
The ModernZen Collective Podcast
Are you ready to elevate your mind, body, and spirit? Join Lizzy Sutton and Nikki Sucevic on The ModernZen Collective Podcast, where conscious women come together to explore the art of living with purpose, balance, and spiritual grounding. Whether you're a single professional navigating the pressures of urban life or a stay-at-home seeker yearning for deeper connections, this podcast is your sanctuary for holistic practices and personal growth.
Tune in as Lizzy and Nikki delve into ancient wellness secrets, expand your consciousness, and help you discover your true life purpose. We tackle the challenges of work-life stress, the quest for inner peace, and the journey of rediscovering who you truly are, to be able to live in alignment. Here, we embrace the unconventional, celebrate community, and empower you to step beyond societal norms to find balance, joy, and holistic living.
The ModernZen Collective Podcast is here to guide, educate, and connect women ready to transform their lives. Discover a world where balance, joy, and holistic living are within reach. Connect, grow, and thrive with The ModernZen Collective—your space for holistic wellness in the modern world.
The ModernZen Collective Podcast
Embracing the Pivot: When Change Is Your Greatest Business Asset
Pivoting isn't admitting defeat—it's a sign of business intelligence. Lizzy and Nikki share a candid behind-the-scenes look at their entrepreneurial journey, revealing how they've learned to recognize and release strategies that aren't serving them.
Drawing from their experiences in corporate environments, solo entrepreneurship, and now partnership, they discuss the freedom that comes with making swift decisions rather than waiting for scheduled evaluations. They share personal examples of holding onto platforms and processes that drained their energy, only to find renewed creativity and alignment after finally letting go.
Your business provides valuable feedback when you're willing to listen. The hosts explore how procrastination serves as a powerful signal—either pointing to tasks better delegated or fears that need confronting. Through vulnerable conversations about their evolving business model, they demonstrate how honest communication creates stronger foundations for growth.
The episode culminates in practical advice for listeners: take inventory of what's draining your energy and identify one change that would simplify your process or lift weight from your shoulders. The hosts also announce their exciting transition from a website platform to a custom ModernZen Collective app, exemplifying how pivots often lead to more aligned opportunities.
What business strategy might you be clinging to out of obligation rather than purpose? Join the conversation by sharing your own potential pivots in the comments. Your greatest business breakthrough might be just one decision away.
Thanks for listening to The ModernZen Collective Podcast.
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💫 Looking for deeper guidance on your path? Explore our vetted, curated Collective of holistic practitioners—perfect if you're ready to deepen your practice or fast-track your transformation with expert support.
🌿 Follow us on Instagram @modernzenco & personally at @lizzysutton.co & @nikki.sucevic
Hi, I'm Lizzie and I'm Nikki. Have you ever felt that your life was missing purpose, joy or deep connection? Welcome to the Modern Zen Collective podcast, where we embrace holistic living for a joyful, purpose-driven life.
Speaker 1:In this podcast, we'll explore holistic practices, consciousness expansion and spiritual alignment. We will dive into personal development practices that connect mind, body, spirit and share secrets that ancient cultures have known for centuries. Together, we aim to guide, educate and connect individuals eager to transform their lives.
Speaker 2:Join us weekly on the Modern Zen Collective podcast and elevate your mind, body and spirit. And now on to today's episode. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Modern Zen Collective Podcast. Your hosts here, lizzie and Nikki, to talk about some things that are happening with us in real time these days, so welcome.
Speaker 1:Welcome everyone. So happy to have you here and to talk about this really just. You know raw conversation about how life happens and you can plan and things just come up and it's totally fine. So we're going to talk about that today from the point of the perspective of Lizzie and I creating and building our business together. So we are excited to have you here with us.
Speaker 2:Yes. So both Nikki and I, we come from a corporate background, which you guys have heard us talk about in our first episode and kind of how we got here. And then we are both also solo entrepreneurs and now we are partners in the Modern Zen Collective, our joint venture and the reason why we're here together on this podcast. And so she and I have both gone through starting a business from zero all the way up by ourselves. We've done it with somebody else and we've also done it for somebody else. So I know, at least for my mother-in-law. When I was working in corporate, I actually worked for my mother-in-law's company, which is a whole nother thing when you add family into business. But yeah, I was lucky enough to be behind the scenes and see how she ran a big business and different things like that. So we kind of have that perspective as well, things like that. So we kind of have that perspective as well.
Speaker 2:But both Nikki and I have experienced things both personally and through watching other people do these things in business that seem to be really great ideas. We try them. They're not working, not for us. We continue to do them, we continue to do them, we continue to push, we continue to try to get the buy-in, we can continue to try to make it work with our system, whatever it may be, and we hold on, and hold on, and hold on. And then we finally let it go pivot to something else and we're just like why did we wait so long to make this change that we knew was something that probably needed to happen a few weeks or a month after implementation off quickly for making decisions and knowing when something wasn't a fit.
Speaker 1:And it's us getting over that and understanding when we can. We have the freedom, which is the beauty of having your own business. You have the freedom to pivot quickly and make decisions if something's working or not working, and the beauty of it with anything, with manifestation or spirituality or anything from that perspective, when you make a decision and you move energy, then you receive the feedback from that. So either you realize it was the right decision or it wasn't, and you can pivot again. So we are realizing that as we're adjusting. When we first started to collaborate together last year, when we first joined forces almost a year it was just about a year ago and we started to build everything. We had grand plans of everything, of how it was going to go, what it was going to do, our structure, how we're going to have everything programmed, how many things we were going to have, etc. So we had this entire grand plan of what it would look like and we thought it was fantastic, which, honestly, I do still think it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:I think what we planned was fantastic, but it's also, you know, the realization of where our strengths are, where we see the audience and what they need and our clients and what they need, and also what's working and not working.
Speaker 1:And and I think the primary thing is what's, you know, sparking us with not to be too Marie Kondo, with joy, and what's draining us Like, why would we want to do something and push, push, push for something that's draining us, when it could be something really small or big in our business, when we can pivot and decide to, you know, share something that ignites us, and that's where the power of your purpose comes into play and that's where you draw in clients, that's where things grow, when you actually are sharing something that you're passionate about and it doesn't feel like it's a drain because anyone can pick up on that.
Speaker 1:So the last few months have been more of a realization and step back, where Lizzie and I have come to each other and said I don't think this is working anymore, we shouldn't do this anymore. And it could be something as big as how we were planning. You know, a major facet of the business or a major avenue of the business or our platform that we were using, that we were spending a lot of money on and deciding not to move forward with it. So we really decided to move forward with who we are as business owners, together, to make decisions quickly and pivot, so that we can then receive the feedback for what's working, not working, and then also ignite that joy inside of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know. The thing is that we're really sharing today is to allow yourself to pivot more quickly. I think often we get stuck on these quarterly or six-month or annual check-ins where we check in with the business in different aspects and different avenues and in that moment is when we decide, okay, we're going to look deeper into this and maybe we start doing all these things to look at something. But then sorry, jackson is being crazy. Hey, thank you.
Speaker 2:Part of our real life, yes, yes, one of the reasons why we are pivoting. So what I was saying is I think it's to recognize things quicker. It's not? You don't have to wait till the end of the quarter to reevaluate something. It's like OK, you decided to move forward with this specific platform. Say it's a CRM, say it's something to help you with social media, maybe it's something to help you with your email marketing. Or even for us, it was our platform that hosted all of our content, all of our classes, all of our workshops, all of our meditations, everything that's part of our membership our free library, you know the meat, the thing that hosts our entire you know company for everyone to be able to interact with everything. It just wasn't doing what we needed it to do for how we are trying to share with y'all and how we're trying to help and how we're trying to provide resources. And so Nikki and I were like we've spent you know X amount of months five months, six months trying to make this work we had. We're spent hundreds of dollars every month. It's we're willing to spend the money. It's not that we're not willing to spend the work. We're spent hundreds of dollars every month. We're willing to spend the money. It's not that we're not willing to spend the money. We want the money to be on something that is actually working for us and allowing us to grow easily.
Speaker 2:I think the thing is starting from zero, from nothing, really making sure that our foundation and our processes and procedures are very easy and clean. If we do want to be able to scale or have someone come on and help us where we aren't the ones doing it. We want to make it as user-friendly as possible and not clunky, and so I think what we're trying to share with you is just in real time. We're going through this as business owners, as partners with the Modern Zen Collective, and seeing what pieces of the company are working, what pieces aren't working, where are we meeting resistance?
Speaker 2:Like, is there a task that Nikki is doing or is there a task that I'm doing that we're having, like, major procrastination issues with? Maybe we shouldn't be the one doing it and also looking at where our strengths and where are things that really we're just not very good at major procrastination issues with. Maybe we shouldn't be the one doing it and also looking at where our strengths and where are things that really we're just not very good at or we're not very focused on, and for Nikki and I, honestly, it's social media. So shout out out there anyone we're looking for a social media digital intern here that wants to work for free but also build your portfolio and help us build a business from the ground up. So holler at us if you know someone. We do need somebody. We need help. Please, please, please.
Speaker 1:We've all done it. Some of my best connections were from free internships where I enjoyed myself and had fun and had freedom and creativity. But, yeah, that's something that we realize is not our strength. It's never been something that I've been super interested in and whenever I try to do it and try to be consistent with it even my personal I don't do anything with it. So we all know Our strengths. Well, lizzie and I know our strengths and know what we are good at and what we can really push into and whatnot.
Speaker 1:And you know when these things come up that you want to pivot yes, in business, but it can also be in life, like it can be as simple as you've been going to the same hair girl for five years and you don't feel like you're getting what you want anymore and you've been communicating it, what you want anymore, and you've been communicating it. So it might be time to switch or move around or whatever. It can be anything, anything in life, to make those decisions and know that you don't need to stay in a prisoner state of where you are just because it's what you've been starting and committing to and you don't want to explain to others that you're switching and adjusting. That's something that comes inside of me. I have some of that shadow inside of me where, if I start something and I move forward with it, I have that shadow I'm working on of explaining that. Oh, I'm readjusting this again and again and that didn't work. So we're doing this and doing that and I feel like I've really worked on healing that to be okay, explaining when I'm pivoting and not going through the A to Z like everyone else does. And that's something I think Lizzie and I have in common, where we go against the grain and against the status quo that's out there for what's socially accepted, for what to do and not do in jobs. And you know, like exactly what Lizzie said, with not having to wait for the quarter, making decisions quickly, moving fast with that and moving the energy and also that.
Speaker 1:Can you know what she said about procrastination? That can also be in life. Are you procrastinating on something and it could be something that is, you know, meant to be part of your purpose, and you're procrastinating on reaching out to that business partner or reaching out to someone to pitch your business, or you know it could be, you know, writing your book or whatever it is. So the procrastination is usually a sign that, one, it's either not for you and someone else can do it better, or, two, that's your threshold to push through, to get through the fear, to launch into what you'd really love to do inside of you, and that you're holding yourself back. So it's finding that balance with it and with us, with our business Lizzie being a life purpose coach, myself being like a spiritual life coach, both of us having our yoga teacher training or meditation training everything that we've, you know, done in our self journey with looking inwards, I think we both have a pretty good understanding of where our thresholds are, of where we want, where we are keeping ourselves from pushing ourselves past our threshold to get into more of our purpose, and where we know like, no, absolutely not, I'm not good at this, that's something that only you know.
Speaker 1:Whenever you really start to look at yourself, have the introspection and understand, is this something that you are procrastinating because you feel nervous about it, or is it something you're procrastinating because you just know you're not particularly great at it? So, having that adjustment and then also knowing that life happens, we can make plans and have the plan for what we want to do with our business or with anything, and then there are things that happen and it's beautiful. The life piece is beautiful. That's the part to celebrate, that's the part that what beautiful things and distractions in life that allows us to fully feel and not, you know, be wrapped up in the to-do list of everything we need to do. And having that ability to be fluid in how we evolve so that's something we've also been doing is just honoring each other's cycles, ups and downs, in life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know we can always have the best of intentions, and that's with anything. We can always have this grand plan. And yet it's about remaining flexible with life and being communicative about it, because it's one thing if you don't tell anyone what's going on and you're choosing what to do and what not to do, and where to spend your time and what not, people don't understand why you're making these decisions, and it might look one way from the outside, when it's actually something completely different, and I have found that you often get a lot more grace, you get a lot more understanding, you get a lot more leeway to do things in the way that you feel like you need to do them. In that moment, when you are upfront with people, when you're honest with people, when you're vulnerable, honestly being vulnerable is such a beautiful and powerful thing that can actually cut through a bunch of bullshit and get you where you want to go and what you need and what you want you know pretty easily, because people will understand, because we're all humans and we all experience different things and they will affect people in similar or not similar ways, but we all know what the feeling feels like, and so I think even like becoming a mom now. I oftentimes am drawn now to working more with women or for women, because I know they will understand the things that are hardships for me or things that are popping up for me because I'm a mom now. That weren't things that affected me before and I didn't know those things before, when I wasn't a mom. Of course you don't, you're not in it, you don't understand really in the same way, and so now it's really interesting. But looking for people that can relate is also a good way, you know, to kind of guide yourself.
Speaker 2:Had to do that with each other now as partners, going from being a solo entrepreneur making all the decisions yourself to making a partnership, having a partnership and making decisions together. It's like, look, nikki, this is what's going on in my life right now. I'm unable to give you more than this much for the next few weeks, and then I'm able to give you this much. Then let's talk again. I think it's knowing that things will change and always being open with each other to allowing things to change, but also, if something isn't okay, we have set up that dialogue to where be? Like Nikki, I really need you to do this right now because of this, or like, can you please step up in this way? Or hey, do this right now because of this. Or like, can you please step up in this way? Or hey, where am I not stepping up for you? And I apologize that I'm not been showing up in the way that I need to, and I know I haven't, you know.
Speaker 2:I think the other thing is really taking accountability when you're not showing up or not able to do the things, because people also like to hear that as well.
Speaker 2:It's nice to know that people are thinking about you when they're making decisions to do or not do something as well. I don't know how do you feel about that, nikki, because, honestly, it's been more on my side recently where I've had to be like, hey, I'm sorry, I can't show up this week as much, because Jackson's sick or my babysitter's gone, or now Jackson's not in daycare anymore, like, what am I going to do today? You know what am I going to do. I don't have any help, you know. So it's um, how does it feel when I'm like, hey, I'm sorry about all this, like I, I feel like I always acknowledge it with you and when, like I was able to give so much energy on the front end before we launched you know publicly and then in the first month, but I literally gave birth three days after we launched, and so my energy and my ability has looked very different after we launched a business than it did before when we were ramping up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, those, those conversations that we have are some of my favorites. Just having that honesty and that openness and you think it's all you, but it's definitely me I've had some times where I've been dealing with something or feeling off and telling you like a days that we want to record a podcast, that I just don't feel like myself, and we've both been very open into that. You know, opening to, holding space, not to sound cheesy, but understanding each other and what our needs are. So when you bring things like up, like that and having that awareness and understanding, just that open communication is huge. And it goes back to what you said about. You know, when you have this humility, when you aren't a perfect human we're not supposed to be perfect and when you aren't a perfect human and you have things that happen in life, it really creates this depth to you and to anyone and just allows you to open up and connect more. So I feel, you know, with both of us doing that, it's brought like, created our foundation to be even stronger, to be able to be super direct and be able to open, take feedback, change, adjust, as we need everything in that regard and it's been nice, especially with having the flexibility of owning your own business and doing it. You know, having this communication with you because being in corporate, when I was in corporate and startups, corporate, startups, corporate back and forth until 2021.
Speaker 1:And when I left 2021 and I came to you know, leave, just take a time off and I thought to myself I'm going to take a few months off just to reset and then I'll get back into people and culture, hr, recruiting, et cetera. I realized how hard my nervous system was working and how I would push. So I bring that up because I could never really say in corporate, I'm having a really bad day, I can't have this meeting today, or I dropped the ball on all of this and I can't produce it for you this week Nothing. It was very much the expectation of go, go, go, get it done, hurry up, and myself being more of a perfectionist to always want to do 110% really exhausted my nervous system. So, being in a place, that's why I love entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are the ups and downs. You work super, super hard for your baby, your business, everything but you really get to have these adjustments where you can be human and if you find a company that can do that that you're working at amazing know my experience and Lizzie's experience. It's very beautiful to have a company that understands your ebbs and flows and honors it and gets it and is like, yep, absolutely, we got it. No problem, I'll pick up the slack when you do this, or you pick up the slack when I do this. So when you bring those up, lizzie and I don't know if you feel the same about me, but when we bring those up, I feel like it creates a stronger foundation for us to be able to even be more creative and do more things and look at things differently.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think the other thing also being, you know, owning our own business and working together is that we can move at whatever pace we need to move at. So there are certain times when we are blowing and going and when I tell you we're blowing and going, nikki and I can get on a 75-minute call and we can knock out a week's worth of work. I swear to God, when we're just like in the zone, it's insane. So it's pretty incredible how quickly things can happen and move through when they're aligned and when it's working and when we're just in the zone, it's insane. So it's pretty incredible how quickly things can happen and move through when they're aligned and when it's working and when we're just in the zone.
Speaker 2:And then you know, on the other side of the coin is what we've been talking about. You know me giving birth, or you know experiencing different difficulties within our relationships. Our families are just not feeling good. You know I got sick last week, really sick. You know, then, able to slow down and really what's great is when you're working as a part of a company, as part of a team, not on your own. That's the beautiful part is that when you're not able to do it, things don't stop, things continue to move. So to me it doesn't see as like a bad thing for one person to be slowing down and one person to be picking up. It's kind of like it always teeter-totters. It's like one of those teeter-totters at the park that kids are on. Everything is always going to be moving. One side might be working harder than the other, or there might be a time when everybody's working in perfect unison and everything is just like motoring. So I think it's not seeing, you know, needing to scale back or push forward as a negative or a positive, but seeing it as part of the collective energy moving forward. And so if you have less to give in a certain moment, it's better for you to speak up, take some time to get to a good place, step back in, rather than push, push, push until you're completely burnout and it takes you quitting or doing something drastic, like leaving for an entire month and cutting off all communication just to be able to get yourself to be okay again. So I think it's like pivoting, like taking the time to reevaluate, and pivoting is not admitting failure, it's really showing intelligence. It's like the faster you're able to course correct, the faster you're able to grow, the faster you're able to step into new iterations.
Speaker 2:And the really exciting thing about Modern Zen Collective that Nikki and I have discovered is that our content, our resources, our way of sharing with you actually fits better in an app, and so we're going to completely switch from having a website subscription membership based on like an online platform to having our membership in our library, in all of our stuff, in our very own Modern Zen Collective app. So it's really exciting. It actually has opened the door to more creativity, more excitement, things that are really getting our juices blowing and wanting us to show up each and every day for ourselves. When this business is a passion project, it's not something we have to do, it's something we want to do, and so, you know, I just want to impress upon you that pivoting is nothing negative. It's actually a huge positive, and being able to do it on a quicker basis will really allow you to level up and level up and level up.
Speaker 2:And so, like, really, we want to challenge you to take inventory of your business right now, of your life right now, of your processes, how you do things, and look at, like, what's draining you draining you, like what is not working? Where are you procrastinating? Where are you butting your head against the wall? Like just take a look for a moment, and if you had to make like one really big change, what would it be? Can we just make one change? It doesn't have to be huge, but what's a change that could feel huge Like it could be a small change, but it lifts a big weight off your shoulders. It clarifies things. It simplifies things. It allows you to move with more ease. Like what's that one thing? Can we? Can we try that? Can we try that? And let us know what it is? Put it in the comments. And this a message. You know we might not see it for like a week, but we'll see it.
Speaker 1:We will see it eventually. Yes, just you know understanding it's okay to pivot, not feeling you have to stay where you are just because of whatever was told to you or the parameters that you have around yourself or your decision making, et cetera. Even if it is your typical decision making process is to look at something for three months and then make a decision, what if you switched up that energy and did it differently, to see what happens and see how that changes things and how that kind of, as I say, shakes the tree? When you do something different than your standard everyday, you know day-to-day routine where we are. You know 90%, if not more, on autopilot. Every day you really invite new energies to come in and those energies are going to help to push you forward, open up more creativity, give you more inspiration and align you with.
Speaker 1:You know other people that have very similar energies to you. When you have that energy of drain and overwhelm, that's the energy you're emitting out, so that's what's coming back to you from a frequency standpoint. When you have these, you know whether they are boundaries or making decisions quickly or just honoring what's important to you. You draw those types of people, companies, towards you and I can attest to that from you know, our practitioners that we have in the collective, and how you know wonderful all of them are, all of them also being very entrepreneurial and adjustable, like fluidity as we move and we adjust.
Speaker 1:And you know I can't speak for Lizzie, but I also feel that in my other business, my recruiting agency and who I've been working with, and that you know values align and that same energy aligns and once you have that foundation, you pivot, you move forward, you're doing what's honoring you like self-care.
Speaker 1:It's all really back to self-care and you know having that wholeness within you so that you feel like you're doing what's honoring you like self-care. It's all really back to self-care and you know having that wholeness within you so that you feel like you're like 100% coming back to that authentic place. That's when things really start to open up creativity, etc. So that's the message we have for you is you know, pivot whenever you are, whenever you want Pivot, quickly adjust, move, make decisions and see just how beautiful it can be when you make decisions and you can create what you want to create, without lots of um but lots of red tape, lots of being bound by anything. You can really, you know, live your life like who like there's that quote, um, that's there like who are you really living for, so you can live your life and make your decisions for what makes you happy?
Speaker 2:better place than when we came in and be happy along the way and share lots of love. So let's try and create more of that in our each and every day interactions. And that includes our business life, because we spend so much time working, so let's make it a joyous time. So thank you so much for joining us today. We're happy to share with you, happy to be our vulnerable selves with y'all, because I don't know how many other people will peel back the curtain on their business when they're going through it. Normally it's like five years later when it's like look how successful we are, and do you remember when we were going through it? Now we're going through it right now.
Speaker 1:Right, that's definitely us in a nutshell. So, yes, thank you for coming on this journey with us, and, you know, listening to our story, as we're building and we love building, love creating and, like Lizzie said, this is our passion project. Something we're really passionate about doing is sharing this ancient wisdom, sharing holistic tips, sharing spirituality, creating community so we're so happy to have you here. Holistic tips, sharing spirituality, creating community so we're so happy to have you here we are.
Speaker 2:And keep your eyes open for our drop of our Modern Zen Collective app. We will splash it everywhere. We'll have a digital intern by then. You know who you are and just keep your eyes open because it's going to be amazing. So thanks, guys, have a great rest of your day and we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you, Bye, everyone. Don't miss out on our journey to living an authentic, purposeful and joyful life. Join our membership and subscribe now to the Modern Zen Collective podcast on all major platforms and take the first steps towards elevating your mind, body and spirit. For all resources mentioned in this episode and to connect with us and our conscious community, check out the episode show notes for all links and our current offerings. See y'all next time.