If you’ve been in business a few years, have had a lot of success, are skilled in your craft and have helped lots and lots of clients and customers… 

There’s a high chance things have stalled out. 

You’ve simply outgrown your current level and the signs to go for the level you know deep down you’re meant to are flashing all around you. 

So what do you do to get there?

That’s what we dig into in this week’s episode… 

• Why TODAY is the day to start taking action on that thing you’ve been delaying in your business (trust us, you’re ready)
• What new things we’re doing to stretch ourselves (and how we work through setbacks and challenges)
• How stepping into the uncertainty will make you feel unstoppable (and give you the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for) 

Head over to iwannacollaborate.com and let us know what you took away from this conversation.

Music credit: The Funkster by Sweet Spot

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Hello and welcome back to the Eavesdrop on Us Podcast.

I'm Jessica.

Hey, I'm

Susan

and we're gonna try something this week, which actually

used to be a family tradition of ours.

So we used to, when I was growing up in elementary school and even, I would

say pretty much high school, right?

Surely did, I would say even up to, to.

Pretty consistently through high school, we had this family tradition

of sitting down at the dinner table and sharing our daily high and our daily

low and sort of talking through the things that we learned and reflecting.

I've heard other people do this, like the rows and the thorn and the peak

and the pit, like whatever variation I've, I've know lots of families

do really cool things like that, but we're gonna do in context of.

Looking back on the last week in business, what was sort of the high

and the low, but maybe not the low from like a negative despair place.

So we actually just before we hit record, Came up with this idea.

So now of course my brain is racing like, oh my God, what

was my high, what was the low?

Well,

I, I could share you with you mine.

If, if, yeah, go ahead.

Do a

breathe, some breathing room.

This,

Do you know what this is like, this is like when I, you

know, when you were back in school.

I, I just know like, You know, back when I was in school, every kid dreaded this

where the teacher would have us take turns reading and you counted by paragraphs.

So you were like, okay, there's like 10 people.

So now I'm gonna count 10 paragraphs.

Now I'm gonna prepare and panic and have

anxiety.

I'm poking fun at my own, like this is me.

I'm like, well, now I gotta overthink

what, okay, so.

What I loved about the high low family tradition we had was it really

allowed the individual sharing to go into a a, a state of retrospection.

You know, what did happen?

That was really cool, and what happened that wasn't just as cool or not as great.

So it, it gave you an opportunity to have a window view of what's

going on with that person and how they're faring through life.

So the reason why we came up with this on the fly was, okay, let's just

talk about business from last week.

So the how for me in last week was, um, we welcomed quite a few new clients.

And that is a lovely space to be in from my perspective.

Not because quote unquote we sold, or it, it almost, that's so secondary.

It's enticing.

Intoxicating to me to welcome a new client and think of, discover all

the potential and the opportunities.

And to me that's very exciting.

That that's a high for me.

All the, well, and I think,

I think too, just, just because we've had so

many conversations, obviously.

'cause it was like, whoop, we got it.

Yes.

Congratulations.

It's, it's exciting for, because you see like, oh my gosh, all this potential and

all these, all these things we're gonna do with this client, it's intoxicating.

But I also think it was really cool because you and I were having

conversations about, ooh, what did we do to help facilitate that?

What, what were we doing?

You know, to, to help.

Well, that kind of goes into the low for me.

Oh, okay.

So

I don't wanna overstep Go ahead.

Go ahead.

No,

no, actually it's a great cue.

it also showed from my perspective, the low of yikes.

Do we know what welcomed them?

Do we know what caught their attention do?

And in some instances, we couldn't say yes every time.

There were some times in that.

Questioning.

Um, we didn't have an answer.

And that's a low, that's, but the low understand folks, this,

from my perspective, Jessica, that low is an opportunity.

So it's a double conundrum there.

I like, I kind of see it as a, a high too because Oh, we could, we could

engage with that because we do practice a p i continual process improvement.

Well, that, that's why I was saying

I think low does not necessarily suggest.

The drama and oh my gosh, this failed, or We crashed and burned.

No.

Like, that's not, that's not what I'm Say

not even a little bit.

No.

Although it, it can be that sometimes it can, it can, but not, but not always.

In this instance.

Not in this instance, for sure.

I think, you know, if I also could just one more high.

The other high was, Creating space and opportunity for team members to

achieve their best selves in business.

that's a high for me.

I'm having an awesome opportunity right now to be of support.

And encouragement to folks that we not only work with in the business, but work

alongside our subcontractors, if you will, our partners as we like to refer to them.

So There's just a really good vibe.

So I wanna say that that's a real genuine high.

The low of it is, a word I hate and I loathe the patience.

Folks, I, you know me, Jess, don't tell me to be patient on.

Well, what do you have to be patient with right now?

Everyone, everyone.

I have always been, when I get clarity on something, I'm there.

I, I just, because that's, it's just always been that way and

patient in terms of allowing people to find their own way to it.

And, but that's me as a quick start, right?

I'm customarily I may be 1 step to four steps ahead of folks.

And I sometimes have to convince control rally, Beg in some instances, not in this

one, but it's, Hey, come on over here.

This is the direction, you know, and that requires patience on my behalf.

So I've channeled that behavior of patience into, I,

I found where we need to go.

Follow me, come on, let's do it.

And um, so that's my high and low high that welcome some

terrific, awesome clients.

And, okay, so here's my final ring of the bell.

We have a brand new website that was really nice to be able to finally

close out that particular project.

you know, there was a lot of growth and creative development in that

and soul searching and boy did that sucker habit highs and lows.

But we did it.

It's done.

And I'm really pleased with the outcome.

And so that was my week in review.

There you go.

Love that.

I've had a moment to gather my thoughts and not revert

back to being back in English class.

And we had to read out loud, I dunno why my mind would write.

There was like, I've got five paragraphs to prepare for this.

Um, I would say, you know, I'm in a definite space of just

evolving within the business.

Mm-hmm.

And I think that, Because the, the summer months tend to be, and historically for

us in our business, that's when we've intentionally slowed down just a little

bit to work on things within the business.

And I think just as an aside, I mean the fact that just knowing

that business can be cyclical, Takes the pressure off because you're

like, I've got this breather space where I can, we prepared for this.

We knew this was coming.

Yep.

And I think that coupled with, I think maybe it's my age, I think

it's just, you know, me going through getting married, there's

been a lot of shifting and evolving.

And I think a high, for me this week, I think actually relates to yours because.

When we looked at one of the new clients that were welcoming in and they're in

a really cool space in their business, they're definitely the kind of client

that we, our talents, can absolutely support in reaching their goals.

And then, so, yeah.

Well, and then we were asking like, okay, so what do we do?

And then, you know, you were, you were saying to me, They

came through and started a conversation because of the emails.

And so it was just really cool where it's like, you know, you've been

working on, I've probably been working on the skill of becoming a better

content creator, becoming a better writer, not a write like I, I knew

how to write because I was an English major, but that's academic writing.

This is like business and sales writing, which is a completely

different art, and I've been working on that so intentionally,

I would say for the last two years.

I have to interrupt here because Yeah, it's like this is

something that I recall when you first stepped into the business.

Now, one thing you also have to acknowledge in the high, you are a

full-fledged partner in this business.

This isn't just.

You know, a business, we had it as a family.

You are a full fledged partner.

All in you, you know, you, I think that's a high for you too.

Coming back from all those wonderful life events that you've had in the

business, you are now a full partner.

Right.

And um, so I wanna take you back to four or five years ago when I was introducing

you to sales copy and you're like,

I thought it was absolute bullshit.

I was like, this is insulting to the English language.

This is written.

So basically it was, I was offended yes.

By it.

I was, I was offended.

And then I think the big shift happened about two years ago when.

I actually started to respect this more because it is actually so much

more challenging and sophisticated.

It's a craft.

Oh, absolutely.

It's absolutely, and I have really, you know, this, this isn't necessarily a

service that I would offer to others.

No, but it was, this is like, I want to learn this for myself.

Yes.

For us.

I wanna take a challenge on, and I also wanna do this for, for the business.

And so, I really, I read books.

I, I listened to experts.

I, you know, also collaborated with some of the brilliant people

we brought in to support us.

And I was like, I am not going to let us outsource this entirely.

And so then to see the fruits of that labor happen this week, I was

like, damn, that was so exciting.

Important lesson to me that I think this actually relates to the low,

because the, the stuff that's hard.

It's like, well, I'm just, I'll just hire someone else to do that.

And I think in some instances now hear me out.

I think some skills, it's like, I'm not gonna go learn how to set up a funnel.

I'm not gonna learn, go learn how to do my bookkeeping.

Right.

In some instances, it is appropriate to outsource that,

but not Yeah, that's a who.

That's a who.

Yeah.

And, and I know by outsourcing we don't mean just like Totally give everything

up and And give it to somebody else.

Right.

You're still having a hand in it.

But I said, you know what, with this whole writing thing, I think we're

actually better off in the end.

If internally we, we learn how to really craft this and,

and get proficient with this.

Mm-hmm.

And certainly have others support us, but, Damn.

It was, it was a lot of work and it was hard.

And I remember crying one time, this was like a year and a half ago, and I

had to put like a, a, a register of, you know, a page where people were

going to enter their information to sign up for something we were hosting.

And I remember crying.

I was crying because it was so hard and

that I wanna, so the reason why I brought that up, Again, now you know that,

but folks eavesdropping in on us may not.

The evolution of where that is stupid.

That's beneath me.

I mean, there was real shade thrown on this.

Mm-hmm.

To you now.

So you've evolved from, oh, that's stupid.

That's goofy.

That's diminishing.

I don't wanna do that to going to, well wait a second.

Maybe there is something to that.

Maybe I should pause that opinion and make sure I form an

informed opinion and then them.

You shifted from, damn, this really is hard.

This is a craft, there is a madness to, you know this after all.

And you doubled down on, well, okay, now I'm gonna really own this and.

Well, it

pissed me off, so I was like, well, now I'm just gonna figure this out.

But I do think there's the, reaction when you see something that is difficult,

it's so easy to dismiss that as like, that's just so stupid and that's dumb.

I see a, such a good lesson there.

And I see a lot of that behavior, I think for people who are

less experienced in business.

Yes, yes.

Who respond that way to sales to respond that way to copywriting and content.

Yeah.

All of that.

So I would say that's a high I, you know, I think that's the most obvious

way that I've seen that effort.

pay off really.

Yeah, in the most literal way.

And now I just, I'm like, oh.

Now, now when I am crafting emails and putting content together for,

for the business, I, I'm excited now.

I don't dread it.

There's so many ideas that come, so I think that is absolutely a high, I

think a low and it's not a dramatic low, I think it's, I am stretching

myself to reach out to a new.

target market to a new group of, of entrepreneurs.

And, my God, I, I've been doing, I've been doing some efforts around that for

about a whole, 10 days at this point.

And I am pissed off that I have not seen results on that effort yet.

So that's just the, you know, it's funny, you, you get so far

along in certain things mm-hmm.

And you're like, Why aren't I seeing results yet?

It's like going, it's like, you know, I'll go do a workout with my husband, Alex,

and he'll introduce me to something new.

I've been going to the gym pretty consistently for the past three

years, and I try something new.

I'm like, man, I feel like I get to a certain level and

then I do something else.

And I feel like I've still, so,

but that's the journey of life, isn't it?

We should get challenged.

But your low is, I, I guess it's

reminding myself when, so for example, a lot of what I'm

doing is I am pitching myself.

Yes, I am pitching myself to be on more popular, well-known podcast, I am pitching

myself to be featured in the media and.

Any pr.

We have a very good PR friend, Christina Nicholson and oh, she always says, you

know, this is, it's a long-term game.

It's consistency, it's, it is volume.

So there's gotta be the, the, the dedication to these activities.

You know, you can't just send out three pitches and be

like, well, no one responded.

So this is just a waste of time.

So it's a reminder to myself, that one.

I have to be patient with myself, patient with the process.

And also I think it's just a, it was a good reminder to me with I got, I

either got no responses or I got noss.

I didn't hear, I haven't heard any yeses yet, and it's like, wow.

You know, yes, the nos at first were discouraging, but you know, again,

a couple years ago if I was getting nos, I'd be like, These people, they

don't know what they're saying no to.

Like, there's no emotional attachment to it.

But I would, I call it, I put it in the quote low category because you

know, I think it's just a reminder of, you know, you gotta stick with it.

Stay the course.

People engage in this activity for months and years, and this is just, you

know, anytime you try something new.

Well, in this instance, what you're speaking to really from what we

work in our business advising programs, it's really market share development.

Now, there's an a, very, very, clean way of saying it, but it's

introducing a new service and an opportunity for the market and it.

Doesn't always connect.

That doesn't mean it's not needed, wanted or appropriate.

It just means, and quite frankly, you were told not now, not drop dead school

for die.

No, that's what I mean.

So, yeah.

And I agree.

I think it's, I'm taking my services and just introducing it to a

new, group of entrepreneurs Yes.

That I haven't yet connected with.

So it's, A colder audience.

They don't necessarily know who I am.

and

this is nine years in, so I hope our eavesdrops are really, you

know, this is something that is so difficult to teach because it's one

of those we teach you about love.

You know, we can tell you about the heartache and I can tell you

stories and the yarns about it, but eventually you have to fall in love.

And feel some pain around it to really appreciate the full beauty

and subtleties of falling in love.

Well, being in business is very much the same thing, right?

In this instance, I can teach you how to develop a new market share.

I can teach you how to approach it, when to approach it, what

to approach it with, but.

You know, there are certain bumps, bruises, and scrapes you cannot prevent.

And this is one of them.

And even nine years into, because we're evolving, we're shifting, we're

growing, we're changing at all times.

I.

You still had to do a rinse and repeat

I think really this is a far more personal exercise for myself.

I had had this idea to start doing this activity literally

last July and August of 2022.

It's now, wow.

End of July, 2023.

And I sat on it because I was like, oh, that's even more burner.

Oh, it is because, because I knew, because I knew at the time, I was

like, oh, this is gonna be challenging.

Yeah.

This is really going to test my patients.

This is really going to require me to push my skills to the next level.

What?

Patience.

Yeah.

And I resisted it because, and some of it was like, I just wanted ease at that time.

Yeah.

Whatever, whatever.

There was some, you know, what internal baloney, but, but I think

when I got back from the wedding, I was like, I, I'm feeling this,

this, It's time tension inside that.

It is time.

It is time to stop.

That's beautiful.

Stop holding back.

Stop going for what's easy because you know you can do it and you're ready

for that next step within the business.

So see, see my crazy world,

that's a high.

That's

a hot, yeah, I guess it is.

I guess I'm only attaching it in the low because it's like, yeah, I knew, I could

have seen this happening 10 days in.

I'm like, damn it, I'm not seeing results.

This isn't gonna work.

You know?

So all of this I could very easily have anticipated.

So I think just, you know, those, those would probably be the, the

high is I'm seeing the fruits of that labor that the skill that I

was like, I am going to learn this.

I'm going to figure this out because the business that I'm

going to be better off for it.

The business is gonna be better off for it.

it's, and it's, I think the low, to sum that up is, Damn it,

Jessica, just freaking be patient.

This is going to take time.

And you're, I'm also, I think it's, it's, it has obviously less to do with everyone.

I'm trying to connect with and more of the internal, crap

that I'm, I'm working through.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, just remind yourself you didn't get told F off, right?

No, that's why I was like, this is literally has

nothing to do with any of them.

It's, it's just like, when you're going to stretch yourself, when you're going to

try something new, it's very easy to be like, well, it see it, it doesn't work.

Go back to, you know, it's, it's the.

Uh, be patient.

And it's also, again, it's, it's forcing me, like you were saying, everything as

your market evolves, it's like, well now I'm learning about this new entrepreneur

I'm trying to reach out to and what they want and what they need and how to

describe and position what I'm doing.

And so again, that goes back to the skill of, of really

messaging and, and writing and.

It's hard, but, but damn it, I am committed to, to sticking with that.

And so I think anyone listening, it's that.

If you're wanting to try that, something new, a lot of that's going

to require you to try to do new things, hard things, challenging

things, but it's gonna be worth it.

I know it will be.

I know it will be.

I, I love it because here's it.

I love how that was framed as a low, to me, that is like a super high,

it's only a low because I guess there's no like tangible.

Like it didn't lead to anything

immediately.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, my never feels like that gross, scratchy sweater Your grandmother got

you for Christmas when you use mm-hmm.

Boys.

Right?

Nobody says, Ooh, cool.

No, but, but it's essential, isn't it?

And I adore the fact that you're very situationally aware

and saying, you know what?

It's gonna suck a little bit right now.

That's not forever.

And what I love that when you were sharing with that, I was

very much aware of not one word.

Did you share that?

You were saying, you know what the heck with it?

I'm done with it.

I'm gonna go back to what Doing what I was doing you, you're giving it a chance.

Mm-hmm.

And this is, I think, a really common mistake.

And this is that awful word, patience comes in again, right?

Mm-hmm.

We just don't give it a chance to ripen, to develop and ripen on its own, right?

And you know, then it's an all or nothing paradigm.

Oh, if that didn't work, okay, well wait a second.

Let me, let me figure out something else I can do.

And you build and it's like, well, you just turn into a jack

of all trades and master or mistress of none in this instance.

So I, I wanna give you encouragement to, you know, see it through.

It will come to fruition, I promise you that.

It's a wonderful offering you've created.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

so I think this, this was fun.

Yeah.

It was a quick, I'll tell you what, I hope others take this with

them and just do the high lows.

Um, anytime you can have a fun time.

And quite frankly, it may not always be a fun time and

reflecting how are things going?

It permits you an opportunity not to step over those beautiful gems that you're

being given or that you've created.

Life happens at the speed of light and sometimes it's okay to slow that down take

stock of working.

So we encourage all of you to take a moment.

Yeah, take stock of your weekly high and your weekly

low.

Hmm.

And

I think you'll be surprised when you think through it.

That's my hope.

The result, I think you'll be surprised at what comes up for you, uh, what

is going to become apparent for you.

So I think with that, Susan, I think we'll catch you next time.

Oh, I look forward to it.

I can't wait for next time.

Alright, see you

then.

Bye.