344 MINISODE Kelly McCausey: No More Apologizing

Women Innovating Networking Growing Scaling – that’s WINGS … I’m Melinda Wittstock, my mission is to help women take flight to soar to the success of our dreams in business and in life– and create and grow businesses in alignment with our passion and purpose.

On this special Mentoring Minisode of Wings of Inspired Business … we talk about daring … daring to step into the light … without apology. And why women often choose to lose by staying in the shadows. We all have something unique to share, and no, no one has heard it before … from you! Plus why you should always take a stand for what you believe in.

Here with us today to provide her insights and inspiration is …

Kelly McCausey.

Kelly is an instigator of communities. Her company is called Love People and Make Money. And her journey began when she became one of the earliest pioneers of Internet Radio, founding Work At Home Mom’s Radio back in 2003. It evolved into a massive community and a paid membership site – combining the affinity of community with the power to collaborate and educate.

Kelly will be here with her advice in just a moment and first …

And now to the inspiring Kelly McCausey.

Kelly started out broke, a single mom, trying to make it all work. Kelly started in business in 2002 making graphics and websites for other home-based business owners. Working hard with long hours, she soon realized she was charging too little for her time and talents. Sound familiar? So many women undervalue their own services and products. Then she discovered a smarter way to build an income online, one that didn’t sacrifice her precious time.

Today, Kelly blogs, podcasts, creates information products and runs a membership program. Additionally, Kelly holds live events and retreats for female entrepreneurs to help them achieve their dreams and grow their online businesses and communities.

Melinda Wittstock:         Kelly, welcome to Wings.

Kelly McCausey:              Oh, I’m glad to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:         I’m glad to have you on, as well. I always like to talk to people who love content, because I do, too. I feel like my whole entrepreneurial journey has been linked to content in some way, and we all need it. What’s inspiring you right now?

Kelly McCausey:              Ooh, what’s inspiring me is there’s an email challenge I’m running right now. It’s called I Dare You to Email. It could’ve been called anything else, but it just comes down to people start mailing lists, and then they don’t email their communities. It’s inspiring me to see how people rise up to a dare. When you take a stand, you become an invitation, and they’re just rising to it. It is exciting.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, it’s interesting how sometimes people really just need to be pushed along, whether it’s like we feel, as women, we need permission or anointing or something.

Kelly McCausey:              Yes!

Melinda Wittstock:         Or just the dare, right?

Kelly McCausey:              Yep.

Melinda Wittstock:         A lot of it’s just starting.

Kelly McCausey:              A gal was covering for me in a session this week, and she said a couple of times, “I don’t want to make this the Jennifer Show.” When my friends were telling me about it later, I laughed, and I messaged her right away, and I’m like, “Yes, you do.”

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, gosh, you know it’s so interesting how women get so afraid of just stepping into the light and just owning all that makes them wonderful.

Kelly McCausey:              Yep.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, no, it’s actually an interesting segue into the challenge section of this. I always ask, what’s challenging you, but also just what’s challenging some of your clients, as well, at the moment, because the entrepreneurial journey, of course is always challenging? What are some of the things that come up?

Kelly McCausey:              Ego gets in the way. I don’t mean like they have a big ego. I mean, they have a self-protective ego. There’s like … They think, “Oh, they don’t want to hear from me,” or, “They’ve already heard about this,” or, “I’m not qualified to talk about that.” They’re challenged by their own ego and insecurities, and it just makes them freeze up and go quiet.

The challenge is all about just, so what? I am in an industry where my friends are my competitors. They’re my direct competitors. If I start to think, oh, they’ve already heard this, then I’ll never email anything, because we’re all … When it comes down to content marketing, we’re all talking about essentially the same thing.

Melinda Wittstock:         Gosh, that’s so true, right? Because you can think, oh, so-and-so does that, so I’m not going to, but everybody is basically talking about the same things. It’s really true, and so, well, this is an interesting one, because how does your content stand out? Because I think that’s the really difficult thing to figure out how you’re differentiated from everybody else.

Kelly McCausey:              For me, it is about embracing that you have a unique perspective, even if it is only a hair of a difference. It’s yours, so share it. What I know to be true is that they may have heard it from 10 other people, but when it comes out of your mouth, they’ll finally get it. It would be just a dang shame if you stayed frozen and robbed them of that opportunity.

Melinda Wittstock:         Gosh, yes. Yeah, no, that’s so true. You’ve learned a lot of things along the way, like we all have, on your entrepreneurial journey, Kelly. Tell me, what are the top three pieces of advice you would give yourself if you were just starting out or along the way? What are the three most important things you’d tell another female entrepreneur to go do?

Kelly McCausey:              Get into community as soon as possible. Throw yourself into a community of women who are doing what you want to do, and even if you have to buy your way into it, meaning paying to be part of a mastermind or buying a ticket to an event. Do it, because the relationships … You have an inkling of what you’re meant to do. Maybe you even have a full-blown vision, but it’s when you see it mirrored back at you from these other women that you go home, you close the computer, whatever, however you’ve been connecting, and you’re just so fired up. They see it, too. Yes, I can do this! It’s so important to be part of a community.

Melinda Wittstock:         It’s game changing. I don’t think I ever really succeeded in business until I got that, because we all need validation. The curious things, especially about women, is when we’re collaborating with other women, we release the brain chemical, oxytocin. We’re meant to be in community. It’s how we’re hardwired, and yet I see so many women in isolation. What a great piece of advice. Just go, get out of your comfort zone and connect. What’s number two?

Kelly McCausey:              Number two: Take a stand. As I mentioned before, when you take a stand, you become an invitation. In content marketing, it’s really common for people to just start brainstorming topics that are really boring, and like Five Reasons to … blah-blah-blah. Take a stand and say something ballsy.

One of my favorite examples of somebody taking a stand was a parenting coach who said, “Moms, if you keep babying that kid, it’s going to turn into a weak, whiny adult that nobody likes.” That’s ballsy! That’s a ballsy piece of content, as opposed to Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Spoil Your Child. That’s boring! If I’m in the act of spoiling my child, I don’t want you to give me reasons not to, but if you scare me with the future, that I’m going to turn him into a weak, whiny adult, now I’m ready to listen.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative), mm-hmm (affirmative), that’s very good advice, and what’s number three?

Kelly McCausey:              Oh, work on yourself. My biggest-

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, yes.

Kelly McCausey:              My greatest growth since 2013 has come from turning all of … Instead of constantly investing into my business development, I turned to invest into my self-development, and it was a game changer.

Melinda Wittstock:         It actually grew your business, right? I think that’s really true. The same thing happened to me, and really in the same year. That’s really funny; 2013 seems to … A lot of people I know had a big game change year that year or started a personal journey. What’s interesting is when you work on yourself, all the business stuff falls into place.

Kelly McCausey:              Mm-hmm (affirmative), it does. The exponential growth this year came from yet another step I took toward self-development, where I trusted somebody to really dig into some things with me, and huge results.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, gosh, that’s wonderful. What sort of self-development do you recommend? I mean, so many people do a lot of different things, but how did it start? What worked for you?

Kelly McCausey:              Yeah, so I had a friend who had been inviting me to a Radical Leadership Retreat, which is a three-day event you go to. You’re in a small group, and you just dig into what is ego? What is essence? The goal is to peel them apart, because ego and essence gets collapsed out in the world. You get a bubbly, fun idea, and then ego comes in and puts a bunch of rules on it, and to peel it apart. The whole weekend was about that. Radical Leadership was awesome for me. I loved it so much, I went back and got certified, so I could use the tools in my business coaching. I worked one-on-one with a coach, life/performance coach, because my … I don’t know about y’all’s ego, but my ego is slippery. Just when I think, oh I’ve got it, I’ll never do that again, I just find another creative way to do it.

Melinda Wittstock:         Our minds are … Oh, my goodness. We have to recover from our own minds.

Kelly McCausey:              Yep.

Melinda Wittstock:         It’s funny, right? The further you go on this journey, the more you start to see that. It’s fascinating, oh, my goodness. Kelly, how can people find you and work with you. You do this coaching, but then you also have … You’re the content maven and everybody needs that, so how can people find you and work with you.

Kelly McCausey:              It’s lovepeoplemakemoney.com. That’s where I blog and podcast. That’s where you can find my weekly mastermind group, my Facebook community, and learn about my events and coaching.

Melinda Wittstock:         Wonderful, well thank you for putting on your wings and flying with us.

Kelly McCausey:              Thanks for having me.