This episode is very much a conversation I told myself I'd never have or put out for the public's ears. It divulges a lot of my personal opinions on the sad state of affairs that is our current conversation around health in the mainstream media. I often avoid voicing my opinions on anything other than business. Stating personal, political, religious opinions or beliefs can be the kiss of death, especially with the way cancel culture rules and people seem to have grown up without ever having heard the old saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me." Which reminds me of this quote which I think is 110% accurate, "Our culture has a really low threshold for pain meaning it doesn't have to hurt too bad and we decided to get out," or we make it wrong, or vilify the person who did/said the thing you're offended by. Culture is really bothering me right now.
So why did I share? April mentioned that her business journey revealed there was work to be done in her personal journey. That resonates. Owning a business exposes things about ourselves. Things like, self-doubt, fears, lack of confidence, or even over confidence, our inability to manage money or plan, our inability to adapt, be flexible or welcome change and oh so many more quirks. When these things are revealed much like a health issue we can mask it, or we can do the work and get to the root cause. Masks are lazy and easy and another layer of fear. Doing the work is hard, takes time and usually isn't "Instagram worthy" because it's messy.
I (clearly) don't strive for perfection in my podcasts. They are pretty raw, minimally edited, non scripted, conversations. I don't mask that. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm not apologetic about it and I don't let the fact that it is less than perfect, from me putting it out for the world to hear.
If you've been told your whole life you're great and wonderful and perfect and you've avoided anything situation where you might fail, that mindset will quickly crash down on you when you start your business. At the same time, if you've allowed every critic and negative experience to beat you down and you continue to talk negatively to yourself, then that will be your road block to success as well.
The point is, we all have work to do on ourselves. For me it's boundaries, selling myself and unapologetically charging the fees I know my work is worth. It's easier to police others and point out the work we think they need to do, the kind of masks they should/shouldn't wear. All that does is distract us. If you own a business or want to own a business, focus on personal development as much, if not more, than you focus on business development.
This is my favorite episode to date. We truly went on a journey. I believe the world needs more Aprils. I also believe if you're struggling with healthy living or just getting started down that path that April can help you. I believe the work of some of those mentioned in this episode including: Dr. Zach Bush. I believe in the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen and I believe we all need to drink more water!
Screenshot this episode from the podcast app you listen on, tag @ViraCreative and @AprilJohnson_fmhc on Instagram for a chance to win Lavender Lemon Vitality Drops to add a little zest to your water!
