Women Like Me Stories & Business
🎧 Introducing "Women Like Me Stories & Business" - The Inspiring Business and Story Podcast by Julie Fairhurst! 🎙️
Are you ready to embark on a captivating journey of business success and personal growth? Look no further, because Julie Fairhurst is here to enlighten and empower you through her incredible podcast.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a curious mind, or simply seeking motivation and inspiration, this podcast is a treasure trove of wisdom and guidance. Gain practical tips, innovative strategies, and actionable advice that you can apply to your own life and business endeavors.
Julie Fairhurst's passion for storytelling, combined with her extensive experience in the business world, makes "Women Like Me Stories & Business" a must-listen podcast for anyone craving insight, motivation, and a newfound sense of purpose.
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Women Like Me Stories & Business
From Teacher to Entrepreneur: Melodie's Journey to Authenticity
What happens when life forces you to rebuild from scratch? For Melodie Dee, a devastating divorce at age 33 became the unexpected catalyst for complete transformation. In this candid conversation with host Julie Fairhurst, Melodie reveals how she evolved from a shy, uncertain teacher into a confident marketing manager, coach, and entrepreneur by embracing vulnerability and taking consistent, courageous action.
Melodie's journey began with a decision to stop living for others and start honouring her authentic self. After analyzing what wasn't working in her teaching career, she took the terrifying leap into entrepreneurship just as the pandemic hit, forcing her to "jump out of the plane and build the parachute on the way down." This metaphor perfectly captures the exhilarating yet terrifying reality of reinvention that many women face.
The conversation delivers practical wisdom alongside personal revelation. Melodie dispels common misconceptions about social media marketing, explaining that Google now searches social profiles, making your online presence more crucial than ever. She emphasizes that meaningful connection with a small, engaged audience trumps chasing follower counts, and shares how vulnerability became her superpower in building authentic relationships.
Perhaps most powerful is Melodie's reflection on confidence itself—that it's built through consistent small steps outside your comfort zone, compound interest-style. Her mantra, "what other people think of me is none of my business," became the liberation she needed to make bold choices. For any woman facing transition, uncertainty, or the pull toward something more authentic, Melodie's message resonates: everything you need to overcome challenges is already within you. You just need to decide, then take the next step—whether that's a baby step or a giant leap.
https://www.melodiedee.com/
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Who is Julie Fairhurst?
Julie Fairhurst – Speaker, Author, and Founder of Women Like Me
Julie Fairhurst is a champion for women’s empowerment and the founder of the Women Like Me Book Program. Since 2019, she has published 30 books and 300+ true-life stories—at no cost to the writers—giving women a platform to heal, inspire, and reclaim their power. Dedicated to breaking generational trauma one story at a time, Julie’s mission is to uplift women emotionally and financially, helping them create better lives for themselves and their families.
Well, hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of Women Like Me, stories and Business. I'm your host, julie Fairhurst, and today this is going to be a great conversation, so you'll want to hang in for the full thing, because you have a lot to learn from this lady that we're going to be interviewing today. So let me introduce Melody D. She is a multi-passionate marketing manager. She's a confidence coach, an author and a proud dog mom. She lives in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia and she empowers women to embrace all their talents, no matter how many, and to step courageously into leadership, whether in entrepreneurship or employment. Melody helps women build confidence and find clarity through her coaching handcrafted workshops. You got to check those out. Those are pretty cool and engaging content. She champions a future where women can be bold, vulnerable and brilliant all at once. Welcome.
Speaker 2:Melody, thank you so much. That was like the best introduction I've ever heard.
Speaker 1:That was amazing. Well, it's all true. I found it all about you, so it's all true. Well, thank you so much for being here. So much for being here. Let's start off by just talking a little bit about your story and about confidence and about how you ended up in entrepreneurship, for sure.
Speaker 2:So, to give a little bit of a backstory, I was always a very shy kid. I did not have much confidence at all and I think I started to slowly find ways to because I didn't like how that felt slowly found ways to kind of build that up as I was growing into a teenager and young adult. But I think my true confidence really developed after I got divorced when I was about 33. I can't remember, and so what happened with that was my life got turned upside down. I ended up analyzing my life and my career and my goals in life and I decided that I wanted to do something different and I kind of dove I not kind of I really deep dived into personal development and that was kind of the catalyst for everything that has followed since then. So that was about 2017.
Speaker 2:In 2018, once I was done kind of grieving and being in the woe is me phase really kickstarted my career as an entrepreneur. I was a teacher and I was not happy being a teacher. I enjoyed it, but it became increasingly difficult and I had some what we call like invisible illnesses that I was struggling with and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep up being a teacher. So I thought, hey, I'm single, I just have to support myself. I don't have, I'm single, I'm just have to support myself.
Speaker 1:I don't have to answer to anybody I don't have to support anybody, except for me and the dog.
Speaker 2:Maybe this is the time that I dive into something new and figure it out. And so I did. And so I kind of deep dove right into affiliate marketing and digital marketing and learning that entire world, which is basically what has led me to where I am today. So I left teaching about after a year and a half of starting a new business as an affiliate marketer. I started actually right when COVID hit. I started doing confidence coaching and empowerment coaching. I was going to be affiliate marketing and then the pandemic hit, so that went out the window and I had to pivot really effing fast.
Speaker 2:And so yeah, yeah, it was kind of like do this or you're on the street, and so I started kind of jumped out of the plane and built my parachute on the way down and that led into, I want to say, like three or four years of confidence coaching and working for myself and supporting myself, which was really empowering, and then eventually burning out from entrepreneurship and joining a team. So now I'm a marketing manager at an all-female team in Canada here, and now that I've had some time to take off of my own business and work for someone else, it's got me wanting to come back into entrepreneurship a little bit more. I feel like that is always going to be there. It's always going to be like a theme in my life and I'm not ready to let that go yet. So I have come back now into doing the confidence coaching with women.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. I agree with you. I think, once an entrepreneur, it's pretty hard to get it out of your system, for sure, yeah, yeah, and you know, I think that I think it's just it's. I think it's really great that you recognized that, that you didn't want to be a teacher anymore and then you left it, because so often people get stuck in these roles and I think if you're burnt out, if you, if you don't want to be there anymore, then you're no good to anybody and you should really think about about making a move into something that's going to maybe make you a little bit happier, or doing something to get you at least out of that slump, exactly.
Speaker 2:It's all about self-awareness and what was really sad to me was when I was talking about leaving teaching and talking to different colleagues. The feedback I got a lot was well, you only have 20 years left to get your pension and I was like that's so sad and so many teachers said I don't enjoy it anymore. This job is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and it just like beats me down every day. But I have 10 years left, so and that was just to me so sad have 10 years left.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that was just to me so sad. Yes, yeah, I worked for the government many, many years ago back in the 80s, and I remember I can't remember what was happening but I remember looking around the office and a lot of the women had been there for many years. They were getting, they were older and they were grumpy. They were just so grumpy and I remember it clicked in my head and I thought, oh no, I'm not going, I do not want to go there. And then I didn't.
Speaker 1:I went into real estate and then, of course, retired last year to do Women Like Me full time. But I think I think when that nugget is there, that's the time to act on it, Because it's not just if you're in a service industry it's not good to hang out if you're all burnt out and grumpy because you're not doing the greatest but also you need to take care of yourself, and we only have so many years on this earth. I mean for people to think well, you know, you only have 20 more years and then you get your pension. 20 years is a lifetime for some people. It's a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah not doing something that lights you up, it's not worth it. Like what if you died next year and you and you are still stuck in that job? Or you're still stuck in that relationship, or stuck in that, but and you were still stuck in that job, or you're still stuck in that relationship, or stuck in that, and you didn't take the time to say oh, you know what? This isn't serving me and I think I need to make a make a change.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, and it's scared. I mean, I remember when I did it. I was a single mom with three kids and I left a government paying benefits job to go into real estate where I didn't get paid a penny unless I sold somebody's house and for the first 18 months I pretty much starved. So it was, it was scary and it was tough, but it was absolutely the best thing that I ever did for myself and for my family.
Speaker 2:I remember my parents and friends thinking like what are you doing? Like you're leaving a cushiony, safe teaching job and you're going to go sell what Like? They weren't even sure what I was doing and, to be honest, I wasn't sure what I was doing either. I just knew that wasn't it and I needed to get out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, good for you for following it, and I think that that's a message I would love for our audience to hear. If anybody you know, lots of people are happy in what they do, but if you're one of those unfortunate people that aren't happy, there is a life outside of your unhappiness. You just got to step out and find it and dig up a little confidence.
Speaker 2:I was going to say it really is number one making the decision right what do you want? Create the vision, create the goal. And then two, finding just a tad bit of courage to get you to the next step, and then each step from there is I just need a little more courage, right, like we think? Confidence the original is just a little bit of courage until you are building the confidence to go and then be able to do all those other things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, perfect, okay. Well, let's jump into what was. I see I got all lost here. I have all my questions and we went off on a tangent. It was a good tangent, so okay. So we covered pretty much all of that. So let's talk a little bit about what you're doing now, because we talked a little bit before we went on air and I think that especially women men too, but especially women have a concern about social media, because you don't just do social media advertising, you do all sorts of other advertising for your client base. But I thought we could talk more about the social media part of it, because I think that's mainly the ladies that I have in my audience. So so what can you tell us? Like, why is it important to be on social media?
Speaker 2:So right, now it's when we think of visibility we need to think about, like, where people are seeing you. So it's not. Before. It was okay, I'm on social media, so a certain group of people are seeing me, but right now Google is searching social media profiles and any keywords that you have in your profile your name, what you do, your products, your story, like your, your books, anything like that is now searchable on Google. So when people are looking for whatever they're looking for, if you don't have that social media presence, you have one less way of showing up on Google.
Speaker 2:So you might have a website, that's great, but it's not enough. You need to be on at least like one platform. The other thing, too, is that the social media really builds your credibility right and it builds trust with your audience. So you might have a website, but your website doesn't always show exactly who you are and it doesn't show that personal side of you, whereas you can just show up on social and it doesn't have to be crazy professional, it doesn't have to be perfect or, you know, curated exactly how you know. A professional who has a whole team behind them has it but just showing up and sharing your story, sharing who you are what you're like is going to build that trust with your audience. And then also the credibility, because they're going to see that, like you're the expert in what you're and what you're talking about, even if it's just your story, you are the expert in your story, right? Absolutely translates really well people. People need that connection and that is what social media is, for.
Speaker 1:You can't get that from from a website or maybe you can help answer this, because I've I always um, I'm always snooping around so that I'm learning more about social media and what to do and where to do it and those kinds of things. But I've heard lately that it's not so much about how big a following you have, it's more about connecting. Can you explain, is that really what's happening out there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we're seeing a trend right now where we're moving from where a few years ago, it was all about followers, right, everyone was interacting with posts and sharing, and people are going viral and all that stuff, especially on Instagram. Right now, that has shifted significantly. What we're seeing, what I'm seeing specifically, is that you're not getting the likes or the comments. You might be getting the shares, but people are very hesitant to go and put themselves out there on social media in terms of responding to creators content, for a few reasons. Number one we have entered a era where, for the last few years, people are just pitching nonstop.
Speaker 2:So people are getting like DMs from random people.
Speaker 2:There's a whole social media kind of burnout era right now where people just want to kind of stay private and so they don't want to put themselves out there.
Speaker 2:But the thing is people are still watching and you can look in your insights and you can look in your analytics and see they might not be commenting, but they're still watching, right, the video, video views and watch time, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:You're going to see that that is still happening and so it's important to still continue to show up, even if you think that right now or, like in general in the future, it's not worth it because you're not seeing like any results.
Speaker 2:But what's happening is you are still attracting the people that are supposed to be in your space and then when you go and say, hey, I'm ready to work with whoever, if that's what your business is, um, or once you're ready to share your story because I'm assuming most of your like your audience is authors, right, yes? And women who are trying to, you know, build their lives right now. Once you then put yourself out there and say, okay, here's how to contact, here's how to buy my book, people are going to do it. It's that buildup, it's that, and it doesn't have to be every day. You don't have to go viral right, you just, and you don't need a large audience, because you could have an audience of a hundred people that are super engaged and love watching your, your Instagram stories, or love watching your lives, or just can't wait to hear what you're doing tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:It isn't about that connection.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about SEO? Somebody, somebody I heard a while ago and I don't remember where I heard it, but I kind of heard that SEO is dead. Is that true, SEO?
Speaker 2:is not dead. Okay, it is a little bit more difficult than it used to be to rank in search engines. So, for those of you who don't know, seo is search engine optimization. It is, or it is comprised of the strategies that get you on the first, second, third page of Google. When someone Googles, say Melody D, I want to show up on the first page because that's my like. I am Melody D, right, so you want to outrank other people. Activities to do SEO have just shifted a lot, specifically because of AI capabilities. But what's great is that. So Google is getting a lot better at actually recognizing how to rank you without having to do those activities. So SEO is not dead. It's still very important, but you can do things automatically, like set up your Google business profile. That is a free and very easy way to get traffic and rank higher. Creating content on your website, always optimizing the keywords, things like that. People used to be able to just like write a blog and then rank. That's different, right.
Speaker 2:Blogs have to be extremely long now and they don't work quite the same, but it still helps, right. So, all of those activities and then being on social media, because that is now like Google's now searching those profiles.
Speaker 1:I think I didn't know that. That excites me actually, that it really does. Because, yeah, for because you kind of think, like when you're on Facebook or you're on Instagram or LinkedIn, you're in this little box that you can't get out of all this work you do in there, it's for there. But now it's exciting to think that there is a way that Google gets in there and is able to, if they think that they should, or however the algorithms work, that they can actually start to promote you on their page or their platform.
Speaker 2:What you want to do to really boost that is make sure that your Instagram and Facebook captions or tech talk or whatever platform you're on, have keywords that are natural in the caption. So, Julie, if you want to promote, you know, independent women writing stories or write or authoring stories or something like that, you want to have that main keyword that people are searching for, whatever that is that you've identified throughout your content so that it's consistent and Google goes oh hey, you know, when someone looks up this, we have all this content from Julie that we need to now.
Speaker 1:Right, yes, what a fabulous tip. Thank you for that. Yeah, yeah, and it's not something to be afraid of, it's just the thing is. I think people should get excited about the fact that it's. Unless you want to do paid ads, it's free. Where can you?
Speaker 1:When I was in real estate, I don't even want to tell you how much I had to spend every year on newspaper advertising to market myself and to market my listings. It was crazy. And then social media started and all of a sudden I'm like, well, I don't even have to spend all this money anymore. Thank goodness people aren't reading the newspapers as much just in terms of what's happening with my pocket, um, my, my bank account and having to put out all that money for that advertising cost, which was horrendous, just like, like a lot and um, but yeah, this is free. Yeah, like this, we're gonna put this video on on youtube. We're gonna promote you, we're gonna promote me. We're going to promote you, we're going to promote me. We're going to help give lots of tips and good content to people out there who need it, and it's all free.
Speaker 2:All free and what stops people? I think what stops people from posting is like one, it's that confidence piece Like oh, I don't, I can't put myself out there. But two is the I'm not really sure how I get that a lot with our clients. I guess the third one actually is that they're so busy with everything else they just don't have time. So you know, that's what I do in my job. I take that on for them and then I have the background knowledge to get them going Right.
Speaker 1:So if you can.
Speaker 2:number one, find a way to put yourself out there. That's the hardest part. And number two is just understand a little bit like how to write a caption the fact that hashtags are kind of useless right now, the fact that any text on your image is also searchable right. That makes it easier to show up.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, wow, great, absolutely great. Great tips for sure. So can we just talk a little bit more about confidence? So how do you think that women could start to build confidence after they're coming out of, maybe, a marriage that didn't work? Or I know for me, years ago, I was fired from a job that left me in tears over a weekend, crying in my soup. Best thing that ever happened to me, though, but at the time it was pretty, pretty sad. How can a woman build confidence after they come out of something that they feel is just so devastating for them?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So the first thing I would do is decide that you want to, decide that you wanna be, because if you want it, then you're going to follow through and figure out whatever it whatever needs to happen to get there. The second thing is I would find some help, like I would get help from someone that's been there. Surround yourself with people who are positive, who are good role models, who maybe have been in the same place that you have, so you can see kind of how they did it.
Speaker 2:When I was going through my divorce, I reached out to two women that I knew, one who whose husband had also cheated on her and she left, and then another woman whose husband cheated on her but she stayed. And so I interviewed very extensively both of these friends to find out like what does your life look like right now? What steps did you take to get there? And I followed those steps, I emulated those steps. So finding someone who can help you work through those things. And then the other thing for me was just every day doing like one small thing that made me uncomfortable but pushing me in the right direction. So whether it was posting on social, whether it was hiring a coach to learn how to run my business, whether it was reaching out to someone in a messenger DM and saying, hey, I think I could really help you. Are you open? Like the first time I did that, I think I thought I was going to throw up.
Speaker 1:I bet, I bet.
Speaker 2:But every time I did one of those tiny small things right. It's a compound effect. It led to more and more confidence, it led to more and more clients, led to more and more results and now I have no problems, you know, messaging someone and saying hey, I noticed this and you know what, if you want it, I'm here.
Speaker 2:If not, that's cool. Yeah. And the clients that I've worked with as well I mean I have worked with clients who saw me in a Facebook group said, oh, I like her, I like her confidence, I want that. And they had never even posted on Facebook, like literally no social media presence at all. And they went from you know a year later to running their own Facebook group, doing their own Facebook lives, creating new businesses. Oh my gosh, like having a YouTube channel and showing up there, and all because they just decided this is, I think that's what I want. So I'm going to go find someone that has that and get them to help me do that.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to go find someone that has that and get them to help me do that? Absolutely, yeah, sometimes it's and that's the same with everything when you know if you go to someone who knows how to do it and they're going to help you, they're going to show you, and that's just so important because or you're running, you're like a gerbil on that little you know running wheel that they're going on and not really understanding and not really knowing. You know these things. When I was in real estate, I watched the realtors that were very successful and I just did what they did, yeah, as much as I could, but with, with, but within my own personality and my own ethics and all of that other stuff. But I saw, oh, this is what they do, oh, this is the kind of things they say, oh, this is how they approach people. And and I think, um, what you said was quite, quite right when you said just to ask and how, the first time you asked, you felt like you want to throw up.
Speaker 1:I have studied salespeople and 60% of salespeople do not ask. So that means people go in, whether it's in a coaching call or a realtor going in for a listing or whatever that might be, and they go in for that business and then they leave and they've never asked would you, are you interested in proceeding? Do you want to? Do you want to get your house on the market? Do you want me to help you get your confidence level up? Or you know, whatever it is, we just don't ask and that's a self-image issue.
Speaker 2:Right, it's not a logistics issue, it's not a. It all comes from just can I? Am I good enough to ask this question? Right? And so when you work on your confidence, when you work on your self image, confidence is just a stem of self image. Really, all the work that I do with women is all self image. You can say, yeah, I actually have the ability, I can ask that, no problem. And it's mindset work around it too, right, like the world will not end if I ask this question, if they say no, I'm not going to die.
Speaker 2:I might go throw up, but I probably won't do that next time because it's been, because I did it once and now it's easier.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly time, because it's been, because I did it once and now it's easier. Yes, exactly, yes, yeah. And, as they say, although it's a you know, but they do say, every no is getting you closer to yes, and it is true, yeah, yeah, it is true, yeah for sure. So what role do you think that vulnerability has played in your business and personal growth?
Speaker 2:Vulnerability is probably like the most important in my growth. When I was younger I was not the kind of person to ask. I'm still not really the kind of person to ask for help, although I'm getting better at it but I didn't. I never wanted to disappoint anyone. I never wanted to say I'm feeling sad or I'm feeling this way or um, you know, I was just very shy and like, kept to myself and like you know, don't ask me how I'm doing that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:That was me as a kid, like if you asked me how I was doing I would probably cry. But what I found really quickly was that when I was going through the divorce I I had a group of teachers and colleagues around me that I knew really well for several years, and so when I had said, oh my gosh, like this happened to me, my husband cheated right. For those of you who don't know, my husband had an affair with another coworker and we were all in the same school district, so they knew him, they knew her, like it was a whole thing. So when I finally had the courage to say I'm going through this, I immediately had two other staff members come to me that said, oh my God, me too. Now I had a network.
Speaker 2:Now I had what do you call it Like groupies. We were each other's groupies, right, and as soon as I said that, they were like thank you for saying that, because I've been holding this in for six months they didn't tell anybody.
Speaker 2:And now we had connection, now we had support and that from there I then learned that a few other people had been through the same thing in past years. So now I had a larger support group and from there I found that there is so much value in just sharing. It doesn't have to be uber vulnerable, right, you don't have to share all of your childhood or adult traumas, but just sharing about what you're going through, or a piece of it. So a couple weeks ago I put up on my stories that I stopped drinking alcohol a couple of years ago, and it's been a bit of weeks ago. I put up on my stories that, um, you know, I stopped drinking alcohol a couple of years ago and it's been a bit of a roller coaster for me and and in my core I really don't want to drink alcohol anymore. And I decided you know what I'm just going to talk about this. I don't know why I I just felt pulled to do a story on it that day and I think I had like 10 people reach out to me and say, oh my God, thank you so much, this has helped me.
Speaker 2:Today I've had other people say, oh my gosh, I still struggle with this daily. Do you mind if I just reach out to you and can we talk about it sometimes? Yes, that'd be great Cause I'd like the same right Like who are my people? Sharing my story has really helped me find my people. It has helped me find clients not that that was the goal, but they've just found me right. It really opens the doors to who you are supposed to, um, just be with like you know. Um, yeah, clients, friends, new connections, and what was really interesting is that you think in your time of need that, like your family and friends, your closest people are going to be behind you all the way. It's not. That's not always the case. It's usually the people that come out of the woodwork and you create these new friendships and these new, you know relationships because of this I don't want to say trauma bond, but because of some sort of you know, vulnerability that you've showed.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that thank you for sharing that, because I think that that's so true. There's so many people walking around and they feel shameful or guilty about whatever, whatever it might be, that's going on in their lives. But, but a little bit of vulnerability, and look what happened. You know, you found a sisterhood, you found a support system, and not just for you, but helping others as well, and I think that's part of what we do in Women Like Me. It's about, sure, the woman's healing while they're telling their story, and that kind of thing, but it's all about the reader. It really is, because there's somebody out there who needs to hear that story and and, and the example that you just gave is is brilliant, as that's exactly what happens out there, and so and so, having a bit of courage to share a little bit of vulnerability about your story or a lot, whatever it is that you're wanting, do you just don't know who you're going to going to touch and who's going to, like you say, come out, come out of the woodwork.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I mean you could just if you change one person's life or saved one person's life story, then it's worth it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. So. For women listening today who might need a spark of motivation, what would you, what would you want to tell them about reclaiming their confidence?
Speaker 2:Just that they can. They can do anything they want. I love that. Yeah, they just have to decide and then take the next, you know baby step or big step, whichever they prefer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, next, you know, baby step or big step, whichever they prefer. Yeah, it's really about just decision, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, and I find, because I've been very, really washy over the years about different decisions that I've that I needed to make or that I do make, but when you make a decision, that all of a sudden clarity opens up, possibilities open up. I guess it's because you, when you make that decision, you put that intention out to the universe absolutely.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say law of attraction, yeah law of attraction, exactly, yeah, when you state what you want and even go a step further and visualize what that looks like for you. Now you have set into motion all these things that you don't even know are going to happen. Right, if you believe in this, the universe is going to find a way to make those things happen. Because you said it, this is happening.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, be careful what you talk about. Yes, because that's what's going to come your direction. Melody, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions? I like to ask these questions of my guests so that the audience can get to know the guests a little bit better. Okay, so my first question is is if you could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow, where are you going to go and why are you going to go there?
Speaker 2:I think I'd go back to Europe, because I went when I was a teenager and I know things have changed since then. But I think I would go and revisit, like all the places I went as a teenager and then some more, so that I could really appreciate them a lot more now. I would love to go. I went to London, paris, we went to Belgium, amsterdam, nice, a bunch of places, heidelberg.
Speaker 1:I'd love to just go back to all those and then see some more Wonderful, wonderful. What about unwinding? So when you've had a really busy day, how do you like to unwind? Okay?
Speaker 2:So I'm an introvert and I'm just going to put Okay, so I'm an introvert and just going to put that out there. I'm an introvert and some days all I do is talk to people on zoom calls, yeah. And so sometimes my boyfriend will come home and I'm, and I say I'm going to just go sit on the couch and Netflix all night long. That's one way and that's okay, that's fine, that's my escape. My other way is to go sit by a creek or in the forest or whatever it is, and I find that recharges me a lot faster. Yes, and isn't maybe like rotting my brain at the same time? But and then the third is like walking and getting fresh air, all those things, yeah.
Speaker 1:All of those things help and it's really I agree with you. Getting out in the fresh air, all those things, those things help me. Yeah, all of those things help and it's really I agree with you. Getting out in the fresh air and walking and listening to a creek is going to clear your mind a little better. But hey, when you're like stressed and you've like had a rough day sitting in front of a mindless TV set can be really yeah.
Speaker 2:Or if it could be a book, it could be, podcasts it could be just take your yeah Something just to take your mind off of it all. Yeah, sometimes for me too, it can also be like crafting, so I'll do like woodworking or a dollhouse over here that I'm refinishing. Like I always have a million hobbies, yes, and so sometimes it's just diving into something else and working on that and getting your brain away from all the other stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah for sure. So do you have a favorite motivational quote that you like to use?
Speaker 2:Yes, I have two. So number one is the classic I am good enough, I'm always good enough, I'm forever good enough. I don't have to do anything to prove that I'm good enough, yeah. And the second one is what other people think of me is none of my business oh my goodness, I can't believe.
Speaker 1:You said that because I was talking to someone not yesterday, the day before, and that was something that they were really. They were saying you know now I've learned this, now that it's none of my business what people think.
Speaker 2:That was a really big one for me when I was going through the changes in my life, because I'm like what You're leaving your husband, what You're buying a house, what You're leaving your job, what You're selling your house, what job, what you're selling your house, what you're right, like all these things that I decided down to certain life circumstances, was to say, oh, I'm not living for them, I'm living for me. What they think is really not my business. I just have to do what I know in my heart is right. And now I think my the motivational quote that I use right now because I don't need that one anymore yeah, right now it's like I'm on the right path, everything is working out for me, I'm on the right path and just keep on going.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. My husband and I actually use that. Everything's working out for us. It always does, always, always yes.
Speaker 2:Always.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even when you think it's not. What about a book? What is a favorite book that inspires you?
Speaker 2:what is a favorite book that inspires you? So the oh my gosh, I have too many Um but the one that stands out to me right now because I'm in the process of um. So I wrote a chapter for women like me last year and that sparked the need to write restart my book again. So I had started my book right after the divorce. I was like I need to write all this down All this happened.
Speaker 2:Um and so now I'm going back to that, to writing that book. What encouraged me to write that book in the first place was I was just walking through London drugs one day and there was a book called a beautiful, terrible thing. I can't remember the author. She's on my shelf, literally right behind me. It's the only like fiction book I've kept. The other ones I just always give away but it I was reading it and I was like it's about a woman whose husband cheated on her and then she finds out he's a sociopath. And I was reading it and going, okay, universe, universe, I get the message right. Like you wanted me to pick up this book.
Speaker 2:I don't normally buy books at London Drugs. I just walked by it and went oh, the cover looks pretty grabbed. Yeah, took it home, read it in about four hours. Wow, I remember saying to my stepdad like I think I'm reading my story Interesting, and so that was the catalyst for writing my book.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow.
Speaker 2:And that's currently in my head, but a couple other books. One in particular is Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr Maltz Maxwell Maltz, I think his name is. Oh, yes, yeah, okay yeah. It's just all about self-image and how to create a positive self-image. That's a very inspirational one, perfect.
Speaker 1:If you could have dinner with any woman in history, who would it be? What was that?
Speaker 2:Celine Dion. Celine Dion you already know I love her, first of all, her voice. I've always been a fan of her, ever since I was a kid. I'm like a diehard fan. But she's also just so unique and just doesn't give two shits what anyone thinks about her. She's weird on camera and I just love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you're right, she doesn't care.
Speaker 2:She doesn't care, because that's her. Yeah, yeah, she's the most confident woman I know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, yeah, fabulous. Okay, and the last one. So if you could whisper one truth into the ear of every woman who's struggling, struggling right now, what would you say?
Speaker 2:You got this, you got it. You have everything within you to overcome, to change, to just be who you are. It's all within you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect, perfect. Well, melody, thank you so much for such an inspirational conversation, gosh. We went from confidence to social media tips, to YouTube, to lives, back down to confidence again. Vulnerability we touched on it all. It's just, it's been fabulous, and I know that there'll be a lot of women that'll be helped in many different areas of their life by listening and watching this.
Speaker 1:So thank you for doing that. Do you have any? Oh, before I say the last words, I want to let everyone know that Melody's information will be in the show notes of the podcast as well as the video, so we'll have a link to reach out to her. If you're looking at needing to hire someone for some social media help, or if you're needing to help get some help with confidence whatever it is that you need Want to go to her one of her painting work nights and you're close by you could do that too, so we'll make sure that all of that's there so that you all know how to find her. So, melody, thank you very much for doing this. Do you have any last words that you would like to share?
Speaker 2:No, julie, just thanks so much. I actually wasn't feeling great before we started this, and now I feel like I can go and do anything.
Speaker 1:Oh well, thank you so much. Oh, thank you, Okay, everyone. Well, thank you for watching and listening and we'll see you again on another episode of Women Like Me Stories in Business.