Welcome back to the new season of the Unshiny Podcast!

I'm sharing an episode Ray Dodd and I recorded and first shared on her Money Makers podcast, all about the brilliance and limitations of many coaching programs, and share with you a bit about our new program - Plenty More.

Ray and I talk about our love of coaching that doesn’t just make room for mistakes but knows they’re necessary for growth. We chat about leaning into experimenting and troubleshooting, trusting yourself, and embracing your own process to build and grow your business on your own principles and terms.

This one’s all about coaching with integrity and being coached with your needs at the centre of it all.

If this sounds like your kind of coaching, be sure to check out Plenty More! Listen to the full episode to hear much more about the program, and follow the link here to apply to join the live private training

QUOTES
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Jo: 'We call it business coaching, but a lot of the time its business strategy, or business consultancy. And there are often things that will be bedded into a program, like our program, that will have elements of strategy. It will have elements of consultancy mentoring. That's why I call myself a money coach and mentor because I absolutely do both.'

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Ray: ‘I kind of think of [coaching] as sitting with someone and they're drawing stuff out of you, but you're also absorbing stuff and learning stuff from that person. And that's no bad thing. That's great.’

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Ray: ‘Patriarchy literally means handed from father to son. So to me, it means ignoring women… or anyone who's not father son. Who doesn't fit into that bracket. It means ignoring everybody. But that obviously happens in terms of, we talk about neurological diversities. You know, if somebody hasn't got that, if you're selling how you managed to do business and you don't have a neurological diversity, or you are a white woman, or you are a cis hetero woman, there are things you are just missing.'

Links For This Episdoe:

Plenty More Free Private Training
Ray's Website

This is going to be a great episode for you if you’re someone who has ever struggled with certain aspects of your business, that doesn’t seem to have an obvious strategy solution to them, which AKA is every one of us.

So those places in our business where we find that this may be a bigger than usual emotional resonance. So for example, why do I feel such terror when I’m doing my accounts? Or why do I struggle to take time off and to have proper boundaries around my business?

Why do I find that I’m working really long hours and I’m struggling to switch off a bit at the end of the day? Those kinds of things, which I know are really, really common. And very often we will try and solve with a different strategy. Whereas actually, the truth is that there’s something deeper going on beneath the surface.
Nicole Lewis-Keeber is a business therapist and mindset coach who works with entrepreneurs to create and nurture healthy relationships with their businesses. She’s a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Masters in Social Work and has a rich and varied experience as a therapist. Certified in Brené Brown’s Dare To Lead™ methodology, she’s also been featured on numerous media outlets including Fast Company and NPR for her work in breaking the stigma of mental health and business ownership. 

 Nicole Lewis-Keeber has just released a book, which is all about this kind of thing, and it’s called how to love your business, stop recreating trauma, and have a business you love, and that loves you back.

What I cover in my conversation with Nicole Lewis-Keeber

• How she discovered the concept of being in relationship with our business
• The impact of trauma (both large and small t) on our relationships
• Tools that help to heal your relationship with your business

I feel like I've given you a lot of nerdy, big picture stuff over the past few weeks and you know, I'm not averse to a bit of nerdy, big picture stuff. I own my nerdiness!  But. I also wanted to give you some more of the juicy specifics of what your business needs at the different stages it's at.

Because what works when you're at the beginning is going to be pretty different to what you need when you have a full practice.

As I've been stressing over the past few weeks, there are no specific blueprints or formulas to tie guarantee your success but there are some core foundational things that all businesses I know have in place - and that's what I'm going to share with you today.

I'll be sharing:

• What 6 + elements do you need to have in  place when you're in the foundational stage of your business journey
• What's the 1 core things all business owners need, no matter what stage of growth they're in?
• What's different when you're in the growth phase of your business life?
• How do you make sure your business is enjoyable, sustainable and makes you money (all while staying ethical and unshiny?)

Links Mentioned in this episode:
 
Nilofer Merchant - The Power Of Onlyness
The Supernova Collective
My New  Program: The Supernova Continuum

In this week's episode of the Unshiny Podcast, I'll be talking about how we all get to be pioneers. Not only building our business but in shaping the industry and the wider culture around us, simply by doing our businesses, our way. 

For years opening and running a business was prohibitively expensive. -Out of reach for most folks, especially women and people of colour. But technology means you can now start a business that makes money with only a phone and a wifi connection. 

 The means of production are in our hands. 

The gatekeepers of business- the bank managers and investors who were ones who could say yes or no, loan the start-up money, grant the permits and so on are no longer the ones in control and the barriers have been removed.   

This is exciting because there are so many opportunities in this brave new world, and because the industry is so new we have the opportunity to shape it in any way we choose. 

The downside of that is there are no real roadmaps, apart from those being pushed, by the guys who used to be the gatekeepers - hence the bro marketers and the Tony Robbins style machismo of the disgruntled white dude shouting at us from our computer monitors insisting we need their formula or wisdom to be 'successful'. 

So how do we find our own path and avoid the pitfalls? 

How do we decide on the direction? And how do we make sure that we're not bringing familiar toxic practices like overwork and burnout over into our businesses? 

I'll be diving into all this in this episode, including 

• The origins of the word pioneer. 
• A bit of a history of barriers to even starting a business for many folks. 
• The beauty and the drawbacks of being the first on the path. 
• And how we can use this opportunity to create nourishing, sustainable businesses - not only for ourselves but as a model of possibility that reshapes the culture of work altogether. 

Books Mentioned in this episode:

Burnout by EMILY NAGOSKI, PHD and AMELIA NAGOSKI, DMA

Emergent Strategy Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by 

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN

Previous Unshiny Podcast Episodes Mentioned:

Episode 1 - What Is An Unshiny Business

Episode 2 - The Co-Delusion Of The Shiny Life

Episode 3 - Coach Your Own Business 

This podcast is entitled Coach Your Own Business - AKA, ‘why it takes a village and what's wrong with the patriarchal, capitalist model of the lone hero idea of running a business.’

Which I know makes it sound like a college class that you're only taking to get the easy credits, but I promise you it's (hopefully) a lot more useful and entertaining than you might be thinking!

We’re going to be talking about how broken many of the models of being a business owner or entrepreneur are - and what we need instead (hint: it’s far more gentle, kind and transformative than you might be thinking.) 

We're going to be discussing:

• Cowboys and how the constructed myth of the Marlboro cowboy still influences our toxic modern-day business culture. 
• Power imbalances 
• Toxic ‘authority building’, coaches as gurus (and why they’re particularly rife within the online business community) 
• AND why you don’t need ANY of it. 

Finally, I lay out why we need a different model of business. One that doesn't rely on Patriarchal, overly hyped gurus and or going it on your lonesome way alone.  No. 

I’ll share what I think we all really need in terms of support for a thriving business and how putting your own magic and power at the centre of it makes all the difference to you, your clients, and your bottom line. 

And it's much lovelier too. 

If the blueprints and noisy shouty marketing advice leave you cold  - you’re not alone. Most of the work we do is about depth and nuance - not easy solutions and empty promises.

So what we need to build a sustainable business are smart,  human-sized strategies, both from a business perspective and from a personal one. 

In this podcast, I'm going to be sharing the Unshiny approach to doing business and how this can lead to greater connections, more clients, and an all-round lovelier,  way of doing things. 

It's all about showing up fully as our genuine selves. Yes. Even with the imperfection and the messiness that could come along with that.

And that is how we build empathy. That is how we build real connections with fellow humans. 

I'm going to be having conversations with fellow business owners, but also people who are pioneers in changing our perceptions of success and who we have to be to attain that. So join me each week as we dive into helping you build your Unshiny business.

If you're sick of the bro marketers with their manipulative, shady tactics and overblown promises, there is an alternative - The Unshiny approach.
In this episode, I'm going to share what an Unshiny business is and how this differs from many of the approaches you'll see in the online marketing world.

What's more, I'll share how the Unshiny approach is actually much more effective and sustainable when it comes to building trust, finding clients and generating income than the bro marketing tactics and schemes.

You can download the Unshiny Business Plan at www.jocasey.com 

The Shiny life is seductive, powerful and damaging not only to our businesses but to society as a whole. Sound dramatic? Hear me out. 

This episode is all about how, far from being a bit of harmless ‘putting on a brave face’, shiny thinking can lead to some very dark places. 

The shiny life is all about focusing on the positive to the exclusion of all other things. And we WANT things to be lovely. We don’t want to feel pain and frustration, fear and loneliness. We WANT the shiny, happy life. 

But when lived experience doesn’t meet up to that desire it can go one of two ways:

Reality comes crashing in, shattering the carefully constructed house of positivity cards you’ve built OR 

Major cognitive dissonance occurs.

Now, don’t get me wrong - sometimes looking for the silver linings of a situation can be a very useful skill that helps us keep things in perspective. If I’m having an off day, going for a brisk walk, listening to some uplifting music and finding someone funny to watch are all wonderful ways to shake that mood off. 

So what’s the harm in just thinking positively, you may ask? 

When the personal development and online coaching world are selling the message that we are so omnipresent and powerful that our very thoughts can create our reality - and then reality smacks you in the face (such as with a very real and global pandemic) the system starts to glitch and become something far more toxic. 

In this episode of the Unshiny podcast,  I’m diving deeper into why buying into the co-delusion of the shiny life is bad for your clients, bad for your business - and bad for society as a whole. I’ll be talking conspiracy theories, Qanon and why there has been such an overlap between toxic positivity, wellness communities and conspiracy theories that take us about as far away from love and light and you can imagine. 

Oh, and I’ll also be sharing why avoiding the co-delusion of the shiny life is pretty much essential if you want to attract the clients you deserve and have a business that feels lush as hell and filled with magic, creativity and income. 

Karen Marie Johnston's business was looking great at the beginning of 2020. After building up a loyal following in 2019 she had 8 retreats booked out for the duration of 2020. And then Covid-19 happened.

In this funny, warm and honest conversation, Karen shares the impact the pandemic has had on her business, how she's managed to shift her focus to a more online model and why it's still OK to feel not OK all of the time.

Karen is genuinely one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. Her own journey through abuse, addiction, homelessness and recovery led her to become a social worker  - a job that she has no intention of leaving even though her coaching business has really taken off. The reason she's so successful - even with the pandemic, is her absolute commitment to showing up and serving her community. 

About Karen
Karen Marie Johnston is a coach, social worker & yoga teacher for addiction & mental health. She organises beautiful retreats, online women's circles and works 1:1. She has worked with women in the sex industry for the last 2 decades and has been nominated for an ITV National Diversity Award. Her work has been featured on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Women’s Hour’ and Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Millionaire’. She holds hope in some of the darkest environments and has witnessed deeply complex trauma. She wholeheartedly believes in transformation & feels privileged to walk alongside women, as they embark on their own journey of recovery & healing from self-neglect to self-love. 

Find Karen on Instagram
Her Facebook group is Women's Self Love Hub
https://www.facebook.com/groups/158334858188165/
Karen’s website: https://www.karenmariejohnston.com/ 

Maggie Patterson is the editorial director at Scoop Studio and the creator of Small Business Boss. With two decades of experience, Maggie has spent her entire career in client services and has been a successful entrepreneur for 15 years. Today, she works with freelancers and agency owners to help them implement smart strategies for business growth using proven marketing, sales, and client experience tactics. She’s the host of the Small Business Boss podcast, has been on stage at events such as New Media Expo, Podcast Movement, and the Conquer Summit, and her work has been featured in leading publications such as Entrepreneur.com, Fast Company and Virgin.com.

In today's episode, we talk about mental health, our frustration with how suddenly way too many people consider themselves to be an epidemiology expert (we're looking at you tech bros) and what running a business through previous market downturns has taught us (and why that's not always going to track into this one.)

Maggie shares her wisdom about what core skills and practices we all need to be focusing on right now (hint: they may not be sexy but they're what bring in the money) and, of course, what's giving her joy. 

Connect with Maggie at https://smallbusinessboss.co/
https://www.facebook.com/smallbusinessbosshq/
https://www.instagram.com/smallbusinessboss/

Robyn Holloway helps women of a certain age become unlost - that is to say, to rediscover the vibrant person they were before life, laundry and taking care of everyone else got in the way.

She is a certified coach, trainer and positive psychology practitioner. Robyn’s approach combines intuition with a highly pragmatic focus to help her clients create results they crave. She was prompted to become a life coach after putting off her own dreams for far too long.

Her moment of truth came in the form of a major health crisis. After a successful treatment and recovery, she realised how short life can be. She reclaimed the woman she thought she had lost - and is now a passionate advocate for other women - helping them re-invigorate their own lives without waiting for a crisis to be their catalyst.

In this episode we talk about how Robyn found herself lost in her own life - and found her way to becoming Unlost again.
 She shares why she thinks so many of us lose ourselves and how the first steps to finding ourselves again don't require us to Eat, Pray, Love our live and go off and join an Ashram but can begin with the simplest of steps.

We discuss why awareness and boundaries are secret (and misunderstood) secret weapons and where to start when you don't know where to start.

You can find out more about Robyn and her work at  Robyn Holloway Coaching
You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn

If you'd like to sign up for one of Robyn's 100 chats - you can find all of the details here