I'm really excited for this episode. I feel like I'm excited for all the episodes. But today we have Rebecca Nesbitt, the woman behind the CEO crowd and passionate supporter of female entrepreneurship. She's committed her professional journey to empowering women worldwide in building their businesses through her personal coaching initiatives and over 50 donations to female entrepreneurs facing financial challenges or raising money. Rebecca remains excited about uniting women for a greater purpose.
I'm so excited for this conversation. I love Rebecca. I've done a lot of networking events with her. She's an amazing resource and just such a bundle of joy. So I'm really excited for our conversation and we're going to dive pretty deep today. So if any of that piques your interest, stick around.
Ksenia:
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Doodles to Dollars podcast. It's your host, Sonya. I'm really excited for this episode. I feel like I'm excited for all the episodes. But today we have Rebecca Nesbitt, the woman behind the CEO crowd and passionate supporter of female entrepreneurship. She's committed her professional journey to empowering women worldwide in building their businesses through her personal coaching initiatives and over 50 donations to female entrepreneurs facing financial challenges or raising money. Rebecca remains excited about uniting women for a greater purpose. this. I'm so excited for this conversation. I love Rebecca. I've done a lot of networking events with her. She's an amazing resource and just such a bundle of joy. So I'm really excited for our conversation and we're going to dive pretty deep today. So if any of that piques your interest, stick around.
Ksenia: Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you on. Tell us who you are, what you do, all that good stuff.
Rebecca Nesbit: Oh my gosh, Ksenia. I'm so happy to be here. I adore you. So this is, this is a big deal for me and I'm really looking forward to chatting today. So my name is Rebecca Nesbitt. I'm the founder of The CEO Crowd. So we are by my own determining the gold standard of community, but I am clearly very biased, but for female entrepreneurs, online female entrepreneurs, and that is essentially what I do now. I have completely pivoted my business into the CEO crowd. I used to do a lot of high ticket one-to-one coaching and I've done career, life, relationship, as well as business. And this just felt like a very natural progression into the world of community because I mean, God knows we all need it. 100%.
Ksenia: So much, especially as solopreneurs, because it can get very lonely. So yes, community all the way. So I want to dive into your journey. I know that now your focus is a CEO crowd, but if we were to rewind to the very start, can you kind of take us through it?
Rebecca Nesbit: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the very, very start was I was home alone one evening in a house I'd bought in the countryside and I felt like I had it all, but I didn't have it all. Like I had it all outwardly. I had a partner at the time, we bought a house, we had a dog, I had a good job and good job who determines that, but by societal standards and by where I was in my life at the time and who I was surrounded by, I made really good money. I was being put through a university degree and I really had checked all the boxes and I was doing all the things, but I felt just really desperately unhappy and I couldn't understand why because I was a really positive person and I was really upbeat and I always would go into work with a smile on my face and I was there to help people and I was in careers guidance and that's what I did. I remember sitting at home to come back to the story and I was home alone with a dog and I was watching Pretty Little Liars, which is Every time I say this, I cringe, not because there's anything wrong with Pretty Little Liars, but I just feel like I was watching a teen drama about, of course, these teenagers cannot go to the police and there's a murder on the loose and the teenagers are the only people that can solve it. And if you've never seen Pretty Little Liars, that's essentially what it's about. And I finished the series And I just felt like, oh God, like, what do I do? What do I do now? Because that show had become like my outlet, my life. Like it was the only thing that was like interesting and exciting because the rest of the time I was just kind of going through the motions and I clearly wasn't very happy. So the show ended and I was just like sitting there and I was like, I don't know what to do now. And the dog's just like staring at me. I'm staring at the dog. It's very awkward. And I'm like, do I go to bed? It's like really early. My partner was in the kind of ambulance field at the time, so wasn't home. And I was like, I don't really know what to do. I also was in the UK at the time, so I'm from Scotland. You may be able to hear that I'm not from Texas where I live now. And it wasn't like on an evening, because I lived in the middle of country, I couldn't go out anywhere. It was dark and it was windy and it was rainy and it was horrible weather. So I wasn't going anywhere. So I was just like sitting at home by myself with nothing to do. And I thought to myself, I am just going to, I'm just going to watch a documentary. I can't emotionally commit. And I know it sounds like really silly, but at the time it was, it was accurate for me. I can't emotionally commit to another series. I'm going to watch a documentary. And I saw it's Tony Robbins documentary. I believe it's still on Netflix. I watched it like a month ago. So if it's not still there, I'd be very confused. And it's called, I am not your guru. And I say that all the freaking time now, which is very ironic, but that's where it started. I watched that documentary and I thought, wow, these people, seem like they're having a lot of fun at this event. They seem like they're having a really good time. They seem like they're having really deep conversations I never really heard anyone have before. And it was always stuff that in the society that I grew up in, which was an island in the middle of the North Sea, it was very much brushed off. Personal development wasn't a thing. And I mean, bearing in mind this story to give you a timeline was seven, eight years ago. So I hadn't grown up around it. I didn't really know what this concept of personal development was. This concept of motivation was really escaping me, but I loved it. I was like, I'm here for it. I want to be at this event. I'm going to be jumping up and down. I would love to be the kind of person that can do that. and look that freaking happy because everyone just looks like they're having a wonderful time. So I watched this documentary and I was like, this has changed my life. I don't know how, but it has. And from there, I think that a lot of the time we're looking for someone that had a eureka moment. And while that was definitely a catalyst, that was the beginning of my journey for sure. But the only thing I committed to out of watching that documentary was to watch more documentaries instead of watching a TV show. And then I started to change my health. I started to watch a lot of documentaries about health. I started to change my health. I didn't keep well at the time. I was always in like chronic pain and I was really struggling with that. So I started to change my relationship there. I started to read more of the personal development books. And through just some gift of the universe, then someone was putting on an event in my area that was around those two things. It was around cleaner eating and entrepreneurship. And I was like, this never happened. Never in a million years. I was like, there's no way. Like, how is this happening where I live? So I went and I was the only person that actually did go, but I met my friend Rachel there and Rachel had an online business. She was doing network marketing. So I got into network marketing through her. I did that for a few years. And at the same time I was doing my postgraduate diploma in careers, guidance and development. So essentially it's like. It's like having a coaching degree, but they say it's careers, but essentially you learn all the counseling models. So it's like if you learn to coach through university and they just talked about careers most of the time, that was pretty much what my degree was. So I finished my degree. I decided to stop doing network marketing. I kind of got myself into a bit of a funk. I started to see what the upper rankings looked like. and I started to realize that I didn't want that life for myself. I'm just not that, not aesthetically pleasing, but I'm just really ratchet. I don't care if I have dirt under my fingernails because I've spent two hours out in the ranch and then I've jumped on a call. I think that I'm a very real-life entrepreneur. I don't absolutely adore getting dressed up more than anything. And I don't love just being plastered across all of my social media. I just think that That's not my version of entrepreneurship and it's a version of entrepreneurship that's really sold to a lot of people. So I just felt like at that time I just wanted to do something different and that didn't align. And then we had COVID. So to give you another timeline, they were in 2020 and. COVID happened, I decided to leave the apartment I was living in in the city. I went home to spend time with my parents and spent COVID with them. And it was one of the greatest gifts of my life because not only did I go home, my parents are, I mean, they are really wonderful. And they cooked most of my meals for me. My mom and I had very similar like nine to five schedules. So she became like my little like water cooler friend. So we would catch up and hang out. So that was nice. I didn't feel like I lost any human contact because I was around my parents. We got to go for nice walks around the golf course that they live on. It was great. But the other thing that it did because I moved home is it gave me a significant amount of income to do with whatever I wanted. And that meant that I could funnel it into courses for myself. So I did an online course. And it was a life coaching course. It's purely for myself. I'd actually gone through breakup at the time. So there are many breakups in the 10 years we're talking about, just FYI. And the breakup that I had just gone through, I really didn't see coming. It was someone that I thought I was going to be with for a really long time. And then because I chose to go home for COVID, they weren't happy about that. And it just absolutely fizzled and died a death. So, you know, the universe, she speaks. And it was the right call, I'm sure, for both of us. And wish everyone in those 10 years well, but I also took it really, really hard and turned to a life coaching program. I completed it in the six weeks. And I don't think that's normal because a lot of people start programs, they don't finish them. But I was like, die hard, did everything that the coach told me, went into the next level of her program. So it was like a 997 course, the next level of the program is like 5k. So go into that program. And I was the only person on the right week for weeks they'd been in that program. So I got this like bonus call with her. So this is another like really pivotal moment. And I got this bonus call with her. I was building a yoga empire at the time, because I had done my yoga teacher training somewhere in that 10 years. And I was like, I could just teach yoga online. And she asked me how much I was making. And it really was not anything. And I was working really hard. I would like do my nine to five and then it was like nine classes on a Saturday, eight classes on a Sunday. I was recording and delivering classes. And it was just like, it was just insane. Like I was putting in so much work for very little back. And the coach said to me, I don't know why you're not coaching. And I was like, well, I don't know if I can, because I'm a careers advisor. I do this for my job. I spoke to my job about it. They said it was totally fine. Like they didn't see a crossover between like life coaching and careers coaching, which like, okay. They didn't see it. So they said I could, I could have my own business. So I started my own business. I moved back to a different city when we started to come out of COVID. And I didn't want to go back to the original city when the world started to go back to normal. So by that point I had, I think I had three paying clients and I left my job because I was like, I don't want to go back to the old city I was in. I really liked the new city. And then I started coaching one-to-one for about a week. And I was still working my notice for my job. I had to give four weeks notice. And the coach that I had at the time, the coach that had taken me through the life coaching program, and then the next level of her program was to like teach you how to have a business online. But a lot of it was like, it was under the guise of spirituality and like being very holistic and meditation. And it was called the love program. Like it was essentially just like an uplevel like love and relationship program with some business elements thrown in and. in that program, they started to teach you about running your own business. And that particular coach reached out to me. I had gone into the group and I'd made this huge declaration. I was like, I'm leaving my job. This program has really helped me. And she called me, which was very outside of the norm because Like for all intents and purposes, that coach was an absolute savage and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Like I'm really grateful she was the person that she was, but to have a call with her was like such a big deal. She was like, do not DM me. She was like, I will not respond to DMs. Do not DM me. Not even if you're celebrating something, it all goes in the group. Like it was very like regimented. Like it was, you were trained as a freaking soldier and you did what you were told. And it was wonderful. But then when she messaged me, I was like, oh, my God, what have I done? I was like, why do you want to call with me? Like, what did I do? I thought I did everything right. And she had this call of me and she was like, we are looking for a coach. Would you like to work with us? And oh my goodness, to say that the universe caught me, I cannot even. It really did. And I worked with her and her team. They made a million dollars in their first year. So I was in really, really good hands. I learned a lot about not only coaching, but a lot about sales that I didn't know before. I was introduced to the world of high ticket selling. And essentially we got to March of 2021 and it wasn't the right fit for either of us. We came to a call and we both knew that it was the right time to part ways. And I answered, like, I came to the call and she came to the call and she was like, do you know what this call is? And like, in the back of my mind, I'm like, It's the call. I'm going to tell you this isn't a good fit anymore and I'm going to feel the worst I've ever felt in my life." And she said, it's your graduation. And I was like, oh my goodness. So it was like the perfect, the perfect final call. And then I dove into a sales training program. So I delivered a sales program for I believe it was a six-week program, maybe it was a 12-week program. I feel like it was actually a 12-week program. I made five figures in my first month and then chased that five-figure first month for another few months to figure out how to do it again. And essentially just started doing one-to-one and occasionally I would throw in like a group program. So I got to test a lot of things and I think that's maybe something that was really unique and I feel really blessed in my entrepreneurship journey. I tried so many things and so many things kind of worked. So many things totally didn't work. And I think that that all led me to last year, I would say when we decided to make this transition to the CEO crowd from what was previously Soul Happy Success coaching. And it got to a point where I could just take on more and more high ticket clients and I could just do more work. Or I could return to the original intention of entrepreneurship for me was to have time and location freedom. Location freedom was higher up the list. Now it's about time freedom, but location freedom was a big deal for me. And then we got to, like I said, last year, myself, my husband had a conversation about how we wanted our lives to change and we essentially want a family in the future. So our businesses have to change to reflect that. And not everyone has that choice with their business to say, okay, I need to pivot now because I'm going to make an elective life change. Like that's not always a choice that everyone gets. I understand. But for us, that is a choice that we get to make. So then it really forced me to look at my processes for doing things and what I was selling and coaching as a whole and what I really wanted to do and create. And at the same time, we had just gone to an in-person event and I had gotten myself in a complete fit over the fact that there were not enough women on stage and that these spaces didn't exist for women to just connect and ask for help. because you kind of have to be in the room for that to happen. So I was like, I want to bring a room similar to this online and to women. And that's where the CEO crowd started. The CEO crowd actually started out of networking events that I started selling out very quickly after asking a few people to attend them. And it was a model that had started to prove itself. So by the time that we were really considering, and I say we, cause it was a, it was a decision with me and my husband. When we started to think, okay, how do our lives have to change? Then the CEO crowd was an absolute natural transition of women had been attending. We had been booking out our networking events for months before I even thought like, hey, this could actually be something here. This could be a membership. And yeah, that's how literally I got from the beginning to the end in, you know, 15 minutes. But I hope that it was a fun journey for y'all to listen to.
Ksenia: Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I know we've talked about some parts of this, but it was nice to like, hear it again. And yeah, the CEO crowd calls were awesome. I obviously enjoyed them because we're still connected. Looking back, now that we've gone through your whole journey, are there key points that really stand out to you? I know you mentioned one, but Yeah. Are there any key points that stand out to you, whether it's like a lesson learned, something someone said to you, or even just like a wake up call of like, I can't do this thing anymore?
Rebecca Nesbit: I love that question. That is an excellent question. And I think that, I think there are many, but if I was to really go into them, I think that first moment, I tell that Tony Robbins story often, and I think I'm always struck by it because I saw something that was available in the world that wasn't necessarily available in my very real life at the time. And I just saw that, and I always call it like exceptional exists. Those moments of capturing someone doing something that you can see for yourself, not the current version of you, but the future version of you, then I think those have been probably you know, a through line of my entire journey, whether it has been, you know, a Tony Robbins documentary where I'm seeing people genuinely be happy or whether it was, you know, the life coaching program where I saw women truly changing their lives on the inside of that program to, you know, seeing the inside of a million dollar business. I feel like that has been a real through line. And I think that it's something that I can't take for granted or that no one can. Like if someone out there is doing something that you are interested in, it means that it's possible for you too. And I think I've always just accepted the fact that if someone can do it, I can do it because everyone has their own innate gifts and qualities. Like, yes, absolutely. And it may look different, but I believe that you can do whatever you set your mind to. And I get very upset when people don't think that they can. I can remember my husband actually speaking to me a few years ago now actually about CrossFit and he was like, I'll never be in the like CrossFit world games or I feel like it's got like a special name and I'm so disappointed in myself that I can't remember it, but essentially the world rankings of CrossFit. And I was like, wow. Well, yeah. Well, if you say it like that, of course you're not going to be able to, like, you have to see it for yourself. You can't say for yourself, of course it's not going to happen. And there are things that, you know, I think that a lot of people are like, oh, but I could never do that. And it's like, well, if that's what you think, then that's absolutely accurate. So I think that That was probably a big lesson in the journey as well, is that if I think it can happen, it will happen. And I actually, we just onboarded a marketing team, which is really exciting and really scary at the same time. But they ask you essentially to go and ask your friends and family about yourself and like, what are my gifts? What am I good at? And among things like high maintenance, which absolutely got said, which was not a gift, That was my sister, just FYI. Then she actually did also say this. She said that you always get what it is that you want. Like if there's something that you want, you're always going to get it. And that doesn't mean that it doesn't change. Like what you want changes over time, absolutely. But I think that That's probably the biggest lesson from just everything I've experienced. I'm like, if it's possible for someone, it's possible for me. And there's nothing that can stand in your way if you're not standing in your way.
Ksenia: That was so good. I'm really happy we did this. We did this recording. For those people listening, we had like a little heart to heart because personally my life kind of just flipped. But this has been really like a good reminder and it's interesting that you bring up like asking the people around you how they see you because I don't know why people didn't tell me this earlier. Maybe it's because she needs some love right now, so we'll tell her. But it's interesting because you're saying like, oh, if I see someone do it, then I can do it. And my instant thought is like, oh, well, I can't. But then I think about the things that my friends have told me lately, and they're like, oh, but you were always the go-getter. You always went and did things. So I just love this conversation because I feel like it's like reminding me of who I am. And yeah, so thank you. That's that's been really good. And also for everyone listening, like highly recommend asking your friends and family what like what are your strengths? If you really one, if you want to know, but two, if you want to just like feel good about yourself for a sec. Yeah, that's so good. Also that Tony Robbins movie, I remember watching it and there was definitely a time period, I don't even know when, I think probably before COVID, where I was like heavy into networking and personal development and I got a lot out of it. It had its time and place in my life. I think I've calmed down a bit now because I tend to get very like in the hype and like drinking the cool laid really hard. So now I'm like, no, it's okay. It's okay. You don't have to do all the things. There's something about that environment, whether it is actually going to like a Tony Robbins conference or just like going to see people that inspire you speak that like motivates you and gets you inspired. But you're so right. There's like when I think back to the conferences or the events that I've gone to, it's like maybe one woman speaking. Yeah, I'm just thinking back to this exact one conference where Tony Robbins was the like keynote speaker. And I'm pretty sure there was just like one, maybe one or two women out of the full day. Yeah, it was just wild. It is like when you really think about it, because there's so many awesome people out there that like know what they're doing. And I know we've had this conversation before how it's kind of like not really the environment maybe that like women would want to be in, you know. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but can you like touch on that of the difference in like actually creating a community or like a networking space or a platform for women where women actually want to be like something that actually magnifies like our skills or like, do you know what I'm saying?
Rebecca Nesbit: I feel like I know exactly what you're saying, but please correct me if I go off on a tangent that's not accurate. I think that there is a very big difference in Myself and my husband actually joined a mastermind last year and really felt this because the main person that we signed up with was male and interestingly brought on lots of his male friends and has started to bring in more women. So huge kudos. I love that women are getting more representation and that's absolutely accurate. I remember a time where there was absolutely no women, Tony Robbins event, and it was all dudes. And I was like, sold, I'm in. And I think that they've done such a better job. And I know that they have KK now, who's kind of like a Tony Robbins prodigy. And she ran a group that was specifically for women. And I believe that there were potentially more women involved in that. So I think that it is changing. I think that the space are realizing as well after, I mean, after last year and looking at, you know, the Barbie summer and the swift uplift and the buying power of women, I think has really shaken up the personal development space. And I think that's like for the better and it's definitely needed, but I think something that does need to shift is. there's a very big difference between creating a fan club and creating a community. And I believe that a lot of the influencers. And I mean, I'm a very small fish if we're talking about this pond, but I believe what I see that can be different is that we can genuinely help and support one another. Whereas I feel like in a lot of the spaces that I've been in and some of the right rooms that I have been in have cost $20,000. So I'm not speaking about this from like, I've gone to like a few free events. Like I have been genuinely in the rooms that people are like get in this room. And I see it being a fan club. And like you were saying, like it's drinking the Kool-Aid. Like it is this person said, this is how I should live. And that's exactly how I'm going to live, because that's how they live. And I want their life. And to a degree, I believe that, like, yes, there are some practices that if you wanted a certain aesthetic, you would model. Maybe you want a certain person's body type. Of course, you're going to model what they eat and like how they exercise. That makes sense. But I also think that there has to be this part of you that really understands yourself. And if I'm talking about workouts right now, which is way off the topic, but here we are. If, for example, I really don't enjoy that workout, why am I doing it? And I have to question that. Like there's another way to get a certain body type, just like there's another way to get a different result in business. Just because one person uses one lead generation system doesn't mean you have to use it. Maybe you do want to model it, but maybe you have to make it resonant with you. And I think that's the difference between a fan club and community. And what we're sold a lot of the time is this person is a huge influencer. They've built X amount of millions of followers on Instagram. And ironically, those people usually have teams underneath them that have built that. And it's not usually the person that's in the driver's seat, but they don't talk about that. They talk about it's all them. And I think that that elicits this very deep fandom and people where they just want to be near that particular person. And that doesn't foster community, that just fosters, I want to be seen by someone. And I think that's where a lot of people can get, cannot get actually what they want out of those events. because they go with a perception and it's maybe not met because they actually know what the person's going to say usually before they go to the event. Like typically you don't go to an event of someone that you've never met before or you have no idea or you've not even snooped on social media. You've usually seen something of them that you like or you want to model, you want in your life. So you go with the intention of being more like that person. But then you hear that person got up at, you know, 5 a.m., drank coffee and got to work like Alex Ramosi style. And that's just not going to work for me. Like I tried that. And do you know what? I did make five figures that month. It worked. I just don't want that to be my life. And I think that's the difference in community. And I think that's the difference for women is that I want my cake and I want to eat it too. And I want a supportive network that's going to help me do that. So if something's not working, teach me another way, show me another way, give me another perspective and support me to get there. Don't tell me there's only one way because I don't believe that there's only one way. I think that there maybe is only one way in very broad conceptual terms. Like if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you're going to have to work hard. Like that's fair, but it doesn't have to be at the cost of your relationships or your friendships or your health. So I think that maybe that could answer your question of what is not working in the space and what could change it to be more like community is we have to stop following one person and we have to seek spaces where they are facilitated, but we're not dictated to. It's not someone on a stage saying you have to do this. It's much more of a style of we can do this together. So an example I saw of this that was very like black and white, shall we say, was I went to that event in April and there was a male speaker on stage that gave you a million strategies and told you exactly what you had to do, break out into groups and tell each other how you're going to do that. That was essentially male speaker. There was a female speaker at that event and we did a journaling prompt with her. So it was very much more internal and actually doing the work. And then you got to share with people what you had journaled about. That was profoundly more significant to my journey than do these things and then tell people you're going to do them. Like I had to come to those realizations myself and I think that's how we actually build communities. We come from a place of ourselves and vulnerability instead of coming from a place of you're told to come from this specific place. So I would love to know if that's what you're getting at and answer to your question.
Ksenia: Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, better than where I thought it would go. It's so interesting because it's so true like as you're talking I'm thinking back to all the like conferences or networking events or even just programs especially like as someone who has drank the Kool-Aid really hard previously like it is so true it's like you know what they're gonna say it's really just like being in their environment. as amazing as Tony Robbins is for that example it's like I honestly don't even know what I've applied out of like what has actually made a difference you know what I mean like there's a lot of like makes you feel good you're in a good state and like it was awesome to be there but what actually changed like what did I actually take versus when I think of community and having those conversations with people, even like the CEO crowd or like other networking events, or even just having other specifically like female entrepreneurs, because I feel like we just, like you said, we get it on a different level. It's not like, why do you have feelings? Like, oh, today sucked. How can I, like, can I talk to you about it? Like, there's so much of a difference between those two experiences. And one thing that you mentioned of, like, seeing these people where it's like just that one person and they have this huge following and they become that, like, idol. I think seeing that it's just that one person and they have all the success can sometimes create this, I'm just one person and I'm working so hard. Why can't I achieve that? Because you don't see everything behind the scenes. Had this conversation with someone on a past episode where you see people posts of like, oh, I had this like six figure launch. I had this amazing, like you just see the really big numbers, but then you never see like, oh, did they actually spend like 99% of that on marketing or ads or so it's. kind of in that same way. It's like, you think it's this one person, but behind the scenes, there's a whole team. I'm sure by now everyone knows Tony Robbins doesn't do everything himself, but that's because he's at such a huge scale. There's people that are in our level or at a smaller level that still seems like it's just one person. And you're like, yeah, I can imagine how I could potentially do that. But then it's like, no, they have teams. They have people. they got people supporting them and that's how they can live their life and and grow it. And I don't know just that thought came to mind of how hard it is to sometimes know is it really just them and then they just have something like super dialed in and figured out or is it just like no they have a team and you just need a team you need people to support you to get there.
Rebecca Nesbit: And I think as well, I think building a team is challenging. We decided to make the decision a few months ago. So in December, I got my first team member and we're actually hiring for a virtual coordinator as we're recording this podcast. And applications have closed just FYI, and we're interviewing soon. So it's very exciting. And I think I got to the point where I was like, I can't do this by myself. We have, you know, 37 clients to serve. right now. I can't do that myself alongside 250 of our network members. I can't serve all those people and do my own lead gen and do my own social media and do my own emails all the time. and have time to actually live the life that I want to live. And I think that's the difference, is that you can either pay with time or money. And we're at a position now in my business and in my life, because of the decisions that I've made, that my husband's made, that we can pay with money now. We don't have to pay so much with our time. We're able to onboard a marketing team where we will pay with both, ironically, time and money. But we're able to do that now. Everything up until this point has been organic, and I think that that is Something that people don't speak about is how long things actually take, how hard it actually is, because especially if you're in the world of business coaching, you almost want it to look easier than it is because then people think that it's easy and they can do it and maybe they'll buy your services. Like I think there's a lot behind the scenes that our brains feed us that's complete BS, but our brains will feed us that. And they'll tell us that it has to look a certain way. And I think that that is like such a discredit to many other people that are looking at us as some kind of like, oh, my gosh, but she's doing all of these things. Why can't I? And I think that that comes with having those conversations with people like I genuinely believe that it comes from listening to the podcast where people ask those very real questions of people that are in, you know, the CEO seat. Like, how much of this are you doing yourself? And how much of that was organic? How much of that was paid? And we can't speak to it yet because we haven't paid for anything, but we'll get to that point. And I think that that just comes with transparency. I think that's something that's missing in the space. I don't think it's necessarily something that we can see from people's social media or anything like that. I know people that have teams and I'm like, how do you have a team? I'm like, I genuinely don't know how you make enough money to afford a team. I'm very confused. You're barely on social media. I never see an ad. I don't understand. And sometimes people just have very expensive hobbies. That's accurate with some businesses. People have expensive hobbies. And that is totally what they want to do with their money. Love that for them. Love that for them. So I think that you'll never really know unless you actually ask that person directly and they give you a straight answer. And I think that honesty is something that I find in this space while drinking the Kool-Aid that is lacking. I think there's a lot of people that throw around the words honesty and congruence and authenticity and don't necessarily stick by them. I don't know how we solve that problem. And I think it's actually in the stories that people tell that don't paint them in the best light. Like I know that I have stories that I'll tell obviously in coaching, whether it's group or one-to-one where I'm like, I know I was a bad person in this scenario. Like I know that was wrong and this is how I fixed it. And if I didn't fix it, then I'm like, I should then have an epiphany to fix it if I'm talking about it. So I think that it comes I think it comes with who you choose to follow and what you choose to listen to from them. Because I think that there are some people that they'll show their true colors and it's up to you if you see it. Like I definitely know that one of the mentors I've followed in the past, some of the things that I I can hear him say now, I'm like, that's a really big problem. Like that's not necessarily who I want to be. And it doesn't make anyone bad or wrong. And I think that that's where I'd love to guide this conversation next is like, I don't think that it's anyone is bad or wrong and they're like deliberately lying. I think that humans are one, naturally aspirational. So it's a bit like, you know, if I asked, how many times do you like work out a week? And you might be like, oh, I work out five times a week. And it's like, if I asked you how many times you worked out last week, It's like, oh, I worked out like three times last week. We're highly aspirational unless we're actually asked for the story. And especially with people on stages, no one's asking for the story. They're telling the story that they want to tell and it's very crafted by the time that it gets to you. I think that we have to consider that I don't think anyone does it deliberately, but I do think that it is something that's present, especially in speakers, because you have to craft something that's compelling or you lose your audience. So there are reasonings behind people doing things the way they do them. And like I said, I don't think anyone's wrong or bad, but I do think that there is a not understanding, that's not good English, but people don't understand the word congruence that use it. And I think that that is becoming a problem because I think that at the beginning, when you first start to go to all the big events, I think that they're really important because they pull people in. And I think that is something that we really do need. They're pulling people in, they're trying to help people have a better life. And I think that's very admirable. I think that's beautiful. But I think once you've gone to a lot of them and you start to kind of see the behind the scenes, you realize that everyone's just human at the end of the day. Like I have heard people speak at length on stages about funnels and sales teams and how to make these things work and only to see their own websites are terrible. And their website actually has… You know how when you start up a website and you've got the template, it's still half the template and you're like, why didn't I listen to this person? That didn't make sense. They were telling me exactly what to do, but they have not done it themselves. It doesn't exist for their company, but they have all the best advice. It's like, probably not. So I think that It's important that those people are there and they exist and they're doing what's their true calling. And that's absolutely their true calling is to bring people in. But I think that then if you don't come into the industry and have the biggest transformation of your life, whether that is personally or professionally. So whether that is, you're someone who struggled with alcoholism and then you're totally sober for 10 years and you're super proud of yourself. Or you instantly go sober overnight and you're just like, this is going to be my way of life forever. Or you come in professionally and then you start a business and you don't make the six figures in the first year. It's like, how do you feel about yourself then? And there's no one serving that particular group of people. because what they're doing is they're usually serving quite generic advice of like, okay, well, you need to take care of yourself. You need to ask for help. You need to have better boundaries. You need to have a morning routine. Like you need to instill all of these things when a lot of the time it's like you're actually probably just not listening to yourself and what you need. And also why is six figures important? Is it important in your life as it is now, you need this amount of money for something or is it purely aspirational? What's the driving force? And if there's anything I learned from Tony Robbins and have kept, it is always there is pain and there is pleasure. Pick your demons, pick your fight. Which one do you want to play with? Because if you're going towards pain, then of course that's going to make you take a lot of action very fast. If you're trying to get out of pain, you will do anything to get out of pain. If you're going towards pleasure, you'll take your damn time. So that's why a lot of people use pain marketing. And it's also why a lot of people are like, well, this is so painful. I'll make it so painful. They do this in sales too, just in case anyone's on a one-to-one sales call anytime soon. they do this in sales is that they will put you into this place of inordinate amounts of pain. Tony Robbins does this at UPW. I don't know if you've experienced UPW, Ksenia, or if anyone. Okay, well, he does it. It's called the Dickens Method, just FYI. I'm not going to spoil it, but that's what it's called. You get put into significant amounts of pain. So it just forces you out of the slump that you're in and to take action to move because you're moving towards anything that's not pain. And I think sometimes if you're moving towards something that's pleasurable and like exciting, but you know, you're going to get it one day, then it can take some time. So you have to really think about how am I going to instill the drive and the excitement for that. So all that to say, I genuinely believe that the people that we have followed in the past, like it is not a bad thing that we followed those people. I think that it was an absolute gift and I think those people are a gift to the world. But I think that there is an underserved market now of people that didn't necessarily get the fast results. They tried the things, it wasn't right for them. It didn't work for their mindset, for their human design type, for their zodiac, whatever way it didn't work for you, like it didn't work for a particular reason, whatever that might be. And those people need to be served. And I think that what they need to be served with is community. And they need to be served with people that say, it's okay that things take time. It's okay to still be figuring out who you are. If you go to one event and you figure out everything in your life, wonderful. But if you don't, it doesn't mean you're bad. It doesn't mean you're wrong. It just means that there's some more work to do. and let's do that together. You're not alone. No one is alone in this life or should be or should ever feel alone. There are so many support systems in place, whether it's the CEO crowd or whether it's the church, wherever you may go to get community, there are so many places to seek community that no one should ever feel alone in life. I think that's the saddest thing is that people feel so alone now. in an age of such connection, we feel this way. It's insane to me and I think that this solution is community because that's what has been lost. There are less spaces for community. You might feel like there's an online community but it might be like a static Facebook group that you're faceless and no one has an idea who you are. It's your Instagram page. That's not community. Community is space where you actually come together and you get to speak. It's not like, oh, you can just drop your name, drop a one in the comment if you feel this way. No. Come off mute and tell me, how do you feel? What's going on? How's your business? What are you working on? What do you need help with? That's, I think, the spaces that we need. Because that's the market that's underserved. Because I think you get to a point of drinking so much Kool-Aid that you're like, why isn't this working? And I don't understand. And it must be me. And then you're in rooms with people and you have friends that are people that have gone through the same thing. And you're like, it's not happening for them. Why me? And then it makes you feel even more isolated. So I think that I genuinely believe that community is the answer. And especially if you're someone that's just been in this space for a really long time and you're frustrated and it's hard, you genuinely need people to understand you. You don't need people to kick you when you're down. And I think that that's what For me, the personal development space had really started to become, and I think that's just because of who I also chose to listen to. So I think that you have to be really choosy with who you choose to listen to, and I think that also helps with what you were saying about people that are authentic and knowing, do they have a team behind them? Because then you'll actually really know what's going on because you'll be listening to the right people that are actually telling you the right things. They're the ones that will be the first people to hold their hand up and be like, I messed up like that was a hundred percent on me. I had to do this in the CEO crowd community last month. We had a masterclass while Wonderful was not on the right topic. We had a little breakdown of communication over the topic and the topic got changed last minute. And I was like, this was not what was meant to be delivered. I will absolutely seek to deliver exactly what I promised and we'll have this bonus and we get best of both worlds. But I had to hold up my hand and be like, I messed up and at the same time, my MacBook had died halfway through the training. So I was like, I had to hold my hand up again and be like, that was on me. Like my MacBook has been dying for like a year and I never replaced it. And now I have replaced it. We have a new MacBook. But you have to hold your hand up and say, like, I'm willing to say I messed up. And I think that the higher you go, the harder I can imagine that is. I'm a, like I said, very small fish. and it's a very big ocean. So I can imagine that when you have 2, 3, 4 million followers, it feels like a real failure when you've made one little mistake. Whereas for me, I'm like, I feel like I make mistakes all the time. And I feel like it's very appropriate that I share them with everyone that's involved, because then how do I fix it? if I'm not addressing the problem, like I feel like it's really important to do that. But again, that comes with who you choose to follow. So I think that for people that feel less than because of certain content that they're seeing, one, stop scrolling. But also I think that there is this concept of be conscious of who you follow. And if you do follow the same values that they do, and if you do, you want to be more in their world for sure. But also be with people that will take care of you and that will point out to you, like, it's okay when things feel hard because it's not going to be perfect straight away. Things are going to take time. I think that if you're working with someone who like promises you the world, they are going to under deliver because it's not possible for one person or one team because everyone's such an individual. So I think that just be a very conscious purchaser, a conscious scroller. And I think that you can start to help yourself out with that kind of level of comparison. Because I think that we all feel it, especially in entrepreneurship. It's meant to look a certain way. Like I said to you earlier, I am the first person that's like, I'm on a call with dirt under my nails because I've been on the ranch. That is literally the style of entrepreneurship that I want. I want to be able to go out and check cattle in the middle of the day because we're having calves and they're cute. Have you ever seen a baby cow? Cute. So I want to be able to do that, but then I want to be able to jump on a call. I want to be able to go out for a walk in the middle of nowhere and have no one around me. I don't want to go out for cocktails on a Tuesday night. Like that's just who I am as a person. So follow the kind of entrepreneurs that have the life that you're interested in and the values that you actually really stand for and then watch them as they deliver it. Because I think over time you start to see like this person's content isn't really for me anymore. Maybe they were the perfect event to go to. Tony Robbins was the perfect person for me to find at the start of my journey. I don't go to his events anymore, but I wouldn't be upset if he was like, hi, Rebecca, do you want to go for dinner? I'd be like, sure, Tone, let's go. I'd be like, yes, I'm in. I'm not going to say these people are bad because they're not, but it's just a case of it's okay to outgrow people. and to change what you actually want from life, from your business, and from your development.
Ksenia: There's so much good stuff in there, holy. That was a lot. I'm like mentally trying to keep notes of where I want to go back to. Oh, that's so good. It's so interesting to, I, yeah, kind of touching on the, you mentioned like the aspirational side of things of like, oh, six figure amounts or just seeing that and I've definitely like I've been in business for seven years now, which is crazy to me, but definitely as I got into that personal development space and I had a business coach and like seeing other designers or other business people like make those five, six figure whatever months. And just seeing that happen around me, I definitely fell into that race of like, I need to do that without even checking if I wanted it. And I think within the past year, I've personally just gone back. I'm like, do you actually want that? It's like, no, I'd be pretty happy. Honestly, if I made $5,000 a month, that's sweet. That covers business expenses. I can pay rent. Yes, I have these dreams and goals of like, it'd be sweet to travel and like I'd love to buy like an old home and like renovate it but I think there's like kind of just realizing that like all the noise Maybe it is for you. Maybe you do want those things, but just checking in and being like, do I actually want that? Do I want, even do I want to put in the work that it takes to get those? Because I remember one year and it was the year that I was working with my business coach at like the start of my journey. It was probably my most successful year to date. And that being said, I was working so hard. I was working nonstop and I specifically remember like December and like the switch for when do I stop work and go on holidays and I did not have holidays because I was so booked out and just remembering how stressed I was to get everything done that every time it comes near December I'm like, I don't want that. So how can we not? How can we make sure that doesn't happen? So that 100% because I know comparison will come in. At this point, I think reevaluating my values as a person, but also for the business, what do I actually care about? People do this all the time. Like, do I want to create like a product that I just like funnel people through and I don't talk to? Not really. I like having conversations. This is just for me, like, do I want to charge like 20, 30k for a website? Not really. I like, I love working with people when they're starting out and having more variety and having smaller projects. So it makes sense that I'm like on the lower end, but all these questions are so important to kind of figure out where you belong and honestly, who you listen to. Cause I've definitely had people like obviously Tony Robbins definitely like a time and place for him and again also nothing against him Tony obviously he's like super successful and I love watching his content because it is very inspirational I guess like it gets you going you know and now I'm like well I don't really want his lifestyle I don't really want like that so maybe I'll just like go look at this person and I think when you were talking about how In events, it is very different. I feel like you go to events for a different thing compared to community. I think there's a place for both of them, but maybe when you're starting out or if you haven't found the right community, you might be seeking it in the events where you're not going to get it because there's thousands of people. you're just listening to one person, the chances of you actually talking to them or even anyone on their team is pretty slim about your own thing and to have a heart-to-heart. Whereas once you find the community that you enjoy and feel like you're a part of, the level of conversation is so much more custom. You talk about your day, you talk about the issues. So I think it's a balanced life with everything. Balance is the name of the game, but yeah, there's so much good stuff in what you shared.
Rebecca Nesbit: Thank you. And I think that, I think this is my next like big fish is I believe that community can exist at those events and is not facilitated. So essentially we're making a transition this year. So we have our CEO crowd membership and I'm so proud of it and I'm just like loving it. It's so much fun. The women are the coolest. We're capping at 200 people and I know we're at 37 right now, but we'll grow, you know, and It's going to be just a cool community space. I want to create for female entrepreneurs is a space where they can go and they can ask questions. They don't have to necessarily have, like, I think it's great to have coaches and things. I think that's wonderful, but maybe you don't need a coach at that time. Like maybe sometimes like you're just in it and you need community, like to have your back. Cause I think that when you have a coach, you're like, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this, but you also need breaks from your coaches. Like I a hundred percent know that my clients need breaks from me and I have a few, like I have a handful of one-to-one clients and in those times where they need a break from me, we will suggest a break. We're like, Hey, don't have a call for two weeks. I just had this with one of my clients is going through something really personal and really hard and it's a family member situation. And I was like, don't come to your call. Don't do it. We'll tag onto the end. Don't come to this call. Poor call for you. Take care of yourself. Take this hour. Take care of yourself instead. And we'll switch the time. And I think that everyone needs that sometimes. And some of my coaching calls are absolutely not about business. And that is what people hire me to do, is be a business coach. And most of the time, there are no business problems. There are only personal ones. So most of the time, I'm solving personal problems. And we're looking at boundaries, or we're looking at just their life in general and their alignment. Alignment is huge. We're always focusing on alignment and on tools to visualize literally throughout the day so that you don't have to feel like you have to sit for like 50 minutes and meditate on it. Like, I am not the world's best at like, you have to do 20 minutes of this a day. I'm like, probably don't. I would like to work out and then have two days off, and then work out two days and then have two days off. I am like probably the laziest person that anyone would, no one would imagine how lazy I am. When I'm not working, I'm like, I'm done. I don't have anything else that I want to do. I just want to hang out and like read books. So I think I maybe do things slightly differently in terms of that, but I feel like we all need breaks. And I think that the CEO crowd, what I wanted to craft it to be was the perfect place. between coaches, they still belong, they're still held, that you don't feel like, oh, but when I don't have this coach, I don't have anything. Because I believe that We have an example, we actually had one of our first clients churn out of the membership because she's genuinely like, I have too much business. I'm so busy. She's like, I don't have this time. And I'm like, do you know what? I honor that for you. And I freaking love that you have that many clients. And yes, she transitioned out the membership, but literally two days ago, she went and hung out with one of our other members. That's like two times over from her. And they are now friends. And I'm like, if that is her outcome, I'm not mad. That's amazing. We've created in real life hugs. I'm all for that. And I think that that's what it should be about is that business should never be about how much money can you get out of someone. It should be what's the best outcome for that person. And personally, I love that about community. And I think that's what's so powerful. So to come back to your original question, I believe that community can exist in real life situations and at in-person events if we facilitated it differently. So I think that that's our next mission. I feel like our membership is working. It will continue to grow. We'll continue to give it a lot of energy, love and attention. But what else fuels me and excites me? I obviously was drawn to Tony Robbins and events because I love something about them. So I clearly wanted to do them for myself. And also we asked our audience, what do you want? And in-person events came up. And I remember having a really in-depth market research that turned into like a real heart to heart about like, you need to do events and you need to do them sooner than like you think you should. And I was like, okay, well, if that, like the market speaks, like your clients will speak for themselves. So I was like, well, how do we do this in a way that is in alignment with our philosophy. And ironically, to completely conclude this point, I don't think I'm anyone's guru. And I don't think I should dictate to people as if I am. I think that my role in my business and as a networker, as a fellow online female entrepreneur is to hold space and facilitate positive conversation, even if the topic itself is not positive. If you're having a crappy day, I'm not going to be like, just stand in the garden and say there are no weeds and they won't be there. A little Tony Robbins moment. That's not what I'm going to do. I'm going to be like, okay, well, how can we shift this? Like, how can we make you feel better? Like, is it that you genuinely need to take a break? Then girl, take it and take it with full permission and do not feel guilty about it. Or maybe it's that self-care for you right now is actually getting those three projects knocked out tonight. You've got this, you can do it. I think that there's a space that we can do that online, but I think that there's, I think there will be a space for us to do that in person. And that's like, I will keep you posted, but that is my next task, I suppose. We've done a lot of market research. We're doing a soft launch in March in Houston. And then we're doing our real like, this has been researched and this is what we are testing as our model in June in the UK, in London. So I'm really looking forward to that. But I believe that there is a way to marry the two up. I haven't seen it either, but I believe that it exists. So watch this space.
Ksenia: I'm excited. I feel like if anyone can do it, you could do it. Thank you. That's really sweet. Because there is definitely something different and special about the CEO crowd calls of just like how there's space for you to come and be like, hey, I'm actually not having a good day or hey, this is what I'm dealing with instead of having to be like, ready to pitch or just like put on a smile or whatever because I'm definitely in networking groups where it's like I'm usually an introverted person so it takes a lot for me to be energy wise like at a bunch of networking events so it's nice that it's like oh you can just show up to this call or just even show up to whatever you're doing and you could just show up. That's it. You don't have to like put on a mask or have a perfect intro or pitch or whatever. So I'm sure the in-person events are just going to be that much better. Yeah, I'm excited for them. Yeah. To wrap up, where can people find you if they want to join the membership or if they're like, no, I need Rebecca in my life, like a one-on-one?
Rebecca Nesbit: I am available at the CEO crowd everywhere. So you'll find us on Facebook. I hang out most of my time on Instagram and we have a website www.theceocrowd.com where you can sign up and you can come along and experience one of our networking events totally for free. I think that if you're going to be in community, You should test out the community. You should see if it's a vibe for you first. So definitely come along to that. Or if you're like, no, like I need you in my life right now, then a hundred percent, then go straight into the membership. And you can check us out again at theceocrowd.com. If you go forward slash CEO member, then all of the details are there. Cool.
Ksenia: Awesome. Yay. This call was so good that I feel like we could probably record like 10 other episodes just talking about stuff.
Rebecca Nesbit: 100%. I'm game for that. Let's do a series.
Ksenia: Sounds good. Thank you. Thank you for joining us for today's episode. I'm very excited for this podcast and I'd love to hear any feedback, what you thought about it. Please let me know as I want to make this a very useful resource for you.
Ksenia: We have some amazing interviews coming up as well as some solo episodes so keep an eye out for those.
Ksenia: Subscribe if you want to be notified when those come out and have them automatically go into your podcast player of choice. All the links mentioned will be in the show notes and also on the podcast page on my site.
Ksenia: And lastly, if you'd like to be a guest on the show or have a topic you'd like me to cover, please reach out to me at podcastxsenya.co. And that concludes our episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Again, please give me feedback. I want to make this really awesome for you, and I hope you have a great day. Thanks for listening.
