Why Successful Women Embrace Failure to Grow with Brittni Schroeder

Fail fast and then pivot and learn from it. Be okay with failure because every single time you fail, you just learn another way not to do it. But also, you realize what you're capable of. Like, we have rebuilt our lives.

Like, no one can take that away from me. So if I fell flat again, and if I, for some reason, claim bankruptcy next year something, I know that I'll be able to rebuild because I have. And so that's one thing that I wanted to add with your failures. Like, we always have the next chapter.

Wherever you are, it doesn't matter where you are. Life can change, pivot, but you can continually upscale, grow, change, rebuild, all of those things when you get comfortable with failure. You're listening to The Unblocked Woman, the podcast for high-achieving women who feel stuck but know they're meant for more. I'm Amy Sanders, coach, author, speaker, and creator of The Unblocked Method.

This show is your permission slip and power portal. Each episode helps you see what's holding you back, shift it at the root, and rise into that self-led magnetic woman that your next level requires. You're not stuck, you're blocked, and that's fixable. Let's get you unblocked.

Welcome back to The Unblocked Woman podcast, guys. I am so excited to bring a guest speaker to our podcast. You guys know that I have hardly brought guest speakers since the new rebrand, and she's one of the first. So, by the way, Brittany.

Wow. Thank you. I'm so honored. You're one of the first.

For years, I brought so many guest speakers, then I decided just to speak more on the podcast, and so I'm really selective with who I bring on. Wow. I feel special. I make the cut.

Yes. I feel so honored. So, Brittany Schroeder is here, and she is a really fast friend of mine. We met and instantly became friends because, you know what?

Us female entrepreneurs, we took two. A different clock, we kind of are cut from a different clock, and both of her and I just felt aligned. Besides the fact that we have all these common friends, that was also interesting. And so, as we started talking business, we're like, oh my gosh, we need to do more together, and we also need to introduce each other to our audiences.

So, this is Brittany. Brittany, will you first welcome to the podcast? Thank you. And second, will you tell our listeners a little bit about you and your journey?

Sure. So, I feel like I've been an entrepreneur forever, and I've always had an entrepreneurial heart. I've always just loved business. My journey kind of started, I did photography, and I think that's a lot of entrepreneurs where it feels like a lot of people start that way.

But I was a photographer, and this was in Texas, and I owned a photography magazine as well. And that was the beginning, and I scaled my photography business to six figures. And that was the beginning of my journey. I've also worked in the nonprofit sector.

For, I mean, 17 years, and I did a lot of work with nonprofits, and then in 2017, I started my own nonprofit called The Compassion Club. And that has kind of been me, but I pivoted. I started as a photographer, and I was in El Paso, Texas, and my husband at the time, we were now divorced, he got a job in Houston, and I, it was just like a time that I was like, I was ready for a change, and I got certified as a life coach. And I still just kind of trying to figure out, the life coaching was more for my nonprofit, but I just started to help people with their business.

And whenever I would speak at conferences with photography, I always spoke on businesses. So it's always been kind of my thing. It's come more naturally to me. And so I just, you know, it only felt right that I would help people with their businesses.

So now I help businesses with business and marketing, mainly like the systems, the automations, building sales funnels, driving traffic, more the strategy and the technical part of it. So that is me. I moved to Utah a couple of years ago, and I have a 21 year old son and a 17 year old daughter. So that's me in a nutshell.

Yeah. Isn't it interesting? We always start down one path, and then it turns into something else. Like for me, I was into fitness forever.

I was a fitness instructor, a trainer, teaching fitness routines, but then also coaching other fitness instructors how to become better at their skill. That coaching aspect, trying to help women become better has always just been an A. And so it's like, we still do that. So just like your entrepreneurship, you always kind of find it somehow, and then it develops, grows, changes.

Yeah. People like me need people like you because I hate the systems. Yeah. It's kind of my jam.

Yeah. It's my jam. So we have to have them if we're in the entrepreneur world. But okay.

So on this podcast, we always talk about what the unblocked woman looks like, what she is, who she is. And we always talk about just like the different blocks that you might have. So I'm going to, I guess, just ask you, like, as you've gone through your life, you know, I know that you've had like ups and downs and things. Like, what is a season in your life that really shaped you in a way that maybe people don't fully see or maybe that you didn't see and you look back now and you're like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah. That's so shaped me. No, I love that. You know, when I was a high school senior photographer, I've always loved teenagers.

And I think I remember a time where I was like, I got to build these girls up and make them feel. I'm empowered and beautiful and became friends with them. And I remember thinking like, this is what I was supposed to be doing. Like, this is, this is like my calling in life.

Then time passed and I started doing nonprofit work and I was going to Haiti and I was working with kids and education. I was like, no, this is what I'm supposed to be doing, you know? And I'd had these different, these different times in my life. But probably if we're talking like mindset and mind block and just the whole like getting unblocked, I know the exact time.

And I've shared this. I've shared it before that I was at the peak of my career. I was at the peak of my career where I was, I had the photography magazine. I would not like, I can toot my own horn here, but like, I was like a local celebrity.

I was a pretty big deal. Like this was in El Paso, Texas. My photography business had grown. I was in the Wall Street Journal.

I was on Good Morning America. Like I really was like at the peak. And I remember where my son at the time was kind of just, he was kind of struggling. He had to find all new friends.

He kind of had a falling out with his friends and it was a really hard time for him. And he, he pulled through it. And I remember driving him to school one day. He was a freshman.

And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, like I only have four more years left with him. My career is just thriving and I'm, I'm, I'm traveling. I'm doing all these things. I'm, but I was working all the time.

But I remember thinking like, I only have four more years left with him. I, I stopped myself and I was just like, I have this sass to change. And we sold them. I bought a magazine.

I raised my prices. And I remember spending so much time with, with my son and his friends. I remember my house being trashed because I didn't care because they were at my house and skateboards and all those things. And in 2017, my son passed away.

You know, I could see the big picture and I could see that it was, the most important thing was being a mom and, and taking my step back around that same time as when I started my nonprofit. And then I got certified as a life coach. And I've always been a really like motivated, driven person. Like I'm very driven, but it's not the same thing.

And people think it is like motivation and mindset is the same thing, but it's really not. It's two different things. There's something about going through something so hard. And, and then a lot of women, I mean, grief is so heavy and grief can mean a divorce, betrayal, like losing a parent, losing a child, whatever it is.

But it was just like so heavy. And it just has a way of. Making you rethink everything, you know, a different perspective, but the beauty in it for me anyway, was I didn't care what people thought of me. I just didn't care anymore.

And in a way it was like so empowering where I like, you don't have the strength to care what people think. I started like writing and documenting my journey with grief. And that's something I would have never done before. Cause what would people think?

And do they look like I'm trying to be a writer or whatever? But it, it just like opened my eyes. It made me see that nothing is impossible and I can do whatever I want and I don't care what, what people think. And so, you know, it was hard and heavy and it still is.

I mean, we're coming up on nine years. It still is. But that was like a very huge turning point in, in my life where I gained tools was very, very powerful time in my life where I, I could see things differently. First of all, thank you for sharing such a vulnerable thing.

Those stories are what help other women. Have the strength to talk about, go through, rise up, step into their power, which you totally have. And the other thing is that you completely tapped into like your inner knowing. Yeah.

You know, of course, success on the outside. It's like flashy. It looks amazing. You're really busy, all the things, but, but that little nudge that was inside you, I like to call it your soul.

Yeah. Do you know what's better? Yeah. She's there and she's like, Hey, like you listened.

And unfortunately your son passed, but because you listened, you go. You've got some memories that you wouldn't have otherwise had. Yeah. Which also then took you down another path.

Yeah. Which is incredible. Sometimes, you know, hindsight, if hindsight was 2020, we could see, you know, like, okay. Like I said, there's times where I was in a place in my life.

I'm like, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And then something would happen. And then you're like, no, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I think that's, you know, it depends on how you look at it.

It could be your, your faith. It could be trusted. It could be trusting yourself, but like just trusting that you are right where you need to be and things happen exactly how they're supposed to, to happen. So.

Yeah. So let's talk about that. When, when that's you, when you feel like you're in that moment, a lot of women don't know how to get there. Right.

And we talk a lot about identity and stuff here, which is essentially what you're talking about. Right. Yeah. So how do you get to that moment for yourself?

What does that look like for you? Right. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because like, I've also been very fascinated with like confidence.

Like, why are some people so confident? Like I, I'm a very confident person and, and not, and not that I don't have insecurities because everybody does, you know, I've been trying to lose five pounds my entire life. You know what I mean? So it's like, we all have these like insecurities, right?

But I have always been confident. And I look at my childhood and I came from like a broken home. I mean, my parents did. I didn't have a good marriage.

My parents were divorced. My dad wasn't super present, but all my siblings are very confident. And, and so I, I've always been like fascinated, like, where does it come from? And I, you know, like I, I've had that confidence, but I think it, a lot of it is rooted in being okay to fail.

And I, I think I failed at a very young age. Like I, I was a late bloomer and, and I think that I, I failed a lot. And I think that that is, you know, it's, it's having that confidence to just do it regardless if you know what, what the outcome is going to be, but it's like these experiences and just pushing through it and consistency. And I, and I don't think everybody has that.

I don't think everybody has the, the, the resilience, yeah, the grit and the resilience, you know? So I think some of it is very innate to me and some of it is, is taught. I think I have, it's interesting because I talked about that my son passed away. And, um, I remember all these people sending me books and they were like on grief and they're like, I don't want to, and I read a couple of them.

I'm like, this is so depressing. Like it would be stories of people who had lost children. And I'm like, and, and they were saying how sad it was. And I'm like, okay, I know how sad it is.

Like, you know, I know it, like, I don't need to relive it like again and again, but it was like the personal development. That's where I kind of found myself finding peace again is looking to be better. And that's how I kind of got into life coaching. Somebody sent me a podcast.

And I started listening. I've all, I am a self-help junkie. I love to listen to self-help books. I want to be better.

I think that so often we're looking to put an aim on something or we're looking to be victims, but I think it's like moving forward. And that's what I love about life coaching is it really taught me, like we can't change the past, but we can predict the future by, by our actions and moving forward. And so I think it's, it's okay to reflect on the past because that's how we learn, but we don't want to get stuck. And it's about progression and moving forward.

And so I think for me, it is always being open to learn and always being open to improve yourself and, and, and finding every time I read a self-help book, they're still, they kind of start to sound the same, but every time I, I learned something new or I, and I learned something new about myself. So I think it's just the willingness to want to be better and to grow and to push yourself to, to be different and to change. So, yeah, I totally agree. Self-help junkie over here.

Um, it's interesting though, because like, even when your son passed, it like forced you to fill things, do things, experience things that no one wants to experience. Yeah. Right. And I'm with you.

I came from an unhealthy, you, you came from a broken home. I came from a very unhealthy home. And so many people, when it comes to confidence, like you're so confident, how are you so confident? And sometimes I think when you're.

Forced with those challenges from a very young age, you just, you do become resilient. You kind of have to. Yeah. You just have to step up to the plate, but confidence is also something that, so I would say my point here is I would say you and I might have more of that innate in us because of our childhood.

Yeah. However, if you're tuning in and you're like, I still struggle with confidence. It is something that you can also learn by doing the things, which is what you were also talking about. Yeah.

Doing the things. You're learning, you're growing. And me too, when it comes to all the self-help books, some of my friends are like, well, how do you read those? I'm like, yeah, they do sound the same.

And also I am always uplifted every time I put one down, like after I put one down, I'm always uplifted. So let me ask you during this whole process of like the things that you've experienced pivoting in your business, some of the hardships that you've had, like, what is a belief that you might have had? That you have had to unlearn to become who you are today? Well, that's a good one.

Um, I think probably like the failure, like the failure is not, you're not failing your learning. I think failure is probably the biggest one. Like it is okay to fail. And it's, it's, there's a book that I read and it's like, go for the no, like the more you get rejected, the more you fail, the better you'll become.

And so I think that. That's, you know, it's hard for us to think like, okay, I didn't do this good enough. And, and, and, and I still catch myself thinking like, okay, I failed at this, but I'm, I have to take a step back and say like, no, what am I learning from this and how can I do it better? So I think that that is probably the biggest one for me for sure.

I love that as well. I also want to ask you though. So you do business systems. Tell me, um, I love all of this, but I also want the audience to know what that looks like for them.

Yeah. So talk more about. The behind the scenes, the things that you are now doing from your experiences. Well, I think, I mean, you can't have one without the other, obviously you can't have mindset, but you also have to have systems and automation.

Um, one of the things that I do is I make it so your business is running on like autopilot, you know, like somebody signs up to, um, work with you and then they get an automated post-purchase funnel where it's like, Hey, this is what it's going to look like. And we're going to communicate. These are my programs and anything like yours. I help with, you know, different funnels, like getting lead, lead generation funnels and, you know, sales funnels, different things like that, but also just like automating systems.

We were talking about this before we hit record that I have a podcast and all I do, I send one little link and it's a scheduling link to somebody beyond the podcast that automatically sends them an email that gives them a form. They built the form. It automatically puts it into like a database. Once it's ready to go, I change the status.

It sends an email to. My editor, all of those things. And so I think one of the things is I just help build these systems. I look at your, your website and create strategy.

Is it, is your copy good? Your funnel's working? Are you speaking to your audience? And we kind of just go in and clean up your business.

And I think it gives you the confidence to know like, okay, now I can put myself out there. Now I can drive traffic because you believe in that people will be taken care of. I see a lot of times people are out there and they're hustling and they're driving traffic. But there's nowhere for people to go or they get to the website and it just, what now?

Who, what do you do? Who do you help? And so those are the things that I do is just create those systems of automations, those strategies that help your business run on autopilot. So then your job is to get out there and build a brand.

So that's kind of what I do. So I have a membership. I work one-on-one with people and I, a lot of times I go in and I, I do it for you. I implement some of these for you, but I also have like a membership that's at a lower price point that.

So people who are self-paced can go in and, and tutorials and templates and all the things so people can, can do it on their own as well. What brought you to that niche? Photography to that? Yeah.

So I loved photography. I mean, the reason that I stopped is because I was moving and I didn't want to do another location-based business, but I was really good at like the, this is, I had to work more in the creative, the business part. I was really good at, it was the creative I had to work more at. And I remember when I was pivoting and I'm like, hey, I'm going to do business coaching and I was teaching marketing.

And, and, and life coaching. And I learned really quick. And this is probably like where your app would come in handy, but like that, this was, that was not my strength. My strength was not, I love to teach my strength.

This is, but I understood my personality. I understood who I was that like, I could give somebody the tools to be successful and to grow business, but I couldn't make them do it. Like you can't be somebody else's brand. Like I can teach you, hey, get on and go live on Instagram.

But like, I can't make them do it. I can't make them do it. I can't make you do that. I can't make you, you know, do things.

And I learned my personality was really struggling with that because I wanted to get people results. I wanted to get people, I wanted them to hire me and then I would give them a product like I did with photography. Okay, you hire me. I take pictures.

Here's these beautiful images. They are happy. Bye-bye. But when I was doing the marketing part of it, I, you know, they didn't get the results because I couldn't, I had no control and I am a control freak and I, there's no shame in my control game.

Like, no. No shame. But so I learned that like, you know what? I want to help them build something so that I, they can hire me.

I work with them. And then I'm like, here you go. Here's your website. Here's your funnel.

Like, and it's complete. And so that's kind of where I landed is just like. From a product. This is something that's tangible that I have helped you do.

And I will do it. Yeah. And I will do it for you because I want it done. You know what I mean?

So that's kind of where I landed. So. Yeah. Which I love.

And we need you. We need you in our lives. Yeah. We decide.

That you're also an Enneagram 8. Yes. It just made me laugh because you're like, I like to control things. Yes, you do Enneagram.

Yes. Yes, I do. And there's no shame. So.

Yeah. I'm also the same. Want to control. Right.

Which actually can be very hard in this type of business. Yeah. Then. Because for me, my, my brilliance is showing you your blocks.

Like I am really good and really fast helping you do that. However. It can feel very intangible at times. Yeah.

You know, if you don't do the work, which is what you were talking about. If you don't do the work. I've had to let go of like that. That's on you.

Yeah. I will give you the tools, but. Yeah. And I have learned that.

Yeah. And I have learned that I've had to learn to let go of some things. Cause it's, you only have control over certain things, you know. But you're still giving them something, which is really exciting.

Like, you know, I'm giving them something totally different, which is still essentially tangible. So that makes sense. Photography to this makes sense, you know? Yeah, for sure.

I'm teaching fitness classes to what I'm doing. Sometimes it doesn't make the most sense, but I'm like, actually it does because it's still empowering women to become better on skin. Yeah. So.

See, and I, I didn't tell you this, I have the same thing. So my bachelor's degree is in exercise science and health, and I was a personal trainer and I had the same issue where I. I was like, I was teaching people how to eat and exercise and they weren't doing it and I couldn't do it because I was just like, okay, I'm teaching you these things, but you gotta, you gotta do the work. You gotta do the work.

So see, so I recognize, I recognize my strengths and I have to just like, focus on those. You have to focus on your strengths and you lean towards those. Yeah. That is, that is part of the identity work, which is so great.

Okay. Couple more questions for you. Okay. Couple more questions.

Yes. The next one is. What does being unblocked, like the unblocked woman, like, what does that mean to you in your life? Yeah, I think it just means like seeing the big picture.

We have these different stages of awareness, you know, where sometimes we're doing things and we don't even realize it. And then we learn, okay, I'm doing this. Like somebody points it out or we do, you know, somebody in it, we do a test or in a grammar or whatever. And then we realize like, after we've done something, we realized, oh, I was doing that.

I was, I was stopping myself. Or I had this thought. And that's the next step of awareness. Then the third step of awareness is you're doing it.

You stop yourself in the middle, but you kind of just, you kind of just keep doing it. Right. And then the fourth step, like the stage of awareness is just not doing it. Recognize the thought, change it and change the action.

And so I think unblocked is, it's a process. It's a journey. And I think it's all of those, all those stages of awareness is realizing what's blocking you, taking action, changing your thoughts. I think it's all of those things.

Awesome. Okay. In closing, a couple of things. First question is, what would you leave the audience?

Like one nugget of wisdom that you have taken as you've been on your journey that you'd like to share? I think just embracing, I'm probably a broken record, but just embracing failure and being okay to fail. Like the sooner, you know, we're constantly trying to get good at things and it sounds like a contradiction. But like getting good at failing and, and being like, it's okay that I failed and I'm, I'm going to figure it out.

I'm going to pivot. Don't give up, but change, change and, and learn constantly like learning. So just be aware that like you are exactly where you need to be doing exactly what you need to so that you can learn these lessons. And failure is just a part of that process.

Fail fast. Fail fast and then pivot and learn from it. Yeah. Now I have one more thing to say about that.

Okay. I'm going to say it. Say it, say it. Before, before we close.

So every single time me and my husband like meet with our financial advisor, he always laughs at us because our high risk tolerance is extremely high. Or I just said high risk tolerance. Guys, am I talking to me? Nah, nah, nah.

But that's just how it is. I feel like my brain's like not as quick as my mouth today. So when we test like our risk tolerance, I don't know if you've done this before, but when you go in to meet with a financial advisor, like where you should invest. So you get a score with your risk tolerance.

So we both scored in the nineties. Usually people score like 50 to 60% is pretty average. Like each person. And we're both 90.

And the whole point is because we have failed so many times and we've both also come from nothing. When I was this broke single mom that had to make deals with my landlord just to even keep rent and keep myself and my kids in a house. Like you get scrapped. learn how to just figure things out right and he comes from bankruptcy he had a clean bankruptcy and so because we've been so low it's made us like thick skin to where we're like oh like you can always get it back so fell like you're saying or fell and it's okay to fell be okay with failure because every single time you fell you just learned another way not to do it but also you realize what you're capable of like we have rebuilt our lives and you can't like no one can take that away from me so if I fell flat again and if I for some reason claim bankruptcy next year something I know that I'll be able to rebuild because I have and so that's one thing that I wanted to add with your failures like we always have the next chapter yeah wherever you are it doesn't matter where you are like life can change pivot but you can continually upscale grow change rebuild and so that's one thing that I wanted to add with your failures like we always have the next chapter build all of those things when you get comfortable with failure yeah for sure yeah for sure I love that okay your very last thing is tell everyone how to get a hold of you guys she is incredible like I have known her now just short time and just seeing how she's helping the community seeing how she shows up for people seeing the way that she's serving people I just like this chick is awesome and every person oh you're sweet you're so sweet so um my website is britneyschroeder.

com and then I'm on instagram at britneyschroeder. com I'm on all the platforms britneyschroeder. com so it's pretty straightforward my my non-profit is showcompassion. org you can check that out if you are interested but yeah that's me I'm interested I'm gonna check it out I did not know that by the way that doesn't on this podcast awesome I have hidden I have these little hidden things all over hidden things but like I said she's incredible make sure that you're following her and reaching out to her and she can help you in ways that I cannot so with that we'll see you guys next week with another episode of the show compassion.

Thanks for listening to the unblocked woman listen you don't rise by waiting you rise by leading so if this episode sparked a shift send it to a woman who needs to hear next and if you're ready to go deeper join the unblocked woman collective or begin the unblocked method at amysanders.