Episode #404 – “Be Her Now” – Making Your Vision Your Reality with Julie Solomon

I am Cherylanne Skolnicki, and this is Brilliant Balance, the show. For those of us who still dare to want it all, who have big dreams and bold ambitions, I think we deserve to have a big, full life and the freedom to enjoy it. So let’s design our next chapter together for brilliance, not burnout. Each week I’ll bring ideas, insight, and a fresh perspective to keep you growing into a life that feels as good as it looks brilliant. Balance your life your way. Now let’s get started. This is episode 404 of the Brilliant Balance Podcast. Be her now, making your vision your reality with Julie Solomon. Well, welcome back to The Brilliant Balance Show where we help you find your way to a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. And today’s episode is one that I have been so looking forward to sharing with you because my guest is Julie Solomon.

Julie is an author, a speaker, a coach, and a host of the Influencer podcast. And you may know her, uh, as the author of the book, Get What You Want, which is all about breaking through self-doubt, rewriting the stories that are holding you back and finally stepping into your power. But her work has gone well beyond this book, which came out about three years ago. In fact, today her work is really rooted in helping women go from unseen to unstoppable. What she says on her site is that she helps powerful women rise into their next evolution, and I love that. So whether you are building a business or leading a team, or just trying to show up more fully in your own life, I think this episode is gonna meet you right where you are. What I love about Julie and I got the chance to meet her earlier this year at a dinner that I hosted, and she was seated right across from me at this dinner, is that she is so true in person to what you see about her online.

She’s so grounded. She is so just powerfully present. Like the way that she shows up is full attention focused on whoever is in front of her. And that really came through even in this interview. In this conversation, we talk about everything from owning your origin story to being able to find clarity through action, really about what it is that you want, and then learning how to really embody that future version of yourself without shrinking back into your past. So I think you’re gonna love this, especially if you are somebody who is working to create a vision and then align your day-to-day life with that vision. So without further ado, let me introduce Julie Solomon.

Cherylanne Skolnicki:

So Julie, welcome to the Brilliant Balance Show. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. <laugh>. We were just giggling before the recording started about this is like the day for technical challenges, and so bear with us, y’all. If anything sounds a little glitchy here and there. We might just let it run because this is how entrepreneurship goes and, and after 400 episodes, I’ve seen it all. And so we’re just gonna roll through with this. Okay.

Julie Solomon:

Yes, I know the weather’s not working with us today, but we’re gonna, we’re gonna do our best. We’re

CS:

Gonna do it. So we are gonna talk about your book a lot today, and I’ve talked about it a little bit in the introduction for the listener, but I would love it if you would just give us a little bit of your story, sort of mm-hmm <affirmative>. Where are you today? What is the work that, how would you describe the work that you’re doing in the world? And then maybe just like a little few minute trip down memory lane of how you got to this place.

JS:

Yeah. So, well, my book came out three years ago, so I actually feel very removed <laugh> from that phase of life. And it was, it was such a great point in my career where I got to really share the message that I had at that time. And so I feel like in a lot of ways that has foundationally, you know, stayed with me, but also there’s been such an evolution just in the last, you know, three years and written, and then I wrote it like two years before that. Yes. So really it’s like this five years that, especially for, for, you know, working moms. We know how that goes. Yes. With life and family and all of that. But, you know, really where my, where my specialization lies, is in messaging. And we can talk a lot about that today if we want to, and what it means to, to share your message and, and even more so share your voice with the world.

But what I really do, which is kind of underneath the surface of all of that, is more what I call identity recalibration. So a lot of times women will come to me because they’re like, I need to refine my message, or I wanna sound better on social media, <laugh>. And that’s a part of it. But when we really start to peel the onion back, there’s so much to our identity and how we’re showing up in the world and how we are leading with that clarity in who we are and what we have to say and why that’s important, and how that translates to voice, to messaging, to content, to copy to all of those things. And so what tends to happen a lot of times is when people come into my world, they may think that they need to refine a piece of message or work on some kind of business aspect of online business because mostly my clients that I serve are online entrepreneurs. But what ends up really happening is that they really kind of come back to themselves and, and reclaim a lot of parts of themselves that they didn’t even know might have been lost or muddled in the mix of life. And all that comes with that,

CS:

Which I love. And I think I just wanna touch on this idea that you are bringing up, which is, I wrote this book, right? You published it three years ago. You wrote it two years before that. It feels like ancient history. And yet what I love about people who have taken the time to put their work into book form and taken the risk of letting it sort of live in perpetuity is that you do find how the themes carry forward in maybe new permutations into new chapters of your life. But yeah, the version of you that like had that insight and the courage to put that work on paper, I hope it’s gratifying to know that it’s still serving people, that they’re still discovering it for the first time. It’s new to that. Yeah. Right. It’s, and I think I get this way even with old podcast episodes, I’m like, oh my God, I’m so sick of talking about that. And yet when someone’s discovering it for the first time, it’s still applicable. Those ideas are kind of evergreen. And I love that for you and for me and for all of us who are like having the courage to put this workout in the world.

JS:

Yeah. You know, I think that, I was just talking to somebody else earlier today that I had someone yesterday post a page of the book, you know, and I got to share it. And even though I feel like from my end, that was a long time ago, what’s really neat about if you’re, if you’re just learning about me for the first time today, or just hearing about my book for the first time today, the evolution of who I am just kind of deepens the concepts that are in that book. That’s, and so the conversations that can be had now are actually far, the depth and the resonance of them are gonna be far greater than they would’ve been even when I was doing book promo, you know, three years ago. That’s

CS:

Right. And I think, you know, the idea behind the book of getting what you want really does start with knowing who you are. And, and so I think there is this piece where it transcends to message, if you’re doing personal branding work, your message is really about being able to communicate who you are and what you are able to bring into the world, which ultimately is how you end up getting what you want, right? So they’re all gonna knit together really beautifully here in a way that I just kind of love. So let’s start there. You open the book with the idea that getting what you want really starts with getting honest mm-hmm <affirmative>. And I think that this is something that’s so hard for women who are maybe still hiding parts of themselves away or wanting to polish it up and present a maybe, you know, shinier version of ourselves than what is actually who we are. So why is that the first step? Why is getting on us the beginning and why is it so hard for us to do?

JS:

Yeah. I mean, I, you can’t get what you want if you don’t know what you want, right? And

CS:

Period,

JS:

Period <laugh>. And also, a lot of times I feel like because of so many different things, whether it’s worthiness or lack of confidence, beliefs in ourself, scarcity, mindset, pleasing other people in our lives and in our family structures, we tend to dim our high, those aspects of what it is that we really want. We don’t even really allow ourselves to fully ask what that is, which then can lead to people thinking that they either don’t know how to get what they want or they’re not worthy of getting what they want. And so one of the steps of being radically honest with yourself to figure this out is if you don’t think you know what it is that you want, you definitely know what it is that you don’t want. Oh, that’s great. Start there. Uhhuh. <affirmative>. Like, and, and that’s really where that honesty piece comes in.

Like, you, you can be, if you can be radically honest with what no longer serves you, what no longer fits in your life, who no longer fits in your life, the, the people, the places, the things that you are starting to outgrow, the mindset, the belief systems, the old versions of you that might have gotten you here, but they’re not gonna get you there to where you’re gonna go, the more that you can be honest of, of that. And I kind of think about it in this metaphor of like, you’re walking into your closet and all our ladies here know this. Yes. Because we’ve all done this, right? Mm-hmm. We walk into our closet, it’s spring cleaning, and we kind of just start to go through and take stock. We’re like, okay, that shirt’s got a stain on it. That shirt, you know, I haven’t worn it in three years, I just did my color analysis and I don’t even wear those colors anymore.

Right? So let’s get rid of that. You know, it’s like we’re, we’re constantly kind of going through purging and archiving. We need to do the same thing with our own aspects of our values, our beliefs, our what it is that we want out of life, who it is that we want to impact and serve our purpose, our passion, our mission. All of that falls into play. And so it’s kind of like you need to go into the closet and really take hard stock about what actually fits you. And if you can’t be honest about that, like what for sure doesn’t fit you anymore. And I think that if we can start there, even if you wanna put pen to paper, that’s the best step of really starting to take stock of that honesty piece so that you then can take the next steps to, to really the beauty and the serenity that comes from fully giving yourself permission to claim and own what it is that you want.

CS:

I love that hack as a first step because I agree with you. In my experience, it is easier for people to say, not this, than to really declare this, this is what I want. It’s easier to sort of look at your current circumstances and say, I can tell you what I don’t like about this version of my life. ” The clarity of vision is so hard to get to clarity of who we are and what we want when, and, and I always wonder if it’s because there are infinite possibilities, right? When we’re moving in the direction of what we do want. It could be anything. When we’re saying not this, we’re sort of considering our current circumstances. How do you think that plays into the, to the ease of the, the latter process?

JS:

I think this is where trust really needs to come in, because you’re right there, we are so infinite in the possibilities of all the things that we could create, all the choices and opportunities that could come our way, the, the, the people that we’re gonna meet and how that shapes choice and opportunities. And so if there is never a limit to that, it’s not even really so much so worrying about I’m not gonna be able to do it all, or I’m gonna miss something that’s meant for me. And it’s really about trusting with the tools that I have today, what can I start actively working towards that is just going to get me that one step closer to then other things that are gonna be revealed Because we are so limited in our mindset of what we actually think is possible for us, that when we have that self trust and when, when we can trust, and depending on your walk, you know, if you are a woman of faith or you know, if you’re a spiritual person, de depending on what you believe, whether that’s God or a higher power or whatever that is for you, the more that you can lean in and trust in that thing that is greater than you to hold you just to that next step.

Yes. I’m not saying we’ve gotta take the leap from one canyon to the next, but can you just take that next one step and let more be revealed as it comes through? That is when you’ll start to see that the possibilities that might’ve felt too big or you, you couldn’t even, you couldn’t even fathom wrapping your own brain around them at the time, really do start to come to fruition. And so the things that might’ve once felt limitless or limited, really start to unravel as these realistic parts in your life. And I’ve seen it happen over and over again in my own life and in so many of the lives of the women that I get to work with as well.

CS:

It’s so inspiring when it does, right? When you see someone who takes that first step and it reveals like the next curve in the road, and then they can take the next and the next after that. You’ve, I’ve, I’ve heard you say that clarity isn’t something you find, it’s something you create. And I love that we’re, we work a lot on clarity with women within brilliant balance. And I think it’s an overwhelming word. Everyone knows they want it, but the process of how you get it can be overwhelming. And you’ve just given a couple of really clear strategies to help make it tangible, which is so fascinating. One of the things, Julie, that I think gets in the way sometimes of that clarity is kind of our past, like the limitations that we think are rooted in what we’ve already done that can block us from what we might be able to do in the future. And you teach that we all carry hidden origin stories that inform our choices. Can you explain what an origin story is and how this, how it might be running the show without us even knowing it?

JS:

Yeah. So I mean, an origin story is really, it’s, it’s the story of our origin. It’s the things that happened earlier in our lives or the belief systems or the people that we were around or how we were raised. Um, you know, money that we had or didn’t have, and how that really shapes the decisions that we choose to believe in and act upon today. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so we all have an origin story. And you know, it’s, it’s interesting because it’s important to know your origin story because this is part of the awareness piece, and this is part of the piece of you getting honest with yourself. You can’t really go where you’re meant to go if you don’t kind of know where you came from and what makes you tick and, and why you may think and feel the way that you do.

Because part of getting what you want also lends to taking radical responsibility and accountability for every choice that you do have control over in your life. There’s so much that we don’t have control over, right? That you have control over what we think, what we believe, and how we feel. Period. End of story. Love that. Even with all of these external things that come, we still have, we still have agency over those three things because they all come from here and they all come from here. Yeah. The mind and the heart. Yes. And so if that is true, we kind of have to have an idea about, well, what did shape my thoughts, my feelings, my belief systems? And are these, now that I’m an adult, are these beliefs actually mine or are they something that I adopted or inherited from some old past story that actually if I go into my closet, I see no longer fits me anymore.

Mm-hmm. And so it’s really important to get clear on that so we can have the awareness to really just accept, okay, th this pattern or this theme, or this thing that I don’t like about myself, or that I don’t like that I do, or I react in this certain way mm-hmm <affirmative>. Or I’m fearful about this, it’s actually happening due to the origin of a story that I have attached and labeled myself to. And so if that is true, then guess what you can do? You can write, rewrite your story, and you can change the script. And when you change the script, the script changes and all the players in the script changes and the storylines changes. But you have to be kind of clear on where you came from first to get clear on that. And then from there, Cheryl Anne, I love to close the door on the past.

CS:

Yes. I feel that so many people live in the past, they’re so past focused. I mean, even as a country, right? It’s like we love history and it’s like, let’s like read about the past and read and it’s like, it’s important because that saying you don’t want history to always repeat itself. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So it’s important to kind of be aware and understand where we came from and what makes us tick, but I want to be more present focused and more future minded. Me too. I wanna be more stepping into the version of my future self and the version of my higher self than this past version of me that I might have needed to get me here. But again, it’s not gonna serve me where I’m going. And so as aware as I love to be about the origin story and to identify it and claim it so you can overcome it, I also feel that there’s a time that, that you kind of have to close that door and make the distinct decision that you’re no longer living by past beliefs, past failures, past fears, past traumas, and you’re moving forward with the information that you now have to make better and more informed decisions to get what you want.

JS:

Yeah.

CS:

And this, this might be, as I heard you explain that, where it crosses over into your current work around messaging. And if I think about it, not just for business owners or online entrepreneurs, but really for anyone who wants to own their own narrative, you know, think about it, in a world today where we all have a LinkedIn profile, we have a personal brand, whether we have our own company that we’re monetizing behind that or not, there’s something that we stand for, something we wanna be known for. Even like in our communities, in our families, there are these pieces of identity that really, I think if we want to have the lives that we really intend to have and that we’re meant to have, we have to shape that narrative and be able to create messaging, right? Which is not language that people who are not entrepreneurs think about.

CS:

Wait, I, I promise you listeners today, if you’re an entrepreneur, you think about messaging all the time. And if you’re not, you’re like, what is she talking about? Messaging? But this is where it’s gonna get really interesting because Julie’s work centers on entrepreneurs, and yet I think it has crossover to all of us who are trying to find the message that we’re taking out into the world. Think about what you’re teaching your children, what you’re standing up for in your community, what you are kind of place putting your mark on in your workplace. And so Julie, can you tie that thread for us like, okay, something got us here, our origin story, and now we know what we want. We’re kind of making that distinction of what we want in order to get it. I suspect our message is going to come into play. Can you tie that thread for us?

JS:

Yeah. So the real message is from a, from a deeper level, it is, it is your presence and it is how you embody the presence of who you are. And so what I mean by that is how you lead yourself, how you lead your family, how you lead in the workforce, how you lead your team, how you lead your community, and really being a mirror of that to other women who also want that. So this is where the more that we embody our presence and really the integrity of who we are, then the way that we articulate that embodiment and that presence is through our message. And that is where our presence really is the product and our movement becomes the message, how we move through the world, how we move with people, our thoughts and our beliefs. And we have something that we wanna share and say, and this is how we do that.

And so a lot of times where messaging can get muddy is when it’s not rooted in that true embodiment piece, when it’s not rooted in your own integrity and your own authenticity. I see. And it can a lot of times get very Me too. Yes. Yeah. And conceptualized. Mm-hmm. Or you’ll see this person doing this and you’re like, oh, maybe that’s, that’s how I need to sound or how yes, I need to think or how I need to lead or how I need a parent without really truly tapping into yourself first. And the more that you can really own who you are, you know, you say what you mean and mean what you say, and you don’t say it mean <laugh>, and you just own that, you know, with every, with every bit of you. That is actually the ripple effect and the mirror that magnates people to you.

Yeah. So it’s, you know, that’s when you’ll start to hear people say things like, I don’t know what it is about Cheryl Ann, but I want what she has. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Like what I make up and tell myself that she has, because the way that she holds herself, the way that she embodies the room that she’s in, the way that she leads, the way that you can see the light radiating from her. Like, I, I want that. Like what is that? I wanna tap into that. And that is what makes you a more magnetic leader, a more magnetic parent, a more magnetic member of your community. And the way that we articulate that is through messaging. So that can be through writing, that can be through speaking. That could even be through visuals. Yeah. Visual messaging. You know, what does your actual, you know, if you have a brand look like, what does your home look like? You know, what is, what does your office look like? I mean, all of that dictates and forms a message. Message is just a perception of what it is that you throw out to people. And as long as it is corralled mostly to where you want it to be, which hopefully that is rooted again in your who

CS:

Authenticity

JS:

And your embodiment and your integrity, it

CS:

Better be right. Right. It

JS:

Better be right, then you’re good. But most of the time it’s not. And it’s not because people don’t wanna be authentic or they’re living out of integrity, but a lot of times we get so lost in, you know, the comparison.

CS:

Absolutely.

JS:

And what other people are doing, or she, she looks, acts, and, and that’s right. And presents herself a certain way. And that seems to be working for her. So maybe I need to kind of replicate that. That’s right. Instead of really rooting into who we are and what we have to say and, and how we get that out into the world. So that’s why when women come to me, what I love when they say is like, the strategy’s great, Julie, the strategy’s always, always great, you’re great with strategy. But what really moved me was to see how you just unapologetically owned who you are as a mother, as a leader, as a woman, as unapologetically owned, what you believe in. And you shared that with the world, even if people were gonna judge you for it or roll their eyes or have their thoughts and feelings about it, you just own who you truly were. And that gave me permission to do the same thing. So that’s what I mean about that identity recalibration

CS:

Piece. Yeah. It’s such rich territory. You’ve said like a book’s worth of stuff in that last blurb. I think I want everybody to catch your breath on what she just said because it’s easy to get lost in the buzzwords around authenticity and being yourself. And you know, we’ve all heard it a thousand times, but there’s real gold in what Julie just shared because if you think about this, messaging is the projection of your presence. Right? That’s what I heard. That’s my translation of what you said. It’s like we all have a personal presence. How are we projecting that so that other people see it? They’re going to hear us, they’re gonna like it in an audible way, they’ll hear our voices, they’ll see the words we write in a variety of formats, whether that’s at work or if, if you’re an entrepreneur, it might be more, might be broader than that.

It could be the way that your words are translated through, not even your words, but your ideas are translated through imagery. I loved how you said your home, your office, your spaces, what you wear. It’s all a reflection of like, are you being you. And when we start to just be little cookie cutters and look exactly like everyone else and there’s no personal style, there’s no sense of individuality because we’re so scared that if we stand out, we’re gonna get whacked down. I think we lose all of the magic of this. And I am just as guilty of doing it as every other person on the planet, right? We look around, we benchmark and we think, okay, that’s the winning model. We’ll do it just like that. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

CS:

Did you know that beyond hosting this podcast, I also directly support women leaders at the intersection of work and life as a member of bold. You get direct access to me, the women on my team and a peer group of exceptional women who are rewriting the rules and redefining what it means to have it all together. Go to brilliant-balance.com/bold to learn more and apply for your spot today. So here’s something I think about often. I wonder what you think about this. I think about celebrity culture and just looking for the seeds of an idea, maybe in people we all would recognize, like what differentiates them, what’s different about their message, their persona that we can all see. And I, I was just thinking, ’cause you know, these are my con I’m gonna say older people because that’s where I live here, <laugh>. But I was thinking about like Jennifer Amerson, Jennifer Garner, and Reese Witherspoon,

JS:

Right? There’re three

CS:

People who are arguably are insanely successful female actresses. Right? Like insanely successful. And yet, if you had to think about things you know about them that make them quirky or different or like personal hobbies that they have, or little things that are like ownable, can you sit here now and be like, oh yeah, I can tell you things about all three of them that are like unique to them that you don’t see all three of them doing. Can you like, yes. Because you Yeah. Name something. Yes.

JS:

I’ll give you a couple of lines and well, what is so fascinating too though, is that we can do that when we don’t even know these people personally don’t know them. Right. Which then goes back to what I was saying about it’s all the perception ’cause it’s all a mirror. It’s all the perception that you make up and tell yourself that these three women that you perceive to be high integrity, highly qualified. Yes. Beautiful, successful, all the things that you want, right? Right. So you’re looking outside, looking in and you’re like this quirky thing, this fun thing, this thing that makes her imperfect, but she’s still radiating and shining. Yeah. This thing I love about her, I want what I, I want that. Yeah. I’m damaged by that. I’m gravitating to that. And it’s because it’s really meant, there’s a saying called if you spot it, you got it there.

It’s really meant to show you a mirror of what you are already capable of and what you already have inside you that you’re wanting to expand more into. And so that’s really what I see. It’s like, whether it’s the quirky thing or you know, whatever that is gravitating you towards these people, it is that what I really get hooked on is like, okay, what are you making up and telling yourself that that person has right. Because that’s going to allow you to drop more into what it is that you want that’s already inside you. If it wasn’t inside you, you wouldn’t see it in other people, good or bad. Right. You can also do this with what you’re wanting to shed. Right. Because it’s all a reflection in a mirror of either what you no longer want or what you’re wanting to lean more into.

So a saying that I have that I love, ’cause it’s not even more just about being me, it’s about being the highest version of me. When I think about the highest, most purest, most loving version of me that God could create in God’s image, the highest version of me, that’s who I want to be. Like I want to in my life knowing that I did everything that I could possibly do in my little tiny human body to become the version of me in God’s image. And so if that’s the case, I I, I talk about like my fu that the future self mm-hmm <affirmative>. And I wanna be her now. So those are the three words that I’ll say a lot. Like when I’m having a moment of confusion, of lack of confidence when I, when I don’t have the answers to something, when I’m, you know, I was just on a phone call earlier today with my contractor ’cause we’re renovating our house and we had to talk about like big money stuff.

And it’s not always like easy conversations. No. But I literally said to myself before I got on the phone, be her now. Like what would the highest version of Julie that felt so financially clear and sovereign, what would she say in this conversation? How would she hold herself? And also how would she hold and respect the other person on the other end of that conversation, even if this is not gonna be the easiest conversation in the world to have because of my origin story around money, right? Yes. So it’s like I have to step into and be her now and lead with that. So it’s not just the woman I am today, but it’s really the highest version of, of who I am that I am always trying to get to

CS:

Become. That is, that is probably gonna title this episode for me. So being her now is such a, it’s one of those things you wanna like to put on a sticky note and keep it in front of you. Right. I can see how that guides decisions and choices for you moment by moment throughout your day, really connecting to your future self and saying, what would she do? And how do I embody that today? What am I waiting for? In other words, right. I love

JS:

That. ’cause we really are our future self. It’s just we have our own limitations of what we think and feel about our own capabilities that we have to kind of trick the mind. This is where some people may call it, fake it till you make it. I love to say act as if, act as if you know mm-hmm <affirmative>. Act as if you’ve already got the promotion. Act as if you already have the relationship. Act as if you already have the house. Act as if you already have whatever it is that you’re wanting and be in this moment. How you would be if those things were already a reality.

CS:

And what’s fascinating about that, as you say it, is that it feels like it’s where you can align this idea of projection of presence. Like your message with where you’re going. Yes. You’re starting to telegraph it before you’re even there. So you essentially like to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be. And that is, that’s, that is so much of what so many of our listeners are trying to do. Right? Yes. I have a vision. It’s bigger than where I am today. There’s definitely something more here for me. Can’t quite touch it. But those words are really a shortcut, like a little bit of a cheat code right. For

JS:

How you teach. Yeah. That’s where the strategy comes in. I love it. Yeah. About Yeah. And that’s some of them, yeah. Some of the strategies that I teach in messaging, like for example, most people, especially in the entrepreneur space, we’ve heard this saying of like, you’re here to, to serve a former version of yourself mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so you need to create offers and messaging and stuff, everything to support a former Yeah. Version of yourself. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I believe that I am here to support a future version of myself. ’cause I’m also here to support the future version of myself. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So if I’m, if I’m always trying to support a past version, again, we’re opening the door to the past and I’m supposed to serve a past version of myself, what that ends up doing is it ends up curtailing the messaging and the marketing and the offers to actually serve a version of you that has already died. Yes. That no longer exists. And it doesn’t mean that those other versions of people out there don’t mean to served

CS:

Exist and need work. Right.

JS:

Right. They’re just not meant to be served by you. And so I spent years in my business not wanting to work with newbies mm-hmm <affirmative>. But yet I kept calling in newbies and I’m like, why does this keep happening? Like I’m a seven figure entrepreneur. It’s been years since I was a newbie. I’m so far removed from this. I, you know, I like to help women go from, you know, good to exceptional mm-hmm <affirmative>. Not from getting started to good. Like why do they keep coming into my world? And it was when I really had the realization of, oh, it’s because I’m, I’m talking,

CS:

I’m looking in the rear view mirror,

JS:

Right? I’m looking at the rear view mirror and I served myself five years ago. So guess what that means that everything is going to be dictated including the messaging and the offers and the marketing to that form former version versus when I started to create marketing and messaging truly for that woman that was going from good to exceptional, that woman that was actually more of a peer and more of a mirror of who I was today and where I was going. Everything in my business changed.

CS:

Uh, that is really extraordinary. And for the entrepreneurs who are listening, particularly personal brand based entrepreneurs, you have definitely heard that phrase about serving the former version of yourself. And I think there’s merit in, of course we feel confident looking backwards and saying, how was there purpose in that pain? Was there some way I can serve out of the path I’ve already walked? For sure there is. But what I’ll tell you from experience is it gets boring. Yes. There’s a point where you’re like, I am so bored of talking about this thing that I mastered a long time ago.

JS:

And it does you and them a disservice,

CS:

Right. Because then they feel like they know you’re bored. Right? So then when you start working with people who are on a fresher edge, they’re on a growth trajectory that excites you, where you’re like, yes, let’s go run this leg of the journey together. The energy that you bring to that is so transformed.

JS:

It’s so different. Yes. And it’s, and it’s because too, in, in, in whatever line of work that you do, no matter if you’re in corporate America, agency life, if you’re an entrepreneur, if you’re a stay at home mom and you are the head of the PTA mm-hmm. Whatever service you’re doing, it’s not just about what you’re giving, but it’s also about what, what you receive from it. Mm-hmm. And the energy that that brings. Like you’re saying Cheryl Ann, that if I’m receiving, if this is actually making me have to strengthen a muscle, it’s making me kind of stay curious and more open than I have been in a long time. It’s kind of keeping my own whistle wet, so to speak. Yes. What you’re receiving from that is so much greater than just kind of running through the motions of doing things. Yes.

Yes. And that’s how, for a while I was kind of like gaslighting myself, Cheryl. I was like, can I do this board? I think I can do it bored <laugh>. Yeah. Like I can do it board. And then I was like, you know what? This is, this is not, I’ve stunted my own growth by trying to continue to serve an avatar, a buyer that I’m not meant to serve anymore. And to also speak in a certain way that that person needed to hear that I have far evolved from and outgrown. And there’s only so much of that that you can do before you actually feel very emotionally bankrupt. Yes. And just completely uninspired. And then that’s when sometimes we all go through the existential crisis of like, am I even supposed to be doing this?

CS:

I’m gonna burn this down. Right?

JS:

I’m gonna burn. Do people even care? Like Right, right. Am I, am I crazy?

CS:

And I think there, the entrepreneurial side of that is, it’s antithetical to scale, right? If you think about how we’re coaches, entrepreneurs, it’s like you wanna build something that you can sell forever. And it’s, that’s what scales, and I think this is a very feminine approach to saying, you know, I wanna stay curious and service oriented and growing, and I’m gonna sort of follow that path and bring along who wants to come along with me. Like that’s a, it’s a very different model than Yes. Preaching sort of what scales. And then I think if you’re sitting inside of an organization and you don’t run your own business, this still tracks, right? Yes. Because this is where you’ve outgrown the path you’re on. You look around and you go, everybody thinks I’m a marketer, or everybody thinks I’m an m and an expert. Yeah. And oh my God, I don’t wanna be that anymore, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I have done this well to the point where it’s all anyone sees me as capable of doing, but I wanna go there. I want that other thing. And so this is an invitation to say, you know, apply these same principles that you’re hearing Julie teach from to say, what does that look like for you? How are you going to telegraph this version of you, where you’re going? Right. Be her now as you’re in your own corporate climb. Because I fundamentally know that it applies in both arenas. I know it does.

JS:

10%. And I even thought about it when I was an assistant in corporate America. Yes. To my boss. That was a big wig pub, you know, executive publicist at the time. And I remember I was, I I, it was like, there was something about her. I didn’t know what it was, but it’s like, I wanted that. I was like, I want what she has. And I remember just kind of wanting to model and shape, even though she had 15 years of experience on me, like her, I wanted her floor to be my ceiling. Yes. And so it’s like, how do I, like, how do I really work on that and like use, use what I, the perception of what I have as, as her to help me create this identity of what I’m stepping into and who I wanna become. And so it is, no matter where you are in your journey, there’s always a next level. Yes. And that’s when I love to use, whether it’s celebrities, like you said, Shelan or if it’s somebody that you do know personally, just finding those people that it’s like, you’ve got something that I wanna tap into. Because that’s really where the, that’s where the, the big work I think happens.

CS:

Amazing. Amazing. Julie, where can people find you online? I’ll link to this in the show notes, but just tell them where’s the best place to find you and your work?

JS:

Yes. So Instagram is where I hang out the most on social media. So that’s at Joel, J-U-L-S-S-O-L-O-M-O-N. And then my website is julie solomon.net. And then I also have a podcast that airs every Wednesday. And you can find that wherever you listen to podcasts. It’s called the Influencer Podcast. Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, all the places.

CS:

All the places. Amazing. Well, you have been exceptional. I had so much fun meeting you earlier this year. I am so glad that we finally got this scheduled and had time to do this together. It has been an absolute delight. You are a bright light and I’m just so excited to see you growing and taking your business in this direction. I think you’re gonna help so many people.

JS:

Thank you.

CS:

Okay, my friends, thank you for staying with me till the end of this episode. I hope you got as much out of this conversation with Julie as I got out of it. I genuinely loved spending this time with her and I’m so grateful that our technology held out and we were able to get the whole thing recorded without glitches. The thunderstorms have rolled in now here they were with her at the beginning and now we have them here. So I feel really lucky that that all went off without a hitch. I really do hope that you’ll go check out Julie’s work, particularly if you are an entrepreneur with a personal brand. I think that is like sitting at the cross hairs of the people that she supports. But I fully believe that her work is relevant more broadly than that. So if you felt like you were vibing with and connecting with what she was sharing today, definitely go check out her work. I have her website and her Instagram account linked for you in the show notes. And if you’re new to the Brilliant Balance Show and just finding your way here, thanks for tuning in. I hope you’ll come back. Just subscribe to the show. It’s the easiest way to never miss an episode. Uh, we release a new one every Tuesday and I would look forward to having you on the journey with us. That’s all for today, my friends. Till next time, let’s be Brilliant.