We’re doing this right. Right?
“We Are Doing This Right. Right?” is your go-to podcast for humor-infused discussions that empower women to lead, succeed, and grow. Join us as we explore the smart side of life, business, and friendship, all while navigating the balancing act of parenting and work life. Get ready to laugh, learn, and find your path to success with a community that's cheering you on every step of the way.
We’re doing this right. Right?
Trusting Yourself: Financial Wellness and Authentic Living with Megan Scott
Text us! We know you feel like part of the conversation! We want to hear your input!
In this enlightening episode, Colleen and Cheryl talk with Megan Scott, the Chief Vision Officer and owner of Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners. Megan shares insights on trusting yourself, financial wellness, and how integrating holistic practices can lead to authentic living. Listen in as Megan discusses the importance of community, the intersection of wellness and finances, and provides practical advice for living a balanced and fulfilling life.
SPECIAL OFFER:
Beacon Bridge Wealth is happy to offer a free conversation to anyone that needs a safe space to talk about their goals for their life or who has a problem that needs a solution – this is our Total Wellness initiative. Everyone deserves to have a Plan to Live Well. For our audience, we will offer a free initial financial plan to anyone who reaches out after hearing the podcast. Follow me/us on social media to see the rollout of our continuing initiatives: Total Retirement for 2024/2025 and future Total Wellness initiatives that are in the works for 2026 and 2027.
Referenced resources:
Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Megan is the Chief Vision Officer and owner of Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners, a financial + wellness planning firm, newly headquartered in Lower Gwynedd, PA. After 20 years in financial services (seeing what worked and what didn’t), her mission became helping people through the lens of wellness. “When I becomes WE, even illness becomes wellness” was the quote that changed the trajectory of her life.
Through her experience and conviction, the brand of Total Wellness was born and along with her team at Beacon Bridge, they are helping people Plan to Live Well in all aspects of their lives – health, relationships, lifestyle, purpose and, of course, finances.
Megan is also a shamanic apprentice, most recently picked up golf again after 30 years, Philadelphia sports fan (against her better judgment), and absolutely loves living in Blue Bell, PA with her husband Jeremy, 4 children (Lillian, Landen, Griffin and Delaney), and their 2 beagles, Leo and Josie.
Connect with Megan:
Beacon Bridge - www.beaconbridgewealth.com
https://www.facebook.com/BeaconBridgeWealthPartners
https://www.linkedin.com/company/beacon-bridge-wealth-partners
Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganascott/
we have grown up in a culture that has told us not to trust
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:right.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Look a certain way, talk a certain way, be a certain way, have a certain car, have a certain family, get married at a certain age, do this, not that, you know, and so we don't have necessarily inherently this space where we say, do we actually believe what we say about
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:are we just saying something that somebody else told us and we're parroting it back to them, know, and I think that that mark about do we trust ourselves or not, right? Answer the question. Do you trust yourself? Great. Well, then if you trust yourself, are you showing up authentically? In the world that you're influencing your, are you showing up authentically
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Hi everybody who's doing it right and kind of right and maybe a little bit wrong.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:In all the ways.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:What are you doing today, Colleen?
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Um, Man, I mean, do you want the nice answer or do you want the real answer? Uh,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:whatever you're feeling.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:I'm feeling a lot. I'm feeling a lot. Work is really stressful right now. My son is really sick. I was with him in the ER last night and, uh, You know, just to still have to like chug along and do your stuff every day. it's just part of it, right. It's part of the,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Yeah.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:know, have a guest here and we were talking a little bit before and a lot of this, especially like what happened with my son and what's going on with that is, is very on brand with what we're going to talk about. So I'm excited. How will you do the introductions?
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Sure will. So we have Megan with us here today. Megan, what's your last name? I'm just realizing it's not here.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:not.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Megan Scott. I knew that because it was on my calendar, but when I went to read your bio, it's not here and I panicked.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:It's
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Okay.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:totally fine. I can
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Wow.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Yeah, so we have Megan here today, Megan Scott, she is the chief vision officer and owner of Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners, a financial and wellness planning firm, newly headquartered in lower Gwened, Gwened,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Gwinnett.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:okay, what she said, Pennsylvania. After 20 years in financial services, seeing what worked and what didn't, her mission became helping people through the lens of wellness. When I become we, even illness becomes wellness was the quote that changed the trajectory of her life through her experience and conviction. The brand of total wellness was born and along with her team at Beacon Bridge, they're helping people plan to live well in all aspects of their lives, health relationships, lifestyle purpose, and of course finances. Megan is also a shamanic. Apprentice. Sorry, guys. I told Megan before we started recording, I don't think I've slept all week. So Megan is also a shamanic apprentice, most recently picked up golf again after 30 years, Philadelphia sports fan against her better judgment and absolutely loves living in Bluebell, Pennsylvania with her husband, Jeremy, four children. She's one upping us, Colleen, Lillian, Landon, Griffin, and Delaney, and their two beagles, Leo and Josie.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Oh
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Welcome.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:gosh, welcome
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I don't think I've ever botched an intro so much. So
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:I should have made it
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:No, no,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:you
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:it was great,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:no, I liked it.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:This is how it goes. Megan. We're so excited. You're here. And like what a bio, what a, what an amazing, like all of that. I love it. What I love. When we give our bios and we talk about every part of our life, right. It's not just here are the stats of my business. Here's what I do, blah, blah, blah. It's like, Here's my business. Here's what I do. Here's where I live. Here's my kids. Here's my dogs. is a real bio, versus just being like a check bar, check boxes of diplomas
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:accomplishments. Yeah.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:accomplishments. So I love that. And we're so excited you're here and we were chatting a little bit before the show, just about what is lighting you up right now? And I, we love to talk to you about that because I was like, Oh my God. Yes. This is like such an important topic. So we'll let you introduce it so that we don't botch it because it's so eloquent.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Can't be trusted today.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:it's good. It's good. No, I thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. I'm happy to be, with you both on stressful days and, hopefully this is a little bit of the medicine that will help all of us to get through, you know, whatever comes after this
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:but I'm thrilled to be here. I think that so I will introduce it this way, tying it back to. The introduction, my bio, right? Five years ago, that would not have been my bio,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:right? Five years ago, I would have said, I am the chief operating officer because that's what I was at the time of this financial services company, because that's the right language I have a master's degree in organizational psychology. Nobody. like, that doesn't mean a right? It's like, well, c are great things, but it your head. And what I've for a very long time, muc So the shamanic apprenticeship is an unpopular thing that wound up in the bio because it's really the root of how I started to learn how to trust myself. And so that's the topic that I'm really feeling is so important, especially for women. I mean, it really, it matters to everybody, but we have grown up in a culture that has told us not to trust
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:right.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Look a certain way, talk a certain way, be a certain way, have a certain car, have a certain family, get married at a certain age, do this, not that, you know, and so we don't have necessarily inherently this space where we say, do we actually believe what we say about
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:are we just saying something that somebody else told us and we're parroting it back to them, know, and I think that that mark about do we trust ourselves or not, right? Answer the question. Do you trust yourself? Great. Well, then if you trust yourself, are you showing up authentically? In the world that you're influencing your, are you showing up authentically with your kids? Are you pretending everything's fine all of the time because you think that that's what they need as an example, you know, and then if you don't trust yourself, ask yourself, why not? don't I trust myself? That little tiny question mark at the end of both of those. questions. Doesn't matter what the answer is. That is your opportunity for awareness into becoming who you really are meant to be, in my opinion. So that's the topic that just feels like bigger than anything else for me right
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:mean, I feel like we could just end the episode now. I,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:But
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:mic drop,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:have a question and then I have thoughts. Talk to us a little bit more about what your, you said it's called shaman, what is it? Shamancy?
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I'm on it.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:apprenticeship.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Telail yous what that is because I don't know what that is. want to know. Okay.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:make it super simple because there's like, you know, an 18, 000 year history of Peruvian shamans, right? And we only have a little time here. So like shamans are basically medicine people. They are people that guide cultures. You know, this one, the one that I'm in is specific to Peruvian medicine, but it's really medicine people. How do you bring healing to people? And so how I got onto this wellness path is I woke up one day. 12 years ago I had vertigo, I had vertigo with my eyes shut. I had vertigo with my eyes open. It didn't matter. I couldn't do anything to stop it. And it just so happened that one of my really good friends called me and I was barely able to answer the phone. And I said, share, I got it. I got to go. I think I have to go to the hospital. And she said, what is the matter? And I said, I have vertigo so bad. I can't, I'm like so bad. so sick. And she's like, I will come and get you. And she came and got me and we didn't go to urgent care. We went to an acupuncturist and he fixed it inside of a
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Wow.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:it was, Hey, your energetic balance is off. Let me read your pulses. Let me put a few needles in. And it was boom, done. And it changed my life, right? Like I had never been to acupuncture ever in my
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:I knew nothing about it, you know, all this and it really, that is what, I like to use that kind of example, if you will, to say, I needed to know what his healing methodology was because he literally healed me inside of a minute with five
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:he is a part of this medicine culture. Obviously he provides medicine through acupuncture, but that it's is just the tool, right? But the methodology is the, so that's the apprenticeship that I'm
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Awesome. Thank
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Fascinating. Just keep, I'm thinking like if you had gone to urgent care, it would have been such a different treatment plan. And it takes like months and years for this, like, so
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:and it's not
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:interesting.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:vertigo. Isn't like, I mean, I'm not a doctor, I don't know, but I, from what I understand, there's not really like a cure in traditional medicine for vertigo.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Correct. It's it. Well, sometimes I mean, sometimes it's a it's always an ear issue, right? So it's always an inner ear balance issue. Some you crystals in your ear. Sometimes you're sometimes your crystals are, a little off or whatever. Yeah, but there's no, there's no cure. Right? Talk about urgent care. Go to urgent care. They give you what they give you when you get nauseous on boats. the medicine they give you. And then they get, they send you home and they say, just go home and sleep it off. And, and it's like, no, no, no, no. Do you understand how ill
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Right.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:I, I honestly, I, if lived with that, I would off myself. Like there's no question about because there's no control over it. There's no stillness.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:no escape.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:movement,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:God.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:It's
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:That would make you literally insane. I think one of the cool things that I'm starting to see, and it's really timely because I was just at this wellness. Summit here in Indianapolis and you're talking about it and it's this intersection between wellness and finances that I think is really cool that I have never really seen before, except for like in the last few weeks where we're now considering, which obviously it affects like how finance and those things integrate into total wellness, right?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:There's jokes about like from a very superficial thing. If you've ever heard that it's like, you're not ugly, you're just poor. Have you seen that? Like, right. Because if you have the money, you can do the facials, the Botox, the this, the, that, the exercise programs, the gym, the whatever, and how integrated financial stress is your overall wellness and health and. So I would love for you to talk to us also, about that. But I want to talk about like the, the trusting yourself part and whatever. But I think all of that is kind of from what you're doing.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:It's,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:you know, in the bio, not to rehash bios, but in the bio it does say a financial and wellness company because financial wellness is so, it's like, it's a part of the cancel culture, quite honestly. It's like, so like you heard it everywhere. financial wellness, like, like, what does it, what does it even mean? And it's like, well, you know, everybody's coming at it a little bit differently. Everybody's trying to tap into the 10 trillion industry. And so financial services is no different. Um, I stand on ceremony that my company is doing it a little bit differently, right? Where we are actually walking the walk, talking to talk instead of just, you know, saying financial wellness and what the hell does that even mean? So the intersection of those two things are this wellness is about how well you are living your life. You know, what is your, on a scale of one to 10, you might be a two some days and you're an 11, some other days wellness scores impacted by lots of Money is one of them and money is only one of them because that's the economic setup that we have in this culture, right? It wasn't always that way. I mean, sometimes it was barter. So you had the bigger cow, like you were richer, right? Money is just the tool, because we put such an emphasis on money, how much of it do you have? How much of it do you have saved? How expensive is your car? How expensive is your home? What label are you wearing? How, like, it just touches it all. have this really strange that when we grow up, not only do we have what we believe. our values and what we are worth and all of these other words that have to do associated with money. We also bring forward whatever story we were told about it from our parents and grandparents and whoever we were exposed to. So the money story that you tell yourself is like, I'm not worth that. I can't afford that. I can't spend that. There's all, you know, and it's like, it's chatter. It's just constant chatter in the background. And that is negatively sometimes positively, but mostly negatively impacting your ability to be well. when you take your money and you say, okay, let's put, just put a pin in it, right? It's money. Money is a tool. you say, what are the other tools that I or levers I can push and pull to impact my wellbeing? We've, you know, beacon bridges model is it's your health. So how healthy you are and what is your health care look like, right? What is your self care look like your relationships? How great are your relationships that absolutely impacts your wellbeing, your lifestyle? What do you choose to do? You know, are you taking care of yourself? Not you live in chaos or do you live in sanctuary? I mean, these things are real, and that purpose, what is your, what is all of this for? Why https: otter. ai For what?
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:sometimes we don't get to the, for what
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:yeah,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:So the financial wellness piece is, am I really paying attention to my wellbeing while I'm creating a plan for my finances to use this tool in the most efficient and effective way possible?
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:And I think, too, with that, like, when we talk about trusting yourselves, if you're under financial stress or financial strain, you can't necessarily you might want to make decisions or trust yourself in a certain way, but it's affected by. You know, if I'm the example is, we're at the ER last night with my son and and I put myself in a good financial position right now. I haven't always been in that situation. And I wasn't thinking about how much these bills are going to cost us what we leave. Right, but, you know, somebody said to me afterwards, like, oh, it's really good. You didn't get a CT scan at the ER because that's much more expensive than if you just have his pediatrician order it. And I. was, I'm lucky enough and I put myself in a, in the position where that wasn't something that I was thinking about in the moment, and that affects our health, his health and our health and overall health. But I do think that that is something, in previous times of my life that I wouldn't have been able to trust
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:You would have had that stress added.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:yeah, and
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Yeah.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:maybe wouldn't have taken him and I would have waited, right, because,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yep.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:I couldn't, I didn't, my gut was saying this isn't a virus, right? We went to his pediatrician, they're like, Oh, it's just a virus. My gut was saying this isn't a virus. So two days later, I took him to urgent care. It's not a virus. He has some sort of infection. And I wasn't, I didn't have to think about that as far as cost. And I think there are, know what I mean? Like I was able to trust my gut completely because there wasn't these other things holding me back from that. And I think that that's. interesting when we talk about trusting yourself or talking about And to even that point, I, very confident in who I am and in my decisions and I knew something was wrong, but I was hesitant to bring him and look crazy.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Oh, you just, Touched on
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Right. And I had another mom who texted me. She said, trust your gut. And this is, we we've had guests. We just talked about this Cheryl on our, on our episode two weeks ago about, getting three quotes and getting opinions about healthcare and things like that. But this other mom who has more of a medical background, she said, trust your gut, doesn't matter what the doctor said, go for it. And that little push was the push for me to just be like, okay, we're just going to take it out. But that craziness there, that perception that other people's perception of me or that other, like, was a thing that holds me back. And I traditionally don't think of myself as not confident or not trusting myself or whatever, but there was, there was that.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah. And it's, it is not, certainly not just you. Right. That is the, who told me that, who told me to believe that about myself, right? Like, you're going to look crazy. Well, wouldn't you look crazier if something terrible had happened and you hadn't taken them? a losing battle.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:battle.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:you can't, you can't win, you know? And so that's, I think that sometimes you have to ask yourself. What game am I willing to play and what games am I not willing to play? What am I participating in? And what am I saying? No, thank you too. Right. And that is that the, what I was saying to Cheryl before the show that, you know, my hot topic right now is, and this ties back to financial wellness, believe it or not, is if you don't trust yourself, how the heck are you going to heal what is wounding you? Cause you're never going to pay attention to it. You're always going to say, well, I, that's my baggage to carry. That's my, whatever story you're going to tell yourself. And that healing is so important. Why do we kill ourselves being moms? do we kill ourselves being moms? If we're not going to heal our own stuff and we're just going to be like, Hey guys, guess what? You're in for it. Everything that ails me is going to ail you and then put on top of it, everything that's going to ail you not responsible
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:No.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:you know? And there is, again, it's so buzzy to say I'm going to heal my generational trauma. I mean, how many times do you see that when you're like Instagram feed? But the question, the, the real thing of it is what do you want? How do you want to show up in this world? And are you really asking yourself, what is this for? Why am I doing these things? Or are you on autopilot? And that awareness is the key, the key difference between I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing or no, I'm going to take a pause and I'm going to ask myself, what Is that, is that really what I want to do? Is that really true to me, you know, and it impacts your money and it impacts your relationships and, you know, on and on and on and on.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I just keep thinking about when I finally made the jump to leave my career that I had been in for 12 years that I was so handcuffed to financially handcuffed to, you know, and golden handcuffs, which means like I had a pension. I had a match 401K, very strong health benefits. Those things were very important to me and my family. And, um, I was killing myself for it. I was unwell and so stressed and never had energy. And I wasn't showing up for my family in the way I wanted to. It wasn't showing up for me in the way I wanted to. And I wasn't happy every day. I was not happy. And I was just like, I I'm going to do this until I retire. And then if, no, the fuck you are like, just stop, like you'll figure something else out. And I had to trust myself. And I remember one of the last conversations I had with my manager. She is, she's like, are you going to get this done? I said, you know what? 100 percent of the time I'll bet on me. She was talking to me about whatever the annual incentive trip it was that I needed to earn. And I'm like, I was talking about something different. I'm like, I'm going to bet on me. I'm one foot out the door right now. Bye. I know that I can replace this income, which I did in the first year. So bye. Right,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yep. And, you know, I mean, it's sometimes it's easy to sit in a place of privilege and, and, you know, be able to say that, right? Like, like you just mentioned it. I was in a privileged position. I didn't have to think about how much it was going to cost me for my son to get the health care that he needed. So that's easy. But. I think that we also have to show up in the best way possible and bring other women into that with us to say like, were we understand how important that is for the quality of our lives. You deserve the same thing. How can we support you in that? if we're not doing it together and we're just, you know, Every man for himself. Then we're sort of a part of the
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:right.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:which is how we got here. You know, power over.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:there is such a systemic feeling or a ingrained opinion about women. Right. Where, you're not supposed to be crazy. Don't be too emotional. Don't make, you know, like you're supposed to look a certain way. You're supposed to do a certain thing. You're supposed to be a certain type of mom. You're supposed to have a certain type of job. Yeah. And I think those, to exactly what you're saying those are so prevalent and so forcefully ingrained that
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yes.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:it takes a lot of strength and it takes a lot of trust in yourself to be like, to make the move that Cheryl made or to make the moves that I've made or who could be the one, right? You mentioned like generational trauma, but it's like, it takes a bit for there to be the one person who, who. Who is the, the game changer in that, I did a lot of following exactly what you're talking about. Got the college degree, got the master's degree, got married, bought the house, had the kids, did these, like, because my mom never did those things and couldn't do those things. And so this was what I was. Supposed to do. And, there was lots of things that I was told you have to get a college education because if you don't, it's bad because she didn't get one. Right. And that was a struggle for her. And you have to, said something really interesting to me. She said, always have a trade. If you have a trade, you can always make money from her viewpoint. She didn't have a trade, then that put me into a career where I was going to all really early on on my earnings. So it didn't put me in a really great financial position. And then I went to college and now I have a lot of, student loan debt, right? Like all of these things that I was doing, like, because they were the right things to do. And I didn't really think about, is this what I want to do? Some of it? Yes.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yep.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Was it what I want to do or was it what I just wanted to do because somebody else hadn't done it? Or I was told that this is what gives you value.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah. A thousand percent. I don't know if either one of you have read. Glennon Doyle's book,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:I haven't.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Oh, good God. Do yourself a favor. Just lock yourself in a room and tell everybody you're not in the house for like an hour a week and just get, you'll get, you'll get through the book in like four hours, but there's a part in the book. She, she makes all these excellent points, right? It's one of the books that like started to crack me open a little bit, like get to the root of what is really happening for me. And, um, There's a section it it's under that her chapter called decals and the words are everybody owes it to herself, to her people, to the world, to examine what she's been taught to believe, especially if she's going to choose beliefs that condemn
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Hmm.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:She has to ask herself questions like who benefits from me believing this and it's like,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:like, oh my God, like who's making money off of my decision. And you know, like. And when you start to look at things through that lens, you're like, was sold a bill of goods. was told things that, that doesn't, that doesn't serve me to believe that about myself.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:And the way you say it cracked you open I'm relating so much to that statement because I believed that I was doing the right thing by being in that miserable career. I truly believed that. And who benefited from that? My company benefited. And they do have a Kool Aid mantra. That they would telail yous about how, like how great it is to retire here. And, because it's so expensive to replace me and my relationships that I had formed in my area who benefited from it. But yes, like the cracked open, like the starting to see through the cracks of wait a minute, this little bubble that I've been presented with is not all that's here. There's stuff on the other side. There's other things. It's just, uh, stuff.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:hmm.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:It's, it's that moment. I'm going to, I'm not going to remember what the name of the movie is because movies aren't my thing, but it's that Jim Carrey movie where he's like in a pretend
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Cheers. Ciao.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:They, they
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Truman show.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Yeah, The Truman Show.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:show. That's it. That's it. And it's like, when he starts to see that behind the elevator doors is like the set. And he's like, what, wait a second. I just saw that person like those little tiny, you know, nods or signs like, I was just going through the motions. But now that now I have this question in my mind, I really need to be paying attention. And when he paid attention, he found out that his entire life was a show, you know, and that, that to me is like the most powerful. Just think about it. Just, you don't even have to do anything. think about it is what, who you are and what you spend your time on or your heartbeats on. really serving your purpose. Like, have a purpose, you are here to do something. Is it serving that? Or are you just like, again, check the box, did the thing, da, da, da, nope, moving through, here I go, retirement, woohoo, now I'm dead.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Mm hmm.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:it's like, you know,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:when you ask that question too, is it serving your, your purpose or your goals or whatever it is? What I like about that is can still be like, that doesn't mean whatever you're doing can't be hard or it can't be challenging or can't be, you know what I mean?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:a
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:It's just like, because listen, like sometimes Cheryl knows I've had a rough week at work. Like sometimes this job is really hard. For me, and if I take a step back, I'm like, but is this job serving the purposes of the goals and the things that I want to achieve for the most part? Yes. Right.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:yeah,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:So, but I think sometimes we think, well, this is hard. So clearly this isn't serving me. And it's like, that's not necessary.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:oh
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:2 things are not mutually exclusive.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:1000%. Well, because hard means different things to different people, but it can be hard because you need to learn the lesson or because you need to be challenged to grow in that way. You know, it's not hard. No, I'm not gonna do that. But the banging your head up against the wall, not being happy every day. You know, like there are certain levels of these things that go on that You're just, why are you, do you keep going down that path? Ask yourself a question. Do I keep going straight or do I make a left turn? Make the left turn, you know? So it's in perspective with, I think, and it keeps coming back to that question. Do I trust myself enough to know and believe myself enough to know that this is either serving me or it's not serving me, it's, to me, that is, and again, we sit here from like this place of privilege where it's like, well, great, you got to have a conversation with two other lovely people on a Friday afternoon and, you know, you got, ask the question because there's nothing bad that can come from any conversation. asking and answering that question. It doesn't cost you anything. You don't have to have a conversation with anybody externally about it. But I think just putting that, planting that seed, something will, you know, as the seasons pass, something will grow where that seed is planted. And I think that's the medicine that I'm really hoping to bring to the world.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:So awesome. I'm like, there's so many things that I can think about as far as relating to what you're talking about. We moved from Los Angeles to Indianapolis three years ago. And one of the things that was holding my husband back was this idea of well, if we move, does that mean we have failed? And I was like, I was like, by whose standards, but, but there is this, there was this idea or this concept or, you know, something other people were saying of perception of this being six. And we've talked about this before, Cheryl, like what's it, what defines success and, and, and, we kind of had to sit and think like. Well, whose idea is that? And do we trust ourselves enough to realize that that's not even a thing? That's not even a thing we need to think about because also who's measuring stick, are we measuring success on and what does that look like? And I just think like when you ask yourself those questions and, and share, if we think also about Despi Mayes and like the question of like, if you feel like you are worthy, what's her, what's her question,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:you believe that you inherently matter, like you just matter by being you, like what would you do for yourself?
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:What would you do if you believed in yourself? Believe that you're worth whatever it is that you desire,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yep,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:because I, I know that if I believed that I was worthy or that I, I mattered, I would make the time to go to the gym that I've been trying to do for the two weeks, the last two weeks, you know, it's just it just keeps getting pushed because other agendas and other things feel more important, but what possibly could be more important than my body. That I need to carry me through all of things. And I know that because I'm chronically ill. I know that when my body doesn't work, nothing works. And yet here I am 13 years into that diagnosis, and I still sometimes struggle to make the right choices for my body. Even though I know that's what I should be doing.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Mm hmm.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:I will. I will bring up another resource for people because you just completely spoke its gospel, if you will. one of the other books that I mentioned to you that was like, I have like 7000 books, right? And I haven't read them all. I opened them to a page and I get whatever I need from it. And I'm like, Well, holy shit, that book was good.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:That's me.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:the
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:That's me.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:I don't need to, you know,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I've never finished the whole self help book in my life. I've started a zillion.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Uh huh. Yeah, exactly. This one book it's called Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. She's a black pastor who does a beautifully eloquent job of saying how we as women and specifically black women. are told there is no rest. You will, you can sleep when you die. Essentially, you will just keep going and eventually not resting will kill you. so rest is resistance. If you just say, you know what? My laundry list today is 12 things long and I am woke up in the morning and I am so gonna go do those 12 things. Like there is nothing standing in my way. And then, BAM, something else comes in, a sick child, a, emergency, a parent that needs something, whatever it is, and we go, Oh, man, I am a failure because I didn't get to those 12 things, even though this other thing came up, her proposition is, or her hypothesis is, what if, That other thing didn't happen. instead of going through the 12 things on the list, you went and took a nap.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:What would happen? when the urgent thing came up, you did the urgent thing, and then went back to your list. And then, items 8 through 12 that didn't get gotten to, it didn't matter because you had an excuse because you showed up for someone else in that emergency.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Oh
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:So, but what if on a day you just said, I'm going to take a nap instead and then didn't get to those other things. Why are those two things so out of whack? Her platform is called the Nap Ministry and I love
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:my god. It's
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Seriously.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:go take a
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:funny you're saying that because it literally is it's making me feeail youncomfortable. Which is so, you know what I mean? I'm like, oh my god. If you took a nap,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:take a nap. What?
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:You know what it's doing to me is I'm realizing that like I had made a commitment to myself that like the way I've structured my real estate business is so that I. I have a partner on every single deal. And that is number one, because my kids will always come first. If my kids or my health needs me, I need to be able to step out. And my clients are going through something much too large for my emergency to derail their transaction. So I, I give away a portion of every transaction, whether or not. I need that person or not because I want someone available. And I've done that so that I can have this self care. And then yet, and I talk all the time about Oh, after a trip or something, make sure you schedule like at least half a day on your first day back to work to just recover and rest. And I haven't done that. And I'm sitting here thinking I got to put that recurring day of rest. On my calendar every single month, at least, if not more than that. And like actually lean in and do it. The last time I did rest was right before I lost my au pair. So we're Au Pair-less again, a podcast world, and we won't have another one, but it was two weeks ago and it was like one of her last days. And she took the kids to school and I went back into my bedroom and I shut the blinds and anywhere a piece of light could come in. And thank you. Nap ministry. I just laid there with my eyes closed only for like 20 minutes, but I was like, Everything's going to wait. I know it might be a long time before I get to do this again, because I don't have child care like I did. So I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to take this 20 minutes for me and just relax for a little while and everything else will wait. And that's okay. And why am I not doing that more? And why aren't you guys doing that more? And I know it is a privilege, like you discussed earlier, that I can somewhat have control of my schedule and could schedule that full day like I probably would get hives if I scheduled a whole day off. But I should. I work on the weekends. I work all the time. I work from 6 a. m. until I go to bed at night. Why not take a full day? That's insane.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:it's insane. And it, I literally, Broke out into hives like
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I know, I know Colleen does that once a quarter,
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:I do I that's my stress reaction, which is awful but but it is like it's so crazy and I think part of it is to share like we're have really big goals and like we have these like Really ambitious things that we want to achieve. And I, and when you're this kind of like more high achieving, more ambitious woman, mom, business owner, X, Y, and Z. Like I literally just wrote down Cheryl, like that you always have a person on your deal because now I'm like, Oh my God, that's so smart. I should be doing that too. Because it's really hard for me to figure out where do I rest? Where do I relax? Where do I, and if I do that, like what doesn't get done? Or if I do that, is the whole world going to fall apart? Right. Like take a whole day without looking at my phone. That sounds awful. Somebody was like, I'm going to
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:but if you had someone on every deal that was cc'd on all communication and was up to date with everything that you know about the transaction, then you could say, you know what, Jackson's sick. I'm going to lean in. I'm just mom today. If anything comes in, I trust you to handle it. And then you, your clients know, because you've introduced this person on the front end. I feel like literally every structure of every business, there should be two people on everything because we all are still people at our core and we need to live. So if like life happens, like when the. The mom or the dad's in the hospital or the kids are sick or you don't feel well, you shouldn't have to show up. So people who aren't business owners have a sick day. But even that, like in my previous business, I was in commercial insurance. I had an underwriter. I had one underwriter that worked my deals. But when that one underwriter was out, my life was really affected as the agent and my client's life was then affected. And that was really inconvenient. And I kept saying, you Why aren't we teaming these people? Why aren't, why aren't they a team? Why isn't everybody part of it? At least two person team that knows all the communication or could very quickly come up to come up to the level of communication. It's all there. I mean, we have the technology to do this. Why are we handcuffing ourselves to something when we could very easily like I don't mind splitting my. Commission to know that if I need to take a break, I can take a break or if my kids need me or, you know, and what I do is very important to people. So I know that I can't, I can't affect their big deal. I can't botch their transaction on this million dollar home that they've dreamed of their whole lives because I need a day of self care. That's why it feels that's Colleen. That's why you have the hives
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Yeah.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:you're so invested in your clients needs. What about our own?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:You know what you did, Cheryl? You created community,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I love that.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:that's the other part of it that is so mind boggling is that we were, we were never meant to do this by ourselves. We were never, I mean, think about just, just go back. Don't even go back a hundred years. Just go back 50 years. It's only 50 years. I'll be 45 in November, so I'm almost 50, so it's like my lifetime. years ago, you lived on the same goddamn street as your relatives.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Right.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:you had, or the same house, or you had your neighborhood and there was a mom who was always available for all of the kids on the block, not just their own, right? And we started to separate and started to say, it's I versus they, it's all got to come on me. We're going to be individuals instead of this community. And when we did that and we started to be competitive, which drove the economy, yada, yada, yada, on and on. We isolated women told them, figure it out, figure it
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:Dude,
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:figure it out. And look at us now.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:school called me the other day and she's like, I want to update your your pickup list and your emergency contact list. I want to like, you have eight people on here. And I said, yes, Judy, because I work full time and sometimes I need help and I don't know who's going to be able to help me. So those are all the people I trust to pick up my children if I can't get there on time. So no, don't take any of the eight people off. In fact, let's add three more.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah. Yes.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:When I like ran into this most recent childcare issue, you're talking about me creating community. I do it everywhere. I do it everywhere. Just not even thinking about it, but I lost the childcare. I know that I cannot be at the school every day at two 45 to pick up my children. I just simply cannot do it with my career. And. That's okay with me because my kids get a lot of me and other times, like, I don't feel, I'm not going to feel bad about working in the afternoons. I just won't. But I was like, isn't there just like a mom that's already doing this, that wants to make a little bit of money to pick up my kids too. So I put it in the, we have a little town Facebook group and I just put it out there. I was like, this is what I think would be best for my family. Would this be good for anybody else's family? And. And my best friend called me and she's like, Cheryl, I solved your problem. My friend, so and so saw your post and this is what she's been looking for. She doesn't want to go back to work. She's an early childhood educator. That's what she did. She's picking up her kindergarten or anyways, what do you think? And I'm like, fuck yes. Thank you. This is like what, what I needed. And I'm very happy to pay her because I don't want. Just, like I can't pay her back with the time. If I could pay her back in the time, I'd love a trade. I can't, I cannot commit to that, but I can commit to like making her whole for her time. And that is what her family needs. She doesn't need my time. She's home. She needs the money because she's not out working and she gets to make that money and still be with her family and that's good for her. And it's great for me. And it's, it's a win for everybody. And like, I. Like we do, we need a village and we did an episode you have, I haven't heard that one, but it's where's the village. And I'm serious. Where is the village? And not feeling bad about asking for help. Like I have a woman that's been asking me for months. Can, can you just drop the kids off and go on a date? I love your kids. I want to hang out with your kids. She's a grandma. She misses this stage. And I just have felt like, I can't, I can't really do that. I can't really do that. Well, why not? She's been asking me. So finally, now with no childcare, I called her the other day and I said, look, you've been asking this for a long time and I now need more help than I have. I'm going to start calling you and asking you for help. And she's like, please do please like, okay, great. Thank you so much.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:We just need it. We need it so bad. None of us were meant to do it alone and we're living in this house with just each other trying to do it all. So.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yep. Exactly.
colleen_1_09-06-2024_121440:probably could talk to you for a billion years, but we want to be also respectful of your time. Tell our listeners like where they can find you, how, how they can connect with you. And.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:And what does it look like when somebody works with you?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. You can find me on LinkedIn. Megan Scott, Beacon Bridgewalk Partners. It's the Greater Philadelphia area. So you don't have to say Lower Gwinnett. Um, com is my website. You can find me there. Connect with me on whatever. Once you find me those two places, you'll find me every place else because it's all listed. What does it look like to work with us? It looks like you have a problem and we can help you to find a solution. If we don't have that solution, we wilail youse our community to find you a solution the problem doesn't necessarily have to be around money. It could be around something else, but what we know is money is the tool is going to help to facilitate that
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Mm hmm.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:right? So our total wellness platform is, Does not matter if you're talking about your health, your relationships, your lifestyle, your purpose, or your money come to us. And we will help to put a plan together in place that will help you to live. Well,
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:That's amazing. Okay. So we know where to find you. We know what you do. Any parting thoughts? Anything that we need to hear before you go? That changed your life?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:I will offer a tool, because so many of the people that are listeners I'm sure of yours are also. moms or parents. There's this fantastic site. It's called luminary parenting. She's an astrologer who helps people to be better, more aware, more present parents based upon who they are and what their astrological chart says in addition to their child. And so they don't always, you know, line up perfectly. So you might have a difficult situation with a child or whatever, but I would. really, really encourage people to go look up that site. That has been one of the guiding or tools or resources that I've used that's helped me tremendously. And you can be a part of her daily. She sends out a daily voice text that is just super helpful to help you understand what is happening collectively. It's not just happening to you. It's happening everywhere. How can you use that or leverage that to help people? easier on
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I need that. You're speaking to me. And then you had a very generous offer that you were willing to extend to our listeners. Will you tell us about it?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yes, absolutely. You can come to us with any issue, it doesn't matter, but nine times outta 10 we can, draw the, the line back to it's a financial issue or. I need help figuring out this financial piece, or I need to make this decision, but I don't understand the financial impact of that decision. So we are happy to have anybody that comes to us through you. We will offer free financial planning for, usually that's a it's kind of a baked in to our agreements, but sometimes you just need that. piece of clarity or that little bit of work to show you what your picture could look like. And so we would be happy to have that initial conversation and offer free financial planning to anybody who is, wants to take us
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:I'll be there. Sign me up.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:Yeah, yeah. Sometimes the planning is just the part that like helps you to. Not stressed so much, right? It's like, let's reduce the stress around the decisions and, and that we find to be the most helpful for people.
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Yeah. I have very specific areas that I'm like, I just, I don't know enough about this to make this decision, but I know there's an answer out there based on my values, because also let's be clear, like specifically what I'm thinking about is like this college planning for kids and the five 29 B and I just don't, okay. I know that it's loosened up. It's what it can be used for, but I don't want my kids to go to college. If that is not going to fill their soul, I want them to chase entrepreneurship. If that's it, or chase motherhood, if that's it, or whatever it is they might want to do, but I still want to contribute to their future, regardless of an education. And so I know that I don't think the 529s for me, maybe a custodial account of some sort is more realistically for me. And I know enough to be a little bit dangerous, but I just don't know enough to like pull the trigger and make the choice. And it does add stress to me because I'm putting money in these accounts that are doing nothing every month. And I'm like, I need to do something different. And I've been too paralyzed with options to make a choice. And I just need a little bit of guidance.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:the wrong
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Right?
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:You don't
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:No.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:decision because there's a, there's a really big impact to that. So
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:And that's specific to my value, my values. Like I know for another family, they're like, yeah, 529B is what I want to do because my kids need to go to college that I believe really passionately about that. And that's great for your family, but that's not great for my family.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:that's right. Individual goals is what we work with every
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:Yeah. Oh, well, Megan, thank you so, so much for being here. Megan Scott from Lower Gwinnett. I am crushing it today, everybody.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:it's great. It's great. No, thank you very much. This was a ton of
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:So fun.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:thanks for
cheryl_1_09-06-2024_091440:My pleasure. We'll talk to you soon.
megan-scott--she-her-_1_09-06-2024_121443:All right. Thanks.
