BIRD WILLIAMS: You’re listening to Bird Means Business Episode 100.

My people, my people. We are at one hundred episodes of Bird Means Business podcast. What? My goodness, it just blows my mind. I started Bird Means Business two years ago. And we've been on this journey together for a hundred whole episodes. So what I want to do in this one is to say thank you. I also want to recount some of the big things that we've covered. And I'm going to be sharing a really big update with you. So make sure you stay tuned to the very end. 

Now for newbies around here if this is your first time listening to the pod, I am your host. My name is Bird Williams, and I live in Houston, Texas, with my husband, Terry, and our three kids, Terry the third, Trenton, and Rhys. My husband, Terry and I, launched our gym business called The League way back in 2013. We were crazy kids, didn't know what we were doing. We launched this gym concept. We had our own twist to it, and it quickly grew. And I started this podcast, Bird Means Business podcast, because there were so many simple things, this is the thing, just simple things that had we known, we would have saved a ton of money and time. So that's my gift to you through the podcast. 

I actually went back and listened to the very first episode, episode one from two years ago. It was called, "The Heart Behind Bird Means Business". Because, just side note, I think it's really important to start with the heart behind what it is you're doing, really in any facet of life, but especially with a business. What's the heart behind it? What is the purpose? And so that's what I was really sharing in that episode. And guess what? It's all still the same. I want to be the resource that I wish I had when I first launched my business and had no idea what I was doing. 

So I want to share a little bit about some of what we covered. Again, we have a hundred episodes. I mean, as I'm scrolling through and just looking at them, I'm just reminded of all the incredible guests we've had, all the different topics. I mean, I have so many more ideas for podcast episodes, too. It's like, it's limitless when it comes to entrepreneurship, because there's just so much. But here's a little bit of what we've covered. 

We talked about how to choose an entrepreneurial endeavor. So so many people are like, I have no idea what I want to do, but I know I want to do something entrepreneurial. Guess what? I was in the same boat. I too, was at a job in New York City, in my favorite city in the world, had this really challenging, awesome job on Wall Street. But I wasn't fulfilled. And I knew I wanted to work for myself, but didn't know how that looked. And so I share some of the questions that I asked myself in that episode. 

I have an episode on bookkeeping, taxes and payroll. I talk a lot about how I work with my accountant, or my CPA, Alby. It's a two-part series. I have a how to hire two-part series as well, because when I tell you, and for those who are not veteran entrepreneurs, please hear this and heed this early on. For those of you who have been in the game for a minute, you're going to be nodding your head furiously on the other side. You know, the people part is the hardest part, but it's the most important part. You are unable to grow your brand without great people. So it's a how to hire and then how to actually retain the people you hire in that two-part series. Yeah, it's so key, it's going to be a huge part of your growth and your ability to scale your business. Okay? 

We talk about how to work with your attorney on the show. We also talk about, again, I have a holistic approach to business, meaning it's not just about the numbers and the marketing and the nitty gritty in that sense. It's also about you. It's also about the bigger picture things. So we have episodes around how to make generosity part of your growth strategy. We have mindset coaching sessions with my husband, Terry, who is a mindset coach for professional sports and really incredible brands. So he comes on the show often and he did a mindset coaching session. 

We have several, I should say, we actually have three episodes on mental health and entrepreneurship, because, again, if you've been in the game for a while you're nodding your head because you're like, yes. You need all the mental health help because burnout is real. Stress is real. All of that. So we talk about that on the show. And we also have an an episode on holistic business health. So there's so much. 

That's just a few that I'm naming as I was scrolling through and thinking about it, but I encourage you that if you've missed any of the episodes, make sure you scroll through. You can go to birdwilliams.com/podcast. Or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, there's other sites where I host the podcast as well. Feel free to just scroll through and see like what resonates with me in the season that I'm in and jump in, because again, I keep it real. I am raw. I like to give detail. So I would love to help you on your journey. 

So I also want to share a little bit of what you had to say about the podcast because this is fun stuff. I'm actually on Apple Podcasts reading some of the reviews first. So, one guy says, "Outstanding podcast. It's awesome to hear viewpoints from other entrepreneurs. Even though we're not all in the same industry, we face similar problems. In this podcast, you can listen and try tips and tricks given through bird and her awesome guests. A lot of free game, we just have to execute." Yes. And yes. I love that. he said that, you know, while we have different businesses, we're in different industries. There's a lot of really basic business principles that will apply universally to business in general. And so that's a lot of what I share here on the show. And then I also love that he says, but we have to execute. I need to just say it again, for the people in the back. I can talk, you could listen all day, you can buy the courses, you can download all the stuff and get all jazzed up, go to the conferences. But until you actually begin to execute on what it is you're learning, that is when the game changing stuff will happen. So it makes sure that you actually execute. 

A friend of mine, Stephen Boyd Wallace, who's actually been on the show, I believe it's episode 71. Or maybe, no, it's 73. It's a really great episode. Literally, I did not laugh more in a single episode with his. He has a podcast called Hardly Tomorrow. And he left this review that says, "If you want to make your business better, then listen. If you want to make more money and have more time, then listen. If you want simple, practical help, then listen. If you want to feel like you're not alone, then listen." Y'all, that one just warmed my heart. "If you want to hear from someone who gets it, then listen. I love Bird. She's so encouraging and helpful and honest. It will save you so much time and headaches if you just listen." 

There's so many others on here. One person says, "Such timely and meaningful information that I can easily start applying. Thank you for the great information." So I'm just so grateful for that. I want to share one more thing because one of my clients, she's actually been on the show, but I'm not going to share who she was who she is because I want to keep this all anonymous. But she hit me up on Instagram DM, if you're not on Instagram hanging out with me, I'm @heybirdwilliams. She sent me a DM and it was screenshots of someone that she knew who she had referred to the podcast. And she'd asked this person if she could share with me what that person had said. And I'm going to read it keeping everyone anonymous. She says, "Thank you for sharing this resource a while back. It's been a minute, but every time I listen to her podcast, I get inspired and motivated. Whether it's been days or months since I've worked on my business, whenever I listen to her podcast, the creativity, and steady motivation keeps coming, and tangible things happen every time. Truly thank you for introducing to me and sharing her work." 

Y'all, that made my whole day, my whole life, because if I'm honest, just like y'all know, cause you're either building businesses or in it. It's hard work, right? You're putting in your time, blood, sweat, and tears. And so to hear that it's actually making real impact means the world to me. And I really mean this, when I say it. I have loved sharing this space with you, because I don't take it lightly that I've been in your air pods, and in your homes, in your cars, and on your runs, as you've listened to the show. And I'll say this, I really think that it will pay off for you to take in this content. So I hope that, like those who have shared those reviews, that you feel more confident, you know, as you're meeting with your CPA, because you have the email templates. And we've talked about the questions that you should ask. Or as you're getting ready to sign a commercial lease agreement. I have a whole episode on very detailed terms in a commercial lease agreement that man had I had would have been so much more helpful. So as you're having that conversation, you're more confident. 

Or I even have a podcast about launching this podcast and the steps I took and, and my whole process. So my hope is that as you're navigating these things in entrepreneurship, you've listened to these episodes, and you feel a little bit more confident. Like, "You know what? I got this. I can do this." 

I want to thank a few other people. I thank to you, because you're all so incredible. Thank you for tuning in and for writing your reviews and for sharing. But I also want to thank the people who actually made it possible. So my digital marketing assistant, Haven. She is incredible. She helps move so many of the different administrative things around the podcasts, the posting, the scheduling, all of those sorts of things. She allows me to be able to just kind of get the content out, like recording it like this. I outlet it, I record it, and then I can send it to her once it's finished. And she can kind of schedule the show notes and all of that. I don't need to get into the details. But she is integral and it makes it a lot less daunting to do all of this, having her on my team. Love that girl. Also Mignon DeJohn. She's my mother-in-law. She has helped with the transcripts. If you don't know, not only can you listen to the show, you can also read the transcripts. And she's helped me with every single transcript. I could not thank her enough for that. I mean, a shout out to just all the awesome mother-in-laws out there. I never could have imagined we'd have the incredible relationship we have, that it she'd even be helping me with something like this. She's a rockstar. And then I have an incredible editor, Joel, who's listening to this right now as he's editing the podcast. He is incredible. He is so quick and so great. The audio is awesome. And so I'm actually gonna link all these folks in the show notes that you if you're interested in working with any of them can have that contact information too. 

Also I've had, I counted it, like 28 guests, 28 different entrepreneurs. I mean, everything from retail, like a Christian fitness apparel brand was on. Restaurants, hair salon, chiropractor. I mean, I could go on and on, photographer. So if you are in any specific field, you might actually scroll through and see like, hey, is there someone in my field  that I can learn from? I'm telling you that is golden. Had I been launching a gym business and could hear a entrepreneurial startup story from another gym, that would help me so much to know what should I look out for? And I asked some of the hard questions. So I know you can learn from those episodes too. 

And I'll also say this. Even if you scroll through, and you can't find a guest that I've had on the show in your industry, I can guarantee you that listening to other entrepreneurial startup stories will inspire you, give you practical real life tips to apply to your journey, because I'm asking the hard questions like, what would you have done differently? You know, how did you make a lot of money? What was the turning point? What did that look like? So you will learn so much through those guests episodes. Make sure you tune into those as well. 

Okay, so now for the big update. Y'all, my podcast family, I have decided to pause Bird Means Business podcast. Now I'll say this is really hard for me. It was a really hard decision, because I truly believe that God asked me to do this podcast. I was not at all planning on it. You can tune into that first episode I share about how I was actually going to do, first I thought about blogging. Then I thought no. Then I was gonna do like a video show every week. And I said, oh, no, that's definitely not gonna work, because like your girl cannot put on makeup regularly. I rarely ever wore makeup anyway. And I kind of fell into podcasting and had to very quickly get this podcast together. And then it felt so right because I felt like being able to talk like this really helped me convey what I was trying to say, and it's easy to do. I can be like, in pajamas, it's fine. So I really felt like okay, this is a God thing. And it felt right. And it felt like I got so many different God winks and reminders and confirmations like yes, this is right. 

So, as I went over, you know, throughout the journey of having the podcast, it's been like I said, incredible. But in the last, I'd say six months, if you don't know, I just had a baby girl. She just turned six months. Her name is Rhys. Ever since having her, I really started to have some real moments of trying to figure out what do I need to focus my time and attention on. And I also experienced burnout. I know that I've shared it on some of the more recent episodes on the podcast, but just really some serious burnout where things that I used to love to do, I just didn't really enjoy doing it. And I have a therapist that I meet with, and she really just encouraged me to figure out where I could pause, and to really, like pour on the self care, which is a whole separate conversation. But I really started to think about okay, what can I pause? Where can I pull back? And you know, the podcast, like I said, it's a lot of work that's involved in it. And I don't want to just go into all the details. But I'm sharing this because I don't want you to think that I'm just yanking it out.

I want you to know that it was a thoughtful process. I'll even tell you that I was in marriage counseling. So Terry and I have done marriage counseling for I guess, like two years. I think we started in November of 2019. And it's been incredible. Oh my goodness, oh, my goodness, I cannot speak more highly of marriage counseling. But I even brought it up in one of those sessions recently. And we even navigated it there. So I'm just sharing that just to let you know that it wasn't just like, it's not a willy-nilly thing. For me. It's actually a really hard decision, but I feel like this is where I am now. And I need to just kind of pause things so that I can really come back stronger when the time is right. 

I'll also share, if you haven't listened to and I can't remember the episode number. I'll link it in the show notes. But it was with Phylicia J. L. Munn. She is a celebrity photographer in LA. And she's talking about how she too felt like, with her career, she was just like, I don't want to do this anymore. I have no idea what I want to do. She and her husband just went to Paris, and they just went for a year and was able to just get clarity. And that's when she realized she wanted to go into photography. And that was like the catalyst. And so I share that because when literally as we're sitting there and she's telling me the story, I'm thinking, yeah, I need a pause like that. I can't get my three kids, the whole crew and move to Paris necessarily, but where can I pause? And so I just, I'm sharing that with you because I hope that it inspires you if you are in a season where you might need to pause too. 

Look, everyone doesn't need a pause. Some people, I love y'all, I'm telling you this gently. But some of y'all need to get up off your butt and get to work and make things happen and not stay in fear, right? But some of us were doing the most, and your girl? Your girl was doing the most. And so I have decided to pause the podcast. But I want you to know that this is not goodbye. The best way to stay connected with me is through my weekly emails. So if you're not already subscribed to my weekly emails, you can go to birdwilliams.com/join. And I promise you, it's not spammy at all. I hate spam myself. It is just a weekly email. Typically, it's one email a week. I might start to pick it up more now that this is what I'll be focusing more of my attention on. But typically, it's just an email on Wednesday, full of me going into more detail about whatever topic I'm talking about. So if you want to stay connected with me, again, that's birdwilliams.com/join. 

And one more thing. I would love for you to celebrate with me. So again, we've reached a hundred episodes, which is huge. I looked up a stat and like most podcasts don't get past like fourteen episodes or something like that. So to get to a hundred is huge. And I'd love for you to celebrate that with me. So if this podcast has meant anything to you, if it's helped you in some way, I would love for you to share on Instagram and tag me. So that's @heybirdwilliams on Instagram. You can just put it in your stories or in your post and just make sure you tag me so I can see it and connect with you. But I would just love to hear what you've learned, what it's meant for you or your business. Anything that you would share about the podcast, I would absolutely love to hear. Even if you aren't listening in real time, like if you're listening to this podcast episode, months from now, I would just love to still hear what it means to you and maybe what your favorite episode is or what have you. That would be awesome to see. 

All right. Well, thank y'all so much. Thank you! Thank you for tuning into Bird Means Business podcast. Thank you for sharing it with other entrepreneurs you know. And I really hope that you know I am truly rooting for you to win.