Rewilding your business with Gill Moakes
Ever felt like your business has got waaay too much going on in it? Too many offers, services, freebies, messages… If so, this is the episode for you!
I chat with Business Coach, Gill Moakes, all about Rewilding Your Business – the process of removing complexity out of your business and simplifying it to create a thriving business that better serves you and your clients.
We get into:
- Where to start if you want to simplify things in your business.
- Carving out your own path by tuning into your intuition and trusting it.
- Creating space for creativity and your best ideas.
- Why fear should be embraced.
- Why it’s a powerful mindset shift to reframe failure as experimentation.
Connect with me
On Instagram @hayleymaxwellwrites
At www.hayleymaxwell.com/fiercely-you-coaching
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Gill Moakes website:
Gill’s socials:
www.linkedin.com/in/gillmoakes
Gill’s newsletter: ReWild Your Inbox
www.gillmoakes.com/rewild-your-inbox
TRANSCRIPT
Rewilding your business with Gill Moakes
Hayley Maxwell 00:00
Well, howdy, howdy, my friend, and welcome to the fierce impact podcast. Delighted as always to have you here. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to listen in.
Now, a very, very important question. Have you got all your Christmas shopping done? Or do you like the exhilaration of leaving it until the last minute, me, I’ve got a few little bits to get
But actually, this year, we’ve really focused on simplifying Christmas, streamlining it. So my girls are going to get prezies, they’re still going to get prezies. But I’ve definitely be more selective and focus this year, in terms of what I’m buying, I can tend to get a little bit carried away and I end up buying all sorts of little crappy bits and pieces that actually they really don’t need. And so we’ve also actually cut down on presents for other family members, choosing to spend quality time and give thanks to them, rather than just giving presents for the sake of it.
As much as I love Christmas, I do find that we end up getting into such a tizzy about getting the present, getting presents, getting presents, getting presents. And we can often just go and grab, grab, grab, without intention and thought. So I’ve been really conscious of this this year.
And in fact, actually, this kind of simplification ties very nicely into today’s episode, I have the delightful Gill Moakes with me talking all about rewilding your business. And this is a concept that I absolutely love the process of simplifying your business, and carving out your own way to create a thriving business that better serves you and your clients. And this conversation was such a meaningful, deep diving conversation. I could have chatted to Jill for hours about this. And I think it’s really perfect conversation to listen into. As you contemplate what parts of your business you want to take into 2023.
And what you might want to release to let go of.
So let me introduce Gill to you. Gill is an award winning ICF certified business coach and mentor, and the host of the Heads Together podcast fab podcast, by the way, I highly recommend you go and listen to it. Gill works with freedom seeking risk taking entrepreneurs around the world, to help them grow phenomenal businesses doing what they love. She helps incredible women design a new reality. And a life and business lived on their own terms, delivering the map, the motivation and the mindset to achieve more than they ever thought possible.
Gill believes that when you’re brave enough to do things your way, and you’re outstanding at what you do, you deserve a life of infinite possibilities. And so I really, really hope that you enjoy this thought provoking conversation as much as I enjoyed having it and recording it for you. So let’s dive in. Welcome to the Feirce Impact podcast Gill, How are you doing?
Gill Moakes 03:43
I’m doing so good. Thank you for having me.
Hayley Maxwell 03:47
My pleasure. I’m really excited about our chat today. Because the topic that you’re going to talk about is all about rewilding your business. And I love this concept that you’ve come up with around what this actually means. And it’s something that I talk to my clients about, as well as this idea of reducing the complexity that we’ve got within our business and really focusing on what we are a genius at. So that genius zone and really just focusing on becoming sort of an expert in a particular thing. And so I think that that really aligns with, you know what I talk about a lot, so I’m super excited to dig into it. But before we get started, would you like to just tell me a little bit about your business journey and sort of how you evolved and got to where you are?
Gill Moakes 04:44
Yeah, sure. I’d be happy to. And at first before I jump in, I’m just I’m so happy that this concept of rewilding your business resonates so much with you as well because it’s one of those things where you know, you get this kind of idea in your head And I was very much kind of how are people going to relate to this? Well, it turns out people really relate to it. So thank you for inviting me on to talk about it. Because it’s something that I’m really passionate about at the moment, it seems to be having a big impact. It’s really resonating with people.
Yeah, so I’m a business coach, mentor. And I also host the Heads Together Podcast. I’m based in Colchester, which has the claim of being Britain’s oldest recorded town, which always makes me laugh, because I feel like it’s like we’re not quite brave enough to call ourselves Britain’s oldest town, we have to add Britain’s oldest recorded town.We don’t quite have the balls to say with it. Yeah, so I work. I work with women around the world who are doing good work. So the women I work with are all very purpose driven. They are all on a mission to make a difference. And I help them really bring the full fat version of their dream business to life. Yeah, so that’s what I get up to.
Hayley Maxwell 06:24
Yeah, and I love that, how you talk about that full fat version of your business and your dream. So I just love that. so keen to dig into that as well. And in the conversation, too. But could we just start by talking a little bit about that, that concept of rewilding your business? And just sort of articulating what that means to my listeners?
Gill Moakes 06:50
Yeah, absolutely. I think so. rewilding is a phrase, obviously, normally applied to things in nature. And, for me, there’s a real parallel with our businesses. And what I mean when I talk about rewilding is looking at your business, and really trying to cut away and clear out the things that just don’t belong there. So that the things that do belong in your business can thrive.
I think we have allowed our businesses to get toxicly complex, you know, there is the whole digital arena is so noisy, there are so many voices screaming that we have to do this strategy. And this, have this many offers and upsells and downsells, and cross sells and triggers and calls to action everywhere. And you know, there’s there’s a lot of words in the online business arena. And I think that there are times when we consume so much advice, that we end up building this kind of monster of a business model that gets that’s got a bit out of hand.
And actually, that’s tends to be where I start with my clients. When we start looking at rewilding their business, it really is a big long look at their business model. Because very often, and when I talk about business model, I talk I’m what I’m actually meaning is, who they work with, so that the the clients, they work with their offers and their pricing. So those are the kinds of three tiers if you’d like.
So we start off taking take, for example, their client base, I kind of have a feeling that you probably get this too, when you’re working with your clients. And that is when they have, you know, probably seven different avatars that they can serve. And all of a sudden, they’re trying to create content that’s going to talk directly to the seven different types of people, et cetera. And, you know, it’s a message. I don’t think there’s anything groundbreaking that I’m saying here. But really niching down serves a very important purpose in your business. It’s because it allows you to simplify your messaging. It allows you to just talk to the very people that you can create the most transformational results for. And so straightaway that, for me is part of the rewilding process.
It’s looking at what you do and who you serve, and how you can streamline that to make it crisper cleaner. nuanced. And then we’ll look at that offers and quite often people just have this huge you know, you see all the diagrams of the various pyramids of value, you know, where people have got free offers, and then they’ve got perhaps a cheap, little $27 digital course or something, and then they’ve got a paid workshop, and then they’ve got a digital course. And then they’ve got a membership, and then they’ve got a mastermind, and then they’ve got to retreat, then they got one to one at the top. For me, that is a nightmare. And I think it’s one of the hurdles that so many business owners fall that is that they have been told they have to have all of these things, or they have to have this value ladder of offers.
And you know, the complexity that goes around the back end of a business that is delivering services to all of those different offers, the back end alone is enough to give you a meltdown. So another way you can rebuild your businesses really think about okay, so for those people that I’ve now narrowed down to the absolute right people that I want to serve, what’s the absolute right offer for them? And with the clients I work with, that tends to be a single high ticket offer. You know, without so many different options that muddy the water and make everything so complex. I mean, sometimes we have, maybe it’s two offers or you know, but generally speaking, it’s a very cleared out version of what what they have when I begin working with them, for sure.
And similarly, with the pricing, the other kind of third leg of the business model, often, pricing has got everyone wrapped in knots. And quite often I say, you know, wouldn’t it be fantastic to just have two prices that roll off the top of your tongue, you know, and you just don’t? That’s just what you charge. And you’re perfectly comfortable with that. So that Yeah, that’s probably where we start with the rewilding is, is just that link that those complex business models and really trying to get back to a place where things feel a bit more natural and a bit more manageable?
Hayley Maxwell 12:14
I think it’s, it’s very, very easy, isn’t it to get caught up in consuming a lot of content and a lot of, but you need to have this and it’d be great to have this. And if you want to achieve this, then this is the way that you need to do it. And I think more often than not, I think what happens is, before you know it, you’ve sort of ended up with something that has become quite unwieldy in terms of your business and your business offerings, because you’re trying to take in this advice, and you’re trying to create a business that is “successful”, you know, I’m saying in air quotes. And you kind of think, well, if all of these other people are doing this, then this must be the right way, I must need to have this and then this, and then this, and then this over here.
And I think it can sometimes happen before we’ve even realized, you know, and we turn around, and then we have got so much going on in our business. And then we select are stuck in terms of, well, now that I’ve got all of this stuff, how do I actually market all of this? Because it’s not just the fact that you’ve got all these offers? It’s actually, then the marketing becomes really complex, too, because it’s got to knock out? Exactly, yeah, you’ve got to figure out when am I going to market this to my audience? When am I going to market that to my audience? How am I going to fit all of that in to get people in? You know, so everything becomes a lot more, more complex with it, I think.
Gill Moakes 13:59
Yeah, I completely agree. And I think, you know, it’s really interesting that you’re just saying then, about how that we consume so much we consume all of this content. And we also we, we try and emulate other people’s businesses. So it’s perfectly natural, particularly for people who are in the earliest stages of building a business and particularly when it comes to an online business. The temptation is to look for someone that you admire and whose business you would love to have. And really look at that and try and pull it apart and replicate the way they do things. And I think what people forget is that these people who have been around that much longer and have these more complex business models also have a team of people behind them managing all of the moving parts that go into making that work smoothly.
They get absolutely unrealistic when solopreneurs start trying to emulate someone that they, you know, love is the worst one, I see this happen all the time with it like Amy Porterfield, I love Amy Porterfield. But the problem is when people look at her business and think I’m gonna just create myself a replica of that, and I’m going to have the seven figure course launches or whatever, you know, and it’s just, it really makes me quite angry, actually, because I’m not angry with anyone in particular. Certainly not Amy, she’s lovely. But it does make me angry that people don’t have the instinct in them to do it their own way, and to do it at their own pace. And I think that’s really, that really is part of this rewilding process as well. It’s coming back to who you are as a business person.
What’s important to you in your business? What’s your way of doing it? And not, it’s not buying into the way other people do things all the time. It’s really finding your own path. And having the courage to do things differently sometimes. And that’s something that I see a lot is that without the validation of someone who’s gone before them, and done it exactly the same way, people almost feel too exposed to try something different. That really feels more natural to them.
Hayley Maxwell 16:49
That’s really interesting, isn’t it? That? Yeah, it’s almost like, well, you know, if they’ve had a success doing it this way, then that is really the way that I should do it. But that kind of stifles a lot of creativity doesn’t it stifles that room for us to come up with new ideas or solutions that might be incredibly perfect for our ideal clients?
Gill Moakes 17:20
Yeah, so right, you’re so right. Because if you think about it, if you’re kind of leap frogging the natural progression of a business that’s growing, organically in line with its owners ideas, which is effectively what we try and do when you try and emulate someone who’s further along than you, and you try and copy their business model, then what happens when you do that is that your business becomes very crowded very quickly. And it’s doesn’t, it does always reflect in your revenue, unfortunately.
So suddenly, you’ve got this business that has lots of moving parts is very complex. But it doesn’t have the revenue of a business with that complexity, it doesn’t have the revenue that is going to afford you the team that are going to take care of all of the moving parts for you. So there’s a real disconnect between the complex business model that you’ve kind of cobbled together, versus the income that could sustain that business model. And the point you made yourself, which is so true, which is around there being no space, you’re so busy doing it the way other people have done it or doing it the way that everyone else does, that you’ve clogged up your entire brain bandwidth with that, and there’s no space to experiment.
I mean, marketing, for example, you know, when we get so busy, agonizing over doing the right marketing strategies, and I think we forget that 90% of marketing is experimentation. Because not one single business owner has the exact same audiences another, not one. Yeah. So marketing, by its very nature is always going to be experimental. It’s going to be about trying things and seeing what, what works for you, and what doesn’t. And when you’ve created this very complex business, that leaves very little bandwidth for any of that free thinking, that’s going to be challenging.
Hayley Maxwell 19:39
Absolutely. I think and yeah, as I said, you’re not going to come up with your best ideas, you know, you’re not leaving that space for your, your best ideas and whether that’s your best ideas for marketing or whether it’s your best ideas for for offers. Yeah, it’s you’re not going to come up with those. So how do we go about kind of tuning into being able to trust our intuition?
Gill Moakes 20:06
Yeah, great question. I always feel like I’m being a little facetious when I say this, but It seriously is as easy as making a choice. Everyone can make the choice, that they are going to be successful. And that they are going to be a person who is confident enough to do things their own way.
Sometimes making the choice to be that person is actually the hardest thing, but it’s also the only real thing that you need to do. And it’s the thing that trips people up, they’re waiting for some kind of permission from the universe to do what feels right. And that permission doesn’t come from the universe, it comes from inside of us. It and it comes by tuning back into our intuition. And really, I think most people know, intuitively, when something feels right, or it doesn’t, you know, the problem isn’t going back, it’s when we’re in that phase of, I have to be replicating what someone else has done, because I don’t know enough to, to make it do it my way.
I think it’s just so easy to get stuck in that cycle and lose track of what actually feels right to you. And be brave enough to go against what the gurus or the you know, the noise out there. Online is telling you, because let’s face it, it’s a bit like the diet industry, literally, you could, for every person that says tiktoks The answer, there’ll be another person saying LinkedIn, another person saying Twitter, another person saying Instagram, there is so much noise out there. For everyone who’s saying, you know, group coaching is the answer.
Then you’ve got people like me, who said, I don’t like group coaching, particularly don’t like coaching in that way? I like coaching one to one. That’s right for me. Yeah. You know, and and it does begin with making a choice choosing to be a certain type of business owner. Now that that is something that I suggest people emulate. Because if look at some of the people that you might really respect and admire the Brene browns, the Marie Forleo, see, you know, whoever it is in your industry that you look up to try and emulate the kind of person they are the kind of business owner they are. Not what they actually do in their business. Yeah. Because one thing’s for sure. I think the people who are wildly successful, have done it their way. The people who really have an innovative in demand business, is because they did something different.
They stood out, they did something different. And so I always say to people that, you know, by all means emulate the kind of person that you want to be just not just just do that your way, though. Let that empower you to do things your own way in your business. We all know, on some level, we all know what feels right. And what doesn’t feel right to us. Yeah, it’s just that we override that, because we’re scared of getting it wrong. So we think, Well, if we if we follow the way everyone else does it, or if we follow the way, most people do it, we’ve got a better chance of success. Yeah, but of course, that’s crazy. If you do it the way everyone else does it. Do you have any idea how many businesses out there that will stand and look and are?
Hayley Maxwell 24:17
Exactly, yeah. Yeah, I think and you touched on a point that I just made a note around. I think one of the main reasons that people sort of get, they might have some really great ideas for things that they really want to do or things that they feel are really needed. But it’s about that fear of trying something different or trying something new or or stepping onto a path that isn’t already well trodden. And so that is a really, it is a really scary thing.
Gill Moakes 24:56
It is it is a scary thing, but that’s okay. A, I think, I think there’s one thing that I’ve really noticed over the last few years, and that is this real loud shouting message online that everything should feel easy. And if it doesn’t, you’re doing it wrong. And, you know, that is damaging to people, because that means that people are the minute that something does feel scary or overwhelming, or then they’re going to revert to that default of just copying what someone else has done, because that feels safe. So it’s really limiting to look at it like that. It’s really limiting to be so uncomfortable with a bit of fear. And I think, you know, really, if you’re, if you’ve decided upon an entrepreneurial path, you got to get comfortable with an element of fear to be successful. I really believe that I Glennon Doyle, you know, who wrote untamed she has a fantastic podcast I’ve been listening to recently called the and it’s called, you can do hard things. And that’s a great one that I don’t think that’s a such a good title. Because we can do hard things. It’s okay for things to feel hard sometimes. And for things to feel scary. That’s okay. That’s the right of passage. That’s the path we’ve chosen as entrepreneurs. So it’s almost like I want to say to people don’t, don’t shy away now. This is where it gets good. Exactly. starts to feel scary. That’s when you’re probably on to something really good.
Hayley Maxwell 26:41
Yeah, I love that. This year, I’ve focused more on beginning to step out of my own comfort zone. And actually now I quote, It sounds very strange, but I quite enjoy the feeling of fear. Just that little bit because it makes me feel alive. It reminds me that, yeah, this is scary. Yes, I haven’t done this before. Does that mean that I can’t do it? No, it doesn’t it means that there’s opportunity, there’s growth, there’s development. For me, there’s learning opportunities. So I think I’ve come to learn to love that little feeling of fear. Because I think then I’m like, No, this is this is something that’s stretching me it’s making me step into that unknown. And I think that, when we really tune into that part of what we’re scared of, and we take opportunities, we say yes to things that before we might have had to take time to think about really hard or we’ve shied away from. It just brings about so much, so much that you can you can learn and it brings about so many new opportunities opens so many new doors. And so, yeah, just just tuning back into what you were saying about that. Yeah, I think fear is a good thing.
Gill Moakes 28:00
I agree. Yeah, it is a good thing. And also reminding ourselves that if we fail, the world doesn’t stop turning. Right. And again, kind of coming back to what we were saying a little bit earlier about that whole experimentation thing. That can be a really useful mindset shift. For when something’s feeling scary, or something feeling really scary. It can be well, I’ll just, I’ll just experiment, it’s fine. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I’m just going to do a little experiment with this. And I think that can be really helpful. But for doing things that feel overwhelming or feel scary.
Hayley Maxwell 28:42
Absolutely, yeah. When you’re looking to do those those new things or try different things, absolutely. Looking at it as an experiment is such a great mindset shift, because whether it goes the way you want it to go, or whether it maybe goes the way that you didn’t want it to go. Either way, you’ve still one moved yourself forward, you’ve done that thing. And that’s a massive achievement. And two, you’ve learned so much along that way in that in that process, you’ve learned so many lessons that you can then use to take those next steps as well. So I’m always of the view that nothing is a failure, because you if you look at it from the perspective of it being an experiment and giving things a go, then you always always learn.
Gill Moakes 29:32
That’s right. It’s data. Everything’s data. Yeah. You know, it’s the results of the experiment. What does this data tell me? Yes, I won’t be doing that again.
Hayley Maxwell 29:43
Exactly. Absolutely.
Gill Moakes 29:44
Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. I think there are lots of things like that, that we can do to just try and have a little more sovereignty around our decision making. And you know, Hard choices. hard decisions are hard decisions that that’s okay. We can make hard decisions. We’re smart business owners, we can make smart decisions for our business.
Hayley Maxwell 30:12
Absolutely. And so if someone is in that process of feeling quite kind of stuck, because they feel like they’ve got so many different things going on in their in their business, and they don’t know which to focus on first, or what to strip out, what are some, you know, practical steps that people can take to begin to begin to streamline things and simplify things?
Gill Moakes 30:42
You know, one thing that I’m really obsessed with is putting your clients first. So I think that this is, again, it’s another message that we’ve had a lot over the last few years, which is oh, you know, I’m working too much in my business. I need to be working on my Yes, yes, yes. Yes. And, and I’m, personally, I think that working in your business, is the most important thing you do. If you don’t focus on working in your business, you will have no work business to work on. So I think, where to start, I think you start with your clients, start with your existing clients, and serving them to the absolute best of your ability, nothing in your business is more important than serving your clients. Nothing. So I always say to people, you know, let’s start there, start with making sure that you are serving your clients in the best way possible. And is it serving your clients in the best way possible? If your offers are confusing? If, by having too many offers, you’re not really rolling out any service in the best way you could be? Because things are too complicated. So really, you know, like Steven Covey. You said in his book, start with the end in mind, what is the end result you want, the end result you want is really happy clients, who talk about you to other people, who then contact you to because they want to work with you. That’s, that’s the desired end goal.
So if you work backwards from that it’s really obvious, then suddenly, it’s very obvious, well, okay, so then nothing is more important than giving my clients like the best service I couldn’t possibly possibly do. Anything else outside of that get has to fit in under that hierarchy. So that’s, that’s the first thing I would say. I think the second thing I would say is that you will never go wrong, if you simplify, you will usually go wrong, if you make things more complicated. So I always think that it’s just so helpful to look at your business. Look at the vision you have for your business. Look at the goals you have look at your business model, what are the offers the clients the pricing, look at your marketing, look at your systems, and really say to yourself, What can I take away? Can I ditch? I got too many goals that I’m trying to achieve. And is that making things cloudy for me? Is it is that actually making me not really have a great deal of clarity around what I should be prioritizing your business model again, can you narrow down that niche so that you’re very clear on who you’re working with? And it’s it’s one ideal client? Can you do that? Can you take away? Can you ditch some of those complex offers in your business? And again, coming back to those ideal clients? What do they really want? Do they really want another ebook? Do they really want that? Is that really going to deliver them the results they want? Or do they want more one on one time with you? Do they want a retreat? Do they want a done for you service? What did they really want? Not what you want, not the way you want to do it? What did they really want? And then match that with the way that you’d like to do things? Yeah, that was probably a long winded answer to your question, but that is it.
Hayley Maxwell 34:50
No its a very good answer. Yeah. A couple of things came up for me when you were talking and that is that you’re right in that. I think there has been a lot of talk about working on your business versus in your business and vice versa. And what I say is that in many ways, it’s almost like or less time working on your business has gone a little bit too far. Because I kind of feel like, if you are a service based business owner, you have signed up to serve your clients, that is what you’re here to do. So your business is all about serving clients. And so that means, to a large degree, you are going to be working in your business serving your clients. And I think there’s almost this myth that, you know, like you said, if you’re working too much in your business, then you’re doing something wrong. And that’s not it’s not the case at all. You know, I think, actually, it’s about getting that, that balance, so you can make maintain your brand awareness, you can maintain visibility and ensure that you’ve always got new clients coming to you. But yeah, as I say, as a service based business owner, you’re making that decision to serve clients. And so that’s what we need to do. But I think there’s so much messaging that’s making us think that actually if we are spending time serving clients, and that’s something wrong, you know, what, that’s something we’re doing wrong in business. And so I think it’s, it’s just shifted too much one way and not the other.
Gill Moakes 36:38
tied in with that passive income thing, isn’t it? As soon as that phrase was coined passive income, as soon as that was coined? All of a sudden, if you didn’t, if you hadn’t nailed your passive income, you, you were almost looked down upon? For still actually serving your clients, what you’re still actually working with your clients and interacting with them? Are you crazy? And I think how, how messed up is that? That’s nuts. And that’s not to say that there isn’t a place for passive income in some business models. For some people. It’s absolutely right. But I think, again, it’s just everything gets skewed too far, when these new concepts come in.
Hayley Maxwell 37:25
And the other thing that you said, that I sort of picked up on is, as well as I think there’s also part of looking at our business, and obviously, looking at what we’ve got within our business that is, is profitable, or not profitable, but also then looking at it from the perspective of do we enjoy delivering that set that those services? So yes, it might be profitable, but actually, does it light us up? Do we really enjoy doing that? Is that the way that we feel we can best deliver our expertise, you know, and because that obviously has a knock on effect to people who are purchasing that service? So I think that’s another thing that we can do when we’re trying to figure out what, what we’re trying to streamline and simplifying our business. And it might be that maybe you’ve got things that you’re kind of hanging on to for, you know, you’ve been hanging on to for a while, and actually, they’re not profitable. But they’re there because every now and then someone needs it. And it’s kind of, well, actually, we can we can maybe move that on on as well.
Gill Moakes 38:39
You’re so right. I often see with clients actually, this, one of the reasons clients will if I challenge the client and say, you know, I really feel like it’s time we let go of that I just, you know, what do you think? And they’ll often say, Yeah, I know. But the thing is, I’ve got all of that copy, and I’ve got the workbooks and all that all of the kind of cheat, you know, the videos are all done. So I might as well keep it available. And because they they don’t see it as adding any complexity into their business. But the truth Yes, of course, it is still a complexity. Because honestly, I can say this from firsthand experience as I am speaking, as someone who has had a way more complex business model than the one I have now in the past. And so I’m very guilty of doing that of holding on to things for way longer than I should have done. And all I would say is that the feeling the expansive feeling you get from just doubling down on what you’re really good at, and letting go of the clutter. So it is like decluttering your house rewild Yeah, yeah. Like decluttering your house I’m basically the Marie Kondo for the online business world.
Hayley Maxwell 40:04
I love that. Now that needs to be like your LinkedIn line, you know, when you have that top line,
you need to
Gill Moakes 40:12
I might have to do that.
Hayley Maxwell 40:17
Love it. And so you talk about, you know, stepping into or owning this kind of full fat version of your business or your you know, your dreams. What’s the what do you what do you mean by that?
Gill Moakes 40:32
Oh, my goodness, I coined that phrase, because this is something that I see all the time in other people. And I’ve done it myself. And that is that you end up beavering away, creating a lite version of the business you really want. And it’s all because of limiting beliefs around what you are and are not capable of, and what is and is not available to you. And for a long time. I mean, when I first I worked in corporate for 25 odd years, I didn’t start my first business until I was in my 40s. And I started kind of like, the only business I felt was realistic. For me, I wanted to be a coach, I always wanted to be a coach. But I didn’t feel like that was realistic for me. So my first business I started as a VA, that was bloody good VA. But it absolutely wasn’t what I wanted to be doing. And so I tentively kind of promoted myself to online business manager, you know, and I would tell anyone who would listen or you know, I don’t want to be in the spotlight, I want to be the person that supports other women building their dream businesses. And it was just a complete and utter lie. But it was all I was capable of claiming for myself, at that point, I just wasn’t brave enough to put my hand up and say, ‘Actually, I really want to have a very a wildly successful coaching practice.’ I just wasn’t brave enough to claim that. And it took a long time, it took a long time for me to really work on that and to cultivate the courage to actually make a stand for what I really wanted. And to pivot my business to get the business that I have now, which is a wildly successful coaching practice. You know, I’ve, I have made that happen. And that is the full fat version of my business. But it hasn’t been easy. And I, I want to help women do it a lot quicker than I did. I want to help people recognize when they’re not doing it, I want them to recognize the signs of working on a light version. And often it will be the the areas where you’re you play small, it will be in your pricing, you’re under charging for what you do. It will be around the kind of clients you want to work with. You know, lots of signs like that can creep in and, and keep you playing small. And I just I guess that’s really my mission is to, to really help women, the clients I work with all my clients are absolutely amazing. And they’re all outstanding at what they do. And they all deserve this life of limitless opportunity. Because for me, that’s when you are good at what you do. That is what you deserve. And there should be nothing that stops you staking your claim about.
Hayley Maxwell 44:05
Yeah, absolutely. And so there are three questions that I always asked at the end of my chats. And so I want to dive into those questions with you. And so the first of those is, what does being fierce in business mean to you?
Gill Moakes 44:23
Yeah, good question. To me. Being fierce is being brave enough to do things my way. It’s yeah, it’s it’s really reaping the benefit of cultivating courage from the very first time I started the business to where I am now. I feel fearless and that makes me fierce.
Hayley Maxwell 44:56
Yeah, absolutely. love that so much. Um, What’s the impact that you’re trying to make through your business?
Gill Moakes 45:07
I guess, like I say, I think my mission really is to help other women create the full fat version of the business that they were destined to run. And to help them recognize when they’re not doing that, because playing small is a really, really common thing. And I think sometimes we don’t even recognize we’re doing it. And yet there is so much more available to us if we open up to it.
Hayley Maxwell 45:42
Yeah, absolutely. And what’s one piece of advice that you’ve been given, it’s really had an impact or an influence on the way that you do business?
Gill Moakes 45:56
That’s a really good question. It’s that I don’t need permission. And that is what someone that I worked with years ago, actually said to me, and I think they said, you know, you’re a smart woman, you don’t need permission to make this decision. And it, it really landed with me, and I’ve remarked, remembered that ever since that, whilst it’s really great, when people validate your decisions, when they agree with you, when they are happy and cheering and, you know, they, they couldn’t, you know, couldn’t be more validating in their praise or view. It’s nice, but it isn’t necessary. I don’t need validation or permission to build my business my way, and to do things differently to other people when it feels right to me. Yeah, so I think that’s probably the best piece of advice.
Hayley Maxwell 47:01
Yeah, I think that’s such a good piece of advice, because I think we hold ourselves back so much waiting for that permission from these unknown people to just go for what we want. So yeah, I think that’s such a good piece of advice. Well, I have loved love loved every minute of having this conversation with you. So I just want to say a massive thank you to you for coming on and sharing all your thoughts and wisdom with with me and with our listeners. So thank you so much. And oh, just before you go, can you let us know where we can come and find you. If we want to come and track you down? Course come stalk me. I love it. I’m at Gill Moakes more or less everywhere? I think yeah. I’ll probably the places I hang out the most are LinkedIn. And a little bit on Instagram, I kind of dabble a bit but I wouldn’t say I’m I am not again, you know when it when we talk about the things that we prioritize. I’m I’m really a lot about connection. And I will take that over consistency, personally. But I yeah, I’m on LinkedIn pretty regularly. Instagram a bit. My website is Mokes is www.GillMoakes.com.
Gill Moakes 48:30
and if anyone wants if they check out my website, I do offer I make some slots available for breakthrough sessions, which they can apply for by the website.
Hayley Maxwell 48:51
Amazing. Awesome. And I’ll put all of those links in the show notes as well so people can come find Jane easily. But yeah, thank you so so much for everything that you’ve shared today. Well, thank
Gill Moakes 49:02 you for having me. This has been so fun.
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