Finding Connection and Support as an Entrepreneur with Liz Applegate and Julie Houghton

This week’s episode is really special to me. Talking about finding connection and support as an entrepreneur is a topic that hits home, AND, I couldn’t be happier to share this conversation with you because Julie Houghton, Liz Applegate and I are in a mastermind together. We had chatted a bit about sharing some of what we’ve learned from each other, and support and connection came up as some of the top challenges we faced (and face) as entrepreneurs. Julie Houghton is a career coach, and Liz Applegate who works with women to redefine midlife. I hope you enjoy this episode on finding connection and support as an entrepreneur with Liz Applegate and Julie Houghton.

Julie and Liz and I met in coach training and I feel so lucky to have gotten to know them both better, and find it to be truly inspiring to be in a mastermind group with them. I think you’ll love this episode if you’re someone considering making the jump to becoming an entrepreneur, if you’re already an entrepreneur and wonder how to deal with the isolation that can come with working from home, or if you are a coach of any sort. We laugh all the way through the interview and share a lot of knowledge. I hope you love meeting Julie and Liz!

In this episode we talk about:

4:00 intros and our earliest sparks of joys as kids
5:00 Liz talks about making houses for small backyard animals like lizards
6:35 Julie talks about how she looked for joy as a kid in elementary school by creating a “grape community” and making magazines for her dog
8:15 We address the question of “Can dogs read?”
8:55 Paula discusses making a “Smurf Village” in her friend’s side yard
10:15 Julie and her best friend used to write each other notes and bury them in the yard
12:45 Julie talks about how she started following her dreams after being in a corporate job for 15 years
15:00 Julie’s work with clients, who sometimes feel like they need to be “sure” of their decisions or path before taking a first step.
17:00 how to move forward with a career change or move even when you’re not sure of the next steps
17:30 how to consider financial implications of changing careers
18:10 finding a part time job to help supplement income (and how the mind can play tricks on you that you’ll “never find part time work”)
19:30 Liz’s path to becoming an entrepreneur – working full time and building a business at the same time.
20:27: how fear can paralyze you when you’re a new entrepreneur and how Liz works through the fear (by understanding her own process)
22:00 listening to what your body needs, and working with it
24:00 how starting a business is very ebb and flow, and Liz’s reflections on how to work through the first year
25:15 getting support through a mastermind to remind yourself that things will get better
27:10 how we organize our mastermind, using Voxer and what kinds of things we talk about with each other
28:00 how becoming an entrepreneur can be isolating
29:00 how long each of us has been on our own as a coach (Julie almost three years, Liz 18 months, and Paula 6 months)
31:00 how each of us has found local support to help keep the isolation of working from home at bay; Liz shares ideas on how to find that kind of support)
34:35 Julie shares about her fear of loneliness being one of the things that kept her stuck in her corporate job
35:00 Julie talks about how she intermixes in person connections with talking with others online to stay feeling in touch with other people
37:30 Paula talks about making a point of getting together with another local entrepreneur, and other times, her best friend
37:10 Julie talks about meeting an entrepreneur friend in a coffee shop to work at the same time
38:40 Liz and Paula on what accountability means in our group (no task masters!)
39:35 Julie reflects that sharing ideas with each other means that we’ve made ourselves accountable for the item, and that we each remind each other of what we’ve said we want (and ask each other why we may have changed our minds
42:00 Liz is starting a podcast! Midlife Schmidlife
43:05 Julie offers a free ebook on her site: 5 simple steps you can do today to find work that feeds your soul
44:30 How to bring your dream into action: take a step, and do one uncomfortable thing each day, don’t wait to be fearless, see the wisdom in your fear
49:00 how fear can take many shapes, and surprise you
52:00 our ideas on how to bring joy into your life

Resources

Julie Houghton’s Website
Liz Applegate’s Website: Midlife Schmidlife
Voxer: Our favorite App

What kind of support has been helpful to you as you’ve embarked on new journeys in your life?