My Wish for All Heart-Led Entrepreneurs Who’ve Been Misunderstood Online

INTRO: After generating over a million dollars in sales and selling one of her businesses with a single email, your host, Kathryn Thompson, takes an unconventional approach to marketing and sales. So if you're ready to tap into a more powerful way to be seen, heard, and a sought after entrepreneur in your industry, without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients, you're in the right place.

Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie cutter, one size fits all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this, you can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life.

Welcome to Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast. And here's your host, Kathryn Thompson.

Kathryn Thompson: Hey, hey, super stoked that you're tuning in this week's episode. I cannot wait to dive in today's topic because [00:01:00] it's a sensitive one and it's one that I probably don't talk about a lot because I've shifted a lot out of this place, but I do know that it Impacts a lot of my clients and people in my world, and that is my heart-centered people first who really wanna just do good by others that come into their world and want to by all means do things what I call above the line, right?

They're super in integrity, they're ethical, and by no means do they want to try to trick people into buying into what it is that they're selling. And yet they're often faced with criticism that is the very thing that is so polar opposite of who they are at the core of who they are. And this for me is a far bigger topic than the clients that I serve.

Because it is something that I have seen so [00:02:00] prevalently in the online space, which we call cancel culture, right? Where you can be following somebody for years, and all of a sudden out of nowhere they post something that goes against your values, that triggers you, that you don't agree with, and all of a sudden out of nowhere, you know, the trolls are coming out, and people are making comments, and lashing out, and accusing people of things that are not true and we see this all the time and it is a form of online bullying and yet we can hide behind our phone and we can send the message and we can say the thing and we don't even have to think about what it is that we're saying.

And the reason I want to do this episode is because, one, the people I serve are heart centered and they're here to do really good freaking work in the world. And I get really, really, really irritated nowadays when my clients come to me and they're like, look at all of the negative comments that I'm getting.

I've [00:03:00] gotten this negative email from somebody on my list. My ad has this negative comment that somebody says I'm fake, it's a scam, I've got a post on my social media, what do I do about it? And I see my highly sensitive empath people who, like I said, want to do good by the world, sort of start to shrink, right?

They start to shrink within themselves and, and look around going, is this what I really want? Is this worth it? Do I really want to be part of this? There's more to life than maybe even what I'm doing. Maybe I need to focus on something different. And it absolutely breaks my heart because I know their work is phenomenal and I know their brilliance is so needed in the world.

And yet, it's equally so impacted by what other people are saying about them. on the internet. Strangers often, right? How many people do we actually really know that we follow? And I'm talking about [00:04:00] really knowing the person. We don't. We don't really know them, and yet, so much of this online bullying, cyberbullying, uh, cancel culture, hate, anger, all of it happens prevalently.

And I want to share with you some of my experiences and how I handle it, because I used to be that person that would shrink. I would hide behind the camera, I'd speak really vanilla, I'd think about, oh my gosh, I can't say that because that might trigger somebody, and if I say this, this is really polarizing, and what if I say this, but then later on share this other side of me, and people don't like that other side?

And it took me a lot of work to step into more and more into who I was and to show up authentically and transparently and share from all facets. But the problem is, you guys, is [00:05:00] that not one single post shows even a fraction of someone's facet of who they are. Not even a fraction. And if I had this bigger dreamer vision of what I actually would love to see in the world, is I wish for a world where I could sit at a dinner table with people around the world who have very, very, very different views.

And we could all sit there with some understanding and acceptance of trying to understand somebody, truly try to understand them before we blanket paint them with a brush of what we think about them. And then, and then taking our free will and speech, because we do have that, and spewing that out to, to them, right?

In some way, shape, or form. I wish we didn't have to deal with this in 2024. I wish we were beyond this. I wish that for a moment, we could take a beat and stop and breathe for a moment before we [00:06:00] react to some post somebody wrote on the internet that irked us the wrong way that day for whatever reason. I wish that is what our reality is, but it's not.

And so I want to share with you how I navigate this and how I support my clients through navigating this. It's not a one size fits all. It's not a cookie cutter, because we're all at different stages. We all sort of handle this in different ways. And like I said, I needed to evolve and really grow and have some form of acceptance within myself and really cultivate within myself this deep, grounded knowing of who I am and what I stand for.

And I can tell you when I entered the online space in 2018, I didn't have that. I didn't have that. I didn't have this deep knowing, this real potent groundedness of who I am and this groundedness in what I say and what I stand [00:07:00] for is what I truly believe and also knowing that not everyone's going to agree with me and that there are going to be people that will be triggered by what I say.

But that is not a reason for me to falter. That's not a reason for me to get wobbly. It's a reason for me to get curious, right? Because some things that people do bring to our attention is valuable feedback. Right? So it's not about closing ourselves off, going, that person's wrong, I can't believe they would say that.

It's about going, okay, I'm going to have this openness and I'm going to listen to try to understand what they're saying, and try to hear from their perspective what they're saying. Because what they're saying is often truth in their own form, right? It's what they're seeing. It's the reality they're looking for.

through and the perception that they see of what you're saying and how you're saying it. For example, let's say you're a holistic career coach and you help people [00:08:00] within corporate, not necessarily ditch corporate. You're not here to necessarily, you know, bash corporate, but you're here to support people within corporate that have maybe a unique life path, goals they want to achieve.

Maybe they're seeing beyond just going to a job nine to five. Until you retire that you can actually find a career path that is more in alignment with who you are and you're putting this message out into the world because one, it's helped you, but it's helped a ton of your clients and you are really excited about helping people who might feel.

you know, disillusioned by this career path that they're on because they thought that was what they needed to do. They needed to get maybe a professional career when in reality they're more of like the creative artistic type and they might want to do something in like graphic design, for example, but they just never really saw that as maybe a stable, secure, um, financial pathway.

And so you want to show people that [00:09:00] there's a different way, and you're putting this message out into the world, but you're starting to get comments like, this is a scam, or don't, uh, feed people false information when it comes to, you know, what, what you can support them with, uh, because, again, 5 corporate world, it is deeply conditioned, right?

There is a lot of really ingrained beliefs that this is life, this is reality, you're supposed to get a 9 to 5. Be an adult, grow up, stop being a dreamer, right? And so you want to squash that person that is speaking, one, maybe something that you don't even believe in, because you're like, stop being a dreamer, you're just meant to do the 9 to 5 thing and suck it up, and then you get to enjoy life in retirement, that's the belief they have, or they might have the belief like, I wish I had the courage and confidence to do that, but I don't.

And so this is really pissing me off because I see this person doing this and I see their clients doing it and [00:10:00] it really triggers me. And so you make these comments, right? Like, you know, get a real job or whatever it might be. And the problem with that, with my highly sensitives, is they often, like I said, they shrink and they sort of collapse.

But the reality is that person would. Whatever they're saying, they are speaking truth through the lens of their belief, through the lens of their lived reality, oftentimes from their place of circumstance, right? From what they've experienced. And so when somebody paints this other picture of possibility that goes against the grain of what they've experienced, they get triggered.

Now, like I said, what I wish We could experience in this world is that everybody would stop for a moment, take a beat, take a breather and come at this with a bit of an open mind going. This might not be my reality. I'm feeling really charged right now [00:11:00] about this. comment, this post, whatever, because it's not my reality, it's not my belief.

But, that doesn't mean that it's not this person's reality and belief. It doesn't mean that this person isn't doing good work out there in the world, right? But like I said, we're not all there when it comes to knowing how to navigate our emotions, knowing how to deal with a trigger, knowing that words are very, very powerful.

Knowing that When we use words, they can be used as weapons, they can be used with tons of hate, and they can be used to really damage somebody. And my hope is that, at some point in this lifetime, that we understand that, and that when we're seeing somebody who's living in a different way than we would maybe value or believe in or whatnot, that we don't make them wrong for doing [00:12:00] it, that we don't accuse them of something that, Just because it goes against your beliefs and values doesn't make it wrong, or doesn't make them horrible people, or how dare you do this.

Because I know that when we are being accused of something that is so polar opposite to who we are, the core of who we are, it stings the freaking most. It stings the most. And when I get targeted or accused of something that, that implies that I'm not operating in integrity, that I'm lying, that I'm not truthful.

That is something that I just don't stand for because it's so polar opposite to who I am as a person. It's so not who I am, and yet it has been a theme of my life from a very early age when I was accused of killing robin's eggs at the age of four, I [00:13:00] think, from people on my block. If my mom's listening to this, she may or may not remember this story, but I remember it very vividly, right?

I'm sitting there in our cul de sac, and somebody had blamed me for killing these robin's eggs, and I did not because I'm highly empathetic. I can't even watch a gopher getting killed on a highway and I'm like, oh, I cringe, right? I don't want to see anybody hurt. That's the last thing I want to see. I don't enjoy that at all.

And so when I'm being accused of killing these Robin's eggs, I'm like, that's the last thing I'd ever do. Like who made that up? And here I am being accused of it. And then out of nowhere, I forget who it was, admitted that they had lied about it. And so a pattern of mine has been defending. false accusations about me and who I am and what I stand for.

And so I know this very, very well. And I also know that it took a long time for me to navigate that [00:14:00] without trying to spend my energy improving somebody else wrong. Because that's what I used to do. I'd try to prove them wrong, like, you're wrong, you've got this all wrong, you da da da da, all the things.

And now, I share my perspective, and I share my truth of what it is, but I honor their perspective and their viewpoint. So, When you're navigating this in business, in life, because you're going to hit these points, right, where somebody completely misunderstands you, and depending on where you're at with how you navigate this, there's a variety of different things that I often will recommend to people, because one, I'm on a mission to help heart led businesses, one, bring the heart back into business, but two, to really help them get their work out into the hands of more people, because we need it.

And I want them to shine, and I want their brilliance to shine, and I don't want them to shrink in the face of adversity, criticism, accusation, [00:15:00] whatever it might be. And so, it's not as easy, though, of just telling them, you know that their words don't mean anything, you know that their words are their truth, or their projection, or whatever.

It still doesn't remove the sting, right? When you're just getting out there, and you're putting your stuff out there, just, it doesn't necessarily Dull The Sting. And so we have to navigate this with what feels comfortable for us in our body. So some people recommend just delete and block the person.

Don't give them a second chance at all. And I understand that perspective. I really, really do. I understand that if that means protecting your well being. at all costs, first and foremost, that's what I would recommend doing. So if negative comments, trolls, accusations, whatever it might be, really do impact you from showing up in this world, in this very moment, then [00:16:00] do what you need to do.

To ensure that you're not impacted by those comments. So sometimes that might even look like having your VA navigate your social media or something, if you have a VA. So that you don't even have to look at the comments, right? So you don't even have to navigate that. You don't even know they're coming through.

Somebody is just doing that for you and they can delete and block and all of that. No. One of the things that I recommend doing, but it takes time to do this, is leaving the perspective that somebody might post or whatnot, because I think it shows, one, that that's their truth, that's their perspective. Now, granted, if it's abusive or anything like that, then You, like I said, you might want to remove it or if it's vulgar or anything like that, you absolutely can remove it, but the other thing is if it's, if it's a projection of some sort and they're accusing you of something that [00:17:00] isn't true, or Reflexor shows that they're not even really trying to understand who you are, then I would leave it.

And then you don't even need to acknowledge it. You can just leave it. It just depends on, again, you look at some of these bigger accounts, people that have like 50k, 100k followers, like, they get a lot of negative comments sometimes, and there's no use to respond to all of them because, again, I mean, if you're responding to a hundred trolls disagreeing with what you have to say, um, I mean, where do you want to put your energy and time?

You kind of have to assess that, but if you're getting a few here and there, I personally like to acknowledge it and I like to acknowledge it with. Some compassion of, hey, I understand, I see your viewpoint, I get it, cool, but here's my perspective, and I try to reflect my differing of perspective, not from a place of, I'm right and you're wrong, it's just Here's my perspective, [00:18:00] and here's how I'm looking at this from a different vantage point.

And so, it doesn't mean that what you see isn't right. It doesn't mean that what I see is 100 percent truth either. It's just Trying to come from a place of, like, hoping that they understand that there is an understanding. Now, not everyone's gonna get that message from it. So I don't engage in this big back and forth dialogue with somebody if they're, if they're, if the energy behind what they respond with next, if, if they do respond, is, you know, again, aggressive, uh, accusatory.

Not even trying to see their perspective, then I just leave it, right? I'm not going to go and engage in hour long conversations in the comments if all your mission is is to misunderstand me. Now, none of this is right or wrong. And you might decide one day I'm going to block and delete and not even worry about it, and then the [00:19:00] next you might want to respond.

Or, you might spend time responding and then realize, pfft, I ain't doing this, I'm not putting my energy into it. It doesn't mean that One is right or wrong, or you're more evolved or not. I just, I used to block and delete because that was what was good for me and my mental health. Right? And sometimes I do think I might go back to the block and delete thing.

And I see a lot of big accounts do this because they're like, I don't, I'm not tolerating this bullying, this accusations, none of it. I'm not tolerating it. And it's my account. It's my space. And I get to do that. But. I am a Libra. I am a manifesting generator. I am, uh, you know, someone with a very, very open mind.

I try to see all sides, all perspectives. I am, I want to accept and understand. I try to come from a place of curiosity. I try to understand what someone's thinking, feeling, whatnot. I'm very empathetic. And so I can see that [00:20:00] perspective and so I don't like to just shut someone down because in a moment of trigger in a moment of frustration, which we all have, by the way, and there are moments where I've said things in a quick response.

So I'm not perfect at this. I can honestly say that I'm not on the Internet commenting on strangers. stuff or people I don't really know very well. I've never done that. I've never really understood that. Um, if anything, I've posted in defense to people and that has never worked. My husband's always like, why are you even engaging?

Right? Because I'm trying to like, help people see different perspectives. I did have a beautiful conversation once with somebody who we got to a mutual, mutual. Um, understanding of one another, and it was beautiful, but it was heated there for a moment because that person was in a very heated state, and they were saying some pretty rude things, um, and calling the person that they were commenting on their stuff names, and I was like, I understand where you're coming from if you don't agree with what they're [00:21:00] posting, however, do you think that this is going to actually help them change?

Like, nobody, me. is ever going to change if you come at them in an attack. Like, I wish that this is what we would learn in the world, is that if you come at somebody attacking them, their natural response, that, that, you know, animal instinct, is to defend themselves. And that can look like a variety of different things.

People can just block and delete, they can shut down, they could start to fight back, it just depends on how they react. And so, No buddy has ever gotten anywhere, in my opinion, where you're just yelling at somebody and calling them names or you're accusing them of things that are so polar opposite to who they are and what they stand for.

There's no benefit to that. There's no benefit. So if you are somebody that you found yourself triggered by something on social media, and you have commented, [00:22:00] I would love to invite you to go, What benefit was I going to get from that? What was the benefit by calling somebody out publicly in their comments and saying some outlandish things about them?

That's only going to reflect you. Right? So people are going to see that comment and they might rally behind you and go, Yeah, I agree with you. Awesome. But that's like mob mentality. That's right. It's like I'm gonna rally behind you to, to prove other people wrong. Again, this is not the point, right?

Because the world is full of people who don't align with your values and your beliefs and what you, you stand for. And so yelling at them and telling them how wrong they are is not going to change it. It's trying to understand where they're coming from and offer a different perspective when there's [00:23:00] an invitation for that to happen.

Right? So, that is what I'm inviting you to consider as a, as somebody who also might be a business owner that has very polarizing views and beliefs and uses that polarization to You know, speak, I don't wanna say poorly, but like, speak in polarizing language to rally the troops behind you. Again, everything is energy, right?

So if you're building a message that's highly polarizing, that's calling out all the things that people do wrong and not giving people choice, That's all you're inviting into your world, right? You're not inviting people that might have that open mind and perspective that might go I don't agree with a hundred percent of your values.

I don't agree with everything that you say But I accept who you are and I'm not gonna cancel you for it I'm not gonna use very powerful [00:24:00] language to accuse you of things that aren't true Again, our words are weapons And we have to start using them intentionally. And this goes for marketing and sales.

Right? What message are we putting out there? And can we look at that perspective And go, wait a minute, I'm responsible for the message I put out there, I'm responsible for what I'm selling, and I can stand grounded in my integrity of what I'm selling, but the seller is not the only person that's responsible.

And so you have to ask yourself, if you're pissed off at people for what they're selling and why they're selling and how they're selling it, and you want to call them out for that, then my question to you is, is where's your responsibility lie in this journey? Because your responsibility is due diligence and discernment.

It's not solely on [00:25:00] the seller's shoulders to 100 percent be responsible for you getting every nuance and intricate thing that they say. It's also up to you, as a buyer, to be discerning in what you're buying. And come from a respectful place of going, Hey, I don't quite understand that. You posted this, but you often say this.

How is this different? That's coming from a place of curiosity and understanding. Telling somebody that they're, they're false and a scam and, um, using unethical practices and using false information to sell is. accusatory of what they're doing, when in reality, that, that is likely further from the truth.

That's likely not what they're trying to do.

And so, we have to also move out of this age of, you know, throwing marketers and [00:26:00] salespeople under the bus. We have to stop doing that because you as a, you as a buyer is also responsible. You're, you're also equally responsible and you're giving your power away. If you're only looking at the marketer with these googly eyes going, Ooh, you have what I want.

And, and your words are so amazing and awesome and all of that, which is why I love doing sales calls. Because it's a two way street, and I've always said this, I even said this about job interviews, right, like, it's not just about going to sell yourself at a job, it's also assessing, do I want to work for this company?

Do I align with their values? Can I see myself fitting in here? Am I gonna thrive here? Is this the environment I want to be in? Is this job gonna give me what I want? It's not just about selling yourself and being picked as like the candidate, but most of us go into the world with these, I say, rose colored glasses on and it's like I'm being sold to with this marketing message and I'm gonna buy into everything [00:27:00] that they say and you can be discerning about it.

And I truly, truly believe, and this is just my full belief, is that people aren't sitting there going, how can I manipulate that person? Most people, at least that I've come across in the coaching space, are not thinking, how can I manipulate that person? into buying my offer. They're not doing that. They're using the skills and the tactics and the tools to the best of their ability and knowledge in that moment.

And we've got to give people grace with that. We've got to give people more grace that we're doing the best we can with what we have. That we as a society are trying to do that. Because it's from that perspective I think change really can happen. But if we're coming from this, I'm against you, right or wrong, you're horrible, I'm the best, like, [00:28:00] we're never going to see the evolution.

We're always going to be in opposition, we're always going to be fighting, we're always going to be on the defense, we're always going to be in this attack, like ready for the attack, because. There's so much of this. There's so much cancel culture. There's so much painting somebody with one color brush.

How dare this person live this way? How dare this person, you know, choose this for their life? I thought I could get behind them because they had all the same values and now I find out, you know, they're living in a commune somewhere and I don't agree with that. Like, this, this is not okay. This is not okay.

To walk through life ripping people down because you don't agree with them. And ripping people down because you don't align with their values. Or that you thought they were something. That now they appear to not be because you saw a fraction of their life on social media. A [00:29:00] fraction. A 60 second reel. A carousel post.

I am deeply heated by this topic, as you can probably tell, because This, to me, is what I feel like stems most conflict in the world. I think if we can heal this, which sometimes feels like a big ask, but if we can heal this, we will have so much more peace and harmony in this world. When we can come from this place of acceptance, when we can give people grace, when we can stop demanding others be perfect every single day, and that, God forbid, They step out of line for a moment that you need to lash out and tell them how wrong they are for doing that.

That's not okay. That's not okay in the world. And for my soulful coaches, heart center people, I feel you. I really, really feel you when that comment [00:30:00] comes. It's like, oh, that's a sting, you know, because it is, it usually is being accused of something that's so far from the truth, like being called a scammer, you know, when you're like, I'm the most truthful person out here, I would not You know, try to sell somebody on something that, you know, is not for them.

Most of my clients come into my world and they're like, I don't want to be pushy. I don't want to be icky. I don't want to come across as too intrusive. I don't, you know, like they're so freaking cautious in how they sell and how they market. And then they get hit with these comments and I'm like, Wow, like, wow.

And yes, sure, we can say it's the universe testing us on all the things. I don't necessarily buy into that. I do believe that oftentimes in our life, we get accused of the very thing that is our core value and what we're here to do in the world. My vocation in the Jinkies is integrity, is to live in integrity.

And so, [00:31:00] I am so, you know, mindful of not painting the wrong picture. I am so mindful of not, you know, of giving people the full picture. Like, if you could be on a sales call with me, you would know that. I often sell people out of the offer. I'm like, by the way, I just want you to know this is going to take work and commitment, and it's not going to necessarily be easy, and there's going to be challenges, and like, I'm so truthful about it.

And yeah. It's the one thing that people often accuse me of is like, I'm, I'm not being truthful or I'm lying about something or, you know, I killed baby robin eggs and, you know, I'm the worst person on the planet. And so it's interesting, right? It's just interesting. But I wanted to share with you one that regardless of the stage of business you're in.

You will navigate these things, you will always have people that don't agree with you, you will always have people that misunderstand you, you will always have [00:32:00] people that paint some picture of you that isn't true, or is not true through your eyes and your lens, but definitely true through theirs, and my only, my only invitation to you is Do whatever you can to not let that dim your light.

Do whatever you can to shine brighter in that, in the face of that. Do whatever you can to feel whatever the heck that's causing within you, because it will sting. It will feel like, oh, is this worth it? You know, people just don't get me. How can they get me so wrong? Like, feel all of it. Feel the sadness, the hurt, the anger, the frustration, the bitterness, whatever it is, feel it all.

But don't let it dim your light and don't let it prevent you from sharing your brilliance and your gifts with the world. Don't let it be the thing that, you know, um, has you walking away from your dream and the [00:33:00] work that you do because it's needed more than anything. If anything, as cliche as this sounds, is like we need your light in a world that is oftentimes filled with tons of hate language and, um, You know, calling people out and cancelling people and, you know, the horrible things that some people deal with, like death threats, you know, or like wishing people's, you know, families, horrific things, and I thank God I've never had to deal or handle that, but many, many people do, and it's not necessarily just celebrities, right?

There's oftentimes big brands that will get this sort of like, you Online cyberbullying, hate speech, um, death threats, all those sorts of things. And again, if there's anything that I wish for in this world is that we can come together in our differences, that we can unite in our differences, that we can look at our [00:34:00] differences as, you know, beautiful things, which is the very thing that Creatively Owned stands for, is like how to honor your uniqueness, how to lean into your edge, how to own your weirdness, And this is the reason why many of us don't do this is because somewhere along the way in our life, somebody criticized us for it.

Somebody put us down for it. Someone made us feel wrong for feeling it or, or being a certain way. And so we shut that part of ourselves off. And my mission is to help. work is amazing, and somewhere along the way, they were conforming to what they thought they needed to conform to in order to be successful, to fit in, to belong, to feel significant, to feel validated.

And I'm like, [00:35:00] peeling back that onion layer with them, and I'm like, no, your creative expression is the thing your people want, and I know it's scary as hell to share it, because you're worried about someone calling you out, you're worried about someone not agreeing with you, you're worried about someone not getting you, not understanding what it is you're trying to say, you're worried about someone misunderstanding you, and so, My invitation to you is surround yourself with the people that are going to help you, you know, unpack and peel back the layers of your brilliance, to help you shine your brilliance, to help you own your differences, to help you stand in unwavering ground and truth in who you are and what you stand for, what you believe in, and knowing that it's not right or wrong.

Knowing that you get to believe that, but also knowing that somebody else gets to believe something totally different. Because we can exist in this world of like, I believe in this, and my differences are like, what's right, and da da da da da, because [00:36:00] there's somebody else that is different than you. And so it's the acceptance of the differences, it's living within our differences, it's understanding each other, it's also knowing that we are nuanced beings, and that, you know, No two people are the same and that I could value, you know, long term monogamous relationships and also really love to go out and have a good party and adventure and whatnot.

And somebody could be like, well, I really don't believe in monogamous relationships and I also really love adventures and parties. It's like, well, yeah, let's get together and have a good time. Oh, well, you, you're the way in which you look at your relationship is totally different than mine. So can we be friends?

Yeah, absolutely. We can. Right. And so it's, it's, it's, it's that belief. It's that acceptance that is so potent and powerful. And so I hope [00:37:00] this episode has given you a little bit of a fire. Because I know it's lit a fire for me because I'm tired of it. And I have a highly, highly defined will center in human design and that fire is burning because I get so tired of it because I, my heart breaks when I see, you know, really heart led entrepreneurs being impacted and considering not doing the work that they do or considering just dimming that part of themselves or considering walking away from it all because it's not worth it.

And some people have. You know, in the last year, some people have walked away from it all because, and some big names have walked away from it because they're like, this isn't worth it to me. I'm more than this brand you see online. I'm more than this business that you're bullying me about. I'm all of these other parts and all these other facets.

And for me, I can go and create and all these other facets. I don't need to just. Be in this online space and online world, and so they walk away from it and that to each their own, everybody gets to choose their own path or journey, [00:38:00] but for those people that are really committed to wanting to do the work in the online space and coach and mentor, and change people's lives, i, I wholeheartedly.

Back you in your, in your business and in your life. And I, I am rooting for you in the face of adversity, in the face of obstacles, in the face of criticism, in the face of people not knowing and understanding who you are and people not understanding you is not it. a reflection of you in trying to have to convince them or prove to them or help them see and understand you.

That's not, if they've missed you completely and they're painting you with this brush that's not you, it's not up to you to have to tell them and to educate them on who you are or to help them see. You can walk away. You can say your piece and walk away. You don't need to devote any other energy to it if you don't want to.

So with that, I hope that [00:39:00] you've enjoyed this episode of how I navigate it and how I coach and mentor my clients through it. Again, not a cookie cutter, one size fits all. Totally depends on what people are feeling, how it's affecting their mental health, how they're navigating life, all of the things. And again, there's no right or wrong.

There's no more evolved or under evolved. Like I said, you know, um, I may go back to blocking and deleting people because, you know, again, our energy is valuable. And if we're spending a lot of our time trying to convince people and try to convince them to understand us. Then, I know that you're not doing the work that you're here to do, because you're spending a lot of your time trying to, you know, educate somebody who's just here to misunderstand you in some way, shape, or form.

Um, and then the other piece of that is, is that you get to say, I don't tolerate accusations, I don't get to tolerate threats, I don't get to tolerate name calling, I don't [00:40:00] get to tolerate any of that. I don't, I'm not tolerating it, and I'm not gonna stand for it, because this is the other, you know, dance that people have, is like, well what if I say the wrong thing that even triggers them more, and at the end of the day, too bad.

Like, you can stand up for yourself. Too many people kind of cowered and go, I don't want to say that. Well, yeah, if someone's calling you a name, and if somebody is, um, you know, accusing you of something that is absolutely not true and is, could potentially be slander, again, right, we've also got to be cautious of what we, what we're doing on the internet and what we say to people, because if you accuse somebody of something that is absolutely false about who they are and their brand, they could turn around and sue you.

I'm not saying that to create fear amongst you, but that is the reality. And so as a business owner, you can navigate that. You can look at that and go, huh, is this impacting my brand? Because this person is literally Not even a [00:41:00] client, never worked with them, and they're, you know, telling lies about your business.

We used to have people that would fill out the Google form on our brick and mortar business and give us like a one star rating, and they were our competitors. Like, technically, that is false, what you're doing. That is out of integrity and unethical, and we could submit that to Google and have their account restricted, all those sorts of things, right?

If, if this is the other thing that I think people need to be conscious about is that words are potent and powerful, and we've got to be really mindful about what, what language we're using when we're either providing feedback or when we're navigating on the online world, there was this big, um, thing that blew up two years ago online about this dance group was being accused of being part of a cult and people were like, you know, reaching out to [00:42:00] their sponsors and all the things and it came out that like if you were part of that rally to Shed light, whether it's right or wrong, whether they're a part of a cult or they weren't part of a cult, if you were rallying, you could be liable.

You could be liable. They could come after you because you are a detriment to their brand, and And there's no proof, like, nobody had gone to court, nobody had been found guilty of anything, and to date, nobody has, right? Sure, there might be lawsuits out there and whatnot, but, but to date, there hasn't. And so, again, we've got to be really cautious about what we do and what we rally behind and all of that, because at the end of the day, that's what this company said.

We could come after each and every one of you that is reaching out to our brands, and questioning them for using these dancers and all the sorts of things. And so again, I'm not saying this to create fear. I'm just saying that we need to be a lot more intentional with what we do and how we do it. And also, you [00:43:00] know, knowing that.

As a person that's receiving this, we can, and we do have rights when it crosses a line in terms of, um, accusations accusing somebody that could slander or impact somebody's brand, that we can uh, take measures. And oftentimes when we're in this online coaching and mentorship space, we look, we, you know, we don't necessarily look at maybe our business as a business, right?

And it is, it is a business and it is a source of our income and our revenue. And so if people are out there accusing you of something and it's impacting your brand in any way, sales, client attraction, anything like that, um, You can take action, and I just want to say that if it gets to that point, because I have worked with some big brands that have had, you know, death threats or, um, family threats and stuff like that, which, again, is, is liable.

So, with that, I'm gonna leave ya, and I'm going [00:44:00] to, um, I hope that this episode is being really beneficial and that it's giving you some hope and inspiration to like keep standing strong in the face of adversity and, and to not let it dimm your brilliance. Cheers. Thanks for listening. We'll see you right back here next time.

You can also find us on social media at creatively owned and online@creativelyowned.com. Until next time, keep showing up as your authentic self.