goodness that's on its way to us. So I've been thinking a lot about that in regards to my marketing, right? I have, you guys. It's crazy. I come up with so many ideas. Like I'm an idea factory, and I put these ideas in my. I Evernote app. App, right? And then I think, oh, well, it's. I've put it down, I'm done. But no, that's not. That's dragging my feet, what I need to do, you know, because I. I'll put ideas in there and I'll think, oh, I'll just develop them later, I'll post them later. I've got to edit it for later. And then later never comes. And I have, you know, a file in there that's just like full of ideas and content and half baked ideas and, and posts and all kinds of things. And I don't want to do that anymore. I just want to put the things out there because I want to. And I want you to remember that our value is not in our perfection, right? Our value is in our contribution. And our contribution is what we're putting out into the world. Our service, our ideas, our love, right? And so the more we can put that out into the world, the more impact we have, we have with our, Our business, with our ideas, the more impact we have on those we can best serve. And the faster we can help people get what they most want, and the faster and sooner we can create what we most want, right? So lesson number one is just do it. Forget about perfection, just do it. Okay, enough of that. Okay? Lesson number two is dovetails nicely with lesson number one is that clarity comes from engagement, engaging with your ideas, working with them, and not just thinking about them, like actually doing something with them, right? It's like this podcast. I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it, but the more I thought about it, it didn't make it better. It didn't make it more perfect, it just made it more thought about. But when I actually began engaging with my ideas and putting them out onto this podcast, the more and more clarity I created about what I'm thinking and how I can help people, right? So throughout the life of this podcast, it's been uncomfortable to put my ideas out there because it's. It's like so vulnerable, right? It's like I'm thinking these things and coming up with concepts and then putting them out into the world for all of you to think about, whatever you think about them. And so it's a vulnerable place. It's a Scary place. And so I had to kind of. I have a mentor that says gag and go. I had to just gag and go on my ideas and engage with them because I couldn't sit on them any longer. I had to learn to trust my voice, right? It's very scary to like record this and record my voice and my thoughts and my ideas and just put it out there and say, here is my podcast. I'm worth listening to. Right? That's scary. It's very vulnerable place. And so I had to, to not allow myself to think about all the, you know, argumentative naysayers, all the potential thoughts or ways I could, you know, know, discount or, or puddle back on what I was thinking. And I had to just think about you. I had to think about you, the woman out there listening, that's doing your best to build your business, to have an impact, to make the money, doing your best to be an example to those around you, like your kids or your FR. Family or your friends. I was thinking about you that, you know, your kick ass at the work that you do. But maybe you don't feel as great about being a businesswoman, but you want to. Or maybe you feel like an imposter sometimes or struggle with marketing or struggle with knowing what to do with the money and how to pay yourself and all that good stuff. Or maybe you, you're a woman that has dreams of making money that will afford you more time, freedom, and more choices for yourself and your family. Or maybe you're lonely sometimes like I am in my business. And maybe you don't feel understood by your closest friends and family and loved ones. That's who I had to focus on. I had to focus on you. And because I love you and I, I always wanted to have a voice like this in my own journey and I didn't have it. And so I wanted to be that voice for myself. Because a lot of times I'm talking to myself as much as I'm talking to you while I am talking to myself, right? I'm sitting here in my office with a microphone. I'm talking to myself, but I'm talking to you too. And I, I had to just engage with my ideas and not think about all the people that would disagree with me. And I want to encourage you to do the same too, to just go out there and show up and take up space and stop thinking about the naysayers, the inner critic. You know, I think our, the naysayers are really just our inner critic, right? Talking to us and chirping Us. So the ideas that I put out on this podcast have not been perfect, right? They're imperfect. But I'm engaging with my own ideas. I'm talking, I'm putting them out into, into the world. And when we take what's inside of us and we put it out into the world, it creates life. It becomes something new, right? So even if it's imperfect, but I put it out there, I put every word out into the real world, into the physical world, in a hundred percent love and service to you, then it's okay if it's imperfect, right? Because the spirit of the words and the, the ideas will always come through. And something I heard recently was that you can never say the wrong thing to the right people, right? So I think a lot of times we say things, you know, in public, whether it's on social media or whatever, and we're always trying to apologize or, you know, make things acceptable to everyone. And yes, we want to be loving and inclusive and not try to offend people overtly, or at least that's my values. But at the same time, we can own who we are and we can own our ideas. And. And if we're speaking in love, they're always going to hit the right people in the right way, right? And so I just want to encourage you to engage with your ideas, to show up and take up space, even in all your imperfection. And. And we're going to continue to try our ideas out, right? And lots of them are going to fail. Or we might decide we try something and we don't like doing it. And. But that's the best way to know is to engage with our ideas. And it's not just ideas, like talking right now, but it's ideas to do things too, right? That is lesson number two. That clarity comes from engaging with your ideas, not just thinking about them. And then lesson number three is that you never know the blessings and the miracles that are on the other side of scary stuff. Like, we hear about doing it scared, but it's so funny. Like, our minds are always focused on doing the scary thing, and then we don't even think about, like, all the amazing stuff that can actually happen on the other side of that, right? When we actually do the scary thing, we can, you know, achieve goals. We can learn new things and stretch our capability and. But at the same time, I think it's not always our business to know what is the blessing or the miracle on the other side, but just trusting that there will be, right. It's not always our business. To know, but only to carry out our ideas to the best of our ability. And so I love the story. I think about this all the time, and it's almost like something like a mantra that I say to myself. I think about the story of Jesus in the Bible feeding 5,000 people unexpectedly. And it was one of his miracles. And I'm not a Bible scholar, and so if you are and I get the story wrong, I apologize, but I'll. I think the. The spirit of the story remains. And so in this story, Jesus is speaking to a huge crowd of people, and it's getting late in the day, and his disciples are like, you know what? It's getting late in the day. These people need to go home and eat. And they're getting hungry, and we don't know what to do. We don't have enough food to feed everybody. And he just bring to me all the bread, all the fish give, bring to me everything that you have, and. And I'll take care of it, right? And so they gather up any bread, any fish, all the loaves and fishes, if you've heard the story that they can get their hands on, and bring it to Jesus. And it's not much. It's like, literally not enough to feed 5,000 people. And so he blesses it, and then he says, okay, you know, go ahead and, and pass out the food. And so as they're passing out the food, passing the food around, however that happens, I don't know, it ends up being enough to feed 5,000 people. And so I always think about this, like, that's a miracle, right? And so I think about this, like, all that I'm asked to do is to bring all of my loaves, all of my fishes. Like, everything I have, I am going to bring to bear. I'm going to bring to this day, to this meeting, to this business, to this life, to this relationship, I'm going to bring everything I have. And then the miracles are up to God. They're not up to me, right? And so that's my lesson number three is that I never know the blessings and the miracles that are on the other side of that scary. Of scary things, right? But my responsibility is just bringing everything I have to that thing, to that idea, and then receiving and letting the miracles happen. And that's lesson number three. And then lesson number four is around consistency. And this has been such an amazing part of doing this podcast, right? A hundred episodes. And consistency is part of committing to your future self. That's the lesson that I have learned and that I've realized, or I've come to realize, that consistency. And I've not always been consistent in this podcast. So I'm not speaking like I've done it perfectly, because I have not. But I have learned from my inconsistency, and I've learned what consistency really means. And so I've come to realize that consistency is just as much about creating trust with myself as it is creating trust with you, my audience. And so more important than posting every day or podcasting every week or emailing every week or whatever it is, pick something that you can stick to and pick a cadence that you can stick to and make that commitment and stick to it. And I've gone through periods of not being consistent with this podcast. And what. And when I've examined why, it was because I was telling myself that it didn't matter, that what I was saying, what I was offering didn't matter, and that no one cared if it came out every week or not. And maybe you did care, maybe you didn't. I apologize either way, but it's fine. I can't obviously know or even control what you think or feel about my consistency, but what I was really doing was telling myself is that it doesn't matter to me and that I don't matter. My ideas don't matter. My effort, my value, being put out into the world doesn't matter. And that's an awful thing for me to say to myself. And I. I love having the awareness. Like, I'm not, you know, tearing myself down or anything. It's just like that awareness just changed everything for me. It's that it matters to me. It's not the message I want to say to myself, and it's not the message that I want to say to my future self. Right? And I don't want you to say to yourself either. You matter. Your ideas matter. Your work in the world matters a hundred percent. And how we do one thing is how we do everything, right? And I found that sentiment of not mattering, showing up in other areas of my life, too. So I had to make some changes because it does matter, and you matter. And I don't want to treat myself in any way that says to me I don't matter. And so taking care of you and making a commitment to your future self matters. So it's not whether, you know, it's posting once a day or, you know, doing everything a whole bunch, it's making the commitment and keeping it for yourself. Right? So make a commitment to yourself and stick to it. With as much concern and care as you would when you make a commitment to, for example, your most important client or a child or another loved one that needs you. Right. Your relationship with yourself is directly related to the success of your business. And so treat yourself with that same kind of care and respect. And so if we're continually letting ourselves down, we'll eventually let down our business and our clients. Right. And we don't want to do that. If we don't value ourselves first, how can we truly value anything or anyone else? Right? And I'm saying this to myself as much as I'm saying it to you because I am committed to being consistent and. And fulfilling what I say to myself. And I see and hear about how you're treating yourself because I hear it from people I talk to, the women I talk to, the women I work with, and I've done it too. But no longer. We, right now, today, can decide that we're not going to be that person. That our standard that we're setting for ourselves is to keep our word to ourselves and take care of ourselves. And in the process, we will have so much more to give to all the others. Right. To give to our business, to give to our family, to give to our friends, our community, our clients. Right. So when we treasure and care and follow through with ourselves, the way we show up in the world and in our business and to our clients, to our family is completely different. And it has. So we have so much more joy and purpose and love. And that's what I want for you as much as I want it for myself. Yeah. So that's lesson number four, is that consistency is part of that commitment to ourselves, to our future selves, just as much as it's committing to our audience, our clients, our business, our loved ones. So there's the four things that a hundred episodes has really taught me. And I hope that these lessons serve you and will go with you as well, because that's one of the things that I'm really passionate about, is, you know, this is my 19th year in business, and I have been through the ringer, my friends, throughout that 19 years, there's been so many great things and also so many hard things. And I always want to share everything I'm learning with you so that maybe you don't have to learn it as hard as I did, that maybe your success will come quicker and easier for you so that you can go out and do and be and have even more than I ever will. And so I just want you to know how Much. I appreciate you, how grateful I am for you and that you have been here with me, whether it's for one episode or for all 100. I love you and I am committed to myself and I'm committed to you to bring you the most value and the most fun that you will have in podcast land all week. And so, on that note, I want to just share with you what is happening this year on the podcast. First, I wanted to share with you, so I've been thinking a lot about, like, this first hundred days of the year and how we can create so much momentum that will carry us throughout the rest of the year. So on this podcast, throughout the first hundred days or however many weeks that equals, I am going to be sharing with you what I feel like are the most important ways and parts of creating momentum that will carry throughout the rest of the year and even further. Right? So I have lots of things planned a lot and some surprises that are really going to help you launch and create that momentum. And I want you to know that you create your own momentum, right? You create your momentum. You. You keep your momentum going. And so if you feel like you're at the mercy of someone else's momentum or the momentum of the economy or whatever else is going on out there, I want you to know that you have agency over your momentum. You get to create it. So if you don't like the way your momentum is going, you can shift it. And so I'm going to be talking about skills and numbers and mindset and marketing and all the great things that are going to contribute to you creating all the success and achieving your goals this year. So that's what's coming up. And I'm really excited for the next 100 episodes and making them even more valuable than the first 100. So that's my commitment to you, that's my commitment to myself. And I wish you a fabulous rest of your day and I will see you right back here next week. All right, friends, talk to you soon. Bye.

Congratulations, Melissa. I love listening to doing business like a woman.

I've learned so much.

I especially like it when you talk to us about taking things easy and being gracious and just having a different perspective on stuff instead of just push, push, push. Bye, bye, bye. Sell, sell, sell. You know, more of your analytical mind means a lot to me, a lot of your words I keep to my heart. I've read all the books that you recommend, and aside from that, I still consider you a great friend.

Friends.

So I just consider you a blessing in my life. Thank you.

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