With Linsi Brownson, a speaker, life and business coach, artist, and host of the Be Brilliant In Your Business Podcast – a creative cocktail of pep talks and practical tools to help creative entrepreneurs be energized, organized, and inspired in their daily lives. Linsi coaches overwhelmed entrepreneurs to help them reclaim time, streamline their business, and rewire habits to support their wellbeing and joy.

Over 15 years as a designer, brand strategist, creative director and coach, she has worked with hundreds of small business owners to align their business with the lifestyle they want to have. She combines mindset, business strategy, leadership, operations, sales, branding and marketing. She is out to debunk the myth that stress, hustle, and busyness are the way to succeed as a small business. Her motto, “love your business, own your life” is centered on the belief that success is a lifestyle, and we can enjoy it at every level in our business.

Join our conversation as Linsi shares her insights and tips on how you can overcome overwhelm and busyness, and reignite your joy of being a business owner. You will also hear her talk about her journey from being an interior designer to becoming an entrepreneur, who has once closed her business but eventually found her way back in, and now a coach.

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Biggest takeaways (or quotes) you don’t want to miss:

• “Whatever it is that had you start your business, that’s the core.”
• Why perspective is a key thing.
• The first thing that you want to do is to check in on the identity of your business.
• “Your desires are your growth points that would expand your business, your earning potential, your opportunity, and the things that you’re exposed to in your life.”
• “Take some time today and check in with your inner wisdom. Make yourself the first source of wisdom before you seek other input.”

“What is the least amount of fluff and effort and time and overthinking and overworking – the least amount of stuff we can do to get the most powerful result? And when we come up with that, what is the result we can really create …. and how can we change people’s lives for the better?”

-Linsi Brownson

Check out these highlights:

• 04:08 Linsi shares how she started her journey; from interior design to entrepreneurship.
• 10:47 How did she end up burning herself out?
• 13:39 Two things that helped her figure out a way to approach her burnout and how to do it differently.
• 15:31 How Linsi does her meditation.
• 32:27 What are the usual issues that Linsi digs with her clients?
• 50:08 What she loves about coaching.

How to get in touch with Linsi:

On social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SparkCollaborative

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linsibrownson/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linsibrownson/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7-d7xv51ZOg1hP2uL1Rq-g

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/linsibrownson

Learn more about Linsi, by visiting her website here.

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below.

GGGB Intro  00:00

Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business™…

Linsi Brownson  00:05

But that approach to it that being, that mindset, that sense of value. And higher level thinking is that’s really what we’re talking about when we say mindset like thinking more intentionally planning what we’re going to do, rather than just doing because something’s in front of us or sounds like a good idea, or someone told us that we should write so many reasons, really getting to that kind of grounded state, that you can make decisions about what you are going to do based on the value that that you think it will contribute and produce from those actions.

GGGB Intro  00:42

The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business™ podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:14

Alrighty, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I’m an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington, serving entrepreneurs throughout the US and around the world. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business™. I am super excited to welcome Linsi Brownson. Welcome, Linsi.

Linsi Brownson  01:36

Hi, Heather. Thank you so much for inviting me here. I’m excited.

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:40

Yeah, absolutely. This is gonna be a fun conversation. And I will personally say timely so many of us who are entrepreneurs and parents shifted into our summer schedules. I was looking over my calendar today and then checking out the topic and I was like, yes, stress, hustle busyness, like all of the things that you think should not go with a summer schedule, right? But somehow I know somehow they ended up there. So for those of you that don’t know, Linsi. Linsi is out to debunk the myth that stress, hustle and busyness are the way to succeed as a small business. She coaches overwhelmed entrepreneurs to help them reclaim time, streamline their business and rewire habits to support their well being and joy. That’s the word. I love her motto. Love your business Own Your life is centered on the belief that success is a lifestyle and we can enjoy it at every level in our business. Linsi is a speaker, coach, artist and host of the Be Brilliant in your Business podcast, a creative cocktail of pep talks and practical tools to help creative entrepreneurs be energized, organized and inspired in their daily lives. Awesome, Linsi, I love that introduction. And welcome.

Linsi Brownson  03:01

Thank you so much. And it’s so rare that anyone speaks it. It’s usually something that I just kind of read and glance over. You did amazing.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:11

Thank you. Well, and thank you in advance to my editor who always catches the little blips and cleans those up. Well, I’m super excited about this topic, because, you know, I think it’s one that smacks us all in the face at some point in our journey, right, just realizing like we’re in a place of overwhelm of being overly busy. And I think it can happen at multiple points in our journey. I think some people’s personalities are a little better at addressing it and realizing what’s going on. And for some of us, it may take a little longer, but would you share your origin story of like, what led you to this as a topic of expertise?

Linsi Brownson  03:50

Yes, absolutely. I love that leading question because obviously I’ve never felt busy overwhelmed, never had burnout. Yeah, so I do have kind of a long like meandering career story. But the very short version is I started in interior design. I’ve always been a creative person growing up. Design and decorating was my favorite hobby. I loved shopping for houses and real estate and furniture as like a 12 year old but I never thought that that could be an actual career for me. So I went to real school I’m air quoting that I went to college initially and started working on getting a degree in marketing that didn’t fit. I left school I actually left from the University of Minnesota and moved to San Diego, California just because I wanted to live there which was like the first big staking my claim on my own life. And it was really terrifying and probably the best choice I could have ever made for myself. But long story short, I ended up going to school. I went to the Fashion Institute, got a degree in visual merchandising, which is kind of a mix of retail merchandising, graphic design and marketing. And also, while we’re there, we’re learning about fashion and the entertainment industry, this was in LA. And so I set out in the world to thinking I would do that, that didn’t really fit, I went back to school for interior design set out in the world to do that. That didn’t quite fit. What really happened is that the recession hit in 2008, I was really early in my career, I had a great job with a small interior residential interior design company. And it was just me and her, me and the principal, which is an amazing experience for someone new to me in a small business like that. But of course, I’m kind of naive at that point in my career. And when I got laid off, because our work just dried up overnight. I was like, I can do this, I can figure this out on my own. So I decided to like put up my own shingle, be an interior designer. And I think what’s so like, funny to me about it now is because that’s my first business, I wrote a 20 page business plan for that business. I read like four books, one of them was specific to interior design. Other ones were business books, and I just like to the letter, I think I spent months on writing this business plan. Meanwhile, not marketing, not networking, not getting clients not figuring out how to actually run design projects on my own. And like no surprise, none of that really worked very well. And so it was kind of my first hint of like the right way to do a business, the right way to run things doesn’t really always work. And so it kind of like started to shatter some of the beliefs that I had around what this was supposed to look like. So as that wasn’t working, I’m going to fast forward pretty quick after this, but I wasn’t really working. My husband who was in construction, he had also wanted to get into like real estate development. So he started working in construction building cabinets. And the two of us again, geniuses that we were at the time and like our early 20s. We were like you know what we can have a furniture company. So we started this interior design/furniture, ecommerce home furnishings company, and ran that for a couple of years, which was an amazing. It’s the experience that led to all other things for me, because it put me in the online space. This was like 2010, I think I built our website, we did all the photography, we had over 100 products. In our website, we were shipping furniture across the country. We wrote a blog, we did design features on like Design Sponge, and some of the big blogs back in the day. It was a really incredible experience and like a horrible fit for us as entrepreneurs. And the main reason is because we were just so stressed out and hustling all the time, we were literally… we would go shopping and find these cool pieces of furniture. Some of them were handmade, some of them, we would refurbish. Some of them were like custom orders that we would have built. And we were working with a few different artisans for that. And then we would literally be in our apartment garage with like a big thing of saran wrap and pieces of cardboard like trying to tape up dining tables and old chairs to ship them out. It was like 24/7. We’re just working around the clock and we were so miserable. And this thing that we actually really loved, like the essence of what we loved was completely stripped away. And so thankfully, my husband has a lower tolerance for suffering than I did at the time and for a couple years and he was like I’m out if you want to keep doing this business on your own, like I believe in you, go figure it out. But I think I kept it going another six months or so. Got a few like magazine features and we got a little bit more buzz but just not a lot more like we couldn’t afford to hire anybody and just wasn’t working. So I decided to leave that business behind, go back into interior design and what or just interior design and what magically happen is I sent out the email to my newsletter with our final like, Hey, we’re closing down the shop. It’s this has been an amazing experience. Thank you all so much. And I got a flood of emails back from our subscribers saying like we’re so sad to see you go we love your blog, we love your brand. We love your marketing like it’s always so fun and exciting and like hopeful. Like and people started emailing me saying Could you help me do that for my business? I love what you’re saying. I love how you’re positioning, could you help me do it? So really quickly without any plan for this, it became like a branding and marketing Social Media Marketing Job freelance job for me within a couple of months of doing that. So it was like December, I closed the Ecommerce business and got all those responses. January, I started working with a couple of clients. And April, I started hiring people in to help me with the graphic design, web design, I was doing all the copywriting and like the overseeing of all of the things, and a lot of the administrative stuff, but I had like a team of four, I think, by April of that year. And so it was really amazing. It was such an incredible mindset shifts to from being like doing all this work on my own. And nothing seemed to click to things just kind of falling into place and having the ability and the capacity to start hiring on a team. Which brings two more challenges, new challenges. So I’ve found that every level, it’s not really surprising, my own capacity to overwork to, to do things the hard way, sort of out of this, like moral dilemma of like, this is how it’s supposed to be this is what it’s supposed to look like, I was really wired for that. And so what ended up happening with that business is that I ended up burning myself out to the point like to a point of exhaustion physically where I couldn’t work anymore. And I had to make a decision about what I wanted to do with my life with my business. And, you know, I knew that that just wasn’t a sustainable option for me anymore. So that is really where I started putting all the pieces together of like, I have to figure this out, there has to be a better way, there has to be an easier way to run this business or any business that I want to do. Because, frankly, I’m tired of starting things because I love them and feel passionate about them and getting to a point where I hate them. And I don’t want to go to work anymore.

Heather Pearce Campbell  11:51

Right? Yeah, oh, there’s so much in there to dig into the, you know, the path of entrepreneurship and how we sometimes just end up creating a job for ourselves that we don’t love, right? It’s not any longer in pursuit of the mission, it just becomes this long list of things that we have to do. You know, the pieces about reality, smacking you in the face, like you can have the best laid plans, it reminds me of this conversation I had with a business coach that I hired years ago who said yeah, people can start off with, like their ideal customer, and all these things that they think are going to be who they serve and the way their business evolves, and then they take it to marketplace. And that’s absolutely not who the message connects with. And they end up working with an entirely different demographic and everything shifts. And like the fact that you were able to listen to what people were asking for and reflecting back to you and make this really fast pivot. I don’t know, for me it’s like one of the highlights of like the joys of entrepreneurship, right? That we can sometimes spin on a dime or make a quick turn and implement changes really fast that a bigger company couldn’t do, right. Yeah, obviously, you were, you know, laying down roots for a new start anyways, but there’s just I think there’s so much in that story that people can relate to. Yeah. When you finally reach that moment of burnout, right, and recognizing like, Okay, I have to figure out a way to do this differently. Where did you start? Like, how did you how did you approach it and do it differently?

Linsi Brownson  13:31

Yeah, well, it was a real reckoning moment. So I think there’s kind of two things that really came into play that helped. One is that I didn’t mention, but before that, probably a year or so before that. Before, it was dire. I had started kind of reading like self development, personal development books, I’d always been focused on like business books. And then I started getting more into like, Okay, well, maybe I can grow. And one of the books that I read, it was the, I think the right brain business plan. And it was all like this creative visual, like vision boarding fun activities is right up my alley. And one of the activities in it was this visualization, meditation. And I’d never done a meditation before I’d never done a visualization before. And what it did was basically took me to my future self and imagined what my life looked like. And so it took me through, like, your whole workday. I think that’s  what happened. But so for the first time ever, I had this like, big vision out in front of me that had nothing to do with my present reality. It was just what felt true and aligned and amazing for me. And so what was really interesting about it is I saw myself, I saw my office, I saw my home, I saw myself with my clients. And literally none of it fit with the business that I had. It was a completely different business. And so when I came out of that meditation, I was like, Whoa, that’s, that’s weird. How’s that gonna work? And I never really like I wasn’t sure how to reconcile the two. But I kept doing that meditation, I kept coming back to it time after time. And if actually, I still do it to this day, I’ve created my own version of it. Now, which I, I’m happy to share with your listeners too. Now that I know…

Heather Pearce Campbell  15:21

I would love that it sounds like a great exercise. So I’d love you to walk us through how you do it now.

Linsi Brownson  15:27

Yeah, so it’s pretty simple. But typical meditation, like you get into your calm, relaxed state, I have some binaural beats in the background. So it really helps you kind of tune into that space, you go to your future self. So you have an actual, you have the experience of being your future self. And then you have the experience of talking with your future self. And really, once you can see kind of where you are going and where you are. Now, you can have this really beautiful dialogue between present and future selves, and ask them for mentorship. Ask them for guidance. And so I actually take you through that process of finding some of the answers to questions that maybe you’ve asked these questions of yourself before, but from your present tense. And when your future self answers them, it’s really powerful. But it’s so beautiful. I think it’s like a 10 minute exercise. But I have been doing this consistently. And I kept going back to it, it was kind of this like safe place for me to go back and let myself dream back then. Whereas in the daytime, the day to day, I was just like focused on, you know, the next tasks and the next thing ahead. So when I got to this place of burnout, I still had that vision in my mind. And I knew that it didn’t look like the business that I had. So that actually kind of gave me permission to put things back on the table and say, okay, maybe I don’t actually need to fix or tweak or modify this business as it is maybe it’s not the structure itself that needs to change. Maybe it’s the whole approach. Maybe it’s everything that I’m doing. And I hadn’t really let myself go there before because I’d built something successful. And it was hard to even imagine letting that go. That’s the first real action that I took as I hired a life coach. That was the big shift for me. And I again, it was a really big jump because I’ve never spent money like that on myself. That wasn’t something specifically like this is for the business. And it was really scary to do that. But as we started talking about who I was, and what you know, what I was aligned with and what I loved about the business that I had, which was something really challenging for me to see in the moment. It really it it came to be very clear. And I love at some point, I love that he told me he’s like, listen, everything you’re telling me is like, I’m not gonna tell you what to do with your career. But everything you’re telling me says that you are a coach. And I was like, I am not a coach. That’s ridiculous. Coaches are just for people to talk to. I’m a creative director, I’m a designer, I’m an artist, I’m an all these things. I’m a doer. Like I can’t just be a person who talks to people, which is so hilarious because I I’m talking to this person, and he’s changing my life, like every conversation. Right? very resistant to it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  18:25

Interesting. So yeah, I’m gonna vacuum up real quick. How did you find your life coach? Right? Because there might be some people listening like, oh, maybe it’s time or maybe I worked with one a while ago. And I should look at this again. How did you choose a life coach that you felt like was a fit for you?

Linsi Brownson  18:41

Yeah. So back then. So I think this was like 2015. I googled it. And I wrote I was typing in creative coach is what I was specifically looking for. I wanted someone who knew my industry, in kind of who knew what, what it was like to be both a creative person who has lots of ideas and things to plan out. And then to also be a business owner. So like, how do we put those into something that we can run day to day? And so that is how I found him. And really what was so amazing is that I realized after I had sent his application in with, you know, what I was looking for, I started digging into him, and I realized that I had read a book of his years ago and not and not realized it. And then I had like really connected with him back then. And so I just put the pieces together. I was like yep, this is my kit. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Now there’s lots of sources. There’s directories online. So my coaching school is the Life Coach School. They have a directory with, I think hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of coaches in all different categories and specific niches and I think that’s a great place to look for.

Heather Pearce Campbell  19:55

When you said your coaching school, so you ended up going and getting certified in Life coaching? 

Linsi Brownson  20:01

Yes, yep. Yeah. And I love the curriculum of The Life Coach School, I feel like they’re a great resource for anyone who wants to work on themselves, because they’re gonna cover all the bases, but there’s tons of directories online as well. Yeah.

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:18

Alright, let’s pause for a moment and hear from today’s sponsor. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:23

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Heather Pearce Campbell  22:56

The other thing that I love about your story is this reminder, because I think so often in our journeys, we can be looking outside of ourselves for resources and the next thing, the next book that you know, but this reminder of going inward and connecting with yourself. And I know the power of the exercise that you talked about the future self exercise my my client, Tara Moore, who actually went through her facilitators training, it’s like a leadership course for women that she does. And it’s phenomenal. And she does a version of that exercise in her as part of her course, where you do like she and she takes you on this whole journey about how you connect with your your future self and visualizing what you look like and your surroundings and you get really detailed, you know, and, and it was deaf. It’s something that has stuck in my mind. It sounds like the same way that exercise the first time you did it kind of stuck in yours. Were like every once in awhile, I visit that version of my future self especially around certain conversations. It reminds me also I need to do it more. But it is a really cool exercise because it does I think it’s a powerful reminder that we have an innate wisdom that’s already there, that we’re just not tapping into.

Linsi Brownson  24:19

Yeah, yeah. Well, I love that. And I I want to share to that vision that I had back then, is my life now, which is really powerful.

Heather Pearce Campbell  24:31

That’s awesome. So tell us about that vision and like the next steps that you took to make it happen.

Linsi Brownson  24:37

Yeah. So I back then. Okay, so the vision was I and just to speak to what you said a minute ago, too. I think the reason it sticks in our minds and it’s so powerful is because it’s an embodied experience. It’s something rather than thinking about it and just seeing it as a like a tactile or a vision in front of us in a vision board. We actually feel it in our body. And we can sense the shift in our energy and our position and how we feel and how we just sense ourselves in a way that we don’t experience as humans. Most of the time, we’re not present to that very often in our lives. So I imagined myself in initially in my office, and so at this time, we are in an apartment, and I envisioned my beautiful office, my beautiful home. And I was laughing, I was on a call, it was on a laptop on like a video call with a client. And we were laughing, and they were so happy. And when we got off the call, I closed the laptop. And I just felt this sense of like expansiveness and pride. And I was just, I felt so like, at home in myself. And then I got up from my beautiful desk, and I went outside, and I took the dog for a walk. So it was like, Oh, this is interesting. We can have personal time in the middle of our workday, how, how novel. And so I mean, Zoom didn’t exist back then laptops were like, these clunky old things. And I saw a beautiful like, air book. It’s just, it’s so incredible to be what I saw back then it didn’t even exist yet. And yeah, what really stood out to me was that client interaction, that client engagement, because I had really great connections with my clients at the time, but it was entirely built around them telling me something and me doing it for them. And, and this wasn’t that interaction at all. And I was like, Oh, I’m giving them value in without, like, drawing them something or without sending them a file or is it I could not wrap my head around it at the time. But I could see and sense that this is true. And that this was how I wanted to engage with my clients. And so I walked myself through kind of the rest of my day, I saw myself after the walk, what I was eating, and how it was treating my body. And then I came back to work. And I did it again and had this amazing call with another amazing client. And then I went out and swam in the pool. And it was just like this whole beautiful, wonderful experience. And so that’s the vision that has really driven me for so long, because it keeps me tethered to my daily habits of like, okay, I am going to head down work and be super present. And you know, not just when I’m obviously when I’m with clients, but in my work. And I’m also going to make sure that I can close the laptop, and get up and move around and have this like really beautiful balance in my life. So that was the vision. That’s the first part of your question. And so how we started to implement it was, it took me a while to really like start to take on the identity of coach, but I was doing I was consulting at the time. So that’s primarily consulting and creative direction is my role in the company. And then other people were doing most of the implementation work. So I kept that business structure the same for about another two years. But I started to focus more and more of my energy on not just bringing clients into the the consulting part of like the branding and marketing process, but really like, stepping it back to like, Okay, and what are you doing outside of your workday? And how did you come to this place where you’ve decided to like, rebrand your company? Like, why do you want to do that? And what do you think that’s gonna get you and really starting to, like, use some of the coaching techniques and tools that I was learning at the time and implementing them into the work that I was already doing. And then eventually, with the help of my coach, I got brave enough to actually tell a couple of my clients, which by the way, two of those clients are still my client today. But actually tell them like, I’m a coach now. And I would like to work. This is so clunky, I’d like to work with you as a coach. And here’s how it’s different. And can we just talk about your life and your, you know, your personal goals and your relationships and all of those things? And they were open to it, which is amazing, because we built that trust in that rush. And so that’s kind of how we did it. We did it for a couple of years, it really paralleled and I moved more into the coaching side of things. I kept the business there was a point where I just decided I don’t want to take new business in in the creative direction. I just didn’t, I wasn’t trying to scale it. I wasn’t trying to grow it. I did talk with a couple of people about selling it to them ended up just giving my client list to my favorite designer who was wanting to scale her. Yeah, yeah. And so that just felt really good to me. So I decided as it felt natural that I was ready to let that side of things go and just be where I am now.

Heather Pearce Campbell  29:44

Well, it’s you know, the part of your story that I keep going back to is this piece around like stopping of the doing right, like you had such a hard time shifting, which I think is totally reflective of human nature in general but it’s been actually modern mindsets around like our value is in the doing, right is in the production of something the creation of something that like, almost like we need proof that we can be valued, right? Yeah. Do you feel like that part of you has shifted? 

Linsi Brownson  30:20

Yes, dramatically. And as you’re saying that, too, I’m like, Ooh, maybe I simplified that too much. In my explanation, I struggled with it a lot. But yes, I feel entirely different. It’s almost like just reverse engineering, the approach. So doing is important. Doing is essential, right? And businesses do a lot of things. But that approach to it, that being, that mindset, that sense of value, and higher level thinking is that’s really what we’re talking about. When we say mindset, like thinking more intentionally planning what we’re going to do, rather than just doing because something’s in front of us, or sounds like a good idea, or someone told us that we should write so many reasons, really getting to that kind of grounded state, that you can make decisions about what you are going to do based on the value that that you think it will contribute and produce phrase actions. So yeah, I’m not really a doer anymore. I’m more of a like, let’s make a case, let’s see how this fits in to the picture that we already have bought into to the identity to the direction the objectives that were already on board with, let’s just see. And then if parts of that are worth doing, then we do them.

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:46

I love that. It sounds like you really help people peel back to a much bigger picture first, where so many of us want to like dig into the details, right? 

Linsi Brownson  31:57

Yeah. Yeah. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:59

Can you share a little bit about like, once you transitioned to coaching and how long have you been doing that now?

Linsi Brownson  32:08

So I went full coaching in 2019. Hmm, okay. Yeah.

Heather Pearce Campbell  32:13

Pre pandemic? Yes. So what are the primary ways? Talk to us about some of the ways that you dig into these issues with clients? Like, what is the journey that they’re going on when they’re working with you?

Linsi Brownson  32:26

Yeah. So I have kind of  two problems that clients bring to me. And they usually go together, but they’ll present one before the other. There is the client who is overwhelmed, because they’re busy all the time. They’re just doing all the things all the time. And the problem is that it’s working. And so they’re like, I cannot stop, I cannot get off the hamster wheel, they can’t slow down. But they also know the reason they come to me is because they know that that’s not sustainable, they’re not going to be able to do it. And usually that client has also tried to hire people. They have either had VAs or they’ve hired team members, and it’s just like, gone up in smoke. So they’re like, great, the thing that I thought was going to be my life preserver is not that’s even that’s not helping. So I guess there’s gonna have to be, yeah, another way. And then the other type of client is overwhelmed, because they feel like there’s a bajillion things to do. And they don’t know what to do first. So they’re actually in inaction, not doing a lot of things but their busyness is in their mind. So it’s constantly busy running around, they’re on the same hamster wheel. It’s just the difference between I’m actually physically exhausting myself, or I’m mentally exhausting myself, right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:46

Yeah, no, that’s a great kind of juxtaposition for the folks that, because it’s interesting, I need to go back to my friend, I have a friend who teaches entrepreneurs and he has this curve, and I forget what he calls it, I need to go back. And because it’s so on point with what you’re talking about the folks who are doing well enough that it’s working like they’re generating income their businesses moving, but they’re not getting out of that area, that zone where it’s still too hard. It’s not what they thought it was going to be. It’s not what they planned for. Right? And they can be really hard to move beyond that. So what are those? What are some of the first things that you have them look at where steps to take?

Linsi Brownson  34:31

Yeah, I think the very first thing that we all want to do, and this is probably a practice that you can do forever, very similar to the visualization, but to really like check in on the identity of your business like what you think your business is supposed to look like what you think it should look like. Some of us have a very clear vision for our future. But even if you don’t have that very clear vision for your future, you definitely have a vision And for your right now, like, what do you think everything is supposed to look like? I think one of the most beneficial things you can ever do is to start to tease apart, like the layers within that vision. Because what we think our business is supposed to look like is a mix. It’s a very confusing mix sometimes. Because it’s desires, it’s what we love, and what we want more of it’s previous experience that has worked or not worked for us, we’re bringing that into the mix. It’s what other people have told us we should want or need to do. It’s all old beliefs around like money, work ethic, security worth so much stuff. So even what you’re thinking that your business should look like, right now is a mix of a lot of things. And what like how that simply breaks down is there are desires in that identity. And then there are shoulds. And the desires are your growth points. Those are the things that are going to expand your business, expand your earning potential, expand your opportunity and the things that you’re exposed to in your life. And then the shoulds are what fuel your pain, they’re going to be the stopping points, the blocks, the heaviness, and the things that slow you down. And so I think that one of the best things you can ever do is to start to like, look at that, as this is the story of what my business should look like, what do I love about like, what do I want to keep? And what can I let go of so that I can make some better choices and focus my energy on the desires rather than the sheds?

Heather Pearce Campbell  36:34

Yeah, that’s a great, it’s a great way of illustrating, I think the things that we carry around with us that are sometimes unspoken, or like you said, they all kind of exist in the same place, but they’re very different inputs.

Linsi Brownson  36:47

Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

Heather Pearce Campbell  36:49

Do you ever find that people are hanging on to a business? Or? Yeah, and I would say mostly a business? Are they hanging on to a business because of their idea, like some idea of what they think it will be? Or think it should be? Versus like, what they’re actually creating? And maybe even what they actually want? Yeah, right? Yeah, I bet when you start peeling some of that away, you find out like, Oh, it wasn’t actually what they really truly wanted in the first place.

Linsi Brownson  37:23

Yes. So often, I would say all of us are doing it to some extent. And like you said earlier, some more than others. Yeah. So that’s what it gives us that power to really I call it right sizing your business like to really decide intentionally? What’s the growth projection? What is the size of the team, what is the lifestyle, and work lifestyle that I want to have, and really allowing yourself with that, that honest truth of these are what I want. And these are the things I think I should do or should have, and setting those aside. So that you can actually, you know, put the decisions in place for a right sized business, even for me in the last year, because my business was on a trajectory. And I did the same thing. I did the same work and came back to this place of really wanting to stay a solopreneur. And it was surprising to me to be there. I was like, Wait a second. Why do you want that? What are you doing? You’ve got all these years behind you, like so many things, so many shoulds went into it. And I had to be really brave to stay in integrity with what I truly wanted. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:40

Well, that’s such an important point. I think that you know, the shoulds. And I think in the coaching world, they’re also called tolerations, right? The things that we tolerate that we really need to just clear out of our thinking. It’s like I was talking with a guy on the podcast not too long ago, and he’s brilliant. And he’s built like multiple seven-figure businesses. And he said, you know, because he built a three or $4 million a year company, basically providing one service, doing it really well building up team and then he went through a period of time where he’s like, that’s really not what I want. I do just fine. Running like a million or million a half year business, right in revenues. I didn’t need to scale up and work that hard when I realized I could take away some of this extra stuff that I really didn’t need to be doing. Yeah, and have a great life be just as you know, happier actually. So yeah, you know, I think a lot of people do find that and it’s an important thing like I love what you said about being courageous enough or you know, honest enough with yourself about your desire to stay a solopreneur because I think that’s really hard for people.

Linsi Brownson  39:57

Yeah, it has absolutely can be. And the truth is, the answer you come up with, when you ask yourself these questions might really, really surprise you. And like I’m thinking a couple of of clients right now I have one who really thought he wanted to stay small and have this tiny little team. And what we’ve realized is that he actually wants to sell his business. And so now we’re building the business in a completely different way. Because he wants to get it to a point in the next five to seven years, where it’s a viable, sellable business. That’s never something that crossed his mind before and but we had to get all those layers out. And  I have a client who thought she wanted to be a solopreneur, and do all the things and, and really stay in that creative role. And now she has a team of like seven people, and she’s really happy in an office space. And that’s the direction that she’s gone. That was so different than what she thought, I have another client who had an amazing team, like these are just really recent examples. Now, I’m laughing, as I’m saying this and like, yeah, oh, you’re right. This is totally, who had a team, and was really excited about hiring of love true employee, because they had been contractors. And she hired that contract or that employee, and it all went sideways very quickly. And in the process of like, when she came on with us, she’s like, wow, I don’t know what to do. We started looking at it. And now she’s back to being a solopreneur, as well. So completely different expectations of where we should be going from what’s truly aligned for us. And they’re all so much happier with that alignment.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:35

Now, I love that. And I think it’s so important for us to really figure out what that is for ourselves. Let me ask you this, what are people missing? When they’re trying to figure that out themselves? Like, what do you see people doing wrong? And what are the questions that you’re helping them ask themselves? So they get at the truth?

Linsi Brownson  41:56

Yeah. Such a good, wonderful and deep question. Because I have so many ways to answer it. And I don’t want to go off on a total tangent. I mean, I think honestly, I think the perspective is really the key thing. I think the benefit that we get when we talk to another human being is so great just for the sake of having someone else’s perspective and their seat. And their objectivity. If you are working with someone like a coach, you’re getting true objectivity. That helps so much, because they can even tease out from you the things that you say that are incongruent they can they can tease out the things from you where you’re like, where you keep talking about one thing, but you keep like lighting up, or your energy changes when you talk about a different thing. And they can point those things out. I really think that that’s the magic of these conversations/

Heather Pearce Campbell  42:51

That reflection process. Yes, having somebody else observe and reflect back to you. It’s so true. You know, even in just a really simple way, I had a conversation with a friend over the weekend, right. But even for friends, like we’ve known each other really well, for years and years, she’s one of my dearest friends. But her family’s going through some really tough times around end of life care and end of life stuff with her mother. And, you know, it was a highly distressing time for her and we were on the phone, she’s out there visiting. And, you know, she texted me afterwards, like, I feel so much better. And I kind of thought like, what, how could you feel any better because the situation was still really hard, right? But then I just realized that process of being able to share and reflect back and like helping her explore options and other strategies and things to consider. It does move people out of feeling stuck and in their pain, I think, to really being much more empowered around decision making around their perspective on reality, right? And you’re absolutely right. I think we don’t get that without the process of interacting with another human being and having them reflect some things back to us.

Linsi Brownson  44:13

Yeah, yeah, I totally, totally agree.

Heather Pearce Campbell  44:17

And I love I mean, I love hearing the outcomes of some of your clients like ending up creating this thing that they didn’t even know you know, they wanted or, or scaling back down or whatever what have been some of the the client scenarios that have surprised you most.

Linsi Brownson  44:35

Um, I definitely think that the client who had the team and was hiring the employee, we were both shocked by it because she is incredibly, she’s incredibly organized and such and she’s a good a great communicator, and she is very type A she’s very much a doer. And so that was thing, obviously that she came back, she’s like, I’m exhausted. She also got pregnant very shortly after we started working together. And I think that that was obviously a catalyst because then we’re like, Okay, now we’re building a business that’s going to support you through having the maternity leave that you want that will continue to grow your business, we actually changed her entire structure of her business. In the most simple and aligned way. It’s almost like mind blowing how different from what she was building and what was working and what she was building, and how we kind of just went through like, I almost think about it with, I don’t know why a car is coming to mind. But it’s almost like, if you went in and found that there were all these unnecessary parts inside of a car you like go in and you go to like, fix, I have no idea but how cars work, you go to fix something. And you’re like, if I just add this, like new engine in there, that we’re gonna go so much faster and farther, it’s gonna be amazing. You get in there, and you’re like, Wait, what does this do? This isn’t even hooked up to anything like, we don’t need that, like, what does this do? Like that’s old and rusted, that can’t be good for us. Let’s take that out. We actually just like start pulling all these things out. And what we’re left with is like just this really amazing thing with the shiny engine. And we’re like, cool that it seems to work really, really well.

Heather Pearce Campbell  46:20

That’s a great example, though. I mean, I can’t even remember if it was in conversation, or if I was listening to another podcast recently about that about, like, some businesses end up going so much farther, faster. By removing, like getting rid of unnecessary services, or things that they’re offering or doing that are just not really working, right, and really looking at numbers and people and figuring out what is at the core. And like, and also the real like genius of either the business or the offering or whatever, doing more of that. 

Linsi Brownson  47:00

Yes, that’s it. That’s exactly my whole philosophy, I really think that whatever it is that had you start your business, that’s the core, that’s the thing that really like has the most earning potential, the most opportunity, if we can just, like hone in on that, and foster that and identify the ways that that can be so unique and special and interesting and valuable in the world. We don’t need all these extra things going on. And so I think whether you’re a business who ends up growing a team and having an office or ends up scaling down and staying a solopreneur, that’s always what I’m looking to do. I’m like, what is the least amount of fluff and effort and time, and overthinking and overworking? What’s the least amount of stuff that we can do to get the most powerful results? And when we come up with that, like, what’s the result that we can really create with the thing that you offer service or the product? And how can that change people’s life for the better. I mean, that is worth so much more money than entrepreneurs ever realized, too. When we talk about raising prices, it has to come from this like real clear understanding of like, we’re doing some great work in the world, like this is what it’s worth. And so simplifying does give you access to all of that all of those decisions.

Heather Pearce Campbell  48:20

Do you find it a challenge for folks to simplify? Not really? Not once they’re clear?

Linsi Brownson  48:27

Yeah. Yeah, that’s a great question. I, I have experienced very little resistance with clients once we can kind of show them cause and effect is usually the I mean, the other thing I show them too, is like, here’s the result you’re creating with your busyness, here’s the result that you’re creating with overworking. They don’t usually like those results.

Heather Pearce Campbell  48:49

And is that always right? Right? Is that always the problem they come to you with? Is either just being overly busy over work, like, are they at the point of like ready to throw in the towel? Or they know they just need to shift directions?

Linsi Brownson  49:04

Sometimes it kind of depends. Yeah, some definitely come in. I would say most clients at this point come in well before that breaking point. But the distinction is that they recognize like, I used to really love this. And now I don’t love it anymore. And I don’t want to keep going to the point where I hate it. It’s usually the place they are.

Heather Pearce Campbell  49:26

What has surprised you most most about your own path?

Linsi Brownson  49:32

Gosh, my really honest answer is how long it has taken to get here. I feel so when I look back in my history. I can see the alignment was always there which is so fascinating. And I can see how every time I went in in like a branched off direction. I always came back to that center point. And I, like in hindsight, came back pretty quickly like we’re done I can maybe a few months, maybe a year of being wayward. But yeah, like grand scheme of things. I think what’s so interesting. And what I love about being a coach, too, that we learn through coaching is like, you’re never going to be happy all the time, you’re never going to feel fully settled, you’re always you’re going to have human emotions as long as you get to be a human. And some of them are not going to feel good. And so I think that’s where coaching has made. The biggest difference for me is kind of coming to that acceptance. But yeah, I mean, I tell my clients, sometimes I’m like, I woke up and did not want to come here today. Like, I’m so happy to be here. And like, I love this, and I love my work, and I love my life. But I still wake up like real crabby sometimes, and just like the world is falling, I have two hours to get it together before I need to, like help someone with their own life. And yeah, it’s kind of surprising to me that that, that I still sometimes feel so ungrounded in my career in my life, but when I recognize that, because they have the tools and the awareness that I have, I come back to this like appreciation like, Oh, that’s right, because all of these amazing things, because I’m still growing like that is actually what we want. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  51:16

Yeah. Well, yeah. And I think it is important, like there’s there in I think in the entrepreneurial path, there is no like, perfect arrival point, right? We’re always moving, we’re always growing or at least changing. Hopefully growing, that’s my personal help. But also, you know, what I love about your story is just a reminder, and I truly believe this, like, there’s really no such thing as false start. And I think a lot of people can put a lot of pressure on themselves around, like, you know, and I know some people in my life, like my husband is so funny, because he is kind of like one of those steady Eddie true blue types, like super dedicated to his job and company, you know, almost to the point where I’m like, anyways, I’ll not go into that conversation. But he will sometimes be kind of critical of people who like move jobs a lot, or do this and then do that. And I see it really differently. Like, you know, of course, I think that’s hard for somebody with like a really steady. And he’s also let’s be clear, not an entrepreneur, right? He’s an employee and employed somewhere else. But I think for entrepreneurs, like, there is part of the spark and joy that comes in trying something new, but then also this sense of like, oh, I failed, or that was a false start, or I have to change gears again. Yeah. And yet, just like in your story, like, it always leads you to the next thing. And hopefully, like you keep doing the work and staying committed to, you know, whatever your vision is, you’ll find it and like none of those things are false starts. So I love that about your story, because that seems real clear.

Linsi Brownson  53:03

That was a beautiful way to say that. I love that.

Heather Pearce Campbell  53:06

So and I know I need to be respectful of time here. I always feel like I could just keep talking with folks. Share with us for folks that are going like hmm, I may need to connect with Lindsey and check out her services or some of her content. You know, I’m feeling overworked or too busy or needing to streamline, where do you like to send people? Where do you connect with folks online?

Linsi Brownson  53:30

Yeah. So as you mentioned, in the beginning, I have a podcast, I think that’s probably the best content that I have ever created called Be brilliant in your Business. You can find that on my website, linsibrownson.com. I will also put up the ultimate business clarity that is the visualization, the meditation audio, if any of the listeners want to go and try that out. Also, my version of it comes with a little worksheet action plan. So the mentorship you get from your future self, you can write it down and have it posted somewhere in your office if you’d like. And I’m on Instagram @linsibrownson. That’s a great place to DM me we can chat there. And yeah, that’s where I’m most often.

Heather Pearce Campbell  54:18

I love it. When did you launch your podcast?

Linsi Brownson  54:21

2019

Heather Pearce Campbell  54:23

Okay, super fun. Has that been a fun place for you to spend time?

Linsi Brownson  54:28

Yes, it has actually been on a hiatus we’re working on I think it’s season eight… no, nine, working on season nine right now. But we’ve been offline for a few months here. So it’s a slower pace than what I’m used to when the the season is up right now.

Heather Pearce Campbell  54:45

I believe that. Well, I’m super thrilled to share your links. If you’re listening you can pop over and find Linsi’s information including her website. I love that you’re sharing that meditation. I think that’ll be phenomenal. Such a good reminder for me to go back and do that again. And you’re any social media links that you want me to share at the show notes page, which can be found at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast, go look for Linsi’s episode. Linsi, it’s been so fun to hear about your story and see like how much joy you are getting out of your current work and your current path. What final either takeaway or thoughts would you like to leave with our listeners today? 

Linsi Brownson  55:28

Thank you so much, Heather. This has been amazing. I think a simple reminder of what you said earlier, which is just this inner wisdom, you have so many answers that you’re not giving yourself credit for. And I want to encourage listeners to just take some time today and check in with your inner wisdom or go to yourself first, make yourself that first source of wisdom before you need to go and seek other input.

Heather Pearce Campbell  55:58

I love that such a good reminder. Well, Linsi, I’m thrilled to be connected. Thank you for joining me today. I know people will get a lot of value out of this conversation.

Linsi Brownson  56:08

Thank you so much, Heather.

GGGB Outro  56:13

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business™ podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.