Episode 16: Anne Watson

Pretty Powerful Podcast Episode 16 Anne Watson

Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast. Where powerful women are interviewed every week, to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers. Be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sports industry, or life's mission. Join us as we celebrate exceptional women, and step into our power. And now, here's your host, Angela Gennari.

Angela Gennari: Hello. Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast. My name is Angela Gennari, and I am your host, and I am speaking with Anne Watson, today. Thank you for joining us, Anne.

Anne Watson: I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Angela Gennari: So, Anne Watson, is a business strategy coach helping female creative online entrepreneurs. Think like a business so they can inspire like a boss. This includes helping all of your ideas. Take shape and turning them into a profitable signature offer, complete with strategy roadmaps to achieving your goals, and currently lives in the Dallas Texas, area with her husband, three adult children, and too many dogs. So, thank you so much. So, tell me a little bit, why did you get into coaching?

Anne Watson: Well, it's a really long and convoluted story, but I'll try to give you the short version. I have a degree in Advertising and a background in Corporate Banking, and I just grew up around business people. My dad worked in banking. We had these conversations a lot but then I took a great deal of time off to be a stay-at-home mom and raised my kids. And then when they were teenagers got back into the workforce, but in a completely different thing. I was actually the Women's Ministry Director at a church.

Angela Gennari: Oh, wow.

Anne Watson: And the first thing that I noticed was that there are so many women that just do not believe in themselves.

Angela Gennari: Yes.

Anne Watson: And that was a really hard thing, and that was probably what I spent most of my time kind of working with women on. After I left my season at the church, I went to work for a women's conference which was equipping communicators. So, podcasters, speakers, writers, you name it. If you had a message, I was equipping or helping part of a team that helped equip, and again, lots of insecurity, but also married with not really sure how to get this dream off the ground? Not really sure how to build something into a business. I mean, most of these women and most of the women that I work with. They don't have business degrees, they don't have MBAs, they have a dream, they've got a passion, they have a thing that they want to put out into the world, and they need help doing it. And so, I just kind of found myself starting to offer business advice, and after about… I don't know, 15 or 20 people said that I should get paid to do it. I thought, all right. You know what? I'm going to throw my hat in the ring, I'm going to do one year of business coaching. We'll see how it goes, and now I'm in my fourth year with a growing and thriving business that I love.

Angela Gennari: Oh, that's so awesome.

Anne Watson: And it’s kind of where I've been meant to be this whole time.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Well, and I feel like we all have our niche. I can do one thing over and over again, and I feel when you're doing something you're not supposed to do, you will keep hitting walls. But when you're in your path, things just open up.

Anne Watson: They do.

Angela Gennari: And it's amazing. The response that you start getting. So, it's clear that you're definitely on your path because things are just rolling and growing and that's amazing. Good for you.

Anne Watson: That's not to say that it's easy all the time. But it is definitely the most me have ever felt.

Angela Gennari: That's awesome. I love it. And there's actually a quote that I saw on your LinkedIn, and I love this quote so much. But it says confidence is 10% hard work and 90% delusion. That's fantastic.

Anne Watson: A hundred percent. The quote is a hundred percent true.

Angela Gennari: Oh my gosh. It's so true. Because I know some people who are really confident about things that they're saying, and they're a hundred percent wrong, but they're confident about. So, it's just believing what you're saying or believing who you are and what you're trying to do. So, I love that because I think women don't have enough confidence, and I think that men are a little bit better at that fake it until you make it. Whereas women are too honest, almost to the point of being not honest, but just too humble about their success, about their abilities, and we are more likely… I was reading this study and I can't remember who did it, but it was basically like men on a resume are more likely to exaggerate their skills and women are more likely to downplay them. Which is why men tend to get these better roles. Because women will downplay their skills and abilities and men will exaggerate them. And so, kind of finding that middle ground and coming into the door and having confidence is it's tough for women. I think naturally.

Anne Watson: It is. And it's annoying that it's tough for us.

Angela Gennari: It's situational because then they feel like they're very confident in work and being boss, but when it comes to marriage and parenting and just like male friendships, often men feel very insecure.

Angela Gennari: Like they don't know what they're doing.

Anne Watson: Where women feel like the boss in that area. And so, I think it's very situational. We can't just give men all the credit for being confident in that area without also looking and saying, but they're not as confident in these areas where women shine. And so, it's not that women are lacking it's that we just need a better balance. So, we need a little bit more confidence in the area of business, and well, I guess we could just stay as confident as we want with parenting and relationships and all the things.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So, tell me what do you think is the best way to communicate? What do you do to your audience? How do you build that confidence? How do you more importantly when you're talking to a potential boss or you're selling your product? How do women come across as confident? How do we develop that? And how do we know what to say in those environments? Because I feel like that's where we get tripped up. We don't have that I don't think we necessarily have that confidence of knowing how I sell myself to somebody.

Anne Watson: Sure. Well, first of all, women need to get their heads around the fact that selling is not sleazy. Selling is serving. We do these businesses, we do these jobs because we want to help people, and there are people out there in the world that need our help that cannot move forward in their life until we move forward in ours, and we have this thing that can help you. Here's how you can have access to it. It's not that we're greedy, we're not trying to get money, we're not trying to trick anybody, we're truly genuinely trying to help. And so, that's the first thing women need to just get their head around the fact that selling is serving. And then the second thing that I would say in terms of being confident about what you're selling is you've got to listen to the people that you serve.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: You got to know them really well. Like what are they struggling with at 2 o'clock in the morning? What is that recurring thought that is tripping them up, that's keeping them awake, that's holding them back? And how can you speak into that in a way that gives them freedom and confidence in order to do what they got to do? When you really have a good solid reason solution answer to somebody's really big problem. Then you are naturally very confident delivering it as long as you can get over the fear of selling and understand what you're doing as you're serving, you're helping.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. A hundred percent agree with you, and every time a salesperson reaches out to me and it's some kind of cold thing and would you please just research who your audience is. Because if you had emailed me, you could cold email or cold call me all day long. If you're not solving a problem that I have… if you're just pitching me something. I'm just going to ignore it because it's not solving a problem. But you're right. Problem-solving going in there and saying I'm helping; I'm solving a problem that they have is definitely the way to go in. Especially, as with somebody who's going in to say, I want to be confident going into this. You can't be confident, cold calling, you're going to fail most of the time. But if you say I know that they have this issue, I know that they have this problem, and I know that they're probably struggling with it and I know how to solve that with my product or my service. And then you can go in that angle. I think you get a lot more responses.

Anne Watson: Absolutely.

Angela Gennari: Which increases.

Anne Watson: A hundred percent. And women do this. I want to point out all day, every day. If you have recommended a book to a friend, you sold your friend that book, and you may not get a profit from it, but you talked about something that helped you, that they would enjoy. If there's a parenting resource, then you're going to tell your friends about it. You're doing the same thing, but I think where women get tripped up because when it's something that I've created, then suddenly it seems greedy or it seems arrogant, and none of those things are true. It is still born out of love of people and saying, I have been through this, I have learned this. Let me give you my hand and show you how I did it. So, you can get over that hump, you can learn quicker than I did and we can all be successful together.

Angela Gennari: I love it. Absolutely. That's a great strategy. Thank you for that. So, you talk a lot about personal branding and developing your personal brand. So, what advice would you give to a woman who's saying, you know what? I just came out of college or I just came out of a hiatus that I took off for a little while, whether it was having a baby or reentering the workforce or I wanted to pivot and change directions in my career. How would you advise someone in their personal branding to kind of develop that path?

Anne Watson: Sure. Well, the first thing that I would say is everybody just needs to take a deep breath. Because work like personal branding seems complicated and intense and hard and it's just not true. Most of the things that have to do with business are actually very simple concepts, and there are people out there in the world that will tell you that it's complicated in order to sell you something. Absolutely, not necessarily all women, but some women will. And I really want to break it down and make it simple for people. Your personal brand is how people recognize you when they are not with you.

Angela Gennari: Oh, I love that. That's great.

Anne Watson: It's just that simple. So, if you have ever been in a store, and you've seen something and you're like, oh my gosh! So and so would love this, you recognize that person's brand. When you weren't with them, you recognized something about them that made you think of them. So, your personal brand is you being your most authentic self, putting yourself out there, sharing your stories, sharing your passions, sharing your insight, and sharing about who you are as a genuine human being. People will relate to you, identify with you and begin to recognize you when they're not with you. They'll be stored, and they'll be like, oh, well, you know what? Anne Watson always talks about wanting to help women be badass. Which I do. And I cannot tell you the number of DMS that I get, or email messages from people who are like, I saw this badass book and thought of you, or somebody told me I was a badass today and I just had to tell you.

Angela Gennari: Oh, that's so awesome.

Anne Watson: We begin to recognize it. Like I just want women to tap into their inner badass and that's become something in my personal brand that people recognize, and I'm very proud of that.

Angela Gennari: No, that's fantastic.

Anne Watson: I just want that for women more. I wish more women could tap into their inner badass.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. I agree with you. That's amazing. So, when you're talking about bringing out your inner badass, that really goes along with the whole confidence thing. So, it's all one is when you walk into a room and you feel like a badass, your confident shoulders are back and you feel like you can take on that role in that room, and it's so powerful when you can walk into a room and feel confident, it allows you to open up to people, to talk, to have a conversation, to take the stage when it comes to, hey, I'm going to offer the suggestion. I'm sitting in a boardroom full of 20 people and I'm confident and I feel like a badass. So, I'm going to say what I need to say, and I think that's where we can step into our power more than any time because that is hard for women to do. I think many times.

Anne Watson: Well, it's hard for women to do, and let me tell you just the one thing. The little mindset shift, that I had that really helped me to step into that power, was understanding that when I walk into a room or a group of people and I have something to say that thing that I have to say is not going to land for everyone in the room.

Angela Gennari: Okay.

Anne Watson: I am not there to influence an entire group of people. I am there to provide wisdom or insight or help to at least one person, and if I can walk into a room and know that I'm there for one person, whether I ever know her or not. Then that helps me tap into my inner badass. But not only that, it helps me to sort of shake off the fear of what the people that don't need to hear it will think, and that has been. So, the key is just one person, whether it's a room of 300 or a room of 3. There's one person that's going to be influenced or impacted by the thing that you say or the badassery that you bring, and that's enough.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. And you're right. Resonating with one person is all it takes. Is you've changed the mindset or you've changed the thought process of one person, and I think I've told this story before, but I go to this huge megachurch in Atlanta and I remember going in one day and our lead pastor was not there, and I remember thinking, oh, this is not really what I wanted to come into today. This visitor guy, like, he looks like he's 22. He can't teach me anything [Cross talking 15:05].

Exactly. And I was like, I haven't had enough coffee for this. I was getting ready to get up and walk out, and I thought, yeah, I'll wait until the right moment. You know, like people are still settling in. And so, I listened to the first couple minutes of what he had to say and he was talking about a video or something that he was putting together. A film I think or a documentary, and he had this confidence issue and it was... I don't feel like I'm good enough, I don't feel like this is going to go over well, who is going to be my audience? Will anyone watch it? You know, whatever it is. And so, anyway, and then he thought to himself, one person. If this resonates with one person it was worth it.

You know, because at the end of the day, there's one person that's waiting to hear what you have to say, whether it's in a book and by not doing it, by not saying what's on your mind, by not opening the door to write that book or publish that novel, you don't know who you're inspiring and who you're resonating with. And so, even if it impacts one person, it is worth it because that one person is waiting to hear what you have to say. And so, I think that what you're saying is just so valid. I mean, you just don't know who you're inspiring, you don't know who it's resonating with.

Anne Watson: And that thing that you say may be the key to unlocking something in that one person. That propels them forward in a way that they would not have if they hadn't been there with you.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: So, when you hold back from sharing your passion and sharing your thing. You are keeping people stuck.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: Yes. And that is a really hard reality to face that other people's freedom depends on me doing my thing and stepping out of my comfort zone and getting in there and saying my thing, sharing my passion, sharing my heart, sharing my insight, and knowing that for most of the people in the room, it may not matter. But it will, for at least one person.

Angela Gennari: And you know what you're saying for women. Especially, I'm sure is so powerful because there are not very many things that you can convince me to do. But if you say, if you do this it's going to help somebody. I'll do it. Because we're very empathetic, we are nurturers, we are caretakers. And so, somebody can dare me all day long to do something and I'll just brush it off like it doesn't matter. But if somebody tells me this is actually going to help somebody, then I'm going to do it. And so, this podcast started out as a dare and...

Anne Watson: I love it.

Angela Gennari: It was a dare. It started out as I bet you can't do this and launch it on International Women's Day, and I'm like, well, no, there's no way. It's three weeks away, and he is like, yeah, you're right because you'd only be inspiring other women. I was like, well.

Anne Watson: No, that's not right. Let me show you how it's done.

Angela Gennari: So, it starts out of the dare, but I feel like when we have that thought that whatever I say is going to help somebody else, it's amazing how our confidence can because it's not necessarily confidence. It's courage at that point, it's the courage to do what I want to do because it's going to benefit somebody else. And so, I think that that's where we as women really kind of step into our powers when we know it's going to help somebody else. So, I think that's an incredibly pertinent thing to say.

Anne Watson: Absolutely. And to your point about courage, I think it's also important to mention that courage is not a state of being.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Anne Watson: We are not courageous, we have courage in a moment. And so, we only need like 10 seconds of true courage to do that thing, and then it's out there, and we can go back to like a state of peace or not courageous and think, wow. I was really brave there.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Anne Watson: But people who confuse like, oh, I'm not courageous. You don't have to be you just have to be for 10 seconds.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. That's so true. I love that. All right. So, let's kind of pivot a little bit and talk about women who want to start a business because there's lots of people who are listening, who are probably thinking I've always wanted to start a business, I've started several companies and I love it. But every time I tell somebody, oh yeah, I own a business. They're like, oh, I've always wanted to start a business. Where do you start? How do you put your idea into something that makes sense? Can you kind of guide somebody who has this great idea? What do they do? How do they make that into something?

Anne Watson: So, there's a couple of different things that you can do, but really once you have that idea, the most important thing for you to sit down and really think through is what is the mission of your business.

Angela Gennari: Oh yeah, definitely.

Anne Watson: What is it that you're going to do? Who are you going to help? And what is the problem you're going to solve? And what does that look like in terms of transformation for the people you want to help? So, I decided I wanted to be a business coach, I wanted to help female communicators think like a business. So, that they can take their messages further, and that's actually evolved over time because now I'm helping basically online entrepreneurs. Anybody who has an idea that they want to put out there, but in the beginning, you have to know what it is that you're going to do? Who it is going to be for? The problem you're going to solve? And the transformation that they're going to have? When you can think through this what you're doing is setting a foundation of what you are going to build this business on. So, then the second thing that I think you have to do is really kind of get inside the head of your ideal client. Who is she? What is she struggling with? What is that problem she's struggling with at 2 o'clock in the morning? How can you speak into that? And where does that fit with what you're passionate about and good at doing? When you've kind of put those pieces together, then you can create your signature offer. What is that very first thing that you want to offer to people?

All of that is very practical. That's very road maps, and it's great stuff that you have to do. But I would say that really one of the best things that you can do is, and I'm not just saying this because I'm a coach. I promise you to hire a coach.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. I agree.

Anne Watson: I cannot tell you how many times I have paid for expensive programs or masterminds to get access to a coach, and there are women in there who have not yet figured out what they want to do. And so, they're spending all of this money on these expensive programs when they haven't really built a solid foundation yet.

Angela Gennari: Yes.

Anne Watson: When you can build this solid foundation, all the courses, the mastermind, the programs, all those things that you buy later are going to hit better. They're going to work for you because you are so crystal clear about what you're doing, who you're serving, the problem you're solving and the transformation you're helping people get, and that it's so hard to do, especially for women because we have all the ideas. So, if you can hire a coach, that person, whether it's me or somebody else is going to help you sift through all the ideas, find that core of what you're trying to do, help you set that foundation, and then set you off to run after the thing that you wanted to chase after more effectively, more efficiently, and you're going to have a lot more fun doing it.

Angela Gennari: Oh, I love it. Yes, you are so dead on. Because I know during the pandemic, I've had my businesses and I've always loved to kind of help and guide people, but I really didn't have it as it wasn't a direction that I wanted to go in. I was running a business and so, but during the pandemic, the gift of time gave me lots of extra time that I could do anything I wanted to. So, one of the things I did is I read grant applications for one of those large grants that came out from one of the big fortunes five hundred. They were giving away entrepreneurial grants. And so, they needed people to read grant applications from entrepreneurs, and I mean, there were... I mean, tens of thousands of these things.

So, reading grant application after grant application, and it was astonishing, the grant was only $500. So, if you need $500 to fix your business, you probably don't have a business, you probably have a hobby. So, that's the first thing is one of the questions that I had to answer as a judge in this is. Would this $500, completely change the dynamic of their business? And if the answer was, yes. It's probably going to be declined because of $500. Should it move the needle in your business? So, there's a time that you are starting out and $500 could be decent seed money. But if a lot of these businesses have been operating for several years and they hit the pandemic and things got really tight.

And I get that, but at the same time reading through these grant applications from some of these businesses, and I can tell this was their passion from anything, from a mechanic to a plumber, to a marketing agency and these people were passionate about their business and I wanted to help them, but you could see clearly they were lacking foundation, they weren't clear on their vision, their mission, their strategy, they weren't clear on their branding, they weren't clear on, you know, there was so much, and they might have been a really good plumber or a really good mechanic were really good at building a website. But at the end of the day, they didn't have that foundation that gave them clarity in their business and...

Anne Watson: Hundred percent.

Angela Gennari: They're never going to see their way out of the forest. If that's the case, you have to have somebody guiding you and getting you clear on that vision in order to see how do I do what I do really well and have a good business because the two of them aren't always the same. I can be a great person.

Anne Watson: No, there not.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. I mean, I can be a great business owner and a terrible plumber.

Anne Watson: Exactly. But without clarity of that vision, without that solid foundation. You're going to burn out faster, you're going to chase 10 different things, maybe more, and never see results on those things. Because you're watering yourself down, you're spread too thin and without really, truly knowing what it is that you're doing and creating that one signature offer and giving that a chance to work more than likely you're going to quit. I think there's some statistic that 93% of entrepreneurs quit within the first three years.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, for sure.

Anne Watson: And part of that is because they never did the work to build that solid foundation around their idea that will help them say better yes and better no to all the other ideas that are going to come. But also, to the people that they're serving, your product or service should not be for everyone. It should be for someone specific.

Angela Gennari: I agree with you. And when people are putting these businesses out there and they're so hungry for business. That they're taking on things that they shouldn't take on and you're right. If it's for everyone, it's probably not that you need to clarify. Because I did the same thing when I first started my business, I was taking on clients and I'm like, this is, I mean, there were things that were way more work than they were bringing in revenue, and you start to decipher that as you're in business longer, but you have to be able to have a solid enough foundation to get through all those mistakes, because you're going to make mistakes, it's inevitable. You're going to make mistakes, you're going to have bad business deals.

Things are going to go sideways, and as long as you have a solid enough foundation to keep building on. I always say, you can't build a castle on sand. So, you can build a sand castle. You can't really build a castle on sand. So, you want a sustainable business that's going to get through all those waves that are coming to crashing at your business all the time. So, building that solid foundation is where you start, and that’s way you can make mistakes and bounce. You can bounce and rebound and you'll be fine. But at the end of the day, if you don't have that solid foundation to fall back on, it's probably going to devastate your business.

Anne Watson: Exactly. So, that's my advice. Do the work to make sure that your foundation is solid. And then everything else will fall into place and coaches exist literally to help you do that.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. I agree. And I think hiring the right people to come in and do things for your business. It's not that I think people wait too long. That's the other thing is that they do it when their business is crumbling and they have no other ideas, I don't know what else to do, I'm going to do this. Do it first, get it done, get somebody in there who can help you with your ideas. It's money, well spent on the people who know what they're doing, and I talk to businesses all the time and they're trying to learn everything, and I mean, I did the same thing when I was starting my business. I'm like, I'm trying to build my own website, I'm trying to do my own SEO, I'm trying to do this by myself, I'm trying to be my own PR company, and you realize that you're doing all of it inefficiently, and at the end of the day, you're not doing what you're actually good at. Which are the services that you're offering in your business. And so, bringing in the experts early on, I think helps you tremendously. I waited too long to bring in attorneys, too long to bring in accountants, too long to bring in all these other services. But it's a hard pill to swallow, but it'll change. So, who inspires you?

Anne Watson: I follow a lot of influencers. I love movies, I love music, I love Broadway shows, all the things. And I get a little bit of inspiration from all of those things, but I think over the years I have realized that I need to be my own inspiration.

Angela Gennari: I love it. Okay, good.

Anne Watson: I take pieces of all of these things that I love, like a song lyric or a plot in a movie. I try to pay attention to when things move me or give me goosebumps or make me cry. So, I'm like, why is this resonating with me? And then I want to turn that back out to people and hopefully, they will be inspired by it. But I just think that we've gotten into a place in our culture where we are looking for other people to inspire us all the time. We've forgotten that we have our own imagination and our own dreams and our own ability to motivate ourselves. Motivation should come from the inside, not externally. And so, while there's a ton of people out there that I think are doing really fantastic work and I really enjoy watching their journeys. I try to just take the bits and pieces of the things that I'm learning from this book or this influencer, and just kind of amalgam it and create it into something where I am inspired myself because I've put all these pieces together.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. I love that. That's interesting because I've not heard that, and I think that you're exactly right. That we need to look at within sometimes for inspiration.

Anne Watson: Because it is it's in there. We're all unique, we're all interesting, and we all have stories. Tons of stories that have brought us to the place that we are now and I've been through a lot in my life and when I think about it. I get kind of inspired that I'm still standing, and I'm still out there putting myself out there and doing the thing and amazing things when several things in my life should have taken me out.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: But didn't and that's pretty inspiring.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So, what obstacles have you ever come in launching your business? Because I mean, that's the one common denominator. We don't all have incredible success, but we've all overcome some challenges. So, tell me about what kind of challenges have you ever come in starting your business and what would you do differently if anything.

Anne Watson: Well, some of the challenges that I have overcome in starting my business began way before I started my business. It was growing up in a household with a dad who was very successful and feeling a little bit of pressure to live up to that, but also a family member with alcoholism, multiple miscarriages, some bad decisions in college that I made, some just relational breakups that were terrible, but some significant ADHD. I brought a lot of challenges and scars and issues with me into the business, and I was the biggest people pleaser, and total perfectionist, and I've had to learn to let a lot of that go. And I did a lot of that hard work before I came into starting my own business but nothing will humble you like putting yourself out there as a business owner.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: And so, in the beginning, it's just me, it's just my idea. I don't have an assistant and I've got to do all the things, and I just want to get the business up and running. So, I didn't charge enough at the beginning, which is fine. That's a learning curve. But another thing that I didn't do that I feel like was a challenge I didn't know about was I was so busy doing all of the things I wasn't paying attention to, which of the things I really loved doing.

Angela Gennari: Oh, interesting. Okay.

Anne Watson: So, as the business grew, I was still doing all of the things, but I would begin to hear, well, what can you delegate? Or what can you give off? Or what are the things that you love doing the most? And I honestly didn't know because I was just in this mode, got to get it all done, and could not tell you which of the clients did. I like the best, what of the activities that I was doing? Was I really good at and feel like I was in my sweet spot? And so, because I wasn't paying attention to the things that I loved. I really found myself in a significant place of burnout within the first two years.

Angela Gennari: Wow. Yeah. I can relate.

Anne Watson: And really struggling with should I even keep going? Because I was beginning to lose my passion for it. And even though I was still getting results, I wasn't giving myself credit for getting results because it didn't feel good about the things I was doing.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Anne Watson: So, by way of advice for your listeners. I would say when you are beginning a business, it is so important to pay attention to the things that you're doing, that light you up. If you love creating content, make a note of that, if it's the one-on-one coaching that you love or answering a specific issue within that pay attention to that, if it's the thrill of getting a new client, maybe you're going to be some sales guru or generating leads, whatever that is, pay attention to the things that you love. So, as you grow very quickly, the things you don't love and can delegate those off first.

Angela Gennari: Yes. I love that so much because I did the same thing. I would learn everything and do everything and realize that I was burnt out because I wasn't delegating anything at all. And then when I would hire, I'm like, well, I don't know what to have you do. Meanwhile, I'm working 18 hours.

Anne Watson: Exactly.

Angela Gennari: It's funny to do.

Anne Watson: Exactly. And then you're ignoring family and friends and laundry and it's just not good.

Angela Gennari: No, balance healthy, no balance, and it's so hard. I think for me as a mom, I would constantly feel guilty that I wasn't giving my son enough time. I'm not here for this event or I work too long or I'm making dinner and also working on my computer at the same time, and I would always feel so guilty that I didn't have enough balance, and it weighs on you so much, and when you don't have that ability to delegate or you're not comfortable delegating like we were that's where I think that's where that burnout happens is I'm doing things that I don't like as much as I'm doing things that I do and I don't know how to separate the two.

Anne Watson: Exactly. A hundred percent, and really, I mean, if you've got to put a sticky note on your computer that says, what did I love doing today?

Angela Gennari: Yeah. That's great.

Anne Watson: So, you just jot it down. Pay attention to those things that light you up and then stay in that lane as much as possible.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: It may not be perfect. You're still going to have to do some of the stuff you don't love but as long as you keep your eye on the ball and you stay in your sweet spot, you won't burn out as quickly or at all, and you're going to have so much more fun doing that thing that you started doing because you wanted to help others.

Angela Gennari: Gosh, I love that advice so much. Yes. I think everybody means to hear that.

Anne Watson: Good. I'm glad it's less and a hard one. I learned the hard way.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So, I asked this on every podcast it's really important because this is, you know, it's called a pretty powerful podcast. So, tell me about a time when you gave up your power. Because I think as women, we also give away our power a lot. To our spouse, to our boss, to our neighbors. It's them. We don't take credit for what we do for our own success. So, tell me a time that you gave away your power, and then tell me a time that you stepped into your power, and what was the difference in inside? What made you have that courage that time?

Anne Watson: That’s a really interesting question, because I think you're right, I think people do give away their power a lot, and I think women often are guilty of giving it away to nothing. It's not even that we're giving it away to our spouse or a boss or a friend as much as we're beating ourselves up for the things, we feel like we should be doing.

Angela Gennari: Oh my gosh. Yes.

Anne Watson: One of the things I love to say is stop shrouding on yourself.

Angela Gennari: What does that mean?

Anne Watson: Stop calling yourself what you should be doing. You were just talking about how you felt so guilty because you should be spending more time with your son. There's a time and a season for all of these things, and it's gotten to the point where, when I catch myself saying that word, should I, it's a red flag. When I'm like, I should be doing this, I should be having this, I should be further ahead, I should this or that. Then I stop, wait a minute. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be doing that thing that I'm supposed to do. In the time that I'm supposed to be doing it in. And so, too often what it looked like for me to give away my power was being desperately hard on myself. Trying to be a perfectionist, trying to please all the people, trying to top my last goal, or setting goals and not hitting them. And then thinking I was a failure. Not giving myself credit for the things I was doing well, and like, I'll be like, well this was a waste of a day. And then I stop thinking, no, here's actually all the things that I accomplished today.

And I kind of forced myself to list them, and that's how I take my power back. I love it. I have a daughter who she just blows me away. She, I think that she's so fantastic, and I can't sometimes just get over all of the things that she's accomplished. I mean, she got her college degree and while she was feeling burnout from that went on for two more years and got her master's. But during that time, she also studied abroad in two different foreign countries for two different semesters. One is a T. A and one is a student. And then she went on a trip to Japan, with a professor. She got a scholarship for that for three full months, and I'm sorry, that was one month that she did that one and just was unafraid to go in at a restaurant and look at a menu and order something based on a picture without actually knowing what was in it.

She adopted a dog during that time. She was in a sorority; she met the love of her life. She's just so accomplished, and she's a really good human being. And so, when she got through her master's degree and she got an apartment and she got a job and she's living on her own, my husband says to her, it's time for you to pay your own bills. We're done, we're removing the safety net, and she panicked, oh wow. How am I going to do this? I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this. This is too scary. What if I fail? I mean, she was having a really hard time, and I had to remind her, I'm like, babe, look at all of these things you've accomplished. You have lived in two foreign countries where you didn't know the language and you've navigated the grocery store and the subway and all of the things you have done harder things than this.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: You can do this too, and that shifted something in her mind, and I always have to remind people, you have got to give yourself credit and I have to do this for myself. For all the things that I have done for the hard things I have overcome for the obstacles I have gotten through, and you take back your power when you remember to give yourself credit and I have done harder things in my life than starting a business.

Angela Gennari: Yes.

Anne Watson: I can do this too. So, that's my encouragement to women is take back your power by remembering you are powerful. You've already done the hard work, you've already done the hard thing, and you've got the scars to prove it.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Anne Watson: You've lived through the narcissistic family relative; you've gotten through the friendship breakup, you've navigated the boss from hell. All you've gotten through all that. You can do this too.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I love it so much. So, what do you wish more people knew and maybe it's that, but what do you wish? Just in general, more people knew?

Anne Watson: It is partly that it is partly just this idea of giving yourself credit, and that is not an arrogant thing at all. That is a flexing, a muscle. You go to the gym, you work out to increase your muscles, to be stronger, so that you can do more, live longer, all the things. This is the same thing, giving yourself credit is flexing a muscle. That's all you need to do. But what I really wish people knew or really, they know, but I wish that they understood on a different level is that there are going to be hard days, there are going to be days when you don't do as well as you think you should, or maybe you do flat out fail.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Anne Watson: That's okay. There's going to be good days too. We have to stop assigning ourselves identity kinds of statements based on situational kinds of experiences.

Angela Gennari: Oh, so powerful.

Anne Watson: So, powerful. If you put yourself out there, you created this program and you want 10 people and you only get two, you didn't fail, you got two people. That's amazing. Celebrate that. You're going to grow and next time maybe you'll get four and then there will come a day when you're hoping for 10 and you get 50. But knowing that hard days are going to come, bad things are going to happen, and it's just part of it. It doesn't mean you stink at what you do, it doesn't mean you should quit, it doesn't mean people are thinking of you badly, and it doesn't mean people are thinking of you at all.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, this is true.

Anne Watson: It just is what it is. You cannot assign an identity to yourself based on a situational experience.

Angela Gennari: Oh, that's great. I love that advice. Well, this has been really, really, really enjoyable. I have learned a lot. I feel like everything that you've said will definitely resonate with our audience and I'm so grateful that you took the time to talk with me today.

Anne Watson: Now, this is fun for me. I love talking about this stuff, I could do it all day long. So, thank you so much for having me.

Angela Gennari: Yes, absolutely. So, our time is ending today, but I am looking forward to speaking with you again, Anne, and if anyone wants to get in touch with Anne Watson, please go to our website at prettypowerfulpodcast.com and you can check her out. Thank you again. All right. Have a great day.

Anne Watson: Thank you so much. You too.

Angela Gennari: Bye.

Thank you for joining our guests on the Pretty Powerful Podcast and we hope you've gained new insight and learned from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes on prettypowerfulpodcast.com. Visit us next time and until then step into your own power.