Gill Moakes (00:02.278)
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host Jill Mokes and thank you so much for joining me again this week. Good to have you here. I hope you've been having a good week. I've been having a bloody brilliant week or so. I've been eating really healthily. I have been moving my body. I feel like I've got a new lease on life.
everyone. Good lord, feeling really good. I think it's something to do with the weather, don't you? I think it's like as the weather changes and we want to get outside more. Yeah, feeling really, really good. Lots of things coming together, I think, at the moment for me personally and professionally. Lots of exciting projects and plans on the go, which I am
very excited to start sharing with you very very soon. I'm talking things like retreats, I'm talking things like travel, I'm talking things like writing. A few little tidbits there, little teasers. However here,
together this week on the Heads Together podcast. I want to clear something up. So you know that I talk a lot about playing big. I talk a lot about being unapologetic. And I think that sometimes these things get misinterpreted. So I really want this podcast episode to lend a bit of clarity to what I mean when I talk about those things.
and what I, sorry Lena, and what my intention is by sharing about those topics with you. Okay, don't need to fluff on about it too much now. Let's dive into the episode and get going.
Gill Moakes (02:23.462)
Okay, so playing big.
being unapologetic. Sometimes I think people think those two things are the same. They think I'm saying the same thing.
But you know what? It's not actually a question of size. It's not all about the size, ladies. And what I mean by that is it's not a question of how big can I go? How big can I grow? How big can my dreams be? How big can I make my business, my life?
It's actually about how fulfilled can I possibly get? That's what playing big means for me. And owning unapologetically what it means for you is what will make all the difference in your life and your business. Because in this noisy digital world, there is an
of bullying around what you should and shouldn't be going after. Sometimes even in the playing big arena, you know, when I talk about playing big, I mean play big in terms of what you really want. Claim what you really want for yourself. But what you really want for yourself isn't necessarily a huge business, a huge bank balance, albeit
Gill Moakes (04:10.982)
both of those things absolutely valid if those are what you really want. But playing big for me is not allowing yourself to be held back from what you truly want for any reason whatsoever. So for example, for some people, the most fulfilling version of their life might be, and I use this example when I was talking to a client the other day, it might be to move to somewhere very remote and raise alpacas.
Now for them, that is the absolute definition of playing big, because it's the dream that they don't think they can achieve for themselves. You know, it's, it could be that they're getting by on a tiny amount of money each month, but they're completely and incredibly fulfilled. Okay.
For me, it's making a stand for the end. It's making plenty of money without ever compromising the work I love. So for me, it's about having the freedom to say yes to the right projects and no to the wrong ones. It's about having the freedom to say yes to the right clients and no to the wrong ones. That's playing big for me.
playing big for me is pursuing my dreams of becoming a published author. It's more speaking on stage, something I love to do. It's continuing to work with the most incredible women to bring their full fat version of their business to life. That full fat version of your business, it doesn't mean huge, big, it doesn't have to mean that.
Certainly for me playing bigger isn't about building a company where I'm employing hundreds of people. I can't think of anything worse than that. I never want to do that. But for some people might say, well, Jill, aren't you playing small by not doing that? And I think that's really missing the point. I think owning what you really want, that is playing big. Claiming what you really want.
Gill Moakes (06:32.742)
whatever that is. So it's the thing that we've talked about a lot before, which is about defining success for yourself. It's one of the first things I work with clients on is, well, what's the vision? What are we trying to do here? How will we know that we're successful?
What will that mean? How will it feel?
Gill Moakes (06:59.142)
And claiming that unapologetically means not allowing other people's influence over what success should look like. It means not falling foul of that online bullying almost that happens around, you've got to go for it, aim for the, you know, go bigger, go bigger. That's, you know, we hear that message all the time.
But I don't believe that that is what being unapologetic is about. Being unapologetic is being utterly authentic, true to what matters to you. And unwavering, unswaying like a tree with really deep roots. Doesn't matter how hard the wind blows, you're not going anywhere.
You can't be convinced to go after someone else's dream. You're so aligned with what you want and what matters to you that really what other people want for themselves is fabulous for them, but it's irrelevant for you. It's why often, you know, the comparison -itis that comes up when we look at someone else's business and we feel envious.
of what they've already got. Often this is when we're comparing our sort of first year with their 12th year or something like that. And I think this happens a lot for people. But actually, really tuning back in to your own vision and understanding and realizing that it's not going to look the same as anyone else's.
really helps with that comparisonitis, that imposter syndrome.
Gill Moakes (08:53.51)
How can you be an imposter if you're not trying to do something the exact way someone else does it? Right?
What if the only thing that mattered was building your business as a true, honest, authentic reflection of how you feel inside your vision?
I think if you did that, if we did more of that, if we did more of that tuning back in to ourselves, reflecting back on our own purpose, the why, why we started our business in the first place, it's why I've been working on the Rewild Your Business retreat, which is a virtual retreat coming out fairly soon. Because I think we all, as female founders, as business owners, we all need reflection time.
to look at what we're doing, what's working, what's not working, what has strayed away from what matters to us, what has strayed away from what feels right to us.
Gill Moakes (10:06.806)
So playing big isn't about the size, it's about the truth. Playing big is about not being afraid to claim what you really want, whether that is big, whether it's small, whether it's loud, whether it's quiet, it's doing it your way. That's playing big.
another little shorty episode today. What do you think of these little shorty episodes? I quite like them. Sometimes I think podcasters go on a bit, don't you? Like, my god, I was listening to a podcast the other day, I can't even remember what it was called now. Like I was gonna name it anyway. I'm not gonna do that. I would never cast that sort of shade over someone else. However, I was listening to this podcast. And honestly, the episode went on so long and I
I really recognised the host doing something that I do, which is when you feel like you need your episode to take up a certain amount of time, you just end up saying the same thing twice in a different way. And I hope with these shorty episodes, I hope I'm not doing that and I hope you're enjoying them. Do let me know. also, I really want to thank everyone who reached out to me after last, I think it was, no, a week before last episode.
when I asked you to connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know that you'd heard the episode, that was so fun. I loved it. Thank you to everyone who did that. It was just joyful getting those messages. I mean, honestly, it still thrills me to my core to picture you.
whatever you're doing, washing up, whatever, with your headphones in and you're hearing my voice. And that will never get old for me. I will never take that for granted. What a feeling that is.
Gill Moakes (12:19.75)
That's why I do what I do. That feeling, that feeling right there of making a difference to someone. It's priceless. That's playing big for me. Okay, everyone, listen, have a fantastic week. I will see you here again, same time, same place next week. Bye for now.
