Reflections in the car with Stacey: Ready to turn Do The Thing Into A Business
29 Jun 2023 · 0 min
Stacey Lauren records a conversational reflection (from her car) about transitioning her "Do The Thing" podcast and community from a hobby into a business. She explains plans to monetize by converting a free podcast startup challenge into a paid offering, wrestles with new online-marketing and sales challenges, and emphasizes self-validation, community impact, and pushing through growth-phase resistance.
I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.
Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.
Okay, so I recorded this episode four days ago, and I was still deep in the emotion of what was going on at the moment and how I was feeling. And it's funny, as I'm listening back, getting ready to publish it, I'm realizing I left out a really important detail, was that I had asked this program for feedback. And you'll understand what I mean when you listen to the episode. But here I am asking for feedback and then I'm getting upset when I'm getting the feedback. So anyway, I think it's really funny to be able to reflect on these things. And I guess this is reason number 5200 on why I love having a podcast because it forces me to kind of reflect how I'm feeling and be able to look back and see where things are. Which, honestly, it really gets me to get to know myself better. So anyway, I just find this funny as I'm listening to the episode that I neglected to mention that I actually asked them for feedback, which is exactly what they gave me. But the more interesting thing was that I realized what was holding me back is because this is a completely new thing that I've been doing. But okay, I won't give too much away. I just thought I would sure that information since I realized it as I was listening back to it about to publish this episode to wanted to share this with you. Hey everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. So I am recording this from my car because sometimes when you have thoughts in your head that you want to speak about, it's hard to actually sit in the computer and actually do an official podcast episode. But I'm also in the middle of the Start a Podcast challenge right now, and I want to show people that it's better to record, even if it's in your car on your phone, than to have it be perfect and have everything all set up in the way that you would want to. So anyway, here I am doing the thing and recording in My car. So I've been really in my head this week, which is why I'm doing this episode, because the best way to get out of my head is to actually record on my phone about what's going on with my thoughts. So I have mentioned a few times, I finally decided I am turning do the Thing into a business. And what that means is I had a business for 20 years, exited that business, and I was looking for something new. And I've had other things that I'm working on. And I do have another business I have going Kitchen Pixie, which is just an Amazon E commerce business that I'm learning as it goes. And it's been going pretty well, learning about Amazon. And so anyway, in the meantime, I am just seeing the impact that do the Thing is having on people, and especially the challenges in particular, and realizing that the more time I put into that, the more I'm ready to turn it from a hobby into a business. So anyway, with that, what that means is it's time for me to charge for something. Because all this time I've been doing research for my book and I've been really just kind of blown away by the impact that the I dare you concept is having on people. And then by implementing the do the Thing formula into the challenges and what that's been doing, and so I'm finally ready to actually monetize it. So with that, oh my gosh, so many new things come up where I try to figure out, is this a growth? Is it because I'm going to a growth phase is why I'm struggling, or is it just something else? And so that's what I'm speaking about right now. So yesterday I'm on this call with the group that I'm in to help me turn do the Thing into a business, and I'm talking to them about me finally having a product where I'm going to convert the startup podcast challenge from a free challenge to a paid challenge. And I see the value in that because I see that I've been doing these impromptu zooms with people to help with any tech stuff and then also help with dares, because it's really easy for people to get in their head. And so I've been doing these impromptu zooms. And so for the paid challenge, I think it'd be great if I did a daily zoom, at least for the first week or two, to help people. So just even that alone is worth the paid challenge. And so I'm talking to my group about it, and I'm Expecting this whole celebration of, yay, Stacy, you finally did it. You found what you wanted to do. And I didn't get that. Instead, I got oh, upsells and value added this and do a value stack this, and I don't know, all this stuff and you're not doing this and you need to do the thing. And it was totally different than what I was expecting. And I was really frustrated almost to the point where, honestly, I almost didn't want to go back because I was feeling just not good about it and not even wanting to go back next week to the call. And so what I realized, though, as I was thinking about it, is it's because I'm going into my next growth phase of taking this thing to the next level and pushing up those barriers that we all have when we do something new and when we're trying to grow out of our current state and how hard that is and how challenging that is. And I don't need someone to say, good job, Stacey. I can tell myself, good job, because I've learned over the years that I'm not needing validation from other people. I'm supposed to give myself validation, and it's not going to serve me well if I'm expecting other people to do it for me. I don't need to blame anyone for anything. I can actually just take responsibility and own my own stuff and celebrate myself for me taking these steps and doing it anyway. So with that that's coming up, and then the other thing I'm realizing is, oh, my gosh, I come from this brick and mortar business where all I had to do if I wanted to get revenue was call more people or have my salespeople call more people. And with the online world, it's so different. You have to do this email thing and all these other steps in order for it to be effective. So with that, I'm having to set all these things up and do all this stuff. And I realized what a different thing that is than just cold calling or getting referrals for people from the old school sales kind of way. And I just don't enjoy this online side of things. So anyway, I don't know what that means other than this is what I'm going through right now and what I'm experiencing. And it just was a huge epiphany for me today is what has been the challenge. This is just a different kind of sale that I haven't done before. And it means so much to me that the message is right in terms of what people are getting out of my stuff. Because even the sort of podcast challenge, to me, in my mind, the reason why I'm excited about it isn't because of the podcast, although it's great because they have this immediate win. They get the podcast from it. But I mean, they can join any program and start a podcast, right? But what they're getting from my specific podcast challenge is learning about themselves, activating their voice, learning how to let go of perfection, learning how important and how valuable a community of people that are rooting for you, supporting you, encouraging you is, and what that can do for your personal growth and development. And really the opportunity. And then new things are coming up. Even with this podcast challenge where I'm helping with them, getting interviews and being able to really get through just those common pitfalls that can happen when people are starting a podcast specifically with they have a community, people to get interviews from. They will have even user engagement where the podcasts will be playing with each other. So there's just so many things there. So here I am, I'm creating my own opportunity, and I don't need anyone else to create it for me. I'm going to take the guidance and I'm going to take the support from these different programs that I sign up for, but it's really ultimately up to me to make sure I'm doing it from my heart and what means the most to me. And that when I do monetize, that, it's coming not from the money standpoint, but from the impact that I'm going to be able to have on the world by continuing the stuff that I'm doing. And I see that. I see the growth that people are having through the do the thing community and the culture that is being created inside of it. And that's what I'm excited about, and that's what I want to continue to do. And so anyway, what I'm realizing is that's what I'm resisting. It's because this is a new kind of sales. Anyway, that's what I wanted to share with you guys today, is just when you're coming up to a new growth phase, it's taking a minute, pausing, reflecting, maybe doing a voice note, and really trying to figure out what is blocking you right now and what's getting you to pause and stop. And is this the right thing for you? Because that's important. If you're feeling some kind of resistance, it's feeling into the resistance. Is it because this isn't the right thing for you to do, or is it because you're going up a new growth phase and you need to push forward through it because it is going to be uncomfortable when you're doing something new. It always is uncomfortable. But the nice thing is the more you go through that discomfort, the more you know what that is every time you come against it. And then you can check in with yourself and follow your own guidance on what's coming up so you know if you should push through or if you should do something new. So all right, guys, well, whatever that thing is to you is really what I want you to do. So just a reminder, do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity. Create it.
Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the Thing. Do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at dothothing callcast. Co or email us at hello at dothingpodcast. Com.
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