Hello, and welcome to The Midlife Business Show with Suzanne Mountain. This is the podcast that celebrates all those of us who are building a business during our middle years. I’m an ex corporate girl who started my business six years ago in my fifties. And I’m loving it. This podcast is here to inspire you with conversations with other entrepreneurs about the messy and magical ups and downs of this period of our lives. Plus, I’ll be sharing simple, actionable step by step strategies to help you build a business with impact and a life that you love.

Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Midlife Business Show. This week’s episode is dedicated to International Women’s Day. This year, the theme is break the bias. 

So I’m going to be talking to you about what that means to me and show with you some ways that you can step forward and think about how you show up in the world in order to help break the bias. 

Now breaking the bias. They’re asking us to imagine a gender equal world world free of bias world free of St. And discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

 Just take a moment and imagine how amazing it would be to live in that world. 

But the question really is how do you break the bias in your community? 

How do you use your business and your talents and your wisdom to help break the bias and for the men listening, this is an opportunity for you to show solidarity with your sisters, with your daughters, with your friends, with your wife, even with your mother. This is not an issue just for women. 

 

I want us to think about taking responsibility for ourselves. We, as women, by the time we’ve reached midlife have come to recognize that we can’t wait for anyone else to change the world for us. We can’t wait for others to change our lives. We have to take responsibility for ourselves. 

Recently, I’ve been watching a video series on Prime. It’s called Good Girls Revolt, and it’s set in 1969 and follows a group of young female researchers at News of the Week. These women dare to be asked to be treated fairly. And this request that they make changes careers, it changes marriages, it changes friendships and it changes lives. 

It’s really a good series to sit down and just blitz your way through, the music’s good and the clothes remind me of the sorts of things that I saw my mum wearing in that period of time.

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So it’s a great place to reminisce and to take us back. But also it made me start thinking about when I first started work. 

When I started working in the early eighties, it was at a large corporate life assurance company. And we had a dress code for the ladies that worked in the organisation. And that dress code stated no trousers to be worn at work. I mean, can you imagine that now? 

 

But that was the way it was now. These things sometimes, you know, a bit crazy to us now yet still 40 years on from that. I can’t believe I’m actually saying that 40 years there is still progress to be made. 

So I want to focus on what we as female, small business owners can do to help break the bias. Firstly, and I’ve said this at the beginning, but I’ll say it again.

I see this as being about taking responsibility for ourselves, no one else is responsible for changing our lives. 

 

In episode one of The Midlife Business Show, I talked about us role modeling, what life and business could look like in midlife and beyond. 

And for many of us, this means working on ourselves, changing our thought and beliefs about what is possible and being braver in the way that we show up because the truth is sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. Can’t we? 

So now I’m gonna take you through five ways to stop getting in your own way. 

1. The first one is to stop shrinking, to fit other people’s expectations. So Marianne Williamson tells us In return to Love,  “your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others won’t feel insecure around you. As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others, such wise words.”

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And really we do need to remember that. 

 

1. So the second point is stop telling your dreams to small minded people. Now there’s a lot of people who simply won’t understand what it is you do, or who you want to help. 

And particularly those of us who are led by a passion, you may love those people dearly and that’s okay, but do yourself a favor and stop putting yourself in a position where you have to listen to their negative or deflating or defeating responses. 

Take the time released from not spending time talking with them about this and seek out like-minded people who will act as cheerleaders and support us for you and for whom you can do the same. 

1. So the next point I want to make is to stop settling. So whether it’s toxic people, the status grow an unhealthy lifestyle or a non-profit business. It’s simply a fact that sometimes, and some people choose the familiar over the unknown, even when the familiar is bad, pervasive self-doubt or an unwillingness to take ownership of our stake in the game serves to keep many women small and we need to stop doing it. We need to recognize that it’s okay to go for our dreams. It’s okay to push for more. 
2. And then the next point is to stop saying yes.  Women, more than men, routinely say yes to tasks, commitments and people, who are incongruent with their passions and priorities. 

As the very wise Brene Brown puts it all too often, we stand outside of our story and hustle for our worthiness by constantly performing, perfecting, pleasing, and proving. 

Does that sound like you just take a moment and ask yourself, do you do these things mastering the art of persistently and likely declining, busy work or soul sucking clients?

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Isn’t easy, but it’s one of the most liberating things you can do by making a habit of focusing on what calls you deeply. You’ll enable yourself to step up and step into your genius and your power.

1. And then the fifth and final point. I want you to stop waiting until you feel ready.  In my long coaching career, both corporately and now with midlife business owners, I regularly encounter fabulously talented women who tell me that they will start their business or launch their course or start doing videos once they’ve taken one more course or one more qualification. 

Let me tell you the truth. 

Your client doesn’t really care about the extra qualification. 

What your client wants to know is can this person solve my problem? 

Can this person make my life better? 

Can this person help me make more money or whatever it is they’re looking to do with you?

They’re looking for the transformation, not the qualification. So while many of us point to our lack of expertise or experience for inaction in reality, so many of us are either buying into the myth that we need to be more or using it as an excuse so as not to get uncomfortable, we need to consciously recognize that procrastination and perfectionism are usually more byproducts of fear and resistance. 

It’s your ego’s artful way of protecting you from vulnerability that a company’s visibility. So just take time to recognize that we need to get used to being uncomfortable. 

 

So on this international women’s day, I want you to think about how you will step up and help to break the bias by showing up as the strong wise midlife woman you are. 

 

And if you are listening and you are a male or identify as a male, then you can play your part too.

By showing your solidarity with your mum, your wife, your sister, or your female friends, by encouraging them to speak out and share their wisdom. And by you sharing their authentic voice for them. 

 

I love to know how you’ve celebrated international women’s day. 

 

This year have a look at my social media and you’ll see a photo of me striking the pose that they’ve asked us to strike this year and feel free to DM me using the #IWD and tell me how you’ve spent the day. 

Tell me if you have celebrated. 

Also, I invite you to come join my fabulous Facebook community, the business confidence cafe here. You’ll find the link in the show notes or search for it on Facebook. 

That’s all for now. 

Okay. That’s a wrap today. Thanks for listening, please subscribe. Great and review the midlife business show. And if you’ve enjoyed it, tell your business buddies all about it. Bye for now.