#WINNING
#WINNING
Meagan Chorney: Navigating the Journey of Motherhood and Entrepreneurship
Every entrepreneur has a unique journey, filled with triumphs, setbacks, and life-changing decisions. My guest today, Meagan Chorney, is no exception. She's a multi-passionate entrepreneur, mental health advocate, mom, wife, and mentor who’s navigated this path with grace and resilience. Meagan's story begins with her launching her first company in university, goes through the ups and downs of selling her enterprises, and leads us to her current ventures, Connect Permanent Jewelry and Life Design Creative Studio. She shares the lessons learned, the heartaches, and the joys of her journey, offering valuable insights for any entrepreneur.
Motherhood and entrepreneurship are two demanding roles that often feel like a high-wire balancing act. Meagan and Mackenzie delve into this shared experience, discussing the inevitability of mom guilt and the necessity of setting realistic expectations for ourselves. They also explore the importance of communication and a robust support system in the journey of a business leader. This conversation is focused on helping you find your balance and grant yourself grace when the scales tip too much on one side.
Meagan reveals how she allows herself to be vulnerable and trust the process of change. This opens up a discussion about the shifting interests and passions in motherhood and entrepreneurship, and the importance of always remembering our 'why' to get through the difficult days. Meagan's story is a reminder that changing direction does not lessen the success of a business, it’s just another part of the journey. So whether you're an established entrepreneur or just starting, tune in and let Meagan's experiences inspire you.
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Winning is your guide to making it in business. Join our award-winning host and entrepreneur, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and special guests in casual conversations that will educate and inspire you on your business journey. Winning will help you learn the hard lessons the easy way, with guidance from celebrated entrepreneurs and business leaders. It's fun, it's informative, it's winning.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Hello and welcome to Winning. I am your host, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and today's guest is Meagan Chorney. Hi, Meagan.
Meagan Chorney:Hello, how are you?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I'm really good. How are you?
Meagan Chorney:I'm good, good, so I'm excited to be here.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I know I'm excited to have you. I've known Meagan for quite a few years now and when we kind of connected for her to be on, I'm like you're going to be an awesome guest. So I really appreciate this. Of course, we always chat before and I'm like, okay, we're starting recording because we're talking about things that we should be talking about on the podcast. So Meagan is a multi-passionate entrepreneur mental health advocate, mama, wife, mentor. Honestly, I think the list is even longer than that. Her life has taken twists and turns as a result of her life. So has her entrepreneur journey. Mental health, motherhood, adversity it's all playing a role where she is today and she currently operates Connect Permanent Jewelry and a digital design company, Life Design Creative Studio. And Meagan is like me she actually owned a business and was full circle, started, owned and sold it too. So you've had lots of different paths in your career.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, and I guess that's why I am a multi-passionate. I've been told that by so many people. I'm all into like the crazy, like astrology, numerology type stuff, and they've all told me that I'm multi-passionate too. And I mean, it rings true if you look at what I've done.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So yeah, I totally agree, and I think, too, anyone that has multiple businesses on the go, you're always, you are passionate, you're passionate about what you're doing and you are, and you're passionate about entrepreneurship too, and the fact that it's like okay, let's have another business or let's start something else, right, yep.
Meagan Chorney:And I, as you alluded to, I sold my previous companies and my husband told me he's like, okay, we're not going to do anything for a year. Okay, like that was our, that was our deal. And I think it was like three months later and I was doing something else. So I I mean, when you have it, you can't, you can't stop it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:No, I agree. I agree. It's like people are like why are you doing another thing, Like how do you have the time? And you're like I don't know, I just do, you just make it.
Meagan Chorney:Right, yep awesome.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Well, why don't you just get things started here and I gave a little bit of a bio of you, but why don't you just kind of tell our listeners a little bit more about you, and maybe your current, your current businesses too, and just kind of give people a little bit of an idea more?
Meagan Chorney:If we were sure, so I, as you said, I'm a multi-passionate entrepreneur. I grew up in a small town in an entrepreneurial household, so I grew up around entrepreneurship right from a very, very young age and so it was always kind of something that I knew I was interested in. And so I grew up, had a couple of businesses through school like I mean businesses and air quotations, because that's what I was in high school and then went to university and in my final year of university started my first company and basically just saw tons and tons of growth in that right away. And yeah, we did that, we grew, it grew a couple of companies under that umbrella, and then life kind of shifted, priorities shifted, and decided to make the huge decision to sell, and so that took place July of last year and so, like I said, I promised I would take some time off, but I didn't really and I just I started to connect to permanent jewelry.
Meagan Chorney:So I have a home studio and we do it mobile as well. We do lots of like bachelorette parties and that sort of thing. So that's really fun. It's a way to get my socialization or that social butterfly part of me out and be creative and stuff. But I still can have the flexibility to be home when I need to be home and that sort of thing. And then I also do a life design creative studio. So that is basically just a digital design platform. Do anything I've got an Etsy shop, so do different things on there, anything that can be used digitally or print any sort of media like that, lots of custom orders. So yeah, that's kind of a little bit about me, I guess.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That's about, and we're going to talk more about your journey and selling your business and moving into your other businesses. When we get into things a little bit more, we're going to talk about motherhood and how your life changes when you're an entrepreneur. But going back to when you're maybe younger, you grew up in an entrepreneurial family. What did you dream about doing as a career Like? Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur or what were you thinking? I want to really do this.
Meagan Chorney:That's a really interesting question because, if I'm being honest, I didn't really have one idea, and you could see that multi-passionate side of me right from that young age. It would change depending on the day. I always had like really big, far-fetched ideas and then if I would sit and I would like close my eyes and think about what I wanted to do, my heart always went to. I was a competitive dancer. My dance instructors were like second moms to me. I looked up to them so much and so I always like, when I close my eyes, I just thought I wanted to have my own dance studio and I could visualize what it would look like, how it would feel and that sort of thing. So when it comes down to it, yeah, I probably always thought that's what I would do, but I definitely had. I was like, oh, I'll be a lawyer or a pediatrician or this or that or whatever the flavor of the week was.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I always say too, I think I didn't really even know what an entrepreneur was, but I always knew I wanted to have my own business. I didn't even know it was a thing, really as a kid. But I was saying as you grew up in a family where everybody my dad had lots of businesses and different things going on all the time and I was like I want to do that, but I didn't really know it was a thing. So, right, you go to the university, you're like well, I have to, you know, get a big person, job and whatever. And then you realize, oh, you can do what you want to do. And you took your vision of a dance studio and you made it.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah Right, pretty cool.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's really cool and I'm talking about the dance studio. Meagan and I actually know each other because I was partnered with her husband for a celebrity, I use that term very loosely, philanthropy, more raising money for that. So that's what we got to know each other and I actually practiced in their dance studio and I really witnessed. You know I'd go in the evening and there would be tons of kids in there and like the joy in their faces. So when I was at your dance studio I knew they loved you and they loved the other teachers and the environment and I know that you really created a space that was really special to them and I can imagine that was a very hard decision for you to sell it.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, it was probably one of the hardest things that I have ever done because, like you said, you could just feel the joy. I really put everything I had into creating that space and cultivating that environment and, yeah, to say like I'm not going to do this anymore. That's a hard thing to do.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah, it is, and I've also been through that with the business.
Meagan Chorney:I was gonna say you know exactly what it feels like.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It is and you know what it. There is a little bit of grief involved and that sounds maybe a little far away. Some people might, listening, say like you grieve your business, but it is like your baby. When people say, oh, my business is my baby, it is because you created the idea, you created the vision. You cut, you created everything really. I mean you created your procedures and your policies and and all of that. You watched it grow from a dream to something that was your career and then, full circle, you sold it. And now Maybe you don't have to, but sometimes you have to watch someone else now, right, taking care of your, of your passion project, right.
Meagan Chorney:Absolutely, which can be really difficult.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I know I'm fortunate that that Piper that bought my business is awesome and so I'm a big supporter of that. But I I know that from the outside it's like, oh, they changed something or you know, like I wouldn't do, I didn't do that way. But it's not that it's bad, it's just different, right, and you have to just with your own self, be like it's not mine anymore.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yep right, have to be able to say goodbye to it. Yeah, exactly so did you have. I mean, you started your first business while you were still in University.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, so 20. I was just going into my fourth year, so yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, so I always ask people if they had a turning point in their career. But your first career step was a business.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, yeah, that would be, that would be accurate.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, so how scary was that um, it might be completely transparent, it was scary, but I feel like I played it safe, or played it smart maybe, in that I had a. I was going to the University full-time. I also had a almost full-time job with the company I started with as a summer student and and so I wasn't relying solely on this business to succeed right off the get-go, which I think is something that lots of people make that mistake of. And then, obviously, you know, it takes some time for a business to be successful sometimes. So, in that sense, I had a safety net. And then we really kind of we started small.
Meagan Chorney:I I said right from the get-go this is really bad advice maybe, but I didn't. I have always said I don't do this to make money. I really just wanted to create joy, create that supportive environment, like I've seen all different sides of the dance industry, and I just knew that there were gaps to be filled and that we could fill those gaps. And so, with that being said, we started with small expenses, small space, and so I feel like we maybe played it safe off the get-go and then we just we grew as the demand grew and in that sense we made sure that we still, you know, had had things covered and had a roof over our heads and that sort of thing. So yeah, I don't know that would be. That would be my my story getting started.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:But you know what you say. You didn't do for the money, you didn' to bring joy, m people. But I think that in turn brings you profit Because you filled a void. Right, like you filled a void, and you maybe did things differently that other dance studios or dance teachers were not doing. And then Other people seeing that like, oh, my friends, child goes to the studio and, yeah, they love it so much, we're gonna put our child in that. Oh, you're going so having I mean, that was probably part of your values or part of your mission statement, right, and you did that. But in turn it brought you that profit and growth.
Meagan Chorney:Absolutely, and I think that's so important and really I think it comes down to somebody's why as well. Yeah, my why was to build that beautiful environment and so in return, that is going to, like you said, bring me those clients. I'm going to see the revenue come in because I'm staying true to the whole reason that I started that business. So, yeah, I mean maybe not good advice to go in not hoping to make money, but Stay true to who you are and what your, what your values and mission are.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I guess yeah, no, I agree. And if you make every decision based on those values and that mission, then you're always going in the right direction right, absolutely.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:You're always winning yeah and I think I've said this before but when I opened my first business, my clothing store, my goal in the first year was to break even. But my goal I did not have a goal of making money. My goal was let me just pay for all of my expenses and my mortgage and I'll cut out stuff like I don't need to go to Starbucks and I don't need to go on holiday this year and I don't need to buy anything. Like I made personal sacrifices. But I was the same as you. I didn't go into it with the idea of, like I'm gonna be rich doing this. I went into the idea of I'm gonna have a different business and everybody else and I'm gonna build it as the time goes on and as long as I can just keep my head up off water. To me, that was a successful first year.
Meagan Chorney:Absolutely. I agree with that, yep yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah. So I think For most people, their first year starting out like to be realistic. You're not gonna make money, yes, and if you do, that's fantastic. Yes, that's like a bonus because you're on the right path. But probably that's not gonna happen, and be prepared that you're probably gonna have to get a loan or start with borrowing money or something.
Meagan Chorney:So you're probably gonna be in the hole for a while right, yeah, and you know, those are some of the things that you don't, you don't learn before you go into business. Nobody really talks about that, unless it's this sort of platform. I didn't know that. I mean, my parents and my in-laws actually they run a business too and we talked about that once and they're like my goodness, the number of small business loans that we've had to take out, but nobody really knows that. You just think that you can just fly with the profit that's coming through every day and your cash flow and I mean, sometimes that's just not the case and you've got to, you know, put the ego behind you and say I'm gonna get a loan to help me out.
Meagan Chorney:So yeah, yeah, I talked about enough, because I know I sure did not know that before we got into it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:No, you can read everything. You can literally like you can go to university for a business, you can get all the education and it's the real life things that happen. And then you think I'm the only one, this has never happened to anybody else. And then you hear a podcast or you hear people talking you it's like, oh, never mind, everybody's gone through this, or lots of people, and that's for me. This is why I do the podcast, because it's real life experience and it's real life things and maybe something that you say today helps somebody else on their journey, and that's what it's for.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Right, right, yeah they'll share all knowledge Help each other out. It's kind of like when you have a baby and you can read all the books and you can do all the stuff, but no one tells you what actually happens.
Meagan Chorney:Until you're going through it, they don't tell you.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:No, they don't tell you. And this, I think, is a really good segue for us, because what we're really going to talk about today is motherhood and entrepreneurship and how it is both rewarding and challenging to do both, I think, as women. I'm stepmom but I have a constant struggle in my head of my business important, but my step son is more important than that. He is that. He's my priority. But sometimes you have to work or sometimes you have to be at work. So let's just start out with kind of the basic. But how did entrepreneurship change when you became a mom?
Meagan Chorney:Oh, my god, it changed in every way, just like your life changes in every single way. So this is probably I mean some of this will relate to moms and entrepreneurs who had children and then started a business. But for myself, I had multiple businesses and then decided to have a child, which also wasn't really in my playbook five years ago my life, I was so content with what I was doing. Any time people would ask me, are you having kids? I'd be like no, like I have all of these kids at the studio, like they're all my babies, like I know all of them, I like their names, I know their parents, all of this I said like I could not give what I need to give here and also give what I needed to give at home if I had my own.
Meagan Chorney:And then COVID hit and priority shifted for me big time.
Meagan Chorney:I I sat there one day and I realized that at the you know I At at the flick of a switch, everything that we've worked for could be taken away and shut down and, at the end of the day, all we really have is our family and the people closest to us.
Meagan Chorney:And so that really made me take another look at what we're building that we can come home to every evening, and that was a huge, huge transition. And I said to my husband I think we should have a baby. And he goes. He's like we've been together for 11 years and you've not wanted a child ever, and so it took him some time to be like OK, are we actually going to do this? So that's kind of like where that transition happened, because I was happy to not have a child and to really just work this business and take care of those kids, and so everything really shifted for me, because I was going from being 100% present in my business being there all day, every day I was the face to now having to hand the reins off to other people, and if I had one regret, it would be not hiring people to be me soon enough.
Meagan Chorney:I heard a podcast the other day and the host was talking about when you need somebody in your business, it's already too late. You need to be hiring those people way before that, because you need to get everybody up to speed. They've got to care about your baby as much as you do, which is impossible. Nobody's ever going to care as much as you do. But that would be one of my biggest regrets, because I was no longer able to be present as much as I was before, actually in the studio. I had to be present with my baby at home, and so that was a huge shift for me.
Meagan Chorney:And then I had a lot of mom guilt as well, because, like you said, you know you have to work, but you also know you need to be at home with your child. And so it was finding that elusive balance and trying to figure out when am I going to do this work, when am I going to feed the baby, when am I going to make sure that they're practicing their skills and their tummy time and this, and then I'm making supper and I have to sleep still. So it's like really trying to find that balance and figure out where your time is best spent. And so those were two of my biggest struggles when I entered motherhood being an entrepreneur.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And I think, the mom guilt thing. Honestly, that happens whether you are an entrepreneur, have a career, job or an employee. I mean, it's a never ending thing, and every time that you have to do something for work you think, oh, it's taking time away from the child or the kids. But I also think on the flip side of that, it's also really good for kids to see the females in their lives succeeding and doing things right. So it is, I think, like balance is such a hard thing when people say how do you balance? But it really is a. It's a give and take right and both sides of that are really important.
Meagan Chorney:Absolutely, and I think it's really important to make sure that you have a solid team in place.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yes.
Meagan Chorney:So and I mean that by you and your partner making sure that you know you're on the same page. If you've got to be working, taking time away from the home, you've got to make sure that their supportive of that too you know it's. There's nothing worse than having that sort of tension to on top of having to really then feel guilty about being away and not connecting and being a solid team with your partner. So that would be another piece that is so important. Yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And I think too, if you are married to a non-entrepreneur or a non-business minded person, that can be a struggle because it's like, well, you need to be at home. It's, and in your head you're like but I need to be going to this place to sell my product, to make us money to right, Exactly. Yeah. So you need someone that understands. And I'm not saying entrepreneur needs to be with an entrepreneur, but as long as they understand, communication.
Meagan Chorney:I say, communication is always the answer to everything.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Oh, I agree, I agree, say what you're feeling. Right, it's like say what you're feeling and thinking and work it out, because if we don't do that, even in your business, right Like, if you don't communicate well with your staff or your clients, like things are going south quick. Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah. So how do you balance motherhood and entrepreneurship? I think the one that balance, like I want to just throw that out the window because it's never like me too, it's never like an, even like right.
Meagan Chorney:No, never.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Never.
Meagan Chorney:So that's something that I I was surprised, learned it on another podcast or heard it. Yeah, balance is not a 50-50. Some days it's an 80-20. Yes, Some days it's the opposite and you're giving more at home than at your business and that if we're always shooting for that 50-50, we're going to drive ourselves absolutely insane because it's not possible. Some days, you just you need to give more in one area than the other and you just make it up other days, and I think that that's really important to remember and to just give yourself grace. I think, yeah, I don't know.
Meagan Chorney:I also use this balls in the air analogy and I've shared it with a couple of friends too, and it's helped them.
Meagan Chorney:So there's some things in your life that are plastic balls and it's okay if you drop them because they're not going to shatter, but some are glass, and so you've got to juggle all these things and you just have to make sure you don't let those glass balls fall through the cracks. Right, like family, your kids, like what are the functions in your business that you absolutely need to be there for and what, what can you pass along so they turn into plastic balls that you know, if you can't, if you can't handle that while you're juggling everything else, somebody else can grab it because you know it hasn't shattered if you drop it, that sort of thing. So that's like I'm a really visual person and so that really helps me when I'm struggling. It's like, okay, what are the ones that I need to keep in the air and, you know, keep moving and what are some things that I can, you know, put to the side until I have a free hand to continue. So I don't know.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That's a great analogy. Yeah, no, that's a great analogy, because I think we put so much pressure on ourselves to try to do everything and then all of a sudden there's a baby or, like you said, you have kids and you start a business, and there's that struggle of how do I do everything everywhere? And the answer is you cannot. No, that is the answer. You cannot do everything at home and at your business. I think when you talk to what having a team that right, there is your kind of little golden egg because your team can take on a lot of those tasks, freeing you up.
Meagan Chorney:Right, yeah, and you know, I sat and I thought of, I actually wrote down. I took a week and I wrote down every single task that I did all day, every day that week, and I figured out you know where was I spending my time. Could some of those things be passed on to somebody else in the business who is capable of doing those things? And then I also had to sit and look at where my energy was being spent. And energy and time are two very different things.
Meagan Chorney:You can sit down and be completely exhausted and waste three hours trying to work on a social media plan for your business for the next two weeks and because and it's going to not end up complete after three hours you're going to feel completely burnt out and you're going to end up hating sitting there and doing it because it's such a waste of your time.
Meagan Chorney:You're not getting anything accomplished. But if you go into it with a clear head, you know you're able to take the time, feel like you've kind of crossed all the other things off your to-do list and actually put some energy into it, because you have energy to give, because you've crossed off other things. You can found that out in way less time and feel so much better about it. So it's not about the time we spend, but it's the amount of like really good energy that we give to a project. So that was something that was really important for me to realize as well. It's like I don't have to be spending time necessarily on all of these tasks, but if I can spend five minutes doing a really good job at something, then that's great. You know, yeah, that's so true.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It does. It totally makes sense, and I think, too, it's just kind of business in general, like if you're not good at things or you don't like doing things, or they're what I call a time sucker, something that takes me a long time to do because I'm not, you know. I know the basics, but I don't like payroll.
Meagan Chorney:I'll just say, if you have an example right. Either it's something that you don't, you're not an expert in, or it's something you hate doing, right yeah?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So get somebody else to do it.
Meagan Chorney:Exactly.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I always say farm it out. Like if you have a team, then someone on your team you give them those responsibilities that you're like this doesn't have to be me right. Like if it doesn't bring you joy, literally, or it doesn't bring you revenue or profit, then probably you should have someone else be doing it.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, absolutely.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Right.
Meagan Chorney:In all areas of business, not just when you're balancing motherhood and business.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, because what do you want to spend your time doing on a Monday at 5 pm? Do you want to spend that time doing payroll that you hate and you have to Google up Google search? How do I? Oh, there's a stat holiday, how do I, right? Or do you want to spend that with your family? You know, like that's what I. Or do you want to spend that? Maybe for you going to one of the bachelorette parties and promoting your business and creating revenue, right? Those are the things. If it's not, if it's not bringing you joy or revenue or time to spend right with your kids, your family, get rid of it. Get somebody else to do it.
Meagan Chorney:Easy enough.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It is. I know.
Meagan Chorney:It's not easy, though it's not easy at all.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Let's be honest, it sounds really easy, but all of a sudden now you might have to train one of your staff members to do it, which takes time. Yeah, You're still going to get questions, which takes time. Or you have to pay somebody to do it, which takes money right, oh God.
Meagan Chorney:And honestly, if I can be completely honest, I was, I still am the worst at handing off tasks because I, in my mind, I'm like I could just do it myself, it would be done faster. I wouldn't have to explain how to do it 12 times. Honestly, even if happens in our house, I'm like no, you know what. You go do this, you play with the kid and I'll do the other thing, because I don't want to explain how to do it, because I could just do it myself in half the time. And that was a huge area that I struggled in and something that I regret. Right from the beginning I should have been doing more of the teaching and less of the doing, because once you get those people in place, that's easy. Right, it's the fact of actually having to take that time to do it. If you handed it off right from the beginning, you're laughing, that's easy.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Well, I always think of the like give a man a fish, he eats for the day, but teach a man to fish, or a woman, he eats, or she eats forever. So it's the same thing, yeah it takes you more time today, or this week, or this month, maybe, depending on if it's any larger, but after that it's gone. Yeah, you don't have to think about it anymore.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah Right, great analogy yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, oh, and I agree, I fell into that trap too, because I was like, well, she's easier for me to do it, I'll just take the 10 minutes on to do it. But that 10 minutes here and an hour there and whatever, there is hours. If you add everything up and it's continual, it's hours every week or every month, exactly, yeah, whatever it is. And then that time is just time. There's only so many hours in the day, right? So that time is just gone. It's not time with your family, it's not time with your child, it's gone, it's just kind of evaporated, yep.
Meagan Chorney:So if you could learn one thing please don't do what I did.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I think every entrepreneur says this I haven't talked to one yet. That's like oh, from day one I just had all these staff members and paid everybody, because usually when you're starting out you don't have the money or you don't have the team, yeah right, so you do it all because you have to, like you don't really have a choice. But there becomes a time and I, like you're saying, do it earlier than you think. And it's true, because one day you kind of just wake up and you're like oh, my God, how have I been doing this all? Like I shouldn't be doing this all, but I am well.
Meagan Chorney:And then you panic because you've got to first of all search for somebody, interview, hire somebody and then you do the teaching. And then in your head you're like I'm spending this time teaching, but I have XYZ to do because we're growing and you know like, yeah, you need to get those people in place sooner and again, do as I say, not as I do.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Well, that's better here. Learn from our mistakes and successes, or learning if you don't like it the word mistake, you can use the word learning. Learn from what we learned by just listening to us. That's why we're here. What have been your biggest challenges? We've kind of touched on a little bit of this, but becoming a mother, having businesses, selling businesses, starting new what have you found that have been the hardest things?
Meagan Chorney:You know, I think I would have to go back to again talking about like that balance. That would be absolutely the most challenging thing. It also it was really hard for me because we had a very traumatic birth experience and we had I mean, still have quite a high need for that quite a high needs child, and so I blame myself. He's he's delayed and there's a number of reasons why, and also every child is different. So if you have a delayed child, just know that you're not alone.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Nope, I'm sure there's a podcast for that too, because you're not alone.
Meagan Chorney:So I had really really, really bad guilt when it came to, you know, having to face his delays too, because right away I blame myself because I was spending time with the business and not every waking hour with my son.
Meagan Chorney:And now I know that that's not realistic at all.
Meagan Chorney:I know that I was in my head and there's no truth to that at all, but that was a really, really tough thing for me to go through, and I imagine that any mom is going to go through something similar, whether their child has higher needs or not. You just you sit there one day and you're like man, you know, did I, did I miss that because I was busy answering emails or it's just all of those things, and I'm I'm a super sappy, sentimental person, and so I just I had such a hard time with the idea of, you know, having time away from him and not being able to, you know, maybe see some of his firsts or those sorts of things, and so really just wrapping my brain around, you know, needing to be a mom, needing to be a business owner, and knowing that it was okay to take a break from one to do the other and vice versa. Yeah, I think that would be my biggest struggle is. I think it all boils down to balance, but you know there's there's just so many different sides of it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Everybody has a different experience, so well and I think too, as humans this is scientific fact, I'm not a scientist, but I do know this is true we are kind of pre-programmed to go right to that negative spot. So the first thing in your head is it's my fault, it's something that I did Right, and that's how we are. If you think about things that happened in your life, your initial reaction is what did I do to make this happen? And the answer, more times than not, is nothing. It's got nothing to do with something you did or did not do.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:But that's our first reaction for most humans, right, and I think for you to first of all even you first of all recognized no, it's not something that I did, which most people don't even do that you just live in that negative spot of it's my fault. So that's kind of the first thing, but knowing, like you said, you can't be everywhere and everything for everyone all the time, right, there are times when it's work and there are times when it's family, and I mean, I know you, I know you put family first, but going through that is a challenge in its own right, just that mental state of yeah.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah well, and I mean, I, I have had my struggles with mental health in the past and still do, which is why I'm a huge advocate for bringing attention to it, and so I also struggled really badly with postpartum depression. And then you add, you add that into this whole big mess and that's a whole other animal in itself, right? So I think that that moms, moms who are entrepreneurs, especially going through I don't want to, I don't want to say one experience is any more challenging than another, but I think that being a business owner, adding a baby, especially a first child, and going through that experience like that rocks your world in and of itself and that's, that's just a lot, it's a huge life change. So if you, if you are going into it, if you are going through it, my heart goes out to you like kudos to you, because it is not entrepreneurship, isn't for the faint of heart, but that is, that is just hard, and and it's okay to say it's hard- yeah, I'm just going to ask what advice would you give to entrepreneurs and mothers?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:But I think you just gave it like it's hard, and it's okay to recognize that. It's hard, right, and it's okay to cry and it's okay to have a day that you need to turn off from your business, and that is all okay. And I think that we don't talk about this stuff enough, absolutely. You know, I used to think, like if I had to close my business, like I would not, like I don't think close, I don't mean close it, I just mean for like a day. Like if my staff was sick and I was some, I was somewhere with my family, that no, I would drive in. I went back there and and now I think no, like now I'm like it's okay, it's okay if my business had to close for a day or a few hours.
Meagan Chorney:It's such a shift hey yeah, it's changed absolutely.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Your parent just changes you. You don't even realize that until you're in it.
Meagan Chorney:Yeah well, and I'm gonna. I'm just gonna segue on that because, as I was preparing for today, I was kind of thinking about my own journey and, as you would kind of mentioned at the beginning, I've had ups and downs and I've had twists and turns and I've done a whole pile of different things. And you know I said how COVID really shifted things for me and I just I want moms or any any entrepreneur to know that you know it is okay if you, if you change, if your interest change, going into motherhood completely changes your life, it changes you completely. And so if you are not like totally in on what you were doing before, just know that there's nothing wrong with you. That's totally normal.
Meagan Chorney:You can come talk to me about dance and I really I don't want to say I don't care, but it is not a priority for me like it was. It is not even a little teeny, tiny part of my, of my world right now. And that is okay, because it is okay for you to go with the ebbs and blows and to shift with whatever direction your life is taking. Just because you started this business doesn't mean you have to feel stuck in it because, let's be honest, you feel stuck and it's just going to become something that you're, you just resent, stay in and day out, and I mean that's no good for anybody either. No, it's not the.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So, yeah, no, you're not stuck. Yeah, but such great advice, because most of us that start businesses. You start a business based on what you're passionate about at the time. So for you it was dance, for me it was fashion, and our whole life was dance. Your real life was dance, my life was clothing and shopping and those things, and so you couldn't put that. It was. I mean, I went to New York to like fashion.
Meagan Chorney:I say fashion week.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I didn't go to like the Louis Vuitton fashion show, but I mean I was there during that hustle and bustle and you're just like on top of the world. But if I think about going to do that now, I think, oh my God, that's so exhausting I. And I think about all the things that were like hard about it, not the fun stuff, because I'm at a different point in my life, and that's okay. I never in a million years and I'm sure you didn't either For 10 years, I didn't never, ever think I would sell my business.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I created this, it's my baby and it's my whole life. And then guess what? You sell it, yep, and because your life changed, right, and it doesn't put, it's nothing less on that business. It's still for you, it's still an amazing dance studio. For me, it's still a great online store. Nothing has diminished that business. But that business now is being ran by someone that fashion and dances their whole life. Right, and we've moved to other things that we find joy in or that that fulfill us, right, and that's totally fine. It's totally okay to move on and grow and develop as humans.
Meagan Chorney:It says it says absolutely nothing about you or your, you know, determination or anything like that.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:If you, if you shift gears, that's right, it's so true, and I can tell you.
Meagan Chorney:I'm somebody who really I I'm getting better, but I have always been somebody who cares way too much what people think, and so, oh yes, the first, one of the first thoughts when it came to selling my business was like a Are people gonna think that I'm a failure? Be, do people think I don't care? You know so many things go through your head and honestly, I just I things changed, my life changed, and that is okay.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, it's okay, and I think too, when you're at that point that you're ready to make that change, you don't care as much Say you failed or you whatever, because you're like, well, whatever, like I have, I'm moving on to this other great thing in life yeah, and it may be a child, that maybe a different business and maybe just I don't want to say just, I said that and then it sounds silly, but give you a job, like not being an entrepreneur for a little while, right, yeah, and just living that, that life. It, it doesn't matter what it is. If you've grown and changed, it's okay that your next projects grow and change with you. It's important. Actually, I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's great. Do you have the most important lesson that you can share from your time being an entrepreneur?
Meagan Chorney:Hmm, my most important lesson. I've had a lot of lessons along the way. If I was to I don't know if this is a lesson, but if I was to give advice, it would be to have a really strong why? Because in the hardest days, that is what is going to keep you going. So yeah, yeah that that's a great one. I wouldn't say it's a lesson, but it is some of the best advice that I've received, because the hard days are what's gonna get you.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's true, and the thing too is, at the very beginning you talked about bringing people joy when you started your first business, and If you remember that, in the days that are really hard or you're struggling whether it's financially or mentally, emotionally, whatever it is and then you see a kid come in and be so happy, it's like that changes.
Meagan Chorney:You right, that changes, or the days that I walked into my office and, oh my god, it felt like everything was going wrong and I had a picture that one of the students drew me that was shoved under my door and you know like those little glimmers of that why. You know that is what keeps you going and whether your why is Tied to you, know your vision for your company, or whether it is because you want to support your family or be able to have time freedom for your family or whatever, just just remember your why, because it will make the hard days seem doable.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah 100%, and is there anything you wish you had known, or maybe something that you could tell your 20 year old self starting out?
Meagan Chorney:There's lots of things I wish I would know I would have known this. This entire chat was full of them, but If I could tell my 20 year old self something, it would be you can do it because you have so many doubts, and the only person that you have to convince that you can do it is yourself. So start there and you will be successful.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That's true. I love that. Where can people find you? Because I know people are gonna want to know more about you and your businesses, so what is the best place for people to search you out?
Meagan Chorney:Yeah, I'm always on Instagram, so my handle there is at Megan Nicole, so it is M M E a G a N. I s O L E and you can find links to everything else from there.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Awesome. Thank you so much, Meagan. It was great chatting with you and I know a lot of people are gonna listen to this and really know that they're not alone and that they can do it and be successful. So I really appreciate you being on. Thank you, you have me, that's awesome.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It was awesome. Thank you so much and for everybody listening. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you on the next episode. Thanks for listening to Winning. Be sure to subscribe to get all of our new episodes. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about on social media and leave a rating and review wherever you listen to it. To catch all of the latest from us, you can follow winning podcast on Instagram at winning podcast, facebook Facebook winning Winning and on Twitter at winning pod. Winning was created and is produced by me, mackenzie Mackenzie, music created by summer Summer, Firby editing by Seth Armstrong, special Thanks to Shauna Foster for voicing our openings and, of course, a huge Thank you to this episode's guest. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.
