SDH187: Why You Should Focus on What Excites You with Steph Crowder

What is your driving force? The ultimate thing in your life that gives you direction and purpose? For Steph Crowder, Head of Member Success at Fizzle.Co., her motivators are her 14-month-old daughter and Fizzle. Fizzle is a company that helps creative entrepreneurs build their businesses via online courses, and weekly articles, podcasts, and small business guides. Their ultimate goal is to set up individual business owners with every resource, and tool they need to feel supported by an understanding community of like minded individuals. It is because of their mission and morals that Fizzle has become Steph's north star and passion. She refers to herself as the 'Den Mama' of Fizzle because she is so invested in the company, and takes care of everything and everyone, from clients to coworkers. Starting as a customer of theirs, she joined the company as a part-time customer service rep two years ago, and took a 60% pay cut from her previous job as head of a department at Groupon. Since she has become part of the leadership team, hosts Fizzle's podcast, as well as her own, Courage and Clarity. When her daughter came into the world, her heart and dedication became split between being a devoted mom and an ambitious leader. She wanted her career and role at Fizzle to continue to grow and move at the upward pace it was, previously. But she needed to do so in less time, because she didn't want her daughter's life to be consumed by day care, and wanted to be an involved parent. She wanted to do it all, and compromise nothing, and felt she could do so with rigid scheduling and time management. She quickly realized that that was a no-go. She began to see that this way of thinking and living was being reactive to her conundrum, but not actually proactive in changing anything. So she started delegating her work load, and saying no to things that were miniscual, and weren't what she wanted or needed to be doing; such as getting trapped in email jail, and handling Fizzle's social media prescence. By eliminating unneccesary tasks and distractions in her life and at work, she was able to be the mother that she wanted to be and spend quality time with her baby. Stay tuned and hear more about how Steph worked her way up at Fizzle, how motherhood made her a better leader, and how her and her partners are evolving Fizzle with a fresh identity and purpose! Also, check out Steph's original appearance on She Did it Her Way two years ago! In this episode you will... Be okay with not getting constant feedback on your performance as an entrepreneur Learn how to merge skills as a mother into being a leader in your professional life Know how to delegate certain tasks at your job, and projects so you can focus on your personal or family life Learning other behaviors to increase productivity, as opposed to working harder and longer, and burning yourself out Discover what your business or start up wants to evolve to once it's hit the 5 year mark Not make your happiness conditional, and be happy with where and who you are at the moment INSIGHTS "There are a lot of lessons, and definitely a border between start ups and pregnancy, and also motherhood. You learn so much about business. I think business and entrepreneurship can teach us a lot about how to be the CEOs of our families. It's really cool to see how these two different systems can play together when you're doing both in your life." -Steph Crowder "If I have an activity...or a project that I want to take on, now I just stop and I say, 'What would be the result of that? Is it going to reach my number one objective, which is growing Fizzle?' That is my north star...I really tried to put myself in the driver's seat.... I'm just trying to support myself and show my daughter an example of what meaningful work can be." -Steph Crowder "Working harder, longer is not a strategy...if that's your sole strategy...you're going to hit a wall. I have not seen someone not burn out on that model, and I am an example of that. You will reach a point in your life where thatno longer becomes a viable strategy. It might work in the short term, but [when] you get to a point where your priorities change, it doesn't feel good to live from that place." -Steph Crowder "It's challenging, as well as incredibly invigorating, to be in part of a company that's doesn't know what the answer is...everything in your business is a hypothesis...even when you're as far along as a business like this...we have to test and tweak and iterate, and it's really exciting to be on the precipice of, where are we going to go from here?" -Steph Crowder "Get yourself in a place where...no matter what happens today I genuinely feel good...because inspired action is so much better and more effective...I feel like I'm doing more meaningful work...and that's a really new mindset for me to explore." -Steph Crowder RESOURCES Special Fizzle 5-Week Free Offer! (fizzle.co/courage) Steph Crowder LinkedIn Courage and Clarity Steph Crowder Instagram Fizzle Website Fizzle Facebook Fizzle Instagram Fizzle Twitter The Start Up Pregnant Podcast Mimi Ikonn YouTube Interview with London Real Academy Part 1 of 2 Priming with Tony Robinson Jess Lively Website