Table of Contents
Introduction
Ready to uplevel your business?
Soulful business coach Aubrianna Kay joins us on this episode of Your Sparkly Brand! She shares her journey to becoming a multiple-six-figure biz coach, challenges she faced and lessons she learned while growing her business. We also discuss how to leverage your energy and harness a social platform to build a profitable business.
Aubrianna is a multiple-six-figure business coach who helps other purpose-driven entrepreneurs create, build, and scale a wildly successful business that honors their authenticity and values. She is passionate about creating change in the coaching industry by leading with generosity, transparency, and value to help and support other online service providers. She is passionate about celebrating diversity and supporting that both with her business and personally. She loves mixing energetics and strategies to see expansive results with her clients. Using psychology, mindset work, and energy work to help the entrepreneurs that she supports to see what is keeping them small, disempowered, and stuck in their business and pairing that with high-converting action steps in their business.
Watch The Episode
Key Points For This Episode
- Meet Aubrianna Kay!
- Meg’s sparkly moment of the week.
- Lauren’s sparkly moment.
- Aubrianna’s sparkly moments.
- Aubrianna’s business-building journey.
- Aubrianna’s takes on “energy” and “energetic”.
- Challenges Aubrianna faced and lessons she learned in the course of growing her business.
- Transparent approach to uplevel your business.
- The magic of launching is in relaunching.
- Momentum building to uplevel your business.
- How leveraging energy aided Aubrianna in her business-building journey.
- Aubrianna’s life saving tools to uplevel your business
- Difference between building a platform and building a business.
- Advice for people who are feeling stuck in their business.
- Action taken by Aubrianna and advice to uplevel your business.
- Aubrianna’s upcoming projects.
- Where to find Aubrianna online…
Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave us a 5-star rating! Ratings & reviews will help this podcast grow so we can make the world a little more Sparkly!
Transcript
Lauren: Hello and welcome to Your Sparkly Brand, the podcast for game-changing badass business owners who aren’t afraid to sparkle and stand out. We’re all about fighting the status quo in marketing and branding so you can reach more people and make more money, coaches, creatives, and thought leaders. Here you’ll discover how to become magnetic AF so you can build and scale a sparkly empire.
I’m Lauren Tassi, a digital marketing expert for coaches and course creators, and I’m joined by my cohost, the branding and web design, queen Megan Gersch.
Megan: Hello. Hello, how are you? I’m good. I’m so excited to introduce you to our guest today, Aubrianna Kay. Aubrianna is a multiple six-figure business coach who helps other purpose-driven entrepreneurs create, build and scale.
Wildly successful businesses that honor their authenticity and their values. She’s passionate about creating change in the coaching industry by leading with generosity, transparency, and value to help and support other online service providers. She’s passionate about celebrating diversity and
supporting that both with her business and her personal life. So she loves to mix e energetics and strategies to see expansive results with her clients. She uses techniques where she combines psychology mindset work and energy work to help entrepreneurs that she supports to see what’s keeping them small and disempowered and suck in their businesses, and pairing that with high converting action to see that change in their businesses. So welcome to Your Sparkly Brand, Aubrianna. We’re so excited to have you.
Aubrianna: Thank you both for having me. Talk about an introduction, could you talk me up any more? Megan.
Megan: I will do my best.
Lauren: So Aubrianna, before we jump into your story, we like to start each episode with our sparkly moment of the week.
This is like a small win or a celebration something that made you feel good and sparkly. Meg, what was your sparkly moment this week?
Megan: So I might have mentioned this on another podcast prior to this, but I just finished up a 28-day sprint of going live on TikTok every single day in February. And so when I finished the last day, I definitely had like a little celebration and it’s making me feel a little sparkly.
I wound up helping 262 businesses, which is crazy.
Lauren: That’s so awesome. And I know you set out to do a hundred, right? We started here a couple of weeks ago. You were like, I’m gonna do a hundred, and then you were like, I gotta do more.
Megan: Yeah. It started out as a hundred and about three days in the, I had already hit like 30 businesses and I was like, I need to change this goal.
So the new goal was 250 and I crossed that. So pretty excited. What about you?
Lauren: I have delegated, I have hired a couple of VAs with like different specialties and I’ve actually, like, things are actually now in motion. It’s like, okay, yes, go set that up. That’s fine. Just do your thing.
Which has been a struggle for me all along. And we’re actually at the point where people are doing things and I’m not doing them, and that feels really good.
Megan: Awesome. I love it. And Aubrianna, do you have a sparkly moment you wanna share?
Aubrianna: Absolutely I do. So this week we, my wife and I, we are preparing to go to Japan next week.
So clearing my schedule, setting up support systems for when I’m out of town. I’m gonna be offline and living in the big city of Tokyo for 10 whole days, and I am so pumped. It’s gonna be my first time in Japan and I cannot wait. I am feeling magnetic and energetic about going.
Lauren: My husband and I are going in April.
So I’m so excited to hear about your experience because I can’t wait. And it’s our first time and it’s a big trip for us.
Aubrianna: Yes, well, you can live vicariously. I’m sure it will be all over My Instagram stories. We’re celebrating my wife’s 40th birthday, so it’s like a really special event.
She has been, but I have not.
Lauren: Awesome. I can’t, I literally can’t wait. All I do is like watch tons of like what to eat in Japan. Same, all, all I’m doing these days.
Aubrianna: Oh well that is gonna be so fun.
Megan: Alright, well let’s get into it. why don’t we start off by, if you wanna tell us just a bit about your business and how you got started.
Aubrianna: Oh, absolutely. So if you know me. Welcome. I’m so excited to be here, but let me tell you a little bit about my background. I did not start as a business coach, which a lot of people don’t anticipate. I’ve been doing it for about four years now, but I actually started in intuitive development and energy work, and I worked in corporate in my day job, and I was in PR and marketing.
I went to the Forbes School of Business, got my degree in that, and was living my happy little corporate life there, but I never really felt fulfilled. I always wanted something with a deeper meaning where I could connect and help people. So I ran an intuitive practice on the side that I scaled to six figures just on Instagram.
This was before the days of TikTok. And when I was in the space, I was really in a mentorship role, helping people in developing their gifts, like developing their self-trust and teaching energy healing. And then I noticed a lot of my clients were asking me, how I was scaling my business, how I was making income, and I had a corporate background in business building and sales and pr, and I was integrating so much of it sort of subconsciously in my own business, mixing it with energetics, mixing it with the mindset that a lot of my past students were approaching me and asking for mentorship and business.
And that was when I sort of had a light bulb go off because I noticed a lot of my past students had hired business coaches. And the strategies that they were being taught were so sketchy. I was like this little fire in me. I was like, this is not even a real business strategy. Just telling someone to show up and sell is not a strategy that’s advice.
And they were paying thousands and thousands of dollars. So it really just launched me into a whole different direction of wanting to help people in their businesses and giving them real strategy and still mixing it. The energetics of mindset and psychology and that intuitive piece. So four years later, here I am sitting in front of you and really still so in love with the work that I’m doing to kind of gloss over the messy middle.
Lauren: So for anybody who’s maybe not into the space as much, what do you mean by like energy and energetics? What’s your take on that?
Aubrianna: Yeah, so I like to do a lot of like rituals, things that are gonna support your mindset and make you feel empowered. So it can be as simple as putting on something that makes you feel powerful, right?
That’s not a mindset. It’s something that you’re doing to support your energy and how you show up in your business. It can also be a little bit more witchy, if you will, with lighting a candle, getting intentional, setting intentions to calibrate your energy for the day, or something that is going to support your nervous system.
That is also energy work that people don’t always necessarily realize. Yes, it’s backed by science, but being able to discern when you have a state of fight or flight, or when your nervous system is activated and knowing tools to calm. Is energy work that can support you as a business owner, we wear so many hats.
There are so many opportunities to just spiral into freak-out mode that really enlarging your tool bale of how you can support yourself from that space, I find to be really beneficial.
Lauren: Can you share some of the challenges you faced and what you learned while you’ve been growing your business?
Aubrianna: Oh my goodness gracious. We’re gonna go into it. So when I was first starting with my energetic practice, I’ve had many failures. To be a business owner is to just continuously fail until you find the thing that hits.
So when I was first launching my intuitive school, I quit my nine-to-five job and I was like, I’m gonna do this full-time without a plan, without a strategy, without any momentum in my business. And I felt flat on my face. I ran through my savings. I actually started extreme couponing for a minute and was making catalogs and reselling it to kind of like bring in some extra income.
Went back to corporate. Saved up a little bit and came back with a strategy. And even when I came back with a strategy, I was able to get to that six-figure mark, the elusive six figures, and I was continuously failing. When I launched my first program, it was like I didn’t get as much interest as I wanted, right?
And I had to extend my date. I had to repivot my. and I think that so often we just see the shiny parts on social media, but we don’t see the breakdown, the crying, the trying to supplement your business, taking contract jobs in the background, which are all things that I did while I was growing my business, which is part of the reason why I never bring in this narrative of like, you have to quit to go all in because I don’t believe that supplementing yourself on the way through these failures can be really helpful.
So I have had failed launches. I have had two pool courses. I have had workshops that were complete crickets that nobody had an interest in. And even when I pivoted into business coaching, it’s not like the failure stopped there, even though I had built somewhat of a brand. Even just as early as last year, I was relaunching one of my group courses and I only had a 50% fill.
but instead of saying like, oh, the doors are closed, I’m just gonna submit to this, I re-pivoted my strategy. I started, and I pushed the launch date. I reached out to everybody who had already filled, and we did a little pre-course work so that they got started on their business. And then I had an official date where we were gonna bring everybody else in to give myself that time.
But I very much could easily call that a failure in my business. And it just goes to show – it’s really kind of like how you’re defining failure. Nothing’s ever gonna go right. and everything will also go right all at the same time.
Megan: I find it really interesting, like, your approach to business is like so transparent, and like one of the recent posts that you put out where you like, literally bullet-pointed, like, I did this many things towards this launch, like, So eye-opening to me because like, I think a lot of people think like, oh, I post one time on social media, and that’s like the launch or like, you know, whatever.
But you literally like broke down. Like I posted this many times on social media and this many times on my stories. Like I emailed my list this many times. And I, it was just such a refreshing thing to see because I think like a lot of people just. Realize how much goes into that and like when you don’t, you know, kind of put yourself out there continuously, especially like in launch mode, as it can, you know, affect the success of the outcome.
Aubrianna: 1000%.
And I went into this launch with the intention of that post. I was like, I am going to tally how many slides I do, how many talks I make, how many times I email, how many times I’m pitching on, you know, my slides, what. and it was a lot. It was like 84 to over a hundred times in stories. And I think that so many times beginning entrepreneurs, are looking at their experience of you in their social feeds and it doesn’t feel like I’m showing up that much because we live in a very microwave society.
People are checked out, and you’re doing the dishes while you’re on social media, so they may have seen the content, but I guarantee you it wasn’t in their minds. There’s a marketing statistic. Something around 27 times before people start to recognize your brand. And it takes seven times for a warm audience.
But the thing that I think people aren’t accounting for is how checked out we are or how dissociated we are on social media. And so I really wanted to bring awareness to, I’m not a brand new business coach. for the most part, know who I am. There’s a little bit of momentum. I like to think in my business I’m selling to somewhat of a warm.
And look at what I’m doing during my launch, how visible I’m getting. If I was brand new, this would probably be double. And you’re thinking that showing up once a week in your stories is enough. Now that being said, there are a lot of strategies. If you’re exhausted, just hearing that there were like a hundred slides in my Instagram.
Repurpose, and re-leverage your energy people. This is not all brand-new content. I do not sit in the background of my office just on the hamster wheel of creation. This is where strategy is so important. Preparing for the launch, I knew that this was coming. I have been hoarding content, so to speak, in the background for a little while, and tagging content that I wanted to repost that would be helpful toward my launch.
But I always lead, which, well, I try to lead with transparency as much as someone can, right? I don’t show up crying all the time, but I do try to let people into the inner narrative of running a multiple six-figure business looks like, what energy is going into it to paint this realistic picture in a landscape that’s like, we’re gonna pop you up to 10 K months overnight.
Lauren: There are two really interesting things you said there that I wanna just kind of like point out. I say this to clients all the time. It feels like you are in a launch, especially in like a live launch formula. It feels like all you’re doing is selling, right? It feels like you’re just going on there and every day you’re like, bye bye bye.
That’s not what people see. That’s what, that’s your experience because you are a part of it. Yeah. Like how many, how many people do not pay attention to their Instagram stories every day? Like everyone basically. And then the other thing is that the magic of launching is in relaunching.
It’s that like, Hey, this is the program I have, this is how I do it. Instead of just starting from scratch each time, every single time you’re building, you’re gaining momentum. There are all these people sitting on the sidelines that are just like, I don’t know, not right now. So then when you come around again, they’re warm. They’re where if you are starting with like new offers, every single time, you’re, you’re not building on the same.
Aubrianna: Yeah. 1000%. And I think just to kind of piggyback off what you said, so many people are not talking about the momentum building in your business, right? Priming your audience, warming them up, hinting at your offer, and putting the teases out there that are part of the launch formula, right?
Apple does not miss a time to tell you that a year from now, they’re launching the exact same, and they’re a multimillion-dollar business. If you were a small business, you don’t get to skip that step either, right? It’s really pivotal to have that momentum, to have that brand awareness, to warm the audience, and if you have a relaunch, that’s such a beautiful thing because they’re gonna have some recognition, ideally, of what you’re doing.
I cannot tell you, even with as loud and visible as I was, people were still messaging me. How can I work with you? where I’m like, isn’t it blatantly obvious? But it’s because we are so tapped into what we’re speaking about. But I promise nobody is looking as much as we are.
Megan: Really easy thing to forget honestly. All right, so let’s talk a little bit about how to leverage energy in your business. Like how did you start using this in your practice, like while you were building up your business?
Aubrianna: One of the biggest hurdles that I feel like I faced and that I help entrepreneurs with is integration.
We live in the age of information, meaning you can probably Google a launch strategy, and you can probably Google messaging, but it’s not that you need more information. It’s the emotional and energetic reason why you’re not already doing it, meaning maybe there’s self-confidence or self-worth. A lot of people think they’re scared of failure.
But literally their actions show you that they’re not afraid of failure because they’re in what they define as a failure. They’re afraid of success and what that is going to mean about them as a person. So unpacking some of these beliefs, these self-concepts that we hold in order to actually implement the strategy is where I found myself getting stuck.
I came from a healing space and I was such a martyr somewhere along the lines. , I decided that I was strong enough to go without, so I undercharge. I over gave in my business. I burned myself out when I decided everybody else deserved to have their needs met. And so that was like one of my biggest energetic hurdles was deciding that I was worthy of having this kind of business and deciding I was worthy of having this kind of income because I did not grow up with any of that around me.
Like I struggled with homelessness, growing. , like we were in shelters, like living in vans, and so my self-concept was, as long as I’m getting by, that is enough. So I had to level up my self-concept before the strategy was even useful. I can give you all the strategies, but if you don’t take action on it because you don’t feel worthy, it’s not gonna do very much for you.
Lauren: What were some of the lifesaving tools you used in your business to adapt and pivot when it felt like it was all falling apart?
Aubrianna: Well, one was definitely having support, right? I’m a coach. I’ve invested in some amazing coaches, and I’ve invested in coaches That gave me clarity on how I wanted to be different, we’ll say.
So coaching and having support were really pivotal, but before I could invest in. Books, right? I love like big magic and of course like anything by Jensen, and Sarah, really fed my mind opposing thoughts to what my belief system was, but also people really underestimate the value of just having an accountability buddy with a friend.
Saying something out into the world that you have to kind of show up for, because when I was in that cycle, I would keep everything in my head. I wouldn’t announce anything because I knew that then I would have to show up. And so I challenged myself with one of my close friends where I was like, this is my goal.
Can we keep each other accountable? and so we started to check in with each other and say, Hey, like I’m checking in on you. Like, here’s our goal, like let’s hold the vision. Having someone to hold the vision with you can be such a critical, critical piece to the system. Nervous system work was really life-changing for me.
I probably lived like the first, I don’t know, 30 years of my life in fight or flight, and I didn’t even realize it. My brain was on fire or freeze at all times, meaning I would get hyper-fixated and be so lit up when I was motivated or inspired. But as soon as that dopamine went away, I was in freeze and overwhelmed my business.
So learning how to recognize and discern where my energy was at and learning the tools to deactivate my nervous system was pivotal. YouTube breath work, YouTube tapping right ice your chest for The vagus nerve in your body to reground, take a cold shower, like something that is going to get you out of your head and into your body to free up space for movement, where for the longest time I just sat there in suffering because I didn’t have the tools and that was okay.
Megan: Yeah. Some of those are so, so helpful. And I think like, especially like, you know, we to chat with, especially with a lot of like very sensitive entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, like folks that are definitely more, attuned to like the emotional side of business. And like some of those tools are just like literally game changers.
Aubrianna: Yeah, I feel that. I mean, let’s also not discount therapy. Yeah, totally. Me and my therapist are like really tight, and I think that when you’re kind of unpacking, everyone’s starting from a different place and so I can say, Hey, just deactivate your nervous system. But there may be something that needs to be supported on a deeper level, but just having that awareness and that grace with yourself can free up space for movement.
Megan: So I know a lot of people mistake building a platform for building a business. Can you explain a bit about like the difference between the two and also how you can use a platform to build the business instead of the other way around?
Aubrianna: Yeah, absolutely. So when you think about building a platform, you’re really thinking about connection, which is a part of building a business.
But what I often find is that when you’re building a platform, it’s all about relatability. Things that are funny, things that people can relate to, and things that people wanna feel inspired about. It’s not necessarily about creating movement, and that’s the key piece when you’re talking about. So when you’re trying to build a business online, yes, you wanna be relatable, but there should be an endpoint to get people off of social media where they get to know you as a person and come into your offers or your energy in a more intimate space.
So a lot of the clients that I help have a platform, but they haven’t learned how to monetize it. And a lot of it is in their messaging where they’re doing things that are relatable, that are in their industry, but they’re never actually talking about their offers. They’re creating movement and inviting them into the next layer of the client journey.
They’re not really putting out messaging that is to sell because they’re scared that it’s not gonna perform. It’s not gonna get the likes, it’s not gonna get the views. And so you have to also reframe your mind of what success looks like. If you go to my TikTok, my average views when they’re not messing with the algorithm is like 300.
If I get like 600 views, I’m like, whoa, that was a pretty solid video. Aubrianna, like, we’re doing things. If I get higher than that like I’ve never gone viral. But so much of my business comes from there because I stay really intentional with creating movement, helping people move through the buyer’s journey, and not just talking about things that are relatable.
I talk about that, but then my very next video is probably about like if you want, let’s connect. Grab this freebie, ask a question in the comments. I’m positioning myself as a resource and not just a friend.
Lauren: What advice would you give to someone who’s feeling stuck and overwhelmed in their business?
Aubrianna: First things first – make a list of everything that you’re doing and then put all of the money-making activities up at the top. So many times when someone’s overwhelmed, they’re like in the back end of their business, spending four hours trying to pick a font because they’re trying to be in pseudo productivity and it’s really because they’re in freeze and there’s a belief or there’s an emotion that’s like keeping them there, but they still wanna be productive.
So put all your money-making activities at the top, commit to one of them, and then take some time to rest. Right? I’m gonna give you some anti-business. , but when you’re feeling overwhelmed, just forcing yourself to be productive is actually counterproductive. You’re not gonna show up at your fullest.
You’re not gonna reach the goal that you’re wanting, so why don’t you actually just boil it down to one task that’s gonna move your business forward? Take some time to rest, and then look at processes that are gonna support you. A lot of times when I see overwhelm, it’s not even the amount of. , it’s about the story that they’re telling themselves, that they feel overwhelmed.
Things feel really big and so challenging. Is this a factor? The feeling can also be helpful. Are you actually overwhelmed with work? Are you actually taking on too much or is there something else that’s making you feel overwhelmed? And what is that thing? Once you bring in that awareness, it can often free up space for you to have movement.
But if you’re genuinely overwhelmed, focus on the money-making activities. Let everything else be figured out audible, and if you’re in a place to hire support. Hire support. That’s great advice.
Lauren: Thank you. I could have used that a few years ago.
Aubrianna: You and me both.
Megan: All right. So let’s take a bit of a trip back in time here. So like when you were right on the verge of up-leveling your business, what is one action that you took to really elevate and hit that next level?
Aubrianna: Hmm. I love this. It sounds like an oversimplification. I’m really not gonna lie to you, but I had to decide that I was.
I talked about, that martyr energy that was really present in my business in the beginning. And at some point I was like, I am so tired of my own shit. And I was like, I am committing to trying something different for a full year and just gonna explore and experiment in my business, and I’m gonna sell and I’m gonna position myself and I’m gonna be cringey and I’m gonna let myself be uncomfortable.
So when I decided that this is what I really want, and I released a lot of the guilt and shame that I had around receiving money and what I thought that that meant for me or my identity, that was when I really had movement to start to show up. I started selling on my stories, and selling in my content. I was like, I’m just going to do this because the alternative is something that I’ve already identified with my full heart that I do not want, which is working in a corporate job.
And so I really leaned into my heart and was like, if I wanna see my business move forward, what are those tasks? I’m gonna commit to two or three of those tasks every single day. Those money-making activities. And so I let myself be cringe. I had vulnerability hangovers all the time, and every time it was somebody would book and I was like, I just made a couple thousand dollars and I’m sitting over here with a vulnerability hang.
And so committing to that process and not letting discomfort tell me that I was doing something wrong, but to tell me I was doing something right was a big true north for me and my business. When we feel uncomfortable, our instinct is to comfort ourselves, to placate, to take away the pain, it might just be telling you this is a muscle that you haven’t practiced, and so it feels uncomfortable.
And so once I sort of realized that, I was like, oh, selling is uncomfortable for me and I’ve been avoiding the discomfort by doing other things in my business. That’s why I’m not growing. I deserve to have this. I really started showing up and just leading with my heart and saying, this is how I wanna help people and I’m gonna sell and it doesn’t make me a bad person.
That’s when things started to really take off and gain momentum.
Megan: I like totally just felt that like in my heart because like I’ve been literally going through that in my, in my own journey and like, just hearing that, just like affirmed, like, okay, I’m on the right path. Like I just need to keep fucking going and like, yeah, keep, keep selling.
Like even though it’s super uncomfortable for me. So I, I thank you for that.
Aubrianna: I always say let the crickets cheer you on. A lot of times it’s crickets, but it doesn’t mean anything is wrong. If you’re selling thousands of dollar packages, you are not going to have the same sort of volume as someone who’s selling a product or someone who’s selling X, Y, or Z.
And so having that awareness I think is really helpful. But hell yeah, you’re on the right path. Just keep chugging forward.
Lauren: So obviously you’re about to go on vacation. But what else is coming up that you’re excited about? What are you working on?
Aubrianna: Well, I just brought on my very first employee into my business, which I’m very excited about. So I’m growing and I’m really setting myself up for more ease, which is another sparkly moment.
But also I’m launching a membership. I wake up so excited every day and I’m a manifesting generator if y’all know what that means. So my sacral is like, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. So I’m super pumped about that and I’m intentionally slowing down because I wanna build out all of the resources and the business assets in there.
But that is the thing that is on my forefront. I am like putting all of my love and energy and everything that I wish I would’ve had at the beginning of my business into this me.
Megan: Well that is so exciting. So excited to hear the updates about that. So thank you so much for coming onto the podcast.
This is so fun to chat with you. Can you tell our listeners where they can find you online?
Aubrianna: Absolutely. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook business page, all at Aubrianna Kay, oh, YouTube as well. It’s all the same handle, which is great because nobody really has my name, so you can find me on all the social platforms and it’s Abria with two Ns, k-a-y.
Lauren: Thank you so much for joining us today, Aubrianna, and thank you to our listeners for listening. If you enjoy this episode, please leave us a review and be sure to subscribe so you never miss one. Until next time, stay sparkly.
About The Your Sparkly Brand Podcast
Your Sparkly Brand is a podcast for badass, game-changing business owners who aren’t afraid to sparkle and stand out. We’re all about fighting the status quo in marketing and branding so you can reach more people and make more money. Coaches, creatives, and thought leaders — here you’ll discover how to become magnetic AF so you can build and scale a Sparkly Empire.
Let’s Connect
Is there a topic you’d like us to cover in an upcoming episode? Are you a business owner who wants to join us on the podcast to share your story? Send us an email at yoursparklybrand@gmail.com to get in touch.
Find Lauren at laurentassiagency.com or on Instagram
Connect with Megan at megangersch.com, on TikTok and Instagram