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00:00:01
I Almost Lost My Marriage Chasing Success (Here’s What Fixed It)
17 Plays4 days ago
In this episode, Ken Freire sits down with Melissa Maughn, a personal branding expert and video speaking coach, to unpack her unconventional path into entrepreneurship—starting as her musician husband’s behind-the-scenes marketing partner. Melissa shares the personal and spiritual “hard reset” that led her to fully shut down her business in 2024, then rebuild in 2025 with a clearer message, healthier identity, and renewed momentum. They close with practical branding guidance for multi‑passionate entrepreneurs and a rapid-fire “Fast Five” on what she’s building next.
Resources Mentioned
• The Brand Bridge (Melissa’s podcast) – https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/the-brand-bridge-building-your-compromise-free-personal-brand/id1845632464
• The Brand Bridge (YouTube channel) – https://www.youtube.com/@themelissamaughn
• Dan Sanchez (Ken’s business partner) – https://danchez.com/
• AI-Driven Marketer (podcast ecosystem referenced by Ken) – https://danchez.com/ai-marketing-podcast/
Timestamps
• 00:49 – Melissa’s origin story: learning photography/video + helping her musician husband market on social
• 03:25 – The 2024 shutdown: relationship strain, burnout, and why she “deleted everything”
• 04:56 – Spiritual turning point: family revival, homeschooling, and pausing business as a “reset”
• 10:34 – Identity + idols: being “seen,” insecurity, and separating self-worth from business outcomes
• 13:25 – Rebuilding in 2025: action > overthinking, ego aside, and leaning into community + collaboration
• 17:56 – Marketing contrarian take: “All strategies work” — alignment matters more than guru tactics
• 23:55 – Personal branding for multi‑passionate people: start specific, earn trust, then expand
• 30:05 – What she’s focused on now: systems, client experience, capacity, and a call‑booking funnel
• 33:25 – Fast Five: content experiments, biggest focus area, building an in-person community + creative center, and legacy (“love revolution”)
• 38:09 – Where to connect: book a call + follow “The Melissa Mon” across platforms; The Brand Bridge podcast
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Transcript
Introduction to Melissa Mon
00:00:01
Ken Freire
Welcome to another episode of the Solo Skilled Podcast, one of the podcasts of the AI-driven marketer. And today have Melissa Mon with me. She is a personal branding expert and video speaking coach. So I am going to have to be on my toes because she might have a thousand pointers for me after this.
00:00:22
Ken Freire
Oh, wow.
00:00:22
Melissa Maughn
Thank you so much for having me. Thanks, Ken.
00:00:25
Ken Freire
Yeah, well, Melissa,
Melissa's Journey into Business
00:00:26
Ken Freire
I'm super excited. We were just talking about all things family right before the podcast and just a little bit about your story. So I'm really excited to talk with you and really want just hear your origin story. Like what actually made you start your business? And then we'll kind of go into the details of you're working and growing it. But tell me little bit more, like what made you start it?
00:00:48
Melissa Maughn
So yeah, that's a, it's interesting because I never grew up wanting to have a business. It's nothing that I thought I would ever do. wasn't entrepreneurial as a kid, but when I started dating my now husband, he's a musician. And so I thought I'm going to be a good girlfriend and, you know, good fiance at some point, and I'm going to help him with his business. So I started learning photography, videography, photography,
00:01:16
Melissa Maughn
In school, I had done some things of learning how to make posters and marketing materials and things like that. So I utilized those skills too and started helping him with social media.
00:01:29
Melissa Maughn
And then my friend during the pandemic, she was starting her social media manager business. And she just said, you know what, like one of my one of my best friends, she's like, you should start a business to like do it with me. Let's do it together, you know, kind of thing, not have a business together, but start your own because you're really good, she said.
00:01:48
Melissa Maughn
So was like, okay. And that's pretty much how I started. It was just from helping my husband and learning all the things and taking courses and then kind of being encouraged to walk the path myself.
00:02:05
Melissa Maughn
And here we are. Here's where I am right now. Okay.
00:02:10
Ken Freire
Oh, man, you know, all I'm thinking is how many spouses and partners would kill to have someone like you who would be like, yeah, take over my personal branding and marketing.
00:02:21
Ken Freire
That's a godsend.
00:02:22
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:02:23
Ken Freire
Oh,
00:02:24
Melissa Maughn
Yeah, it's like he does get caught.
00:02:26
Melissa Maughn
He does, you know, some of his like these musician friends because I'm also, I'm also I can actually add another slash to my name there. I'm also tech, a sound guy and a roadie as well.
00:02:39
Melissa Maughn
So.
00:02:41
Ken Freire
That came with, that's part of the job of being married to a musician, I guess.
00:02:45
Melissa Maughn
That's just part of it. I know how to, I know how to roll up the leads without them curling up. So
00:02:52
Ken Freire
That is funny because I used to do, this is way long ago, youth conferences and we used to hold events like that.
00:02:59
Melissa Maughn
yeah.
00:03:00
Ken Freire
And it's like, man, those guys, roadies is like, we're particular on how you roll that stuff up.
00:03:03
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:03:06
Ken Freire
It's like, you know, cause if you just go like this, grab it and just start spinning it, they're like, bro, bro, what are you doing?
00:03:06
Melissa Maughn
Yes. Yeah.
00:03:11
Ken Freire
It's like an anathema to them.
00:03:12
Melissa Maughn
Yeah, they're like, they're like horrified.
00:03:15
Ken Freire
Like you might as well have killed their first board. Yeah.
00:03:18
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
2024: A Year of Personal Challenges
00:03:20
Ken Freire
Okay, so Melissa, as you now today, you were talking about a little bit about this, but you actually had a little obstacle with your business where in 2024, you just kind of shut it down.
00:03:26
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:03:33
Ken Freire
You're like, I'm done. I'm not taking any clients. I know a lot of business owners who they just get tired and fatigued.
00:03:36
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:03:40
Ken Freire
And they're I'm, I'm, I'm done. What made you decide to stop? What happened there?
00:03:48
Melissa Maughn
So, so yeah, like I said, I started my business. It was in the end of 2020.
00:03:55
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:03:55
Melissa Maughn
And so I was going, and then in 2023, that's where it kind of takes a turn. In 2023, basically my whole life was like crumbling before my eyes. Like me and my husband were,
00:04:12
Melissa Maughn
struggling in our relationship. I was looking at getting divorced. just wasn't being a very good, like wife and mother, would say at that time too, very frustrated and everything became about my business because that was the only thing that was essentially bring me happiness. But then at the same time,
00:04:32
Melissa Maughn
that was a bit of a struggle too. It was trying like make it work. But when your environments, the way it was, where it's just like, you're just sad and angry and upset all the time. And then you get in front of like the camera and you try to be happy.
00:04:48
Melissa Maughn
you know, there was just a disconnect
Family and Faith Transformation
00:04:50
Melissa Maughn
there. And so what ended up happening basically is that, and I really credit my husband for this because he just had an encounter with God in such a powerful way. My husband was, like I said, he's a musician.
00:05:05
Melissa Maughn
He was playing in the bars lot. He was, he ended up, you know, we were, we were saying we were believers, but you know, not really acting like it.
00:05:15
Melissa Maughn
so he plays in bars and he was like drinking. He ended up smoking a lot, like doing like a lot of marijuana every night and his life became about those things, you know?
00:05:28
Melissa Maughn
And, so one night, uh, he just got on his knees and he just really just gave the Lord everything. And he's, and he said, you know, I can't do this anymore.
00:05:39
Melissa Maughn
Like either you're going to do it Lord, or no, one's going to do it essentially. And so, yeah, when, when that, happened, like I just saw such a drastic change in him and just like overnight, like, you know, you want to talk about being a new creation. just was so powerful. And, and yeah, it just really influenced me. And we basically had a revival in this house.
00:06:07
Melissa Maughn
Our kids gave their lives to the Lord as well. This is the beginning of 2024 now. And we just thought, you know what, like, we just felt called to maybe be missionaries or something like that.
00:06:20
Melissa Maughn
And so I stopped doing my business, he stopped doing music. We started homeschooling the kids because we wanted to be able to travel and go and be flexible. And so basically for a whole year, we just just like did a lot of church stuff, I would say, sought the Lord and learned and grew.
00:06:41
Melissa Maughn
And for me, I was just like, you know, if God's not in it, then there's no point for me. I was like, you know, God's not in my business, if he's in my life, then what's this all for, you know?
00:06:54
Melissa Maughn
And so that's essentially why I didn't do my business for a year. But then towards the end of that year, 2024, I just felt like the Lord was saying, you know, your business is, you know, part of your ministry.
Return to Business as Ministry
00:07:08
Melissa Maughn
This is part of how you're going reach people. And so, yeah, I came back to my business at the, I would say in 2025. and very cautiously started like, you know, building it up again, reconnecting with people.
00:07:27
Melissa Maughn
But now I feel like I have a message now. Whereas before I felt like it was just like, oh, I have this business and trying, trying, trying, doing, doing, doing, striving, striving. And now it's like more from a place of rest, more from a place of abiding, more from a place of, I have a message and that's the part that's important. And the business is the vehicle of like the gift, the talent, the message, the what I feel like my purpose calling is for people and how I love people is through my business. So as you can see, it was like quite a whirlwind. But that's essentially and when I say stop my business, like really stopped, deleted everything.
00:08:11
Melissa Maughn
had booked like my highest client to date. I said I couldn't do like deleted my Instagram, like really finished never doing it again.
00:08:21
Melissa Maughn
And then God said, well, I didn't exactly tell you to do that.
00:08:25
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:08:26
Melissa Maughn
But I mean, hey, the gesture is appreciated, you know? But yeah, so now we're coming back now.
00:08:35
Ken Freire
Well, in some ways, don't want people to miss this because there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who they have this false belief that once they get their business to a certain point, then they can go focus on their family or then they can focus on their loved ones.
00:08:49
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:08:51
Ken Freire
Then they'll go do other things.
00:08:51
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:08:53
Ken Freire
But by the time they actually get there, they might have lost it already. And that's what you were just talking about where you're like, I almost lost my marriage.
00:08:57
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:09:00
Ken Freire
I almost lost, you know, there had been a custody battle something, know, with the kids or something like that. But your life could have been in a totally different trajectory right now.
00:09:09
Ken Freire
a year and a half ago, right?
00:09:11
Ken Freire
So I'm sitting here saying thinking, what a testament from God, that he came, had revival to your husband and your husband's like, hey, we got to change things.
00:09:22
Ken Freire
And, and I know you were just saying, God didn't tell you shut down the business, but such a beautiful heart that you had Melissa to say, I'm going to give up everything to make this right first.
00:09:34
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:09:35
Ken Freire
and come to a place where you're like, I'm resting, I'm abiding. Because if you didn't have that, I mean, you probably were like, okay, let's just keep the business going.
Balancing Business and Personal Life
00:09:42
Ken Freire
There have been this tension. Like the thought that came to my mind, and Melissa, maybe this is things you have processed, but you're like, in your heart, you might've been like, it's either God or money.
00:09:54
Ken Freire
I got to get rid this idol or this thing that I'm worshiping right now. I'm kill it because I got to go serve God and make sure I have my family right.
00:10:03
Ken Freire
Is that kind of what was happening in your heart?
00:10:04
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. I only noticed that after the fact. I think when I came back to my business, I realized that my business was an idol for me. And it was like a lot of things were idols for me that I didn't realize. And I've always been someone that's insecure. When I was a kid, I was very shy.
00:10:27
Melissa Maughn
But felt like not really seen, not really heard. a certain point, I was like, well, I don't really think I have any gifts or talents. And I'm surrounded by my dad, who everyone, he passed away few years now, but everyone knew my dad. And I was always like, his name's Harold. I was always Harold's daughter, you know, and then with my brother, lot, he's older than me.
00:10:52
Melissa Maughn
And so, you know, you're like, you start going to places or whatever. It's like, oh, you're Harold's sister. And then my husband's a musician and he's such a beautiful soul. And then it's like, oh, yeah, his name's Caleb, strong name, strong biblical name.
00:11:08
Melissa Maughn
But then was like, oh, you're Caleb's wife. And so, girlfriend or whatever it was. And so kind of always felt like I have, I'm not seen, you know?
00:11:20
Melissa Maughn
And so when I started doing my business, it was like, now people are gonna like, I'm gonna be seen, you know, in some ways, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be seen now. Like people are gonna see my talents that I know I have now.
00:11:33
Melissa Maughn
And so, yeah, I think it's, I think you're, you're right. I did recognize that after when I came back that it was an idol for me for sure. Yeah, definitely.
00:11:45
Ken Freire
yeah you know what's that
00:11:46
Melissa Maughn
And my identity was in my business, even worse.
00:11:49
Ken Freire
you were trying to prove to everybody that you are someone else besides of uh someone's daughter or someone's brother or someone's wife you're like i'm me and who god made me
00:11:59
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I didn't recognize it at the time because at the time I was just like, I'm just doing my business.
00:12:06
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:08
Melissa Maughn
But like, like I said, when I came back to doing my business or when I like just saw how beautiful God is and his heart and how he sees me and where my identity really lies, then I recognized like, oh yeah, I think I was maybe in some ways out to prove something to not only other people, but to myself that I'm worth something, you know, that I'm not just the leftovers on the side. So I don't know if it was geared towards other people as such as it was like,
00:12:40
Melissa Maughn
I need to prove to myself that maybe I'm worth it and God showed me that I was.
00:12:47
Ken Freire
Yeah, that's really good. So when you think about your business now, I'm curious, when you had a massive reset, right? Was this reset a reset of mindset?
00:12:55
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:12:58
Ken Freire
Like now you realize, oh, I'm not doing this from a place where I have to prove myself. I'm doing this from a place of rest, right? Is that what happened? Or did also the messaging and the offerings change as well for your business?
Aligning Business with Personal Values
00:13:12
Melissa Maughn
When I came back again, kind of felt like, okay, now what do like I knew what I was called to do and what I was going to do.
00:13:22
Melissa Maughn
But it was just from, so I kind of tried to, in some ways, bring back like the old stuff in some way, because I didn't know how to start back.
00:13:34
Melissa Maughn
And it was only through, and I think this is a great lesson too, it's like when I just took action and I moved and I stopped being in that place of like overthinking or like just questioning and second guessing like when saw what the message was because I was taking action and I felt like I was being guided where I was supposed to be.
00:13:53
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:13:58
Melissa Maughn
was understanding and seeing who I was becoming and who I was created to be. And so I think through the going, you know, there is a time, there's a season of waiting, there's a season of preparation.
00:14:11
Melissa Maughn
And then there's seasons of like, okay, like, you know, you got to go like winter, like everything's cold and everything's restful. But then when spring comes, things bloom. And so it was like spring for me. I was like, you know what? I need to grow. I need to go. I need to do things that I was too insecure to do before. Because the other thing too, was because my identity was in my business, it's like,
00:14:38
Melissa Maughn
If my business wasn't doing well, it was like, oh, maybe I'm not good. My business, then you're on this rollercoaster of if it's good, you're okay. If it's bad, you're not okay.
00:14:48
Melissa Maughn
If people are trying to give you advice, you're thinking, oh, I'm like, am I slow? Am I dumb? Like, you know, like I'm not good at business, like all these things.
00:14:54
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:14:56
Melissa Maughn
But like, of course you're not gonna be good. Like when you're just starting, it's normal. And so just to like not have an ego about it either and be like, Okay, someone's trying to help me. Like, they don't need to say this. They don't need to do this. And they're not doing it for bad reason. They're doing it for good reason. They want you to grow and shine and learn and get better. And so I had to put my ego aside too.
00:15:19
Melissa Maughn
and be like, I wanna be open to the people that are gonna be, that God's putting in my life to teach me, to help me, to build a community fellowship, like all of these things that I think are very important when you have a business is to have support, community fellowship in different ways.
00:15:40
Melissa Maughn
So, yeah.
00:15:42
Ken Freire
for for you as you have done this reset i talk about this a lot on the podcast or when i'm interviewing a lot of people i ask them like hey what's the one different opposing view that you have unique way that you're growing your business because there's a lot of manipulative tactics out there right so I want to be able to like say like no no I'm doing it differently and it seems like you're getting more momentum now that's what were talking about before the podcast you're like okay I'm getting momentum so you're doing different things I'm curious what were the old things and then what are the new things that you're like I'm doing this and this is working
00:16:00
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:16:08
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:16:18
Melissa Maughn
I think before it was a lot of like, overthinking and second guessing and not wanting to take a step of faith.
00:16:25
Ken Freire
Mm-hmm.
00:16:28
Melissa Maughn
So that stops you from doing a lot of things because then it's like, I think too, when you're more new in business, it's like, you feel like you have to prove yourself. You feel like you have to have all the, jargony technical things down and you have to kind of show and prove like I'm good. I'm really good. So you're kind of, you know, I think that's like my old way.
00:16:48
Melissa Maughn
It's like, I was trying to prove who I, my expertise, I guess. And so like the new way is, first of all, think you asked like an opposing view. I think my opposing view in terms of like marketing and things like that is that,
00:17:07
Melissa Maughn
all strategies work. We see these ads and people are like, oh, use my thing.
00:17:09
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:17:13
Melissa Maughn
And they show results of their students. Use my thing and they show results. And it's like, yeah, of course, if someone is going to work with you and do exactly what you say,
00:17:23
Melissa Maughn
And they get results. It's normal, you know, but you have to find the strategy and the things that align with you. And like you're saying, there's like some shady things going on too in some spaces, but it's like you have to kind of like find the strategies, find the tactics, find the things that work for you and work with people who are more aligned to how you see things and your approach.
00:17:46
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:17:50
Melissa Maughn
And then it's going to work because if you see like guru who's like posts seven times a day on every platform and then you sign up with them, And then you're like, well, I don't really want to post sometimes. But then you don't get the results because it's, you know, and then it's like, oh, this didn't work. And, you know, I've done that, too, where I've worked with coaches or whoever. And I'm like, oh, it didn't really work. But it's like, well, Mel, you didn't actually do what they said.
00:18:16
Melissa Maughn
You know, like, and so like, you know, so things like that. So I think that. Yeah, I think that that's like probably my opposing view and the new things that I'm doing now is building more community and connection and networking and collaborating and being open.
00:18:40
Melissa Maughn
That's very important, like to be open, to receive, believe and receive. And well, you'll just... amazing things have been happening and have happened. So,
00:18:56
Ken Freire
I find it fascinating how so many people buy a coaching offer, right? And they buy it because they love the promise, but they actually don't know if they like the person or they align with their values or if they like the process.
00:19:03
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:19:07
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:19:10
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:19:13
Ken Freire
I had another guest previously, Kevin Weiss.
00:19:16
Ken Freire
He talked about like whenever looking for a coach, you want three things. He said, you want to check out the person, you want to check out their process you want out their product. Like, does it work for you?
00:19:26
Ken Freire
And I was like, oh man, that's really good. And look, already used it. Shout
00:19:30
Melissa Maughn
Yeah,
00:19:32
Ken Freire
out to Kevin.
00:19:33
Melissa Maughn
I mean, like Kevin, yeah.
00:19:34
Ken Freire
But that's exactly what you were talking about.
00:19:36
Melissa Maughn
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like, it's so important because it's like, especially when you don't know exactly what you need or want. Like it happens so much, just like we have shiny object syndrome, right?
00:19:50
Melissa Maughn
So we see something and we're like, oh, it works. Like, let me jump on that. But like, like Kevin was saying too, it's like, like, who is this person? Like, do you appreciate their approach?
00:20:01
Melissa Maughn
you appreciate what they value, what they believe, how they do things? Like, you know, I think it's important to know those things as well.
00:20:10
Ken Freire
you
00:20:10
Melissa Maughn
because then it makes your decision. mean, we should have informed decisions, right? Like sometimes it's just like, buy my thing, it works, like look at all these results, da, da, da, da. And it's like, oh, okay, you know, like I'll try it. But it's like, is there approach, will it work for you? Is it something you, is it a process that you wanna go through?
00:20:31
Melissa Maughn
And I think, you know, just understanding how we learn, if you can understand how you learn as well, Like maybe doing the core, like buying a course and going through it yourself works for you, but maybe you're someone who needs like more of a coaching, like a, like a one-on-one personal coaching experience.
00:20:50
Melissa Maughn
maybe you're somebody that likes to read and it's like just really, know, so you have to kind of also understand how you learn because that way you're going to retain what you learn because it doesn't, and it doesn't matter if you learn a whole bunch of stuff, like we're so knowledge, there's knowledge everywhere, but it's like, are you implementing what you're learning?
00:20:55
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:21:11
Melissa Maughn
We're reading the books, we're doing, we're watching the things, but it's like, are you implementing what you're learning? That's, That's crucial because it's okay to learn and have all the knowledge, but if you're not using it, then it's just like, you know, it's a, it's like a doorstop.
00:21:30
Melissa Maughn
It looks nice.
00:21:30
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:21:31
Melissa Maughn
It's there, but you know,
00:21:34
Ken Freire
Absolutely. And you're 100%. It's fascinating how I love to learn. I have hundreds and hundreds of books.
00:21:39
Melissa Maughn
me too.
00:21:41
Ken Freire
And probably two years ago, felt like God challenged me on that. He's like, you're being a hearer, not a doer of the word. And I was just like, ooh, you know, and I felt like I'm a doer of the word of God, but like, I'm learning all this stuff, like, take action.
00:21:55
Ken Freire
I'm like, okay, especially for new entrepreneurs, like just take action. It's going to be messy. I had a mentor that said 50% today is better than 100% tomorrow, right?
00:22:07
Ken Freire
Like just move because that's when you actually know if it's going to work or not.
00:22:09
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:22:12
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:22:12
Ken Freire
everything's in theory.
00:22:14
Ken Freire
It sounds great.
00:22:15
Melissa Maughn
Exactly.
00:22:15
Ken Freire
Or like Mike Tyson, who always said, like, everybody has a plan when get in the ring until they get punched in the face. Right? It's like, that's business too, right?
00:22:22
Melissa Maughn
That's so good.
00:22:23
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:22:25
Melissa Maughn
That's good. That's so true, though. That is so true. But that is business.
00:22:29
Ken Freire
When you think about it though, like how many, dude, I cannot tell you many times I've written business plans where it's just like, this is to be awesome. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, COVID happened, JK, right?
00:22:40
Ken Freire
Like, this happened. Like, oh, this happened.
00:22:43
Ken Freire
There's so many curve balls.
00:22:44
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:22:45
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. That's so funny. Yeah.
00:22:46
Ken Freire
For you, Melissa, I want to pivot here a little bit before we wrap up.
00:22:50
Melissa Maughn
Mm-hmm.
00:22:52
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:22:52
Ken Freire
You're personal branding expert. I think a lot of people struggle with personal branding.
00:22:55
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:22:58
Ken Freire
And this is your niche. So I'm trying to like show people what you're made out of right here. But I know a lot of people struggle with like,
Focus and Personal Branding Challenges
00:23:07
Ken Freire
The problem is not, and maybe you might correct me, but from my observation when it comes to personal branding, the problem is that they don't know what to pick about who they are. It's that they have too many options to pick for who they are. They're like, I like this, I like this, I like this, I like this. They're like, I love 10 things and I want to put all of it into one package.
00:23:29
Ken Freire
And they don't know what to do, especially when it comes to like being on social media and stuff. So speak to maybe your key insights on how do you do personal branding when it comes to you love too many things?
00:23:41
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. It's so funny actually you're saying that because I have a podcast as well. And just today dropped a, I have an episode and it's about specificity.
00:23:52
Melissa Maughn
and how like when you become more specific, you can actually grow your brand bigger. do have an episode on multi-passionate entrepreneurs too, like when you feel called to do all the things, which there is a process for that too.
00:23:58
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:24:09
Melissa Maughn
But I think that especially when you're new, like I was saying before about shiny objects syndrome, it's like you want to do everything because everything's like, at your fingertips or like everything looks cool. But if you can just start with one thing, if you can really pick the thing that you have on your heart to do, that you really feel connected to, because like, it's true that we can like a lot of things, but there's something in you that it's like, you just, you have a passion for it, you know?
00:24:44
Melissa Maughn
if you can start there, and become basically become known for that and get comfortable and get like understanding that one thing, especially when it's coming from personal brand kind of point of view and a messaging point of view and what your story is and experience and all of these things.
00:25:04
Melissa Maughn
Then when you go to expand, because people already know and trust you, they're going to see that, okay, Kevin's doing this other thing. Yeah, he's cool. He's super good at this. So I know he's going to smash that. I'm going to support him. And it just becomes easier when people, like were saying before, when people know you and they trust you,
00:25:26
Melissa Maughn
that when you come with something, they're like, okay, like I know they're a person of integrity. I know that they believe this, this was their story. And I see it a lot of times where I work with someone who had the slashes, you know, but she had built her business for one thing. And just everyone knew her heart for community, for helping, you know, certain group of people that when she added things, people were like, still,
00:25:54
Melissa Maughn
getting behind her because of the personal brand and because of the message that she was able to put out there that we worked together on. People were just rallying behind her. So when you have too many things, see which one really is that you're, first all, that you're passionate about, that you love, that you know can help people. Don't forget it's about helping people, not just, you know, the end of the day, the gifts and the talents that we have are for other people. It's to help them solve problem, meet a desire, whatever it is.
00:26:29
Melissa Maughn
And so like, if you can, just zero in on what that thing is before you start adding whole bunch of other things. then that's like, for me, that's like key, like start small and then expand if anything, and not do it the other, everyone tries maybe to do it the other way around because, yeah.
00:26:47
Ken Freire
Yeah. And I have fallen so much in that mentality of let me try to be catch all to everybody for my branding for years, you know.
00:26:57
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:27:00
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:27:00
Ken Freire
Then I was like, OK, I had a friend of mine, my business partner, actually, Dan Sanchez. He was like, just try something for six months. And then after that six months, he was like, could you do this for another two years?
00:27:08
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:27:11
Ken Freire
Like my six months was just my checkpoint. He's like, could you talk about this topic for two years?
00:27:14
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:27:16
Ken Freire
I'm like, two years?
00:27:17
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:27:17
Ken Freire
Oh my gosh. I have so many other things I'm passionate about. He's like, I know we could add that stuff later, but can you do it for two years?
00:27:24
Ken Freire
And I remember thinking, had a podcast called the Entrepreneur Podcast. This was back in like 2020. I was like, I don't know if I would want to talk about this for two or three years. I like it, but it's not the thing.
00:27:36
Ken Freire
and that's where we were like, oh, I really love this and this. And like, it's okay to experiment and reset in those moments, uh, which is huge about personal branding.
00:27:40
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
00:27:46
Ken Freire
I think you're the expert. You tell me. Yeah.
00:27:49
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. Well, no, that's it. And like I was saying before, like also when you start, when you take those steps and you move, Like for me, things started to get clearer because I was moving and I was like saying, oh yeah, actually that doesn't quite work or, oh, this really works, you know?
00:27:59
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:28:06
Melissa Maughn
So yeah, it's about like making that decision. And then, know, like your partner said, like just stick with it and see like,
00:28:17
Melissa Maughn
is it, is it like, is this viable? Is this helpful? Do I love it? Like, is this helping people? Do I feel called to this? Like all of these things. So yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:28:27
Ken Freire
Yeah.
Building Systems for Balance
00:28:29
Ken Freire
Melissa, for you, as everyone's growing their business, there are challenges. Everybody has their challenges growing. What's the challenge that you're having right now as you're trying to grow your business?
00:28:48
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:28:49
Melissa Maughn
And knowing how scattered I was before, would say now is like, I'm really trying to focus more on building systems and just seeing what's going to work for me, for my clients.
00:29:07
Melissa Maughn
I worked in corporate for over 20 years and I was always, wherever I worked, I was always in charge of training people.
00:29:16
Melissa Maughn
And so I would make, just out of my own time, I would often make guides and cheat sheets for the people that was training because it's like, well, this is what you actually need.
00:29:27
Melissa Maughn
Like the book is this thing, but you only need these three things, you know, like I worked at a bank.
00:29:31
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:32
Melissa Maughn
So you imagine I was like, you don't need all that. But having said that, was always in customer service as well. And so this is always something that I just have on my heart is like experience, customer and client experience.
00:29:50
Melissa Maughn
And so, yeah, so what I'm working on now is like systems just to make sure that, you know, my client experience is good and that you know, I'm working smarter not harder.
00:30:02
Melissa Maughn
have family. We homeschool as well. I'm like the primary homeschooling teacher home. So it's like also understanding like what's my energy, what have the capacity to do, like not making my life complicated when it doesn't need to be, knowing what my schedule is, time blocking certain things.
00:30:25
Melissa Maughn
not taking calls on certain days or certain times. So just really making sure that my systems are working and that like so far what I've been doing has been working for me.
00:30:36
Melissa Maughn
So just to like do more like system automation, you know, setting those up properly.
00:30:43
Ken Freire
Yeah. Is there specific systems that you're thinking of that you're like, oh, I need to automate this or need have an SOP for this that is the bottleneck for you right now?
00:30:56
Melissa Maughn
right now I want to work more towards like a call booking funnel so that, people can have the information that, I mean, I have a website that, you know, does some of the lifting, but to really have a funnel that people can get some information get.
00:31:15
Melissa Maughn
Cause I want, I also want to help as many people at the same time as possible. So if this call booking system can give them something, some information, some, you know, like a little mini workshop that helps them before they book a call so they can get the other, you know, more in-depth work, then that's kind of where my focus is right now that I want to work on and develop.
00:31:21
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:31:46
Ken Freire
I love it. All right.
00:31:47
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:31:48
Ken Freire
Melissa, as we wrap up, there are five questions that I've been asking all my guests because I'm trying to do a 2026 expert led business trend report and what's working for them, what's not.
00:32:00
Ken Freire
So these are the other five questions. These are rapid fire.
00:32:03
Melissa Maughn
Okay.
00:32:03
Ken Freire
We're calling the fast five.
00:32:04
Melissa Maughn
Okay.
00:32:05
Ken Freire
I am going to not answer.
00:32:05
Melissa Maughn
Okay.
00:32:06
Ken Freire
I'm not going to I'm going to try so hard. Just keep my mouth shut.
00:32:10
Melissa Maughn
Perfect.
00:32:11
Ken Freire
Oh, but I'm just going to give to you and then we'll go from there. So question number one, what's something in your business you're experimenting with right now?
00:32:20
Melissa Maughn
Oh, something I'm experimenting with. Ooh, probably the co-booking funnel.
00:32:27
Ken Freire
Okay.
00:32:30
Ken Freire
All right. Question number two, what part of your business feels the most influx these days?
00:32:37
Melissa Maughn
Like
00:32:38
Ken Freire
Like the one part that keeps you up at night that you're like, I need work on this area.
00:32:42
Melissa Maughn
Call booking funnel.
00:32:45
Ken Freire
We got the call booking funnel.
00:32:48
Ken Freire
Let's ask question number three.
00:32:49
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. Okay. You know what? Let me say for the first one, I'm more experimenting with my content actually these days.
00:32:56
Ken Freire
Okay.
00:32:57
Melissa Maughn
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:58
Ken Freire
I like it. So question number one, content.
00:32:59
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:33:00
Ken Freire
Question number two, content.
00:33:01
Melissa Maughn
Content. Call booking funnel.
00:33:06
Ken Freire
Question number three, then is, what's a goal you're building toward this year that you're really excited about?
Future Aspirations: Creative Center and Legacy
00:33:13
Melissa Maughn
Oh, I definitely want to build a community, bigger community. And also my husband have a desire to have like a creative center. So I would love to like a place where people can come do content, video, podcasting, but also a place where kids can come and learn skills from experts. Like that would be amazing. We have that on our radar.
00:33:41
Ken Freire
I love it. Okay, so I got to ask the follow question on that one. The community, is it a virtual community in person community? Which type of community?
00:33:49
Melissa Maughn
it would be an in person community. Yeah.
00:33:52
Ken Freire
Yes.
00:33:52
Melissa Maughn
I mean, I definitely want have a virtual one, but this particular, endeavor would be, would be in person.
00:33:59
Ken Freire
That's so huge. That'd be awesome. Alright, last question. What's what type of legacy? Do you want to leave for your kids?
00:34:11
Melissa Maughn
Hmm. Ooh. Wow. I, This is what I really have on my heart to do. is what I feel like I'm actually here for is to start a love revolution. And what I mean by that is I want to, I want my desire is really for people to know, especially women to know that who you ultimately is more important than what you do.
00:34:43
Melissa Maughn
And that we can like that we can come together and even with our differences, even with, you know, whatever it is that we can come together and just build something beautiful and impact the world in a beautiful, loving way. So if my kids can remember me as someone who just loved people, who made an impact and really tried to bring people together so that people can see themselves, who God created them to be. That
00:35:21
Melissa Maughn
would be such a beautiful gift for me to know that That's how, like, that's how, and just like trickled, it trickled all across the world, you know, that people became part of this love revolution.
00:35:38
Ken Freire
You know, Melissa, I was thinking about our conversation before we hit record. And you're talking about the love revolution, personal branding, how much personal branding is revealing who you really are.
00:35:51
Melissa Maughn
Yes. Yeah.
00:35:51
Ken Freire
And that's what you're doing for these women, Christian entrepreneurs women entrepreneurs that you work with is like, I'm going to show you who God says you really are so that they could truly flourish.
00:35:56
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:35:59
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:36:01
Ken Freire
And I just love that.
00:36:02
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:36:02
Ken Freire
I was just connecting the dots from the beginning to what you were saying right now and how excited you are about this love revolution, which is really cool to hear.
00:36:05
Melissa Maughn
Thank
00:36:08
Melissa Maughn
you. Thank you.
00:36:11
Ken Freire
Yeah. Melissa, for those who are listening to this and they're like, I really vibe with Melissa. What's the best way for them to reach you and connect with you?
00:36:22
Melissa Maughn
So, I don't know if you're going to have links and all that in the description.
00:36:25
Ken Freire
I'll have links to the show notes.
00:36:26
Melissa Maughn
Okay. Perfect.
00:36:27
Ken Freire
Yeah. Also send me the links to those two episodes that you were talking about so I could put them on the show notes of your podcast.
00:36:28
Melissa Maughn
Yeah.
00:36:32
Melissa Maughn
Okay. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, I will do. so the best way is if you want book a call, there's going to be link in the description to book a call with me. You can always follow me on my socials. I keep things very simple in my life. Like I said about my systems, everything, everywhere you're going to find me, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. It's all the Melissa Mon or all my socials. So if you want to follow me, that would be great. My podcast is called The Brand
00:37:04
Melissa Maughn
Bridge and that is on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, all your favorite streaming networks. And yeah, I would love to, to like connect with anyone who feels called to reach out and love to have a chat. would love to see all the beautiful goodies that are inside of all the people are going reach out to me. So yeah, that's how can connect.
00:37:31
Ken Freire
Awesome. Melissa, thank you so much for your time and I appreciate it. And for those who are listening, man, reach out to Melissa. And if you're just like wondering, how do I grow my personal brand?
00:37:41
Ken Freire
Like she might be the perfect person to connect with. Thank you, Melissa, again. Have a good day.
00:37:47
Melissa Maughn
Thanks.