The 6 Areas of Your Life That Create Your Business Support System

00:00:24 - Amber Hawley
Welcome to season three of the My Biz Bestie podcast. I'm Amber Hawley.

00:00:28 - Maelisa Hall
And I'm Melissa Hall.

00:00:30 - Amber Hawley
And we are so excited for episode one of season three. Yes, we're back people. Look out. It's a bittersweet thing taking the break. Like we both, it's nice to have the break because, you know, this is our passion project to help female entrepreneurs find their business support system.
But we do have our other businesses. So it is nice for the break, but I miss it.

00:00:56 - Maelisa Hall
I know it makes us sustainable for us, but it also kind of leaves you wanting a little bit more, doesn't it?

00:01:01 - Amber Hawley
I don't know if it leaves listeners wanting more, but we did. And probably too, in the middle, like in our break, we actually got to attend podcast movement and epic business failure on our part. We didn't post anything from there hardly. And we didn't do any Facebook lives or anything, but...
Because we were actually... talking to people in real life. I know. We were doing some serious IRL stuff. So it was amazing.

00:01:26 - Maelisa Hall
Not that other people weren't able to manage doing both. But I don't know. Yeah, it was like we were back to back, like meeting so many people. And it was so much fun. I still feel like I'm reeling off the high of that. But yeah, we couldn't manage...
Social media and that.

00:01:44 - Amber Hawley
So, apparently Melissa keeps saying, we need handlers when we go to things, we need somebody who's there to, well, actually, my husband keeps saying, we need handlers. You agree with him? We need a good Jay to come with us and like, Remember things, that's all.

00:01:58 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, we just need someone to be like, Okay, you're sitting there right now. Do a Facebook live exactly because it only takes like five minutes.

00:02:05 - Amber Hawley
Oh, I know. But it was great. It was so much fun. And we did record two episodes while at Podcast Movement. I know. We're really excited. So you'll be able to hear those in a few weeks. Yes. One of them is on our podcast, one on Popcorn Finance. And yeah, so it's very, very exciting.
But well, today we're actually going to talk about, you know, Melissa and I spent some time thinking about, you know, we have this framework that for having a business support system and building that out. And as you know, being therapists and in the psychology world, we understand the importance and the value of having a support system in your life, and especially as entrepreneurs, right?
Because there's so many highs and lows, you know, as we say, and so we wanted to think about like concretely, what are the elements or what are the areas of our lives that really builds up that support system, right?

And so we identified six different areas. One of them, we call this, it's the self. We're going to go through all of them, but I'm just going to list them out. So we have self, we have your biz bestie relationship, of course, the inner circle, your team, your loved ones, and your community.
So those are the six areas within our framework that we have come up with that we think make up that business support system.

00:03:23 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And basically create like a holistic picture of of what you want to have in your life in order to support you no matter what you're doing.

00:03:31 - Amber Hawley
Yes. And since we are very relationship oriented, I mean, that's what as therapists that we specialize in is relationships and we see the value of that. So we're going to go through. So the first one, the relationship with yourself, of course. So Melissa, why don't you share a little bit about what we're thinking with that?

00:03:49 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Without being... too cheesy or cliche.

00:03:54 - Amber Hawley
Please don't do that.

00:03:56 - Maelisa Hall
We'll try. Yeah. So when we think about relationship with self, this is actually of all six. Some of them I think we feel like are a little bit more important than others or maybe more relevant to the things that we talk about. And this would be one of the highest for us.

00:04:12 - Amber Hawley
And maybe it has the biggest impact.

00:04:14 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. Yeah. So it's kind of like if you're in a circle, you know, other circles radiating out from you. It all starts with the self, right? So the self would be like your personality, obviously, which we love to talk about. Why we geek out on personality tests so much.
Which we will be doing more of this season per request.

00:04:35 - Amber Hawley
Yes.

00:04:36 - Maelisa Hall
But it's, you know, your personality. It's how do you do self-care or not do self-care? Your self-esteem, your mindset, professional growth, your own mental health. So these are all aspects of yourself that... do impact your business, you know, and your business can impact those things too.
So it's really, really important that you're constantly working on those aspects of yourself in order to consistently grow as a professional.

00:05:05 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. And like you said, to make it sustainable. Yeah. So at the core of this support system is you. And then the next thing we have, if we're doing those radiating out circles is the biz bestie relationship. And obviously, this one's near and dear to our hearts.
And we see the value in this one immensely. And having that close person who really understands the challenges of business. And we've talked in many of our episodes about the values to look for and the importance of that and finding people who can give you really caring but honest feedback.
And we really go through that in depth. But we see this as a really important thing when you feel like you have that one person, at least, that you can really trust and get feedback from and support from. And there is that overlap between business and professional.

And everybody handles it different. But I think even in all the BizBestie interviews that we've done, we've really seen that there is an overlap and a caring there. Oh, for sure. For sure.

00:06:04 - Maelisa Hall
And the next one is your inner circle. So this is... that outside group. And your biz bestie is probably part of that inner circle too, but doesn't necessarily have to be. But these are other people whose opinions you value and who you would spend time with and spend focused time with.
So these could be people in a mastermind. They could be in your tribe or your squad, whatever you call that. They could be mentors. They could even be people that you collaborate with on a regular basis. But these are people... who you are close to and feel like you can share some ups and downs with.
Like maybe these are people you share a win with and they give you those virtual high fives if it's a virtual relationship. And so they know about your business, they know about your situation and they see that progress that you make.

00:06:56 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, because the inner circle are people who do know you and that doesn't have to be in real life, right? Like absolutely so many people have very connected relationships that are far apart or virtual. And I think of our group of our nine, no matter how it's structured, that's kind of how I think of that is, you know, these are people who know us and know our businesses and give that support.
And you can share those wins and know that it's in a judgment-free zone and all of that. So again, the structure can be very different because it could be a mastermind. It could be just your friends that have other businesses and whatnot. But this inner circle, these are people that there's a lot more trust there.
It's not just indiscriminately sharing this out in the world, right? So the next one that we, again, we keep going out is your team.

And this one's really valuable and super important, especially as we scale and grow our businesses. And so your team is, of course, it's employees or contractors, if you have that. It's vendors, it's consultants. It can be the people like your CPA and your lawyer and all of those other people that you...
consult with or do services for you outside of your business and support your business in reaching the goals that you have for it. It's also people you collaborate with. And so, yeah, just kind of all of those people and anybody that supports your business and has a regular impact on it.

00:08:25 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And you can check out our episode with Shelly Warren, we'll link to that, where she talks about how you can use your team as a support. That was really... Like major value bombs there. Yes. Oh, that was a great episode. From way back in season two.
All the way back.

00:08:40 - Amber Hawley
Like way, the way, way back.

00:08:43 - Maelisa Hall
And the next one is your loved ones. So these are those non-business related relationships. I don't know if that was like a double word there, but you guys, you know what I mean. Do we even care about people that aren't in our business? So these could be like your partner, right?
Your... Extended family members your friends you have that don't have a business If you're one of those people that has friends who don't have a business Um, it could be like your best friend that you grew up with Who you know is not interested in entrepreneurship at all, but you have your bestie who's not a biz bestie, right?

00:09:22 - Amber Hawley
So you're non-biz bestie. Yes Yes, you're you're non-biz bestie bestie you're bestie. Yeah Bestie non-biz. I don't know. We got to stop thinking about that one.

00:09:35 - Maelisa Hall
But the people in your life who would be there regardless of your entrepreneurship status, basically. They would just be friends. They would be people you're connecting with. And they may or may not care about your business.

00:09:47 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. And these are people, like we said, that these people are going to impact your business in the sense that if you have very connected... Carrying healthy relationships, that's just going to make you feel stronger and more supported and less stressed, so you're able to focus on your business.
But they're also the people that, you know, yeah, care about you and you first and foremost. And they're the people that will probably influence the decisions you make around what are your boundaries, around your work and your business, and, you know, boundaries?
Hashtag don't like that. Hashtag no boundaries. But yeah, they're the people that you say like, okay, I want to build this online business to have the freedom in my life because I want to spend more time with these people. Or, you know, my family stresses me out.

I'm not saying me, but like some people are like my family stresses me out and I want to work a ton. So yes, obviously not me. the best family ever.

00:10:46 - Maelisa Hall
And I will say I am also just coming off a vacation, went from podcast movement to vacation. And it was like a real vacation where I didn't do business stuff during vacation, because usually that's what ends up happening. And it was really like I came back ready and feeling so much more refreshed.
and really was able to enjoy that time with my family. I was visiting family I hadn't seen in a while and then other families I see all the time. But I think it's easy for me, I have a little bit of workaholism, to think that I love my business so much and it's so much fun that, oh, well, it's just fun so I can do this all the time.
And then you forget how much more enriched your life is when you do have that variety. It was really, really good for me to connect with that side of it.

Yes. having those people and having that time, like extended time away from all of that was really, really amazing.

00:11:41 - Amber Hawley
And I can attest that she really did dip out because I had to leave stressed out messages to the void because I swear to God, shit, it was hitting the fan. And it was probably not big stuff, but it was just, you know, those normal things that I could just be like, oh my gosh, can you believe blah, blah, blah.
And if anybody listened to our last episode of last season, My arch nemesis has reared his ugly head and he was throwing down and irritating me beyond anything. So I needed someone to calm me down and it was not happening. So I got to tell you, I think that if you have a biz bestie that you're super close with, that you should just coordinate your vacations.

00:12:23 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah.

00:12:23 - Amber Hawley
I know, right? Vacation at the same time. Let's do a planning calendar for that. Yes, yes. None of your family members are allowed to get married unless mine are, okay? Yes. And last but not least, your community. And the community, I think when people think about business and networking, this is really what they think about.
And that's why we're saying there's all these other parts that play into that. But this one is important. It's just that bigger one. And so we think of this as networking, going to conferences, meetups. It can be, again, collaborations. It's your referral sources.
It's people you refer to. And I feel like it can be your clients in some ways to your community, your tribe, whatever people want to call it. But I feel like as you build your community, you feel very connected to people.

And there's a lot of diversity and a lot of support. And it's really wonderful. And at the same time, if... There's not often a depth in that, and of course, there's varying degrees based on people, right? But that's the thing where. If we're looking at it as you start with the self and you're going out, there's like more of a depth in that relationship.
And you know, there's probably more time being invested in those earlier, you know, inner circle relationships, ideally in the self. Yes, people aren't so good at that, especially women. But yeah, the community is still super important. And I know personally, just being somebody who really enjoys being with people, and I love networking, and I love just connecting with people.
This is the part that really gets me going. It makes me so happy. And I love meeting new people and hearing their stories.

And it is an important part of your business support system. Absolutely.

00:14:09 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And this is where I think you have a brick and mortar business, right? You have a local office, and that's really... important for you to connect with other local businesses because referrals are based on where people live. And so for a lot of business owners, that's really important.
And that's where I think you hear people getting involved in different things like community projects or- Charity events. Fairs, charity events. Yeah. Maybe you do like Chamber of Commerce stuff. All of that can have a lot of impact. And it's kind of like you're casting that wide net on the community and then maybe some of those community people become part of your inner circle, right?
Maybe then, maybe your biz bestie is in there and maybe not, you know? I mean, it all kind of intertwines, but.

00:14:51 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, and I know we've touched on these things before, but that's the thing. I think of that community, they can still be people you really care about and are very close to, but probably the frequency or depth in which you're connecting is different. And again, that varies person to person because I think of people in my network that I genuinely love and care for.
And when I see them, I just, like there's a lot of fun and connection and sharing and authenticity and support for one another. And it's just though that as you go in, you have, you know, a different kind of relationship in those circles. But here's the thing, you need that extended circle because it also, if you're only in this small little circle, you're limiting kind of the input, you're limiting your growth.
You're limiting a lot. So it is important, I think, to find the balance of that.

So this is why, again, we feel like these are really important. Every circle is important. I just think it's about kind of the level or the depth of it.

00:15:46 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And you'll spend time in each of these areas, maybe like different amounts of time in each of these areas at different points in your business or different points in your life. So like if you just had a baby and loved ones are probably a bigger part, you know, maybe than other times, right?
And, you know, it's going to vary. But that is something that we want to challenge you with today. So as you're thinking about these six areas, self, biz bestie, inner circle, team, loved ones, and community, and as you were listening to us talk about what they are, which one do you feel needs the most nurturing?
Which one feels like it might be lacking? or which one feels like I need to focus on that. Like that's an area I need to be better about growing in.

00:16:29 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. And so we would love to hear from you and to hear what is the one part where, you know, there might even feel like there's a couple areas that are lacking, but where would you maybe get the biggest impact from? So if you focused on that thing. Now, granted, if you're saying like, I don't have a biz bestie, sometimes it's like, then you got to go to that outer circle.
Maybe, I mean, your inner circle first, if you have it and nobody's the right fit there, Then you go to that community because all of these kind of filter down as well, right? And so, you know, there might be, it depends which one you focus on just kind of depends on what you're needing and where you're at.
But the cool thing is we have categorized all of our podcast episodes on our website into these six different areas. So you can say like, hey, I want more support around my team or more support around how to cultivate an inner circle.

You can go to our website, click on the inner circle tag, and you will get all of our episodes related to that.

00:17:31 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And you can use the search feature that we have in there now. We have seriously upped our game, folks.

00:17:37 - Amber Hawley
We are upping it. Yeah. And we are going to continue to up it. It's going to be amazing.

00:17:43 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. So what we'd love to do is for you to tell us which area you really want to focus on. And so we want to hear it and how we want to hear it because you're like, well, I'm listening to you on a podcast. So how do I hear that? Well, there's this thing called the internet.
So... If you go to mybizbestie.com and go to this episode page, and we will link to that in the show notes or wherever it is you're listening. So just click there and then leave a comment on that episode page and tell us what is the area you will be nurturing because we really want to hear it.
And we also want to help keep you accountable and encourage you to take this action to Because I know when I've done things like this, it really does help you focus on it more, right? Because even just taking that five minutes, five minutes, people.

00:18:32 - Amber Hawley
Putting it out there, writing it down. But because we love you so much and value that you took time to listen to this episode, even though there was a little snark in it. If you go to that podcast episode page and you comment on it with the area that you would like to focus on, We are going to be choosing four comments at random and giving them Natalie McNeil's Conquer Your Year Planner, which I know this is still September, but I don't know about you biz people, but biz ladies, but I am like living in 2019 already.
So it's the perfect thing to start your planning and to get set up for 2019.

00:19:13 - Maelisa Hall
Well, and that planner is not based on a yearly. It's set up for a year. But it does not have dates in it. True story. So if you're one of those people who feels like this is a ramp up time, which for a lot of people it is because summer tends to be slower, then you can start using it now.

00:19:32 - Amber Hawley
Absolutely. And so, yes, we want to hear because we want to support you. And it'd also be nice for us to know where are people struggling or where are the deficits people are feeling and see that. But additionally, we want to hook you up with some planners.
And they are awesome. So please do head on over and comment and hopefully you'll win. Yes.

00:19:54 - Maelisa Hall
So we're excited to hear it. We'll be checking all of those out. We'll be making that announcement on Monday, September 10th. So keep an eye out there too.

00:20:02 - Amber Hawley
Woohoo! Season three!