MAD LOVE MONDAY | Caterina Snyder
I know a lot of people say that they were born as entrepreneurs and that they left their jobs to pursue their passion or their true calling, but I’m not one of them. Not even close. The truth is that although I’ve always been very driven and outwardly successful, in my education, career, for most of my life that was a pretty picture I painted, not a reflection of my inner reality.
I know a lot of people say that they were born as entrepreneurs and that they left their jobs to pursue their passion or their true calling, but I’m not one of them. Not even close.
The truth is that although I’ve always been very driven and outwardly successful, in my education, career, for most of my life that was a pretty picture I painted, not a reflection of my inner reality.
Photography by: @tracey.jazmin
The truth is that I struggled HARD behind the scenes and I never fit in. Not even a little bit. I was bullied from elementary school to high school. I was sick all the time and had chronic infections, brutal migraines, and insomnia. In fact, I was on a pretty regular schedule of major burnouts every 10 years (age 15, 25 and 35) and minor burnouts every 2 years. Despite all this, my ambition, work ethic, and need for approval and validation allowed me to excel in University, skip my masters and go straight into a fully funded Ph.D. program, AND have a lot of pretty impressive jobs… all before I was 30.
But I was living a lie and lies will always fall apart. I was constantly plagued by self-doubt and anxiety.
And even though my transcripts and resume are impressive I quit my Ph.D. program after 2 years because I basically had a nervous breakdown. I've also been fired from 3 different jobs! The people I worked with in my corporate phase mostly hated me, even when I didn’t get fired because I was constantly rocking the boat and pushing the envelope. And let's be honest, in our vanilla society, disruptors are rarely valued, especially when they're fat feminists who are loud AF and are challenging everything you hold dear. But as ugly and miserable as that struggle was, I persisted. I got back up. Again. And again.
I learned from my ‘mistakes’ and all the rejection but not in the way you might expect. Instead, I didn’t tone myself down or try to be more likable… well, that’s a lie, I did try but that failed too. In short, I refused to go quietly into the night and conform to what the world told me I ‘should’ be. And that’s how I met entrepreneurship.
Photography by: @tracey.jazmin
I wish I could say that it was this romantic love at first sight introduction, but the truth is we got off to a rocky start. I didn’t leave my job because I had the courage to change my life, I left on medical leave. Then I spent the next 4 uninspired years trying to make a go of it with in-the-box consulting work. I was eventually financially successful, but I had SERIOUSLY jerky clients. And then things got really bad. Lol. I went 9 months without a single client. My hubby supported us, but we nearly maxed out our credit and cashed in most of our savings. In this time of ‘failure’, however, I did something that the Universe had been waiting 38 years for me to do.
I stopped apologizing for who I was and stepped up to be the leader I was born to be.
It began, in earnest, when I met a life coach, named Glenda Lane. She told me something that blew my mind. Something I had never considered. She said, “You’re a Unicorn, thank God you’re not normal!” In my 38 years on earth, I had never once considered that being so weird was actually an advantage?!? A reason why people might like me instead of disliking me and pay me more instead of less?!? Suddenly, the world of entrepreneurship started to look very different. And I realized something that would, over the next two years, change everything in my life and business. I realized that the only rules were the ones YOU CREATE. In truth, there are NO RULES. No right way and wrong way. And this knowledge set me free.
I finally stopped apologizing for who I was and instead started screaming it from the rooftops. I stopped talking about what I do and instead talked about what I believe because that’s what actually matters. And it worked. Like BIG TIME. People began to see me differently and a community rapidly built itself around me. This is turn gave me the courage and insight to pursue what had always been my true passion and greatest gift, helping other Unicorns realize they’re Unicorns and then using that unicorness (totally a word!) to build confidence, community, and world-changing movements.
In the year following my 9-months-with-NO-clients phase I made $150K, landed my first $50k+ client, and went from working with assholes to working with the kind of Unicorns that are shattering ceilings, debunking myths about who we ‘should’ be, and completely reinventing in an utterly unique way, how we define success.
And the icing on the cake? I even have a team of badass Unicorns who help me do this!
Photography by: @tracey.jazmin
So the next time you think that Entrepreneurship is all about struggle or that you’re never going to make an impact, have a community, or be loved for who you really are… STOP that runaway train of self-sabotage and KNOW THIS: Each of us is a magical fucking unicorn and that all you need to do is let her out.
Caterina Snyder | Brand Consultant & Coach
https://caterinasnyder.com/
https://www.instagram.com/caterina.snyder/
https://www.facebook.com/caterinasnyderconsulting/
MAD LOVE MONDAY | Danielle Dugan - Etched In Marketing
Hello YEG Boss Babes! My name is Danielle, and I am the owner of Etched In Marketing. I found a love for marketing in university, and with that came a dream of one day having my own consulting business.
Nicole Constante Photography
Hello YEG Boss Babes! My name is Danielle, and I am the owner of Etched In Marketing.
I found a love for marketing in university, and with that came a dream of one day having my own consulting business. My goal with this business was to have the opportunity to work with amazing business owners and brands to help others see how great they truly are. After a few years of working in a couple of very different industries, the time came when the only questions left was "why not now?". So with some support and motivation to take a leap, I started Etched In Marketing. At first, it was a side hustle, and now it is my full-time focus.
Through Etched In Marketing, I work with local small businesses and entrepreneurs in various consumer industries, with a focus on wellness and lifestyle. Etched In Marketing provides a full range of marketing consulting and services, customized to a businesses needs, goals and resources. For one client, this may mean help creating a presence online with training to manage it themselves, well for another, it might be developing and implementing a cohesive marketing and communications strategy. My goal is to work with a business to provide support and find an effective marketing strategy that works for their unique situation.
Nicole Constante Photography
Work/Life/Social Media Balance
I often get asked about how I balance my time on social media when it is such a big part of my work. Since I am sure this is something many of you encounter, I thought today I would share a bit more about this topic.
By now, most people are aware of the negative implications social media can have on our mental health, but it also isn't all bad. Social media can be entertaining, a great way to connect, a source of inspiration, a way to find out about new places, and many other positive things.
While I am by no means an expert on mental health or work-life balance, from my experience, there are two points that have helped me to balance life online with real life:
1) Remember that social media is, at most, only partially representative of reality.
Even when authentic, the posts we choose to share online are still curated - it still takes numerous shots to nail that selfie, and we still adjust the framing or staging of a photo to make sure it looks "just right".
While I 100% encourage you to be real online in a way that you are comfortable and that fits with your brand (this type of openness leads to real connections) there will still be things that don't make it into your feed. That is okay! But just as there will be things that you won't' be sharing online, everyone else will have more to their story that you can see.
Don't use social media as your measure for business or personal success, or a benchmark of what your life should be.
2) Be intentional about how you're spending your time online.
Nicole Constante Photography
You have limited resources both in your business and life. Why are you investing those resources in social media? What are you hoping to get out of this investment? Is your investment paying off?
Instead of being online simply because everyone is online, or because it is a habit, be intentional about it. Move away from those times you, without thinking, pick up your phone and start scrolling and be present and deliberate about how you spend your time and energy. Turn off notifications. Set time limits that make sense for you and your life. And if your posting for your business, spend time to come up with a plan that makes sense and schedule when possible.
In general, enjoy the time you are on social media, and if you are not, it's okay to take a break.
While it does require an ongoing effort to find that balance, at the end of the day, I do love social media as a way to learn about new businesses/places/events, to hear about what people are up to & to make new connections. Find me online or at a Boss Babes event and let's chat more!
WANT TO LEARN EVEN MORE? Check out our upcoming workshop “Content & Cocktails” for a chance to connect with Danielle, Sarah Van Marketing & the YEG Boss Babe Team!
