Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - #140: What To Do When You’re Being Blocked with Heather!

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

There is nothing I hate more than being given the runaround. I remember pitching myself for YEARS to be on the board at my old job. And while I wasn’t ever given a straight answer, I found out later that I was being BLOCKED. I was never going to be welcomed on that board. Sometimes you have all the qualifications and skills but you are just in the wrong room. When that happens, that’s when you know to get out! Leap frog those villains standing in your way and find people that appreciate you instead.  Review this podcast on Apple Podcast using this LINK and when you DM me the screen shot, I buy you my $299 video course as a thank you!    To pre-order Overcome Your Villains NOW and get the bonus bundle click here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com     See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals. We'll overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close-up. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so glad you're back here with me this week. Okay, so of course there's a lot going on. First of all, if you're not aware, I launched a VIP book launch team. I would love to have you join me. It is unbelievable. We had our first. Zoom meeting live this week. I answer all of your questions. It's very interactive. It's so fun. It's being around like-minded people that want to do good things and help good people and help get the

message of the book out there, Overcome Your Villains. Okay, so much so that Overcome Your Villains went number one on Amazon new release in the workplace and culture, business section this past week. I'm super excited and wanted to say thank you for all of your support, all of your pre-orders. So if you want to check that out and join my VIP book launch team, I'd love to have you. Go to www.com.com. Link is also in the show notes. And when you pre-order the book, which is only 1999, right now it's on sale, you get the $500 bonus bundle, which will be going away.

That includes my Overcome Your Villains Workbook, the first chapter of the book before anyone else can see it. It includes my $299 confidence video creation course. It includes my 30-day accountability. program and so many other things. So definitely check it out. I went all in on this one to make sure pre-ordering the book made sense for you and added value for you. So I would love to hear your thoughts on the VIP launch team. Okay, so here's what's going on. And I know that I've talked about this once before, but I had to talk about it again. So every quarter, I have a board meeting in

Naples. And it's very structured in that the first evening we have. a dinner, all of us together to catch up. And the next day, we spend the day in meetings for the actual board meeting making decisions for the company for HealthLink. So I've been on the board since, I want to say, maybe September of last year, right? So getting close to a year. And having so much more fun, the more time I spend with the team. And these guys are great guys. And it's just, it's been such an amazing experience. Now, I don't know if you know this or not, But the company that I had been with when I was in the media industry, I had been with them for 14 years, I was constantly pitching myself for a board seat. And there's good reason for that. The board was comprised of all of the original CEOs, college roommates, best friends.

You know, just it was a very much male-dominated board that was extremely older, we'll call them advanced experience, however you want to say it, you know, of white men that were older. And I knew based upon my expertise in running the company and running revenue generation and interfacing with so many different organizations in our industry that I could add value. So I would pitch myself all of the time. And I was constantly told, great idea, we'll definitely think of adding you. You know, the timing's just not right. We don't have any open board seats. I mean, I heard so many different excuses, basically, to hold me off at arm's length,

but try to keep me engaged in my job, but basically would never tell me no, we're not going to do it. Instead, just blow me off. You know, and when you get a run around like this from someone or from multiple people for a while, it really starts to feel bad. I even started questioning, wow, you know, do they, they think I'm talented enough to run revenue for hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the company, but I'm not talented enough to be on the board and advise where the company should go. I'm the one monetizing it. That's crazy. It just didn't make sense to me. And so for years I pitched, for years I was never told no, but I was always put off.

And I never got it, right? They never gave it to me. Of course, now I end up finding out this woman that ultimately became CEO, fired me, and she never wanted me there to begin with it. So I was being blocked. I did not realize during all of these years that I pitched myself and never got a straight answer, that I was being blocked by someone. And the reason I want to bring this up to you today is you may be going after something.

you might be presenting yourself for something and not really getting a straight answer, getting a run around, and thinking, oh, maybe I'm not qualified enough. Maybe I don't have the right expertise. It also might be, you do have the right expertise. You are qualified enough, just like I was, but you were in the wrong room, right? I was pitching myself for the wrong boardroom position because the board I was pitching myself for, I was being blocked from. I was never going to get that opportunity. no matter how many awards I won, no matter how many great ideas I had or plans I executed successfully, I was never going to get that board seat. Cut to, I end up getting fired, I started my own company, I wrote and self-published

confidence creator, I launched my speaking career, and then the pandemic hit, and I had to find a way to work through my computer because everything disappeared overnight, like so many of us. And so I launched a mentorship program, which it was so bizarre. was exhausting because you sit in front of a computer all day long, coaching people and consulting people. However, I ended up meeting my friend George, who joined my program at some point back in 2020, probably some point in the beginning of the summer, 2020, he joined my program. We worked together for a few months. And at the end of the program, he said, hey, Heather, I'd really like

to nominate you for a board that I'm a part of. And I thought, yeah, great. Well, I have been pitching myself for a board seat forever. I don't know why I didn't get it, but my expertise is around revenue generation, leadership, operations, and sales and marketing. You know, I'm sure I could add value if that's something that you have a need for. He said, absolutely it is. Anyhow, months passed, and I didn't get it. And then one day I just got the call. And I met with him and the CEO, and they came to Miami to meet with me. And it clicked. We got along great. And I was the first female addition to the board of directors for HealthLink, which I'm super proud of. So we've been working together for almost a year now, and it's been going fantastic. So each quarter, I go over to Naples, which is where I used to

live and where the company I worked for for 14 years is headquartered. So it's always a little, a little weird. And each time I go back, it's less weird, right? Because I used to only go there for the radio company I worked for. Now I only go there for HealthLink. So it's just, it's kind of bizarre. So So anyhow, it happened to be my birthday a couple of days ago. And when I was heading over for our board dinner, the one road that you can take to get there from Miami was shut down. I was running late. And I called the CFO to let him know, hey, I'm going to be running a few minutes late. There's major problems on the highway. He said, no problem. Wanted to be the first one to wish you happy birthday, Heather. And I said, oh my gosh, it's not yet today. But thank you so much. So thoughtful for you. That means the world to me, you know, because I love birthdays. And I just, I get so excited about special occasions like that. So I get to the hotel, which they set up and, you know, they take care of for me. And they put me at the Ritz. And I get into my room. And all of a sudden, I'm sent up a bottle of champagne and strawberries and just this beautiful presentation just to say, happy birthday to me. And it was so, it was one of those moments when you

just realize, holy cow, I should have left that company that I worked for for 14 years a decade ago. Here I am now working with people who haven't even known me for a full year, and they go so out of their way for me. They're always so encouraging. They're so thoughtful and nice to me. And they make me feel like such an important part of the team. And I never pursued them. They pursued me. Remember, when I was at a company, I had done incredibly well for 14 years.

I pitched myself, pitched myself, pitched myself. And they would never do anything but give me the runaround. And I was always being blocked. and I started doubting myself that maybe I didn't have that right formula or expertise or experience, it turns out I had a villain in my way. I had to fire that villain that thought she fired me in order to open up opportunity to start coming into my life. So if you are pitching yourself for something, if you are getting the run around and

you're starting to doubt yourself, pick your head up and start to question, maybe you're in the wrong room. Maybe you're surrounded by a villain. maybe somebody's blocking you and maybe it's time for you to move to a different room. I am so glad I did. Okay, so we had a great dinner with the attendees that were able to come. A couple of them couldn't because of travel and COVID and whatnot. And we had a great dinner and everything went well.

The next day at our actual board meeting, I've been in a number of them now. And so I start observing and reflecting. And one of the things I wanted to point out is that everyone comes to a board meeting with a lot of experience and expertise. in very different areas. Right? So I'm coming from sales marketing and operation side from a traditional industry. The media industry is very traditional.

Now I'm with more of a startup company, which I really haven't done anything like that since my early 20s. So that's not my expertise. And it was funny because, again, there's one person is a scientist, one person is a doctor, one person is, you know, a heavy hitter in finance.

Everyone has different expertise. One's great in innovation. This company that I'm with, now is very much focused on product, product, product. Coming from the industry I was in a company, I used to be, all anyone wanted to talk about was revenue. Right. So it's the complete opposite of what I'm used to. So of course, I see things through the lens of my experience and I always want to take things back to revenue, which I appreciate so much now that they want to invest in the company. They want to invest in the product. All they ever think about is, how can we make this the best product,

how can we provide the best services ever versus where I came from, how can we make the most money from what we have? So now it's finding a way to marry and balance those two things such that we have the best product in the world. We offer the best services in the world. We're five star all the way around and we're monetizing it. So we're going through all of these different exercises in the board meeting and we're all able to give our opinion and we all get votes. And it was just at one point it was so funny, the CEO who's a dog, doctor stopped me. And he said, hey, every time a new product comes up or a new launch that we're doing comes up, the first thing you say is what are projections for revenue, what are deadlines, timelines, and goals. He said, and that's not really fair, Heather, because this is something new.

We just invented. We don't have that history to fall back on. We don't have a forecast that's cemented yet or, you know, created yet because we're building it as we go. And that's so different. versus where I was. So oftentimes people will disqualify themselves from opportunities like this because, you know, I could have easily said, well, I haven't been a part of a technology company ever before. Maybe I can't add value. But what I'm noticing is I add tremendous value because I see things a completely opposite way that nobody else on the board sees it because no one else is coming from a really traditional rigid revenue-focused background. So it really allows for great dialogue and conversation around how things could be in the future, what are fair timelines, and why it is

important to have this conversation, even if it seems a little early, so that we can set expectations for one another on what's important to each of us with the ultimate goal of having the best products and services in the world, as well as driving tremendous revenue for our shareholders. So when you want more, start your business with Northwest registered agent and get access to thousands of free guides, tools, and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business. All in one place. Build your complete business identity with Northwest Registered Agents has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They are the largest registered agent and LLC service in the U.S. with over

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agree wholeheartedly on everything, but have some dynamic conversation and discussion and find ways for all of us to grow. So it's been an incredible experience thus far. I really enjoyed it immensely. And of course, the most important thing is I just, I really like the people I'm working with. They treat me great and everyone really values one another and we work great as a team. So expect big things. You're going to hear some really big things from me in regards to HealthLink this year. I'm so excited to share with you what's going on. Unfortunately, I cannot announce it yet. However, we did have our quarterly press release that did go public and our earnings are incredible. The company is performing off the charts. And I'm just so proud that I am a part of the right board. And I'm so glad I did get blocked from that other board because I was not the right fit for them. They were not the the right fit for me, but HealthLink definitely is. So if you're going around circling and circling and not getting straight answers, it might be time to pick your head up and ask if you're in the right room. I wish I had done that a very long time ago. Okay. So one of the things that I like to do

on my birthday, I just mentioned, I just turned 47 years old. And anytime I have a birthday, I want to reflect on the past year, you know, what I'm proud of, what went well, potentially what could have on differently and then forecast and look out, okay, over that next year, what are the goals that I have? You know, what am I looking forward to and what things can I do better differently or do more of that worked great? One of the things that I realized for me, and I don't know if you feel this way, is that I've noticed I am not a patient person. And the older I get, the more I notice it, right? So I stopped myself and started thinking back to what I first got into the radio business when I was 22 years old, right? And I left the radio business when I was 43, so over 20 years in one industry.

Obviously, after 20 years in an industry, you're going to be an expert, you're going to be incredibly well known, you're going to have tremendous contacts. Well, when I got fired, I started over as a first-time author, and then new to the speaking business, and then new to the podcasting world. I was a rookie in everything, right? but I was so used to being the expert because I had been in media for so long that I never stopped to say to myself, wait a minute, you need to compare yourself to your 22-year-old version of yourself getting into radio. So I don't know if you fall into that same category as someone who puts tremendous pressure on yourself, has no patience, and really doesn't give yourself that runway that you may need to find success. So I know that for me, the past few years since I got fired, I just have this tremendous. is I have very high expectations for myself because I've achieved massive success in another industry. However, I found I need to be, you know, good things take time, great things take even longer.

And I'm starting to really see that firsthand. I want to explain to you how that is. So when I first got fired, the first thing I did was I wrote and self-published my first book Confidence Creator. I had no idea what I was doing. None. Zero. Right? Now, fast forward a couple of years. I've done it once. So I have some experience to lean on as well as this. time I'm doing it with Harper Collins leadership. So I have a team of people who are experts, which is incredibly different, right? So it's a very, in just a short window of time, a couple of years, I'm in a very different situation. And it's helping me to gain insight into. Experience takes time and experience really helps you access more success and do it more seamlessly, right? So

for me, I look back on that first book and I didn't even know to pre-promote or do pre-orders. I really didn't have that base of knowledge. And now here we are. It was three months to the day that the launch will be. It was August 9th. The book comes out November 9th. And the book hit number one new release on Amazon on that day. And I was so excited and so proud. And it took me back to my first book and thinking, wow, I didn't even promote my book three months out because I probably didn't even have it done yet or I didn't know what to do it. Or it's just it's so interesting what you can learn in just a couple of years or just going through one cycle of creating something and publishing it or building something just even one time, it teaches you so much that you're better positioned for more success that next time. So, you know, whatever situation you're in, that you're doubting that you're not moving fast enough, that maybe you're just not being patient enough with yourself, give yourself some grace because I'll tell you, I really am trying to find that for myself right now.

And as things move forward with my new book, Overcome Your Villains and HarperCollins leadership, I'm learning so much more, which will not only set me up for more success this time, but for the next time moving forward. And I'm trying to liken it back to my career in media that I didn't start at 43 as a cheap revenue officer. I started at 22 as an account executive, a sales rep. And it took years to build myself up to that level of success and knowledge and expertise. it didn't happen overnight. So please be patient with yourself. I hope that you see that I'm trying so hard. I'm trying to live it. It's not always easy because I would like things to happen faster. Wouldn't we all, right? We want success to happen overnight. But the reality is, if success was easy, everyone would have it. And I'm constantly reminding myself of that. And I want you

to remind yourself of that too. Success isn't always easy. You don't just fall into it. It takes a lot of trial and error. And over time, you'll develop experience and then you'll develop expertise. And then you'll start to have the contacts and know the hacks and know who to call. And you can start seeing and getting ahead of challenges before they happen. So I've just had this really interesting week to reflect because of my birthday, because of going to Naples again and being with the board and reflecting on how I wasn't on the board. And I had pitched myself for so long and I couldn't get on the board for that company. And now, again, looking back, you can see how the dots connect looking back, but I can tell you for sure those days when I used to sit back in that media company

pitching myself and getting the run around, I had no idea what was going on other than to look at myself and think something might be wrong with me. And if you're in that situation, I challenge you to question that because I needed to question it for myself. Because I was enough, I was the right fit, that company, that board, they were not the right fit for me. and I was being blocked, and just in case you are, pick your head up, start talking to people outside of your company, your opportunity, your industry, wherever you are, and realize it might not be you, it really might be them. And that's why we all need to work on overcoming our villains, whether that villain is inside your own head or sitting across from you at the table

at work or even at home. So definitely check out Overcome Your Villains. When you go to www. overcom overcome your villains.com. You can get my $500 bonus bundle for free when you pre-order my book, which is only 1999 right now. It's on sale everywhere. So crazy. And have some grace with yourself. Have some patience with yourself. And remember, none of these things happened overnight. They happen through hard work, failure, mistakes, and starting to have that hindsight that you can look back on and begin understanding. Wow, I've got to be a little bit more patient with myself. Yes, it's great to have big expectations and set massive goals and be really specific and take massive action every day. I'm all about it, but I also want to be able to not beat myself up when it doesn't happen overnight and recognize that it does take time.

It took time for me last time. It's taken time now, but I'm learning more every day. And that is the key. So keep stepping into your fear. Keep stepping into the own known and trust that you will figure it out along the way. and you will achieve your goals. Just stay focused on what those goals are, not on what the obstacles are. So trying yet again to not be an obstacle for myself, trying to be a cheerleader and a champion

that has patience, that has grace, and stays focused on the end goal. Until next time, if you could please rate and review the show, subscribe, share it with your friends when you tag me on social media. I always repost, share, and tag you back. It means the world to me. And if you haven't joined yet, check out www. Overcome Your Villains.com. I'd love to have you on my VIP launch team.

We had an amazing Zoom this week. Can't wait to see you for the next one. Until next time, I'll be creating my confidence. I hope you will be too.