Episode 197
What Most People Get Wrong About Collaboration (Especially When You’re Building a Business with Chronic Illness)
If you’ve been told that lead generation means pitching constantly, being visible everywhere, or following a one-size-fits-all funnel strategy… this episode is going to feel like a deep breath.
In this solo episode, I share the most powerful (and overlooked) way to grow your audience, build trust, and attract aligned clients — through the sustainable and soul-led path of community and collaboration.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your approach as a coach, creative, or service provider living with chronic illness, I’ll share how to use your hobbies, professional skills, and innate talents to build visibility and create genuine relationships that convert — without pretending, burning out, or pushing beyond your body’s limits.
You’ll walk away with:
- The #1 mindset shift that makes collaboration sustainable
- How to attract aligned leads using your actual interests (not just business strategies)
- A simple weekly rhythm for connection, even if you only have one good hour a week
- Real-life examples of how I grew my podcast and audience without paid ads or constant posting
- Gentle journal prompts to help you turn your personality into your magnet
This episode is a gentle nudge to do things differently — and proof that you can generate leads from a place of alignment, joy, and rest.
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Transcript
Today's episode is one that is going to
talk about lead generation or acquiring
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:more people to know about what you do so
that you can nurture and convert them.
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:And we're talking about this
through one of my favorite ways of
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:creating lead generation, which is
through collaboration and community.
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:And I'm going to share with you why
most people are doing it in a way
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:that leads to burnout, misalignment,
and just plain disappointment.
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:So whether you're at the start of
your business or you've been building
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:for a while, you've likely heard
that you need to network, you need
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:to pitch, you need to get visible,
you need to collab with the right.
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:People, and maybe you've tried,
but something about it has
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:felt off, it's felt draining.
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:It's felt awkward, it's felt one-sided.
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:It's just not felt authentically
you in any way, shape or form.
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:And this is not just for introverts
that feel like this, but also
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:extroverts have felt like this as well.
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:So if you've ever felt like I don't
have the energy to be everywhere.
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:Or I have the energy to be everywhere,
but I don't wanna be everywhere.
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:I'm not the kind of person who
just slides into people's dms.
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:I want real connection, not just
the surface level kind of collab.
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:You itch my back eye.
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:It's yours.
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:This episode is for you.
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:Welcome to Business with Chronic Illness,
the Globally Ranked podcast for women
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:living with chronic illness who want
to start and grow a business online.
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:I'm your host, Nikita Williams and I
went from living a normal life to all
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:of a sudden being in constant pain
with no answers to being diagnosed
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:with multiple chronic illnesses.
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:And trying to make a livable income.
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:I faced the challenge of adapting
traditional business advice to fit
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:my unique circumstances with chronic
illness, feeling frustrated and more
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:burned out than I already was while
managing my chronic illness to becoming
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:an award-winning coach with a flexible,
sustainable online coaching business.
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:I found the surprisingly simple
steps to starting growing a
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:profitable business without
compromising my health or my peace.
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:Since then, I've helped dozens of women
just like you learn how to do the same.
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:If you're ready to create a thriving
business that aligns with your lifestyle
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:and wellbeing, you're in the right place.
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:Together, we're shifting the narrative
of what's possible for women with
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:chronic illness and how we make a living.
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:This is business with chronic illness.
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:A value that guides everything that I
do is something I wanna share with you
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:before we dive into this conversation.
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:It's probably one of my deepest
truths when I think about
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:how I've grown my business.
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:Community holds us,
collaboration grows us.
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:This value runs through my
entire business ecosystem.
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:It's how I've built
long-term trust with clients.
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:It's how my podcast has grown without paid
ads, and it's also how people find me and
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:feel like they know me instantaneously
and want to be in my offers or in
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:my world, or just connect, right?
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:Because.
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:The reason why I believe this is because
community is what holds us through the
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:messy parts when we're authentically
showing up and being who we are, and
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:collaboration is what expands us beyond
our current reach or our current rooms
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:or situation, but only when it's done
from alignment and not performance.
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:So today I'm going to walk you through
one powerful shift you can make to
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:build community and collaborations that
feel good, that support your capacity,
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:and that actually move your business
forward without burning you out.
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:Now, there is a lot to this actually,
when I was thinking about this episode.
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:So I'm just gonna break down
for you in this episode.
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:The most important starting point I want
you to remember when it comes to this and.
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:Most people start in the wrong place
when it comes to lead generation when
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:you're using collaboration and community.
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:So I wanna share what I think
has been the reason why people
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:are starting at the wrong place.
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:This is just to bring
more awareness to why.
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:If you've been doing this way, it
hasn't been working, or if you've
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:been wanting to do this, why you
haven't really leaned into it more.
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:Most people try to network, quote unquote,
before they connect to themselves.
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:They ask, who should I be pitching?
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:What's the best strategy to get seen?
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:Who do I need to know to grow faster?
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:But when your life includes.
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:Everyday ups and downs, chronic illness,
burnout, recovery, or just being a
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:deep feeling sensitive human being.
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:That strategy doesn't feel right.
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:It just feels completely out of alignment.
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:It feels transactional because
it skips the most important part.
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:Your capacity, your values, your rhythm,
your vibe, and your actual reality.
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:So instead of asking how do I get
in the right rooms, try asking
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:where do I already feel most myself?
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:The real starting point is
what's gonna help you connect
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:in the right rooms, right?
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:Connecting from what you care
about is what will help you
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:shift your thoughts about this.
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:So start your collaborations and
your community building from what
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:already brings you joy, both inside
and outside of your business.
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:It's that lane that I always
say that business is personal.
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:It's that point that what, who and you
are vicariously is being brought into
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:your business in some way, shape, or form.
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:And that is a part of how we can grow.
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:This is what I've coached so many of my
clients through and it changes everything.
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:Why does it do that?
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:Because it removes the pressure to
quote unquote perform to be something
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:that you're not and anchors your
connection in truth not tactics.
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:It naturally attracts people
who value what you value.
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:So what does this look like?
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:Maybe you love talking about plants
and your home habits or DIY projects.
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:Maybe you're obsessed with long form
content like podcasting or YouTubes.
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:Maybe you're a huge book reader
and you love mystery or you love,
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:old school books, or maybe you're a
poet and you love poetry maybe you
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:love slow mornings and journaling
and scrapbooking and book clubs.
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:Maybe you enjoy certain
aspects of your creativity.
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:Paint by numbers crocheting,
maybe you love music.
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:Like I do.
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:And it's just something you
are feel, you feel so moved to.
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:Maybe it's traveling.
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:There's so many things.
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:There are so many doors into connection.
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:And from that connection,
collaboration grows.
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:And here's the beautiful part for
anyone listening who's still learning
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:how to make a livable income with your
hobbies, your professional skills, or
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:your innate talents, community holds us.
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:Collaboration grows us,
is your business model.
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:If you want to start coaching,
creating, or consulting online without
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:burning out, this is where you begin.
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:You let community hold your
confidence while you're building.
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:You let collaboration grow
your visibility, even if you
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:only show up once a week.
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:Let your values and your passion be
the map, not someone else's funnel.
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:This is how you grow using strategies
that work even on flare days, even on
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:brain fog days or just bad days and
unpredictable life things happening
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:because you're not forcing output.
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:You're creating connection.
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:You're sharing from what's
already inside of you.
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:That's lead generation
that works with your body.
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:With your reality.
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:This can happen in a doctor's office.
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:This can happen at the mall.
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:This can happen at
getting your nails done.
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:Leads can come from anywhere and so can
clients, and that is how your income
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:comes from this place of integrity.
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:That's how you build a business
that actually feels like you.
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:So here's what I did back in the
early days when I started my podcast.
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:I wanna share this in context of
like how I know this is to be true.
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:And also currently I'm like
playing with TikTok and.
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:I'm testing out this theory on this new
platform on how this is working, and my
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:first viral pieces of content came from
literally this truth, this reality, right?
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:Is tapping into things that I just
values are, I'm con connected to.
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:But let me go back to the
days with the podcast.
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:When I started my podcast back
in:
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:who is a big or small person.
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:I was like, wasn't trying to
think about who is most famous.
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:I was just trying to connect with people
that I felt like there might have been
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:some resonance, some commonalities.
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:Some common ground, some interest
that I was interested in, right?
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:I wasn't tracking audience numbers,
I wasn't trying to optimize my reach.
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:I was thinking, who do I genuinely admire?
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:Who feels aligned with what I believe in?
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:And from there, I made it a practice.
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:Every week I picked three people on
Instagram to just to engage with.
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:I didn't pitch them.
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:I asked them questions.
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:I learned about them.
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:I engaged with their content.
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:I did not slide into their dms
automatically to ask favors.
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:I just connected.
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:I'd reply to a story, comment on a post
that resonated, ask questions like I said,
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:and tear them on, and eventually it felt.
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:It just felt good to naturally
lead into I love your content.
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:I love who you are.
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:I love to get curious
about you and your story.
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:Would you be interested
being on my podcast?
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:Not because they had a massive
following, but because they had
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:something to say about their story
or something to share, something
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:that aligned with the conversations.
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:I wanted to hold space for that
simple rhythm built relationships
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:that I still have today years later,
and some of those people are now.
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:Doing huge things like very popular, but
when they first came on my show, they
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:were just people I connected with and
I think that's a really big, important
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:piece because that's how I have led
with my values and why I've been able to
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:sustainably keep growing in the way that
I have done it, especially on my show.
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:And I'm testing this theory out as well,
in a way, on TikTok by talking about
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:all these all these different buckets
of things that I am interested in.
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:And it's not just business related.
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:And I'm really bringing my full
personality as much as I can that
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:feels good and within my capacity.
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:And I believe that's the reason why
I went pretty viral pretty quickly.
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:Now let's be real for a second.
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:This is a note on capacity.
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:You might think that sounds
great, Nikita, but I'm tired.
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:I'm already stretched thin.
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:I don't have the energy to
engage like that, and I get it.
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:Which is why I teach this as
a capacity conscious process.
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:You don't need to connect
with 30 people a week.
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:You can start with one.
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:You don't need to go to
five networking events.
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:You can start by joining a conversation
online that feels safe and welcoming.
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:In fact, I often coach my clients to
choose one platform, one value thread,
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:and one intention and build from there.
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:Because when you respect your capacity,
you build connections that respect it too.
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:So let's reflect, pull out your pen
and paper journal or whatever, because
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:this is the part that will help you be
more intentional in creating these this
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:community and these collaborations that
will lead to leads is these questions.
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:What topics, hobbies, or experiences
make you feel most like yourself?
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:Where am I already engaging with
curiosity and joy that I want to share?
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:What parts of my business or
things that I do is something
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:that I could talk hours and hours
about and not feel like it's work.
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:What would it feel like to build
a community based on shared
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:values, not just business metrics?
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:So I'm gonna say that again.
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:What would it feel like
to build community based.
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:On shared values, not
just business metrics.
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:These questions are the foundation
of sustainable visibility.
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:This is how you grow without doing more.
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:Because again, say it with me, community
holds us, collaboration grows us.
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:This is how we scale visibility, deepen,
trust, and expand without doing more.
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:So here's what I want you to know.
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:You don't have to network
like everyone else.
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:You don't have to
collaborate like a marketer.
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:You don't have to push yourself
into burnout to be seen.
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:You can build from your truth.
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:You can collaborate from your
capacity, and you can connect through
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:resonance or vibing, not just reach.
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:And when you do the people who
are meant for you, they find you.
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:You don't need to be
everywhere all of the time.
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:You just need to be
where your values live.
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:Your energy will do the rest.
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:So if you're craving more of this kind
of approach, one of one that makes
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:space for your reality, your rhythm,
and your values, come join us inside
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:of chronically UN and Profitable.
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:My hybrid group coaching program where I
give you one-on-one coaching along with
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:a group community where women living
with chronic illness are wanting to
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:build a business that is sustainable.
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:Literally, if you decide to join, by the
end of this week that you're listening
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:to this, you could get your own capacity
conscious plan on how to start lead
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:generating for your business so you can
bring clients and build a community that
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:serves you even when you're resting.
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:All right, until next time.
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:That's a wrap for this episode
of Business with Chronic Illness.
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:If you would like to start and grow
an online coaching business with me,
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:head to the show notes to click a link
to book a sales call, and learn how
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:to make money with chronic illness.
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:You can also check out our website
at ww dot crafted to thrive.com.
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:For this episode's, show notes
and join our email list to.
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:Get exclusive content where I
coach you on how to chronically
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:grow a profitable business while
living with chronic illness.
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:Until next time, remember,
yes, you are crafted to thrive.
