Speaker 0:01

Welcome to The Heart-Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love. Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second. From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism. So buckle up and let your heart guide your business journey.

Tom Jackobs 0:36

Welcome back to the Heart-Led Business Show, where today's guest is a remarkable Bron Watson, a nurse educator and the visionary founder of both The Social Coach and The Serenity Project. Bron's journey dances between resilience and revelation with a heart as vast as the ocean, and a spirit that sparkles like the stars. She's dedicated to helping us reconnect ourselves in the whirlwinds. Join us as we dive into our inspiring story and discover the magic of heart-led entrepreneurship. Bron, let's dive into it.

Bron Watson 1:07

Thank you for having me.

Tom Jackobs 1:09

Yes, I'm so glad to have you and I know you're calling in from down under in Australia all the way from there as well. Although you're a close neighbor of mine, of course.

Bron Watson 1:18

We are. sort of.

Defining Heart Led Business

Tom Jackobs 1:20

Yeah. I'm really excited to dive into both of the Social Coach and the Serenity Project and really how you develop those. But of course, first I'd like to ask the first question, which is, what's your definition of a heart-led business?

Bron Watson 1:33

Look, it is such a good question and the thing for me is that I learned what a not heart-led business was because that is what I originally built. Because it wasn't until I had hindsight that I realized that I did not that originally. So a heart-led business for me is one, I like the word alignment. Now I know that everyone used that word, but you know what? When you switch your head and your heart on. And when they when they're talking, when they're connected, then when they're intertwined, you'll be able to hear whether what you are doing is the correct thing or not. Because I built a business and for years that little voice was screaming at me and I I knew it wasn't right. I knew it wasn't what was fitted for me. Yet, it was a very successful business. Both financially and outside, inside the whole thing was amazing. But for me, heart-led is when you are getting up and you're going to work and it feels fantastic because it's in alignment and that when you finish doing some of your work, whatever that may be, you are energized. You're actually energized, you're not tired, and I feel that you'll know it when you feel it, people.

Tom Jackobs 2:43

Yeah, absolutely. I know I, I went through the same a similar journey after I sold my fitness business. And I was in that flux of what do I do next? And it just didn't feel in alignment until I developed the heart-led processes and the sales coaching that I do now. And now it just, it feels everything is just, as you say, in alignment. Although that word does get over overused along.

Bron Watson 3:09

it's true. And I don't, I don't want to use that word, but I know that you'll understand when I use that word and when it's in alignment, things fall into place. It doesn't feel hard. It actually feels, I don't wanna say easy, but what I'm saying is it actually feels as if it should feel.

Tom Jackobs 3:27

Yeah, light.

Bron Watson 3:28

Which is when very light and it just works. Those um, unexplained miracles those things that just seem to come together or you'll meet the right people and or whatever. It turns out, it's just because I believe that we have switched on and we've moved beyond hustle. We've moved beyond just that terrible relentlessness is what I talk about. We've moved into a space where we are aligned, and it doesn't mean this has got nothing to do with productivity.

Tom Jackobs 3:58

Right. Exactly. um, yeah. When I talk to other entrepreneurs, they talk about how difficult things are and things like that. And it's if the difficult days are overwhelmingly more than the easy days, then it's definitely not in alignment. Yeah, I can totally understand that.

Bron's Origin Story

Bron Watson 4:16

Yeah.

Tom Jackobs 4:17

So tell us a little bit about your business and what makes it heart-led.

Bron Watson 4:20

Okay, so originally I started out,'cause I'm a nurse educator. In my previous life I've had a double career in nursing and marketing and it all came together when I. Just after my, after turning 40, I thought, I sat there going, is this it? And go no. And I thought, okay. A lot of my friends were business owners and entrepreneurs and I thought, it can't be that hard so and I started in the mentoring business and because my very first business was called Nurse Power.

Tom Jackobs 4:52

Hmm.

Bron Watson 4:52

And so I was helping,'cause I'm an educator, I was helping nurses to be the best they can be from a being perspective. So I've always been in that space of wanting to help and be a part of growth of human growth. To then to go for people to go and do what they really wanna do. And from there I moved into mentoring and it was called Bron Watson because I hadn't time to come up with another business name. And that's the beast that I built.

Tom Jackobs 5:18

Wow.

Bron Watson 5:19

And so that was mentoring. It was end-to-end online marketing from lead generation to sales funnels, to sales and conversion delivery to delivery referrals, the whole thing. We ran the retreats, we had the masterminds, we did all the things.

Tom Jackobs 5:34

Right.

Bron Watson 5:35

Until a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2017,

Tom Jackobs 5:39

Oh

Bron Watson 5:39

which literally sat me on my butt. And just through how do I say it? It was at a time where I'd had my second dose of chemotherapy and I had this belief that I had to deliver what I said I was going to deliver no matter what. I stood by it. I stand by it today, but with a very different filter. And so it was the second round of chemotherapy, four hours, like if you've ever had it guys, you'll know that it is literally horrendous. It's so bad. And here I am doing a Facebook Live into my Facebook group for my mastermind members because I had promised four hours after the second dose and these doses were foul.

Tom Jackobs 6:25

Oh.

Bron Watson 6:25

I caught a glimpse of myself and I took my breath away'cause I thought, who is this person? Then I realized, oh my God, that's me.'cause I was bald by that stage and so sick. I was red, massive big face because of all the steroids. And I looked at myself in the eyes, you know, and I said, do you wanna die? Because if you keep this up, girl. You are going to die. And I was 48 with five children, plus a beautiful husband. Right? So I shut that mentoring business down overnight.

Tom Jackobs 6:57

Wow.

Serenity Project Emerges

Bron Watson 6:57

and I knew that I was not sacrificing it. So we had to pivot, we had to change, we had to grow. And because of my marketing background, I transitioned into organic social media, which is where the social coach came from. Completely different clearly. But I knew how to build a business. That's the thing. I had this, I had the foundation, the structure, but this time around I was not gonna be building something that was not in alignment. And then fast forward to 2023, and sadly I have was given another cancer diagnosis, but this time of blood cancer. And now that one I wasn't to my knees or sitting down that one, I was horizontal. That thing, it has crushed me. And especially when you are told, you know, Bron, you know there's a limited time on this earth because it's not curable. And that is where during those years between breast cancer and myeloma, I'd started to work on this thing called the Serenity Project, which was for me, and it was based on the Serenity Prayer, which was God grant me serenity to accept what I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. And so I started to think we gotta really focus in here. And that was what I did. I've learnt to find what I call serenity now moments, which. I'm in. Great. I'm great guys. Just so you know, I'm in remission. I'm feeling really good. I'm as good as my last blood results. But the thing is what I've learned,'cause someone said to me after the breast cancer, Bron, if you don't change the way you live, you know it's gonna come back, don't you? What a thing to say to someone. I would never say that to someone, but two, I thank that person for the brutality because what it did was it gave me the pause to connect my head to my heart. And the challenges around the treatment of a blood cancer, I had a bone marrow or a stem cell transplant, you don't have a lot of time, you don't have thoughts because you're so sick. So what I did was I looked at the moments, what could I do in the moments? Because I had to keep the business going. I have the most incredible team. Obviously there were days and days where I think, oh, I can't keep doing this. Why are you working, Bron? This is, you should be making sourdough growing vegetables. Whatever you wanna do, you should be doing what you want. Because what they do in this space, they say to you, Bron, you've gotta make memories. Oh I said you go and make your memories. I'm cool. I don't need to be told to make memories. I'm good. But what it did was I now have the Serenity Project, which is a collaboration. It's a community. So see how it's all evolved by the learnings of what not is what a heart-led business is, to what a heart-led business is, and it's going off. The Serenity Project is doing exactly what it's meant to do, which is create awareness around the third space between science and soul and evidence and perspective. But I'm using, thank goodness I have it, my business school, so I know that's a very long answer to the question that you asked, which was a very simple question. But it's not simple to me because

Tom Jackobs 10:00

it's not.

Bron Watson 10:02

it's not simple. It is a journey. And that's the thing with heart-led business full stop, is that we don't know what's coming, but we don't live there. We live here. We live where our feet are, and we build that business where our feet are. And when I say build,'cause it's always building, isn't it? Everything changing, Turning, whatever it is.

Profit Versus Purpose

Tom Jackobs 10:24

Yeah. No, I love that. And what a journey and thankful that you're still here and you're in remission and all that. Yeah. Wow. So the transition from the profit led business into the heart-led business. Obviously the cancer diagnosis, it had a lot to do that with that. But what was that transition like in terms of the financial or the business side, and how do you navigate now balancing profit and still being heart-led?

Bron Watson 10:54

It's a good question because the way I likened the old business model for me was like a saber-toothed tiger. You know when you get a little cat and it's so cute and you go, oh, you cute little kitty cat. That was the beginning of the business, right? Oh, you're so cute. Oh my goodness. You're eating a lot AKA my time. And this thing grows and grows. And before you know it, you are riding the saber-toothed tiger, because you can't get off because it will kill you. That is what it felt like for me. So when I made that decision, literally by looking at myself in my own soul, there was no emotion. It's like, thank you kitty cat, you are done. Thank you. I am blessed. I'm so grateful for the lessons I've learned and the people I've met along the way. Stop. There was no talk about how we're going to survive financially. And I looked at what was on my plate. I looked at what my strengths were, like, I like to say, playing in my lane, so to speak, speak. So that was marketing and social media because I'd done training with this incredible woman called Jennifer who had run Barack Obama's social media campaign. So I knew I had good skills. So I pivoted, and I hate that word too'cause that's a COVID thing. I exited stage left into a cliff face and I jumped, and the jump was into what I knew. So I looked at what I knew because I knew that I had these skills that I could monetize. And so we started workshops in social media, Facebook, and I just grew that, I called it a boutique marketing agency at the time. And now we work with people to teach them how they can show up online like you and I do. And so did it hit us financially? Absolutely.

Tom Jackobs 12:38

Yeah.

Bron Watson 12:38

But you navigate through because it's beyond the numbers. Yes, we need the numbers. They're the guiding light, right? You can have all the dreams in the world, but you need the numbers. And so we did so we did really well with that. And then of course, I've had another hit, which is when, in that 2023 with that diagnosis, and I've got my team, now, I've got this beautiful team who have been so loyal and amazing, and the businesses kept going because of them. So financially we're nowhere near what we were. But it's not about the money, it's about the longevity of the road. To get there for me, I can only talk for me. And about being able to monetize the skills you have. And I think now with ai, it's a whole lot easier to go. Go and give me 20 ways to start a business. And honestly, it'll give you some incredible ideas, or to pivot with, I've got all this stuff. What do I do with all my stuff? Like I've got years of program. So that's what you do, I think, is when you're in those situations, look at what you have, not what you don't have. Stay in your lane and monetize it.

New Bron Energy Boundaries

Tom Jackobs 13:44

Yeah. what's different with this business now than the mentoring business before in terms of your head space?

Bron Watson 13:53

I actually look at that and I almost say that's the old Bron.'Cause the old Bron put everyone else first, their health, their everything, even their businesses. I'd be more vested in my client's businesses than they were. I don't know if you've been in the mentoring space, you know what I'm talking about?

Tom Jackobs 14:10

Yeah.

Bron Watson 14:11

And I was more vested than they were. And so I literally call that to the old Bron. The new Bron is, you know what, that's great. If you wanna go do that's great. I'm not actually having an opinion. One didn't ask for it. Two, I am looking after my energy. And my energy is for me. I fill my cup, I fill my family. I don't fill my family's cup. They have to fill their own. But we collectively look after. And they support me when I have very low energy because of the treatment I'm on. We just work around it. We don't make it a big deal.

Tom Jackobs 14:43

Yeah. Love that. Love that. You, looking back at you at the beginning when you're giving the definition, you talked about that screaming voice telling you that something's wrong. How long was that voice yelling at you?

Bron Watson 15:00

The whole time.

Tom Jackobs 15:02

Real from the very beginning when you started that mentoring business is just like something's off.

Bron Watson 15:08

I knew it wasn't me. I did the best I could. When you are looking at strengths, my strength, my top strength in life is strategy. I can see someone's business, I can see where we can take it. I can see how to get there way bigger. So for me, the joy was seeing the light dawn in someone's face to go, I can do this. And that was just so me because I was able to use my strength of strategy. But I knew for years because, you'd be getting, because I was more vested than my clients were. Not all clients, of course. I'm to this day, I'm still friends with a lot of our people and I'm so grateful for the lessons I learned from them. I know from my health and wellbeing getting online and just having that is just so soulfully draining that I needed to find the balance.

Tom Jackobs 15:57

Yeah.

Bron Watson 15:58

Does that make sense?

Tom Jackobs 15:59

Absolutely. And what a transition was, very quick obviously, but it sounds like it was leading up to that point. It was gonna be inevitable anyway, and it was just the diagnosis that kind of kicked it over the edge.

Bron Watson 16:13

Yeah. And I feel that if there are people who have that feeling. Don't leave it to a nasty adversity like cancer, to, to wake up. It's really around. There are so many beautiful, amazing people, and I say this so much is that you don't need to be a heart-led sales expert because we've got you. We don't need to have the scientists in my world go and read the, if you wanna go read all the scientists scientific articles and scare yourself, go for it. But you're not the scientist. Surround yourself, I call it an ecosystem. My health and my life. We have an ecosystem, and in that ecosystem, all these amazing experts find the people. And that I know can be tricky, but unless you start, you'll never know.

Tom Jackobs 17:00

So how do you protect then yourself and your energy and still give really great customer service and that balance'cause it a lot of heart-led businesses, like you said, just wanna give. And they don't fill out their own cup. So how do you balance that? And, maybe some, give us some examples of some stories of how you've done that.

Bron Watson 17:23

So I think because I now have the wisdom and hindsight is such a beautiful thing, is I believe it comes down to systems and processes within your business, and that when we make a system that is completely in 100% reliant on Bron. And if Bron's not up to the game, guess what happens? The system doesn't work, and I'm still not great at this guys, just putting it out there. I'm doing my level best to make a system that can function without me, which means we have the flexibility. And I think even it comes down to if I was to be doing a mentoring business now, I would have a pre-frame. I would have something in, even in the contract, around being able to shift and be flexible. With deliverables, and I'm not saying this is different guys, just let's just clarify that. I'm not saying don't do your things. I'm not saying putting it off because you can't be bothered or you've got a procrastination going on. What I'm saying is the genuine need for flexibility, and I've learned this from a very dear friend of mine. Who runs a very successful business. She's a rehab counselor, but she helps clinicians build better businesses. Exactly for this reason is that when she has a day when her energy is, or her energy is low, she moves things, but she's trained and, but within her systems and her processes. She's built that level of when something like that happens, everyone goes, yeah, cool. That's all right. That's just Joe having a low day. Happy to move because we've already pre-framed in because it's all about expectation, isn't it? So if we have within our systems and processes expectations both ways. Both ways. I feel that you can, and that's genuine conversation and that means like if I was to look at a business, if I was doing that, if I was in coaching or in that space, it's about attracting people who also appreciate flexibility and I'm saying not get let off the hook for not doing your work. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that we have guidelines and processes in that. Now within our systems, it's around as much as I can. It doesn't fall on my shoulders and it's okay.'cause I can say that with a team. But how about if you've got a business that is the issue you wanna look at? Transitioning to bringing in, and AI is so good, guys, to be honest. You can build some assistance in there. There's things you can do. There's so much you can do to help to protect your health first. So my intention for the year, for example, you wanted an example. My intention for 2026 is healing and abundance. Not money, not amount of clients, not about the travel, but about healing. So if it doesn't fit with the healing, it doesn't go in. So the systems are being built. As I said, it's a still a work in progress is around creating a system that will support whatever is your top alignment. For me, it's healing and energy. So therefore we have systems that will support the goods and the bad. And again, because I'm so blessed, I have a team. We are outcome driven. We are not time driven. You don't start at nine and finish at 12. It's here's the job, here's the work. You go do it. I know you got, they've got little children, some of them, a few of them got little children. Great work around it. School holiday's great. We work around it.

Tom Jackobs 20:56

Yeah,

Bron Watson 20:57

We work around.

Tom Jackobs 20:58

Yeah, I am definitely all in on systems and processes, maybe to a fault, but it does and I think every business owner goes into their new business, their new baby, and this is my thing, they don't think about the work that needs to be done when they're not there. And so they build what they call systems, but they're really not systems. It's just, it's ask Bron, and that is a, definitely a bottleneck. Just plug and play somebody else in that system and then they will just do the work or plug, plug AI into that system as well and speed things up.

Bron Watson 21:37

And I record videos for everything that I do like that. There's always, I don't wanna call them training videos, but it's so it's really, Hey, this is what I'm doing here. Which means we have a full, there's a library there of the, they're not even tasks, they're part of the process or the workflow. We talk workflow in, in my world, it's all about the workflow because we all have different jobs within the workflow. I record a lot of video because I'm really good at it's when people keep coming back and back and asking questions and how did I not answer that question in the first place? So a very detailed video. So if anyone does have a team, just start recording videos. Dan Martell will love you and but it works a treat.

Tools for Remote Workflows

Tom Jackobs 22:19

It really does. I do that because I fully remote team as well. Rather than trying to coordinate times to show somebody, I just record a quick LOOM video with a task and it's Hey, I need you to do this and this is how I would do it, but you figure out your own way. But this is what the outcome is that I want. And just do the quick LOOM video and it one, it's really simple, very quick. Usually it's under five minute video. And then they're able to look at that and go, oh, okay, now I get it. Without having to interpret my words, the written word versus the, and the visual as well.

Bron Watson 22:53

Yeah. I'm using a tool, I'm just testing it, it's called Note, I think it's called NoteGo where you can actually, it's like LOOM, but you are actually drawing, you can draw. So say you're talking about a landing page. You'll actually draw on it. Go, this is what I want changed, and I see that there, I need you to move that, draw the arrow. I want you to move it to there. And of course, it then summarizes it, and then it actually allocate, allocates the tasks within the AI tool of, I think it's called NoteGo. Sweet. Very good tool because it's that one layer more than a LOOM, which is that's LOOM people. It's a great tool, but this is next level because it'll give you not just the summary, it gives you the tasks and the fact that you can draw, put things over top and explain while you're going, and especially great if you're in a creative space like we are so very handy.

Tom Jackobs 23:42

I like the drawing feature. That really cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Bron Watson 23:45

Literally as recording, you click it and you, and it's arrow here. This is what I'm talking about. So they're not following your mouse. They're literally, oh, it's down there. Is it? Yeah. That's it's a cool tool. I like it.

Tom Jackobs 23:56

Yeah. Yeah. I I, like I said, I use LOOM and it has some AI features in there where it will take your whole process and then become and do the written process with screen grabs

Bron Watson 24:06

Yeah.

Tom Jackobs 24:07

Was like, oh my gosh, I could have used this 10 years ago.

Bron Watson 24:10

I use LOOM as well for that exact reason, because again, when we're, this is another heads up for people building these businesses is this is how you build processes, is you record that. You build it into a workflow. It's an SOP if you want it to be, but it means that if someone's sick, you've got that library to go, Hey, here's the task. Go and do it.

Tom Jackobs 24:31

Yep. Yeah we've built up a huge library.

Bron Watson 24:33

Yeah. All the time.

Tom Jackobs 24:35

Knowledge base so you can just type in, Hey, how do I do this? And it pops up and yeah, it takes time to do that, but it's that time investment is gonna compound over time because you're not having to do everything.

Bron Watson 24:50

Correct. And we've got a, you wanna, in my world, it cannot be, I am the bottleneck, so I know I'm the bottleneck. So therefore, for my heart-led business. You look after your heart, which means create systems. I believe that's, to me, the process is around looking after your space.

Where to Find Bron

Tom Jackobs 25:09

Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. This has been just a fascinating conversation and but we're at that time right now. Tell us how can people learn more about you and the Serenity Project and the social work that you're doing?

Bron Watson 25:23

Okay, so if you are interested to find out about how this whole Serenity Project, so it's serenityproject.com.au. The best thing to do is just sign up. We have a free newsletter. It's called the check in. I think that's the best way. And of course I'm on LinkedIn as Bron Watson, and then of course Instagram, Facebook as Bron Watson. I think, I'm happy to answer any questions even on our website, Serenity Project. Because of the people we do work with. It's called, we have a little button down the bottom, which means you can just actually talk to us. You don't even have to type. If you're, if you're not feeling great, just talk. Send us a message and we will get back to you. Because it's all about the collaboration and around, building, I don't wanna say building a better world, but it really is building a world that we can all collaborate really well with.'cause it's, it can be a tough time sometimes.

Closing Thanks, and Outro

Tom Jackobs 26:09

Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your wisdom and your thoughts with us as well. I really appreciate you.

Bron Watson 26:18

Thank you for having me. I really appreciated it.

Tom Jackobs 26:22

Absolutely, and thank you listeners and those watching on YouTube, but we really do appreciate you tuning in today. Hope you got a lot out of today's episode. Now, make sure that you're checking out everything that Bron's doing. We're gonna. Include links down in the description in the show notes. So make sure you're checking that out. And while you're down there, if there's a little review button or a share button, I'd love for you to press one of those and share the episode, or give the episode a rating and review. It really does help spread the word about how people can be more heart-led in their business and still make a profit. So until next time, lead with your heart.

Speaker 2 26:58

You've been listening to The Heart-Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs. Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.