Inspiring Takeaways from Make Your Mark Live

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Table of Contents

Podcast Description

I just got back from attending my first in-person conference and learned so much! I honestly had no idea what to expect, but now that I know – I want to share those insights with you.

In this episode, I’m sharing insights to help you prepare yourself when attending an in-person conference, whether it’s your first or next one. And of course, I’ll be sharing this along with my experience from having attended Make Your Mark Live in Dallas.

So even if you’re just curious to know how it went, tune in and get the scoop.

Links Referenced in this Episode:

▶ Make Your Mark Live Conference

▶ Ep. 41: 9 Insights from Attending an In-Person Conference

▶ Submit a question or topic for the podcast

Connect with me:

Website | Instagram

Episode Transcript

(Note: This is a formatted AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through, but is not an optimized blog post. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)

Episode Intro

The Ted Talks and keynote presentations and Make Your Mark Live left a big mark on me. I remember trying to hold back tears, feeling shivers, the good kind, and leaving the event feeling more inspired and motivated than ever. It also gave me clarity around some changes I’ve been holding off from doing, while giving me the confidence to move forward with them. There’s so much that I learned and there’s some key takeaways that i really want to share with you in today’s episode. So are you ready? Let’s dive in!

Hey, I’m Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I’m on a mission to help online entrepreneurs like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelm goodbye. Here, you’re going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It’s your time to shine so let’s get started!

Make Your Mark Live Recap

Hey, Hey, welcome back to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast. Oh my gosh, I have a big treat for you today in today’s episode, because I am going to be sharing some of my biggest takeaways that I had from attending the Make Your Mark Live event in Dallas a few weeks ago.

So I had to go back and rewatch some of these presentations and not, and that’s something that I usually don’t do. So, especially when you attend a virtual summit, many times you don’t even attend or watch the presentations while they’re live. Much less go back to them later on, even though you told yourself that you would do that right.

But these were so powerful. They were so insightful. I’m getting like the chills right now, as I’m even thinking about them, because I am so excited to just share some of these big takeaways.

Because honestly, I was at the event, I’m sitting there at our table and we’re we have there’s all of these different keynotes going on the stage and sharing their stories and just working the room. And I remember just holding back tears because I didn’t want to be that person. You know, that’s like, oh my gosh, like that was so emotional right. I’m like, just like keep it together.

But I’m feeling so touched. I’m getting like goosebumps. It felt like they were speaking to me. And maybe it’s because of the season that I’m in, in my business. Maybe it’s because a lot of the things they were saying resonated with me.

But I really left that event feeling just so inspired and so motivated and just really wanting to share what I learned with you in case you’re going through some things that we’re going to talk about. So that way you can maybe get some clarity or get some confidence to move forward on making some big changes or making some big moves in your business.

So I’m going to, like, I have a list of the takeaways here on a document off to the side, and I’m just going to go through them. And I’m going to share a little bit of my perspective and how I am interpreting some messages that were shared. In the show notes, I will be linking over to all of the speakers that I am going to be mentioning today in this episode.

Follow the Podcast

And in the last episode, if you haven’t listened to it yet, I shared my insights from attending an in-person conference on not necessarily the takeaways from the speakers. But more what I learned about attending a conference in person. So if you’ve been thinking about attending a conference in person, or if it’s your first time or you want to be more prepared the next time, then go back to listen to that episode after you’re done listening to this one.

And be sure to hit, follow or subscribe on the podcast because that will really, really help this podcast grow and reach new listeners.

Inspiring Takeaways from Make Your Mark Live

And you know what? That is something new that I learned as well. And what we’ll get into that.

Profit and purpose go hand-in-hand.

So the first takeaway that I want to share is profit and purpose go hand in hand. Now, this one was shared by Desola Davis and she is someone that i’ve been following for a really long time

And I was really looking forward to her speaking and meeting her in person. But this is something that she shared, which is so, so powerful because many times, we as business owners get scared or are afraid, or get uncomfortable or feel uncomfortable to sell our stuff.

But the truth is that you are a business owner. So you would need to make sales in order to survive. Right? You need it to be bringing in income to be able to continue to support the people that you’re wanting to support.

And so profit and purpose go hand in hand, meaning that you are here to make an impact, right? You are a business owner. You have your specific niche, you have a specific topic that you’re teaching that you’re helping others with. And you’re doing that as your purpose.

Like you have, like something that she shared was there are much easier ways to make money. And that is so true. Like you put yourself here because you don’t just want to make money.

You want to make a difference in the world. And because of that, you that’s your purpose, right? Like you have a bigger reason than just making money for your business.

But in order to fulfill your purpose, you need to make money. So profit and purpose go hand in hand. And this is super powerful, especially as we’re getting into the holiday season.

Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale

I just want to encourage you to, don’t be afraid to ask for the sale, which actually is the next one. I’m going to go ahead and go into this next one, which is, don’t be afraid to ask for the sale.

This is a, another topic that was given by Natalie Bullen, I believe is how you say her name. But she was expressing how there’s money everywhere. And whenever you are ready to ask for the sale, you need to be clear and not cute.

So basically don’t sugar coat the ask. Don’t be like, “oh, well, well we can hop on a call and see what happens or, you know, no worries. You’re I know you’re busy. So just whenever you’re ready.” Like you need to be more clear and more upfront about asking for the sale. If it costs $5, ask for $5. If it cost a hundred dollars, say this is a hundred dollars.

So it’s just getting a little bit more out of your comfort zone and getting a little bit more specific. And this also helps attract the people that are going to pay you money.

So a lot of times, especially, or I guess, especially if you started off as a blogger, like I did, and you are starting with free content. So sometimes making that transition from writing free content, and even this podcast is free, right? It’s free content. I’m recording a free episode for you.

And sometimes the lines get blurry on the way to ask for the sale because you’re so used to giving away free content and your audience is used to you giving away free content, but you’re a business, right?

Going back to the last point. You are a business and when you sell, you transform lives. And so you have to ask for the sale and you have to be clear about the sale. And if there’s anyone in your audience, that’s going to get offended because you’re asking for the sale, then they’re not your people.

You are still a business so you do need to be asking for the sale. And the sale doesn’t always have to be literally asking for money. It doesn’t literally mean. Asking for. them to buy something from you.

And this is kind of going off of something else that I heard somewhere else where it’s like the sale is basically your call to action, which could be anything. It could be to book a call with me. It can be to buy my thing. It could be to follow my podcast like I asked earlier in this episode. It can be to sign up to my email list. It could be to click on this link. Like you are always selling an action for, from your customer, from your reader, from your subscriber.

So you have to get used to asking for the sale. And the another thing that she had mentioned that I really, really liked that really plays a big part into like the mindset and why mindset is so important for us as business owners.

And it’s that money is like a current. So it either moves towards you or away from you based on your belief system. This is something that Natalie said, which really resonated because it’s true.

And you can change your belief system to choose how you think about money. And I know for me, myself, growing up, my parents have like a very scarcity mindset. So that is how I grew up.

I grew up with this money scarcity mindset, feeling bad about wanting to make more money, feeling bad about asking others to pay me money for the services and the resources that I offer because this is how I grew up. That was my belief system.

But now it’s changed and I really encourage you to look at yours different as well, and just really believe that profit and purpose go hand in hand. And you can make a bigger difference in the world when you make more money. But it really starts with your own beliefs, your own values, your own mindset.

It’s okay to unpack and let go of some things in your business

So that’s another thing that was like a really big takeaway. Um, another talk that I really, really, really loved. It was by Charlene Lam and she’s a Grief Coach and I am going to be honest.

I mean, we met before she spoke and she’s this super lovely person. But I was like, okay. And I told her, I was like, I wasn’t sure how you were going to give a talk about you know, tying in grief to business owners. Like I was a really interesting and it was my favorite talk. So what the summary of this talk was it’s okay to unpack and let go of some things in your business that aren’t working.

So anything that is that you’ve been working on. So the biggest takeaway here was. You might have a business that you’ve been working on for a long time, and it’s not serving you anymore, but it’s been working and you’re scared to let it go.

And I didn’t realize as this is something that I’ve actually been going through for a little over a year now, where there is a lot of things that I’ve packed up in my business suitcase, which is analogies that she was giving. And. I have just not been able to let some things go.

There are some things that were big decisions at the time. There’s some things that took up a lot of my time to get created, to do. But some of those things are no longer lighting me up. They’re no longer relevant to the journey where I’m in now. And so she really made a point to make space for what’s to come.

And sometimes that means grieving past versions of yourself. Past versions of your business. Maybe closing or losing a project. So maybe. You’re going away from. You know, something that I heard recently in a podcast with someone was going away from services. Like they just couldn’t do it anymore. So maybe it’s something like that where you’ve been a service provider for so long, but it’s no longer serving you.

And it’s scary. It’s scary to take that next step and just completely shut it down. And it could be, there’s so many things in your business that you might have done. And that are holding space in your mind, in your weekly calendar, your schedule, your life, that shouldn’t be there anymore. And it’s time to let those things go.

So if you want more on that than I definitely recommend that you reach out to Charlene Lam, because that was, that was probably the biggest talk that resonated with me.

And I didn’t realize how much I had been carrying with me. And that it has no longer been serving me. And there’s other things that I didn’t even realize how much it was holding me back from doing new things. And so I am really excited.

I’m not going to spoil anything just yet, but I, since coming back from this talk, have started making some big changes in my business that I’m really excited about. I will be sharing about them on the podcast soon. But I am so excited. And I felt very good to be able to say like, okay, This isn’t serving me anymore and it’s okay to grieve it.

I just need to go through the grieving process, even though it’s not grieving a person or a loved one or a pet or anything. Right. Which is what you usually tie grieving to. But you can also grieve other things, other things that have happened in your business.

So I really liked that talk and that’s something that I want you to consider, you know, especially as we start this Q4 and start planning out for 2024 is, what are some things that are no longer serving you that you should probably unpack and put away so that way you can make space for more, better things that are going to come?

Let go of the good to make room for the great

Which leads me into the next talk. And that’s another thing that I love that these talks like they flowed so well into each other. That it was just a great experience.

Like, I don’t know. I feel like at this point I’m pitching the conference which she’s having again next year. So if you can attend a person, definitely attended person.

But the next talk or another talk that I had a really big takeaway was from Jaclyn Mellone, who said to get the great to get to the great, you need to move away from what’s good.

And this was also very tied to the one that I just shared, which is sometimes you have to get, let go of some things that are good in your business in order to experience the great. But the road from letting go of the good and getting to the great, that’s a bumpy road.

Like, it’s not going to be like, oh, I’m going to let go of this thing that’s good. And then all of a sudden, everything is going to be a magical and perfect. And you’re going to be so happy that you made that decision. Like that’s not how it works.

You are going to move away from what’s good, which is very similar to, you know, letting go of something that has been treating you well, that maybe you know, you really loved at one point, but you just haven’t been feeling it anymore. And letting go of that thing. Being okay with whatever is going to happen.

Because you’re letting that thing go. Riding the wave of disappointments of, um, you know, losing subscribers or followers or whatever might come out of it. And just staying hopeful that it’s going to get better from there.

And I really liked this message because again, it’s part of what I’ve been going through in the business, or so I’m a creator. I love creating, I love doing a lot of the different things. And a lot of times I have to slow down.

I have to slow down and really think about like, okay, what is it that I want to do right now? What is it that’s going to serve me right now? And then kind of make that decision before taking the next step. Because a lot of times we just want to jump into the next thing, the next thing, the next thing, but then you’re carrying everything else with you still.

And so, you really want to just be okay with letting some of those things go, getting okay with the possibilities of it not working out, the possibilities of you quote on quote, failing. Learning from it and then moving onto the great.

So I really love this one and it’s something that I would encourage you to really consider and see if there’s anything that same messaging.

If there’s anything that you’ve been feeling like has been going good in your business, but you would just know, like there’s a feeling that you know, that it’s not the end goal for you. It’s not where you want to be. It’s it’s just not feeling quite right anymore, but it’s been good to you, maybe it’s time to let that go and move on to something new to see what happens.

Create a business that supports the life you want to live

Which kind of leads into this next one, because you really want to create a business that supports your life. And this was another talk, not just by Belinda, but it was a very common message across all of the talks, which is to lifeproof your business and to make your business work for you and support the life that you want to live.

And this is really what I aspire to do with my brand it’s why I talk so much about organization and systems and productivity, and it’s not to make you hustle more. It’s not to make you do more.

It’s to help you get time back that you can then choose what you want to do with it. You can go in, get some hobbies. You can go and hang out with your family. You can rest and enjoy and catch up on your Netflix shows like all of the different things.

But you can’t do that if you’re always working on your business. Or if you’re coming straight home from work to work more on your business. Right. Because a lot of times, especially when you’re newer to entrepreneurship or not just when you’re new, but just in general, it’s so easy to get caught up in doing all of these different things.

You know, like we’ve, we’ve kind of talked about it throughout this episode where you just want to keep going and going and going and going. And before you know it, you’re getting closer to burnout, which is not good. I have a whole episode on why you should really avoid burnout and how to catch it, but you get to this place where your business is no longer supporting you.

Like you will likely started a business to also give you time of freedom, right? You want the flexibility and the time freedom to enjoy your life. But so many times as business owners, we fall into the trap of doing the complete opposite that we wanted our business to do for us.

And we trick our brains into thinking that, oh, well, I just need to get through this right now. And then in the future, that’s when I’ll enjoy the flexibility and the time freedom.

But it doesn’t have to be that way and truly, getting your systems in order, that is your foundation to really helping you maintain some boundaries, to help you keep track of all of the things that you have going on so that way you can schedule yourself better.

And not just schedule yourself to work on your business, but schedule time for yourself to relax, go to bed on time and get a really good seven to eight hours of sleep every night, which actually helps you be more productive the next day.

So there’s so many different things that you can do with your business to help it support your life. And truly getting organized and getting your systems in place is a big, big portion on how you can achieve that so much faster.

But I’ve minimum, like don’t fall into the trap of thinking that oh, I just have to get through this now. And in the future, I will, you know, enjoy that flexibility and time freedom because no.

That means that you would go through so many hustle periods and so many burnouts along the way, and that is a not healthy. Okay.

Make biz friends via collaborations

And then these last two points that I want to share, they’re not really from anyone specifically, but they’re more overall takeaways that I got out of attending this, this conference.

And so one of the things was that, you’re not alone. A lot of business owners attending the conference were going through their own struggles. They’re going through their own pivots in their business, their own rebranding, their you know their own, just their own struggles.

Like everyone has their own struggles and everyone has their own wins. You know, there’s also so many people who were celebrating new clients or new pivots, like.

There’s so much in your business where it can feel lonely. But you’re not alone. You’re not alone and collaborations is really a great way to connect and meet new people, and to really put yourself out there.

So if you haven’t made any biz besties yet, any biz friends, if you haven’t collaborated with anyone yet, then it really encourage that you do so.

There’s so many opportunities right now to collaborate with someone. And not just, and I’m not just talking about collaborating in a way where you just fill out a form, you put yourself in the bundle and then that’s it. You never actually talk to the person. You never connect with them. Like, no, like you want a collaboration that could potentially lead into a friendship.

That is the best kind, because y’all can y’all understand each other, you know what you’re going through and it’s always nice to talk to someone who’s in it with you, who’s going through the same thing or has been through the same things as you. But just know that you’re not alone.

And yes, summits and bundles are a great way for you to start putting your name out there, for you to start making those collaborations. But I really encourage you to take it a step further and really try to build a stronger connection with the person.

And if you want more help on how to find bundles and summits to participate in, I have another podcast episode that I will link to in the show notes, along with another episode on how to stay organized when collaborating in these.

Because, if you want to make a good impression and you want to keep getting invited to even more bundles and summits and podcasts interviews, and all of the things, then you want to make a good impression and it starts with getting organized.

Be yourself and the right people will come

And then lastly, This was a big takeaway for me and it was more of an overall observation and it was that you are unique. Every single person is unique. Every single person that delivered a talk, delivered it in their own way.

Like there seems to be like this thought that you can only speak on a stage if you’re extroverted, because you have to bring that level of energy to the stage. And I feel like that holds a lot of people back, especially if you’re not an extrovert, because you’re like, well, I can’t do that. I can’t be loud. I can’t bring that kind of energy. I don’t even like talking to people.

And. Yeah. Especially after seeing the speakers in person. It really, really stood out that every single person is unique. Every single person delivered their presentation in their own way, at their own level of volume.

You know, there were some that were, yes, they were like up here extroverted. They’re making us laugh and, you know, bringing in some rap. Like there is some that were way up here. And then there were other talks that were just very soothing and relaxing and calm. And that just goes to show like you will attract your people by being yourself.

And that is really something that I want to leave you with today with. Because especially when I am talking to members from my Productive Entrepreneurs Club, there is every week I deliver Weekly Motivational Pep Talks, kind of similar to what this is.

This is probably a collection of all of the motivational pep talks that I would give. But every week I ask, like, what is your takeaway? What is something that you got out of this?

And it’s a common response where it’s like, well, I didn’t feel confident or I didn’t feel motivated or like, thank you for inspiring me to you know, be myself or to take the next step or to let go of that fear and to just do it.

So we get so caught up in trying to be like someone else, because you think that’s the right way to do it. And you don’t. You just need to be yourself. You need to be yourself and trust that you will attract the right people that are going to love your style of teaching. They love your style of energy. They love what you specifically can bring to the table.

And like, we need more of you. Like you are needed in this world because you’re here to make an impact. And there are so many people in this world and you being yourself naturally is going to attract more people that are resonating with you.

And so I really want to encourage you to keep being you. And keep staying unique. Don’t try to change or put on a new face for the online business world, like no, like stay true to yourself and trust that you will attract the right people for you.

Episode Wrap-Up

So that is what I’m going to leave you with today. And I would love to know what you’re thinking of this episode. So if you want to reach out to me on Instagram at cheerstoblogging. You can either screenshot this episode that you’re listening and tag me, or send me a DM directly. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me, Lucy Reyes. To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today’s episode, visit cheerstoproductivity.com/41. And before you go make sure you subscribe or follow wherever you’re listening so you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success!