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If you want different results this year, you can’t keep blaming circumstances, clients, algorithms, or timing. Growth doesn’t come from hoping things change. It comes from owning your decisions, your follow through, and your results. Radical responsibility isn’t comfortable, but it’s the difference between staying stuck and actually moving forward.

In this episode of The Real Truth About Business, Michelle dives deep into what radical responsibility really means and how embodying it can completely shift your business and your life. She breaks down where entrepreneurs unknowingly give their power away, how waiting and hoping sabotages momentum, and why owning every outcome is the fastest path to clarity and growth. This is an episode you’ll want to come back to regularly as a CEO reset.

Whether you’re a coach, consultant, OBM, VA, designer, copywriter, or ADHD entrepreneur, this conversation will challenge you to stop outsourcing responsibility and start leading yourself with intention.

You’ll learn:

1. What radical responsibility actually looks like in real life and business
2. Where you may be unintentionally giving your power away
3. How waiting, hoping, or avoiding decisions stalls growth
4. Why owning your results creates clarity, confidence, and momentum
5. How radical responsibility changes the way you lead, sell, and follow through

This is the real truth about business growth, especially for neurodivergent service providers who crave clarity, structure, and results without falling for every trend online.

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Here's your Next Steps:

1. Take the "Where's the Gap in Your Business Strategy" Quiz
2. Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads or Facebook
3. Visit my website to learn more and apply for the Focused Visionary Accelerator
4. Sign up for my newsletter - Sunday Morning Brew - delivered every Sunday at 6 am

About the Host:

Michelle DeNio is a business strategist and growth advisor for service-based entrepreneurs, especially neurodivergent and ADHD business owners. Creator of the Focused Visionary Accelerator and host of The Real Truth About Business podcast, she helps clients simplify, focus, and grow sustainably. With 15+ years in business operations, she’s known for turning big ideas into simple, profitable action plans.

I want to ask you a question.

What does the term radical responsibility mean to you when you hear that, when you think about it, what does that really, truly mean to take radical responsibility in your business and in your life?

Because that's what we're talking about today.

And this has been a topic of conversation that has been so hot for me and with so many, many people and so many clients that I had to bring it to the podcast.

And this is one I think you're going to want to save and you're going to want to listen to at least once a quarter.

Okay, so that's what we're diving into today, radical responsibility.

What it looks like, what it feels like, how you embody it, and what does it really, truly mean?

And also how are you owning and taking radical responsibility in your business and in your life?

Okay, you ready to dive in?

Let's do it.

Okay, real quick though, as you know, before we dive in, I want to remind you, if you're not on the list for the Sunday morning brew, if you're not on the email newsletter list, jump into the show notes, get yourself on the Sunday morning brew, and get your weekly CEO Power Move in your inbox every Sunday at 6:00am I'm telling you, it is one quick thing that you can do that will move the needle in your business every single week.

Okay.

All right, so let's dive into radical responsibility.

Let me tell you a little backstory of where this is coming from.

I don't remember where this hit me or when it hit me, but when I was planning for the retreat and planning for the Reflect Refocus Reignite program in the end of last year and I was working on all of the trainings and worksheets and all of the things, I don't remember exactly what hit me, but somehow this, this word of radical responsibility, this, this phrase hit me so hard and I think, I don't remember.

I, again, I really don't remember the scenario in which it came to me, but I decided I was going to include it and teach it at the retreat and in my year end biz planning program.

And let me tell you something, when I asked for feedback and what they loved most, what resonated, what made the biggest change, where they could take action, et cetera, whatever, and all my feedback, it was this section on radical responsibility that hit people the hardest.

And I even taught this inside of a mastermind in like a 10 minute segment.

And even in that 10 minute segment, I've had people reaching out to me and saying like, I need a shirt that says this.

I need a sign.

You need to create posters and whatever.

Uh, maybe they didn't go as as easily or smoothly as you plan.

Whatever, right?

When you're listening to this, it really doesn't.

This could be, this is relevant to any time.

And there's this like, oh, new energy.

And I'm going to make all these changes and this is going to be the year that it's going to be different.

And so the question though is like, but what's actually going to make it different, right?

Like, what are you actually doing that is going to make this different?

And what makes it different is actually taking and owning radical responsibility.

So I want you to really think about what this means, right?

Like, what does it mean for you to embody radical responsibility?

Like, when you are fully owning.

For me, radical responsibility is fully owning every single result in my business.

The good, the bad, the indifferent, it doesn't matter.

But it's about owning, owning every decision, it's owning every result, it's owning every outcome in like, in so many ways, in every aspect.

I want to give you a couple examples.

So for one example is like, especially for me right now, this one's very top of mind and, and, and very relevant.

And it's personal.

Is like, I have been dealing for a couple of years now with a, an autoimmune, something.

I don't know, it's undiagnosed autoimmune, whatever.

I think it's long Covid.

They won't call it long Covid.

I know for a fact it's long Covid paired with menopause and potentially some other autoimmune things.

I've done my own research, but at this point, you know, instead of like relying on doctors and relying on all these practitioners and relying on something magical to fix it, and trying this supplement and that supplement and this and that and all these things, you know, one of the things that I had to really look at is what are you actually doing, right?

Like, what are you doing to help with said autoimmune?

Because in any autoimmune, I mean, and again, I'm not an expert in autoimmune.

If you're struggling with this.

Don't take this for what.

Take.

Take it for whatever it is.

It may not apply to you, but for me and the things that I have done in the symptoms that I have had, movement and strength training have been like the number one and two recommendations, right?

And those are two things that I truly have not done.

There's reasons for it, a lot of it.

It's just like my body doesn't respond.

I deal with a lot of muscle spasms.

But again, like, you've got to start somewhere, right?

So again, like, instead of like, hearing that and going, yeah, but.

Yeah, but I want.

I finally am, like, looking at it and saying, okay, but what are you actually going to do if you want different results this year and you don't want your body to be in so much pain this year, what are you actually doing to get out of that pain?

What are you doing instead of waiting for a doctor, instead of waiting for the hormones to, you know, whatever it all is, it's like, what am I doing to actually change the results of this, right?

And to change how I feel and also how I show up and like, instead of using it as an excuse of like, well, I can't do this because, because of this said thing, like, I can find ways to modify it and say, like, well, maybe I can't do that, but I can do this.

Okay?

And this is what I mean about it in business too.

It's like, I really want you to think about this.

So I've got actually the worksheet here in front of me because I want to kind of just walk you through this.

So you may want to grab, you know, come back to this episode when you can, like, jot down some notes or, you know, take some.

Get some journal journaling out and really answer these questions.

But I really want you to think about, like, where did you embody radical responsibility in the previous year, in the previous month, in the previous quarter, whatever.

And like, what actions or decisions did you take or make that created results and how did they show up?

Right?

So what does this look like?

Where did you decide?

Like, essentially it comes down to decisions.

Like, where did you make a decision?

Where it was like, no, I'm going to do this, and you got the results from it.

One of the things that I see all the time is people try something maybe once, maybe twice, and it's like, well, I didn't.

I didn't sell out the way I wanted to, or my offers aren't selling, or I do all of these coffee chats Or I have all these networking and I do all these collaborations and nothing comes from it.

Okay, what did you do?

Right?

Like, let's really look at everything that is actually happening.

How many times did you promote it?

Did you send dms?

Did you follow up?

Did you do any personal outreach?

Right?

Like, really looking at that.

That's what I mean by, like, taking radical responsibility.

And I was even having a conversation just recently with a friend, and we were talking about this, about just interpreting content, even, like, we were kind of.

I don't know, you wouldn't call it a debate, but we were going back and forth a little bit on a thread around content and how it shows up and what people are saying and all of these things.

And, you know, what we were talking about is like, how you could read something and be so triggered by it and you could get.

And it could start to spiral you or what.

But what I'm talking about, taking radical responsibility is like, if you read something and it triggers you, what are you doing to actually deal with the trigger?

Right?

Like, are you muting that person?

Are you looking at like, well, why did this trigger me?

Are you looking at it from a place of like, well, how am I reading into this?

Especially when it comes to content?

Like, are you reading this or taking this out of context?

Are you having a bad day?

Did you have just a bad interaction with somebody?

Right?

Like, why is it triggering you?

And like, okay, things trigger us, and that's okay, but, like, what are you doing to eliminate the trigger?

You know?

And so that's where I'm talking about, like, even these little minute things of, like, really looking at, like, owning every single result, right?

Instead of blaming other things or taking and, like, making excuses, instead of doing all of that, I want you to really think about, like, where am I actually owning this?

Okay?

And then I want you to also think of, like, where did you unintentionally give your power away?

Where are you giving your power away, right?

And so, like, that content is a great example.

Like, if you're seeing content and it's triggering you and then you're looking at it and you're not doing anything about it, right?

Or maybe you're giving your power away because you had a lead and you told them to reach out to you.

You know, let me know when you're ready, right?

Like, how many times have you said that?

Like, let me know when I'm ready.

Or you send somebody a quote and it's like, you follow up and they don't respond.

And so it's like, well, let me know when you're ready, right?

Well, what are you.

What if they never let you know when they're ready, right?

Like, how do they know when they're ready?

How.

What are you doing?

Like, are you giving your power away by putting the ball in their court?

How are you getting the ball back in your court to say, like, hey, I sent you the quote a couple months ago.

Haven't heard from you.

Just wanted to follow up.

Are you still interested?

Did you make a decision?

Did you decide to go with somebody else?

Like, what are you doing to get the ball back in your court?

Right?

So that's what I mean by like, where are you unintentionally giving your power away?

Where are you allowing clients to maybe push your boundaries, but then you're annoyed because they're pushing your boundaries, right?

I've seen this over and over and over where clients, you know, people get annoyed, or they have clients that are bothering them, or they have clients that are, like, pushing all of these boundaries and texting them or making changes, and it's like, okay, but what do you have in place?

What do you have in place that eliminates this?

How are you stopping this from happening again?

Right?

What is actually happening inside of your business?

Are you allowing this?

Are you allowing it by responding?

Are you allowing it by making the changes?

Are you allowing this?

This is what I mean.

Like, these are little things that give your power away, that we don't intentionally do them, but they do.

And so looking at it from a place of like, okay, this client is annoying me, or they are pushing my boundaries, but again, flipping the switch and really looking at, like, taking that responsibility and going, okay, but what did I do that created this?

Is there anything that I did that allowed them to push the boundaries?

Did I create this?

Did I allow this?

Right?

This is what I want you to really think about in every situation.

This is what it all is, is really all about.

And so again, the next question I asked during that the year end program was, where have you been hoping instead of deciding, right?

So, like, where are you sitting in limbo?

Because you're waiting for motivation, or you're waiting for momentum, or you're waiting for something to show up, right?

Like, waiting for somebody to tell you they're ready.

Waiting for somebody to put out a call for speakers, Waiting for, you know, to find.

For somebody to say they're looking for podcast guests.

No, like, where are you sitting around waiting on something instead of, like, going and finding shows that are actively seeking Podcast guests.

If you want to be guest on podcast, watch.

What are you doing to get on those podcasts?

Do you need a curated list?

Do you need to follow up?

Did you apply?

Have you not followed up?

I actually just got invited to be on a podcast that I have been messaging this woman for months now because I really want to be on her show.

And I, I didn't just give up, you know, I, I commented, I stayed in contact with her.

I sent her a DM and it wasn't in a spammy way.

I knew she was still looking for guests.

I had a mutual connection who recommended me to, but she just hadn't done it.

So I could have just said like, oh, she just didn't pick me.

Right?

But not.

That wasn't the case.

This is what I'm saying.

Like taking this radical responsibility for everything in your business, if you want results, what are you doing to get the results that you are desiring?

Okay, now I want to kind of flip you, flip the script a little bit here on like, where else this might be showing up.

So.

So last year I said yes to a speaking opportunity.

It was a paid speaking opportunity.

It was like a paid sponsored speaking opportunity.

I felt like I had done my due diligence.

I had asked some questions.

I asked, I went back and forth via email before saying yes to it.

I looked into who else was showing up at the set event or who else was sponsoring it.

Anyway, long story short, it didn't go well.

It did not go well at all.

And the turnout was terrible.

I'm just going to call it what it is.

And I was pissed about it.

And I was like, she didn't do this, she didn't do that.

She lied.

You know, she told us this.

She said she had this many tickets sold.

She didn't.

Now again, all of that was true.

Like, she told us there was 100 tickets sold.

I saw the check in list.

There was 20 people on the list.

So why she's still standing in her own conviction that there was 100 people registered?

I have no idea.

When There was only 20 people to check in and only 16 showed up.

Right.

So it's like, how do you have 100 people and only 16 show up?

Like something's off there.

Right?

Right.

But again, like, I was pissed and at one point I even like, I think I even asked for like a partial refund, which because it was impulsive, right?

But then when I sat down with it and I really again started looking at like, where can you take responsibility for these actions, right?

Like, where can you take responsibility?

Here is.

I did have a conversation with a couple people that were.

They were good conversations.

So what did I do?

Like, okay, how can you make the most of this?

Like, you showed up this.

At this event.

You.

You did this said thing.

Like, you did have a couple conversations.

What can you make from it?

I actually reconnected with somebody that I had met about four or five years ago and we hadn't really talked since COVID And so her and I have a con.

Had a conversation and we have a.

An open conversation happening to connect and.

Right.

And so, yes, it wasn't what I wanted, but it's like, okay, but I'm going to flip this script and I'm going to take responsibility to get results from this.

If I.

Because you can get results from just about anything if you actually go and look for them.

And so if I end up having a collaborative opportunity with this woman that I hadn't talked to in quite a while, that's a win.

There was some.

A professional photographer there.

We did get that photography.

And so that's a win.

Right?

Like, I can use the photography.

There was videography, although I don't know that we got that yet, but again, we didn't get it.

But I can ask for it again, taking responsibility.

I can ask for it.

All she can say is no, but at least then I can say I asked for it and we didn't get it.

Right.

But I can't sit here and say we didn't get it if I didn't ask for it.

Yes.

Is it her responsibility to send it to us?

Because that's what she told us she would do.

Yes.

But if I'm not happy with that, I need to go and ask for it.

Right.

So this is what I'm saying of like, really sitting down and flipping the script to just about every single thing that happens in your business and really looking at it from this place of what can I do?

How can I show up differently?

How can I shift my mindset?

How can I take personal responsibility for this in the decision that I made?

Again, looking back at that decision, could I have done more research?

Absolutely.

Should I have done more research?

Absolutely.

Did I learn a lesson from it?

Absolutely.

Right.

And so looking at it from that place of maybe it wasn't the way I wanted it to be, but did I learn from it?

And so there's.

That's what I mean by owning.

Taking full ownership.

Right.

The full ownership is me being able to say this didn't go the way I planned.

However, here's the things that I could have done differently.

Right?

And sometimes there is nothing you can do differently.

And that in itself is taking radical responsibility to just know that like you, you did everything that you can and there's nothing more that you could do.

Right.

Um, I have, I launched out last year the Missing Piece.

It was more of that self led program which I'm not offering this year and I did have somebody sign up for it.

It was a group program.

She did nothing.

She didn't submit a single worksheet, she didn't show up to a single call, she didn't respond to a single email.

She was even on a grant.

And in order to get her grant, the money reimbursed, there's.

She was in this program where she could get reimbursed.

She had to like submit these worksheets to me.

I emailed her, I texted her, I had let her know, like, hey, I just want to be, you know, fully transparent with you is like, I'm not going to be able to submit this work for reimbursement because you have not done the work and I'm not going to do that.

Like in my integrity.

I can't.

Is there anything I can do to help you?

Do you need an extension?

Right, like even that, that's pushing a boundary.

But I was willing to take the responsibility for that because it was a self led program and it was around the holiday.

So I was like, if you need a little bit of an extension, I can give that to you.

She literally responded to nothing.

So again, like, I can't be responsible for her results, number one.

But what I can be responsible for is saying like, I did everything I could to help her get results.

She chose to do nothing with this.

She chose to spend this money and not do anything with it.

I can't do anything further from that.

Right?

Like, there's nothing more that I could have done.

And that too is.

Is truly owning the responsibility to say like, I did what I could do and there's nothing more I could have done.

Okay?

And so I want you to really sit with this and ask yourself, like, what does leading yourself fully.

Really ask yourself that question.

I had somebody email me just recently after she attended the Reflect Refocus Reignite and sent me a lead magnet that she had created.

And she Said this was because of you sharing with us about radical responsibility, about how I've been sitting on this, and I just didn't get it done.

And so I took responsibility and I got it done.

And she had all the excuses in the world prior to this of, like, why it hadn't gotten done.

But at the end of the day, like, when it came down to it is just, she didn't get it done.

Right?

Like, and she sat down and she got it done.

I was so freaking proud of her.

And, like, this is what happens when you really step into and embody this and it's such important work.

It's going to be the thing that sets you apart from the person that's getting really big results in the person that's kind of sitting in their own stuck.

Right?

Because.

And this is, for me, like, you know, I am full transparent.

It was a struggle.

But the only way I flipped that around was by sitting there and really saying, like, what are you going to do, Michelle?

What are you going to do?

You have two choices.

You can quit, you can throw in the towel, or you can change things.

What needs to change in order for you to feel better about this year?

What.

What do you need to make happen?

Right?

And so I made a lot of changes.

I said yes.

I started taking just impulsive, fast action because at the time, that was what was needed.

And I started launching things out that were on my mind without overthinking them.

I launched Back Pocket Insights, which, again, is still going strong.

There's 63 people in there, and that was launched from a place of, like, f this, I'm going to do this.

Like, I don't really care what it looks like to everybody else.

I'm going to take responsibility.

This is something that's been on my mind.

This is something I've been wanting to do, and I'm going to do the damn thing right?

And so I put it out there, and there's 63 people in there, and it's going strong and it's growing.

Right?

And so that's where what makes the change.

Right?

Like, we can't just sit around and wait for things to change because there's no guarantee of that.

There's no guarantee the economy is going to change that you're whatever.

Like you could.

There's always going to be something going on in the world.

It seems these days that we is so far out of our control, so we can't change those things.

Right.

We can only focus on the things that we can control and take responsibility for the.

For our actions and the results that we are desiring.

Right.

And so sit with that and really think about where are you giving your power away?

Where are you not necessarily taking full responsibility for the results in your business?

This could be in any area, your life too.

Like I said, just being in pain all the time in my body, it's like, okay, well what am I going to do?

What am I willing to do to make a change to that?

If everything says try this, this and this, like, what's going to stop me from trying it?

You know, I don't.

I could talk about this for a long time because this is so important.

And it's a topic of conversation that is going to come up probably in every group call inside of the Focus Visionary Accelerator this year because every member in there is living and embodying radical responsibility.

Right?

And that will be a reminder every conversation.

Like when we talk about it, it's like, well, let's really talk about what's happening here, right?

When they come with a question is really sitting down and thinking about, well, what's truly happening that's causing this situation right now.

And then from there you can make a decision.

That's what this comes down to is really looking at it from a place of, as I always say, you know, fact versus emotion, understanding and living in responsibility and then making a decision.

Not sitting and hoping, not waiting, not giving away your power, not hoping motivation is going to show up.

Not waiting for somebody else to do something.

Right?

Like, we all have those moments.

We all have those things where we're waiting on something.

You know, if you're outsourcing something and you're waiting on it, like there's not.

There's.

There are always going to be things out of your control, but there are also always going to be things that are within your control and those are the things that you focus on.

But a lot of times we spend all of our time and energy focusing on the things that are with.

With outside of our control.

Okay.

So anyways, I want you to really think about this one.

Save it.

Come back to it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Shoot me a DM on Instagram or threads if you have threads DMS and I'd love to to hear from you.

There's but really this one is this one's going to be a game changer because this is what's going to this is what's changed like the thing that if you look at the people that are you're admiring that are getting results, they're not sitting around waiting.

They're not sitting around hoping.

They're not.

They're not, you know, sitting in their own stuck in a lot of ways and we all have those seasons we've been there.

I'm not immune to it.

Right.

Right?

That's.

That's the game changer right there.

All right.

That's the end of this one.

I love you, I believe in you and I'll talk to you soon.