Women In The Business Arena

“How much can we hold? Can we really keep holding more and more until we pop?” In this week’s episode, Sonya and Laura are digging deep to uncover a topic that isn’t widely talked about, especially in business. How much capacity do we really have to serve our clients and the people we love? How much capacity do we have to hold our own emotions, worries, stresses and those of others? Do we only have a finite amount of space? What are the indicators that we have reached our capacity, and how do we keep running our businesses when we are full? These are just a few questions that they answer as they share from their own experiences what has happened when they have ignored their capacity and just continued to work harder, be more, hold more. “We are trying to go beyond capacities that just aren’t realistic” One of the most important keys to success is for us to be more aware of our limits so we can be clear about what we have the capacity for and what we don’t have the capacity for. The challenge is that bus

“How do we determine the difference between what is truth and what is a projection?” In this week’s episode, Sonya and Laura talk about a subject that can be a challenge for you and your business.  Understanding the concept of “psychological projection” is important when running a successful business, especially if you are working intimately with clients. When we are working closely with other people, it is easy to get caught up in others emotional reactions and defense mechanisms, or our own. Psychological projection is a defense mechanism often used to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. People project their undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting what is happening within themselves. It can be like someone asking you to wear a “costume” that you don’t want to wear. “It takes a lot of self-awareness and some discipline to be able to step back and determine what is actually happening: Is it truth or is it colored by a projection?” Why is this important to und

“When we give ourselves permission to have space, everything changes” What happens when we go through a big transition inside ourselves? How does this affect our business? In this week’s episode, we are talking about how to navigate personal transitions and how it affects our businesses, sales, families, and the people around us. This can be around our mindset, our emotions, our awareness or a physical transition. We have to realize that we need to give ourselves full permission to change and let our businesses change with us. “How do we create a balance so that we have some space to eventually come back in to our businesses and do even more?” As women, we encounter a lot of transitions over the course of our lives. We know some of the big ones like transitioning to motherhood, but we don’t as often talk about the mental, emotional or spiritual transitions we move through in our lives and how this affects our capacity to serve, to operate our businesses and to care for our families. It is important to hon

“Where are we over-owning or under-owning with our clients?” In this week’s episode, we are dipping a toe into a discussion that is much bigger than any one podcast episode. This is a topic that we face in our businesses every day, especially as women. For many of us, there is a challenge of either over-owning or under-owning our responsibility and this has a dramatic effect on our business. We’re constantly having to balance the amount of responsibility that we take on from others and for ourselves. “A lot of people are over-owning the things that are not their responsibility and under-owning the things that actually are” Over-owning or under-owning leads to exhaustion and sucks the energy right out of us. It means you get less done and are focused on the wrong things instead of the right ones. When any business owner starts to take responsibility for their clients behavior, they lose the ability to lead. Leadership requires being responsible for yourself and letting others be responsible for themselves.

“There’s an incongruence between what we say we want and what we put our money behind” In this week’s episode, we’re asking a question that we don’t really know the answer to but is a conversation that we need to be having in the business arena. How can we run a successful business if we’re not aligning our tactics with who we are as women? This incongruence can cause us to feel stuck and keeps us from creating the business and the life we really want. “We need more women who are really successful in their businesses and stand out in authentic ways” Let’s face it, we are still living in a world that is dominated by a masculine lens. The popular tactics in business are still the masculine ones, focused on getting rich quick, aggressive marketing tactics and manipulation. This can leave a lot of women feeling misaligned and incongruent with their business. Even women who hate the tactics still end up doing them. Partly, because they don’t know an alternative, and partly because they are seduced by the promi

“Being in business is about being with people” In today’s episode, Sonya and Laura shed light on what it means to find the “right” people to work with in your business. Whether you are hiring staff, finding contractors, or looking for new clients, you need to be able to discern when someone is a good fit or a bad fit for your business. Ignoring the early warning signs causes more trouble than just saying “no” in the first place. We have to learn to listen to our gut when something feels off. “If you recognize that something is misaligned, just remember that it’s not a bad thing to let that person go” As women, it can be difficult to let people go. We tend to pride ourselves on being able to help everyone by saying “yes” to every person that comes our way. Once we are wrapped up by this way of living, it’s much harder to be the best version of ourselves and fulfill our potential. Prevention is the key to being able to discern our relationships before they hurt us and our business. “The only power we have

“A bigger vision pulls you up and makes you to think differently” In today’s episode we are talking about vision, but from a deeper viewpoint. It is not enough to just think of a vision, we have to embody our vision, feel it and allow space for it to become real. In business, we are always busy doing. We spend so much time in action we often lose sense of our big vision and our actions take us way off track. The more you embody the vision, the more you focus your mind and actions. You actually have to do less to accomplish more. “Women need to let themselves have the space to envision their real dreams and goals” As women, we’re constantly doing. We rarely give ourselves the space to just explore what we want in our lives and businesses. We often create our vision from a concept, an idea, an indoctrination...but rarely do we create our vision from feeling. How many of us are pulled by everyone else’s desires, fears or truths? If we are ever going to have the kind of impact we truly want to have in the wor

“Women have a really special connection to timing” Today’s episode is all about timing. Is there a “right time” for things in business? Does sequence matter? As women, we often talk about things cyclically, and follow our rhythms. Do women have the sense of right timing? Are we following it? Is it possible that this timing and rhythm may actually be a benefit for women in business? “Women have power, and that power is intuition. Part of that power is us being to able to feel timing and follow our rhythms” As women, our lives are built off of cycles. Some say that our intuition comes from the different phases of the moon, and others believe that women have a special “sensing” that men don’t possess. Either way, this can be a massive benefit to women in business. If we find our rhythm and tap into the natural state of who we are intuitively, it actually gives us a competitive edge. From interacting with prospects, to helping clients in a deep and real way, Sonya and Laura tell their own stories of how they

“Women don’t recognize how valuable what they bring to the table actually is” In today’s episode, we decided to tackle a topic that we’ve mentioned in a lot of other threads. It’s such an important topic in the conversation of modern business, and we believe that this episode will truly help women step into their true value and full potential. “I Am Valuable” With women, in particular, value is at the core of most challenges in business. From pricing to leadership to setting boundaries to how we communicate through our marketing, everything boils down to whether or not we truly value ourselves. In my experience, women consistently undervalue themselves, their gifts and what they bring to the table.   “Stop Personalizing What is Systemically Broken” This is a personal issue and systemic issue. Systemically, we are constantly told that the qualities we possess as women are less valuable than those possessed by men. This is reflected in how we are compensated, treated, and valued by those around us.

“Not everyone needs to be running a business. Not everyone is willing to do what it actually takes, because you have to go through fire.” There are many important questions to answer when starting a business. The most important (and seemingly obvious) question is, “do you actually want to have a business?” Whether we set out with clear expectations, or begin a new venture on short notice, we have to answer this one question. In episode 55, we cover everything you need to be able to answer this question for yourself. Entrepreneurs are a certain type of person. Most of times, we are driven, motivated, and ready to take any risk necessary to get us to our goals. It doesn’t require you to be an extrovert or become something that you’re not, but it does require you to be willing to do what it takes to get results over time. The game of business is not a short sprint, it’s a long game that requires determination and focus that is not for the faint of heart. “If you’re in it for the short game, running a busines

“Your whole business is in service to your target market.” Most entrepreneurs set out to change the world with a MASSIVE goal to serve anyone and everyone they can. In theory, that sounds amazing. In reality, it not only doesn’t work, it lessens your impact. We have to define our niche in business to be able to make maximum impact on the people that we can serve. “No one has ever niched too much. Everyone is too broad.” In this episode, we take a look at the term “target market” and why it’s so important to have a niche in your business. Your target market is really just the people that your serving. Who resonates most deeply with the things you have to offer? Are you selling direct to consumers? Are you working one on one with clients? Are you selling services to businesses? We have to answer these questions in order to best serve the people we work with. “When we specialize, we’re actually focusing on our genius and we can be one of the best in that category.” If you’re talking to everyone, then you

“Our emotions are our superpower” There’s a common misconception that emotions should stay out of the business arena. As women, emotions are one of our most powerful tools, especially when they help us communicate truth, not only to those we love but also in the business arena.   “Our emotions actually connect us. They connect us to ourselves, they connect us to the earth, they connect us to each other. They connect us to something much much bigger than ourselves.” In this episode, we dive deep into emotions and how to use them effectively in the business arena. When the world is dominated by masculine ideas and beliefs that emotions are wrong or inherently bad, how do we learn to embrace our emotions to really express the best of who we are? “If women aren’t learning to come back into their emotional being, then they are not stepping fully into the space of business that we could all inhabit more authentically.” Just like any other force or energy that moves through something, emotions need to be

“Many of us don’t really lose the WHY, but we lose the connection to it” When you’re running a business, it’s really easy to get lost in the details, the implementation, and day to day operations. Sometimes, we forget the WHY - Why we’re doing this in the first place, and what we really want to contribute to with the bigger picture in mind. Whether you’re a big picture person, or someone that thrives in the day to day details, you’ll find a ton of value in this episode. “Why is it so common for us to let our WHY drift away?” We know all too well what can happen when you let your “why” drift away. Things don’t come as naturally, and you feel the constant struggle of the day to day “hustle” that we can all so easily fall prey to. When you’re in perfect alignment with your why - you can feel the momentum begin to shift. The things you’ve been struggling to do simply seem easier and lighter. You begin to see success in the things you’re naturally gifted in and fight off feelings of burnout and self-doubt. “

Welcome to episode 51 of the “Women in the Business Arena Podcast,” formerly known as, “The Liberation Lab.” In this episode we’re diving deep into “Imposter Syndrome” to explain what it is, how it can affect your life and business as well as your momentum and time. “Where there is more vulnerability, there is a deeper sense of imposter syndrome”  Imposter Syndrome happens to everyone at some point in the journey. Essentially, it is the feeling that you’re an “imposter” in your area of expertise and that you’re actually a fraud. Especially for those women (and men) that are putting themselves out there, or maybe have a platform where they are out in front of a lot of people. Why do we find ourselves doubting our own expertise and confidence? “Imposter Syndrome Happens to EVERYONE” It really comes down to a matter of value and self-worth. The root of Imposter Syndrome goes much deeper than just a blanket term - we have to “check in” with ourselves on a regular basis to see what feelings are generati

Welcome to episode 50 of the “Women in the Business Arena Podcast,” formerly known as, “The Liberation Lab.” We’re really excited to take a step into expanding the podcast and integrating it into the business even more. One of the reasons for this new approach to the show is to bring everything under one roof. We talk a lot about: “Streamlining your business, so that you can really focus on ONE thing.” This is really bringing everything together. Simplicity is key - our flagship coaching program “Women in the Arena” ties right in with our topics and conversations on the podcast, so we decided to simplify and integrate as much as possible to save time and energy AND make a larger impact. “We are all about simplifying.” In today’s episode, we’ll be diving into the ideas of simplifying by using some real world examples of how we’re structuring our businesses as well as some deep conversation with some actionable takeaways for you, our valued listener! “When you enter the arena, you need the skills, the t

“We have to stop playing the game and start shifting our language.” We’ve talked before about how to look at business through a feminine lens or a masculine lens. In this week’s episode, we're talking about language. A lot of the language you hear in business is from more of the masculine framework - things like, "killing it", “hustle", "work hard - play hard", or "the grind.” So, the question is, do we need to change the language to be more authentic in the way we operate our businesses as women? “Language does perpetuate culture. We can keep perpetuating culture that’s already in existence, or we can create a new culture.” Language can either build up our culture or tear it down. Sometimes, we underestimate the power of our language. We can either use it to be inclusive or exclusive. It ultimately determines the way that people perceive us, and can have a massive impact on the influence we have. “We need to redefine what success and getting to our goals means.” We also have an exciting announcem

I see a lot of women get stuck in their business or get to a point where they really need more support. The question is how do you decide and discern what kind of support you need to get you to the next level in your business or to get you unstuck. Will talking to a friend help, or do you need an expert? Is it better to do an online course or a longer coaching program? If you have ever been burned by an expert or struggled to decide what kind of support you need…this is a great episode for you.  Find More Support For Women In Business: > You can find free gifts, opportunities to contribute & more athttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/listen/ ( Women in the Business Arena) http://womeninthebusinessarena.com/ > Love this podcast? Need a little weekly pick-me-up delivered straight into your inbox? Sign up for myhttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/worthy-women-collective/ ( Worthy Love Notes).https://bit.ly/worthy-love-notes ( https://bit.ly/worthy-love-notes) > Want to join a community of women who

Are there some industries that are flooded and over-saturated with new businesses? And if there are, what do we do about it so that we can succeed? What does demand in these industries really look like when we have so much supply? Sonya and Laura dive into this topic and talk about ways that you can navigate this in your business right now. We also explore what we believe needs to happen down the road for more businesses to succeed. If you in a busy industry with lots of competition, this is an episode for you.  Find More Support For Women In Business: > You can find free gifts, opportunities to contribute & more athttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/listen/ ( Women in the Business Arena) http://womeninthebusinessarena.com/ > Love this podcast? Need a little weekly pick-me-up delivered straight into your inbox? Sign up for myhttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/worthy-women-collective/ ( Worthy Love Notes).https://bit.ly/worthy-love-notes ( https://bit.ly/worthy-love-notes) > Want to join a commu

Today we wanted to dive into the topic of re-definition. How do we shift the old definitions that we carry around but are no longer serving us? Those definitions that are self-limiting. I think a lot of women get stuck in an old definition of themselves, whether it was a time they failed or made bad decisions, instead of stepping into and owning who they are now. I believe we are a new person each and every day. There are always micro growths. This can be an emotional topic, but I think it is a key to helping all of us reach greater success.  Find More Support For Women In Business: > You can find free gifts, opportunities to contribute & more athttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/listen/ ( Women in the Business Arena) http://womeninthebusinessarena.com/ > Love this podcast? Need a little weekly pick-me-up delivered straight into your inbox? Sign up for myhttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/worthy-women-collective/ ( Worthy Love Notes).https://bit.ly/worthy-love-notes ( https://bit.ly/worthy-l

So many business owners have their rose-colored glasses on until…the hardship of business smacks them in the face.  I have seen over the years a trend towards this idea of doing what you love, and if you do, everything will come easily. Everyone wants it to be easy, so Laura and I decided we would tackle this question in today’s episode: Can you bypass the hardship of running a business and still create a business that is successful and sustainable?  Can you shortcut the process and still get what you really want? This is a great exploration and I am not going to tell you our conclusion, you have to listen. Find More Support For Women In Business: > You can find free gifts, opportunities to contribute & more athttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/listen/ ( Women in the Business Arena) http://womeninthebusinessarena.com/ > Love this podcast? Need a little weekly pick-me-up delivered straight into your inbox? Sign up for myhttps://www.sonyastattmann.com/worthy-women-co