#198: The Duality of an Entrepreneur with Natalie MacNeil

Head high, heart first-True wisdom of what it takes to run a dream business and stay true to your ideal self with Natalie MacNiel.

I had the amazing opportunity to interview the one and only Natalie MacNiel!

I'm so excited to share this podcast with you all, because Natalie is truly just a breath of fresh air! This lady has done it all! Natalie is an Emmy Award–winning media entrepreneur, bestselling author, and Certified Professional Coach. She is the founder of Coaching Evolved, and leads its ICF-accredited Professional Coach and Transformational Embodiment Facilitator Dual Certification program. Natalie has been listed on the Levo 100 as a "transformer of our generation" and featured by Inc. as one of "27 women leaders changing the world." She has been featured in Elle, Glamour, People, TIME, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and more.…Seriously she is just EXTRAORDINARY!

Natalie will be talking to us about her unique approach to creating courses by relying on intuition, her philosophy on building a wealthy business, making investment decisions, and the importance of disconnecting, resetting your mind, and honoring all your brilliant ideas. If you are ready to tap into that inner wisdom of yours or basically need a little pep-talk get ready because this is the episode for you!

I hope you guys are ready to learn a lot, and I hope you all love her glorious perspective as much as I did!

What was the thread that then led you into this virtual life/coaching industry?

First, I always trust my intuition even when it defies what seems logical, I always just try to listen to the whispers in my life.

I went to a very entrepreneurial university and lived in a very entrepreneurial city in Canada. I started my first business in my teenage years, and then by my early 20s I was building my production and media company. At this time I was not in a virtual incubator, but I was in an incubator in person.

When I was trying to build my business I always got mistaken for the intern because I was so young, and I would get so frustrated over it! I just kept taking all this s*** about being young or just the “intern” and I was like I need to do something! This triggered me so much, that it prompted me to start a blog called She Takes on the World. When I first started this blog it was about my adventures, building a company, and traveling the world. I wasn't even sure what this blog totally was going to be but at this point I just wanted to share my experience and contribute potentially to being able to do things differently, or to help some of these people who are making all these comments by expanding their awareness.

Well, this little blog ended up taking on a life of its own and becoming a little empire in and of itself that I ran on the side of my media production company, until it became very clear that I was meant to focus on the blog for a while. During this time I was writing columns featured in all the major media outlets, signed a book deal for it, was working with business women entrepreneurs, and that was just the turning point for me of making this my full time thing. Thinking back on it, It was exactly what I was meant to be doing at that time.

Natalie and how her evolution happened…

This is like one of my favorite things to talk about, I mean my company is called Coaching Evolved and I just love that process of consciously evolving and being very aware of what's unfolding, so for me I’m a blend of planning and just letting things happen. I am very strategic and I can map things out but I always leave space for the magic, for synchronicities, and for things to come into my field that want to be worked with or want to be birthed into the world.

There is a lot of experimentation when it comes to business, which I actually love. I think that is one of the greatest qualities that you can have as an entrepreneur and as a course creator, is to really love the process and to love the experimentation because things obviously change all the time! The industry is constantly evolving and you have to just love the process and love figuring out what's gonna work out and letting go of what you think you know, and continuing to approach things with a beginner mindset.

Evolution as a business owner is very tricky, because one of the biggest things you also have to listen to is your audience and what they want next. Which I think can be a trap. Giving into the feedback too much can really be a recipe for burnout and spreading ourselves way too thin in terms of energy, our resources, and our time. However, I do like to listen to the feedback and keep polls on what's happening in the industry, and then also tune into myself and my intuition about what I'm feeling called to create next. I feel like you really have to be in tune with yourself to have a healthy “full circle” evolution. I am constantly deeply listening to what I feel is the edge of my evolution and looking for what's going to challenge me and excite me. It's really just bringing all of my genius and everything I've learned at this point in my life, into the world and into these future courses I create.

Natalies advice for tapping into intuition…

So first off I want to talk about what I don't do and what you shouldn't do. I don't go and look at every possible competitor in my space and follow them on Instagram and check out everything that they're doing, because that can take you down a very dark realm and really distract you and keep you stuck because you start to compare yourself. The comparison game is one of the most toxic things ever, just stay in your lane. Stay with what feels true for you and what's aligned with your genius.

Another thing that you should not do is overwork yourself. I know that's really hard, especially when you're new to business, because you create an internal pressure and feel like you always need to be doing something. This is something I still struggle with to this day, knowing when enough is enough. I have found that I can create a list of three things that I want to get done and once those three things are checked off that is enough for the day, whether or not I check off more those three things regardless are enough.

Personally, I also work very well in Sprints, so I work really well for 12 weeks and then I take a break. I think a lot of us need that reset, so that we can clear our minds. During these times are always when my greatest ideas just flow out, which is just another reason I think our minds and bodies just need that reset. I also pass this down to my team, we build in brakes whenever someone needs it. When a team member needs time away that is more than acceptable! My team knows when we have to be on our game and putting in the hours to get things done, but other than that we really like to just embrace ourselves and know when we need that time to refresh.

Staying clear and connected with Natalie…

So when you feel like you're overwhelmed or coming out of alignment, the best thing to do is to not repress it. Somatic, it comes from somatic psychotherapy, it's this process of just stopping and having the awareness of what's going on. So what am I noticing right now within my thoughts, what am I noticing within my heart? What am I noticing emotionally? What am I noticing about the situation and then staying with it? And that's really the key part, is that we actually stay with it, and we feel it. We need to bring our awareness, to where we can take some deep breaths into what we're feeling. And from that place, we get just enough clarity and we get just enough connection to who we really are that often we can choose a next step that feels responsive instead of reactive, and it feels aligned for us. It helps us to be really clear and connected towards our intuition. Few people take the space to just be with what's there, which is something you will have to practice over and over again but it really is the key part of everything.

I wrote a book, it's called Rituals, and there's 44 practices in it that I do pretty often that help me. One of the things I talked about in the book is that there's a difference for me between habits and rituals. Habits are amazing and obviously it's great to be able to make things more automatic in our lives, which is the purpose of a habit. But what happens when we are just moving through the habits…We aren't even fully aware or present to what we're doing, or why we're doing it anymore. A ritual is about bringing your conscious awareness to it and being really present with it. What do I need right now? What feels alive in you right now? What would best serve this moment? So if I feel myself just going through the motions I stop and change things up, if it's not fully supporting, or fully aligning with where I'm at and what I need I change it up.

Natalie chats about finances and investing…

Most of the time when it comes to investing, what matters is looking at what makes the most sense, and how I'm feeling. What is most important, is just investing! Invest as early as you can and start before you think you're ready no matter how much you're making, if it's possible for you and your expenses do it.

For me it all started with opening a brokerage account on my 18th birthday, as soon as I could go into the bank I was ready to start investing. I was very interested in it from a young age. Start when you're young, and you can be a millionaire before you know it, but the earlier you start the better. That's what I want to encourage everyone to do if you're not already investing or you don't already have a stock portfolio, or maybe you do but you're very hands off with it, check in on it , and develop a relationship with your money.

Staying motivated with Natalie…

It's the love of it. I love the creative process. I love sharing, I think our wisdom and our gifts are within us, for us to share. It's what I was meant to be doing and I always trust that if I'm called to do something, it's because I'm meant to bring it into the world for whatever reason. That outlook is really what keeps me going! I've had periods in between companies where I've taken a lot of time off, and I had a period where I was off for about six months. You know, I just get that itch and then amuse comes to dance with me and I'm like, Alright, let's do this.

Natalie defines success…

Success is when you live in a way that is authentic and true for you. So success is when you show up as your full self, in the fullness of who you are, and you be that in the world, to me that's the highest level of success that we can attain. To just be ourselves in this world that tries to make us a lot of other things.

Talk show takeaways

• Always trust intuition even when it defies what seems logical.

• Love the process and to love the experimentation.

• Find/take time to reset.

• Find rituals that align with you and where your at.

• Invest early and always build a relationship with your money.

• Find what you love to do, and don't hold back.

• Live in a way that is authentic and true to you.