Pivoting & Getting Your Mindset Right to Create a Business You Love With Nikita Williams

Galen: Hello. And welcome back to another episode of the Intentional Creative Podcast. In today’s episode, I’m talking with my friend Nikita Williams. Nikita is a business mindset coach and the host of the She’s Crafted to Thrive Podcast. I’m not going to lie. We go deep in this episode about all the things holding you back from building a business, you truly love. We cover topics like how to pivot your business and what to do next if you’re feeling stuck. We even dive into hiring a team, showing up when it’s hard, and dealing with chronic illness. This episode is so good. And I can’t wait for you to listen.

Nikita is one of our Square Summit speakers. Square Summit is our online conference all about building a profitable and beautiful Squarespace website. And you can grab your free ticket now squaresummit.co. That is squaresummit dot C O. I’ll see you over there, but in the meantime, enjoy my chat with Nikita.

Hi Nikita. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.

Nikita: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here. It’s been a while since we’ve chatted.

Galen: Yes, I was on your podcast. How long ago was that now? I can’t even remember.

Nikita: I can’t either. It’s been like at least two years, at least two years now, at least.

Galen: Time, time flies. Yes. No, it was such a fun episode, and I will include that link in the show notes so that everyone can go check out your show. Um, but yes, such a fun time chatting with you. And I’m so excited to have you on my show today.

So, why don’t we start by just having you tell us about your business and how you got started in your business?

Nikita: Yeah. Well, when you were on my show, Square Summit was just an idea, I think, and then it became like this thing. So, it’s like so awesome to see you like growing and stories and life. It’s just been really exciting to see that after having you on those show, and we’ve just kind of been following each other’s world, if you will.

Um, but thank you for having me. Uh, I’m a mindset business coach. I really love helping women who have chronic illness, um, and women who are in the creative space. That’s kind of like me, that’s my niche, niche. Like I love creative women. I just love working with them. And I just really enjoy helping women get to where they want to go without feeling the shoulds taking over.

If that makes any sense. There’s so many rules, quote, unquote, there’s so many things that people tell you that you need to do to build a successful business. And I have found that knowing the rules and breaking them your own way makes it so much easier. And when you have chronic illness, like I do have multiple chronic illness issues.

I found that that’s my secret sauce is figuring out how to do it my way. And I really just help women. And I help empower women to figure out what that looks like, because I believe we have a hard time figuring that out on our own. And I didn’t do it all by myself. I definitely have help with coaches and people like you, women who were on my podcast, just hearing their stories and realizing like, oh wow, you can do it differently.

And everyone does. We just don’t always talk about it. Um, we, we find our way of doing something and then we like run with it and we’re telling everyone else, but I find that there’s not a lot of people teaching you how to figure out your unique method to success.

Galen: Yeah. I feel like so many times we’re told you have to do things this way. You have to set up your business this way. Here’s the steps you need to take to be successful. And if you veer from that path, it’s going to be really difficult for you, but that’s not necessarily true.

I think that everybody has their own superpowers, and everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses.

And it’s important to really build your business around that.

Nikita: Yeah. And I think we all have it intuitively inside of us, but we’re afraid of it. And we also have things that block us. Like we don’t even know, you know, that saying you don’t know what you don’t know. Um, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t believe you know. If that makes sense, like, like it’s there, but you don’t trust yourself enough to believe that that is enough.

Right. And I think growing in a business that you’re building starts with that. Knowing yourself, knowing what you really want, knowing what really matters to you, what doesn’t matter to you. And I think that is a journey of its own that happens outside of entrepreneurship, but usually you’re forced into doing that in entrepreneurship, figuring out that belief in yourself.

Galen: Yeah, I think that is so true. At least I feel that for me personally, I think I have all these clouded ideas of what I should be doing, and I can’t follow my intuition because it’s not loud enough because I’ve kind of smushed it down, right?

I’ve smushed it down by listening to all these third parties, trying to tell me how I should do things instead of letting my inner voice tell me like, this is what feels good.

This is what could work for you instead of worrying about, well, if I go down that path, what are people gonna think of me? Or is this going to work? What if it doesn’t work? It’s like that, that mindset, it takes a very long time. I think it’s a constant struggle

Nikita: Yeah, no. And it still is for me, like I’m the first to say, no, I don’t have it all together. Like I’m like, no, I’m still figuring out what that should look like for me or what it needs to look like for me.

And wherever evolving, like wherever going through different things in our life, that shift of what really matters and what we really want.

And so. You know, I just like to lean into the permission of living your life the way you want it to be right now. Because you will change. And so will your business, but it, I think you change before your business does, and it’s really getting caught up with that, but for you change things in your business, and that’s, what’s happened for me, like in this journey of living with chronic illness and having a business for a long time, I was like chasing what everyone else was telling me to do.

At the same time, I had that gut feeling like who doesn’t have that gut feeling like this is not going to work for me. Or like the gut feeling like this just does not feel right. It doesn’t feel aligned. It doesn’t feel authentic to who I am inside, but everyone’s saying, this is the way, right. This is the way.

And you’re like, hmm, I’m going to do it. And then we wonder why we fail. It’s like, cause we didn’t really believe it in the first place. And I think for me, I’ve just found that. The more I tapped into listening to that part of me that was telling me, don’t do that. or this is not aligning with you. You could do it, but let’s do it differently is when things started to shift in my business.

Galen: And I think success a lot of times comes when everybody’s zigging and then you zag and you’re going against the grain a little bit, and it might feel a little scary and it might feel a little out of your comfort zone, but it’s those decisions that you make because they feel good here. They don’t necessarily always make perfect sense, but they just feel right.

Those are the ones that take you to that next level that gives you a taste of what that next level growth actually feels like.

Nikita: Yeah. And I think it’s intentional. I think it’s, that’s a choice, right? Like you actually have to be like ready to courageously take that choice to lean into yourself because not too many people will say out loud, as often as we hear the other ways of growing successful business. You know what, throw everything, you know, out the window and do what you want. Like, it’s not often I know with my clients, they’re like Nikita, you asked me so many times, what do I want? No one asks me that. I’m like, well, that’s what matters. And we hear a lot of that jibber-jabber. Jibber-jabber of, you know, it’s not about you. It’s about the client and I’m, I’m the coach that’s not going to say that. Like, I’m the coach. That’s like, I mean, there’s a part of that. That’s true. Right? It’s not about you. It’s about the client, but the reason why they’re choosing you, the reason why they’re buying from is you. Like literally, so you need to know what that is about you. And I think that in general, I know that is what makes those leaders that we love to follow those people that we almost like take their word for like gold money truth.

It’s because they have discovered themselves and their true value in what works for them. And we really need to do that for ourselves.

Galen: Yeah. And then they’re fully committed to that too. Like that’s the other thing, I think you can make a decision in your business, but if you are not wholeheartedly committed to that and you don’t believe that it’s true for you a hundred percent, then you don’t show up in the same way that those people, like you mentioned those people that you look to that you’re like what they say that is those golden nuggets.

You’re like everything they say, you’re like, wow, I relate to this, I get this, but that’s because they say it with conviction, and they’ve committed to running their life and their business that way. And not to say that everything anybody says is going to work for everybody else. Right. You’re only going to speak to the audience. that’s going to resonate with you. But those people who it resonates with, those are your biggest fans. And those are the people whose lives are going to change.

Nikita: Yeah. And it’s so it’s so cool because I think saying, I think, but I know, right? Like that’s a thing for me as a, as a business coach, I try to say I know, but I know it for myself. So, when I say I know, I know for myself, but when I say, I think I don’t want other people to assume that that, that it’s their truth.

So, for example, like I know for me what works for my audience is being authentically like raw. Like people tell me all the time they’re like Nikita the fact that you shared that story about like halfway, like dead or the fact that you were like, yeah, I’m not showing up on stories today because I’m in bed.

And I looked like a puffy fish because of some allergic reaction, like I’m having today or something like that. And they’re like, and you still showed up for your audience by not being on camera, but you still provided value. Yeah. The value is great, but they’re just so in love with the fact that I showed up as me.

Right. And they want to do that for themselves. And I think for me, what I know to be true is that my tribe and it’s whoever your tribe is, wants that they want to feel the real, you, they don’t want to feel like there is a facade there. And in order for that to come to full circle, like we were talking about, you have to intentionally choose to be yourself and you have to intentionally choose to believe what you believe with conviction and like clarity, you know, like really clear on what it means to you. Yeah.

Galen: I love that we just went so deep with some mindset stuff. I like, we just, we just started off on fire there. I love it. That was just like a motivational podcast in the first five minutes. But. I absolutely love it, but I want to dive in a little bit to your story. So, tell me a little bit about what you did before you started your business and what that transition looked like for you.

Nikita: Yeah. So, before I was like, had a business online, I have photography, real estate, community event planning and things like that, marketing, and stuff like that in my, in my history and my toolbox of experience in education. And, then I got married and through that process of getting married, I also started having more health issues and things like that.

And so, I was always trying to figure out what can I do with my business? Um, that gave me flexibility and freedom. And so, I think when you and I met was around the time that I decided to use my voice to like connect with other people online, because I’m an extrovert to the T. Like COVID, COVID. Like, can we please get together in a party, please?

Can we do it already? Like, that’s me? Um, I just love people. I’m energized by people. I can like, feel like crap, and still find a way to be energized by others. People like by other people. So, um, on the podcast I started connecting with more women and I just started realizing, wow, these women are just amazing, you know, and I start to share my story and that was therapy.

It was the cheapest therapy ever, like just sharing my experiences with running a business while having chronic illness, having the fear of like, well, what if I can’t show up? Or what if I am in the hospital? Or what if, um, I signed on a big client at the time I was doing digital done for you projects like Facebook ads, websites, landing pages, funnels, and all that stuff.

And I was like, what if I have to tell a client and I have to move my stuff out for two or three weeks. And I was living this lie in a lot of different ways by not really talking about my chronic illness until I started talking about it. And the moment I started doing that, the more empowered I start to feel.

Because women were reach out to me and like Nikita, I needed to hear that. And I was like, what, what are you doing? You’re like, they needed to hear that you can still show up, but you can show up in the way that works for you. Like, you can do it your way. You can do the small little things differently and still be yourself.

And then my tribe of chronic illness, you know, entrepreneur, ladies kind of came out of the woodworks if you will. And they’re like, show me how, and I’m like, hmm, how do you want to do it? So, yeah.

Galen: I love that. And so, was, was when you first started talking about your chronic illnesses, that kind of, when you decided to start the podcast was you, did you have the podcast before that point? Like when was the moment that you’re like, these stories need to be told.

Nikita: So, I started the podcast initially because I needed content. Like to be completely honest. That’s why I started, um, I’m not a writer. So, I, at first, I was like, oh, I’ll just start a blog. and I’ll do like interview style and then take what I did in the blog post. I mean, in the, in the interview and write a blog and then I did four or five of those. And I was like, this is draining all of the mental space in my head that I have to do anything. This is not working. So, I was talking to my husband. I was like, there’s gotta be a way that I can create content that doesn’t feel this hard. So, in my life and in business, that’s what I’m always thinking about.

How can I do this? Not so hard. Like how can I do it the easiest way possible, but still get the bang for my buck. Like, that’s what I’m about, especially when I’m protecting my energy and all that kind of. I don’t have all that to just throw out and be like, okay, I can go on with my life. No, I have to be really intentional with that.

And so, my husband’s like, why don’t you start a podcast? And I was like a podcast, like, I didn’t really know what a podcast was like, really didn’t know. Um, he did. Exactly. Um, he’s like, yeah, it’s like that thing I used to do when I listened to photography stuff back in the day, and I was like, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

So, I googled it and I was like, oh, it’s just basically what I’m doing now, which was recording conversations on Zoom. And instead of like trying to type it all out into a blog post, I could just post the audio. And I was like, my life has changed. I was so excited. Um, and that’s how the podcast started. So, I started that out specifically to share the stories of other women in business.

It wasn’t really about me. I mean, the podcast is called, She’s Crafted to Thrive. So, it really was about the woman and her journey. And I would just be like there to be like asking questions and then over time, I would share some of my stories with the audience. And then my audience was like, we want to hear more about your story.

And then that led to me, like really just having so episodes with just me talking to a mic and what an amazing breakthrough of realizing your life, um, on a microphone.

Galen: Yeah, I think this is such a powerful example of how content creation or content marketing can, can look so many, like so many different things, right? It does not have to be a one size fits all thing. And it really is a beautiful way to connect with other people, to build your audience, to find your tribe or have them find you.

And then you have a built-in community of potential clients of people to rely on, to ask questions, to, to bounce ideas off of, but it really does not have to look like just blogging or just creating YouTube videos or just Tik Tok or whatever it is. Right? It can look like the thing that feels good and fits in with your lifestyle and the way that you want to run your business. So, I like how you found that platform to create your content, to attract your audience. And then from there, did that kind of inspire you to then start the mindset work? Because at the time it sounds like you were doing more digital services and then you switched more into mindset. Was that inspired by the podcast?

Nikita: So. Yes and no, right? Like it’s one of those things that I know this is like the Intentional Podcast, but this part of it, it’s kind of like the metamorphosis of, oh, you don’t know what you know, but you know, if that makes sense. So, like, In that process of sharing.

That’s my story. And the pockets are really started connecting with women who were already doing the work of the mindset work.

Like they’ve already done it, or they continue to do it. And I was like, man, that’s really powerful. Or the questions I would ask in the podcast, people were like, I’ve never thought about that before. And my coach who at the time was a health coach and a business coach. She was like, Nikita, why don’t you decide to do something like that because the funnels and digital marketing was like, just draining me mentally. Um, and so there were, she was like, and Nikita, you can do what you do in your pockets, like for business. And I was like, whoa, girl, tell me again, like me, like, what do you mean? Um, and so I started looking at my business differently and then I started looking at my testimonials.

This is something that I teach anyone who is about to do a pivot. That’s kind of came out of nowhere to intentionally look at what you’ve done before. And if your actions from the past, actually point to your future. So, a lot of my, my, my clients, their testimonials, where like you helped me with clarity, you helped me really get clear on what I needed to do, who I wanted to serve, where I wanted to go.

And I was like, I mean, I was providing funnels and ads and like, but they were their testimonials for them. The thing that they felt so valuable for them was the clarity. And that’s really what led me into like, you know what, let me go ahead and invest my time and energy and learning how to do this as a certified mindset business coach.

And that’s what kind of pivoted me into this lane that I’m at. But. If you asked my clients that were probably my funnel clients, they’re like, I thought you were already a mindset coach then, because it’s just how it kind of worked out. So yeah.

Galen: Right. You were selling them what they quote unquote wanted, but then giving them what they needed, which was that mindset coaching along with it. And even though it wasn’t like part of your package at the time, it really was because it just was a part of you and who you were as a business owner and how you were serving people.

I love that. And so then, oh, go ahead.

Nikita: I know it’s going to say, and that’s what most of us have, right. If we really look back at the thing that we might be most afraid of, or the thing that we might not really truly understand, if we really look at what people have said to us and the results from our work from the past, I truly believe. There’s a lot of truth and authenticity happening in that conversation that we haven’t given ourselves permission to lean into because we don’t believe we can do it. Like we don’t believe we’re that vehicle for that space to happen. And until you are, it’s always going to be in the back rear view mirror.

It’s never going to be in front of you because you’re thinking, oh, it’s not that big of a deal, but it’s the thing that will actually create the success you want for your business.

Galen: I am so excited about this because I actually just got a new testimonial that I screenshot it today. It was just a message I got from somebody, and I do web design and I have a membership that’s more about like systems and content marketing and things like that. Like the behind the scenes of your business.

But, um, in the testimonial, it was just funny. And again, it wasn’t really, it was just a message somebody sent me, but it was really nice. And the wording and it was like, I love how you kind of match the creativity side of the business with the techie behind the scenes systems. And like, if I go back through that, I’m going to pick up on so many little golden nuggets that tell me more about myself and tell me the things about myself I maybe don’t even realize at face value because I see myself as like, I’m helping with the tech setup, I’m helping with websites, but there’s so much more to everything that we all do as creative business owners, whether you’re a wedding photographer, right. It’s not just the pictures. There’s so much more that goes into that.

Just being there for somebody on a special day and supporting them through. You know, probably a really nerve wrecking day of all the things that have to happen or whether I’m trying to think of like other business ideas, whatever it is, an interior designer, just making somebody’s house feel like a home.

Like there’s so many things that we do. That aren’t necessarily written down on a piece of paper in our services description, but they are part of what our brand is. And they are part of who we are as a business owner that we wouldn’t pay attention to. But if you read those testimonials, now I’m going to go back and look at all my testimonials.

So, thank you. I’m really excited to kind of see, what that brings up for me. And I’m at a point now where I’m not necessarily pivoting, but I am slowly kind of starting to say, like, what do I want my brand to really be about in the long run and how do I want to serve people long term beyond just web design, which is something I love and something I’ll always do, but like how else do I really serve people on a deeper, more meaningful level?

Um, and so that’s a really great strategy to try that out. I’m very excited.

Nikita: Yeah. It’s. It’s my favorite place. Um, it’s kind of like, I think about it from a standpoint of like being children, you know, how children always tell you the truth. Like, it doesn’t matter.

Galen: truth.

Nikita: Like they tell you the truth. Like sometimes it’s like it’s because they just don’t know that there’s a difference between like truth and like hurt. But I feel like testimonials, depending on when you collect them or like peeks into that insight about yourself, as much as it is. It’s telling, you know, all, all the people about coming to you and why you’re the great fit. It’s also to me reflecting the value that you’re, that you’re not even seeing yourself.

And to me, this is the part that really comes into like all the mindset and the psychology around pricing and services and offers. It’s really stepping outside of what you believe you’re giving and seeing what people believe that you’re giving, because that’s what really matters about what they’re perceiving as valuable because not going all too deep and not all too, like, you know, we have things that are blocking our ability to see what we are valuable at.

Like, we don’t need to tie our money and our services and our business to our worth. We are already worthy. Like that’s already existed. Like when you came out of the womb, you were worthy, period. Like. Say that. Okay. But as we’ve lived our life, we have, our mind has accumulated different things that we believe, and they’re not always accurate that measures our value.

And when we don’t take time to question those things that measure our value or that we believe, or that we say, or that we are thinking inside and not saying out loud, it festers this belief that we’re not enough. We, we need to change something. We need to do all these things that are really sabotaging our ability to be successful.

And if we really take a moment to look at the people who have already said yes to us who have already invested in us, who have already showed up for us, we can see a lot of ourselves that we probably don’t see in real life.

Galen: Yeah. And some of those mindset blocks are so deep. I know for me personally; I am a very optimistic person. I’m a very positive person. I have always had a very like self-assured version of success, or so, I thought. I thought that I was the person who’s like, I know I’m going to be successful. I know if I just keep working go long enough, hard enough, like I will get to where I want to be.

And I will, you know, reach that level of quote unquote success that I had determined for myself. But what I didn’t realize were all these little underlying stories that I was telling myself about what I was good at and what I wasn’t good at and what I could do with my business or what I couldn’t do.

I had created these rules for myself that were really just these fake boundaries that I had created of what I could or couldn’t achieve. And they weren’t real, there was nothing real about them. Other than that, my subconscious, they were just kind of in there and I never would have said them out loud and I never would have really thought about them.

But when I found myself kind of stuck at pivotal pivotal points in my business, it was because I had these little, teeny voices. Super deep down in my head telling me you can’t do that, or you’re not good at that, or that won’t work for you. It’ll work for this other person, but it won’t work for you because that’s just not meant to be.

But that wasn’t true. And so how do you recommend, or how do you suggest that we try to really unleash what our inner mindset blocks are to help us overcome those?

Nikita: So, this is one of the things that I learned, and I continue to learn with physically thinking about being stuck. So, when you have a chronic illness, there’s literally times in your life where you are not like you’re just stuck. Like you’re either stuck at the hospital or you’re stuck in bed. You’re stuck somewhere like physically.

And I hate when I say hate, I hate that feeling of stuck in all capacity in all ways. I hate that feeling and I’ve always thought about. What’s the one thing I can do to change this reality? My husband does this really cute thing that I don’t think he thinks it’s so big, but it visually you’ll get it.

He’s like, yeah. If you’re stuck in whatever situation, you are physically, it’s like, can you move your big little toe? Like just that big little toe. Like, he’s always like, can you move it? Can you move that little big toe? And if you can move that little big toe, you’re like, okay, let me see what else I can do.

And that approach is what I do for myself and for my clients. I’m like, what is the, what is the least minimum movement you can make to shift this thought of you can’t?

Is it, is it, is it just being like asking yourself, is that really true? Is it really true that I cannot? Right. What if you can’t? What have you turned that cannots into what if I could, or what if I can just imagine it for a minute?

And honestly, every time I’ve done that exercise, every time I do that with clients who are like, I just can’t, or I just don’t know, or. Um, I learned this question from, um, a coach that I did some training from her name is Christine Hassler and the questions she always asks. And she teaches coaches is like, well, if you did know, what would the answer be?

And what that does for the brain is like, our brain is always trying to find an answer. Like it always is like, not unless you give it a dead end, a dead-end answer. Like if you’re like, I can’t, that’s dead and it doesn’t have anywhere else to go. But if you reframe the thought or the question or the situation into a possibility of something else, your brain is going to work to find an answer.

And that to me is the bridge of creativity and being stuck. Like you can remove the stuckness by just getting out of that one loop of, I can’t, I don’t know. I’m stuck into what can I do? Or is it possible?

Galen: That’s amazing. I know for me, I’m always just trying to take one small action because that, I think just starts the momentum going again. If I ever feel stuck too, I think like you said, just trying to figure out, well, what can I do now? Even if it’s not perfect, even if it’s. A full solution, even if I take a step and I’m not actually sure what direction it’s going in, but it’s one step forward somewhere that one little step just makes you feel like I did a thing.

I checked it off my to-do list. I accomplished something you get that, you know, flowing through your body, that feeling of momentum again, and it’s so much easier to keep going. Once you’ve started versus sitting there and wondering, or sitting there and telling yourself, I’m stuck. There’s nothing I can do.

Like there’s always something, there’s always like some little thing easier said than done, but, and we’re all, you know, in different situations and struggling with our own things. But most of the time there’s always something, no matter how small that we can do.

Nikita: Yeah. And I think too, what happens too is sometimes we get stuck in doing the same action. So, to me, that’s like a really good one to pay attention to if you’re like, oh, it’s not working, but you’ve done literally the same thing sometimes it’s because we have a belief that we’re holding onto. And so, the question doesn’t become, I can’t, or I need to can’t it comes to what am I holding onto to make this to be true?

What am I holding? What belief, what. What am I holding onto that is making me believe that this stuck or this, this action or the strategy is not going to work for me? What belief is that? That I’m holding onto this preventing me from seeing the possibility, because in every situation, if you look at people who have like no arms and no legs, not to catastrophe strive, like what you’ve gone through, like everyone’s journey is different.

Everyone’s struggle in life is different. But the people that are successful at no matter what their circumstances are, are the ones who are resilient, right. They’re able to like look at their situation, whatever that may be and challenge like literally challenged themselves to see a different reality, to choose, to see a different reality.

It’s an intentional action and our brains have to work harder at that. Our brains actually taken a lot of information without us even realizing it. It’s taking it from all of our senses. It’s making assumptions about things that aren’t really true. And so, the action of being intentional. Means you have to intentionally think that way, you have to intentionally think about it being different.

So, I always tell my clients like strategy, if it’s not working, is it not working because it’s not a right fit for you? It doesn’t align with you. It’s not really in your, your zone of genius or is it that you’re continuing to believe something to be true about that strategy? Right? I don’t think any strategy works for everyone.

I don’t think. Every strategy works for everyone either, but I do believe how you think about it has everything to do with the results of it and how you believe you will bring that to fruition has everything to do with about it, do with it. So that would be my thing to keep in mind.

Galen: I love that I think. And I’m curious to hear what you think about this so many times when I’m talking to people in the creative space and I’ve, I’ve personally done this myself is you procrastinate by doing things you feel like they’re going to help you move forward. And, you know, as a creative person, as a web designer, I am guilty of spending time tweaking the shape of a button on my own website and changing the color and being like, oh, Like, I swear, I have changed the colors on my web slightly, right.

Like staying with the, my brand colors, but I’m like, I just think this purple hue needs to be just like a little more purple or just things like that. That yes, there is a time and a place to work on the design of your site. There is something very important about having a site that conveys your message that matches your brand.

But at what point do you have to ask yourself, am I procrastinating on the things that don’t move the needle forward in my business. And if I am, how do I catch myself doing that? So, then I can say I’ve got a limited amount of time every day, every week, every month. How do I make sure that I’m spending that on the right things for my business?

Nikita: I think I am guessing. Let me know. This is the question you’re asking. Like, how do you not be, how do you not procrastinate?

Galen: Yes, but like people procrastinate by watching Netflix. right but people also procrastinate by like, by doing business things, but they are just not the right business things to move them forward. If, or they’re not going about the strategy in the right way.

Nikita: Yeah. I think when people are procrastinating with a strategy is because it’s not either two things. It’s not really what they want to do. And. So they’re doing everything else, like, anything else? Right. And then my question is, well, what do you want to do? That would be my question. Well, if you don’t want to do this strategy, what do you want to do?

Like, for example, if you don’t want to be showing up on Tik Tok and doing dancing, pointing stuff, whatever, then what do you want to do? Like, there’s another option.

You can choose. That’s, that’s number one. And if you’re procrastinating, because it’s not in your zone of genius, but you want to. You know, it’s the vehicle that you believe that will get you there and you truly believe it.

My question to you would be that. Does it have to just be you, can you get someone to help you with that? Like you don’t have to. Yeah. You don’t have to do it. You can have someone else do it for you or you can have someone do it with you. You know, we always have this idea.

Like I have to always outsource the whole thing in order to get at accomplish, but I’m a huge believer in leveraging your resources.

So that could be resources and like other people where that’s their zone of genius and they Can teach you and, you know, do it with you or you can outsource it totally.

Galen: Yeah, So I always used to call it like procrast a branding or like program, like whatever it is. Right. Like you’re procrastinating on things that seem productive, but actually aren’t, and I love that. Just stopping, catching yourself when you feel like you’re taking it too far and then asking yourself, what am I procrastinating from? What am I avoiding? Is that thing, something that I actually need to do?

Is it something that even aligns with the business that you want to run? And if it does align, but it’s not in your zone of genius and it’s something you don’t like, then can I outsource it? Can I automate it? Can I take it off my to-do list, but still keep it as a strategy for my business or just get rid of it altogether? There’s nothing, there’s no shame in taking items off your to-do list. I think there’s actually a lot of power in that.

Nikita: Yeah, 100% like, yes, save your spoons. As chronic illness, people will say save, save your energy, save your spoons for things that is the most profitable for you. Like whatever that is. Whatever comes easy to you is your most profitable. I know you’re going to hear a lot of people say, like stretch yourself and go out of your comfort zone.

And all those things are true, but I still will 100% that whatever comes easy to you will always be the most profitable because not everyone else will feel that way. So, if you have to outsource it, outsource it. If it’s not, if it’s not the thing you want to do, don’t do.

Just saying it’s okay. You have permission.

Galen: We’re giving you permission right now. If you’re listening to this and you have something on your to-do list like that, we are giving you permission to not do it.

Nikita: Yeah.

Galen: That’s um, it’s funny because that’s why a lot of people are saying, you know, what website platform should I go with? I everyone’s telling me I should use WordPress or whatever it and I’m, and I always tell them, you know, what is the platform that you are going to be the most comfortable writing blog posts on or editing yourself because if you are a one-person team and you’re doing all of that on your own, don’t start with a website platform that is going to stress you out. That is going to prevent you from, from taking that ownership over your site, choose the platform that you’re going to use.

The one that you’re the most comfortable with. And I think that applies to almost anything in, in business, whether it’s a social channel, whether it’s a marketing channel or anything like that.

Finding the one that you’re going to use, the one that you’re going to be comfortable with and just doubling down on that instead of spreading yourself too thin, um, because then you will avoid it.

You will procrastinate, you will do all of those things. Um, so let’s go back to your business for a minute. So how long now have you been full-time in your business?

Nikita: I’ve been running my business as a business coach for five years, like a mindset business coach for five years, but I’ve been online for almost 10, which is crazy.

Galen: That’s really cool. And are you, do you have a team now? What does that look like for you?

Nikita: Yeah. You know, I know that COVID hit a lot of people really hard.

Um, so when I say this and I say it’s a brag, with thanks and gratitude. COVID was good for my business and a sense of like growing. Um, over the last two years, I have doubled I’m on trend for tripling my income from my business for the last two

So, yeah. Um, I have a team now. I have an assistant. I have a branding person on like, you know, it’s just, I have a social media manager. These are all the things that I’ve always wanted to outsource because it’s like, that’s not my zone. Like I’m I called them my strength, weakness. I learned how to do it really well. And love it to an extent, but it always drained me more than an energized me. So, as you grow in your business, I feel like there’s really, it’s really important to intentionally pay attention to those different things in your business that you’re like, yep. That’s the first thing I’m going to outsource.

That’s the first thing I’m going to do and gradually build up to that. Um, so I definitely have a team. I don’t know what I would do without it, my, my assistant was out for a week last week because she was moving across state and I was like, girl, my gosh, what did I do without you? It was only a week, but yeah.

Galen: I feel the same way now. It’s uh, it’s definitely. Tough. I couldn’t go back. I love having a team and I have a small team and they’re all independent contractors. I actually hope to bring on a full-time or part-time official employee in 2022. Um, but yes, it is a complete game changer. It’s definitely hard.

Can be hard to find the right people, but once you have the right people working with you, it just makes all the difference, because like, you said, you get to really be in your zone of genius and then hand off those tasks that you might be good at, that you might be able to do. But like you said, they’re draining emotionally, physically, whatever it is, those are the things that you want to get rid of off your to-do list.

Nikita: Yeah. I find hiring like, like contractors and stuff really hard, but my most successful ones are ones that were already a part of my community. Like They were already part of my tribe.

Galen: They knew your business.

Nikita: They knew my business. They knew my voice. Like I have a ghost writer who takes all of my, like I said, I don’t like to write.

So, I have, uh, someone on my team. That’s a contractor who takes all of my content and makes it into blog posts and makes it pretty. I don’t really have to worry too much about her not getting my voice because she’s been in my community for a while. So, whenever you’re hiring or growing, I think it’s really important to pay attention to the people in your communities that could be a part of that vision that you have. It makes it so much easier.

Galen: And when did you hire your first person? Was that your assistant that you brought on first?

Nikita: I went through a couple assistants.

Um, that I was like, yeah. And I think it was more of me figuring out what it is that I was looking for. Like, like what I wanted, they were, they were amazing. But yeah, it took me a couple to find the person that is like my girl. And they all came from my audience, but I think it would have been a lot harder, harder, like just random person off of the internet, it just made it so much easier. Um, and we’re still friends today, but yeah, I’ve had her for about this year. She’s been in here for, for almost a year now. So, like official, official. So, I love it.

Galen: That’s amazing. I do think we underestimate how much being a quote unquote boss is a skillset. How leading people is a skill set. And it’s a whole mindset thing too, around how to lead people, how to lead people successfully, how to convey what you actually want to have done and how you want it done in a constructive way.

And those are just things that, you just assume, oh, I’ll hire someone. They can take over my social media. Oh, I’ll hire someone. They can take over writing for my blog, but we don’t think about how that actually happens and, and what needs to happen for that to be done successfully. And it’s, I think my challenge was learning how to be that person and learning the skills to become the leader that I want to be so that I can be an effective.

So, I can be an effective boss and so that I can help the people in my, you know, under my business, do the best that they can do and really shine and give them ownership over things and being able to let go of things, which is really, really tricky. I think letting go is probably one of the most difficult parts of hiring.

It’s wonderful, but it is, if you can’t let go, you’re never going to see the full benefits of having a team.

Nikita: Yeah, I agree with that 100%. Yup.

Galen: Oh, my goodness. So where do you see your business going forward? I know you’re now doing coaching. What does that look like? And are you happy with where you are now? Are there things that you’re looking to add on in the next year?

Nikita: Um, right now I’m steady Freddy. Um,

I’m really happy where I am right now. I think in the next year or two, I’m going to be adding on some coaches to be a part of my team to be under the umbrella of, of Thrive with Nikita because, um, I’ve seen that the framework that I teach really, isn’t a framework on strategy. It’s really a framework on. How to help people create, figure out what they want. And that’s so much easier than strategy in my, in my head. And so, um, I’m attracting more coaches at this point in my business to my business. And some of those coaches are like so awesome that I want them to be a part of the, of the world here.

And so, I see my business in the next two years, definitely bringing on two or three more coaches to kind of round out our little happy family and building out that kind of a brand where it’s not just me, it’s a team of us and we have a little bit more capacity to help more people.

Galen: I love that. And just to wrap up here, one final question is since you’ve been in business for a while now and been in the online space for a while, what do you think is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned or the biggest takeaway that, that’s gotten you to where you are?

Nikita: No story is too small. No, no story is too small. I think sometimes we think oh, well, my story isn’t tragic enough or it’s not like, so deep enough.

And like, there’s so many people that have it worse than me in that just like comparison game. It, it doesn’t matter. Like, you know, you as a person here are worth taking space, so share your story.

It matters to so many people. Because so many people need that. So many people need to be seen and felt like they being seen in that comes a lot of times by use sharing whatever story that might be.

Galen: That’s golden. I. I need to personally get better about that too, because we all kind of get stuck in the rut of thinking, well, will anyone care? What’s even the point of sharing this story and you don’t really know until you put it out there and somebody else happens to resonate with it. And if you had just held that in, no one would have had the opportunity to connect with you in that way.

You might’ve helped somebody not even knowingly right now. People don’t necessarily message you and tell you a hundred percent of the time when they’ve helped you. But or when you’ve helped them. But just because you’re not getting messages about it, like somebody still watch that and somebody could still be impacted by that.

Whether you made their day, they’re having a tough day or, you know, you just help them feel more normal, like they aren’t alone. So, I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Nikita: Yeah. I think the, the saying, I would say is that impact does not equate to numbers, right? Like it doesn’t equate to likes or follows. Impact equates to how many people you touch their heart. And I think that’s the thing we really need to focus on instead of like all these metrics. So.

Galen: I love that. Well, thank you so much. Where can we learn more about you online?

Nikita: You can find me at Thrive with Nikita. That is where you can find everything about working with me. I’m in my community, or you can catch me at crafted to thrive, which is all about my podcast.

Galen: Wonderful and Nikita, it was such a pleasure chatting with you.

Nikita: Thank you for having me.

Galen: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Intentional Creative Podcast. If you enjoy the episode, make sure to tag us both on Instagram, share a story, telling us your biggest takeaway and we’ll connect with you there.

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