December 26, 2024 • 46 mins
I had an absolute blast chatting with Miranda VonFricken, the founder of Own Your Awesome – a book series, podcast, and global movement helping women entrepreneurs shine a light on their awesomeness. What would you do if you got laid off from four different jobs in a row? If you're like Miranda, you might just decide you're done with corporate nonsense and it's time to forge your own path. Join us for a candid convo about the power of celebration, the importance of owning your identity, and why hustle culture is overblown BS.
Can't-Miss Moments:
- I've never wanted a confetti cannon more: we brought out the bigguns from the get-go! Miranda shares why she has confetti cannons in her video background (and why my unplanned nap was something to celebrate)...
- Quintuple whammy: not only did Miranda get laid off from four consecutive jobs, she also lost her younger brother just before losing her last gig. Her story is a powerful lesson on letting go of what you "should" be doing...
- Out of context quote: "I don't care if I have to be poor for 3 years..."
- Evidence of awesomeness: turns out Miranda and I have a similar life philosophy, and we've both chosen THIS instead of letting our lives be dictated by head trash...
- One simple question Miranda recommends to quickly get yourself out of "stuck in the mud" and back into action...
Miranda's bio:
Miranda VonFricken; Founder of Own Your Awesome!™ A podcast, book series, and global movement attracting and expanding women at work, at home, and online!
With over 15 years of leading teams to success in higher education, sales, and human resources, she stopped ignoring the call from her highest self and went “all in” on entrepreneurship. Since then, she has traveled the world connecting, coaching, and consulting students, executives, and organizations who are ready to “Own Their Awesome!” in life and on LinkedIn!
Miranda is a certified life & business coach, earned a Master’s in Motivation from Empire State College, and has studied the Science of Happiness at Yale University. She’s an International Women’s Day Featured Speaker and was named 2021 Woman of Empowerment by the YWCA of Northeastern NY.
Miranda is called to elevate every woman who has a story, a brand, or a dream and help them shine SO bright it'll be IMPOSSIBLE to ignore and achieve!
She’s a wife, a (sports) mom of two, and a positive force in her business community.
Resources and links:
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Angie Colee (00:03):
Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass, the show
that gives you a virtual seatat the bar for the real
conversations that happenbetween entrepreneurs.
I'm interviewing all kinds ofbusiness owners, from those just
a few years into freelancing toCEOs helming nine-figure
companies.
If you've ever worried thateveryone else just seems to get
it and you're missing somethingor messing things up, this show
(00:24):
is for you.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andlet's get to it.
And welcome back to Permissionto Kick Ass.
With me today is my new friend,miranda Von Fricken.
Say hi, hello.
It was so tempting for me toimmediately launch into a rant
about confetti cannons giventalking about right before we
(00:47):
started recording.
They can't see it, but I'm goingto make sure that that video
goes somewhere.
So tell us about your businessand why you've got confetti
cannons.
Miranda Von Fricken (00:55):
Oh, my gosh .
I love all things celebration.
That's not my business, but itis a big part of it.
So I'm the founder of Own yourAwesome.
It is a book series, a podcastand a global movement helping
women entrepreneurs andexecutives to expand and elevate
their voice, ultimately toshine a light on their
(01:17):
awesomeness, their calling,their gifts that they brought to
this earth with them and justget it out into the world and
help change some lives and makethis place like the coolest
place to live Now.
The confetti is just a bonus.
That's because I love tocelebrate women every single
part of their journey, whetherit's I got out of bed today to I
(01:40):
just changed something in theworld or got a patent or wrote a
book, whatever it is.
I love to celebrate womenbecause I don't think we do it
enough for ourselves.
So that's a huge part of what Ido as a LinkedIn strategist and
a personal brand evangelist isjust shining a light on
everyone's awesome andcelebrating it along the way.
Angie Colee (02:00):
I love that you made that distinction, too,
between the celebrating the bigand the small, because
especially I mean it could be.
But I have a feeling that thisis universal among entrepreneurs
.
Most of the entrepreneurs thatI know are very focused on the
big goal, the big milestones,and we're so focused on that
(02:22):
future thing that we're going todo someday that it's easy on a
day-to-day basis to be like Ihave so far to go, I am so far
behind.
Blah blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right, we beat ourselves up,yeah, and especially today we're
recording on a day wheregetting out of bed was a
challenge.
Actually, I got up really early, went to the gym, came back,
took a shower, went back to bedit was a low energy day and, hey
(02:46):
, I got up to record a podcast.
We're celebrating.
Miranda Von Fricken (02:49):
Like I wouldn't even celebrate the fact
that you said yes to going backto bed, when most of us would
think like all right, knock itoff, like get some shit done.
This is ridiculous.
I've got a whole list of thingsto do, but you know what?
Like I'm going to honor what mybody needs, and maybe my mind
and spirit too, and she justneeds to take a nap.
So I would celebrate the factthat you said yes to honoring
(03:12):
yourself and giving you what youneeded.
Angie Colee (03:14):
Oh, absolutely Well , and I think it's taken a while
for me to get to this point.
But I can acknowledge that itdoesn't do me a damn bit of good
to sit at the computer and tryto force things to come to my
brain.
Given that I operate in betweenmy ears for most of what I do
with my consulting, it doesn'tmake any sense to sit here and
try and force it when I'mliterally so exhausted that it
(03:38):
would take me less time to gotake a quick 30-minute nap and
then come back and try and bangout those thoughts than it would
to sit here for an hour Justsaying I literally gave myself
permission to watch.
Miranda Von Fricken (03:48):
I'm watching grim.
I don't know if you everwatched it, but it's new for me.
So I love these kinds of shows.
So I'm watching grim.
And I gave myself permission towatch the whole season one last
night, not do any work.
My husband was like hey, didyou end up doing that project?
(04:08):
You said that was due tonightand I'm like it's really due
tomorrow Cause I lied to myselfabout the deadlines Like it's
really due tomorrow.
Um, so I am going to honor my,um, my entertainment brain, and
she needs to be entertainedright now with some supernatural
stuff.
And he was like, okay, okay, doyou?
Angie Colee (04:22):
is that okay?
I think I've done that tomyself before too.
Do you lie to yourself aboutthe deadline so that, like
you're getting the incrementalbits done and it's not always
the last minute.
Miranda Von Fricken (04:31):
And I've trained the people in my world
to lie to me too.
What do they say when they'relying to you?
I'm late for everything, and wegot to be there at like five 30
.
My husband will be like, oh, wegot to be there at like 515,
you know, blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, all right, cool,we'll get there at 525.
And she's five minutes early,yeah.
Angie Colee (04:50):
I love that.
See, this is just knowing howyou operate and honoring that
and not beating yourself up fornot being like I'm a piece of
crap because I can't just getthere on time.
Blah, blah, blah.
No setup systems to helpyourself.
Okay, Anybody watching thevideo will see this, but I'm
describing it for people.
I have this beautiful littletool, a little hexagon shaped
timer, and on each side is alike increment of time.
(05:12):
I had to get this for myselfbecause every time I was trying
to set a timer on a phone to dowork, I would just lose three
hours on my phone Just goingaround.
So, like this is one of theboundaries I had to set for
myself.
If I need to set a timer, Ineed something that I could just
I flip it over to one side andthe timer starts and then we're
all good.
Know yourself, there's nothingwrong with that.
Miranda Von Fricken (05:33):
I've done that.
I can't tell you how many timesI've gone to Instagram.
I've been like, wait, what didI come here for?
Like, oh shit, I was just goingto set an alarm to do like time
blocking, and I'm like I can'teven touch my phone without
being distracted and it takes mesomeplace I'm not supposed to
be in that moment.
So that's a great idea.
Angie Colee (05:51):
And that's even with like.
I actively disable every singlenotification I can in during
the workday.
I'm usually in do not disturbmode and people can't get
through.
So I'm like I'm going torespond to you when I have time
to respond to you.
Otherwise I'd be responding toeverybody every second of the
day.
I would never get anything done.
That's just a rule I had to putin place for myself.
Okay, this is awesome.
(06:13):
We're already getting off to avery awesome ADHD start.
How did you wind up with this?
Like, what got you to own yourawesome?
Miranda Von Fricken (06:23):
So I had been laid off in the corporate
space four times in a row, Iknow Because I was feeling very
awesome.
I felt very rejected and I alsofelt the corporate space really
wasn't where I was meant to be.
I was in human resources for 15years and I love resourcing the
humans Don't get me wrong.
A lot of my clients are in HRnow and I really loved the
(06:46):
cultural piece.
I loved recruiting, I lovedpromoting the organization, but
I didn't love all like the dataand you know, make 15 phone
calls to get three interviews.
And I was like no, like that'snot how I roll, like I'm going
to put out a cute post onLinkedIn and they're going to
come crawling to me because I'mgoing to, I'm going to look cute
in the lunchroom and I'm goingto show like how we have such a
(07:08):
good time and like the higherthe heads, the higher ups in the
in their suits.
They just didn't get me and Iget it.
Some people thought I was justa cute and whatever.
But I was like no, this is areal way of being.
Like people come to me becauseof what I'm putting out there,
my personal brand.
And so I got laid off fourdifferent times, all business
decisions, different companiesin a matter of five years.
(07:28):
I was actually at one companyfor like three and a half years.
One company was like fourmonths and it was all like they
got bought out or they wentpublic and they had to go lean
and I was like the fluff of HRdrove me crazy that they didn't
really take culture orrecruiting seriously and so I
got laid off.
This one experience and twoweeks later my little brother
(07:50):
passed away.
Actually, my little brotherpassed away, and then two weeks
later I got laid off.
I reversed those backs of itand it was such a hard hitting
experience, personally andprofessionally.
Both of my identities were kindof like punched in the face and
it was like what?
Like you know, being a bigsister is a huge part of my
(08:12):
identity.
I have three little brothersand it is just amazing to be a
part of that in my world andthen losing one of my little
brothers it was just.
It was such a shock, of course,to my whole system, to all the
systems.
It was such a shock and Ithought at some point after
bereavement I would go back towork where I was thriving, I had
(08:33):
a huge support system and justkind of slowly get back to life
and heal.
Well, it wasn't until a weeklater, after getting back from
bereavement, that I was had myposition eliminated and it was
just like a double whammy.
It was like a kick me whenyou're down kind of situation.
And I love me some Jesus.
But I lost a lot of my faithduring that time only because it
man was it being tested and Iwas feeling like I was failing
(08:56):
miserably.
So it was like losing myidentity as a professional, as a
sister, or in my personal lifeand then in my spiritual life.
And I had just had like areally rough time during that
year and I realized little bylittle, coming out of that I had
to.
I kind of said to myself Icouldn't change my brother
(09:16):
passing, but what could I havechanged at work to make it more
like more where I want it to be,where they would accept me?
And I thought like I need tostart being myself.
I need to stop holding back myawesome, if you will.
And I I felt very like I wouldfake it every day.
So I got another job and I tooka first day picture, almost like
(09:36):
you know you the kids taketheir first day of school
picture.
I took my first day at the nextjob picture and I put it on
LinkedIn and one of my bizbesties was like that is the
fakest smile I've ever seen.
She's like what the hell?
Yeah, she was like what are youdoing?
And I knew it was.
And I remember walking into thatnext job on day one and I
looked up and I prayed and Isaid, god, if this is not for me
(09:58):
, cause I had already been aside hustler for years, a
speaker and a coach, but nothingreally full-time.
Like it paid my car payment,right, like it wasn't much, I
said, if this is not meant forme, like just make it quick.
Yeah, make it quick.
And four months later I waswalking out laughing because
they had got bought out and Iwas the last hire and I was like
(10:19):
wow, that was quick.
And I remember my boss kind oflike chasing me out Cause I
forgot to give him my badge andhe was like what are you
laughing at?
And I was like, oh, I'm justtalking to God, cause I told him
to make this quick if it wasn'tmeant to be, and clearly it's
not.
So bye, here's my badge, seeyou later.
And I, just, from that pointforward, I was like full-time
entrepreneurship.
I don't care if I have to bepoor for the first, like three
(10:40):
years, but, like I really justsaid, it's time for me to own
not only my awesome, of courseand that's a fun way of saying
it but owning the calling on mylife, owning what I'm meant to
do in this world, owning mygifts, owning my personality and
just giving myself permissionto be me and call in those who
are meant to be around me andjust literally like retract,
(11:01):
repel whoever is not meant to bearound me.
So I started doing that.
Little by little, I starteddoing LinkedIn live shows and
like talking about like shifthappens instead of shit happens
about being laid off I juststill can't really swear on
LinkedIn too much.
So I was doing lots of LinkedInvideos and just talking on
everybody's podcast who wouldhave me about being laid off,
(11:23):
and I put out this post about Ican get bitter or I can get
better, and I just leaned intothat kind of energy and that's
what I did.
I started just owning exactlywho I was, owning my awesome,
started the podcast and wrote abook that's now a bestseller
called own your awesome onLinkedIn, so I think I really
just started to embrace me.
Angie Colee (11:43):
And that's what this is all about.
Oh man, and that's sointeresting.
I think that a lot of themessage that people get,
especially from super corporatebig companies, is that conform,
blend in, become one of us.
That's what we hired you for.
I used to get called out allthe time, as longtime listeners
(12:06):
might be able to tell I'm alittle bit feisty, a little bit
opinionated, and I would getcalled into my boss's office all
the time in corporate officeLike Angie, could you come with
me please?
Could you close the door?
Could you sit down?
Like, oh fuck, what did I donow?
Miranda Von Fricken (12:21):
Every time?
Yeah, did you smile too much?
Angie Colee (12:25):
No, for me.
Like I'm the queen of restingbitch face, Everybody would
always ask me if I was mad atsomething and I'm like, why do
you think I'm mad?
I'm just not smiling that itdoesn't.
If I'm mad, you will be able totell, because usually I'm like
that pisses me off.
Let me tell you why.
Like there's, you don't have toguess how I'm feeling, I will
tell you.
Miranda Von Fricken (12:49):
Crazy.
I would get called into theoffice for what I did get
written up for swearing once.
But it was like hello, I'mItalian, I'm very passionate,
these are sentences, what theheck.
And so I was really pissed too,because, as my boss was writing
me up for swearing, becausesomebody apparently walked by
our group of offices and heardthat it was me or whatever bitch
.
She walked by, she heard me,she ratted me out, my ceo walked
(13:10):
into the office of me gettingwritten up and started like
swearing up a store.
I'm like this effing blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I just look at my boss.
I was like you're kidding,right.
And so we ended up ripping thatright up.
That's good.
You've gotta be kidding me thatyou're writing me up.
Angie Colee (13:23):
You've got to be kidding me that you're writing
me up.
You've got to be kidding me.
You're fucking kidding rightLike listen.
You're writing me up forswearing and I actually
high-fived the CEO.
Miranda Von Fricken (13:31):
I was like I love that you use such awesome
sentence enhancers, you showyour personality.
And he was like obviously tookit aback.
But he was just like what hedidn't even know.
He was swearing.
He just like it just comes out.
I'm so angry.
I'm like I know, right, it'sjust, it's just for walking into
the C suites and giving themlike my report on something that
(13:54):
the CEO had asked for.
But I didn't go through thechain of command.
He asked me for something.
I walked into the suites andlike the executive assistant was
like what is she doing in here?
She's HR, she should be in theother wing.
It was like I can't walk in thefucking hallway.
Like suck it.
Angie Colee (14:10):
Freaking power trips.
It's bizarre, that's what I say.
I say that as the person who,like in my corporate office when
I was a full-time copywriter, Iasked for meetings with the
president because I have a fewideas and it's probably been a
while since you've been downhere with the hoi polloi, so,
like, let me share what's goingon down here.
Very precocious, I had no senseof chain of command.
(14:31):
I mean, I loved my immediatesupervisor and the creative
director of my team and theyknew exactly what I was doing,
so, like they thought it washilarious that I would just like
go ask for a meeting with thepresident.
I love that you also said likethis is it?
This is the sign.
I don't care if I have to bepoor, and I feel like that's one
of the things that holds peopleback from doing this.
(14:53):
What if I can't pay my bills?
What if I can't figure this out?
Like, with a long enough runwayand some support, anybody can
figure this out, I'm convinced.
It's just that you have tofigure out your way of doing it,
and that can be reallyuncomfortable in a culture that
tells you tell me what to do,tell me what to do and I will do
it, and I will get that A and Iwill get the things that were
promised to me, and that's justnot how my journey has been.
(15:15):
I don't know if it's been thatway for you.
Miranda Von Fricken (15:18):
No, I'm figuring it out as every step of
the way, like I literally justput a reel on Instagram or a
story that said I just wrote abook.
It became bestseller.
Now what?
I don't even know what to donext.
Like I know what I want to do,what the results are to be, but
I'm figuring out, like what thatmeans in between and my, you
(15:38):
know it's funny.
So I grew up.
My mother was very like go withthe flow.
I'm very when the spirit movesme.
Um, and it was me and my momagainst the world.
She had me at 16.
So we lived a very like gypsylife, right, peanut butter and
jellies on the beach in a carthat should have been
repossessed months ago, but weused to hide it Like we.
We definitely grew up superpoor, so I wasn't afraid of just
(16:01):
eating cheese until I could geta real meal, like.
But I have a husband and I havetwo kids and he grew up with
his grandparents raising him andthey were very like GE family,
like he had a pension, like thegrandfather that raised them and
the grandmother did the cooking, and it was very like what I
used to watch on TV.
It wasn't what my life was byany means.
And so when I said to myhusband, like hey, I got laid
(16:23):
off again, he's like again, areyou serious?
And he's like, all right, soputting out your resume?
He's like I know all the people.
So he's like who are youconnecting with?
What's your next job?
And I'm like I just don't wantanother job, mm-hmm, but like,
because you know you're in that,they're in that middle of like
I don't want to like lose myhouse.
(16:46):
I've got kids right.
Like it's a little differentNow I have to be a little more
responsible.
So I applied to places.
I got interviews and one Ithought for sure I was going to
get.
I got my start in highereducation and so I interviewed
at a college and I thought, forsure they were going to hire me.
And I begged and begged andpleaded for God not to like
don't let them hire me, let themthink I'm crazy.
Like, and I'm like you couldtell I was half-assing the
(17:07):
interview because I just myheart's not in it and they
couldn't afford me.
Is what they ended up sayingLike listen, you're out of our
budget, blah, blah, blah.
I was like yeah, I am suckers.
Like I want all the money, if.
So I love higher education andI love human resources and those
are my clients.
I'm just not meant to walk intothe office every day and do the
function that they do.
(17:28):
I'm meant to elevate theirvoices and help them to do their
job a little differently.
So I still get to work inhigher education and in the
corporate space.
I just don't have a sad graycubicle that I live in anymore.
But I remember making sixfigures to replace my corporate
salary within the first year andI literally had no idea what I
(17:49):
was doing.
All I knew, well, because,technically, my first full-time
year was over the pandemic and Ido LinkedIn, right.
So I started doing resumes andLinkedIn and it just was,
unfortunately, perfectly alignedwhere people were getting laid
off left and right, and I happento be the queen of getting laid
off.
I was an unemployed careercoach, right.
So it was kind of perfect thatI knew how to help people with
(18:11):
their mindset as well as theirstrategy.
So I I am like half mindset,half strategy.
I mean technically I'm ahundred percent all of it, but I
do a really great job of likebringing their heart and soul
into what they need to do andthen create a strategy that
aligns with it to get them towhere they're going, not to just
put money in their bank, youknow.
So I started doing that.
(18:32):
I started saying like, hey, likeyou know me, I live on LinkedIn
.
I'm the host of LinkedIn localhere in my Albany area.
So I already had like afollowing here about LinkedIn
which had nothing to do with mynine to five.
So I just went hard at whatpeople knew me for and I just
started taking clients, if youwill, and it worked out and I
was very grateful for it, ofcourse.
But I remember also we talkedabout celebration the day I made
(18:56):
it was like $101 or $101,000.
It put me over the edge.
I just signed a new client andI still had to pick my kid up at
summer camp.
So I was like, all right, Iguess I'm just going to go pick
up my kid now.
Like nothing happened.
It was like, oh, I guess it'sjust, it's easier than we think.
I think my main point here islike yes, like I said, I'll be
poor, I don't even care, I justwant to be happy.
(19:17):
But I think when you're meantto do, it comes easier than you
think, even if you're Googlinghow to start a business or what
do I do?
Like there are coaches outthere that have sessions that
are affordable.
Like I have a strategy sessionthat's 500 bucks and people I've
never raised the price but Ican get you started, get you a
strategy and support you alongthe way.
(19:38):
Like, just like, as your bud.
You know one question here andthere and like people just think
it's just so, so overpriced.
You don't have to go to the $10million mastermind.
You can find somebody whosepassion is to help you
strategize a business, you know.
So they're out there.
You just got to find them.
And networking is how I did itand you know, I'm still.
(19:58):
I'm still loving it to this day.
Angie Colee (20:00):
So much of this is fantastic.
We just all right.
How do I start unpacking this?
Like one, you could have easilygone the other way, especially
with this idea of I'm a careercoach, I'm helping people on
their awesome.
I'm not feeling particularlyawesome, having just gotten laid
off four times in a row and nowI've got this in the death in
(20:20):
the family and all of this stuffis happening.
What kept you focused on like,no, I can help these people.
I'm the perfect person to helpthese people, given my
experience with being laid off.
Miranda Von Fricken (20:31):
Yeah, because I knew it, because I was
a little further ahead.
I had already done it multipletimes and I've done multiple
options.
So I took more classes, so Idid the education route.
After a layoff I went back towork and interviewed and
networked.
And the fact that I was acareer director at the college,
so I was a career, I knew how tohelp people get jobs.
(20:51):
So I knew how to get jobs.
I just knew I didn't want a jobanymore.
So I was like I may not wantthe job anymore, but I can help
you get the job Like that'll besuper easy, and more, but I can
help you get the job Likethat'll be super easy.
And so I spent a lot like thefirst year just doing the career
coaching.
In the life coaching I have amaster's in motivation and life
(21:12):
fulfillment.
So my, my heart is, my callingis really to to help women
figure out who they are in thisworld and why they're they're
here in this time.
Now you know.
So I just I've been doing thatforever.
And then I'm a speaker too.
Even when I was a nine to fiver,I would teach other colleges
how to help their career centershelp their students, and so I
was still kind of like honing myskills as an entrepreneur in my
(21:34):
nine to five life, which so tome it seemed like it was very
streamlined to just transitioninto entrepreneurship, and I
think that's one thing.
Clients that come to me whowant to leave their nine to five
and become an entrepreneur theyjust want to quit and figure it
out.
And I'm like, no, don't quitand figure it out, let your nine
to five pay you while youfigure it out A and B, like what
(21:58):
do you love within your nine tofive and how can we do that
outside of your nine to five andmake money doing it now?
And so I think it's just areframe, a little perspective
shift, because I've done thatmultiple times.
So when the time presenteditself that I was not going back
to my nine to five obviously itwas the pandemic had hit.
I had my last layoff, it wasJanuary of 2020 and the pandemic
(22:21):
hit in March, and so while Iwas like side hustling, taking B
school, you know, whatever allthat stuff I remember my
daughter was in third grade atthe time.
I all of a sudden had to becomea third grade teacher and I was
like no, thank you, cause allthe kids had to be homeschooled.
So I was like what the Sam hell?
Like, how am I going tohomeschool, build a business, do
the things?
And I just I feel very stronglyabout when you tell the
(22:43):
universe your plans, it willconspire to help you, right?
So I said I'm not going back towork.
I told my husband to figure hisshit out mentally, because it
wasn't.
I wasn't going back to work.
And and granted, we couldn't atthat moment we couldn't live
off of his salary.
So I was like I will make itwork, I will replace my
corporate salary you keep yours,it'll be great While
(23:05):
homeschooling my third grader,which is not my calling, by no
means is it my calling.
And so the coolest part thathappened, and that really just
solidified my belief in sayingwhat you want out loud and
telling people, was that myhusband was recruited out of his
current job to a differentcompany that doubled his salary.
Angie Colee (23:28):
Oh, I love that I was like, oh snap.
Miranda Von Fricken (23:31):
So as much as I'd love to tell people like
I hustled my face off, I didn'tsleep.
I got up at 4 am.
Blah, blah, blah.
I didn't do any of that shit.
I trusted myself and I trustedthe universe to provide.
And I say universe but I, to meit's God.
I a hundred percent knew it wasGod providing.
I don't care what what anybodycalls it.
There's something higher thanus that's out there, that's
conspiring to make us awesome.
Angie Colee (23:51):
Yeah, and I believe in it.
I've said something similar,Like I have.
You know, a lot of folks havesome religious trauma.
I don't know what I believe.
I just tell people I believethat humans can't possibly be
the smartest things in theuniverse because otherwise we're
fucked Like we are doomed ifwe're the smartest things out
there.
So and I've felt it too often inmy life, just this impossible
(24:16):
coincidence A screenwritercouldn't have written my life
that perfectly for it to line upthe way it did.
You know, like the time that Ilost my apartment and I was
going through the inspection andwas giving the key to the lady
when I got the call with the joboffer and was like what, yeah,
what, how does this work?
(24:37):
And I'm glad that you mentionedlike the hustle my face off and
I was getting up at fouro'clock in the morning.
I hate that shit.
I hate it so so much.
One because I bought into itand I'm super resentful, right.
But two because it justperpetuates this myth of if
you're not working hard, youhaven't earned this.
And I agree with your sentimentof like.
(24:58):
If you can find thatintersection of what you enjoy
and what you're really good at,this can be full of ease.
And I don't mean easy, that'ssomething different.
But like we can do work thatlights us up, that does some
good in the world, some of theeasiest sales I've made after
years of like studying salesscripts and structuring offers
(25:22):
and like doing all of this work,to be quote unquote good at it
was.
Somebody reached out to me andasked me a question via email
and I was like, oh, actually,yeah, I just started doing a new
offer that offers somethingsimilar.
Can I tell you a little bitabout it?
And they were like, sure, toldthem a little bit about it.
They were like, yeah, that'sexactly what I need.
Sign me up.
Yeah, hilarious, wait, what.
(25:47):
That goes against everything Iwas taught about having a sales
presentation and only walkingsomebody through the offer.
And those people still work,the people that I did that easy
offer with.
I'm still working with privateclients over a year later.
So, like, allow it to be easy.
It's okay to be easy.
It's okay to not buy into thebullshit notion that you have to
work hard, otherwise youhaven't earned your success.
Bs.
Miranda Von Fricken (26:05):
Right.
My easiest sale was and this ishow like my business and offers
elevate.
It's never something I create,it's something my clients ask if
I could just do for them orsomething.
Angie Colee (26:17):
So with the.
Miranda Von Fricken (26:18):
LinkedIn.
So for the longest time I was,I was doing one-on-one LinkedIn
coaching.
And then it was.
There were so many one-on-oneswhich sounds so braggadocious,
but whatever, I'll toot my ownhorn, toot, toot.
I said I'm going to have tocreate like a school, like we're
going to have to get togetheronce a quarter.
We all you know four day halfday thing, whatever.
Four day half a day, four hourthing, and we day four hour
(26:40):
thing, and we'll just bang itout.
It'll be cheaper too.
And they were like we love it,this is awesome.
And then after a while I had ahospital reach out to me to do I
do a lot of self-leadership.
So with my master's program andself and my life coaching stuff
, I do a lot of self-leadershiptraining in organizations.
So I did a self-leadershiptraining we start.
Somebody asked me about LinkedInbecause they know I do LinkedIn
(27:00):
in the audience and I said yeah, let's talk about LinkedIn,
blah, blah, blah.
Well, it was the marketingdirector in the audience and
said can you just do it for us?
And I'm like what do you mean?
And they're like like thecontent, like the management,
like pretend you work for us inmarketing, but you don't.
You have your own business andI'm like, yeah, yeah, let me
noodle on that and send you aprice.
(27:21):
And I was like, how's $10,000?
It was like the biggest,craziest sale.
I ever did so for a year for$10,000, which now it's like
20,000 or way more, because Iwas like shit, I was totally
underpricing myself for what Ihad to do.
But they wrote me a check for$10,000.
I created content for them onLinkedIn and it was amazing and
I was like, oh my God, so thatstarted my done for you LinkedIn
(27:44):
services, which I've since kindof retired because losing my
voice, writing other people'scontent, became a thing, and you
know as we learn as we go, andthat's what I think I gave
myself permission to do rightfrom the start was not lock
myself into like a niche or whatI do, who I do it for.
I love working with women.
I love I'll work with anybody.
(28:05):
When it comes to LinkedIn, Ithink that's a little different,
but when it comes to like ourheart and life coaching and our
spiritual wellbeing, I prefer towork with women because I think
I feel a connection to womenmore than I do a man a man when
it comes in that in that respect.
But on LinkedIn, I'll work withanybody, cause it's really just
about you.
It's like your resume.
Essentially it's your.
(28:25):
You know, it's a little bitbigger than that.
It's like your resume and yourwebsite together in one as
LinkedIn.
And so I just remember like howawesome that was and I gave
myself permission to just gowith the flow.
Like when the spirit moves me,that's when I will move, is kind
of how I call it.
When the spirit moves me,that's when I will move.
It's kind of how I call it.
Same with posting on LinkedInLike if you haven't seen me on
LinkedIn for a week, it'sbecause the spirit's not moving
(28:46):
me, and if you see me postingevery day.
I'm obviously being moved and Ithink that has been like not my
claim to fame, if you will, butthat's been like how I decided
to run my business.
I mean, I'm not making millionsbut I'm making enough to I've
more than replaced my corporatesalary.
I'd love to retire my husbandsomeday because he could just
(29:06):
manage my daughter's sportsschedule, cause that's a whole
job in itself.
But like I'm where I'm happy,I'm happy where I am.
I love that I can spend a wholeday Tuesday watching grim and
nobody's going to give me shitfor it.
Like it just is what it is andand I just feel very blessed,
and I think that's one thing.
Either newbies getting into itor people looking to elevate to
the next level, they do get sohung up on.
(29:28):
You know, hustle on their faceoff where they hear the, the
bros out there like with alltheir frigging steps or they,
they, they take on somebodyelse's goals.
Angie Colee (29:40):
I got to make this much per month.
I got to make this much peryear, otherwise I'm not being
successful.
And I also I wanted to circleback and point out that piece
that you mentioned aboutlearning as you go and trusting
yourself.
You just did things that feltright and you saw the results
and you listened to the peoplethat you were talking to.
These are so many things that Ihear in the people that I work
(30:04):
with when I'm coaching folks.
It's like so what do people say?
What are they asking you for?
When you have people approachyou with questions, what are
they saying most often, can youcreate something around that?
Oh, well, I don't know.
Okay, well, it's time to startpaying attention.
And are you going out there andmaking offers?
Well, no, I haven't createdthat content because I need to
(30:25):
get the vision and then I needto reverse engineer all of the
steps so that I can figure outwhat I need to be doing today.
Or you could just do shit todayand see what happens.
Miranda Von Fricken (30:34):
Yeah, yep, I'm literally working with a
woman now.
She's a special needsempowerment coach for special
needs support, like the parentsor the family members, and she's
like I got to get my websiteout, I got to get my newsletter,
I got to get the things.
And I'm like, girl, just put apost on Facebook Like cause.
That's where she is right now.
And I'm like we'll talk aboutLinkedIn, we'll talk about your
(30:54):
Insta, we'll talk about all yourmarketing.
I'm obsessed with visibility,so like we'll.
I'm obsessed with visibility,so like we'll get you on a stage
.
It'll be a thing.
We create a keynote.
It's like we'll write you abook, it's a whole thing and all
.
But she was just like so boggeddown on what she thought she
needed to do in order to run orcreate a business, right To let,
she said, legitimize herself.
Angie Colee (31:14):
And I'm like you know what's legit, putting that
post out, saying you're you knowwhat's the first time somebody
pays you money to do somethingabsolutely or not even the.
Miranda Von Fricken (31:24):
You know what's funny, I've taken a step
before that.
Like if they agree to work withyou and even if it's just to
trade for a testimonial, likebecause it's your first three or
something, or, and the firstperson and I say, who did you
like support or help and do thisstuff with minus money now?
Or or like a year ago, andshe's like, oh my god, like so
(31:44):
many people, and eventuallyeverybody's like you should just
start charging for this.
And I'm like those women, yeah,you're gonna get an email from
them, you're gonna ask them fora testimonial and you can put
that on your website becauseshe's already like working on it
.
I said, or you use that ascontent and say, listen, now I'm
just gonna start people for it,cause now it's my business and
she's already got her firstclient, she's getting offers to
(32:05):
speak on stages and it's justher niche is very obviously,
it's very niche.
So like it's really cool to seewhen you just like do the
simplest thing right, like youdon't have to.
What's the massive solution?
No, what's the easiest solution.
Like my husband always yells atme for like oversimplifying
things, like the roof willcollapse and I'm like just get
(32:27):
some duct tape for now, what thefuck?
And he's like girl, we can'tduct tape the roof.
And I'm like, no, but you couldprobably do X, y and Z.
Go to Home Depot, get this, getthat whatever, and get this,
get that whatever.
And then we'll call a roofer.
And he's like they get so madat me because I oversimplify
things.
But you just need the solutionfor now, while you're figuring
out the longer term solution.
(32:47):
So for now, put a post out onLinkedIn or Instagram or
wherever you are Facebook thatsays I'm taking on three clients
.
And this is the thing.
Boo, I'm now a coach.
One woman said to me how do I,how do I start speaking?
I said you just call yourself aspeaker.
And she's like what I was?
Like you speak every day.
Are you speaking to me rightnow?
She's like stop it.
(33:07):
Just say you're a speaker.
Then you know, obviously that'sout to the universe.
I'm a speaker, right, like youcan't just say I'm an author.
If you don't have a book, I getthat.
Or she's like I didn't speak ona stage.
(33:28):
Yet I don't speak on stages allthe time.
I speak live on LinkedIn.
I speak on zoom calls like thestage.
You now create your own stages.
These days, you don't have tohave somebody hire you and book
you to walk up three steps to bea little bit taller than the
audience and call that now aspeaker.
No, you can just hit, go liveand you're a frigging speaker.
If you have an expertise insomething or passion, you're now
a speaker.
And she was like mind blown.
And now?
Angie Colee (33:47):
it's on Like, at the risk of being a little bit
in your face, but likepermission to kick ass,
Obviously you don't, you canbuild your own platform, your
own stage.
The gates have come down.
The gate have come down.
The gatekeepers are scramblinggoing.
Well, shit, they're all comingin now.
Yeah, they are.
Miranda Von Fricken (34:08):
I mean I don't need a conference manager
to find me or I don't have toapply for something and give
them my budget.
I can just go live on YouTubemy podcast I told you earlier my
podcast is on my cell phone.
I upload it to rsscom.
It's the jankiest MacGyverpodcast for people love it, like
(34:31):
, and it's just because I wantedone and I was scared of tech.
I'm not gonna lie, like me andtech I'm friends, and so
somebody told me the easiest wayto do it is this, and I was
like that's how I'm going to doit until I get the hang of it
and I'll start elevating it now,of course, but like it's been a
year, I already been doing itfor a year and all I do is walk
around my living room and ventinto my cell phone voice notes
and I have a podcast.
Angie Colee (34:51):
If there's one takeaway from this show, it's
like what's the easiest way Icould do this, mind blown on
that.
And I love the fact that youwere also pointing out like look
for evidence.
And then there's this conceptof like identity and embracing
the identity.
You know, I've been a writerfor over 14 years.
I do have a book and all ofthese things.
But I remember at the beginninghow hard it was to call myself
(35:12):
a writer, because I didn't knowif it was any good and I didn't
know if anybody liked it oranything like that liked it or
anything like that.
And now that I have people thatare breaking into the industry
that come up to me, like, whatdo I do to be a writer?
And I say, are you writing?
And they're like well, no, well, like.
The first step is writers right,speaker, speak, writers right.
Like you got to do the thingthat you're claiming to do, even
(35:34):
if it's just for yourself.
If you're not going to pick upa pen until somebody pays you,
then you're not a writer.
And the same thing with thespeaker you can speak.
I speak on a podcast.
So hey, if I haven't been up ona stage recently, does that
change the fact that I'm aspeaker?
I don't think so.
I could get up there and speakand riff.
(35:55):
That's what I do every week onthis freaking show.
Miranda Von Fricken (35:59):
My first podcast.
My girlfriend and I used tojoke about we just talked about
talking.
We did talk about talkingbecause we love to talk.
We love to talk to each other,but we are both growing two
separate businesses together asbiz besties and so we just like
let's just put a microphone infront of us and see what comes
out.
Angie Colee (36:17):
See what comes out, yeah, and that ties in
perfectly.
I see what comes out yeah, andthat ties in perfectly.
I couldn't have written thismyself too.
You help people own theirawesome.
You help people with the careerand the LinkedIn and stuff like
that.
You do something that I calllooking for evidence.
When I got my first copywritingjob at that point I was a jack
of all trades we're talkingfirefighting, lifeguarding,
(36:37):
picking up trash, math tutoring,writing kids' college papers.
I should not have gotten thatjob based on my resume because I
had zero relevant experience,except I decided I did and I
went and looked for evidence andthen just stacked all that
evidence up and I had to applyto like four or 500 different
gigs before I got.
And I got several interviewsbut I got this one that gave me
(36:59):
a chance.
That started me down this pathand I was doing things like I
wrote the menu and the sandwichboard advertisements at the
restaurant where I'm a waitress.
I wrote the plan for thismanual over here.
I did this internship over herewhere I wrote this thing, and I
would just cherry pick thethings that I wanted to
highlight.
(37:19):
That proved not just to me butto other people that I had the
experience.
There is a connection betweenwhere I've been and where I'm
going.
I just need you to see thepotential in me, Like I see the
potential here.
Let's make some shit happen.
You can look just as much asyou can look for evidence that
you don't have a right to behere.
You could be looking forevidence that you have every
(37:40):
right to be here.
Miranda Von Fricken (37:41):
Who is the person that says whatever you're
looking for, you'll find right.
Like if you're looking to notlike I don't have the evidence,
I don't have this.
If you're looking to prove thatyou're not that person, then
you're gonna prove you're notthat person.
But you're looking to prove youare Iess or evidence of your
awesomeness, like go find thosekey pieces and just take notes.
(38:03):
Back when I was a nine to fiver, I worked from a notebook
because, again, tech, but I love, I love working from a notebook
.
That's something about needingto write things down.
Anytime I did something out ofthe box or out of my scope or
something awesome, I'd put it inthe back of my notebook and I
collected a list of myawesomeness, right.
So when I'd go to my reviewonce a year because who the hell
can remember how well you do ina frigging year?
(38:26):
Nobody can.
But I did, because I would typeup my section of the review and
it'd be like I need a secondpage, please, and my boss would
be like, oh my God, I forgotabout this.
So that was in February.
Of course you forgot about it.
Like it was a year ago, like,and so it would.
I'd always get the highestpercentage of the reason, like
you know, like we'd have tosplit it between the department,
(38:47):
but I would get the highestchunk of it because I collected
the evidence.
It's not because I did morethan my teammates, I just
happened to document the shitmore and bring it to you know,
present when the time came, and,and always before job
interviews, I'd tell people dothe same thing, like they.
I just I'm doing a resume nowfor a woman and I don't even do
resumes anymore, but it was justlike a favor.
(39:07):
So I'm pulling out the thingsthat she's done and she's like
oh yeah, I did that.
Oh yeah, and then I did thatand just it just kind of like
started to like unravel all thethings she did.
And she was like, damn, I amgood and I'm like, but your
resume looks like shit.
It looks like you don't whatthe fuck?
It looks like you don't trusther.
Believe it, I wouldn't hire youwith this resume.
But now, talking to you and aninterviewer is not going to pull
(39:30):
all that out of you, it's justgoing to ask you the question,
give you the answer, and that'sthat you know.
Same with when I'm on discoverycalls with either a client or
somebody I want to work with Iask the question, I believe
their answer and that's that,had they been prepared with all
their collection of evidence,they may have like a link to
send me.
Oh, here's my testimonials,here's all the reports, people
(39:51):
I've worked with.
Here's like the LinkedInprofiles I've designed, you know
, and so they're always like wow, thank you for sending me all
of that.
Like, even in the back of mybook I have a section of
testimonials, people who it'scalled social proof, evidence of
client awesomeness, right, andso this is all of my clients
that are like working withMiranda, this happened and I've
(40:13):
gotten client.
Actually, one of my clients gota client because they read this
book and said Miranda said youwere awesome and so I'm gonna
work with you now.
And so my client reached out tome and was like I can't believe
that, but this is shining alight on it, not only myself,
but I shine a light on otherwomen and their awesomeness, and
so that's for me like owningyour awesome ultimately just
(40:34):
means embracing 100% who youtruly are, shining a light on it
and just letting the universekind of expand that and call in
the right people you're meant towork with and surround yourself
with and do life with.
Angie Colee (40:47):
Oh, absolutely.
And you said something that wasso great there that you love
shining a light on other people,and the thought that popped up
for me here was how often somany of us, especially women,
have trouble asking for thingslike testimonials, feedback,
things like that, because we'reafraid of being a burden, right?
So I'm going to circle it backto what Miranda just said.
(41:08):
I love, I love shining aspotlight on these people.
I love helping them shine.
I actually did an exercise andthis took me out of my comfort
zone too.
Right, I was raised in the deepSouth.
Don't rock the boat, don't be abother, all of that stuff.
I challenged myself and puttogether a list of the hundreds
of people that I have coached invarious programs as somebody's
(41:29):
hired coach since 2018, right,and I had all kinds of excuses
in my head about I can't reachout to this person because I
don't know that that personwould remember me.
I don't know that we workedthat clip.
Here's an excuse for all ofthese different people as to why
I can't reach out, and I wentbullshit, nope, every single
person gets an email.
Hey, I'm actively growing mycoaching practice.
(41:51):
I would love it if somethingstood out from your time working
with me.
If you would be willing toprovide me with a testimony,
I'll be super grateful.
Here's some questions that Ilike to ask people in case that
sparks any ideas.
And then I just let it be.
I didn't expect anything inreturn.
I just made the ask.
I got such wonderful, glowingfeedback from people going okay,
(42:14):
how can I help?
Here's my testimonial.
Do you need any edits?
So like all of that to saythere are people out there that
are rooting for you.
Yeah, there's shitty trolls,but like, just ignore them.
They're off being miserabletogether in a big collective
cesspool.
It's fine.
Find your people like me, likeMiranda, who are out here
cheering for you, who love tosee you shine, who are confetti
(42:36):
cannons when you're freakingwinning.
Yep, she's throwing it.
She's throwing it right here oncamera.
We've got the proof.
Like we're out here rooting foryou.
We all win together.
There's so much joy andopportunity and expansiveness
out here If you look for it, ifyou'll find that evidence.
Miranda Von Fricken (42:52):
Yeah.
Angie Colee (42:53):
Feeling ranty today .
Miranda Von Fricken (42:54):
We go further together.
I mean, that's just kind oflike how this is Like.
Once I started to own myawesomeness, I knew I was on a
mission to help others do thesame.
And it's not just about us,it's not just owning my
awesomeness, it's the peoplearound us, right?
And the more we shine our light, though, our light shines on
others, right.
Like, think about it.
You walk into a room and Ibring a flashlight.
(43:15):
I'm going to illuminate theothers in the room with me.
It's not just me, I'm going toshine this flashlight on.
So I think it's um, there'ssomething powerful to to be said
about the ripple effect ofowning our own awesome, Like my
confidence.
People often would say in mytestimonials you'll see the word
contagious or infectious a lot,and I always hated that,
especially around the pandemic.
(43:36):
I'm like Ooh, that's a creepyword.
Miranda's infectious,infectious.
You know, I was like oh, that'sa creepy word.
Angie Colee (43:39):
Miranda's infectious.
Miranda Von Fricken (43:41):
Infectious.
You know, I was like, ew, weird, but like I get it, like the
fact that I am so just myself,right, and myself happens to be
like pink and bubbly.
I wear tutus on stages Like mybeing myself, kind of I don't
need to give someone elsepermission to be themselves,
because I think they alreadyneed to give it to themselves
(44:01):
First of all.
Right, I think that's a hugepiece, but like the permission,
essentially it was like I don'tknow, jesus came to get you to
follow him and to be an exampleand I'm the same way, Right,
like so that's kind of like howI look at it, right To get all
you know Christian on you, butlike I feel wholeheartedly that
to to shine a light on someone,you have to be the light Right,
(44:24):
and so that's kind of how I rolland and anytime I'm not feeling
like the light, I just kind ofmake sure.
I just kind of like got in thehouse for like a couple of days
take that nap we talked aboutearlier and then when.
I'm ready, then I get back outand I do me and it always works
out.
Angie Colee (44:42):
What's that saying?
It's like uh, if you, if youfeel like, uh, you hate
everybody, take or eat something.
If you feel like everybodyhates you, take a nap.
Is that like starver?
Miranda Von Fricken (44:53):
cold pita flu kind of thing, but like
personality personality, changeit up.
Angie Colee (44:59):
Uh, like all those ad ADHD videos out there that I
say like I'm feeling crap, I'mfeeling depressed, I'm feeling
low energy.
Have you been outside in thesunshine?
Have you eaten?
Have you drank water?
Miranda Von Fricken (45:10):
Like okay do these things.
Angie Colee (45:12):
Move your body, but we're up against time, so this
has been so fantastic.
I think this is such a greatepisode.
I can't wait for it to come out.
In the meantime, please tell usmore about Own, your Awesome,
how we can work with you.
Lay it on me.
Miranda Von Fricken (45:28):
Oh, first find me on LinkedIn.
That's where I live, and ifyou're not on LinkedIn, I'm also
on Instagram.
You can find me there.
My website'sMirandaVonFrickincom.
That can kind of lay out allthe things I do obviously,
LinkedIn, personal branding, andthen self leadership coaching,
and I'm a speaker, I'm a coachand I'm a trainer.
So if you have any of thoseneeds or you just want to have
(45:49):
an awesome conversation, I'mhere for it.
Find me, and we'll connectFantastic.
Angie Colee (45:54):
I'm going to make sure that there are clickable
links in the show notes.
Thank you again.
I think I needed thisconversation today.
Oh, thank you, universe.
That's all for now.
If you want to keep thatkick-ass energy high, please
take a minute to share thisepisode with someone that might
need a high-octane dose of youcan do it.
Don't forget to rate, reviewand subscribe to the Permission
(46:16):
to Kick-Ass podcast on ApplePodcasts, spotify and wherever
you stream your podcasts.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andI'm here rooting for you.
Thanks for listening and let'sgo kick some ass.
Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass, the show
that gives you a virtual seatat the bar for the real
conversations that happenbetween entrepreneurs.
I'm interviewing all kinds ofbusiness owners, from those just
a few years into freelancing toCEOs helming nine-figure
companies.
If you've ever worried thateveryone else just seems to get
it and you're missing somethingor messing things up, this show
(00:24):
is for you.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andlet's get to it.
And welcome back to Permissionto Kick Ass.
With me today is my new friend,miranda Von Fricken.
Say hi, hello.
It was so tempting for me toimmediately launch into a rant
about confetti cannons giventalking about right before we
(00:47):
started recording.
They can't see it, but I'm goingto make sure that that video
goes somewhere.
So tell us about your businessand why you've got confetti
cannons.
Miranda Von Fricken (00:55):
Oh, my gosh .
I love all things celebration.
That's not my business, but itis a big part of it.
So I'm the founder of Own yourAwesome.
It is a book series, a podcastand a global movement helping
women entrepreneurs andexecutives to expand and elevate
their voice, ultimately toshine a light on their
(01:17):
awesomeness, their calling,their gifts that they brought to
this earth with them and justget it out into the world and
help change some lives and makethis place like the coolest
place to live Now.
The confetti is just a bonus.
That's because I love tocelebrate women every single
part of their journey, whetherit's I got out of bed today to I
(01:40):
just changed something in theworld or got a patent or wrote a
book, whatever it is.
I love to celebrate womenbecause I don't think we do it
enough for ourselves.
So that's a huge part of what Ido as a LinkedIn strategist and
a personal brand evangelist isjust shining a light on
everyone's awesome andcelebrating it along the way.
Angie Colee (02:00):
I love that you made that distinction, too,
between the celebrating the bigand the small, because
especially I mean it could be.
But I have a feeling that thisis universal among entrepreneurs
.
Most of the entrepreneurs thatI know are very focused on the
big goal, the big milestones,and we're so focused on that
(02:22):
future thing that we're going todo someday that it's easy on a
day-to-day basis to be like Ihave so far to go, I am so far
behind.
Blah blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right, we beat ourselves up,yeah, and especially today we're
recording on a day wheregetting out of bed was a
challenge.
Actually, I got up really early, went to the gym, came back,
took a shower, went back to bedit was a low energy day and, hey
(02:46):
, I got up to record a podcast.
We're celebrating.
Miranda Von Fricken (02:49):
Like I wouldn't even celebrate the fact
that you said yes to going backto bed, when most of us would
think like all right, knock itoff, like get some shit done.
This is ridiculous.
I've got a whole list of thingsto do, but you know what?
Like I'm going to honor what mybody needs, and maybe my mind
and spirit too, and she justneeds to take a nap.
So I would celebrate the factthat you said yes to honoring
(03:12):
yourself and giving you what youneeded.
Angie Colee (03:14):
Oh, absolutely Well , and I think it's taken a while
for me to get to this point.
But I can acknowledge that itdoesn't do me a damn bit of good
to sit at the computer and tryto force things to come to my
brain.
Given that I operate in betweenmy ears for most of what I do
with my consulting, it doesn'tmake any sense to sit here and
try and force it when I'mliterally so exhausted that it
(03:38):
would take me less time to gotake a quick 30-minute nap and
then come back and try and bangout those thoughts than it would
to sit here for an hour Justsaying I literally gave myself
permission to watch.
Miranda Von Fricken (03:48):
I'm watching grim.
I don't know if you everwatched it, but it's new for me.
So I love these kinds of shows.
So I'm watching grim.
And I gave myself permission towatch the whole season one last
night, not do any work.
My husband was like hey, didyou end up doing that project?
(04:08):
You said that was due tonightand I'm like it's really due
tomorrow Cause I lied to myselfabout the deadlines Like it's
really due tomorrow.
Um, so I am going to honor my,um, my entertainment brain, and
she needs to be entertainedright now with some supernatural
stuff.
And he was like, okay, okay, doyou?
Angie Colee (04:22):
is that okay?
I think I've done that tomyself before too.
Do you lie to yourself aboutthe deadline so that, like
you're getting the incrementalbits done and it's not always
the last minute.
Miranda Von Fricken (04:31):
And I've trained the people in my world
to lie to me too.
What do they say when they'relying to you?
I'm late for everything, and wegot to be there at like five 30
.
My husband will be like, oh, wegot to be there at like 515,
you know, blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, all right, cool,we'll get there at 525.
And she's five minutes early,yeah.
Angie Colee (04:50):
I love that.
See, this is just knowing howyou operate and honoring that
and not beating yourself up fornot being like I'm a piece of
crap because I can't just getthere on time.
Blah, blah, blah.
No setup systems to helpyourself.
Okay, Anybody watching thevideo will see this, but I'm
describing it for people.
I have this beautiful littletool, a little hexagon shaped
timer, and on each side is alike increment of time.
(05:12):
I had to get this for myselfbecause every time I was trying
to set a timer on a phone to dowork, I would just lose three
hours on my phone Just goingaround.
So, like this is one of theboundaries I had to set for
myself.
If I need to set a timer, Ineed something that I could just
I flip it over to one side andthe timer starts and then we're
all good.
Know yourself, there's nothingwrong with that.
Miranda Von Fricken (05:33):
I've done that.
I can't tell you how many timesI've gone to Instagram.
I've been like, wait, what didI come here for?
Like, oh shit, I was just goingto set an alarm to do like time
blocking, and I'm like I can'teven touch my phone without
being distracted and it takes mesomeplace I'm not supposed to
be in that moment.
So that's a great idea.
Angie Colee (05:51):
And that's even with like.
I actively disable every singlenotification I can in during
the workday.
I'm usually in do not disturbmode and people can't get
through.
So I'm like I'm going torespond to you when I have time
to respond to you.
Otherwise I'd be responding toeverybody every second of the
day.
I would never get anything done.
That's just a rule I had to putin place for myself.
Okay, this is awesome.
(06:13):
We're already getting off to avery awesome ADHD start.
How did you wind up with this?
Like, what got you to own yourawesome?
Miranda Von Fricken (06:23):
So I had been laid off in the corporate
space four times in a row, Iknow Because I was feeling very
awesome.
I felt very rejected and I alsofelt the corporate space really
wasn't where I was meant to be.
I was in human resources for 15years and I love resourcing the
humans Don't get me wrong.
A lot of my clients are in HRnow and I really loved the
(06:46):
cultural piece.
I loved recruiting, I lovedpromoting the organization, but
I didn't love all like the dataand you know, make 15 phone
calls to get three interviews.
And I was like no, like that'snot how I roll, like I'm going
to put out a cute post onLinkedIn and they're going to
come crawling to me because I'mgoing to, I'm going to look cute
in the lunchroom and I'm goingto show like how we have such a
(07:08):
good time and like the higherthe heads, the higher ups in the
in their suits.
They just didn't get me and Iget it.
Some people thought I was justa cute and whatever.
But I was like no, this is areal way of being.
Like people come to me becauseof what I'm putting out there,
my personal brand.
And so I got laid off fourdifferent times, all business
decisions, different companiesin a matter of five years.
(07:28):
I was actually at one companyfor like three and a half years.
One company was like fourmonths and it was all like they
got bought out or they wentpublic and they had to go lean
and I was like the fluff of HRdrove me crazy that they didn't
really take culture orrecruiting seriously and so I
got laid off.
This one experience and twoweeks later my little brother
(07:50):
passed away.
Actually, my little brotherpassed away, and then two weeks
later I got laid off.
I reversed those backs of itand it was such a hard hitting
experience, personally andprofessionally.
Both of my identities were kindof like punched in the face and
it was like what?
Like you know, being a bigsister is a huge part of my
(08:12):
identity.
I have three little brothersand it is just amazing to be a
part of that in my world andthen losing one of my little
brothers it was just.
It was such a shock, of course,to my whole system, to all the
systems.
It was such a shock and Ithought at some point after
bereavement I would go back towork where I was thriving, I had
(08:33):
a huge support system and justkind of slowly get back to life
and heal.
Well, it wasn't until a weeklater, after getting back from
bereavement, that I was had myposition eliminated and it was
just like a double whammy.
It was like a kick me whenyou're down kind of situation.
And I love me some Jesus.
But I lost a lot of my faithduring that time only because it
man was it being tested and Iwas feeling like I was failing
(08:56):
miserably.
So it was like losing myidentity as a professional, as a
sister, or in my personal lifeand then in my spiritual life.
And I had just had like areally rough time during that
year and I realized little bylittle, coming out of that I had
to.
I kind of said to myself Icouldn't change my brother
(09:16):
passing, but what could I havechanged at work to make it more
like more where I want it to be,where they would accept me?
And I thought like I need tostart being myself.
I need to stop holding back myawesome, if you will.
And I I felt very like I wouldfake it every day.
So I got another job and I tooka first day picture, almost like
(09:36):
you know you the kids taketheir first day of school
picture.
I took my first day at the nextjob picture and I put it on
LinkedIn and one of my bizbesties was like that is the
fakest smile I've ever seen.
She's like what the hell?
Yeah, she was like what are youdoing?
And I knew it was.
And I remember walking into thatnext job on day one and I
looked up and I prayed and Isaid, god, if this is not for me
(09:58):
, cause I had already been aside hustler for years, a
speaker and a coach, but nothingreally full-time.
Like it paid my car payment,right, like it wasn't much, I
said, if this is not meant forme, like just make it quick.
Yeah, make it quick.
And four months later I waswalking out laughing because
they had got bought out and Iwas the last hire and I was like
(10:19):
wow, that was quick.
And I remember my boss kind oflike chasing me out Cause I
forgot to give him my badge andhe was like what are you
laughing at?
And I was like, oh, I'm justtalking to God, cause I told him
to make this quick if it wasn'tmeant to be, and clearly it's
not.
So bye, here's my badge, seeyou later.
And I, just, from that pointforward, I was like full-time
entrepreneurship.
I don't care if I have to bepoor for the first, like three
(10:40):
years, but, like I really justsaid, it's time for me to own
not only my awesome, of courseand that's a fun way of saying
it but owning the calling on mylife, owning what I'm meant to
do in this world, owning mygifts, owning my personality and
just giving myself permissionto be me and call in those who
are meant to be around me andjust literally like retract,
(11:01):
repel whoever is not meant to bearound me.
So I started doing that.
Little by little, I starteddoing LinkedIn live shows and
like talking about like shifthappens instead of shit happens
about being laid off I juststill can't really swear on
LinkedIn too much.
So I was doing lots of LinkedInvideos and just talking on
everybody's podcast who wouldhave me about being laid off,
(11:23):
and I put out this post about Ican get bitter or I can get
better, and I just leaned intothat kind of energy and that's
what I did.
I started just owning exactlywho I was, owning my awesome,
started the podcast and wrote abook that's now a bestseller
called own your awesome onLinkedIn, so I think I really
just started to embrace me.
Angie Colee (11:43):
And that's what this is all about.
Oh man, and that's sointeresting.
I think that a lot of themessage that people get,
especially from super corporatebig companies, is that conform,
blend in, become one of us.
That's what we hired you for.
I used to get called out allthe time, as longtime listeners
(12:06):
might be able to tell I'm alittle bit feisty, a little bit
opinionated, and I would getcalled into my boss's office all
the time in corporate officeLike Angie, could you come with
me please?
Could you close the door?
Could you sit down?
Like, oh fuck, what did I donow?
Miranda Von Fricken (12:21):
Every time?
Yeah, did you smile too much?
Angie Colee (12:25):
No, for me.
Like I'm the queen of restingbitch face, Everybody would
always ask me if I was mad atsomething and I'm like, why do
you think I'm mad?
I'm just not smiling that itdoesn't.
If I'm mad, you will be able totell, because usually I'm like
that pisses me off.
Let me tell you why.
Like there's, you don't have toguess how I'm feeling, I will
tell you.
Miranda Von Fricken (12:49):
Crazy.
I would get called into theoffice for what I did get
written up for swearing once.
But it was like hello, I'mItalian, I'm very passionate,
these are sentences, what theheck.
And so I was really pissed too,because, as my boss was writing
me up for swearing, becausesomebody apparently walked by
our group of offices and heardthat it was me or whatever bitch
.
She walked by, she heard me,she ratted me out, my ceo walked
(13:10):
into the office of me gettingwritten up and started like
swearing up a store.
I'm like this effing blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I just look at my boss.
I was like you're kidding,right.
And so we ended up ripping thatright up.
That's good.
You've gotta be kidding me thatyou're writing me up.
Angie Colee (13:23):
You've got to be kidding me that you're writing
me up.
You've got to be kidding me.
You're fucking kidding rightLike listen.
You're writing me up forswearing and I actually
high-fived the CEO.
Miranda Von Fricken (13:31):
I was like I love that you use such awesome
sentence enhancers, you showyour personality.
And he was like obviously tookit aback.
But he was just like what hedidn't even know.
He was swearing.
He just like it just comes out.
I'm so angry.
I'm like I know, right, it'sjust, it's just for walking into
the C suites and giving themlike my report on something that
(13:54):
the CEO had asked for.
But I didn't go through thechain of command.
He asked me for something.
I walked into the suites andlike the executive assistant was
like what is she doing in here?
She's HR, she should be in theother wing.
It was like I can't walk in thefucking hallway.
Like suck it.
Angie Colee (14:10):
Freaking power trips.
It's bizarre, that's what I say.
I say that as the person who,like in my corporate office when
I was a full-time copywriter, Iasked for meetings with the
president because I have a fewideas and it's probably been a
while since you've been downhere with the hoi polloi, so,
like, let me share what's goingon down here.
Very precocious, I had no senseof chain of command.
(14:31):
I mean, I loved my immediatesupervisor and the creative
director of my team and theyknew exactly what I was doing,
so, like they thought it washilarious that I would just like
go ask for a meeting with thepresident.
I love that you also said likethis is it?
This is the sign.
I don't care if I have to bepoor, and I feel like that's one
of the things that holds peopleback from doing this.
(14:53):
What if I can't pay my bills?
What if I can't figure this out?
Like, with a long enough runwayand some support, anybody can
figure this out, I'm convinced.
It's just that you have tofigure out your way of doing it,
and that can be reallyuncomfortable in a culture that
tells you tell me what to do,tell me what to do and I will do
it, and I will get that A and Iwill get the things that were
promised to me, and that's justnot how my journey has been.
(15:15):
I don't know if it's been thatway for you.
Miranda Von Fricken (15:18):
No, I'm figuring it out as every step of
the way, like I literally justput a reel on Instagram or a
story that said I just wrote abook.
It became bestseller.
Now what?
I don't even know what to donext.
Like I know what I want to do,what the results are to be, but
I'm figuring out, like what thatmeans in between and my, you
(15:38):
know it's funny.
So I grew up.
My mother was very like go withthe flow.
I'm very when the spirit movesme.
Um, and it was me and my momagainst the world.
She had me at 16.
So we lived a very like gypsylife, right, peanut butter and
jellies on the beach in a carthat should have been
repossessed months ago, but weused to hide it Like we.
We definitely grew up superpoor, so I wasn't afraid of just
(16:01):
eating cheese until I could geta real meal, like.
But I have a husband and I havetwo kids and he grew up with
his grandparents raising him andthey were very like GE family,
like he had a pension, like thegrandfather that raised them and
the grandmother did the cooking, and it was very like what I
used to watch on TV.
It wasn't what my life was byany means.
And so when I said to myhusband, like hey, I got laid
(16:23):
off again, he's like again, areyou serious?
And he's like, all right, soputting out your resume?
He's like I know all the people.
So he's like who are youconnecting with?
What's your next job?
And I'm like I just don't wantanother job, mm-hmm, but like,
because you know you're in that,they're in that middle of like
I don't want to like lose myhouse.
(16:46):
I've got kids right.
Like it's a little differentNow I have to be a little more
responsible.
So I applied to places.
I got interviews and one Ithought for sure I was going to
get.
I got my start in highereducation and so I interviewed
at a college and I thought, forsure they were going to hire me.
And I begged and begged andpleaded for God not to like
don't let them hire me, let themthink I'm crazy.
Like, and I'm like you couldtell I was half-assing the
(17:07):
interview because I just myheart's not in it and they
couldn't afford me.
Is what they ended up sayingLike listen, you're out of our
budget, blah, blah, blah.
I was like yeah, I am suckers.
Like I want all the money, if.
So I love higher education andI love human resources and those
are my clients.
I'm just not meant to walk intothe office every day and do the
function that they do.
(17:28):
I'm meant to elevate theirvoices and help them to do their
job a little differently.
So I still get to work inhigher education and in the
corporate space.
I just don't have a sad graycubicle that I live in anymore.
But I remember making sixfigures to replace my corporate
salary within the first year andI literally had no idea what I
(17:49):
was doing.
All I knew, well, because,technically, my first full-time
year was over the pandemic and Ido LinkedIn, right.
So I started doing resumes andLinkedIn and it just was,
unfortunately, perfectly alignedwhere people were getting laid
off left and right, and I happento be the queen of getting laid
off.
I was an unemployed careercoach, right.
So it was kind of perfect thatI knew how to help people with
(18:11):
their mindset as well as theirstrategy.
So I I am like half mindset,half strategy.
I mean technically I'm ahundred percent all of it, but I
do a really great job of likebringing their heart and soul
into what they need to do andthen create a strategy that
aligns with it to get them towhere they're going, not to just
put money in their bank, youknow.
So I started doing that.
(18:32):
I started saying like, hey, likeyou know me, I live on LinkedIn
.
I'm the host of LinkedIn localhere in my Albany area.
So I already had like afollowing here about LinkedIn
which had nothing to do with mynine to five.
So I just went hard at whatpeople knew me for and I just
started taking clients, if youwill, and it worked out and I
was very grateful for it, ofcourse.
But I remember also we talkedabout celebration the day I made
(18:56):
it was like $101 or $101,000.
It put me over the edge.
I just signed a new client andI still had to pick my kid up at
summer camp.
So I was like, all right, Iguess I'm just going to go pick
up my kid now.
Like nothing happened.
It was like, oh, I guess it'sjust, it's easier than we think.
I think my main point here islike yes, like I said, I'll be
poor, I don't even care, I justwant to be happy.
(19:17):
But I think when you're meantto do, it comes easier than you
think, even if you're Googlinghow to start a business or what
do I do?
Like there are coaches outthere that have sessions that
are affordable.
Like I have a strategy sessionthat's 500 bucks and people I've
never raised the price but Ican get you started, get you a
strategy and support you alongthe way.
(19:38):
Like, just like, as your bud.
You know one question here andthere and like people just think
it's just so, so overpriced.
You don't have to go to the $10million mastermind.
You can find somebody whosepassion is to help you
strategize a business, you know.
So they're out there.
You just got to find them.
And networking is how I did itand you know, I'm still.
(19:58):
I'm still loving it to this day.
Angie Colee (20:00):
So much of this is fantastic.
We just all right.
How do I start unpacking this?
Like one, you could have easilygone the other way, especially
with this idea of I'm a careercoach, I'm helping people on
their awesome.
I'm not feeling particularlyawesome, having just gotten laid
off four times in a row and nowI've got this in the death in
(20:20):
the family and all of this stuffis happening.
What kept you focused on like,no, I can help these people.
I'm the perfect person to helpthese people, given my
experience with being laid off.
Miranda Von Fricken (20:31):
Yeah, because I knew it, because I was
a little further ahead.
I had already done it multipletimes and I've done multiple
options.
So I took more classes, so Idid the education route.
After a layoff I went back towork and interviewed and
networked.
And the fact that I was acareer director at the college,
so I was a career, I knew how tohelp people get jobs.
(20:51):
So I knew how to get jobs.
I just knew I didn't want a jobanymore.
So I was like I may not wantthe job anymore, but I can help
you get the job Like that'll besuper easy, and more, but I can
help you get the job Likethat'll be super easy.
And so I spent a lot like thefirst year just doing the career
coaching.
In the life coaching I have amaster's in motivation and life
(21:12):
fulfillment.
So my, my heart is, my callingis really to to help women
figure out who they are in thisworld and why they're they're
here in this time.
Now you know.
So I just I've been doing thatforever.
And then I'm a speaker too.
Even when I was a nine to fiver,I would teach other colleges
how to help their career centershelp their students, and so I
was still kind of like honing myskills as an entrepreneur in my
(21:34):
nine to five life, which so tome it seemed like it was very
streamlined to just transitioninto entrepreneurship, and I
think that's one thing.
Clients that come to me whowant to leave their nine to five
and become an entrepreneur theyjust want to quit and figure it
out.
And I'm like, no, don't quitand figure it out, let your nine
to five pay you while youfigure it out A and B, like what
(21:58):
do you love within your nine tofive and how can we do that
outside of your nine to five andmake money doing it now?
And so I think it's just areframe, a little perspective
shift, because I've done thatmultiple times.
So when the time presenteditself that I was not going back
to my nine to five obviously itwas the pandemic had hit.
I had my last layoff, it wasJanuary of 2020 and the pandemic
(22:21):
hit in March, and so while Iwas like side hustling, taking B
school, you know, whatever allthat stuff I remember my
daughter was in third grade atthe time.
I all of a sudden had to becomea third grade teacher and I was
like no, thank you, cause allthe kids had to be homeschooled.
So I was like what the Sam hell?
Like, how am I going tohomeschool, build a business, do
the things?
And I just I feel very stronglyabout when you tell the
(22:43):
universe your plans, it willconspire to help you, right?
So I said I'm not going back towork.
I told my husband to figure hisshit out mentally, because it
wasn't.
I wasn't going back to work.
And and granted, we couldn't atthat moment we couldn't live
off of his salary.
So I was like I will make itwork, I will replace my
corporate salary you keep yours,it'll be great While
(23:05):
homeschooling my third grader,which is not my calling, by no
means is it my calling.
And so the coolest part thathappened, and that really just
solidified my belief in sayingwhat you want out loud and
telling people, was that myhusband was recruited out of his
current job to a differentcompany that doubled his salary.
Angie Colee (23:28):
Oh, I love that I was like, oh snap.
Miranda Von Fricken (23:31):
So as much as I'd love to tell people like
I hustled my face off, I didn'tsleep.
I got up at 4 am.
Blah, blah, blah.
I didn't do any of that shit.
I trusted myself and I trustedthe universe to provide.
And I say universe but I, to meit's God.
I a hundred percent knew it wasGod providing.
I don't care what what anybodycalls it.
There's something higher thanus that's out there, that's
conspiring to make us awesome.
Angie Colee (23:51):
Yeah, and I believe in it.
I've said something similar,Like I have.
You know, a lot of folks havesome religious trauma.
I don't know what I believe.
I just tell people I believethat humans can't possibly be
the smartest things in theuniverse because otherwise we're
fucked Like we are doomed ifwe're the smartest things out
there.
So and I've felt it too often inmy life, just this impossible
(24:16):
coincidence A screenwritercouldn't have written my life
that perfectly for it to line upthe way it did.
You know, like the time that Ilost my apartment and I was
going through the inspection andwas giving the key to the lady
when I got the call with the joboffer and was like what, yeah,
what, how does this work?
(24:37):
And I'm glad that you mentionedlike the hustle my face off and
I was getting up at fouro'clock in the morning.
I hate that shit.
I hate it so so much.
One because I bought into itand I'm super resentful, right.
But two because it justperpetuates this myth of if
you're not working hard, youhaven't earned this.
And I agree with your sentimentof like.
(24:58):
If you can find thatintersection of what you enjoy
and what you're really good at,this can be full of ease.
And I don't mean easy, that'ssomething different.
But like we can do work thatlights us up, that does some
good in the world, some of theeasiest sales I've made after
years of like studying salesscripts and structuring offers
(25:22):
and like doing all of this work,to be quote unquote good at it
was.
Somebody reached out to me andasked me a question via email
and I was like, oh, actually,yeah, I just started doing a new
offer that offers somethingsimilar.
Can I tell you a little bitabout it?
And they were like, sure, toldthem a little bit about it.
They were like, yeah, that'sexactly what I need.
Sign me up.
Yeah, hilarious, wait, what.
(25:47):
That goes against everything Iwas taught about having a sales
presentation and only walkingsomebody through the offer.
And those people still work,the people that I did that easy
offer with.
I'm still working with privateclients over a year later.
So, like, allow it to be easy.
It's okay to be easy.
It's okay to not buy into thebullshit notion that you have to
work hard, otherwise youhaven't earned your success.
Bs.
Miranda Von Fricken (26:05):
Right.
My easiest sale was and this ishow like my business and offers
elevate.
It's never something I create,it's something my clients ask if
I could just do for them orsomething.
Angie Colee (26:17):
So with the.
Miranda Von Fricken (26:18):
LinkedIn.
So for the longest time I was,I was doing one-on-one LinkedIn
coaching.
And then it was.
There were so many one-on-oneswhich sounds so braggadocious,
but whatever, I'll toot my ownhorn, toot, toot.
I said I'm going to have tocreate like a school, like we're
going to have to get togetheronce a quarter.
We all you know four day halfday thing, whatever.
Four day half a day, four hourthing, and we day four hour
(26:40):
thing, and we'll just bang itout.
It'll be cheaper too.
And they were like we love it,this is awesome.
And then after a while I had ahospital reach out to me to do I
do a lot of self-leadership.
So with my master's program andself and my life coaching stuff
, I do a lot of self-leadershiptraining in organizations.
So I did a self-leadershiptraining we start.
Somebody asked me about LinkedInbecause they know I do LinkedIn
(27:00):
in the audience and I said yeah, let's talk about LinkedIn,
blah, blah, blah.
Well, it was the marketingdirector in the audience and
said can you just do it for us?
And I'm like what do you mean?
And they're like like thecontent, like the management,
like pretend you work for us inmarketing, but you don't.
You have your own business andI'm like, yeah, yeah, let me
noodle on that and send you aprice.
(27:21):
And I was like, how's $10,000?
It was like the biggest,craziest sale.
I ever did so for a year for$10,000, which now it's like
20,000 or way more, because Iwas like shit, I was totally
underpricing myself for what Ihad to do.
But they wrote me a check for$10,000.
I created content for them onLinkedIn and it was amazing and
I was like, oh my God, so thatstarted my done for you LinkedIn
(27:44):
services, which I've since kindof retired because losing my
voice, writing other people'scontent, became a thing, and you
know as we learn as we go, andthat's what I think I gave
myself permission to do rightfrom the start was not lock
myself into like a niche or whatI do, who I do it for.
I love working with women.
I love I'll work with anybody.
(28:05):
When it comes to LinkedIn, Ithink that's a little different,
but when it comes to like ourheart and life coaching and our
spiritual wellbeing, I prefer towork with women because I think
I feel a connection to womenmore than I do a man a man when
it comes in that in that respect.
But on LinkedIn, I'll work withanybody, cause it's really just
about you.
It's like your resume.
Essentially it's your.
(28:25):
You know, it's a little bitbigger than that.
It's like your resume and yourwebsite together in one as
LinkedIn.
And so I just remember like howawesome that was and I gave
myself permission to just gowith the flow.
Like when the spirit moves me,that's when I will move, is kind
of how I call it.
When the spirit moves me,that's when I will move.
It's kind of how I call it.
Same with posting on LinkedInLike if you haven't seen me on
LinkedIn for a week, it'sbecause the spirit's not moving
(28:46):
me, and if you see me postingevery day.
I'm obviously being moved and Ithink that has been like not my
claim to fame, if you will, butthat's been like how I decided
to run my business.
I mean, I'm not making millionsbut I'm making enough to I've
more than replaced my corporatesalary.
I'd love to retire my husbandsomeday because he could just
(29:06):
manage my daughter's sportsschedule, cause that's a whole
job in itself.
But like I'm where I'm happy,I'm happy where I am.
I love that I can spend a wholeday Tuesday watching grim and
nobody's going to give me shitfor it.
Like it just is what it is andand I just feel very blessed,
and I think that's one thing.
Either newbies getting into itor people looking to elevate to
the next level, they do get sohung up on.
(29:28):
You know, hustle on their faceoff where they hear the, the
bros out there like with alltheir frigging steps or they,
they, they take on somebodyelse's goals.
Angie Colee (29:40):
I got to make this much per month.
I got to make this much peryear, otherwise I'm not being
successful.
And I also I wanted to circleback and point out that piece
that you mentioned aboutlearning as you go and trusting
yourself.
You just did things that feltright and you saw the results
and you listened to the peoplethat you were talking to.
These are so many things that Ihear in the people that I work
(30:04):
with when I'm coaching folks.
It's like so what do people say?
What are they asking you for?
When you have people approachyou with questions, what are
they saying most often, can youcreate something around that?
Oh, well, I don't know.
Okay, well, it's time to startpaying attention.
And are you going out there andmaking offers?
Well, no, I haven't createdthat content because I need to
(30:25):
get the vision and then I needto reverse engineer all of the
steps so that I can figure outwhat I need to be doing today.
Or you could just do shit todayand see what happens.
Miranda Von Fricken (30:34):
Yeah, yep, I'm literally working with a
woman now.
She's a special needsempowerment coach for special
needs support, like the parentsor the family members, and she's
like I got to get my websiteout, I got to get my newsletter,
I got to get the things.
And I'm like, girl, just put apost on Facebook Like cause.
That's where she is right now.
And I'm like we'll talk aboutLinkedIn, we'll talk about your
(30:54):
Insta, we'll talk about all yourmarketing.
I'm obsessed with visibility,so like we'll.
I'm obsessed with visibility,so like we'll get you on a stage
.
It'll be a thing.
We create a keynote.
It's like we'll write you abook, it's a whole thing and all
.
But she was just like so boggeddown on what she thought she
needed to do in order to run orcreate a business, right To let,
she said, legitimize herself.
Angie Colee (31:14):
And I'm like you know what's legit, putting that
post out, saying you're you knowwhat's the first time somebody
pays you money to do somethingabsolutely or not even the.
Miranda Von Fricken (31:24):
You know what's funny, I've taken a step
before that.
Like if they agree to work withyou and even if it's just to
trade for a testimonial, likebecause it's your first three or
something, or, and the firstperson and I say, who did you
like support or help and do thisstuff with minus money now?
Or or like a year ago, andshe's like, oh my god, like so
(31:44):
many people, and eventuallyeverybody's like you should just
start charging for this.
And I'm like those women, yeah,you're gonna get an email from
them, you're gonna ask them fora testimonial and you can put
that on your website becauseshe's already like working on it
.
I said, or you use that ascontent and say, listen, now I'm
just gonna start people for it,cause now it's my business and
she's already got her firstclient, she's getting offers to
(32:05):
speak on stages and it's justher niche is very obviously,
it's very niche.
So like it's really cool to seewhen you just like do the
simplest thing right, like youdon't have to.
What's the massive solution?
No, what's the easiest solution.
Like my husband always yells atme for like oversimplifying
things, like the roof willcollapse and I'm like just get
(32:27):
some duct tape for now, what thefuck?
And he's like girl, we can'tduct tape the roof.
And I'm like, no, but you couldprobably do X, y and Z.
Go to Home Depot, get this, getthat whatever, and get this,
get that whatever.
And then we'll call a roofer.
And he's like they get so madat me because I oversimplify
things.
But you just need the solutionfor now, while you're figuring
out the longer term solution.
(32:47):
So for now, put a post out onLinkedIn or Instagram or
wherever you are Facebook thatsays I'm taking on three clients
.
And this is the thing.
Boo, I'm now a coach.
One woman said to me how do I,how do I start speaking?
I said you just call yourself aspeaker.
And she's like what I was?
Like you speak every day.
Are you speaking to me rightnow?
She's like stop it.
(33:07):
Just say you're a speaker.
Then you know, obviously that'sout to the universe.
I'm a speaker, right, like youcan't just say I'm an author.
If you don't have a book, I getthat.
Or she's like I didn't speak ona stage.
(33:28):
Yet I don't speak on stages allthe time.
I speak live on LinkedIn.
I speak on zoom calls like thestage.
You now create your own stages.
These days, you don't have tohave somebody hire you and book
you to walk up three steps to bea little bit taller than the
audience and call that now aspeaker.
No, you can just hit, go liveand you're a frigging speaker.
If you have an expertise insomething or passion, you're now
a speaker.
And she was like mind blown.
And now?
Angie Colee (33:47):
it's on Like, at the risk of being a little bit
in your face, but likepermission to kick ass,
Obviously you don't, you canbuild your own platform, your
own stage.
The gates have come down.
The gate have come down.
The gatekeepers are scramblinggoing.
Well, shit, they're all comingin now.
Yeah, they are.
Miranda Von Fricken (34:08):
I mean I don't need a conference manager
to find me or I don't have toapply for something and give
them my budget.
I can just go live on YouTubemy podcast I told you earlier my
podcast is on my cell phone.
I upload it to rsscom.
It's the jankiest MacGyverpodcast for people love it, like
(34:31):
, and it's just because I wantedone and I was scared of tech.
I'm not gonna lie, like me andtech I'm friends, and so
somebody told me the easiest wayto do it is this, and I was
like that's how I'm going to doit until I get the hang of it
and I'll start elevating it now,of course, but like it's been a
year, I already been doing itfor a year and all I do is walk
around my living room and ventinto my cell phone voice notes
and I have a podcast.
Angie Colee (34:51):
If there's one takeaway from this show, it's
like what's the easiest way Icould do this, mind blown on
that.
And I love the fact that youwere also pointing out like look
for evidence.
And then there's this conceptof like identity and embracing
the identity.
You know, I've been a writerfor over 14 years.
I do have a book and all ofthese things.
But I remember at the beginninghow hard it was to call myself
(35:12):
a writer, because I didn't knowif it was any good and I didn't
know if anybody liked it oranything like that liked it or
anything like that.
And now that I have people thatare breaking into the industry
that come up to me, like, whatdo I do to be a writer?
And I say, are you writing?
And they're like well, no, well, like.
The first step is writers right,speaker, speak, writers right.
Like you got to do the thingthat you're claiming to do, even
(35:34):
if it's just for yourself.
If you're not going to pick upa pen until somebody pays you,
then you're not a writer.
And the same thing with thespeaker you can speak.
I speak on a podcast.
So hey, if I haven't been up ona stage recently, does that
change the fact that I'm aspeaker?
I don't think so.
I could get up there and speakand riff.
(35:55):
That's what I do every week onthis freaking show.
Miranda Von Fricken (35:59):
My first podcast.
My girlfriend and I used tojoke about we just talked about
talking.
We did talk about talkingbecause we love to talk.
We love to talk to each other,but we are both growing two
separate businesses together asbiz besties and so we just like
let's just put a microphone infront of us and see what comes
out.
Angie Colee (36:17):
See what comes out, yeah, and that ties in
perfectly.
I see what comes out yeah, andthat ties in perfectly.
I couldn't have written thismyself too.
You help people own theirawesome.
You help people with the careerand the LinkedIn and stuff like
that.
You do something that I calllooking for evidence.
When I got my first copywritingjob at that point I was a jack
of all trades we're talkingfirefighting, lifeguarding,
(36:37):
picking up trash, math tutoring,writing kids' college papers.
I should not have gotten thatjob based on my resume because I
had zero relevant experience,except I decided I did and I
went and looked for evidence andthen just stacked all that
evidence up and I had to applyto like four or 500 different
gigs before I got.
And I got several interviewsbut I got this one that gave me
(36:59):
a chance.
That started me down this pathand I was doing things like I
wrote the menu and the sandwichboard advertisements at the
restaurant where I'm a waitress.
I wrote the plan for thismanual over here.
I did this internship over herewhere I wrote this thing, and I
would just cherry pick thethings that I wanted to
highlight.
(37:19):
That proved not just to me butto other people that I had the
experience.
There is a connection betweenwhere I've been and where I'm
going.
I just need you to see thepotential in me, Like I see the
potential here.
Let's make some shit happen.
You can look just as much asyou can look for evidence that
you don't have a right to behere.
You could be looking forevidence that you have every
(37:40):
right to be here.
Miranda Von Fricken (37:41):
Who is the person that says whatever you're
looking for, you'll find right.
Like if you're looking to notlike I don't have the evidence,
I don't have this.
If you're looking to prove thatyou're not that person, then
you're gonna prove you're notthat person.
But you're looking to prove youare Iess or evidence of your
awesomeness, like go find thosekey pieces and just take notes.
(38:03):
Back when I was a nine to fiver, I worked from a notebook
because, again, tech, but I love, I love working from a notebook
.
That's something about needingto write things down.
Anytime I did something out ofthe box or out of my scope or
something awesome, I'd put it inthe back of my notebook and I
collected a list of myawesomeness, right.
So when I'd go to my reviewonce a year because who the hell
can remember how well you do ina frigging year?
(38:26):
Nobody can.
But I did, because I would typeup my section of the review and
it'd be like I need a secondpage, please, and my boss would
be like, oh my God, I forgotabout this.
So that was in February.
Of course you forgot about it.
Like it was a year ago, like,and so it would.
I'd always get the highestpercentage of the reason, like
you know, like we'd have tosplit it between the department,
(38:47):
but I would get the highestchunk of it because I collected
the evidence.
It's not because I did morethan my teammates, I just
happened to document the shitmore and bring it to you know,
present when the time came, and,and always before job
interviews, I'd tell people dothe same thing, like they.
I just I'm doing a resume nowfor a woman and I don't even do
resumes anymore, but it was justlike a favor.
(39:07):
So I'm pulling out the thingsthat she's done and she's like
oh yeah, I did that.
Oh yeah, and then I did thatand just it just kind of like
started to like unravel all thethings she did.
And she was like, damn, I amgood and I'm like, but your
resume looks like shit.
It looks like you don't whatthe fuck?
It looks like you don't trusther.
Believe it, I wouldn't hire youwith this resume.
But now, talking to you and aninterviewer is not going to pull
(39:30):
all that out of you, it's justgoing to ask you the question,
give you the answer, and that'sthat you know.
Same with when I'm on discoverycalls with either a client or
somebody I want to work with Iask the question, I believe
their answer and that's that,had they been prepared with all
their collection of evidence,they may have like a link to
send me.
Oh, here's my testimonials,here's all the reports, people
(39:51):
I've worked with.
Here's like the LinkedInprofiles I've designed, you know
, and so they're always like wow, thank you for sending me all
of that.
Like, even in the back of mybook I have a section of
testimonials, people who it'scalled social proof, evidence of
client awesomeness, right, andso this is all of my clients
that are like working withMiranda, this happened and I've
(40:13):
gotten client.
Actually, one of my clients gota client because they read this
book and said Miranda said youwere awesome and so I'm gonna
work with you now.
And so my client reached out tome and was like I can't believe
that, but this is shining alight on it, not only myself,
but I shine a light on otherwomen and their awesomeness, and
so that's for me like owningyour awesome ultimately just
(40:34):
means embracing 100% who youtruly are, shining a light on it
and just letting the universekind of expand that and call in
the right people you're meant towork with and surround yourself
with and do life with.
Angie Colee (40:47):
Oh, absolutely.
And you said something that wasso great there that you love
shining a light on other people,and the thought that popped up
for me here was how often somany of us, especially women,
have trouble asking for thingslike testimonials, feedback,
things like that, because we'reafraid of being a burden, right?
So I'm going to circle it backto what Miranda just said.
(41:08):
I love, I love shining aspotlight on these people.
I love helping them shine.
I actually did an exercise andthis took me out of my comfort
zone too.
Right, I was raised in the deepSouth.
Don't rock the boat, don't be abother, all of that stuff.
I challenged myself and puttogether a list of the hundreds
of people that I have coached invarious programs as somebody's
(41:29):
hired coach since 2018, right,and I had all kinds of excuses
in my head about I can't reachout to this person because I
don't know that that personwould remember me.
I don't know that we workedthat clip.
Here's an excuse for all ofthese different people as to why
I can't reach out, and I wentbullshit, nope, every single
person gets an email.
Hey, I'm actively growing mycoaching practice.
(41:51):
I would love it if somethingstood out from your time working
with me.
If you would be willing toprovide me with a testimony,
I'll be super grateful.
Here's some questions that Ilike to ask people in case that
sparks any ideas.
And then I just let it be.
I didn't expect anything inreturn.
I just made the ask.
I got such wonderful, glowingfeedback from people going okay,
(42:14):
how can I help?
Here's my testimonial.
Do you need any edits?
So like all of that to saythere are people out there that
are rooting for you.
Yeah, there's shitty trolls,but like, just ignore them.
They're off being miserabletogether in a big collective
cesspool.
It's fine.
Find your people like me, likeMiranda, who are out here
cheering for you, who love tosee you shine, who are confetti
(42:36):
cannons when you're freakingwinning.
Yep, she's throwing it.
She's throwing it right here oncamera.
We've got the proof.
Like we're out here rooting foryou.
We all win together.
There's so much joy andopportunity and expansiveness
out here If you look for it, ifyou'll find that evidence.
Miranda Von Fricken (42:52):
Yeah.
Angie Colee (42:53):
Feeling ranty today .
Miranda Von Fricken (42:54):
We go further together.
I mean, that's just kind oflike how this is Like.
Once I started to own myawesomeness, I knew I was on a
mission to help others do thesame.
And it's not just about us,it's not just owning my
awesomeness, it's the peoplearound us, right?
And the more we shine our light, though, our light shines on
others, right.
Like, think about it.
You walk into a room and Ibring a flashlight.
(43:15):
I'm going to illuminate theothers in the room with me.
It's not just me, I'm going toshine this flashlight on.
So I think it's um, there'ssomething powerful to to be said
about the ripple effect ofowning our own awesome, Like my
confidence.
People often would say in mytestimonials you'll see the word
contagious or infectious a lot,and I always hated that,
especially around the pandemic.
(43:36):
I'm like Ooh, that's a creepyword.
Miranda's infectious,infectious.
You know, I was like oh, that'sa creepy word.
Angie Colee (43:39):
Miranda's infectious.
Miranda Von Fricken (43:41):
Infectious.
You know, I was like, ew, weird, but like I get it, like the
fact that I am so just myself,right, and myself happens to be
like pink and bubbly.
I wear tutus on stages Like mybeing myself, kind of I don't
need to give someone elsepermission to be themselves,
because I think they alreadyneed to give it to themselves
(44:01):
First of all.
Right, I think that's a hugepiece, but like the permission,
essentially it was like I don'tknow, jesus came to get you to
follow him and to be an exampleand I'm the same way, Right,
like so that's kind of like howI look at it, right To get all
you know Christian on you, butlike I feel wholeheartedly that
to to shine a light on someone,you have to be the light Right,
(44:24):
and so that's kind of how I rolland and anytime I'm not feeling
like the light, I just kind ofmake sure.
I just kind of like got in thehouse for like a couple of days
take that nap we talked aboutearlier and then when.
I'm ready, then I get back outand I do me and it always works
out.
Angie Colee (44:42):
What's that saying?
It's like uh, if you, if youfeel like, uh, you hate
everybody, take or eat something.
If you feel like everybodyhates you, take a nap.
Is that like starver?
Miranda Von Fricken (44:53):
cold pita flu kind of thing, but like
personality personality, changeit up.
Angie Colee (44:59):
Uh, like all those ad ADHD videos out there that I
say like I'm feeling crap, I'mfeeling depressed, I'm feeling
low energy.
Have you been outside in thesunshine?
Have you eaten?
Have you drank water?
Miranda Von Fricken (45:10):
Like okay do these things.
Angie Colee (45:12):
Move your body, but we're up against time, so this
has been so fantastic.
I think this is such a greatepisode.
I can't wait for it to come out.
In the meantime, please tell usmore about Own, your Awesome,
how we can work with you.
Lay it on me.
Miranda Von Fricken (45:28):
Oh, first find me on LinkedIn.
That's where I live, and ifyou're not on LinkedIn, I'm also
on Instagram.
You can find me there.
My website'sMirandaVonFrickincom.
That can kind of lay out allthe things I do obviously,
LinkedIn, personal branding, andthen self leadership coaching,
and I'm a speaker, I'm a coachand I'm a trainer.
So if you have any of thoseneeds or you just want to have
(45:49):
an awesome conversation, I'mhere for it.
Find me, and we'll connectFantastic.
Angie Colee (45:54):
I'm going to make sure that there are clickable
links in the show notes.
Thank you again.
I think I needed thisconversation today.
Oh, thank you, universe.
That's all for now.
If you want to keep thatkick-ass energy high, please
take a minute to share thisepisode with someone that might
need a high-octane dose of youcan do it.
Don't forget to rate, reviewand subscribe to the Permission
(46:16):
to Kick-Ass podcast on ApplePodcasts, spotify and wherever
you stream your podcasts.
I'm your host, angie Coley, andI'm here rooting for you.
Thanks for listening and let'sgo kick some ass.
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