#35: When the Vision Must Change Pt. 2 - ft. Shannon Siriano Greenwood

This week on the podcast, I’m chatting with Shannon Siriano Greenwood, entrepreneur and founder of Rebelle Con – a community and boutique conference that aims to inspire and encourage women across the globe. Shannon and I talk about mourning change in times of transition, deciding to commit to a new vision and the beauty of working with a team who truly understands you (faults and all).

Tiny Transformation: I can’t do this.

Our brains do everything they can to convince us we can’t do things. Those thoughts of “I can’t do this” are very rarely based on reality. Case in point, have you ever thought “I can’t do this” in regard to something you’ve never even tried? Yea, we all have! This week’s tiny transformation is all about challenging those limiting thoughts we place on ourselves when it comes to doing new things.

Take a few minutes to engage with that part of your brain that’s convincing you that you can’t do the thing(s).

Questions to ask yourself:

What results am I wanting?
What has kept me from getting these results?
What do I think is actually hard about what I’m trying to do?

Action steps:

List out the thoughts you have about this thing.
Convert your negative thought about the thing into a neutral thought. [Example of a neutral thought: I know (name of a person who has done this thing) and I probably can too.]
Decide to be committed.
Set up external accountability.

SHOW NOTES

What We’re Talking About:

It’s ok to mourn change and transition in business (hello, global pandemic!)
Deciding to move on and commit to a new vision
Using “planning” mode as a form of procrastination to not do the things
Utilizing a digital platform for a service that is usually an in-person offering
Fear of change and potential success
Phoning a friend when the mind drama is overwhelming
The beauty of working with a team that understands you

Coming into this year, Shannon had a lot of goals that had to be pushed aside due to COVID-19. As a community-oriented business owner, Shannon wasn’t afraid to be refreshingly honest and open about how much changing these plans affected her and about how she mourned having to push back in-person events, which is something many entrepreneurs have had to struggle with.

“You don’t have to have one emotion at a time. And most of the time, you don’t have one emotion at a time.”

Pivoting focus from in-person to online
Considering the fact that in-person is where Shannon thrives, changing her focus to creating online was a step in a new direction. Like Hailey has discussed before, focusing on small goals can yield huge results, and Shannon’s success with online workshops as a new source of revenue is the perfect example of why flexibility is such a vital skill for entrepreneurs.

“As much as in-person is where I gain so much joy, to run a profitable business, you really do have to think about: What are different streams that could be generating revenue?”

Taking risks and managing expectations
When starting her online journey, Shannon was brutally honest with herself about the possibility of failure. Trying something new doesn’t always work out, but it is worth the risk in today’s climate to stand out and take a different approach, all while managing expectations and genuinely listening to the feedback that you’re given.

“I don’t want to spend so much time and energy making this big plan, I just need to move and do something. If that doesn’t work, then I will try something else.”

Engaging new audiences positively
As the current state of the pandemic forces a lot of communities to spend more time online, it’s important to Shannon to create a space that offers something more than just simple information or communication. With positivity and growth at the center of her brand, Shannon wants to educate in a way that is restorative and offers more than the standard online experience.

“People spend a lot of time on the internet, but there’s not a lot of spaces that are restorative. A majority of spaces online are actually depleting and we’re trying to create the opposite.”