Women In The Business Arena

“Sometimes as people grow their businesses, instead of achieving the freedom that they had hoped for, they actually end up more tied to their work.” - Sonya Stattmann Misconceptions about the business arena are leading to disturbing trends. Many aspiring entrepreneurs are intrigued by the idea of running their own business. They are excited by the opportunities that a business can provide for them, and the freedom and lifestyle benefits they can enjoy. The appeal of the entrepreneurial life has led to many people rushing out of their traditional nine-to-five jobs in search of better options. “As some industries get flooded and the business environment changes, we need to create different plans and strategies, and we need to find our target market.” - Sonya Stattmann (20:48 -21:07) While the path of an entrepreneur can undoubtedly be advantageous if done right, it is often misunderstood. The perception of freedom is a big driver for many that are thinking of starting their own businesses. But a lot of th

“Many business owners are trying to do too much on social media. They are on every platform, and they are churning out content left and right, but they are not leveraging it properly.” - Sonya Stattmann (3:03 - 3:16) Anna Kochetkova is a Social Media Strategist and Founder of Good Social Only. She helps women in established service businesses and not-for-profits utilize social media to power their mission and goals. She designs effective social media marketing and Facebook ad campaigns that leverage her clients’ communities and create social change. She is also a client of the Women in the Arena program. Social media can be a tricky subject for many entrepreneurs. It can help us run a business, but often entrepreneurs get lost when trying to implement it in a strategic way. Instead of doing good social, they end up running themselves into the ground and they produce no results from their efforts. Many entrepreneurs wonder which platform to focus on, if they should run paid ads, or how much content they sh

“I don’t know if business owners stop often enough to really evaluate how they are managing their energy, stress, and emotions.” - Sonya Stattmann (5:51 - 6:03) Kathryn Stoneman is a children’s movement & mindfulness trainer, and she is the Founder of Bearfoot Yoga. She has taught movement and mindfulness to hundreds of children along the Central Coast of Australia and now trains early childhood educators to deliver movement and mindfulness program within their schools. It is her life purpose to bring the many benefits of movement & mindfulness to as many kids as possible. Mindfulness is incredibly beneficial for children, but also for entrepreneurs. Mindfulness is a practice that involves taking some time during the day to slow down and focus on your thoughts, emotions, and feelings. It could also mean a quick movement session to move your body gently and let go of stress. It is a practice that has been around for ages in different traditional cultures across the globe, and it has been gaining in

“There’s an opportunity for growth with every experience. You’ve got to be open to that growth and willing to take on the opportunities it presents.” - Ed Stattmann (18:43-19:11) Technology and the changing nature of work have allowed entrepreneurs to embark on nomadic adventures. They’re no longer restricted by location or traditional beliefs and structures around work and family. Along with the incredible experiences that come with nomadic living, challenges are inevitable. This is especially true for families adapting to new environments and trying to make every place feel like home. Knowing how to navigate those unexpected hurdles is crucial to be able to fully experience the nomadic lifestyle while continuing to grow as a family and as a business. Sonya and Ed Stattmann are living the nomadic life as a family. They’ve gained insights into what it means to create new identities and ways of thinking while making sure that their family’s needs are being met and supported along the way. “You can never fu

“The journey is about learning to honor and praise every little step we make. These are huge contributions that change the world.” - Sonya Stattmann (6:42-7:09) Women are transforming the business arena. Forty-percent of all entrepreneurs are now women, making it more important than ever to support each other, share our stories, and be vulnerable on our paths to entrepreneurial success. As entrepreneurs, we often are our business, and the small movements we make in the path of building our business leads to bold shifts in both business and personal life. As women, we need to honor the little steps we take because those small movements exponentially grow into huge contributions that change the world. “The biggest shifts you make are going to be inside...the ones no one else sees. But they will be felt. The whole world will feel them.” - Sonya Stattmann (20:52-21:01) Women have always influenced how the world works, and today’s business owners are proving things can operate in a different way. It is comple

“Many people feel like their lives and businesses are set in stone.” - Sonya Stattmann (1:54 - 2:04) Change can be difficult, but it’s an inevitable part of growth. Embracing change is an essential part of growing as an entrepreneur and an individual. We are living in a world that is changing at an increasingly rapid pace, and the ability to adapt is one of the most critical skills you need to be successful today. However, change never feels comfortable, and many of us tend to view it as something that is forced upon us, something that we are powerless to deal with. While it may feel difficult at first, learning to embrace change will allow you to improve as an entrepreneur and take your business to the next level. “A lot of us get into certain patterns and routines and don’t really evaluate them enough. Deliberately creating change can really shake things up, and be an important part of growth.” - Sonya Stattmann (8:23 - 8:40) We may resist change because we view it as a failure to reach our initial go

“When your business becomes your lover, how do you navigate that with your partner?” - Laura Shook-Guzman (3:09-3:17) Entrepreneurs are bound to face relationship challenges when starting a new business. Whether it’s managing the relationships you build with your clients or making sure your team members are committed to a shared vision, business owners are no strangers to navigating relationship dynamics. However, it’s the intimate relationships we have with our partners that can suffer the most. Many women entrepreneurs find it hard to deal with changes in relationship roles, shared finances, and family responsibilities. “As we forge new ways of working, we have to talk about this in our partnerships and how it changes the way we’re getting our needs met.” Laura Shook-Guzman (37:33-37:56) Many women take the entrepreneurial leap without thinking about the potential strains on their relationships. Husbands may feel neglected or left out. A business crisis can interrupt vacations or a romantic date. As a b

“You have to get honest about who you naturally are, not who you’ve become, who you’ve crafted yourself to be.” - Sonya Stattmann (4:35 - 4:42)  As an entrepreneur, you've most likely been told that you need to hustle and work hard if you want to succeed. However, slowing down in your business can accelerate meaningful growth and increase long-term profitability. If you truly grasp the concept of slowing down and create business structures that allow you to do so, you'll find an increased return on your efforts and a greater sense of fulfilment. “When we allow the flow, when we follow intuition, the things that take hours when we’re forcing them, take minutes.” - Sonya Stattmann (14:42 - 14:54) In order to identify ways that you can slow down in your business, it’s important to identify the main way that you channel energy. Many women have learned to operate in a more masculine manner - hustling, taking initiative, and being more extroverted - because traditionally that method of operating has been rew

“Business owners are so often spending money on the wrong things, and they are not getting the results, so they are not getting the most return on their investments.” - Sonya Stattmann (4:03 - 4:15) As a business owner, you’re regularly inundated with various programs and services that promise to be the secret to your success. With so much information coming your way, it can be difficult to differentiate between what you should invest in, and what you should stay away from. You might be sold on the importance of a new website, a Facebook ad campaign, expensive branding, or other tools for your business. However, before you spend money on any of them, it is vital that you get clear about your driving desire to invest in a program, and on what you’re trying to accomplish. If your desire for investment is being driven by fear or insecurity, it is likely that your investment will not bring you the results that you’re looking for. Take some time to determine the most crucial needs for your business, and what sor

“So many entrepreneurs try to pretend that they know everything. This leads to instability in self, business, and relationship.” Sonya Stattmann (2:01) It’s time to get honest, honest about the things we know… and the things we don’t. So often, the world expects entrepreneurs to be a one-man band of services. We can find ourselves stretching, overextending, and claiming to be an expert in things that actually lie outside of our lane of genius. The secret to building a sustainable and successful business is not found in being all things to all people, but in identifying the areas you are passionate about, giving yourself permission to become laser-focused on those things, and letting go of everything else.     “The world tries to make it seem that entrepreneurs should be good at everything… that if we were to admit that we aren’t, somehow that makes us unworthy of investment.” - Sonya Stattmann (5:00) This tendency to be inauthentic in identifying our genius lies on a spectrum of two extremes. There

“If you are considering a nomadic life, be really clear about your intention. What do you want to experience? This will determine and dictate your actions.” - Sonya Stattmann One of the most beneficial aspects of being an entrepreneur is the ability to work from nearly anywhere. Some entrepreneurs are taking this freedom to new levels with nomadic living. Sonya Stattman and her family have packed their belongings and embarked on a long-term journey to experience different cultures and countries, while still running a business. The thought of traveling to exotic locations and experiencing new culture each day can be alluring, but often people forget that life is still going to be life. The day-to-day challenges of business are present and even exacerbated when living a nomadic life. However, with proper planning, it is possible to have a thriving business, while on the adventure of a lifetime. “You won't fully experience a new environment unless you’re willing to shed old systems and ways of doing, and get cur

“When you learn the skill of managing your own energy, you recognize your capacity… and you’re able to be aware and respond before it leads to overwhelm.” - Laura Shook-Guzman As entrepreneurs, most of us have experienced overwhelm at one time or another. We are bombarded with tasks, decisions, and the never-ending to-do list each day, and the feeling that we are carrying the weight of so many things can create stress, anxiety...and overwhelm. How do we navigate our business in a sustainable way, while still maintaining our sanity? What is the secret to fighting and conquering overwhelm, and coming out stronger on the other side? “As entrepreneurs, we think we need to work harder, faster, get more done. So often we’re using the wrong tactics to try to get through overwhelm, instead of stopping, feeling our way back into what is important, and finding clarity.” - Sonya Stattmann When navigating overwhelm, it can be helpful to identify the stages of overwhelm that we see in most cases. In the first stage of

“So often, we design our whole business, marketing, and content around an ideal target market that we don’t actually know. There are all of these assumptions, expectations, and projections on this target market, but how well have we actually gotten to know the specific individuals in the target market?” - Sonya Stattmann Do you know how you get clients? Do you know what exactly you need to do to get more clients? If you’re like 99% of entrepreneurs, you would probably have to say no. In the business world, so much focus is placed on finding your avatar, your ideal client demographic. The problem is, most of the time, the “ideal client” we’ve created is inaccurate. At times, we think we know what our avatar wants because we assume they think and act, want and need what we want. Instead of listening to our ideal market, we superimpose their desires with our own. It’s important to know who we want to reach. How well do we actually know that target client? “In order to look at a target market, you have to general

“It’s the constant depletion of our attention that creates the struggle. We are losing our capacity to function properly in our business. We are so focused on speed, endurance, and growth that we’re not ever actually stabilizing or creating a business that serves us.” - Sonya Stattmann What if I told you that you could do more in your business by doing less? Studies show that it takes the average person 25 minutes to return to their original task after an interruption. That phone call, tap on the shoulder, quick email or social media post, all of those little interruptions add up quickly. Most entrepreneurs started their own business for freedom, ease, and balance. However, when they look at their current lives they find the opposite. The hustle mentality - the thought that we have to speed things up, grow exponentially in record time, and stay accessible to clients - can keep us trapped in the downward spiral towards burnout. Learn how to slow down, be more deliberate, and practice stillness, to gain momentu

“True thought leaders, their intention was never to be a thought leader… Their intention was to serve. Their intention was to spread a message. Their intention was to change the world.” - Sonya Stattmann  This week on the Women in the Business Arena Podcast, we’re discussing the label “Thought Leader” that seems to be popping up everywhere in entrepreneur circles. Everyone wants to be a thought leader, however, there are so many conceptions about what this actually means. Thought leadership is a title that is earned through the ups and downs of business experience. “Thought leadership is developed over years and years of practice, of experience, of not just you got some wisdom that happened to come to you. It’s practiced, it’s experiential. You’ve tested it. You’ve validated it. Thought leadership is done over the hard yards.” We all have something to contribute. You are an entrepreneur because you have incredible ideas to contribute to the lives of others. However, we have gotten ahead of ourselves an

“It’s always better to wait to delegate until you are stabilized… You want to be able to understand all of the ins and outs of your business. If you don’t know what to do or understand it, it’s going to be really difficult to delegate to someone and explain what you want.” - Sonya Stattmann This week on the Women in the Business Arena Podcast, we’re discussing how and when to utilize delegation in your business. We have seen too many people build their business as a house of cards that topples when they delegate too soon. However, once you have an established business, there are components of your business that don’t require your full attention day-to-day, and there are tasks that lie outside of your area of genius. Delegating the right tasks to the right people can help you to move your business forward in a healthy and sustainable manner. “A lot of women either get some kind of prize from being busy… or we’re afraid of losing control… so when we get to the place where we actually need to delegate, there’s a

“Our ability to manage our self-doubt is what determines our ability to succeed.” - Sonya Stattmann This week on Women in the Business Arena, we’re getting real about self-doubt. Self-Doubt is the number one saboteur in our business. It is a pervasive influence that has shown up in the life of every single woman we’ve ever met. At times, the intensity of our self-doubt can match the intensity of our creativity, fire, excitement, and passion that led us to start a business in the first place. So, if self-doubt is universal, how do we navigate it successfully? “What we resist persists.” - Laura Shook-Guzman As with most feelings that we feel are “negative,” we can falsely assume that if we ignore self-doubt, it will go away. However, the full spectrum of human emotions is actually necessary for us to experience full and successful business and lives, even self-doubt.   Perhaps the most important step to overcoming self-doubt is to practice separating yourself from your fears. When we align our identity

“Often times we have big visions for the New Year… that allows us to focus and move forward. But I also think that sometimes we’re not very realistic. It can cause us to not be focused enough. It also can allow for disappointment and discouragement when we’re not moving fast enough.” This week on the Women in the Business Arena Podcast, we’re discussing goal setting. As the new year approaches, this is often a time of excitement and dreams as we take a look at goals for the next year. So often, we can make big plans in December, only to find ourselves disappointed and discouraged in February when we have a lack of progress, or our plans have been derailed. In order for goal setting to be manageable, it must allow us to see progress, but it also needs to extend kindness towards self. If we aren’t intentional in how we set our goals, we can sabotage ourselves before the year even begins. “If we gave ourselves a little bit more leeway to flow with things as they come, we would actually be able to progress much f

“When people don’t have a trust and certainty in themselves, the fear around uncertainty is that they don’t believe they can do it. Even in the midst of uncertainty in life, we can develop a trust and certainty in ourselves.” This week on The Women in the Business Arena Podcast, we’re getting certain about uncertainty. As solopreneurs, we are in the business of uncertainty. While there is a certain level of uncertainty for all humans, running a business tends to come with a greater level of the unknown. Studies have shown that entrepreneurs typically carry a greater capacity to handle risk. Some of us have learned to thrive because of uncertainties we experience in formative years, others may go into survival mode when facing the unknown. Whatever the experience with uncertainty has been, our perception of uncertainty is key to moving through it and continuing to find an inner source of stability, regardless of the situations we face in business and life. “It’s only through the uncertainty, facing it, moving

“Procrastination is the gift of awareness. Underneath procrastination is the thing we're avoiding and that's what needs to be loved and appreciated.” This week on the Women in the Business Arena Podcast, we are revisiting the topic of procrastination. There are times in our business that we mislabel the need to move more slowly through a task as procrastination. There are other times, however, when we really are procrastinating or rather avoiding something. What we’re hoping to bring to light in this episode, is the importance of reframing procrastination. Too many women are beating themselves up for it. How do we use procrastination as a tool to help us integrate ourselves, and to move forward into a more productive and fulfilling business and way of living? “The things that we're procrastinating are important. It's actually a gift. Because usually, those are really significant aspects of self that are seeking integration. They're giving you such a big pushback because of their significance. This is a really