Megan Yelaney: [00:00:00] There’s four different approaches I usually talk about, but I’m sure there’s many, many others. You take more of a mindset approach. Do you take more of a strategic approach? Do you take more of a spiritual approach? And how does that affect your client’s results? When they come to you with a problem, are you immediately going into data analysis and you have that strategic angle?

So even just those two things, if you stopped right there. Your approach and your story are immediately gonna make you a little distinct. Right?

Jade Boyd: Welcome to the Business Edit Podcast, a podcast about redefining productivity for the modern woman in business and finding ways to work smarter, not harder in business and life. I’m your host, Jade Boyd, an MBA business minimalist and productivity coach. I help overwhelmed business owners simplify and feel their service-based businesses by doing less but better.

I help my clients create business. Minimalist strategies and systems that allow them to pursue ambitious goals while working at a human pace. On this podcast, we’ll explore simple ways to grow your business with a life [00:01:00] first approach. If you’re ready to scale your business, bring order to chaos, ditch the busy work, and spend more time living your life than managing your life, you’ve come to the right place.

Welcome to the Business Edit Podcast.

Welcome to the show Megan.

Megan Yelaney: Hi. Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Jade Boyd: Yeah, I am so excited. I have so many questions. If you haven’t listened to Megan’s podcast, we will definitely link it and you need to hop over there because you have so many good episodes and I’m really excited to kind of dig into your story. This podcast is, we talk about scaling a business a lot, and you’ve scaled your coaching business to seven figures and help other business owners do the same.

And so I wanna start by, you know, for those who don’t know you or your journey yet, can you just share a little bit about what brought you to where you are today in business? And specifically I would love to dig into in 2019 when you five Xed your income in one year. Like what did that journey look like for you and when was that pivotal moment when you kind of hit that trajectory of scaling in your own [00:02:00] business?

Megan Yelaney: Oh, I love it. I love that you gave me a specific point ’cause it could be a very long journey. So I’ll give the cliff notes journey of before then. I went to school actually for marketing which is funny ’cause then I moved to LA to do film, tv, and theater. I. So I was like, my marketing degree, we’re not gonna use that anymore.

And quickly realized the starving artist life was not for me. I love musical theater. I grew up doing it, but I don’t need to do it to make money to be happy. And it’s just a really tough life. So I said, you know, I’m gonna do something different. So I was cocktail waitressing while I was still performing just for fun.

And I started a business with a network marketing company, which was Beachbody. They’re no longer a network marketing company, but that was like my first foray into business and into the online world. And after a few years, built that up to a six figure business and was like, whoa, this is incredible.

Like you can make money online. And I was able to travel and, and just so many cool opportunities. But like a lot of people I think in network marketing who are like really true serial entrepreneurs, I felt very limited and just stuck with what I could sell [00:03:00] and I just had learned so much. So I want really wanted to branch out.

And I did in 2017, I started my own health coaching business and quickly realized the success I had in network marketing and what I loved about it wasn’t the health part, like I liked that part and it was a part of my life, but it wasn’t what I was meant to help others with. It was really the business part, the leadership, the messaging, the social media aspect.

That’s what I loved, and again, kind of went back to my roots in college of the marketing degree I got and, and really, really enjoyed it. Always loved consumer behavior, why people buy what they buy and how they buy and, and all that. And so quickly pivoted about six months later into business coaching. It felt like a very natural pivot because I was actually doing it behind the scenes for a program I was coaching in.

And then a lot of those people ended up hiring me as a one-on-one. And so I kind of had this roster of clients like secretly. And I loved it. I just was like promoting this fitness coaching and then secretly doing the business, loving that so much more and knowing this is really where I thrive and I’m way more qualified and [00:04:00] way more just different and, and unique right in, in what I do.

I like have something there that I, I can really help people with. So went all in on that in 2018 and honestly, ever since, it’s been amazing. But in 2019, to answer your question about that pivotal moment, I realized I actually had kind of a pre pivotal moment in 2017. I realized like what actually helped my, my fitness coaching grow, ’cause it still did grow. I just. Realized I was meant to do something else. It was really sharing who I am truly to my core and not just posting the booty selfies that a lot of people do in the fitness world, or at least back then. That was the thing, which is so funny that that’s gonna be the reason people hire you.

But I was very good at following directions and you know, success leaves clues and I, there was one video that really took off for me where I recorded myself trying to get one of these ridiculous poses. ’cause you were supposed to record yourself and then take a screenshot of the best pose. And use that for your post.

And I was watching the video back, I was at my friend Brian’s house. His cat was [00:05:00] like jumping up and down around me. It was hysterical. And it’s like, I’m, I’m going, oh, this hurts. And I, I can’t believe I have to twist my body this way. It was so ridiculous. So I just posted the video and I made fun of it.

And I’m like, why do we think that this is what we need to do to get, like, this is so crazy that I’m doing this. This is so inauthentic. If this is how I have to get clients, I’m not doing this anymore. I don’t want to. It ended up going viral. I ended up getting a bunch of clients and then going, all right, I need to do a business coaching.

This isn’t my jam anymore. But it was really like. Oh wow. Me making fun of something, calling something out that was true to me. Showing my quirky side, showing this fun side and not this like picture perfect fitness person, ’cause that was so not who I was. That really unleashed a lot and that created this, the brands that I have today.

And so it really just changed everything. And so I kind of applied that same thinking to the business aspect. And in 2019, I think the reason that everything took off for me was I really dove into who I was, my unique method, and instead of trying to [00:06:00] like hit an income goal, to be quite honest I really said, how can I serve as many people as possible this year and take the same essential framework, but use it in different offers. Meaning I had a group program that walked through exactly the process I took my clients through, but just in a group format, right? And then I had a mastermind that was kind of like a higher level version of the, of the framework, but still a lot of the same concepts being yourself, developing your unique method, identifying what your framework is and how your business model weaves around that.

And then I had a membership and so I had these different offers at different price points for people. And because of that, it created a lot of really good monthly recurring revenue. I had all different levels of clients, people going from one offer into the next, and that’s I think, what really five Xed it was the setup of that. But the next thing that really did is I kept my blinders on. And that is like a year that I constantly, even now, especially in this new motherhood season, [00:07:00] I go back and I’m like, I need to get back to that, that mode, because I wasn’t paying attention to what everyone else was doing, and I was very naive.

I’m sure you know what I mean, when you’re like, in those beginning stages, I didn’t, I didn’t set an income goal. I didn’t understand what these like goals were to hit. Like people were saying, hitting a six figure launch, hitting a six figure month, hitting all these things. I didn’t like know what that really meant.

I just was helping people and creating offers I loved, and I think that laser focus and I truly was not paying attention to what other people were doing majorly helped me skyrocket. I wasn’t distracted. I didn’t go, oh no, she, she’s doing that. I should try that and, and jump around and like, stop, you know, the plan I was doing and jump into comparison. I really was like only comparing myself to me. And that’s something that I’m even now trying to get back to even more. So. So I know that was kind of, you know, a, a fast version of it, but I hope that answered your question.

Jade Boyd: No, that’s so good. And I love how you pointed out that, you know, the emphasis on that goal is not necessarily the most [00:08:00] important thing because everyone has, you know, similar goals, right? But it doesn’t matter if you can set a goal, it matters if you know how to get there. And naturally you just focus on the things that actually drove results and without even having a goal, you hit milestones that a lot of the other business owners were like pouring over, you know, and figuring out how to make it happen.

And so coming back to this principle of distinctive edge, I want you to talk a little bit more about what does that mean to have a distinctive edge? Is it really just being yourself or is there something a little bit more to it?

Megan Yelaney: Yeah, for sure. There is a little bit more to it. I mean, at the core of it, it’s how can you stand out as yourself on social media in a way that’s marketable, in the way that’s viable? And people are like, oh my gosh, you’re gonna go on my dream coach board, my dream service provider board. I have to hire you.

Right? And it’s kind of a combination. So there’s a few pieces to really developing your distinctive edge. The first is, what is your core story? And it’s interesting, I’ll go through this with clients and you think, oh, your story is simple. I actually went through this in a, with a client in my past round of this, and we realized as we’re going through a [00:09:00] story, I’m like, wait, how come you haven’t shared this piece of it?

’cause the way I kind of ask the questions, it has them really go back and look at all the expertise and credentials they have and what their lived experience is that makes them so qualified. And I said, why is this not your main focus and your niche? She basically helps people become fitness professionals without using social media because she has this like really great networking system and she never talks about that.

I’m like, wait, everyone’s teaching social media and this is something that your people want, right? So just from looking at her story, we realize this is something that makes you so distinct that we’re not. Talking about, so your story is a huge driver.

What’s your approach to your coaching or to your service?

There’s four different approaches I usually talk about, but I’m sure there’s many, many others. You take more of a mindset approach. Do you take more of a strategic approach? Do you take more of a spiritual approach? And how does that affect your client’s results? When they come to you with a problem, are you immediately going into data analysis and you have that strategic angle?

So even just [00:10:00] those two things, if you stopped right there. Your approach and your story are immediately gonna make you a little distinct. Right? Then we go layer deep with adding in your personality. So if you are quirky, if you are funny, if you are serious, if you are kind of have a dry humor or you are luxury, like whatever that is to you, weaving that in and not hiding it.

And I think I, I’m very happy that we’re in this mode, but back in the day it was very curated. It was very put up, have a beautiful feed, and now people, authenticity is like in, it’s like cool to be authentic, which is great. I’m so glad. But we were kind of doing it before it was like, cool, if you will.

And I would say to my clients, like, I hop on a call with you and I see a version of you that the internet doesn’t see, like why don’t they see this? And we start to take some of those personality traits and weave it in and create some specific content pieces like series that they can be known for, that people are like, they’re, they think of them outside of Instagram or outside of whatever social platform they’re at the grocery store and something makes ’em think of them because [00:11:00] of a shared hobby or interest. And that doesn’t necessarily relate right to your offer, but it keeps you top of mind and all your other content that’s like, you know, around what you help people do and the problem you solve that also supports that.

And so those are three big pieces. And then the last big piece, there’s more to it, but these are like the four core, is your framework. What are the steps that you take clients through to see a result? What are from the second they enter to the end, and how is that process, like the missing link for your people?

I notice when I go through this work with people, that’s probably the biggest aha. ’cause they all think I don’t have a framework or I do, but it’s very similar to other people. And when we really dive in, it’s like, oh, this is the missing link. That is the reason my clients get all these results. Right? So for me, it’s this phase.

People skip this and they just go right to. What are the problems I’m solving? What are the results? I’m getting people, okay, let me post about that. And then they sound like everyone else talking to those same problems and same results, you know? So that’s like the distinctive edge, is that combo of those four things, putting that into [00:12:00] content.

Jade Boyd: Okay. I love this and I definitely wanna dig a little bit further into each of these, but my first thing that I wanna talk about is personality wise. I’m sure that you work with a lot of clients who struggle and like when they’re on camera they just freeze up or like really can’t be themselves. What advice do you give people who are really struggling to show up as themselves either because of fear of what other people think, or just lack of practice or whatever that might be?

Megan Yelaney: For sure. It’s kind of twofold. One, I mean, even myself, I have a theater background and when I first went live, I deleted it. I was so terrified. Like I think it’s just scary ’cause you’re, you’re yourself and you’re not, I’m hiding behind a character, right? Which is really easy to do. So I think no matter what, introvert, extrovert, it’s still a little nerve wracking.

So I would say even if you’re introverted, even if you’re like, I don’t like being on camera, you, you are gonna have to do things in your business you don’t wanna do. I’m just gonna be honest about it. Right? And I do believe you don’t have to use video all the time to have success. I know plenty of people who don’t have video as their main main platform. They might have audio like a podcast. They might have [00:13:00] regular carousel posts or reels or whatever it is that are their more B-roll. So I’m not saying you have to constantly do face to camera. If you are a business that coaches people face to camera, if you’re actually live with people, there’s this trust that you can’t replicate when they see your face, if they’re gonna hire you as a human.

You know what I mean? And you’re not just a brand unless you do like done for you work, that’s a little bit different. But if you’re an active coach, I really recommend just, you need to kind of like rip the bandaid and start small. Share like one piece of your story, like I just said, a 60 second video or 60 second story.

Hop on Instagram and say, you know, there was this one time back in the day and pick your pivotal moment. What is, what is that thing that changed, that made you go, I need to start this business and just share that little pivotal moment. Like I was thinking about the the, when I started my business and I realized it was this time where whatever that was, right?

And so you could just share that catalyst. Just start with that, and that’s it. What’s your pivotal moment? Why did you start your business or whatever, you know, whatever business [00:14:00] you have, why did you start your health journey? Why did you start your relationship journey, whatever it is. And so kind of rip that bandaid in the, in the sense.

The other thing I’ve told clients, and I don’t know if this is good or bad advice, but it’s just what’s helped them is you can delete anything. You can delete anything. And I don’t know why, for me, I deleted my first live video. I don’t recommend doing it necessarily, but I think we get so nervous, like it’s permanent.

I mean, yeah, I guess technically it is. It’s out in the inner webs, but you can always go and delete your story. You can delete your live, you can delete the post. And I think just knowing that, it’s like, okay, just get it out there. Do your best not to, but at least it gets you going ’cause that’s the hardest thing.

You’re not gonna build up that confidence on video if you don’t start right. I’ve had clients who identify as very introverted. I’m actually on the cusp of an outgoing introvert, right? And so I, energy wise, I definitely recharge by myself, but I realized I still need to put myself out there and be on video.

And so even if it’s just like once a day, you go once a day, I’m gonna try to do one thing face to camera and I can always delete it if I [00:15:00] need to. That just helps you kind of get that out there and, and be a little bit more confident. I hope that that helps a little

Jade Boyd: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and you can record it and not post it too. Just getting in the practice of showing up and recording things and I mean, yes, social media, video, audio, but also I think even writing, like writing captions and writing email. I often find myself being like, oh, should I say what I really think about this, this, you know, it might rub people the wrong way, but just to be in the practice of even writing it, even if you don’t send it, that is such a good and helpful tip, like baby steps in the right direction.

Megan Yelaney: baby steps. Exactly. Yeah.

Jade Boyd: Okay, so coming back, there’s these four things and they create your distinctive edge. I wanna dig a little bit more into the messaging of like, okay, I know, I know my story, I know my framework, I know, my distinctive edge, like I have clarity there, but also turning that into messaging can feel really difficult of like, okay, but how do I put that on a sales page? How do I put that on my about page? How do I write an email and create this messaging that actually resonates and sticks [00:16:00] out? What tips do you have? I know you have a framework around this too, and a blueprint that you follow.

Megan Yelaney: A hundred percent. It’s very meta. I was just working on this with clients literally an hour ago and, and a call. So it’s very top of mind for me. ’cause we’re in that phase where we’re implementing now all the stuff that they did. So I think the easiest way, the best anchor is really your story and the way I teach it is you wanna have your story, not just share like, oh, here was my before here was what happened that helped me get to my after, and here’s my after. I think that’s how a lot of people do it and it’s, there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you just say that and you don’t talk about how your process was developed, the expertise you have, the mission you have, then they might look at you just more as inspiration.

I notice when people post those kinds of stories, they get, you’re so inspiring. Oh my gosh. And that’s it. And they’re like, dammit, why didn’t anyone sign up? I just had a client use this process, which I’ll definitely give you the link for. It’s a free blueprint on how to map out your story, and she got nine client inquiries last week [00:17:00] from, from this one post.

It’s because it doesn’t just help them see themselves in her story, which is important, it also shows where she developed her framework. She talks about her framework and how her mission now and what she does with clients is tenfold because of this. So it doesn’t just leave you at, here’s my before, here’s my after.

But it really has, in that middle it positions you and I can walk through that process if, if that’s helpful too.

Jade Boyd: I think we’ll point people to the free resource and get all the nitty gritty so they can, they can put it into practice for themselves. But that’s really helpful and coming back to like that unique method, I think a lot of service providers especially are like, what do you mean method? I just like show up to calls and I talk to people and then they get results.

I don’t have a method, but I know you have a process for pulling this out of people. And I’ve heard you talk about this on a podcast before and I think it was a really great aha moment for me, and I would love for you to share that because I do agree, like it’s so important to have that methodology. Not only to get people [00:18:00] results, but also to be able to talk about what you do in a way that’s not like, oh, just show up to calls and promise me like I will get you results. It’s just magical how that happens, but actually being able to tell them, this is what we do.

Megan Yelaney: exactly. And just to even relate to your last question, this can literally be a piece of content, a piece of content that’s pinned to your page. If it’s, let’s say an Instagram or a regular email you send out is. The reason my clients get such great results, and then you can list out your method. So you’re hooking them in or you should specify what the result is, right?

Say whatever that result is, 10 x their income, lose 10 pounds, whatever that is. And then you walk them through the process. Because like you said, people aren’t gonna hire you because you say, trust me, or it depends. That’s a big answer I hear. Like, oh, well, it just depends. They’re not gonna, especially it’s high ticket, they’re not gonna fork over a lot of money for, it depends.

They need like something I think the fine line here. You don’t wanna overexplain your process because that’s also where you can get a little lost in the weeds. ’cause at the end of the day, they are buying the transformation and you as the facilitator [00:19:00] of the transformation. But I think the biggest thing here is what are the mini wins they have along the way.

So just to kind of map out the process. Very simple. One of the first things that you do with your client, that’s gonna be your step one. They come into your offer, they sign up, they pay, what do you do first?

Right? What’s that first step? It might be an intake form, it might be a clarity call. It might be them tracking something for a week. I. A lot of health coaches I work with have their clients track food for a week, right? And even that first step, there’s gonna be some kind of clarity. There’s gonna be some kind of mini win that they have.

So don’t discount that because it’s not gonna be necessarily the big transformation, obviously, but it’s gonna be something that makes ’em go, okay, I did that. I checked that box, right? People just like to know they’re moving forward. And so at the end of that phase, I want you to ask yourself, what will they know by the end of this phase?

What will they be able to do by the end of this phase? What action can they take? And how will they feel? And then in that, when you write those out, look at those three answers and go, what’s a mini transformation based on these three that they have? [00:20:00] Right? So they’ll, for example, for mine, at the end of phase one, they’re gonna know what makes them different.

They’re gonna know what makes their process unique and their story unique. They’re gonna be able to put that into a story post. They’re gonna be able to start explaining it. And go, Hey, here’s my process. Here’s how I’m different. They’re gonna feel so confident in their uniqueness, they’re gonna feel so confident, and here’s why you should hire me over someone else.

That alone, we’re not even into the content piece yet, but that alone is like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Right? We haven’t gotten to the sales portion, but that’s still right there, they know in two, usually it’s a two week process. In two weeks, I’m gonna start to get that clarity. That’s amazing. And so then you move on to Great.

Now after this mini win, what’s the next step that you take them to? You do the same thing. No. Do feel, what’s the next step? And I always recommend don’t do more than five steps. I personally have three. But I always say, try to keep it around five. I’ve had a client or two go to six or go to two. And it just, you know, it kind of depends on, on what they’re doing.

If you can make it work fine, but three to five so that you’re not [00:21:00] overwhelming your audience. And if you have, I know a big question I get. Is if you have a offer that has modules already, let’s say with like eight modules in your program, and you’re like, well, I have eight pieces in my framework. Look at those and go, which are kind of clustered together because you probably can make those eight into five or eight into even three.

Like for mine, I have content pillars, content calendar deepening the emotion perspective shifting content. All of that is in phase two, which is content mastery. So I could say those are three separate frameworks, but they’re really all in that one main topic. So it’s like a main topic and subtopic.

And then the second question I get a lot when talking about frameworks is I have a one-on-one offer. So how is it every, every client’s different again? Yes. And you probably follow more of a process than you realize. The difference is you might have a client enter your one-on-one who you can almost skip to phase two with them because they’ve kind of mastered phase one.

Great. So you’re just starting ’em at phase two, but you can explain, still explain the process so much more [00:22:00] confidently when you have it mapped out like that. Does that make

Jade Boyd: Yeah, so I would love for you to kind of walk through an example of what it would look like to scale this, because I do feel like this can be a turning point for business owners, especially service providers who are like I, I can’t scale what I do, like I have to be one-on-one with somebody because I don’t have the process, you know, it’s not documented.

I just talk to people and we work things through, and that in itself is not scalable, but I think there is a power to be had. When you have that thing documented, you can repurpose it in a lot of different formats, like you talked about having different levels and serving people at different levels. So can you walk us through like, what does this look like?

Megan Yelaney: for sure. And that’s exactly what I did in 2019. Like I literally said, okay. I actually started with one-on-one. And I kept saying, okay, I’m working with very similar clients, even if they’re at slightly different stages, I’m kind of walking through the same process. And so I just started to write that down.

I went, okay, what’s the first thing I usually do with them once they’ve mastered this? What’s the next phase? Exactly what we just kind of mapped out. I said, great. So this is that process of one-on-one. How can I make this into a group? Because exactly I was capped. I was like, I can’t scale, I wanna [00:23:00] make more.

What do I do? And I wanna make it more accessible. Not everyone can afford one-on-one or needs one-on-one. And so I put it into a group format and I had the different phases and underneath each phase I had multiple videos. And for me, for access for learning, I usually like to make the video shorter and just more of them.

I find that’s like a little bit better for most people than their learning style. Everyone’s a little bit different, obviously. And I would like map out, okay, what are the main topics that I go through with my clients verbally or on each call? And let’s just brain dump because like you said, we think that we do something different all the time, but you’re gonna find a lot of the same things over and over. And for this, if this is your first iteration of your group, just pick what’s essential. I know we wanna pick like everything. We’re like, well, and I wanna give them this and this and this. What is essential to get to the result? Don’t overstuff it.

That’s a huge mistake I made in the beginning for sure. You’re just gonna overwhelm them. Right? And so put the essential steps and then you can put these, those other things as like bonuses or as they’re asking [00:24:00] for it. I literally just did this in my program. Now I started to add some bonuses as people were asking, and I’m like, that’s in the, within the scope.

So yeah, I feel good about adding that as a bonus, but it would’ve distracted if it was part of the core curriculum and it wouldn’t have helped them move through it fast enough. So you map out your group, you basically take that process we just went through that you’re doing with your one-on-ones. You put it into a group format and you test it.

And I think that’s a big thing is. We, we think it has to be perfect. Don’t record everything up front. Record it as you go, like sell it and then create it. And you’re gonna test it and test it and test it. My group program, my first one that I did in 20, I think it was 2018, at the end of 2018, beginning of 2019 is when I first started. I sold it at the end of 2018. I mean, it evolved so much. It had a different name. It had different modules after three, four years of running it. Like it really evolved. The first round did not look like the last round, so just remember that like don’t be so tied to it. But that’s one way.

Same framework as my one-on-one, moving it to a group. And then I did the same thing with the [00:25:00] Mastermind. So I said, okay, great. Now that I have this process, this framework, I have people who are slightly past this level. So how can I like advance the curriculum? What are like next step conversations?

Almost like a continuation offer, if you will, that I can create advanced curriculum or just have advanced conversations if I don’t need to like create videos or anything like that. And that’ll be the continuation for people who are already in my world. So that can add on a multi monthly recurring revenue, you can keep people going, extend the lifetime value of your client.

And then the fourth way I did that same year was I did like a downsell from the from the group program. So anyone who is like, that’s even a stretch, or maybe it’s their first investment and they’re like I just need to dip my toe. And so it could be a course, it could be a membership, but something low ticket where they get a taste of your process maybe in more self-paced form.

So you can take those videos that you have for your group program and sell it as a course. I personally don’t recommend doing this all at once. I really recommend focusing on one at a time. So like. [00:26:00] Go at your group maybe for, for six months, even to a year, and like nail that down, get that going, and then introduce that low ticket and then introduce that higher ticket, whichever order.

I don’t think it really truly matters. It just depends on what the need is for your audience and your offer. But that’s kind of how you can essentially have the same thing you’re teaching just at slightly different levels and really different access to you. It’s like self-paced versus coaching versus one-on-one.

Jade Boyd: Mm-hmm. So we, this is the. Signature framework, and I think that’s different from unique coaching method. Right. So I might have asked the wrong question there because I did wanna dig into Signature framework, but I also am curious what is the unique coaching method and how is that different?

Megan Yelaney: So your unique coaching method is really, it’s phase one of this distinctive edge process. So it’s, it’s what we kind of talked about with the combination of your story and your personality and your unique framework, all of that together, that is your unique method. Does that make sense? I kind of overlap those words Where in phase, phase one of my process is called unique method.

Phase two is content [00:27:00] mastery, put it into your content. And phase three is go sell it. So in phase one, we’re establishing what your unique method is, which ends up becoming like, that’s your edge. That’s your distinctive edge.

Jade Boyd: It’s the combination of all of it.

Megan Yelaney: Exactly. Yeah,

Jade Boyd: Got it. So I am also curious, I know that you considered at some point I mean posts scaling your business, now we’re in 2025 for anybody listening in the future, but you’re obviously past scaling your business and your business has evolved since then. But you also recently became a mom, a first time mom of twins, no less.

And I know that there is a time after becoming a mom that you’re like, man, should I even do business anymore or should I drop this on my husband to make money now and get out of this? And I would love to know like what that process looked like for you, because I think it’s relatable to a lot of moms, especially first time moms who are now figuring out how to be a business owner and a mom at the same time. I can raise my hand with that one, but also like what brought you to the other side and actually led to you keeping your business for it being sustainable for this new season of [00:28:00] life.

Megan Yelaney: Oh my gosh, that’s a good question. I’ve been talking about this a lot lately. I started like a private podcast and just for moms and just like venting about it essentially, and just going, here’s what’s actually happening. Because I just think a lot of times, at least the people I saw. They were sharing all the wins and all the highs, and, and I was like, wait, why isn’t it working out like that for me?

Like, what’s happening? And I think the thing that like not scared me and not to scare anyone else, I just wanna be honest about it. I had a team, I had processes, I had systems. And I still felt so lost when I came back. I was like, who am I? What am I doing? So yeah, that season I came back after two months and when I say came back very lightly, like one call a week, two calls a week, like very, very little bit of work.

But even that, I think I just first didn’t give myself enough time. I personally thought think I needed like three to four months of maternity leave. So everyone’s different. And it depends on what kind of work you’re doing. Mine was coaching still, so it still was a lot of effort and energy and I think the biggest piece though, where I felt really lost was [00:29:00] I was like really sick of the topic I was talking about.

I was like, mm. This isn’t it anymore? Like it just, it wasn’t any of this. I mean, it was a little bit of this, this has always kind of been what I’ve been doing with my higher level clients, but as far as like the entry offer and all of that, it just felt like there’s more than this.

And every time I was away from my babies and I was working, I was just like, I hate this. This is not what I wanna do. If I’m gonna be away from them, it has to be worth it. It’s gotta be something I’m excited about, and that’s bringing in money, you know, not just one or the other. And so I then took more time off.

I said to my husband, I literally said, "Hey, I don’t know if I want my business anymore," which I didn’t admit until later in the year, but once I did, so many moms said to me, "oh my God, I thought the same thing." So I think it’s like a quite common experience that we just don’t talk about as much. And it’s, ’cause you’re in this phase where your number one job is to be a mom.

That’s why people have maternity leaves. That’s why entrepreneurs, we have this weird thing. We feel like we’re on [00:30:00] maternity leave, but are we, ’cause we’re kind of still tethered to our business in a way. It’s weird, you know, I’m very grateful for it. But I’m also like, man, I wish I could have just like clocked out fully, like some of my friends who had nine to fives, you know?

And so once I came back and then realized I needed more time, he said, okay. He started his business again. Which was exactly what was meant to happen because he really wanted to. And so it was kind of that excuse for him to get going. It’s actually been a year now that we’re recording, which is kind of cool.

Took two more months off and really just said, what truly do I wanna do with my time when I’m working, when I’m coaching clients? What is something that lights me up? And also what is something that this market needs? And I think that’s what was also really tripping me up is, you know, the market just changed so much. So not only did I come back going, I don’t really love what I’m talking about, it wasn’t really resonating. It wasn’t really hitting. I was like, something’s missing. Like what is happening?

And so it forced me to take that time and go, what do I really wanna do? What do I know works? What works in this new market? And studying it and and figuring it out. And that space and time [00:31:00] really did help me figure out, okay, this is what I need to do next. I will say. I understand not everyone can necessarily do that, right?

I had savings, I had stuff saved up, so I knew that I could do that, and I still had some recurring income coming in from clients and things that I already had booked, but I wasn’t like front facing, pushing a lot at the time. So one of the things that I really recommend, and I’ve worked on with a lot of clients who prep for maternity leave even before I was a mom, is having a launch one or two before if, if you do a launch method, if you do like a launch process with your, with your programs before you give birth so that you can have a cash injection and then if you can set up something evergreen, amazing so that you can have something coming in that’s a low lift obviously leaning on your team during that time. But I just think overall like giving yourself grace, that you’re gonna feel really wonky ’cause your identity is totally shifted.

Your number one identity now is not a business owner, it’s a mom. And so it’s gonna just feel a little jarring and that’s what I struggled with the most was the identity piece for sure.

Jade Boyd: So like you said, you had the team, you had the [00:32:00] systems in place. How does your business look different to make this sustainable for what you want to be as a mom? Like how you wanna show up for your family and your kids and balancing business in this like new era.

Megan Yelaney: One of the things I really had to change was the structure of my coaching and the like, the service and how I, how I really serve my clients. So I moved from, I still do calls with clients, but I moved from like very heavy call focus to like half the amount and doing more material reviews and behind the scenes kind of work, then I have to be on a call at this time.

I should have done that way earlier. I think it just serves everyone, honestly. Don’t wait until you have a baby to do that. You don’t need to. But also I started to structure my days differently, so I started to go, like today’s, for example, besides our, our episode, it’s a client service day. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are all client focused.

So I don’t feel like I have to work on a sales page I’m creating. I don’t have to work on emails, like nothing for myself. It’s just serving my clients and I [00:33:00] know that. And so then Fridays and Mondays, and I still do a little bit of work on the weekends too, ’cause I don’t, I work like four or five hours a day.

I don’t work a full day. It’s all my business. So I know, okay, that’s the time I have for me and this is the time I have for clients. ’cause I think that’s a really big balance that I was struggling with. Right When I started to take clients again. I was like, how am I supposed to market and serve? I had all the time in the world before then.

It was easy to do it, you know? And even though I have people helping me, I still am doing the creating. I’m still doing the writing. I tried to outsource that and it. It didn’t really work and it was a waste of money, honestly. So I’m like, I don’t wanna do that again. You can’t outsource some of that part, you know, that’s like, so you, and so now I have separate client service days, creation days and even just like planning days, like admin kind of stuff and then meetings with team and all that, that compartmentalization, I don’t know why I didn’t do that before, but that has been so helpful. And I would say, besides the. Changing the structure from lots of calls to more material reviews is setting better boundaries with clients too. [00:34:00] Setting that expectation that I don’t need to reply right then and there. And even within 24 hours, if it’s like a something I have to look over and have a little bit more brain space and they message me on a 4:00 PM I’m probably not gonna get to it till the next morning.

And if it’s something that takes a little bit more brain space, maybe even a couple days, and so I give myself that three day if it’s something that I have to like sit down and review. Right. And again, I didn’t have that before. It was like they’re private clients, so they have to get everything right away.

They, they don’t have to have everything right away. They’re gonna be so more than happy if you give them those expectations upfront. And now it’s really cool because they love it. They love these boundaries because they go, okay, I wanna make sure I get this done by the work session you’re gonna do on Tuesday morning.

’cause they know I do Tuesday morning work sessions. And I love that because then they’re not rushing and feeling like, I need this post today. You need to edit it. It’s like, that’s not gonna work for. Or it shouldn’t work for anyone. No one to really do that. So that those two shifts are things that made such a difference and I just wish I did it [00:35:00] earlier.

I don’t think I needed to wait until having babies.

Jade Boyd: I’m glad you pointed that out. Before I had my daughter, I was kind of panicked of like, man, I, I love business. And I was afraid of like, what if I have a kid and then I don’t wanna be a business owner anymore, like kind of having a pre identity crisis before the

Megan Yelaney: so funny.

Jade Boyd: came. And one of my friends told me like, becoming a mom is gonna help you level up.

That’s verbatim what she said. And I wrote it on a sticky note and I still have it. And it’s so true, and I love how you pointed out like don’t wait for a baby to do these things. Like take two months off if you hate your business, save up and figure out how to make it sustainable so that you are changing your business and making it something that does let you up and makes money.

Like you don’t have to wait to have a child in order to do those things for yourself. I think that’s such a good point, and also pointing out how doing those things. Sometimes we can think of like, oh man, if I don’t respond right away, then I’m not doing the best. Or like becoming a mom, that means that I’m not gonna be able to do things that I could before.

And I think part of that is true, like there’s some things I [00:36:00] can’t do that I could do before, but also it doesn’t have to hold you back in a lot of ways. It does make you better.

Megan Yelaney: It makes you like, I’m so much more efficient now ’cause I have to be so I, I just, I’m just more, more efficient with my time. I don’t waste as much time anymore. I just think back, I’m like, wow, I had so much time. Oh my gosh, what did I do with all that time? What did I do? Yeah, I completely agree. And it, and it’s like, I think that I’ve talking to a really good friend who’s, I think she’s six months postpartum right now, and she’s still in that like brain fog, like struggling to balance the two. And I said, I personally didn’t start to get clarity till like 10 months postpartum. That’s when I stopped pumping too. So I think that had a lot to do with it. But it wasn’t until then, it took a while. And even, even then it still was like I still needed a little bit of time to implement and, you know, test things out because you’re still, number one identity now is, is a mom. It’s gonna be to your baby. So it’s natural, you know, and it doesn’t mean you don’t hate your business or wanna quit it. I had to realize that when I had that moment. My husband’s like, let’s give it a, [00:37:00] let’s give it a month.

Let’s see how you feel. He’s like, please know, what are you, what are you doing? This is drastic. And then I was like, I’m just kidding. I want it. I just want it to look different. And really just giving yourself grace. It’s, it’s not gonna look like it did before. And I think that’s what I had to let go of is.

It’s gonna, we’re gonna get it to a level I want financially. I have no doubt about that. But it’s gonna take a little bit of a different route than I thought it would, or than I did before, ’cause I can’t do that route anymore. It was too much of me in it. And I think that’s the thing I had to let go of is like, it’s gonna look a little different and that’s okay.

Jade Boyd: What I think is really interesting about that shift, and I was just talking with one of my clients about this recently ’cause she was going into a conversation with one of her clients is that was gonna be a little bit testy. She was gonna have to advocate for herself and set some boundaries. And women are naturally, like research shows this better negotiators when you’re negotiating on the behalf of somebody else rather than yourself.

And I do think becoming a mom, like you said, you’re not just thinking about like, okay, what are my boundaries and what’s best for my health? You’re like negotiating on [00:38:00] behalf of your kids, which makes you so much better at setting boundaries and, you know, building a business and enforcing things with clients for the benefit of other people.

And like, I wish that weren’t true and that we would advocate for ourselves and take ourselves a little bit more seriously or like place our needs on as high of a pedestal as our families, but I think that is a benefit to becoming a mom of like, okay, now you actually are standing up for yourself in a way that’s also standing up for your family, but doing those things that you probably should have done a long time ago.

Megan Yelaney: A hundred percent. I love that you said that. ’cause Exactly. So many of these things, I’m like, man, I wish I did this before. Why did I have to wait? But it’s such a good point. Like at four o’clock, if a client had messaged me and I like to be done, by then, I would probably go, oh, you know, I’ll just answer it quick.

Where now I’m, I’m literally watching them. I’m not on my phone. I’m not checking that. So they, and they know and they’re fine with it. They don’t expect it. You, you teach people how to treat you. So if you’re constantly going up, you know, outside of your boundaries. Well, that’s kinda your fault.

Like you taught [00:39:00] them that, you know, and so, yeah, I, I couldn’t agree more. It’s, it’s so wild how it like, really puts, puts things into priority for sure.

Jade Boyd: So digging a little bit more into the details, I love how you kind of laid out your system and how you batch work and like plan your schedule as a mom as a parent just as a human being, I guess life happens and things get thrown off schedule. So I’d love to know like what are your tips when you have so many things going on in your business and you, you are offering so many different types of offers with different clients at different levels and have the team and have twins now who are very mobile.

How do you kind of bounce back when things get shifted, when kids get sick, when, you know, weather interrupts, whatever that might be?

Megan Yelaney: Yeah, for sure. This actually happened last week. My sons have been sleeping really well. I’m very, very grateful and very lucky, but they had like a trans, they’ve been transitioning to a one nap, and so they had like kind of a, a struggle and they were waking up wildly early. And my best work session is actually at like 4:30 AM which some people think is crazy.

But I go to [00:40:00] sleep at like eight 30, so I get my sleep and I just, I do much better work. I’m not one of those, put the kids to bed and work. My brain is done. I cannot work at that time. So I get up crazy early and that’s when I get my best work done, and then I can be with them for, you know, a good chunk of the day.

And that was interrupted. They woke up at 5:00 AM and they were like, we are not going back to sleep. So I was like, okay, great. So one of those, one of the biggest things is putting that timeline for your clients. So it was a client service day that this happened last week. Happened a couple days in a row, and I had a couple things I was gonna review for clients, but I always, again, I always have that buffer of three to five days for private clients, five days for my group clients. And so nothing, I never do anything the day it’s due. That’s a huge, huge thing. I always go, if it’s due, if I know I have to get a client something by Thursday, ’cause they submitted it the Friday before or whatever it is, then I won’t wait till Thursday morning.

’cause what if that does happen? It’s not the end of the world. The client will be okay if I, if I get it to them the next day. But I have [00:41:00] that buffer for a reason. So I, I pretend like it’s not a five day buffer, if that makes sense. And. I’d never do anything that morning that’s, I think, due that day. You know what I mean?

If something, my team needs something from me that day, I do it the day before, because that does happen. And it’s happened a lot. It’s happened a lot in the last year. And so I think that buffer and kind of working ahead in that way has helped. And honestly, I think this is hard for you Kind of alluded to it before, like whether you have kids or not, doesn’t matter.

If you need to like take a step back for a minute or a month to kind of scale back to spring forward, that is so important to do and I think people are so terrified to stop and get off the hamster wheel and it’s like. You’re gonna go so much further if you take that time. And that’s, I had to do that. I pretty much did that for like all of last year almost I feel. Like it was like a very much like really step back to go forward. And I’m so glad I did because I needed to set up things I needed to rewire things and, and just move things around that didn’t feel aligned anymore. ’cause you just change so [00:42:00] much. And so that’s a big thing that people just aren’t a lot of times willing to do.

And that’s why a lot of stuff gets backed up. So I know it’s kind of off topic with your question, but I. I hope that makes sense. I wanted to

Jade Boyd: it makes sense. Like how do you deal with emergencies? You make sure emergencies don’t come up or like you expect them to come up and then you plan for it so that it doesn’t get that bad. It’s a good

Megan Yelaney: Yeah. And to add in, my dad passed a couple years ago and I unexpectedly, like it wasn’t, I didn’t expect it and I took a month off. I like had to take a month off for obviously many reasons, and I was pregnant and I didn’t plan that. So I extended client contracts and I had content, some content already prepped. So content wise I try to be ahead of the game as far as emails and podcasts go as much as I can. But you know what? For two weeks I said I’m not posting anything. I’m not emailing, I’m not podcasting. And no one cared and everyone understood. So I think also, I think like, oh my gosh, if we miss a week, if we miss a day, if we miss two weeks, something’s gonna happen.

No one was upset and no one went [00:43:00] away. So I think too, we just think all these things are gonna happen if we disappear for a little.

Jade Boyd: Yeah, totally. So we have covered so many different things over the course of this episode, and I would love to close on- for the entrepreneur who’s listening to this, who hasn’t scaled their business yet, but is thinking about it, and now after listening to this is like, oh man, there’s a lot of moving parts to this.

Where do I even begin? What advice would you have for them?

Megan Yelaney: Ooh, yes. So many. So many moving parts. Yeah. I think one of the biggest pieces of advice, and it’s really helping in this season, I’m sure you can attest to this too, is compartmentalizing. I think we prioritize everything and not everything needs to be a priority. And I remember a mentor said to me a long time ago, and I always repeat this, nothing in business is ever an emergency.

If an email doesn’t go out, if a client doesn’t get answered in 24 hours, it’s gonna be okay. Everyone’s gonna be fine. We’re not operating on people and I think sometimes we, we almost have our nervous system feel like we are [00:44:00] and we’re not. So that just always kind of calms me down. But I would say compartmentalize go "what is the most important thing that’s going to move this forward?" So maybe for you it’s. I need to really lay out this framework. I need to make sure I can really understand what it is, and that way I can communicate it and I can book out my one-on-one. Great. After I book out my one-on-one, then I’m gonna move on to this group.

I’m gonna lay out this group. I’m gonna work on that launch, and that’s all I’m gonna do. Don’t do that while trying to launch a podcast while trying to. Grow, make your Instagram crazy viral while trying to serve 50 clients. Like I, if you have no team, right? If you have no one helping you, you’re a solopreneur trying to do it all yourself.

I think that’s where you get so overwhelmed, is you’re literally trying to have your foot in a million baskets. So try to compartmentalize. And I guess the last thing I’d add to that is there are certain things like you’re gonna be doing lead gen while you are marketing, while you are, which I guess you could kind of lump together, but while you’re marketing, while you’re serving clients, those are kind of three separate things, if you will.

So [00:45:00] separate those. Don’t try to do them all at once and think about them all at once. Have a day where you’re just focusing on lead gen planning. Have a day where you’re just focusing on client work. And again, I think that compartmentalization is so key. Otherwise it does all become really jumbled.

Jade Boyd: We had an episode recently on the podcast where I interviewed nine different moms who kept their kids at home full-time while running their business. And that was one of the things that every single person said, like, I need to have separation. In my mind and to compartmentalize so that I’m not thinking about everything at the same time.

But even within your business, like you said, I even recommend focusing on one thing a year. Like if you’re gonna do a group program, give it at least a year. And if you knock it outta the park earlier, great, but let’s not expect that to happen. Like let, let’s actually launch it and let’s actually have some evergreen content and you know, do the thing before we move on to the next thing.

So, so, so relevant and helpful. With all of that said, I know you show up in a lot of places online, so where is the best place for people to connect with you after the show?

Megan Yelaney: Yeah, I am hanging out over at the Pretty [00:46:00] Awkward Entrepreneur Podcast. We actually are changing the name soon, so hopefully you could still, I’ll make sure I have it somewhere where you can still find it. But then on Instagram, Instagram will definitely have all the updates at Megan Yelaney. So yeah, that’s where I usually, usually hang out.

Jade Boyd: Alright. We will link all those in the show notes and thank you so much again, Megan, for being here.

Megan Yelaney: Yeah. Thanks so much.

Jade Boyd: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Business Edit Podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, I’d be so grateful if you take a screenshot and share it on Instagram. Tagging me@jadeboyd.co. I’m on a mission to empower a new generation of women to become the types of wives, moms, and business owners that they’ve always wanted to be because empowered women change their families and communities for the better, and this is how we’ll change the world.

Sharing your takeaways from this episode on Instagram will help more women in business discover helpful episodes and level up in life and business each week. Don’t forget to check out the show notes for the tools and resources mentioned in today’s episode because good ideas don’t grow businesses.

[00:47:00] Action does. I’ll see you next time on The Business Edit podcast.