Permission to Thrive on Your Own Terms with Amy Traugh

Welcome back to another episode of Entrepreneur School in this is our first guest episode of the new year. And I loved this conversation that I had with my new best friend, Amy Traugh, because it's just so inspiring and so exciting to really take on the mindset chips that she provides in this conversation that we had. So Amy is a business strategist. She's the founder of the moms on a mission community. And she's the host of the newly renamed motivated CEO podcast, she has made it her mission to change the narrative that you need to have, that you need to choose between running a successful business and being a thriving mom. So clearly, we are so aligned in our beliefs in that way. And in so many of the other things that she says here, I found myself is no running along, she helps business owners gain clarity, consistency and competence to generate the income they want. So they can create the impact they desire without sacrificing their two most valuable assets, time and energy. And that is all through her signature CEO framework. So listen to this episode prepared to feel inspired and is the perfect fit for that New Year New Energy. Wherever you're at right now. This one will really fill you up and make sure that you reach out and connect with me after the show by checking out all of the links in the show notes below.

This is the Entrepreneur School Podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am. A corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show. You'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to entrepreneur School. Hello, hello, I am here today with Amy trawl, who is my new internet best friend. And if you could see her right now, which you can if you watch this on YouTube, Gia the glittery pink backdrop. So clearly, we are meant to connect to each other. And I'm so excited to chat with you today, Amy all about running a business being a mom pivoting and building a business around your life. So welcome to Entrepreneur School.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much, Kelly. I am so excited to be here today.

I love getting to chat with people from around the world in different places when I see people doing awesome things, which is I think how I found you because you just had a really awesome event in where was it?

Ohio. Oh, more than East Ohio? Yeah,

Yeah. Why don't you tell us about it? Sure. So

it's an event we do through the community that I founded called Confidence sells, we host this event annually as a way to empower, educate and elevate female entrepreneurs. Because it all comes down to having that inner belief that inner knowing that you're meant for more. And once you have that really innermost self trust and self belief, then you will go out and achieve any dream that's on your heart. So we created this event, this was our second one. And we plan to continue to keep on going and keep on growing to empower as many women as possible.

That's so beautiful. I love it and so much in alignment with what I believe in. Because, you know, we faced so much criticism and skepticism and doubt from ourselves and from other people around us. So it's so important that we connect with other people who are trying to do the thing as well, and really feel that connection and community. And so you are an incredible community builder. And like, let's talk about how that got started. Because offline before we were starting to chat, you were sort of telling me this story, and I think that would be really relevant. Yeah.

So I actually come from a career in healthcare. I do not have a business degree. I don't have fancy credentials and certifications. I've got a license as a physical therapist. But how did I get here and I still have to look back and like, ask myself, Wow, what just happened? It wasn't until the year 2020 happens when school was shut down. And suddenly I was faced with homeschooling my children at the time that were in kindergarten and preschool, and, you know, our families always come first. So I was luckily, offered a voluntary furlough, they appeal, they were asking for people to take voluntary furloughs and like, you know what my kids come first, this is what we have to do. We didn't have sitters. There was no take here. So we did it. Yeah, for leap of faith. And today, and once we survived the homeschooling piece, once we made it through the school year, I really started to reflect inwards, and really see what am I doing? What am I doing? Where am I going in this life? I don't know if it was just, you know, the mortality of it all was kind of thrust upon us. We're realizing like our health, we're always taking it for granted. And working in the healthcare field, I knew that I would see it every single day, I saw people that went through these tragedies every single day. But something just clicked at that moment. And I started thinking, maybe that meant or more, maybe this isn't the trajectory that I'm supposed to take, why am I waiting? Until one day, maybe I'll be able to retire and then we'll take the trip, then we'll do the things then then then, why am I not living this life now. And I still remember, it was a gorgeous day here in Northeast Ohio. And Ohio is gray. It's just such a great place to live. And I still remember sitting outside the girls are playing. I'm watching them. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm literally missing this moment in time. I'm missing, being with them experiencing life with them, because I met this career that I'm working 40 hours a week. Sure. On the outside looking in, I've got it all. I've got the job, I've got the husband, I've got the house, I've got everything that I have ever wanted. I wasn't fulfilled. So on a whim, you know, I'm brainstorming, thinking, Okay, where do we take this? What do we do? How do I get through this. And I had always had it on my heart to start my own residential home organizing company. I know completely bizarre, right. But during the pandemic, that was I'll tell you about the business to start because Marie Kondo was at the peak of everything at home at it, and people were stuck at home. So they wanted to get rid of all the extra stuff that was just taking over their environments. So I started this business, I got a mentor, and then grew it. As part of my business growth strategy. I really emphasized networking, I knew, especially as a local service provider networking was going to be paramount in growing my business, getting those two referral partners and strategic collaborations. And what happened was, I just couldn't find a table that I fit in at, you go to all these different things, and I just never fit in, people would ask me about my mommy business. They told me that they had to compartmentalize. If you want to run a thriving business, then you have to really separate mom, lady from business, and I'm going but to you. But do you because you know, like, as moms, we've got some pretty awesome skills that we can leverage as business owners. So on a whim, I started a Facebook group for women about community to connect fellow business owners. And it started small, and it grew. And it grew. And what I found was some of these women were like, well, how are you running this business? How are you navigating boat. So what I didn't realize that the time was I was really mentoring them. And then their business started to grow. They were seeing success. So as that business grew, than I am this other business, so it's like, what do I do now? So that's when I decided to do what I had been called to do what I've done my entire career, what I loved about my career, which is empowering and educating, empowering, educating others, to achieve their goals to achieve the outcome that they desire. This is success that they want as entrepreneurs. So here I am, it's you know, almost four years in and it's just been a wild ride, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

I love this so much especially like, like this journey have definitely been very like Soul led for you where you're following that calling that we sometimes just have a hard time connecting to or listening to because we're stuck in the shoulds of doing whatever it is we think we're supposed to do with our lives. And I'll be honest, like I've said this before, I don't know if I would have left my job to start my business if I hadn't lost my room. Because it was like a stop moment to actually sit and have space to reflect rather than like, is you you hardly can get yourself out the door in the morning let alone like the Let me just think about what I want to do next. So sometimes these like crises are blessings in disguise that give us some space, a new perspective to see what our potential right might really be. And the fact that you're talking about this journey that you've had, from a completely different career in healthcare, to physical therapy to be like, and now I mentor business owners, like, I just hope everyone hears that as a permission slip to do whatever you feel called to do, because this world like, let's call it like, it is, Amy, this world of like online business and entrepreneurship, there is no real blueprint. There is no like, here's the exact way to do it. None of that exists. It's all about believing in yourself and feeling supported, and having like your own internal and external little cheering squad, and if that's what you've created, then that's amazing.

Guys, absolutely, because we go through life checking other people's boxes, don't we? All the time, you know, it was ingrained in me from the time I was a kid, you grow up, you go to college, you get the degree, you get married, you have the kids, you know, check, check, check, I got all the boxes checked, but they weren't my boxes, and how often until something major happens in our lives? Do we actually take the time to pause and reflect as to what are we doing? Yes, we take a week of vacation here in there every year, maybe if we're lucky. I mean, look at the statistics in America, how many vacation hours go unused and are forfeited because we're not taking the time off. We're just going through life on autopilot, and checking someone else's boxes. And I think a lot of it is fear, that fear is holding us back because we think we're not qualified. That's the coolest part. And when you make that mindset shift, that you know what, in the online space, there's really no rules. You can create what ever you want to you get to make the rules. But step one is giving yourself permission to try. Because isn't it the truth that we've been conditioned to fear failure, you know, think about our education system, we're afraid to fail. I was there I was that straight A student always on the honor roll like over achiever to the 10th degree. So really giving myself permission was step one.

How did you do that? Like, how did you reframe that for yourself? Was it? What was it in one of those, like, you've you obviously had a lot of really powerful Moments of Awareness along this journey. But like, I know that this is something that we all struggle with, and we're kind of going, what does it take to give yourself permission?

You know, for me, it was just really asking myself, you know, what is the legacy that I want to leave for my kids? How do they? How do I want my kids to remember me? You when we first become parents, we feel like 18 year is such a long time. Oh my gosh, it's going to be 18 years before this child is technically an adult. But when you think about it, that's not a long time at all. I'm looking at my own kids, you know, my oldest, she'll be 18 in 10 years like that's going to go urge nine year now or halfway it was I don't even know how to do bad. Yeah, we're on a

I know that. I'm like, oh, no, what she's saying.

And then when you start out, you realize how short this life is how much view nothing is guaranteed to us, except for this moment, right now in time. I knew I would regret not going for it. Not giving myself that permission. But by giving myself permission. My kids are always watching. So I'm showing them that it's okay. I may not know what I'm doing at first, but I can figure it out. I'm willing to be a beginner and to learn. And I think too in society, we really tend to frown upon that. So if I decided one day, I'm going to be a CPA, I'd have to go back to college, I'd have to go and get a different degree. But because I made this pivot to the online space, there's a lot of people around me that still don't understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. A lot of very close people to me. Yeah. But what I realized is I didn't need the permission from them. I didn't need the permission from them, because it's not their life. This is my life and I get to choose. So I made the choice to make the change. Have I made pivots along the way? Absolutely. But until I took the action, I didn't know what pivots I needed to make. I didn't know what was right what was wrong on my terms, you know, I got to make the rules. And that's through we got gained so much power that And that's where life gets fun again.

Ooh, so much goodness there. I feel like what you're saying about, you know, you have to be, how do you ever expect to be an expert if you're not a beginner? And I've made this observation recently, as well, where we see all have these sort of big events happening. And they're like, you know, the Tony Robbins, and like the big professional speakers who have literally billions of dollars, and it's like, Yes, I have been to those events. They're super inspiring, and you leave, they're inspired, but there's still a huge disconnect between, even if they're really good, doing a really good job of being like, I used to be where you are, you're like, but did you like, how do you really like, I feel like you change your perspective, at some point along that way, where, you know, you think that you would have done something differently at the beginning, but we need to hear from more people like you, who are still in the muck of it, who are still navigating through what the challenge is, and still working through the beginner phases. And, and one of my favorite things to think about is just all you have to do is be one chapter ahead, right?

Yes. Oh, my gosh, exactly. That's what it is. It's putting in the work. Putting in the reps. You know, it's almost like you decide, do you want to learn how to ride a bike? So you read this book that teaches you how to ride a bike? Are you going to be able to get on a bike and ride the bike proficiently the first time? Probably not, you're going to fall down on a light before you get proficient in that skill. Building a business and being a business owner is the same thing. It takes practice, it takes time. It's a long game, it's not just you wake up one day, a multimillionaire, no, you have to take the time to lay that solid foundation and put in the wraps. That's what creates the results. It's doing the basics. It's doing the non glamorous parts over and over and over. And I think that's where a lot of us get off track is we're chasing shiny objects were so enthralled in what everyone else is doing that we're consuming. We're consuming because we don't have that inner belief in ourselves. We haven't given ourselves permission. And part of that it's just our brain trying to keep us safe. Anything that is unfamiliar, or outside of our comfort zone, our brain is there to keep us safe. It's going to go away. We I don't know, this is new, this is uncharted territory. Are you sure about that? But really having that self awareness, that's really pivotal in releasing some of these unrealistic expectations. And just giving yourself again, that permission to start?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I heard something recently, and I shared it. I don't know who to attribute this quote to. It's definitely not me. But it really resonated. And that is, imposter syndrome is a requirements. Because if you're not like the feeling of imposter syndrome is trying something new. And as you're going through this experience of starting a business and growing it and trying new strategies and new offers and putting yourself out there, it's going to feel uncomfortable. And it's the only way to really recognize that that is how you grow.

Right. And I think we need to normalize that conversation. Because when we start to feel these feelings, were thinking, oh my gosh, it's just, it's just me, nobody else is feeling this way. Well, nobody else is sharing that nobody else is putting that on social media. We like to put our highlight reel on social media. But people are really connecting with people that are open and vulnerable about that, like, hey, no, I'm going through stuff too. I've made pivots in my business. I've made bad investments, I've done things that I would change. And here's what it is. Come with me, let me help you on your journey to I can help save you time. And that's why in our businesses, we need three people. We need those in front of us that can be that light that can guide us that we can learn from because they really helped collapse time. We need to link arms with those that are beside us on the journey. They will get us through those tough times because they get what you're going through a lot of your friends, a lot of your family members they're not going to understand so they take that big vision that you have and they keep you playing small because they want to keep you safe because they love you and then those behind us. We need to be there for them. We need to be the light for that and saying hey come along on the ride. We can be the proof that it is possible for them to have the success that they desire as well. Because there is such abundance in this world. And when we really shift away from that scarcity mindset and go, You know what? I can be a light in the world. But then yes, we can bring your light over here too. And you and you and you. And then what happens is we shine brighter together.

Really love all of that. So speaking of vulnerability and normalizing the conversation of the challenges, do you have an experience that you can share around something where you just like did not go your way that people relate because like, I love your optimism and your to it in the perspective that you bring to this. And obviously, it's come from having experiences that have brought you there.

Yeah, so this has actually happened twice in my business where I knew in order to go and move forward, that I've had to let things go. And it's really hard when those things are extremely profitable. But again, it's building a business on my terms. So when I was growing, the organizing business, as I'm growing this community, for female entrepreneurs, I knew that I couldn't do both at the same time. Well, so for a long time, I really straddled both, and I didn't navigate it. Well, you know, both were bringing in revenue. But I just felt drained. Because I was trying to do it all. I was trying to do it all. And I still remember I've met with my life coach. And she's like, Amy, not making a decision is making a decision. And I was like, Oh, yep, that was what I needed to hear. And it was at that point, I knew, Okay, in order to move forward on my business journey, I needed to go all in, I needed to go all in to where my heart was. And that was in my community that I founded in empowering, educating others because I could make a bigger impact there. Yes, I loved my organizing business. But it was a lot of travel, it was a lot of going from place to place to place. It was physically exhausting as well. I mean, it's hard work. It's dirty work, it was very fulfilling why it was really making that decision to let something go in order to grow. And right now, I'm pivoting something in the back end of my business as well, something that's bringing in a significant amount of revenue. But I know in order to grow, I have to let it go. And it's hard. It's not easy. That again, it goes back to having that trust that okay, I've done this before I can do it again. Let's go, let's see what happens. Because there is no failure. There's no failure in business until you stop until you stop taking action.

Oh, I could not agree with you more. I'm so glad that you have rooted this whole conversation and the importance of taking action and just trusting in yourself enough. And for those who have yet to write themselves a permission slip. Maybe that's actually the action from this, I would love for you to like physically write on a piece of paper, I give myself permission to fail to give myself permission to try. Those two things are the same, right?

Yes! Yes, exactly. Because action creates momentum, and momentum creates results. And until we really detach from our worth basing our worth off of our results, we're gonna stay small, we're gonna stay stagnant. But when you can step back and view your business like an experiment, right, there is a game changer, because you're just figuring out, okay, I tried this, and it didn't work out as I anticipated. Alright, that doesn't mean that I'm any less than just like if you do have an awesome success, if you are hitting certain benchmarks, metrics, whatever your goals are, if you're hitting those, that doesn't make you any more worthy, you know, you are inherently worthy, just as you are. I know. That's why I encourage all of my clients, track your numbers, track your your analytics, then you can detach and take the emotion out of it so that you use the data to drive decisions versus emotion. I've had to do that too. Because I tend to take things personally. But as a business owner, you can't it's you can't because this doesn't mean anything about you. For me, it's about serving my clients about helping others. It's not about me, and if something if my numbers aren't reflecting the direction I want my business to go, I can then know that. You know what, here's what the data is telling me. Here's where I can adjust, adapt change course to move forward.

Hmm, yeah, I think that conversate that's really the underlying thing and for those who are here Having this awareness right now welcome. Welcome to realizing that you're attaching personal worth to the the impact the revenue, the whatever of your business, and that we are all so impatient and all want everything tomorrow. But like you just said, Amy, making sure to like look back as well. So you can see how far you've come. And as a reminder to like look at that growth, look at the data and also look at just the difference between where you started and where you are now, because there's 100% chance you already are successful.

Yes, absolutely. So if I could encourage you to do one thing, it start tracking those wins, cert tracking every little win along the way, so that you realize when you do take the minute to look back at this journey. Wow, I've made a lot of progress. I didn't get a lot done, let's focus on what we accomplish. Instead of that mile long to do list that's looking at us every single day, you're doing just fine. It's a matter of taking the time to acknowledge yourself for that.

So many, this is a repeat episode, everyone makes sure you listen to this at least twice. Because there are so many good nuggets in here around how to get started, how to keep going and how to just reframe the way that you're looking at your own success along this journey of entrepreneurship. I want everyone to connect with Amy, please let us know we'll have a link in the show notes, of course. But tell us all the places and all the things where people can reach out with you.

So my favorite place to hang out is my podcast called The Motivated Mompreneur Podcast. We're streaming on all the platforms. But we are talking all things the intersection of mom life and business. I absolutely love pouring into my listeners bringing on incredible guys. So I would love to have you take a listen over there. Also, you can find me on Instagram @amytraugh into the DMS tell me that you heard me on this podcast. So I can share you out. Tell me what your biggest takeaway was as podcasters. One of the coolest things that you can do for us is if you're hearing these messages that we share, share it out because that lets us spread the ripple effect if it impacted you it can impact someone else to and it means the world to us because we don't know who's listening. We don't know who's on the other side of those earbuds. So thank you so much for this opportunity.

Thank you so much for being here, Amy.

You did it. You just listen to another episode of the Entrepreneur School Podcast. It's like you just went to business school while you folded your laundry, prep dinner or picked up your kids at school. Thank you so much for being here. I want to personally celebrate your commitment to growing your business. You can imagine I'm throwing confetti for you right now. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Make sure you're subscribed and let us know you're listening by screenshotting this episode, and tagging us on Instagram, head to entrepreneurschool.ca for tons of tools and resources to help you grow your business while keeping your family a priority. You can subscribe to our email list and join our community. And until next time, go out there and do the thing.