The Permission to Be Too Much (And Why That's Your Superpower)

INTRO/OUTRO: [00:00:00] After generating over a million dollars in sales and selling one of her businesses with a single email, your host Kathryn Thompson, takes an unconventional approach to marketing and sales. So if you are ready to tap into a more powerful way to be seen, heard, and a Sought after Entrepreneur in your industry without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients, you are in the right place.

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

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

Kathryn Thompson: Hey. Hey, Katherine here. I'm so glad you're tuning in. If you're new to the show, welcome, welcome. I'm super [00:01:00] stoked that you're here. If you've been around for a bit, you know I'm all about keeping it real with you, showing you all sides of entrepreneurship and life.

I mean, it's all connected, right? And on this fine Thursday, as I sit in my home office in Canada where I'm recording this podcast episode, I am reminded how grateful I am for the opportunity to be able to produce these shows weekly to bring on guests and connect with guests from. All over the world that can share their perspectives with you, but also when I'm even just sitting here solo and recording this episode like I am right now, that I get to connect with you at this capacity and I'm just so grateful.

Every time I hear from any one of you, the breakthroughs, the ahas, the motivation, or even just the complete content or peace that comes from listening to this. Like, okay, I'm not alone on this. Uh, she feels it too, or he feels it too, or they've been there too, and that this is totally normal, that I'm feeling this way because I find that this entrepreneurial journey can feel very lonely [00:02:00] sometimes, especially if you are.

In an, in an area or a network or a community that maybe isn't entrepreneurial or you don't have a lot of entrepreneurial friends and they're working a nine to five, or your family doesn't get what you do. And so it can feel very lonely. And it's one of the reasons I created this podcast. It's one of the reasons why I do the work that I do, because I really do wanna create a community, uh, that can tune in weekly like you guys do.

And. Walk away feeling like, okay, I am not so alone in this, or she gets me. And so I'm just super grateful and I just wanted to thank you all each and every week for tuning in and as I look out my window, I'm also grateful as I look out my window. It's fricking sunny here today. It's. Being kind of gloomy where I am, like I said, in Canada, and uh, it isn't where I live we're it's traditionally sunny, even though it might not always be warm.

It could be minus 50 some days and minus or plus 30 some days. So yes, we have all of the extremes, but the sunshine is something that we get all [00:03:00] year round, even in the depths of winter when it's freaking cold out. But like I said, it's been gloomy the last. Past couple weeks on and off. And so all that makes me wanna do is curl up on the couch and crush Netflix.

And I have been doing that a little bit, but it's sunny out there. So I'm super happy and so are my little house plants that I'm, that I'm growing and anybody that knows me knows that, uh. I couldn't keep a houseplant alive if my life depended on it. But that has changed. I have found the balance between how much to water them and how much not to water them.

'cause I think I overwatered a lot of them all the time. I would go weeks without watering them. And so I felt like I needed to like dump a whole bucket in there to like, you know, give them water. 'cause they had been starved of water. So my host plans are thriving, which at. So I might have to build, build up my collection.

I don't know if any of you struggle with keeping host plants alive, but I'm just like super stoked that I've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in my office and they're all thriving, [00:04:00] so it's amazing. I'm also sipping on. Very cold cup of coffee. I poured this baby at about 10 30 this morning and it's 1230 and uh, it's cold.

And oftentimes people think I'm crazy because it's like, how are you still sipping on that cold cup of coffee? But, uh, whether it's cold or hot, I don't care. I love coffee. Anyways, let's dive in. Today I'm really excited to talk about this topic on how to. Find the courage and the bravery to go against the grain in a world or society where, like I said, I feel like, um, we're rewarded for following status quo.

And we see this in all facets of our life and business. Right? Um, and even as entrepreneurs, when we feel like, you know what, Catherine, I'm pushing the edges in my business. I feel like I'm constantly challenging my industry. I'm wanting to change things. I'm a creative thinker. I'm an independent thinker.

There are areas in life and business where we might not necessarily be living up to our highest potential or [00:05:00] showing up as the fullest expression of ourselves. And again, why I created this podcast be the Sought After Entrepreneur because I really am on a mission to help. Entrepreneurs show up as the fullest expression of who they are in their business, so that they can live that fulfilled life.

They can build a business that's sustainable. Because when we aren't showing up as the fullest expression of who we are, it isn't sustainable Over time, we're going to feel that inner restlessness that like, Ooh, is there more? Is there something different? I'm not quite loving this. It's not quite, you know, giving me that spark that I once had, so.

I want to share with you some of the practical tips that I've implemented in my life and in my business, so that. I'm constantly open to challenging my current reality, challenging status quo, and not getting complacent necessarily in my business and in my life. And if you [00:06:00] are a high achieving Entrepreneur, you're gonna get that right, that we often don't sit long enough to even revel in.

In the moment. So this isn't about like constantly striving or chasing, but it's like being able to go, okay, you know what? I've done things this certain way, um, and it isn't really in alignment with me. Or as you evolve and grow, it might no longer be in alignment with you and you're going to have to maybe carve a different path or go against the grain, so to speak.

And it takes bravery and courage because most people follow that status quo, right? That we. Uh, it's the same, same, right? You even see this with social media. The content that's fed to you or curated for your eyes is based on your patterns, right? It's based on what you're searching, what you're following, who your followers are, those sorts of things.

And so what ends up happening is it's very curated to to feed to you the same. Same. We see this with social media trends, right? [00:07:00] We see this with trending music in reels. If you wanna get your content seen, you've gotta create reels now and then if you want to get it seen more, you've got to produce it with trending music.

Well, all that does is cultivate a, an environment that's creating the same type of content with the same type of music, just sort of rejigged a little bit, right? There's a lot of emulation or cookie cutter, and so. If you haven't listened to the episode of Why I created the Quiz, it also was really, this was to help give people the permission to show up as their unique energy, um, and the unique expression of who they are, regardless of what everyone else tells 'em that they should be or who they even think they believe they should be.

Right. And I caught myself when I released the quiz because it really is one of the most epic quizzes the interwebs have ever seen, and the results pages. Like out of this world. There's so much depth and thoughtfulness there that I had one individual tell me how [00:08:00] overwhelming it was. Like, sorry that it just was so overwhelming.

There was too much content there. And my inner child was screaming because I am this big ball of energy. I'm a manifesting generator in human design, in the human design world, which means I've got this big, expansive energy and a big shadow of mine is shrinking. Shrinking in. My own ability and shrinking in my potential because I don't wanna be too much.

And so even though we've had the most epic feedback from the quiz to date, that one comment had me going, huh? Like, is it too much? Should I take some content away? Which is crazy because the content isn't meant for you to digest in one sitting. It really is a resource that you can revisit. And that's something that we've heard from a lot of.

People is like, you know, this isn't something I'm gonna read today and completely digest. It's something I can revisit. And there's just so much there from like the types of [00:09:00] customer experiences that you can create for your, um, audience and your clients to the social media platforms to be on for your business to really thrive.

And what's interesting is a lot of people keep saying, oh man, like I've been. Doing, you know, Instagram daily and consistently, but it's actually against my energy. It's not really in alignment with who I am, but I felt like I needed to show up on social in order to build a thriving business. And so this quiz has really given people the permission to, to not to go against the grain, to carve their own path.

So. How do we do that and how do we find the courage to really do that in a world that rewards same, same cookie cutter, one size fits all? Well, one of the things that I've been practicing and, and one of the things I often tell my clients to do is, is to disassociate from the, the same type of people in your industry, right?

So unfollow [00:10:00] all of the people that are doing similar things to you. So, and why this is important is because when social media feeds you all of the same content, that's all you're seeing and your perspective becomes very laser focused or tunnel vision, so to speak. Not laser focused, but tunnel vision. It becomes very tunnel visioned on.

That industry. And before you know it, you start to be like a chameleon in that space. You start to emulate, maybe without even knowing it, you start replicating without even knowing it. Right. Um, and you start to copy what people are doing because you're like, oh, J Joe or Jill built this really successful business.

And created this offer and delivered it in this way, and markets in this way. And so it worked for Jill or Joe or whoever. And so I'm going to do something similar. And so when you're surrounded and being constantly digesting the same type of content, it's really hard. [00:11:00] To, to come up with any sort of creative solutions, right?

It, it's hard for you to like, see any other way of doing things. So I often tell people, literally unfollow everybody in your industry. Or if you don't wanna unfollow them, just mute them. But I, I tend to unfollow, right? And go and find accounts or businesses or something, or people that offer a different perspective.

Maybe a more creative perspective. So I often will go and follow like musicians or artists or, um, handmade artists or, or potters or writers or something that, you know, writers that are writing about, not topics on business or marketing or sales or any of those sorts of things, but like different perspectives so that I am digesting different thoughts and ideas because when we are.

Consuming the same amount of the same type of things. We, we naturally will become a [00:12:00] chameleon to that we'll naturally not broaden our perspective. And so it's like, how do we go against the grain and find the courage to do that is first by digesting or watching what we consume. What type of content are we consuming?

How much of it are we consuming it? Is it the same replicated content over and over, right? Or is there other perspectives out there, other people that are challenging or pushing the boundaries? Are there other people that can shift my perspective or get me to look at things a different way? That for me is the very first thing that I do is like, how can I surround myself?

On social media, um, and the content that I'm taking in even books, right? So oftentimes I hear entrepreneurs say, well, Katherine, all I read is business and personal development. I'm like, go read a fantasy novel or go read like something else. If you love to read, like broaden your perspective, broaden what you're digesting.

Broaden what you take in, right? It's the same with media. If you're watching the [00:13:00] news and you're watching a particular channel, it's going to have it's bias. It's going to have a perspective that it wants to share a message, right? It's going to be a narrative that they're, they're selling you on. And if you want to broaden that perspective, you've got to digest a variety of different perspectives, right?

Um, and a, a variety of different narratives. So that's the first thing is what type of content are you digesting and how can you broaden that perspective if you want to find the courage and the bravery to go against the grain. Because what you're going to see is a bunch of different people with a bunch of different perspectives coming.

Sharing that openly, right? Yes. They have their own, you know, uh, ways and narratives of what they wanna share. But when we can see people fully expressing who they are in their own right, even if they aren't in agreement with what it is, um, then. Then, you know, it, it, it gives us the [00:14:00] motivation and courage to do it.

Some of the accounts that have really helped me, um, Africa Brooke is amazing. She talks all about self-censorship and communication. She's brilliant. Mark Groves, he's a relationship guy, right? And I'm in a committed relationship, so it's not like I'm looking for, you know, a new date or anything like that.

But, um. But he, he, he has this very, uh, unique way and perspective of, and, and really challenges critical thinking, independent thinking. And so he is somebody amazing to follow. Those are two accounts that I, that I highly recommend. But like I said, if you're constantly digesting, uh, personal development or business related stuff, I highly recommend if you wanna get that creative thinking going or even, um, imagination and creativity, like, and you like to read or you.

Um, wanna listen to podcasts, right? It's like, can you go listen to a podcast that's that completely in left field compared to business development and personal development and all of that, because that's going [00:15:00] to give you a, a different perspective, a more creative way to look at things, that sort of thing.

The other thing is, is, is um, you know, to be magnetic. Uh, Lacey Phillips, she calls them expanders. One of the things I often look for in my vicinity, in my realm or whatever, is expanders. People that are going to expand my worldview, expand the way that I think about things who are not just like-minded. We often hear like, surround yourself with like-minded people, which is awesome.

It's super great. It's wonderful, right? But like-minded creates more like-minded, right? So it's like. How do I surround myself with people that are expanders? And to me, expanders are people that are going to challenge the way that I view the world, challenge, the way that I view business, and are going to help me expand that consciousness, that level of thinking.

Right? And they're often not like-minded. They're people that think very differently to me. They're, they're, you know, they're operating in a very different way. Those are the people for me that are expanders. So I often look for those [00:16:00] people. I often look and go, okay, who can I, you know, who, who is a good person that I could connect with or collaborate with?

And again, one of the reasons why I created this podcast was to bring on people that have a variety of different perspectives that can challenge the way that we do things. And I just had a pitch recently, one of the most brilliant pitches, uh, podcast pitches from an individual. And I'm having 'em on the show, and I can't wait to have 'em on.

And one of the things he said was like, I really love your episodes X, Y, and Z, but I think that I can actually offer a different perspective, and that's what I'm looking for whenever somebody wants to come on the show is like, how can you one, add the conversation, but also I. Uh, give a different perspective to it so that people can broaden their scope, their horizon can look at things differently because that is where true innovation comes.

Right? True innovation do does not come from following status quo and following, and cookie cutter content and cookie cutter copy and [00:17:00] cookie cutter marketing tactics. It doesn't come from that. Innovation comes from challenging what we're doing to critically look at the industry you're in, where, how, how you're working, how you're operating, how you're delivering your programs, how you're delivering your products, and how to really improve them.

People like, uh, Dyson didn't, you know, sit in his house and go, Hmm, how can I create, uh, cookie cutter vacuum cleaner? No. He was like, I want to create a vacuum cleaner that's substantially different than anything that's on the market. Right? Tho that's innovation. So this is another. Thing that I often recommend is one, look for those expanders people that are going to challenge your set of code.

This is where it's uncomfortable, right? This is where it can get really uncomfortable, because if you are in a place of rigidity within your thinking and your beliefs, it can be uncomfortable to be in a room and have a conversation with somebody or be in an event or whatever, where they're challenging.

Who you are, where they're challenging your beliefs, right? Where those are, those are expanders, those are people that are [00:18:00] gonna do that. But it can be very, very challenging and triggering, right? But it will help you develop that courage and that bravery to go, huh, okay, I can do something different in my business, or.

You know, create different content. The other thing that I'm going to to say is, you know, it's, again, it's the consumption of your content, but then it's also the people that you surround yourself with. Like-minded people are great, but really look for those expanders. And, and the third thing that I'm going to say is.

Is one of the biggest things for me is, is actually tuning out a lot of the things that I'm digesting, right? So it's like, yes, it's really important to take in, to learn, to be with expanders, to have people broaden your perspectives and all those sorts of things. But then there's also the one really key piece is tuning into yourself, right?

Is to actually take time to tune into who you are, and that requires you. Being in silence, being giving yourself the space to step off the [00:19:00] hamster wheel of the do, do, do, do, do, and to actually just pause and to think about what is it that you actually truly want? What do you actually want to bring to this world?

What impact do you want to create as a high achiever, overachiever. Entrepreneurs. It's hard for us to slow down. Sometimes it's hard for us to pause and go, huh? You know, like, can I take a moment in silence and just actually really think about it? Because here's the thing, the reason why it's hard to challenge status quo sometimes is because we get into this.

One track way of being, which is do, do, do hustle, you know, and, and our, our schedules are so full that we don't even have an opportunity to allow insight or intuitive hits or inspiration or motivation to come through because we are constantly consuming. We're constantly surrounding ourselves with people.

We're digesting content, right? The over consumption of information is rampant. Is, how much can I take [00:20:00] in? How much can I learn? How much can I implement? How much can I, you know, execute that strategy? How many people can I attract? How many sales can I make? Right? It's, it's always doing, it's what can I do to achieve X result?

And that's brilliant. I'm not saying not to strive and not to have goals, but if you truly want to go against the grain. And challenge status quo and really make an impact in the industry and be an innovator and a disruptor, and a trailblazer. It requires you to slow down in some capacity and sit in the, the silence and in the, you know, nuances of your day.

And this is one of the most challenging. For high achievers, overachievers is to actually sit with themselves long enough to allow their mind to stop thinking, to be not doing anything and, and not [00:21:00] feel guilty that they're not being productive. Right. So going against the grain takes a lot of courage and bravery because it's, it's literally.

Doing things that you're not typically doing. Right. It's, it's challenging the way in which you're being right now, in this moment right. Is, is, and that slowness. Those pauses. The quiet, the not doing is so hard. Um, and I really struggled with it, and I'm gonna be honest, these are like the three things that I've really committed to doing in the last year.

Um, the slowness and the slowing down and the space in my day. Where I actually feel comfortable and not guilty is being the, the one that has taken me the longest, like unfollowing people and reading different things and picking up different material and looking for expanders and surrounding myself with expanders and being open-minded enough to be in those spaces.

Um, and to [00:22:00] sit with the discomfort of my triggers of like, uh, I don't really agree with that, but I'm willing to listen to what you have to say. Um, those are okay. Um, they take. Time and they do take work for sure, but it was this, sitting in silence and allowing myself to just be has been one of the hardest.

And so, but it is so. Potent, uh, if you want to really challenge the status quo, and not a lot of people wanna do that, right? So not, it's not for everybody. Some people are like, you know what, Catherine, I'm running my business. Super cool. I'm not here to like, make any, like earth shattering changes in the world or whatever.

And that's totally cool. That's absolutely cool. If, if that's how you, how you wanna be true, like amazing. But if you're wanting to disrupt, if you're wanting to be an innovator, and most of the entrepreneurs I know, that's what they want, right? They want to have, do meaningful work and they wanna create meaningful impact.

And in order to create meaningful work to impact, you [00:23:00] have to be willing to go against the grain and challenge the status quo. And so those are the three sort of practical tips and they're, they're practical. I'm not gonna say they're simple because they're not. They do take some patience and some, some, you know, moments of frustration for sure.

Especially when you're being expanded into other areas and, and different perspectives. Like I said, there can be a lot of triggering moments like. I don't really like that, or I'm gonna shut down around this for right now, but just give you the space to come back to it. Right? That, that can truly happen.

Um, and so, but it's so worthwhile if, like I said, if you wanna be a trailblazer and a disruptor and you want to change things for the better, right? You want to help people, uh, in a more fulfilling and impactful way. These are three really practical tips, but they're not things that a lot of people talk about because.

Oftentimes it's like, buy this business book or buy this personal development book or [00:24:00] enroll in this program. That's literally same. Same, right? And not, and not because the person running it is, is like copying what people are doing. But it's like when you're taking business course after business course after business course to grow your business, it's all.

Relatively, somewhat the same topics, right? But what if you plunked yourself in a think tank in Silicon Valley, let's just say, um, learning about like tech innovators or, uh, smarter ways to operate or whatever it is, right? Like if you're, if you're constantly surrounding yourself in business programs and business courses, um, you know, you're gonna, it's, it's, it's all relatively.

Similar type of things that people are talking about, right? Marketing is marketing sales as sales, right? And so it's like, how do I, if I really wanna innovate, like May, maybe it's going to a retreat or signing up for a program that's completely outta left field that's like, oh man, it doesn't even [00:25:00] feel like it's, it's, it's for your business, right?

How can you. Broaden your perspective, put yourself in situations that might feel really freaking uncomfortable. And the uncomfortableness comes from like, I'm, I'm really comfortable in my business world and I'm really comfortable going to business conferences and talking about business, but now you want me to sit in a room where we're talking about health and and mind and there's neuroscientists there and all these things that are like.

Outside of my realm, that's an uncomfortable feeling, right? And so it's finding the courage and the bravery to even do that, even though it's scary. And that's one example of something I'm doing this year where I'm literally putting myself in a room of. People I'm, I would not normally be around, but I see them as expanders, and I see them as expanders because they, they think differently than me.

They've got different perspectives than me. They talk about different things than I am [00:26:00] comfortable talking about or being around or whatever. And so that's the way in which, if you really want to. Carve your own path, but also find the courage and bravery to go against the grain is, is to do the uncomfortable things of really expanding the way in which you look at the world and your business.

And that's going to require you to put yourself in rooms and spaces and digest content that's. Maybe something that you don't agree with or something that you've never thought about or things that are gonna trigger the shit out of you because you're like, I don't, I don't agree with that. And you might not agree with it in the moment.

You might come around and shift your perspective, or you might just never agree with it. But the beauty of that is, one, to coexist in a world and in an environment where we. Can have differing of opinions and different thoughts and, and still live in a respectful way and not hate on each other of a right or wrong, or I'm on this side or that side.

Right? That's the world I would love to live in. That's the [00:27:00] world I, I hope to live in. 'cause I feel like that gives us the permission to show up as the fullest expression of who we are. Without needing to shrink, right? Like I was needing to shrink because I thought my quiz was too much for people, or feeling like I can't be the big expensive energy because people won't be able to handle it, right?

Or I can't really say that. Because that's gonna offend somebody or piss somebody off. And that to me is, is the thing that's actually gonna help you stand out. It's the thing that's gonna help your business elevate. It's the impact or the deeper impact you're gonna be able to have with your audience, which is.

What we all want as entrepreneurs, right? We want to create impact. We want to do good work and and have meaningful work. And in order to do that and to really stand out, we've gotta be the fullest expression of who we are. And in order to be the fullest expression of who we are, we've gotta have the courage and bravery to go against the grain.

In a world that rewards [00:28:00] following status quo. And if you wanna do that, those are three really practical tips, uh, that you can do. And if you're thinking you wanna get really bold, I highly suggest you take a peruse on the innerwebs or the world and you look around or you ask in networks of like, or you think about, Hmm, I'd really love to go to a conference in this regard.

Um. But it's like so left field to what I even do. How am I gonna benefit from it? 'cause that was the question I had with a biohacking conference. I was like, how is this gonna benefit my business? Right? And it was like, it's not really business focused or business related, but it totally will impact me.

'cause the, it's different information that I'm digesting and I could have a massive epiphany there and some really cool, innovative idea. Who knows? We don't know. Right? So. Again, if you wanna be really bold, it's like what event or conference or experience can you do this year that's completely going to broaden or expand, uh, your thinking and your consciousness and [00:29:00] the level in which that you're operating.

And that's gonna require putting yourself in rooms that people, um, think differently than you. And that, like I said, is a beautiful thing. When we can coexist in a world where. So, you know, people have different opinions than we do, and they think differently and they express themselves differently, and they show up differently and it's okay.

We want to infuse that into our content and copy, so that one, we can humanize it, add personality to it, add a bit of flare. We can express ourselves even more with the language that we would use when having a conversation with our besties out for drinks or whatever it might be. Really being the fullest expression of who you are and how to really bring that out in your brand.

And one way to do that, um, amongst the three practical ways I shared with you, to, to broaden your perspective and widen that perspective is also infusing what you do with story. Um, really good elements of storytelling can really help, uh, your audience feel connected to you, um, and [00:30:00] keep reading, listening, and.

Watching your content, so, uh, subscribe to the show so that you don't miss when that episode drops next week. Cheers. 

INTRO/OUTRO: Thanks for listening. We'll see you right back here next time. You can also find us on social media at creatively owned and online@creativelyowned.com. Until next time, keep showing up as your authentic self.