Delegation That Lets Your Business Breathe

Doing everything yourself can look like dedication, but it often feels like a slow chokehold on your time, your focus, and your revenue. Shelby sits down with Leia, an adult ADHD and executive function coach, to talk about the real moment entrepreneurs hit: keep taking clients and risk burnout, or start delegating and build a team that can actually scale. We get specific about what delegation looks like when your brain craves novelty but your business demands follow-through. 

We unpack Shelby’s path from solo marketing hustle to building support roles that match strengths: sales, content creation, account management, and operations. You’ll hear why “hire more people” is not a strategy, how copying a competitor’s headcount can backfire, and why SOPs and clear standards matter more than having everything perfect up front. We also talk about the fear side of hiring: paying someone, making the wrong choice, and what to do when a role simply is not the right fit. 

Money and pricing get a full spotlight, too. If you hate bookkeeping, avoid checking your bank account, or struggle to raise rates, this conversation gives you a cleaner framework: track profitability, price for sustainability, and stop offering services that lose money unless you can charge what they are worth. Along the way, we touch on neurodivergent leadership, transparency with your team, and using personality tools like the Enneagram to hire complementary strengths. 

If you’re a founder, freelancer, or agency owner trying to build a sustainable business with ADHD, executive function challenges, or pure overwhelm, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who needs permission to delegate, and leave a quick review so more entrepreneurs can find it.

Purchase "Market Like A Boss" at shelbysmarketingbook.com

Transcript

Welcome Back And Meet Leah

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Hey y'all, what's up? Welcome back to your favorite podcast. I'm your host, Shelby McFarlane, the marketing boss of America. I'm gonna add that to my tagline now. Do you like that? I do. I kind of dig it. I am here today with my friend Leah. We met a few weeks ago at one of my little speaking engagements here in central Arkansas, and we immediately connected because we're both weirdos and I love it. It's so great, definitely. But Leah, tell us more about yourself and how weird you are. I would love to know weird.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Yes. You you gotta get to know you know how weird I am. I am an adult ADHD and executive function coach, and I work with a a lot of entrepreneurs, oddly enough. That's not what I set out to do, but uh work more in the corporate arena because I have something in common with you. I was in marketing for 20 years, and I'm I was diagnosed with ADHD at age nine, but like basically just given drugs and said good luck. So didn't really know much about it. And I left corporate America in 2023

Leah’s Path Into ADHD Coaching

SPEAKER_02 1:32

after getting diag well, not after, but getting diagnosed with the autoimmune disease and needed to de-stress and take a break. And I had wanted to be a coach for about 15 years and moved back to Arkansas from Chicago and thought that wasn't possible. But then when I didn't have anything to lose, I was like, well, we're gonna try it. And it turns out a lot of people need an ADHD coach. So I wanted to talk to you today because a lot of my clients are they are entrepreneurs and they're at a point where they've either gotta stop taking clients, yep, um, because they're overcommitting, or they've got to grow their business and start delegating some of these things that are really scary to let go of. And so I know that you've been through this process. So I really wanted to kind of get your perspective on it and kind of start from before you had help and had a team and kind of go from there and talk about like your stressors in that and maybe even hiring, firing, and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

That's the hard part, the firing part, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Um, and also hiring, yes. Yes. Well, and that's a big yeah, hiccup for a lot of my clients who are like, well, I don't know if we're gonna get along and you're not gonna know till you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

There's that answer. But I'll start from the beginning. So um I started this business 10 years ago. I was 22 years old and not even mature enough to even like have my own apartment, but I did. It's crazy, but yeah. Um, so people trusted me with their marketing again. Crazy. Wow, okay. Um, I did my stuff uh by myself for two years, so I just really flew by the seat of my pants. I was like making it up. I didn't know how much to charge, I didn't really know what I was doing. Social media was kind of

Starting A Marketing Business Alone

SPEAKER_00 3:21

ish new for businesses, so I was like really trying to figure all that out. Um, but Chelsea was my very first hire, and she's been with me for eight years. So two years in, I ended up putting out um an ad. I think it was on Indeed or something like that. And she was like, hey, looking for like remote work, because that is something, and now y'all are gonna know I have ADHD because here we go. Side story. Um, I love that my employees work hybrid because I don't necessarily want to see them every day. They don't want to see me every day. Maddie's laughing in the background right now. Um they know how I feel, okay? It's no judgment around here. Uh but it's also like really nice because they can go on trips. I can go on trips. Like if I know that our work is getting done, and that's what matters to me. And those are the standards that I set. So we'll go back to that. Um, but when I hired Chelsea, she really needed somebody or something extra. She was already kind of doing social media management. I was like, well, I have very small client base, I can pay you per client. So we like started our working relationship, and she is a 1099 contractor, which is different, of course, than W-2's, right? So I started off a little bit easier, knowing that okay, I'm giving her a task. She has to figure out how to do it. Like, hey, these are the standards I've set for my clients. I need you to complete that, you know. So that was pretty easy. We've had a great relationship for eight years. It's worked out really awesome. She's been with me through the ebbs and flows. I mean, uh, we've been fired by six people in one week before, and that literally was like two months ago, but you know, then we've also had six people hire us in one week, you know. So it's just like we've been through all the growths or growing pains of my business over 10 years. And I really think that that was a huge help for me because talking about delegation, she does the content creation. I do the sales, she does content creation. I'm great at selling. I can be good at content creation, not my passion. That's not what I'm that's not what I was skilled at, I guess, or given the gift of, right? I can sell a freaking blind man a TV though. You know what I'm saying? So I can do that, yeah, but I can't really do the content

The First Hire That Changed Everything

SPEAKER_00 5:32

creation that doesn't really give me energy. Chelsea hates being around people. There you go. She hates being around people. She doesn't like to do the sales, she doesn't like to have communication with clients, and that's really the part where we help each other. I'm gonna send this interview directly to one of my clients. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yeah, because you have to find what gives you energy. Right. And this is what we talk about in coaching a lot. And this person's highly creative, good at sales, yeah. And she does not want to do the really I mean, it's not just that she doesn't want to do it, it bottleneck necks our business, the very t highly technical stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Absolutely work.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yep. She doesn't think anyone would want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

But there's people out there skilled to do it, and they love doing that too.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Did you ever have that internal talk of like when you were when you set out to find someone, what was your breaking? Did you have a breaking point? Or and and did you interview several people?

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, so my breaking point was I was spending too much time creating content where I couldn't take on more clients. So exactly what you said at the very beginning. I was gonna have to slow my business down. Yeah, but I

Bottlenecks That Force Delegation

SPEAKER_00 6:46

wanted to keep going. I wanted to keep getting bigger and better, you know, and I wanted more clients, but I couldn't do it because I was bottlenecked, because I was doing the admin, I was doing the freaking uh proposals, I was doing sales, I was doing the content. And then people started going, Well, how are you doing all this yourself? Like, how are you actually, yeah, if you're so busy, do you need another client? If I even get asked that now when people know I have people that work for me, and that's very frustrating. I'm like, bro, just because it looks like I'm busy doesn't mean we don't have the capacity for you. If we don't have the capacity for you, guess what? I have a process that works and I just duplicate that person. If Chelsea gets tabbed out, which would be um very impossible, she's incredible what she does. If she gets tabbed out, we already have a process in place where we're gonna have someone underneath her and she can train them up and give them tasks that she doesn't want to do.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

There you go. So you've created that kind of an SOP absolutely. And did you do that first? Or did you know because that's another thing they get hung up with is I have to have I have to know exactly what they're gonna do. Well, no, because you're just gonna meet someone, you're gonna know if your energies match, you're gonna you're gonna have to neurodivergent people are really good at having that sense.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

You're gonna have to trust the sense, which is what it sounds like you've done.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, and I'll tell you a huge failure I had right after that was I was watching my um I've told this story on this podcast before, but like I've watched my competitor so hard, and I saw that they hired five people, and I was like, Well, I have to have five people. So where are my four other people? And I'm like out here searching, searching. I'm like, okay, you're the blogger, you're the content creator, you're the admin assistant, you're this. And then

Overhiring For Status And Regret

SPEAKER_00 8:37

I a month into it was like, wait, what exactly was everyone doing again? And why did I need this many people? And it was just like a huge backpedal. I hired five or four people on top of Chelsea already. And then I was like, sorry guys, this isn't gonna work out.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

As like a status symbol.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Absolutely. It was a hundred percent a status symbol, and it didn't do anything for my business. And that's when I hired my business coach because I was like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing, obviously. I'm just trying to keep up with people that we're not even the same type of leader, we're not the same. We are we do the same services, but we don't have the same type of clientele, the same business, like we don't have the same business model. And so I was just trying to find something that was working for someone else rather than figuring out what works for me.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Less is more.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Absolutely. And ever since then, like COVID was like the next year or the year after that. Um, and then I was like, okay, I had my baby, so then I was like, okay, I think I'm ready to start building a little bit more, hiring someone, and I put more thought into it at that time. I was like, I need what do I not like to do? So I've got content creation taken care of. Money, y'all. I hate dealing with money. Y'all know I hate dealing with money. The only thing I like to do is make it and spend it. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

I don't know a single neurodivergent person who likes to deal with money.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

It's literally the worst. Like, I don't even check my bank account every day. It's probably a bad habit. I do not recommend that. You should probably check your bank account every day just in case. But don't let the bank call you and go, um, you are in the negative. Well, I don't know why. Well, so-and-so took out like 10 grand. Yeah, that's spam.

Money Avoidance And Hiring A Bookkeeper

SPEAKER_00 10:11

I'm gonna need you to, you know, I'm like, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

I'm bam.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Oh, yeah, I don't, yeah, I should probably do that. But, anyways, I knew that was the next thing I needed to take care of, right? So I had all this uh business, I had services, I have multiple services, you know, and so I hired a bookkeeper two years ago. Honestly, second to Chelsea, best thing I've ever done. Because he went through my entire books and told me this is what you're making money at. This is what you're not making money at. Why do you do this? And I'm like, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

I don't, I guess, because I like because you didn't know because you weren't tracking or testing.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Exactly. And so he was like, if you do photography, which this was a big one, he was like, if you do branding photography, you have to triple your price if you're gonna make money at it. Okay, bet. I tripled my price. And what we're sitting in a studio right now because I tripled my price two years ago for photography because I wasn't valuing myself correctly, but he was able to see your books are not doing well because you're not charging enough. You're more valuable than that. And why would you do something you're gonna lose money at? Right? So it's either stop doing a thing you really like doing, yes, or figure out a way to do it and get more money for it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

So, and that's another thing clients struggle with too is valuing themselves enough to raise their prices. This is a conversation we have. Yes, yes, so much, yes, and it seems like the way you talk about it was like, oh, it's a no-brainer. Here's a number, here's the other number, and this is not working. Yeah, there was no internal struggle. Oh, absolutely. Like, of course.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Absolutely. And I'm going through an increase right now in pricing, and I have about six clients that I need to increase their pricing, and it's not a pretty number. It's not gonna be one that they're like, let's go, girl. It's gonna be like, what are you talking about? Like, that's gonna be the reaction. But here I am being negative, Nancy. I shouldn't say that. That's the reaction I think it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

You're fortune telling.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Yes, yes, yes, and so I do. Yes, there's always an internal struggle of making your value.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

There's a possibility, and this has happened with clients, that they go, I was waiting for you to do this. I know, yeah. I I'm glad you finally did. No one's gonna come and be like you

Raising Prices And Owning Your Value

SPEAKER_02 12:31

should. Some people do. I have clients who have clients who have said, You're not charging me enough, which is most people aren't gonna do that. But right, but a lot of times when they do raise their prices, they're like, Well, it's about time.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, and I'm I feel like right now I'm you know contemplating I've got to hire I've got to have like three people hire me at the new pricing so that way I can just lose those people if they all say no. Like that's where my internal struggle is, like money-wise, because I do have people that work for me. So I have to pay people. I have bills to pay, you know, like I've got to be able to do that. Am I making it buy? Yeah, but at the same time, we all have to make more money. Like, I've got to make sure that we're all taken care of, and my business is making money. My business is healthy. I mean, that's really where I'm at 10 years later. It's not just is Shelby healthy, is the business healthy, you know. Um, and so I started after the whole failure, then went through COVID and all that stuff. Um, got the bookkeeper, hired an actually amazing CPA, super young. He got me on a cold call, by the way. Props to Z. You know Z for the C.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yes, he's he's also, yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yes, he's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

My accountant as well, yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Uh-huh. And he's young, ambitious, and got me on a cold call as well. That's funny. Oh, and but so dry of humor for sure. Yeah. Definitely. He uh and he's a client of mine now, too, which is pretty cool. We've been working together a couple years and now I want to do his ads and stuff. But um, so you know, I got all that stuff taken care of. I'm getting it lined out. Then I'm like, what's the next thing I hate? Okay, the next thing I hate.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

I'm like, what's going down the list? What exercise is that? Absolutely. Let themselves do it. There, there's this, sorry to take over, but then you have this underlying script of yeah, well, work is work. And if it's not painful, then it's not work. Not true. Just suck it up. All these things that we heard as millennials. Yeah, just do the thing. You don't get to just do what you like to do. Right. No, it's not just about the liking to do it, it's the energy sucking nature of things that you don't like to do that keep you down and make you fail. So you can either do the things that give you energy and hire people to do things that give them energy that you don't like, and everybody wins, or you can eventually fail because you just busted it until you couldn't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And I have two things about that. Number one, there's a season for everything. Right. There's a season you're gonna have to do everything in your business. There's a season for that. I went through years of doing everything in my business. And if I I right now everyone could quit and I can do everyone's job. Like I think that that's important. As a business owner, you have to know how to do their jobs, right? Yeah. Now, do I like to do it? Absolutely not. But can I do it? Yes, I can. Number two, someone told me this because I try to be super mom. I mean, I am super mom, but like real super mom. And I thought I could work all day with my baby at home. Like I thought that was like a thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

That's why I was gonna do marketing.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Like I was like, I can do both things at the same time. My schedule's super flexible. I can like feed a baby, take care of a baby, hold the baby, nap the baby. I can do all of that while she's napping. I'm gonna work. But little did I know she was only gonna nap in my arms because we have really bad attachment issues, still do at five years old. But at the same time, I was told by somebody, and it stung a little bit, but this is gonna help you a lot. She said, Why are you taking away the opportunity for someone else to show their gift, to share in their gift? I'm so glad you're upset. Yeah, because she goes, You need to put her into Mother's Day out, daycare, whatever, because that is their calling, and you are not allowing them to bless your child with their calling.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

And I was like, I'm the worst mom ever. And that works across everything. Yeah, and socialization for kids is and we could get on a whole nother podcast on this, but yeah, um hyper what is it, independence that almost every neurodivergent person, I think a lot of humans have it, but I agree. This this I have to do everything I can't ask for help, or don't even acknowledge that they need to ask for help. It's more like it with my clients. They don't realize they need help. Um, it is taking the gift away from someone else, and it also takes away the ability to connect and really bond.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

And I have a whole story about my dad regarding that. Probably need to just do a live or something on it.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Yeah, that would be cool.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

It's really good.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

And it is important because whenever people give us over their marketing, they're allowing us to share what we can do for them and to be able to do that. Now, are they able to do their social media? I'm sure they are. Most of our clients aren't, but some of them are able to do it. But let's take Adrian for an example. She did her social forever, and I finally was like, Can we just do it already? I mean, it's not like I'm her best friend or anything, Adrian, but you know, I'm like, can we just do it for you already? She literally does not have to touch social media and she gets to focus on everything else. And her business is thriving because she took this one little thing that was sucking her energy.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

This is what we're gonna talk about.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, I'm about to do Leah's too. It says sucking her energy, and now she's able to put that into her creative space. She's already a creative as an interior designer, she was using all of her creative energy doing social media. That's not making her money. What's making her money is creating spaces, beautiful places for people. And I think that that is something that people don't think about with marketing is oh, it's just social media. It's like, no, it's sucking your energy.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Yeah, and if you're spent like you said, when you first started and you need to grow your company, it's the same as when people need to delegate their marketing responsibilities. Yeah. If you're spending all your time doing those things, you can't help more people do blank thing that you're doing. Whether it's a service or you're providing a product, you can't do as much of that.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Yes, exactly. And that's the whole point of you and your business is finding that one thing. So I this is my this is my whole thing, this is my whole idea around this subject. You find the one thing you love to do. I really wouldn't say I love sales, but anyways, out of the whole list, sales is like, I'm really great at it. What do I really love to do? I love to speak, educate, all of that, right? So that's where I'm moving. But right now on my list of to-dos, I love to sell. I hate creating content, so I got people that do that, right? I semi-don't like customer management. Sorry, clients, if you're listening. It's not really my favorite thing. I will do it, and I am here for them. But we have people like Maddie, who's fantastic at it. She's so much nicer than me over email. She really is. There's two types of salespeople.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

What? There's a hunter and there's a farmer. You're a hunter. Oh, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

I like account management all- Oh god, no. Definitely not. No. Nope. I just would prefer to go back and read the emails of like, so what's the issue? And then I come in and make the problem go away, kind of situation. So that's where I'm at right now is like sales. And then I fill in the roles of everything else. Now that's my next role that I need to fill in my business, is a sales role. I would love that and get rid of that.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

I wanna I wanna step back. I know we're wrapping, we're probably wrapping up.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

It doesn't matter. These people listen all day. They're like, actually, we're fast-forwarding this.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

No, one of the bigger concerns too is okay, I've decided I'm in enough pain doing all the things that and I don't want to stop taking in clients, but also how do I pay for this content? Yes. Also, if I do bring someone on and I make the wrong decision and they suck, like all these things go through their minds. How do you get over that hump?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yes. So it's the same way of starting a business. You just freaking do it. You just do it. And I have two examples. So paying someone is very scary. And it's like, holy shit, I'm like responsible for their livelihood. I'm responsible for me, my daughter, I'm responsible for them and their family. They're depending on me to make sure that these people don't, you know, fire us or whatever. So I set expectations. So with Chelsea, whenever I first um hired her, she knew, okay, I'm gonna

Paying For Help With Clear Expectations

SPEAKER_00 21:10

be paid part client. It's setting the expectations. When I hired Maddie, she knew we're starting at uh 15 hours. Yep, 15 hours. I don't even know my own rules over here. We started at 15 hours, but we've worked our way up. I'm like, listen, this is what I can do right now. That was almost seven months or seven months ago. Damn. That was seven months ago. So it's like we've worked our way up to 30 hours. And I told her by the end of the year, I'm gonna get you full time. But you have to find the people that are like, you know what, I support you. I understand this is an opportunity. I understand that this is all you can do now, but what the future holds. Now, if she was still at 15 hours, seven months in, I she'd be like, come on, bro. I mean, like, what's going on, right? Right. I would understand that too. Like, you know what, you're right. We've gone through, you know, increases, decreases.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

It's just setting out that as a So what I hear, what I think I hear you say is you're very transparent about not really, not really knowing, but having a goal and saying, You want to jump in the car with me and go? Or like we can figure this out together, but you just know that this is where I'm at, and just being very transparent and clear about it, which also helps connect and bond and absolutely like not having all the trust teams is a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

And it helps trust like me and what I tell them because every week we have our meeting, and I'm like, Well, we got fired by this person this week, or hey, we've got hired by this person this week. I am not out here going, oh, we're doing okay. Oh, we're doing fine. No, every employee should understand the ins and outs of your business to a point, right? But they need to understand that if my energy shifted, it's because I'm kind of in hustle mode. So if I'm in hustle mode, you got to get behind me and like we got to do this together.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

That it has nothing to do with them.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Because that's a common misconception. Absolutely. Especially when you're reading your you have great pattern recognition. You recognize there's a shift in energy and you don't know what it is. So of course it's me. Of course it's your problem. Like I did something wrong.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah. And as a neurodivergent leader, I am like really bad at just being like straight to the point. Like I get there, I say the thing, but they know what's up. I mean, it just is what it is. Sometimes I'm like, you know what? I was kind of a bitch. That was my bad. I shouldn't have said it that way. You know what? I did actually forget to do that. You're totally right. I left for 10 days, and Maddie literally had to message me. Hey, you said you put this on the calendar. I was like, I did. She's like, nah, you didn't. And I'm like, you're right. I did not do that. We're gonna do that Monday when I get back.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

I didn't do that. Instead of saying, no, no, no, no, you know, and like you have all the answers. Absolutely. So I hope my clients who are watching that, yeah, this podcast, get that you don't have to have all the answers. Like they often just want to run into a situation knowing everything that could or will happen and that's impossible. And my favorite quote is by Rumi When you walk on the way, the way appears. That is how life works. Like, literally, that's how business works. That's how business works. Yeah, you have to, like you said, be cognizant of the money and how the money works. And like when you said raising prices, you have to do the math. It's not hard math.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

It's you know. But my bookkeeper helped a lot with that. I was like, hey, I'm trying to hire somebody in this position. What's the hourly wage? What's the payroll taxes gonna be on that? I literally have to pay myself now, like gross. I hate that, but like, do you have to? And it's like a whole legal thing, yeah. Apparently, it's like a legality whenever you're like an escort. Learned that a couple years ago, too. I was doing a lot of things illegally, didn't know it. Had to make up for that financially over the last few years, but now I'm like paying myself and the taxes of that. Y'all, it ain't cheap to hire people, so you have to be able to be willing to invest in that person.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

But that's where $10.99 is key and it's kind of a try before you buy situation, right? I mean, and I think it's it looks like dating too. True. Yeah, you you get a feel for each other, and if it's gonna work out, yes, it's scary to think that it wouldn't, but how great would it be if it did?

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Yeah. And I'll share a very um close experience I just had, like in timeline-wise, here. And I hired someone in February, was supposed to be sales, really trained, really tried. She was super excited about it. I was excited about it. She's a fantastic person, great hard worker, but it just over the course of six months has kind of morphed into something that she was wanting something different than what I could provide for her. Like in a she wanted a more creative role. Don't have, you know, I didn't have that open. Like, this is where I really needed you. This is where you're

When A Hire Is Not A Fit

SPEAKER_00 25:58

wanting. I will gradly write you a recommendation to somebody else, you know. And it was so hard because I felt like I had failed as a leader because I'm trying to invest. And I'm not way in like relationships, like I will hold on to a freaking relationship probably way past it's time. Because I'm like, bro, I am so invested in this. And when you're financially invested, your energy invested, time invested into someone, I don't want to see her fail ever. And I felt like I was not doing enough. And that's just me as a person. So there's lots of different leaders out there that could give two shits about their people, which not a great leader.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

But it is a concern that you take someone on and it doesn't work out, and then you feel like a failure.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Absolutely. And that's I think it's okay that I felt like a failure because it means I'm not like a cold-hearted bitch that I thought I was, so that's really great. But also at the same time, I had to be like, okay, this is not working out, you know? And like how what resources can I give her? What connections can I give her moving forward so that way she can thrive in the area that she's wanting.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

And often you and this happened too, you think that this person doesn't know it's coming. Right. Yes. It was like so nervous. Dude, she knows. I was so nervous.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

And if she's listening, heart you. Yes, love her. She's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

And and often they might be able to do it. It was a great conversation. You know, it was a great conversation. We just want you to bring it up because it's hard and I don't want to be. I totally get it. I've been in this situation as the employee many times.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah. And I was like, man, can they just fire me already? I know. And I've it just, yes, that's so true. And I'm such an avoidant, like, that's my attachment style. And so it's like real bad, real bad. Like, I'm like, okay, sure, yeah, I'll avoid that. That's not a great thing, by the way. And also when you're hiring, another great key point is to check out their Enneagrams. And if you don't know anything about Enneagrams, you're a terrible person. Not to say you're not. But learn about Enneagrams and your personality so that way you can hire based off of your personality. I had um an assistant that was an Enneagram eight, which is what I am. No, no, no, no. That's not that's not good. That's not good. We don't need that. No, I need a people pleaser, I need someone that says you're right, but also you're wrong at the right times,

Personality Tools And Where To Find Leah

SPEAKER_00 28:22

like not like all the time, you know, like we don't need like butt heads. But that's what I need to like help me in my business. Someone that just takes initiative, someone that really understands they can lead in their own role, you know, personality-wise, and not have a problem with okay, this is what needs to be done, and I'm gonna create that process to get there, you know. So I think personality works too too.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

I think Enneagram could be helpful. I have an another associate that uses working genius, which I haven't never heard into.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

But it gets And there's all kinds of different things you can use, like the disc or whatever to But yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Yeah, my old my ex corporate job, my bot my boss and I were like the same person.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

It was not Yeah, it's not good.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

And but she didn't want to admit that she was neurodivergent, which was a problem.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I like to tell people I'm a train eight. Like I'm I'm a very strong person, but I can also compliment you if I need to. Yeah. I think that might be a neurodivergent characteristic too. I mean, I'll take that too. I'm just really proud of myself because when I really want to cuss people out, I'm like, no, we're not doing that today. That's a skill.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

You've developed it.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

It is a skill, yes. It's a self-coping skill. Coping mechanism.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Go scream into a pillow.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I'll just call my boyfriend and yell at him.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

I don't think I have any more questions. Thank you for sharing. Absolutely. Yes. I'm hoping that it helps some of my clients and maybe even some of my friends.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Yeah. And go ahead and plug your business. That way people know where to find you.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Uh my business is neuroinclusive alliances. When I first began, I set out to bring employees and leaders together to the table to understand more about neurodivergence because a lot of us don't uh we don't tell our employers because we're afraid. And I never actually made it through that process. So I I'm not one that could necessarily help you do that, but I help you work better in the space that you're in.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Um, but I like to do workshops with whole teams and leaders on I hate the word time management, but this is that's what you have to use. It is time management the way I do it. Right. Um, is generally what I'll go in and start with. But we talk about procrastination and basis of procrastination, um, time management, energy, and how energy messes with that and um thinking about your thoughts, metacognition, stuff like that. I don't do deep workshops like that for mostly for everyone, but when I have groups, that's kind of what we work through. So cool.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

And habits. Yeah. Habits and rituals and I like it. The power of all that. So and how to be better. How to work with your brain. There you go. That's what yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Do you cuss someone here? Uh yes. Okay. You're allowed to cut. So am I allowed to say what I actually do?

SPEAKER_00 31:26

You can actually say what you do. You guys please hide sensitive ears. No.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

The easiest way to say what I help people do is I help them get rid of all their facts. Boom. So that they can be their their best selves and get shit done.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Absolutely. I can't believe we just cussed them on podcasts. They would actually be weird if there wasn't a cuss word. I feel like they'd be like, is Shelby okay today? Or like, is she being held at gunpoint? Or no, this has been a really great conversation. I hope you guys, yeah. I hope you guys have learned something here. Um, and definitely check out Leah and all of her business stuff. She's amazing. And we will catch you on the next episode. Bye.