I Am That Content Creator Podcast

Ep#98 50 Shades of ADHD: Spicy Confessions of Multi-passionate Entrepreneurs

• Kristen Werner & Mia Steel • Season 1 • Episode 98

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Are you an ADHD entrepreneur who feels like your brain is “too chaotic” for business? What if we told you that your neurodivergent brain isn’t broken it’s actually your greatest gift for building a thriving business YOUR WAY?

In this episode two multi-passionate entrepreneurs with ADHD and dyslexia share how they turned what once felt like chaos into a six-figure content creation business. From hoarding domain names (just in case) to discovering why rigid content calendars kill creativity, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it really looks like to build a business when you don’t fit the traditional mold.

We dig into:

  • ADHD-friendly business strategies that actually work (no colour-coded planners needed)
  • How to follow your energy, not the algorithm, to create content that converts
  • The truth about building a personal brand that’s flexible and pivot-proof
  • Why perfectionism is killing your growth and how to release it
  • The “back it before you build it” method to avoid costly mistakes

This episode is your permission slip to ditch the pressure of doing business “the right way” and start building a business that works with your brain, not against it.

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Speaker 1:

Are you ready to master the art of creating content that converts?

Speaker 2:

Hey, I'm Mia, a mum of two who went from being a burnt out ambo to six-figure content creator in less than a year, all while navigating a late ADHD diagnosis.

Speaker 1:

And I'm Kristen, also a mum of two and a former corporate branding queen turned entrepreneur. My dyslexic brain sees marketing very differently, and that's my superpower, and together we're showing women like you how to master video marketing and create content that generates income, Whether you're just starting out or ready to scale. We are breaking down everything from landing brand deals to building your own empire.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to. I Am that Content Creator podcast where we turn scroll stopping content into serious income. No filters, no fluff, just real strategies from two neurodivergent mums who get it. So let's turn your phone into a video marketing machine and let's go, let's go, guys, we're professional guys.

Speaker 1:

Let's go. Okay, there's that intro done. Welcome to the I Am that Content Creator podcast. We're cutting through the noise to show you exactly how to create scroll-stopping content, land premium brand deals and build a thriving online business. No BS, just proven strategies that scale. Welcome. I'm Kristen Werner, joined by Mia. Let's go. Okay, mia, we're going to do a cheeky little podcast around confessions of the spicy mind and how we actually channel the chaos of that to create six-figure businesses, and how we can do that. When and if you want to create a digital product or you want to build online and get paid online, do all the things that we freaking love right.

Speaker 1:

And what cracks me up the most about doing this podcast episode is, as you know, we're spicy as fuck in our own respective multi-passionate ways, and so we're actually doing this podcast via the Slack chat, where Mia and I just chat to each other for like a good five or 10 minutes, just go back and forth and back and forth, and then we chop it up and we spit it out so that you can hear our inner deepest, most sensational thoughts. Because you know what? We don't always have time to sit down. Record it on Riverside, deal with the fangs. We're just going to get this shit out, and this is what the power of being a multi-passionate, adhd spidey motherfucker is all about. So we want to show you, though. When we talk about this, we want to make sure that we don't leave you feeling more chaotic. We want you to feel seen and heard, but also know that there is potential for you to focus, for you to channel those incredible chaotic moments that you have, and it may be that you're undiagnosed, it may be that you're perimenopausal, it may be that you feel like a. You know that there's a constant failure, that you try things and it fails, so you try again, and you know usually and we'll get into this with the whole neurotypical way of doing things, which is step one, two, three, four and the more that we try to squeeze ourself into I have to do it that way, and if I don't, I will fail, the harder it is, and what me and I have learned, and what we're actually really excited to chat to you about, is that we've done. We've got all the tools in our tool bag and our tool shed that allow you as a content creator, you as an entrepreneur, somebody that's looking to potentially build a digital product to six figures and beyond. We've got the tools that can help you buffer the chaos, I suppose, and channel that energy in a way that is going to become successful for you. And we just want to recognize that these are not failures. These are actually sensationally wonderful, freaking I don't know what to call it parts of who you are. That should be celebrated, and I think that's probably the thing that's come up for us the most, and we've had some seriously motherfucking huge aha moments recently that we can't wait to continue to explore with you.

Speaker 1:

But today on the podcast, like first of all, mia, I suppose I'm going to put it back to you I'm going to throw the question on the spicy channel. As somebody that is late diagnosed with ADHD, can you like, can you talk people through? If we're going this like confession, confessions of a spicy brain, let's maybe do like 10 confessions each or something, something that we want to share with you, the listener, today, that can help you feel seen, feel comfortable and know that it's actually possible, like you can do whatever you want. It's just channeling that energy into making it happen. So, mia, do you want to start this off with maybe your number one, or should we go 10 down to one? I don't know if I've got 10. I probably do Jesus by the time, two bloody spicy entrepreneurs do this. Who knows where we're going to go, but we're going to take this in a way that is fun, educational. It's going to leave you guys with like a oh yeah, amazing. So, mia, let's get the ball rolling, let's do it.

Speaker 2:

All right, kristen, I think this is going to be a really good one, where our listeners will either be like, oh my God, this is me, or it could go south and they're going to be just like what the fuck are you guys on? You guys are weirdos. But I'm going to get full 50 shades of ADHD here with these spicy confessions, because before I got diagnosed with ADHD, I needed to hear this from somebody else. I needed someone else who had all these ideas to just sit me down and go. It is okay, the way that you think and the way that you are and everything that you're doing is normal. Because it wasn't until I was diagnosed with ADHD and I actually started to talk to other spicy minds and other entrepreneurs who had ADHD that I was like oh, this is completely normal. All these crazy fucked up things that I've done over the last few years trying to make a business work is just completely normal. So I will start the spicyions with one that I think probably a lot of entrepreneurs can probably relate with. I have done this periodically throughout my entrepreneurial time, but hopefully you can relate to this one I have bought. I actually need to go and sit down and look at that actual number, but I reckon I have about 10 to 15 domain names parked and stored inside my GoDaddy account.

Speaker 2:

Now, these are not domain names that I have actively gone and pursued in business, but it's almost like I'll get the business idea and I'll think of the name and then I'll go and search the domain, I'll search for the trademark, I'll make sure the social accounts aren't taken yet and if it's all sweet, I'll go and buy that domain name and just park it in case I want to start that business idea. And I mean it's not a cheap little side quest or habit to have, but it almost gives me permission to be like, okay, I've got the dopamine hit of thinking of the name and thinking of the idea and you know pinching the social media handle names. And then I bought the domain name. So I get it and I'm just like, okay, that's a really big dopamine hit for me. And then if I can't stop thinking about the idea, or it starts to evolve or morph or I'll tell someone about it and they think it's amazing and that idea just can't leave me alone, then I know, oh, I've got the domain name, it's all cool, like I'll start building it.

Speaker 2:

But that is one of my spicy confessions that I have, yeah well, probably 10 to 15 domain names, if not more, over the last seven years where I have just bought and just parked, you know, just in case. And I know inside our business, in our Spiceful little business, I think we've got about three or four domain names, just in case. But look, if you do that too, it is completely normal. And I've actually thought of getting into the business of selling and buying domain names, because if you buy a domain name and it's actually a word that is quite popular or worth something in the future, you can actually sell domains for quite a lot of money. I haven't got to that point yet, but that is my spicy confession number one.

Speaker 1:

I like that. 50 shades of ADHD. I love that. I love that. That's your spicy confession number one, because I literally just purchased a donor domain name yesterday. Lol, that just cracks me up. So I'm just oh, that cracks me up.

Speaker 1:

I don't have lots of domain names, I must admit, and this is where I think what's interesting about how we work, mia, is you've been diagnosed with ADHD and you're learning so much about it, which is so incredible. And what's exciting and what's really cool for me to watch is for you to unpack that in a way that is making sense to you and the things you've done in your past. Now I'm undiagnosed. I may never go down the path of doing it I'm not sure yet but I do know that I have dyslexia and I do know that I am multi-passionate. I'm a manifesting generator, so I am wired to do all the fucking things all the time at speed, and if you can't keep up, we're too bad, too sad. I've got shit to do. So I think that's what's really cool about what we do, and you as a generator, mia, you're built to just do the damn thing. And what's really cool when we did our human design with Yvette Meyer, was how she said that she looked at both of our human designs me as a manifesting generator and you as a generator and there's all this background in human design and such incredible knowledge behind what makes you up. But what Yvette said when she did both of our charts, and then she goes, it blows my mind that you two are so aligned and everything Kristen doesn't have Mia's got, everything Mia doesn't have Kristen's got, and so I think I always go back to that when we're making decisions in business, to kind of trust that, and you know we're both big gut trusters, so that's a massive one for me in terms of making business decisions. But I just wanted to put that there just as we restart this off, so people can understand. You know you may be undiagnosed, you may be diagnosed, but I would also really celebrate you to go and look up your human design and add that into part of the mix, because it may explain a lot that hasn't been explained to you yet, and so for now I'm just going to try to think of my perfect one. But I just thought I would laugh a little bit in terms of I literally just bought a domain name, which cracks me up For me, one thing that I've noticed about my patterns and I've noticed about business is my and being the manifesting generator I am.

Speaker 1:

I now identify with this and that's why it's so important, I think, to find out your human design, because after finding out that I was a manifesting generator and a pure manifesting generator, which means I'm also a manifester it kind of gave me that permission slip again to be okay with these pivots and to understand that if I'm not doing multiple things at pace on a large scale, I'll fail at the small things I'm doing, which is a really nice little permission slip, and I've had to learn to use that and articulate that and build from that in a way that's actually powerful for business and so, I suppose, for me and what I would encourage you to do. If you're listening to this today and you're like, oh my God, yes, yes, this is me, yes, I do these things is I look at my story and I go, okay, I have got so many different things I have started, I have created, I've started a t-shirt business for young kids where I sewed random things on it. I did a millinery business where I created hats and I made hats. I actually won the millinery contest in the Kangaroo Island show, I won the fucking first prize for a hat that I made with my glue gun and just my creativity. And I think from there I've started bigger businesses from that and I've grown from that and I've done bigger things.

Speaker 1:

And what it's always tied back to, and what I'm really proud of, is that every single venture, passion, point, focus I've had has innately and directly stemmed back from who I am and my why, my deep fucking why, which has always been to simplify things that other people find really challenging or really hard. And when I look at it, the amount of people that said to me in my journey oh, I'm not creative, I couldn't do that art thing, I couldn't do design, I can't draw the fucking thing on a piece of paper Like I just can't do that. And so for me, I've always looked at that like, well, yes, you can, like I'll just show you how. If we just start with one step, if we just start with one step forward, one little drawing, one, something that's going to be the stepping stone that gets you moving. For me it's all of the things that I've done, even right back to creating the t-shirts. They came from this creative, passion led project that was obviously I need to get out of me this creativity. It just can't sit in me. I need to get it out of my system, and when I do, I'm the happiest I could ever be. But I kind of look at that and in those things I was simplifying things that other people were finding difficult. I was providing them with a service, I was giving them an offer, I was showing them it's possible. I was just giving it a hot go.

Speaker 1:

And so I think my big one for this point would be if you've made pivots and you keep making pivots and you feel like they're failures, draw back to the thread that holds them together. If you can see a thread, even the smallest little thread, that holds them together, and for me it's creativity and it's simplicity. I am forever wanting to simplify things that to some people seem fucking enormous, but to me I like to see how I can simplify them and then help you to do the thing or show you how it's possible to take one small step. And so I would really encourage you to think about your journey and go yeah, every time I pivot. This is why there is a reason why there is a thread lying deep in the fucking trenches, that I bet, if you can find it and you can pull on that little thread, you will find your magic and you will start to understanding why you do what you do, that this is not failure.

Speaker 1:

These pivots aren't failures. They are simply you finding your place, your step, your rhythm, your creativity, your guide, and so for me, that would be the one thing is um, so it's allowing yourself to pivot, but looking deep, where that pivot comes from, where that little thread comes from, pulling that little thread and finding that that's something that, yeah, that would be my number fucking nine if we're counting down so you can go out now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and isn't it weird Like when you start to find out more about yourself and you said human design, maybe it's the way your brain is wired things start to happen. And even if I go back and scroll to my UGC days, where I sort of just started and I was starting to get some success a few videos here and there you can see me starting to realize that or maybe I've got ADHD. I remember doing a few posts just thinking is this just how I am? And isn't it funny how, when I started to learn about me and my brain and how it works, the more successful I got, because I was leaning into who I was and what I liked to do and just going with my gut and just doing the damn thing, instead of reading the rule book and doing this and only doing one thing at a time. And if this was the business path I was going to choose, then that's the only thing I was going to do.

Speaker 2:

And listening to some of your businesses, I'm the same. I've done baby swings, I've reposted furniture, I've done drop shipping, I've done print on demand, graphic design, I created a gift platform, I've sold stickers, I've done blogging, etsy, markets like it, just all the things, but they sort of all dropped away and by the wayside because I felt like I just had to do the one thing and I felt really guilty and upset and embarrassed that all of these businesses kept failing and everyone around me was kind of I felt like watching me, like oh, what's me going to do next? But the minute that I started to lean into who I was and started to post on social media and build this personal brand, things started working and I started to give myself permission to do multiple things at once. And I'm like you, I need to do multiple things. I think really really fast, I do really really fast. Sometimes I don't even think before I do it, I just do it. Sometimes it fails, sometimes it doesn't.

Speaker 2:

And you know it's a bit like people might look at us and go, oh, you're so lucky because you've built, you know, multiple six-figure brands online. Well, it's not really luck. It's just that we just post so much content and do so many things and put ourselves out there all the time that things start to find us. Things don't really find you if you sort of box yourself in and play by the rule book and you know, don't put yourself out there in all your wonderful spiciness. It's when you lean into it that things start to happen. And just hearing you talk about that, your deep why, and if you can tie everything together in this nice little through line, things start to happen.

Speaker 2:

And it sort of brings me to number eight. One of my confessions is it still happens now because it's part of my why. I didn't realize it at the time that it was part of my why, but whenever I would talk to people about business, I just couldn't understand why they wouldn't jump at it, like come on, like this is a great idea, let's do this. Like some of my friends that have business ideas and they tell me about it, I'm like, oh, my God, yes, let's do this, let's do this, and you can do this and this and this, and they just sort of would have just let it slide away.

Speaker 2:

And I was like, come on, let's do this. This is amazing. And so you know, I did a lot of my deep why work with you since meeting you and found out that part of my deep why is just encouraging and inspiring women and now I've realized even deeper these ADHD, multi-passionate women to just do the damn thing. Like just do it, who cares? Like get rid of the imposter syndrome, get rid of the you know crazy thoughts that you're going to have, that your family or your friends are going to make fun of you. Like just do it, because it can change your fucking life.

Speaker 2:

And so when I started to create content and then be really vulnerable and expose basically everything that I thought that was inside my head, I began to become successful. Money was just coming to me and I was getting paid to be me, and so me having those thoughts for other people like come on, this business could be amazing, let's do this. It kind of works back to my deep why and why I would get so excited hearing other people's businesses. I just wanted them to do it, just to see them succeed and work on them with these business ideas, and I guess that's why I'm a coach now inside the High Pop Collective with you, like we just coach these women to just do the damn thing, take the next step. You've got this, we've got your back. That's a great idea. How about we do this? How about we do that? Let's channel all of this energy into this thing. And so me looking at other people going, oh, like, can't you see that that business is amazing Was really part of my deep why and why I'm here today.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that, mia, and it's so true. And I think that's like the power of what we've been able to create inside the hive is supporting these women to hear how they're creatively driven and then kind of help guide them in the next step to make that actually possible and kind of reign them in when they get a little spicy. Because we can see it and I think that's a really cool thing is, when you work with a neurotypical coach, they don't always see that it's not easy, and I don't like saying that, because easy is whatever easy is going to be, and easy is what is easy to you. And so this conversation is actually really cool because it's helping us open up how you can do it differently and be okay with that. And for my number seven, I'd say, for me personally, which goes right off what you were saying as well that it's allowing you to follow your energy, not an algorithm, not doing what somebody says. And I think the reason why both you and I kind of viscerally repulse at working for a nine to five is because you're just trapped in that you must do it my way and if it's not done my way it's wrong. And whether that's my dyslexic days where I know I felt like there was always a way. If there is a problem, I will find a goddamn solution, and that's like my driving force and my passion and, I think, allowing entrepreneurs. If you're listening right now, this is just we want to say to you if your energy is sending you towards something that lights you, the fuck up, do that, find the magic in that light. And it means that you don't need to have a niche, you don't need to be in a consistent format, you don't need to always be the boldest, the loudest, the whateverness. Follow the energy that's giving you feedback from the universe, if you will, instead of the algorithm saying do B-roll and put trending sounds and then say this and then say this, and if you don't follow that formula, it's not going to work. Yes, there are formulas, absolutely. My background is brand and marketing and so I know there are formulas that work.

Speaker 1:

But also, with my spiciness, I also know that what I've done when I've followed energy is I've allowed myself to learn from what some would call failure. I call it creative chaos, where I've allowed myself to go okay, that didn't work, try this and pivot hard and pivot fast and pivot sharp and not slow down to think, oh, I don't know if I should do it that way. What if? What if, what if? I think what's really powerful? If you've got this energy that is driving you somewhere, don't ignore it. Don't stop yourself and think, oh, no, that won't work. I won't do that. I should do it this way because, so-and-so said, this is the best way.

Speaker 1:

What we like to do inside the hive and what Mia and I, what I know we do together for each other is we see the idea and we look at it and go, okay, that's cool, awesome Love, that Can see why you're passionate there. Let's channel that energy into what's going to make us money, into the steps we need to take action on this. And if we get a few steps down the track and we go, oh, actually, no, that's not going to work, let's go this way. It is okay to follow that energy Like it's not a fuck up. If you follow the energy and I think that's really important if you're listening to this and you're thinking, okay, wow, I do have moments where I have followed the energy and you know what? I've become magnetic to people and people are in my comments and they're liking my stuff and they're all of a sudden want to talk to me and want to do things, and I didn't think it was perfect, like the guru said it should be, and it still worked. Don't ignore that energy. This is massive If something's working.

Speaker 1:

I think it's James Wedmore that says success leaves clues, and it's so fucking true. If something works, there is a reason. So go and note that reason, and nine times out of 10, it's the energy you bring to it. And as chaotic minds, we've got so many big, bold, beautiful ideas and sometimes they're really shit and you shouldn't actually action them. But when you find something that lights you up, that you can action, that you can then share with the world and you become magnetic to the people that need it, holy fucking shit balls.

Speaker 1:

That is where my passion pants lie. If you didn't guess that, that's. What I love to see is seeing that light switch on in the people in our community, in you and I, mia, seeing the light turn on and then going okay, cool, we've got that magic. How do we now harness that channel, that so that we can make it something that will make you money? We can make it something that will change somebody's life. We will make that idea and that shiny something and that energy into something that will perform, and that's what I absolutely love. So that would be my number seven.

Speaker 2:

Love it and I can hear your spicy passion behind that. And that's the thing, like when you feel something and your content and everything just seems to flow out of you that that is what you're supposed to do. Don't fucking go batch, create or do these big content planners, because you might not be the same person in a month's time and you've just sat down and planned out all this fucking content and when you go to create it, people can tell through the camera that you're not feeling it, you're just ticking a box. It's according to your content plan. And I used to beat myself up and we've done it in business too Like, okay, well, we bought this content planner, let's sit down and plan out all this content and then you evolve, your business evolves, what you want to talk about evolves, and so that content planner that you just spent fucking five hours perfecting goes right out the door. So don't beat yourself up if you can't stick to a content plan or you can't, you know, do all these neurotypical business guru advice saying your business isn't going to work if you don't plan out your content or if you don't batch your content. Whatever happened to creating content in the moment when you've got a feeling when you just want to speak so deeply to the other person on the side of the phone like that is okay and that is beautiful. And that's the type of content where people are, they feel seen, they feel connected, they're just inspired. And that's when you build that personal sorry, that magnetic personal brand where people are drawn to you, not the fucking information that you're just regurgitating off your content planner. That's when they're going to start to listen and take note. And so that actually brings me to my number six.

Speaker 2:

Confession is I don't know what your notes app looks like, kristen, but mine is a fucking chaotic shit show, a beautiful shit show full of business ideas, content, ideas, just thoughts, and I mean it's a bit like my photo album as well is just full of screenshots, and my computer desktop is full of screenshots as well. It's an absolute chaotic mess. But I have to almost just get it out. I have to put it in the notes app, write it down on my 17 fucking notepads that I've got, get it out of me and then, if I don't go back to create content about it or do the thing, that's fine. It's just in my notes app, it's there.

Speaker 2:

It's okay to just be a bit chaotic in your notes and your screenshots and what have you. It's more about just getting that energy out and making it flow out. It doesn't mean you have to act on it, it doesn't mean you have to jump on it, but to me, having a chaotic notes app is better than this beautifully structured content planner that just makes you feel like shit if you don't stick to it. And so it might work for neurotypical people, and I'm sure it does work for a lot of people. But if you have ADHD or you don't work that way and it doesn't suit you and your brain, don't fucking do it. Just do what feels good for you.

Speaker 2:

And the way that I've made multiple six figures on TikTok and I'm pretty sure you're the same as well Kristen is picking my phone up when I feel inspired, when I've got something to say. And this also comes back to your human design that we found out with Yvette that both Kristen and I are responders. We work well when we're responding to something. So how the fuck are you going to respond to something when you've got this content planner and six weeks down the track you know you've got this piece of content that you're supposed to create something about because you're not responding to anything.

Speaker 2:

You know you want to respond to things that are happening in your life now, what's happening in your business now. You know emotions that you have now responding to real life, real emotions, not planned out stuff. So you know, my confession is that my notes app is out of control. My desktop, my photos, the screenshots are out of control, but that is my creative chaos. That works for me and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm not going to have a fucking content planner, sorry, so that is my number six.

Speaker 1:

I know you're going to hard relate to this one, mia, because it's something we've done in our business and it's certainly something that now, looking back in this journey which is actually really quite fun I can see where I've done it before we even named it in our business. So that is something that, as a chaotic business person, as a chaotic entrepreneur that's trying to channel this energy, and what we're talking about today is, when there are so many ideas and business opportunities and entrepreneurness flying around, it's often hard to validate those ideas. And that's something that I've done in my businesses and something that now, inside our community, we ask you to back it before you build it. So, before you go and build the big glorious thing, you want to back it because, like you said at the start, me, you bought lots of domains not knowing fully what that idea is, but you want to get them, and there's nothing wrong with that, and I think that's the cool part is get those ideas. Don't action them by buying it, doing the website, creating the logo, doing all the fucking things and then putting it out to the universe and nobody buys it. And I think that's what, certainly from hearing your journey and then from what we've created is really supporting you inside our community to back your idea before you go and build it. And I'm a big believer in if one person says yes, it's game on. If one person puts money on the motherfucking table, when you give them an offer and they put that money on the table, you're good to go, because if one person says yes, then you can build it. If nobody says yes and you just build it and then you open the doors and you've opened a shop and you build this incredible, magnificent thing and you open the doors to your shop and people just keep walking by because you've not told anybody about it. And so you've spent, you've invested time, money, energy into building this thing that you think will be brilliant, and then nobody buys it. And so we're really passionate about backing it before you go and build it. And you know, even with the wedding business, we've got a wedding business here.

Speaker 1:

I'm in South Australia, we own a vineyard and I always wanted to do it. My husband said when we got married, like why don't we just do it on the farm, on the vineyard at? Dad's been his dad's vineyard at that time and I was like, look great idea. But nah, because it's a big fricking job, right, like it would have been amazing. But no, so I went into, obviously, our wedding. I did a lot of the planning. I love doing that, I'm in events, so that was amazing.

Speaker 1:

But then it only took one friend of mine that was like hey, would you actually like, would you do weddings on your vineyard? And I was like, yep, absolutely I would. She was like, okay, well, if you know, if you're happy to have it there, we'll pay for everything, all the setup. We'll pay to buy the drinks and then like the glasses and then you can keep them and we'll pay for the marquee and all that and then you can build that. And I was like, great, because my dream is to build a bespoke wedding venue. And she was like amazing, I'll pay for all the things, you plan it all, you organize it all, you execute it. And we'll kind of like it was backing it before we built it. So she backed the idea. It allowed me to then build an online presence, it allowed me to build surplus testimonies, it allowed me to build inventory and all the things that I needed to make this business work. Because she was the one that was like, yeah, I'll do it when? If I'd done that for my own wedding, sure I would have had that success. But I've since seen other people do that in the industry locally, where they've done it for their own wedding, with this momentum and steam in the photos, but they haven't been able to follow it through to take it on to other people's wedding, because it's a different thing, it's a different ballgame. You're working with different things in general to make it work. So this was a real opportunity where it was back it before you build it. So that's just one example of it. It's, you know, it goes into a lot of things Mia and I have done. You know, like when we did Betty, when we launched Betty, our AI agent, you know we made sure that we backed that before we built it.

Speaker 1:

When we opened the Hive it was originally the digital Hive hub we made sure that we went out to the audiences that we had created and said, hey, would you want this Jump on the wait list? They jumped on the wait list and all of a sudden we're like, okay, first 30 people that say yes and put some money down as the founding members you're in. And I remember, like me, remember we said to each other oh my God, if we get like at least 10 people saying yes, this is a thing. And then all of a sudden we opened the doors, we had 30 people in the first like hour and then we were both bathing our bloody kids because it was a Friday night. I'll never forget.

Speaker 1:

We're bathing the kids, sending Slack messages like oh my God, there's like 35 people, there's like there's 40 people, like do we shut the doors? And in the end, I think we ended up shutting the doors at 45 people or something like that. But that's because we backed it before we built it, and so we teach that. We teach that to you as an entrepreneur how do you back it before you build it? Like, this is the stuff that we love to do as like channel that chaos into showing you what's actually possible. So that's my number five, I believe.

Speaker 2:

Isn't it funny that both of us, without confessions, we both think that content planners are just, it's just not. It Like it's just we're not at school anymore. It feels like homework and if you're trying to run a business by design, by you know. The whole reason why we start businesses is to live a life that feels good and you can work when you want to work and do what you want to do when you want to do it. Like you don't want to put yourself inside this box and constrain yourself to rigid content planners and things in business that just don't feel good to you. Like we're fucking adults, like we can break the rules. We can do things the way that we want to do them and still be successful, and Chris and I are testament to that. You know we continue to make money every single week. I don't know if we've had a $0 day since we started, basically. So it is a fallacy that you have to put yourself inside a box and abide by the rules and listen to these gurus and do it their way or it's not going to work out. So we're both pretty content and pretty happy that content planners don't work for a spicy brain. So don't beat yourself up. If you cannot stick to a content planner my number what are we up to? I think this is my number four confession. This one's a little bit deep and a little bit emotional and a little bit vulnerable, because I do know that you feel the same way, kristen. So I can assume that a lot of other business owners feel this way.

Speaker 2:

But especially for us who do have this ADHD, multi-passionate, like this fire in our belly, is that sometimes I hyper-focus so hard and for so long that I lose myself in my business. And I hate to admit this, but sometimes I would rather sit down and do work on my business than hang out with my family or go out with my friends. And I hate saying that, but it's true, and I don't like this part about business and how I am. But the hyper-focused sessions, they're really intense and they're really hard to break and sometimes I just wish I could go to another city in a hotel room for two weeks, lock the door and just hyper-focus the shit out of what I wanted to do in the moment. And you know, obviously there'd probably be some procrastination there as well. But this whole idea that this hyper-focus is a bad thing is I don't think it's a bad thing.

Speaker 2:

I think what we have to do is learn to manage it so that we don't burn ourselves out or push people away or, you know, have our kids say to us, mommy, you're always on your phone or you're always on your computer, when we just want this to work so badly and we feel so passionately about what we're doing and we love what we're doing and it's fun, you know. But there is that fine line between obsessive and then also not doing enough that it's not going to work. So I think it's hard for at least entrepreneurs who work from home. People are going to see and look at you like you are always on your computer because your computer's at home. You're hanging around the computer, you're attached to your phone, so you know you might be doing something work related on your phone, but people around you just think you're always on your phone. So that part of it is difficult.

Speaker 2:

But if we were in a normal nine to five job, we would be commuting for two hours a day, perhaps in the office 40 hours a week. You know, sometimes it is hard to turn off, like switch off, when you're at a job and you know, when I was a paramedic, I would bring my work home with me because I was thinking about a job or I would have anxiety about, you know, the night shift that I was going on to the next day. So I mean you can look at these hyper-focused sessions as bad and sometimes I feel horrible because I would sometimes rather just sit down at the computer and get my work done than, you know, go out and take the kids to, I don't know the park or whatnot. But it's learning to again coming back to this, channeling your energy and your hyper-focus into things that are going to make you money. So if you're in this hyper-focus session, you need to step back and say to yourself okay, is this pushing the needle forward? Is this progressing me in some way? Or am I staying up till three o'clock in the morning just tweaking a logo or a website, because I'm a perfectionist and I want it to look good? So I've had to learn that the hard way and just channel my hyperfocuses into things that are actually pushing the needle forward.

Speaker 2:

Confessions of an ADHD entrepreneur. Part two is Mia just keeps talking into Slack and thinking, oh, the sound sounds a little bit weird, but I'll just keep going. And then I just realized that, oh, my $350 Rode microphone isn't actually on the right setting in Slack. It's on the right setting for all the other things in my computer, but Slack, no, it's yes, not set ons. I had to realize that half of this podcast is going to be shit sound and then the other half, or the very ending of my part, is going to be good sounds.

Speaker 1:

Okay, my number three for me is one that you I don't know it kind of felt like. Is it like? I don't know if it's the best one, but it's something that I certainly feel like, something I'm feeling more now as a woman in my forties, heading into fucking perimenopause and all the things. And something that I don't think I identified a long time ago is that the content planners that people have you stick to and the rules around that can make you feel so boxed in that you actually are repelled to create the content. You're repelled to do the thing that they're meant to do, and I kind of look at this as a bit of a strategic overload means that you don't actually do the damn thing where if you know yourself enough and I believe and call me out if I'm wrong here but I believe that as a multi-passionate entrepreneur, someone who's creative, you know, with ADHD, with you know a bit neuro-spicy, I don't know I feel like maybe are we more in tune with how we think and feel and that it doesn't. And for me personally, I'll talk a personal story. For me, if I'm not feeling like something, I won't do it when, if I can find joy in something that I'm doing. I will sit in that flow, and so I know that there is a strategic way to do marketing. I've done it for 20 years. I know how to get the brand story out of people.

Speaker 1:

But for me it is asking the right questions. For me, it is listening and responding to what's going on around me. And I can't respond to what's going on around me if I batch my content and I just put it out to the world because it doesn't sit right with me. It's physically hard for me to post that piece of content because it doesn't resonate and I know that it won't hit in the right place it needs to for the person I'm talking to. Where, when I respond and this is a big part of my human design as well, and I know, mia, you're the same when we respond to what's going on around us, that is where the magnetism erupts. That is when people start going oh my God, you're in my head. I feel that way. I can't believe. That's exactly how I feel. I thought it was just me, and that's what's powerful and that's what I think is really exciting about what we share inside the Hive is we allow I hope we allow our members to see that there are so many ways that you can get the same results, but doing it in a way that feels aligned with you and not built into this system that you think you have to do. The copy-paste system that the gurus sprout to you. I know that and I've done it before. I'm scrolling social media and I'm looking at it and I'm seeing all these gurus like this is how you get viral content, this is how you plan this, this is how you do that.

Speaker 1:

And we say in our own stuff because, say, with UGC, there's a formula to creating, converting content, absolutely. But it's like baking a cake right, if you miss the eggs, the flour, the milk, I don't know, the cocoa, and it's a chocolate cake, it's not going to be right. So that's you know. If you miss those key ingredients, it's not going to be right. But if you put all of the key ingredients in in any fucking order you want unless it's a sponge, because sponge cakes do require you to do things in a specific order, as my auntie would tell me time and time again but if you're baking a chocolate cake and you put all those damn ingredients in the bowl and go for it, you're still going to get a chocolate cake.

Speaker 1:

So when it comes to creating that converting content that we talk about, say in UGC, there's a formula, but you just need to know what parts of the formula you highlight and when you highlight them.

Speaker 1:

But if all the parts of the puzzle and all the pieces of that mixture of the cake is there, you're still going to come out with content that converts. So what I wanted to kind of round this part out with saying is celebrate those moments when you just create content that feels good. Know that if you are aligned to your why, if you're aligned to who you are, what you stand for and your personal brand is so unfuckable that you know I stand for this. It might not be the content pillar I should be talking about on a Thursday fucking morning, but I know that right now this resonates with me and I know there is one fucking person out there that needs to hear this, and I think that's where I get really passionate and I know you do too, mia because that's the content I want to create and that's the fucking content I want to consume is hearing people in that moment tell me something that means something to them, not something that batched a month ago or two months ago, so lean into not having to have a plan.

Speaker 2:

All right, let's get into a pretty spicy confession. This is number two for me. I know that my partner does not listen to this podcast, unless he does in secret, so he's probably not going to hear this. And I know Kristen has a very similar confession with the amount of money that she's put into her businesses as well. But ADHD is we're not great with money. Look, we, you know, tend to impulse buy and we're bad at saving, and you know we've got stuff going on right. So I've spent a lot of money trying to build businesses. Am I ashamed of that? Not really, because each penny that I've put into a business, failed or not failed, has gotten me to where I am today. But I really want to touch on this because I know there would be a lot of people out there who have invested in things to get them further and have not worked out. But we've got to remember that money is just energy Money in, money out. It is okay.

Speaker 2:

One of my businesses. I spent $20,000 on product website just stupid shit. I did not back it before I built it and that business made me probably about a hundred bucks. So if you have invested a lot of money during your business journey, whether that be courses or products or a million software applications to build what you've got to build. Just know that money flows and when you're building a business you do have to put money in to get money out.

Speaker 2:

Taking some risks in business is actually a good thing and I don't know if you know this, but people with ADHD are 300 times more likely to start a business than a neurotypical. So we've got that impulse, that risk-taking behavior, that problem-solving behavior, and a big part of that is being willing to risk money and invest and do some crazy shit to make a business work. And sometimes it does not always work, but having that shame like oh my God, I just spent $20,000 on this business and it didn't work, you need to start reframing that. In that was a $20,000 lesson that could potentially take other people $100,000 to learn, or it's hard for me to explain this, but me putting $20,000 into that business was way more valuable, way more better money spent, than learning those lessons the hard way over 10 years just by, you know, little trial and errors or buying little courses here and there along the way. I look at that as a really massive learning curve in my journey and the money it comes back. It comes back, and you can't get too hung up about being willing to invest in yourself and in your business because you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know, it could be the million dollar idea that just blows up, and if you don't invest that money in the beginning, you'll never know. And so running a business it's risky, but I look at it as way less riskier than spending the rest of my life working for a boss for $38 an hour just hating my life.

Speaker 2:

So if you have invested a lot of money in business, don't worry. We've all been there. We've all done it. It's fine, it's hard, but just know that if you want to run a business, you kind of have to just keep putting money into it. Otherwise good luck.

Speaker 2:

Unless you've got this unicorn, something or other and you're okay with spending a lot of time on organic social media and everything's working perfectly and everything's a profit, which nine times out of 10 doesn't work like that. Just be okay with investing money. But if it doesn't work out, just know that it's all to do with the learning. And if you didn't invest that money, you wouldn't have learned those lessons and you wouldn't be where you are today. So don't worry about it. Money flows, money comes in, money goes, it all goes around. But your risk-taking and impulse behavior is actually what's going to make your business work in the long run, because if you don't have those traits, it's going to be really hard to create anything that's, you know, going to stand out. All right, we're getting to the pointy end of this whole confession leak 50 Shades of ADHD, spicy Confessions of an Entrepreneur, and this is number one. And this is a really, really big one for me and I think I assume would be similar to other people, and I've had to work through this.

Speaker 2:

But one of the biggest challenges that I've had in business and in building a personal brand versus just a product is being okay with telling the world that this is who I am, this is me, this is what I'm doing, this is me. Now, when you've got a physical product right, I didn't really have any issues with telling people that I had this product. I had this platform or these stickers or these swings. It was just the product and it was all about the product. And I was kind of okay with that because I could talk about the product. It's got beautiful fabric, or it's made in Australia or it's got these unique selling points. But when things started to change and I started to create content and all of a sudden I was the brand, I was the product, it became really really difficult to tell people what I was doing. It kind of felt like this fluffy, I'm just creating TikToks. It was just a really really awkward conversation. But the thing is, when I started to do that, that's when I started making money almost immediately.

Speaker 2:

So I find this really weird correlation between telling people that you've got this personal brand and like you're monetizing you and your life and your knowledge, versus I have this product for sale. Like I just feel like it's this weird thing and I know it's to do with ego and you know you get these thoughts in your head like people are going to look down on me if they think that I just create TikToks. And you know I'm an influencer because brands are sending me products and I'm creating content for them. So you know it's something that you have to work through and the minute you start to realize that people are just like their thoughts about you are so much worse inside your head, like when you really really think about it, their thoughts about you are just these little random electrical things that are firing off in someone else's meat that's inside a skull, someone else's meat that's inside a skull. We just put so much emphasis on our ego and what people are thinking about us that it stops us from just going full hog on what feels good to us and what we want and the life that we want.

Speaker 2:

When I had these product-based businesses, I fucking hated it because I had to get shipping labels and go to the post office and post things and like it just wasn't the kind of work that I wanted to do. But when I get paid for myself and I have this digital product and you know I love it, I fucking love it. And I was like why is it so hard for me to tell everyone that this is what I do? And it just all comes down to that, those stories that you tell yourself. And you know, nine times out of 10, people aren't thinking about you that much. They're thinking about themselves and what they're doing.

Speaker 2:

And if there is a group chat and you're, you know, getting laughed at inside the group chat, well, it's none of your business. Really Like who fucking cares? That's them and that's what they're doing and that's their opinions and live outside that group chat and nine times out of 10, they're still working in a shit job that they hate. They don't want to be there, and people that are doing more than someone else are never going to talk down on people underneath them. It's always the people that are below talking shit on people that are doing more than them.

Speaker 2:

So that's part of my confession that I am still working on today. But it's just owning your space, owning the life that you want, owning the way you want to make money and owning your personal brand. And that's the only way up. And you need to stop hiding behind your product, hiding behind the camera, and the more you do it and the more you get out there and the more you just own your space hiding behind the camera, and the more you do it and the more you get out there and the more you just own your space, beautiful things can happen and it just gets better and better and better and things start to fall on your lap.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God, mia, I love that so much and I feel that so much, and I think, kind of how we wanted to wrap this up is just because we don't leave anything on the table for you guys like we bare our souls here sometimes. And so me and I thought it was appropriate to drop in here the conversation we recently had in Slack. That kind of was the catalyst to this whole unfolding that I think we're going through and we're sharing with each other and we're sharing with you right now. Now hear me out here because I just had a. I'm just going to spit this out because when you're talking it hit me. So I think and I know we've moved away a little bit from the why being the foundation. I know it's my piece of this puzzle, but I think it is so undervalued what we can bring to the table in this Y piece. Watching that video, that Y video from Simon Sinek that is the biggest part of my entire story. I would not still be here without that fucking moment, and that was 10 years ago. That was when we started the Yonet Project, that was when we started the Own it project, and I knew before that that I delivered things that came from my soul, like when I left corporate and I moved into my own business. I worked for a company called Candid Jewelry.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if I've actually completely told you this story, but it's basically a jewelry brand. It was local in Adelaide. You had pieces of jewelry with quotes on it. My quote was own it. And everybody spoke about, like you can make a piece, kristen, what do you want to be? And I was like, oh, I don't know. And they're like, what about own it? You always say that, like, own your space, blah, blah, blah. That's how that started. So that was where and I was driven by this need for people to know that they need to own who they are, be fucking solid in that foundation, like so solid that you cannot build a house on sand, like. That's been something I've said since way back, like 2014, days right, and the On it Project happened through the birth of that.

Speaker 1:

That video happened to me. That's the story we shared with these young women, and these young women were blown away with the fact that, like they needed to own their story and stand strong in those foundations and from those foundations, from this fucking core that we're talking about right now, they can fucking do anything. And so this is weird for me now, because I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I think our methodology and our systems for spicy brains and I'm not ADHD diagnosed, I get that, but having the dyslexia, the mani-gen, probably fucking ADHD I know that without that solid fucking foundation to the core of who I am, I would not still be I'm fucking getting emotional I would not be able to still be here because it wouldn't work. The wedding business that's fucking Kristen, jesus Christ. The wedding business wouldn't work without me knowing what I stand for, who I am. The wedding business wouldn't work without me knowing what I stand for, who I am. Why, fucking, what is wrong with me, sorry, why I'm so driven to give a shit about people.

Speaker 1:

And you think about when all of those women in the digital hive found out about the why method, what changed in them? Because those women, most of them, are still with us, because we put a fucking emphasis on you get this, you dig to the. Should I go that way? No, like the local edit that I'm doing now, I would not push this. I would not care a fuck about this if it wasn't aligned with my values and my core being to simplify something. That's fucking hard for people that aren't creative and spicy like I am.

Speaker 1:

So I kind of feel like, do we go back to that route and make that a much bigger, bolder, beautiful thing? Because we are not here to be linear. I am not here to do the same thing as everyone else, and everyone else is doing the funnels and the this and the fucking that. This is the thing that it makes us completely different for 40-year-old women that have never done this work, and when you do this work and you do it right, those women are still with us.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I'm passionate as fuck about this. You know, we were talking about how we were feeling with creating content, how we were feeling with you, our ideal customer, you, our incredible listener, and how we were helping, and how we felt so stuck in this fucking box, as you've just heard. And this was just, you know, with Mia talking about being herself and showing up as herself and us understanding the purpose and the need for your deep, deep why. And so we just put this snippet in here, because this is literally a conversation that Mia and I had with each other via Slack and we thought you know what? Maybe let's drop it in here, just so you could really understand the conversations we have with each other to make sure that we get this right for you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so let's wrap it up there. And you know, christina, I think this whole entire conversation today and everything that we stand for and everything that we embody and our success and what we love doing and teaching the students inside our community, is that even if you do have an ADHD brain or a many I was going to say fanny gen brain, can we call that fanny gen? Now, you're a fanny gen. It doesn't matter how your brain works, or even if you're completely neurotypical, it does not matter. But every single ounce of your business and everything that you do should tie back to you and your personal brand.

Speaker 2:

Without your personal brand, you just have a product and these days it's not enough. Honestly, it is not enough to just have a product. People want to know about you. People want to know your thoughts, your feelings, what you do every day, who you are. People thrive off that. Look at celebrities. People just love them, not just because they're a good actor, but because we feel like we get this insight into their lives and that allows them to sell a perfume, sell a handbag, sell makeup. Put whatever they want out into the world and people will fucking buy it because they are a solid personal brand and people just want to buy from other people.

Speaker 2:

So everything that we've talked about today, all of our confessions, everything that we embody as the hive and who we are, is basically empowering you and inspiring you to build your own unfuckable personal brand. Because when you have that personal brand that cannot be taken down, you cannot quit being yourself. It doesn't matter if you pivot, if you change a little bit, if you morph, if you evolve, because you can't quit your personal brand. You can quit a product, you can quit a niche, but your personal brand is what's going to stick everything together and that's where you're going to find true success is with you as a personal brand. So take that home with you. Or, as Kristen would say, put that in your smoke and pipe it. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, oh God.

Speaker 2:

And that's another thing too. We're content creators, we're podcasters, but you think we can talk all the time. No, I can't talk. And we love this messy, unscripted don't edit that stuff out kind of vibe, because it's real, it is us, it is real, this is who we are, and people give us money to be in the room with us and to learn from us and get around us, and that's why we love our community, because it's not a course, it's not a step-by-step this is how you're going to make a million dollars. We're a community, we're lifting each other up, we're empowering these women to build a personal brand. That is unfuckable. Yes, there are some marketing techniques and some things that you need to know, but we twist them in a way to suit spicy brains and we fucking love it.