What Does Showing Up Really Look Like

I share a personal business update, from losing my dad to accepting that my old business is closed and a new brand is the real next step. I talk through rebuilding confidence, leaning on community, and setting a firm 5 October launch date while keeping the podcast sustainable. 

• switching the podcast to fortnightly to reduce pressure and stay consistent 
• processing grief while letting go of a planned relaunch 
• deciding to build a new business and brand from scratch 
• taking a strategy course for confidence while handling heavy responsibilities 
• rejoining the Female Entrepreneur Association and using FEA Create 
• showing up imperfectly on a tough day and still taking action 
• committing to an AI mastery launch programme and mapping the work month by month 
• learning the hard way that a freebie and email list must come first 

If you like the podcast, please follow it. Please like and subscribe. 

Transcript

Why The Podcast Is Fortnightly

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, it's Victoria here. Welcome back to another episode of Business Built with Strategy. So before I dive into this week's app, this week is going to be an update of everything that's been going on, say for the past couple of months in my world. Now, ideally, I try to have an app out every week, but you know what? It's it's kind of impossible at the moment. And that is why I have been really struggling to get the apps out every week. And I don't want to let you guys down. And I know that you know I have had you know emails, messages of people saying, Oh, you know, how you haven't put an app out, are you okay? And I'm absolutely fine. It's just that in truth, I've got so much going on at the moment that I I'm just struggling to do them every week. So I've decided on that basis so that I don't let you guys down and that I can then be comfortable about putting these apps out. I'm gonna do them um every two weeks, and I just think that's gonna work so much better for what I'm doing at the moment. So you can expect this app will drop tomorrow, being the 8th of June, and then two weekly after that. And I just think you know, it's just gonna be so much more easier for me to handle. And you know what? We might, you know, go back to weekly when I can handle that amount of apps, but at the minute it's yeah, two weekly. Two weekly is where we are. Okay, so as I said, this week's app is just an update of what has been going on in my life, in my business, in the decisions that I've been making, what has gone wrong, what has gone right. So, as a

Grief And Closing A Business

SPEAKER_00 1:25

lot of you know, the past 15 months for me have been well, do you know what? I don't think there is a word actually. You know, I I lost my dad on my birthday on the 31st of January 25. I was supposed to be going into a relaunch of the Female Entrepreneur Box of some of the products on the 3rd of February 25. And I had been working for months and months towards that day, and of course, because of losing my wonderful dad, my absolute hero, my mentor, just just my lovely dad. Um, I, you know, that was that was not going to happen. I could not do that, love or money, absolutely not. So then I realised that from about six months after losing my dad, I was saying to my audience and I was saying to, you know, my listeners that I'd be coming back to my business soon. And then it dawned on me, and I think it was I think it was February, March time this year, 2026. And I thought, what am I on about? I'm not going back to my business. I closed my business, I'm not going back to it. And of course I I knew that, but I don't think I'd quite settled with it, maybe. I don't I don't know what the word is. And then that's when I realised I was like, no, I am I am building a brand new brand and business. And you know, I passed my strategy course last year. That was the course that I uh did with Lisa Johnson. Now, I didn't do that for the credentials because I'm a business strategist anyway. What I did it for was the confidence. I felt like I needed some, I don't know, like an injection of confidence, I guess. It's the only way that I can really put it. And I remember taking on the course and a few people around me was like, Wow, have you done the right thing? Like, you have got so much that you're dealing with at the moment because I've been dealing with my dad's estate, which, you know, being an entrepreneur and he has a business that, you know, he's had for over 40, well, over 45 years. Um, and obviously I I am I'm in that at the moment, you know, I'm I've I'm in his company at the moment, I show up there. You know, people were like, Wow, you know, can you take this on? But I just thought, well, yeah, okay, I I get what you mean, but I'm under so much pressure anyway. Hey, let's just add a little bit more. And you know what? It just goes to show. It really does. Because I passed that with Flying Colours, and it wasn't so much that I didn't think I would pass it because I didn't know the answers to things, it wasn't that, it wasn't that I it was a lack of knowledge, it was that can I do this with everything else on my shoulders? But you know what I did, and I remember getting the email through from Lisa Johnson's team, and they were like, Congratulations, you've passed. And I was like, No, I think they've emailed the wrong person. I really did think that. I was like, Oh my god, no, they've definitely emailed the wrong person, but they hadn't, it was me anyway. Um, so yeah, so I yeah, it was March time, and I was like, right, yeah, I'm I'm actually building a brand new business, and then a little bit of fear set in. I was like, oh, oh hang on a minute. It was like I'd just realised, but I suppose in my heart of hearts I really did know that, but I just I don't know, maybe just I hadn't realised properly. Anyway, then I began to get a little bit excited because I thought, oh wow, you know, I remember building my first business like 17 years ago, and I remember the excitement at the start, and oh wow, I was so excited. You know, getting my first my first customer

Confidence Through Strategy Training

SPEAKER_00 4:30

was just oh it was just brilliant. That feeling, it was intoxifying, really. It really was, and then obviously I built from there and did very well. So I started to kind of get used to the idea, and then I started to kind of, you know, talk about it on my socials. I think I mentioned it on here a couple of times, and I was kind of toying with when my launch date would be. And then finally, it was about a week ago, I thought, right, I need to start putting my strategy together. And then I am, and you have heard me say this on here before, I love lists. I work from a list all of the time. I'm one of those people I will write myself a reminder to write a list, you know. But I do get things done by by writing lists. So I'm not, I haven't, so I'm not one of those people who I'll have a list, but actually it still won't get done. Everything on that list will get done. Um, and it's just my way of um, I guess, just keeping on track, really. So I started to then put together, so I got about not even a quarter of the way through the strategy, and I thought, right, I'm gonna join FEA. So FEA create the female entrepreneur association owned by Carrie Green. So I did that, and I the reason I did that was because when I first started in business, I followed Carrie Green and then I joined, and I was a member for probably seven or eight years, and it was one of the best things that I did. I watched the training videos, I was obviously a part of the members' club, and everyone in there just seemed to be amazing. You know, they really put your confidence up, you know, they they were absolutely fantastic, and so that, you know, definitely, definitely helped me get on in business without a doubt, because there was a lot of things that I did know, but there was also a lot of things that I didn't know. And, you know, being a part of of that of the FEA really helped me to learn. And I remember just listening, you know, I could be working on something, or I might be at my dad's office, and he'd be like, What are you listening to? I'm like, Oh, I'm learning something, I'm learning something

Community Support And Tech Wobbles

SPEAKER_00 6:20

for my business. And I continually had like my AirPods in just listening and learning all of the time and soaking up everything that I could to build my business. And definitely I have to credit that to how well I did and how I scaled and how you know how I grew. So I joined back, I think that was March-April time, joined back at the FEA, and this time, you know, obviously it is far superior to what it was back then. They have FEA create, there's a lot more to it, it's it's just it's just better, which you would imagine it to be better because you know, I was a member, you know, way back when, quite a few years ago. So yeah, I am now, I I'm not I'm not great with tech. In fact, I'm a bit crap. So it has been a bit of a week last week getting some of the tech done, but they are really good for you know, help on there. You have the AI help and then they'll stick you through to a real person. So that that has been fantastic. But you know, I think you're either good at tech or you're not, and I'm just one of those person people who just slightly, you know, just about can get by. And then I last Monday, so a week tomorrow, I decided um Lisa Johnson had sent an email out about Matt Hall's Zoom. And do you know what? I'd had a really bad day. I really didn't want to do this Zoom, and I just thought, and I I'm not doing it, and I'd literally made up my mind there was no way that I was gonna go and do it. And then I just thought, well, there's a reason that I've signed up to do this Zoom. You know, I didn't sign up for it because someone recommended it. I mean, that might have been like a five percent of the reason, but I signed up to it because I thought, well, hang on, this could possibly be really helpful to me. And so this is how I cope with that. And I, you know, I'm gonna be really honest. No, I did not sit at my

Showing Up On A Bad Day

SPEAKER_00 7:55

desk or at the kitchen table, which is a you know, I've got a really lovely kitchen, lovely space to work. Did I sit there and do the zoom? No. Did I sit on the sofa? No. In the lounge? No. I got into bed with my clothes on, like, you know, I didn't even get into my pajamas, I just got into bed, pulled the DVA over and had my phone and watched the Zoom. And I cannot even tell you it was one of the best things that I did because actually, when I was watching it, I was like, yeah, this is really gonna help me because I'd I'd got my launch date and I signed up for the AI Mastery launch course programme, I think it is. And we start that on Tuesday. The onboarding session is Tuesday at seven o'clock, and honestly, I'm so glad that I did. But I had to, I I showed up, but I didn't show up, you know, my perfect sprightly self. It was only seven o'clock in the evening, it was light outside. It was the only way that I could do it was just to get in bed, shut myself off from everything. My son came back with his um with his girlfriend. He's like, Mum, what are you doing? I was like, I'm I'm just watching your soon. He was like, In bed with your clothes on. I was like, Yeah, it was like okay. And he knew, he knew, he was like, Yeah, she's had a bad day, but she is still showing up. And sometimes we do show up, but we show up in the weirdest of ways. And um, I kept looking at the Zoom, thinking, yeah, make sure the camera's off, or they're just seeing me, you know, all um, you know, all cozy in bed um with my fan on because it was quite warm. But you know what? It worked, and I signed up for that, you know, for that programme. And I'm so glad that I did because I can now say, which makes me so good, it makes me feel so good, sorry, not feel, but makes me good. Um, I now have a launch day for my new business and new brand, which is the 5th of October. I cannot

AI Mastery And A Real Launch Date

SPEAKER_00 9:30

tell you how excited I am about this. I really am. Now, I am excited, as I've just said, but I, you know, I'm a little bit, it's a bit daunting because the amount of work that I need to do between now and then is crazy off the scale. But I've worked out everything per month, what I've got to do, where it's got to be done, the time. I've literally worked out everything until an inch of its life. So it's heavily, heavily, heavily planned. It's on my Google diary, it's on my um the I I get the planner from um Carrie and Co. So I've got that, it's in there, I've got reminder set. So everything is is planned until you know an inch of its life. But one thing that I knew that I had to do before any of this, before I carried on writing my strategy, was to get my freebie out there. So normally I would put it up on whatever platform, wouldn't take too long, and then it would be out there. But obviously, I'm choosing to put quite a lot of my business on FEA Create. Well, oh my goodness, what a week it's been. I have don't get me wrong, you know, I have had help, but I spent four days last week trying to upload this freebie, and I've got to be honest, you know, I have I still haven't done it. I was gonna work this weekend, but I needed to take some time out, so I'm gonna carry on with it tomorrow. I can see where I've gone wrong now, and no joke, this is probably a 10 to 15 minute job, and it's probably taken me well over 72 hours, but you know what? This is the way you learn, I guess. Um, ideally though, I wish it hadn't taken me that long. But you know, I have done, I have made mistakes before where I've been building and my freebies not been out there, and then my audience hasn't been as big as it's needed to be, because then I've been like, oh, I've got to do my freebie. Now that was way back when, you know, years ago, but I have made that mistake first. So if you are building a business at the moment, make sure that you've got something out there collecting email addresses, you know, a freebie, whatever it might be, just make sure that it's out there and it's collecting and building your audience. Don't get right to the end and go, oh, I need to put freebie out because it yeah, it can't work that way. You learn by the your mistakes, right? You know, and and as much as you know, I've made amazing decisions, but I've also

Freebies, Email Lists, And Hard Lessons

SPEAKER_00 11:35

made really bad decisions as well. And that is that's learning, isn't it? And that goes for anything in business or in life. So yeah, so that is me. That is where I am. Launch date of the 5th of October. I cannot believe it. And this is why Matt Hall's uh program is gonna really coincide lovely with it because it is teaching me, it teaches all about AI mastery and launching. I know a lot about that, but I definitely have gaps, you know. And I just think you know, if you need to learn something, you go out there, you find what you need you need to learn and you find how you're gonna learn it. Okay, and that you know, I've always been like that. So yeah, so that is that's my little update. And I'm really I'm really looking forward to now bringing you Epps every couple of weeks because it's taken the pressure off of me. And you know, what is the point in doing something if it's just gonna cause pressure where you just don't physically have the time? Um, so yeah, so thank you for listening. If you've got to the end, um I never ask this, but if you like the podcast, please follow it. It just means that you'll get the apps coming straight onto your phone or your email wherever they go. Um, and please like and subscribe. I never ask that. In fact, I think that's the first time I've ever asked that. I should be asking that, really, shouldn't I? Anyway, whatever you are doing this week, I hope you have an amazing week and I will be back in a couple of weeks. Take care, everyone.