3 Lessons from a Fascinating Lindsey Stirling Concert to Grow Your Business -2

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Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:05

If you have not been to a Lindsey Stirling concert, you are seriously missing out. I had no idea how much I was missing out until I went to 1. I expected her to be an impressive performer. Her music is energetic and amazing, and I knew I would love that. That was not a surprise. I was so impressed with her stage presence and the depth of the experience. It was almost like having an inspirational speaker and a motivational event as well as a world class concert. It was pretty phenomenal.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:48

And I had 3 takeaways that I'm very excited to share with you. And one of them was she shared her experience of how where she was a year ago, and she had been the same concert venue where I saw her. I live in Bend, Oregon, and she was at the Hayden Homes Theatre here. And she talked about being here a year ago and where she was now, and kind of that was her point of reference of how much her life had changed in that time. And it really helped me reflect on the fact that it's important for all of us to do that. It's important to take those moments of time to see how far we've come, how much we've grown, and how much things have changed. And it made me pause and think about a year ago for me because a year ago, I had wanted to see her in concert at that same venue. We had just recently moved to Bend.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:46

Our house was on the market where we lived previously. It was an adventure selling that home, and we just had an offer fall through, the second offer that had fallen through. And they'd both been above asking price, and they'd both fallen through. So we were kind of discouraged possibly trying to be optimistic, but had only planned our finances so far, and they were really getting tenuous paying for a place here, which was more expensive than where we lived before, interestingly. And we both had come down with COVID. Neither one of us, me and my now husband then fiance, had gotten through the whole pandemic without it even though he worked at a hospital, had gotten through the pandemic without having COVID, and we both got COVID right around this time of year. That's why we didn't part of the reason we didn't go to the concert last year. The other reason we didn't go to the concert was I was supposed to be at this epic women's event for multiple days that I had to forfeit my ticket for and not a 10 because I was sick and it turned out that I had COVID.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:54

So it was kind of a rough spot for us financially, mindset wise, discouraged, health wise, we weren't doing so good. Things were a little bit difficult. And as somebody who runs my own business, right, as a solopreneur, like, those are really tough times when you're out sick for long periods of time, where you've invested in this personal growth opportunity you don't get to go to when big financial challenges are happening, like having to pay for 2 homes and things not moving with a sale that are further elongating how much you're paying for 2 homes, and those things can be challenging. And I have a fabulous partner. We were able to really stick together and kind of get through that challenging time. But to look at where we are now, happily married, things are going well with my business, things are getting some real traction, exciting things are happening. And interestingly, I had this podcast, Authenticity Amplified. I was supposed to be launching about a year ago.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:04:00

I was supposed to be doing all that and things just weren't coming together. And to look at how much better they've come together now is so exciting. So to see where I was a year ago just makes it so much easier to appreciate where I am now even as other things are sticky and challenging. So I really appreciate that Lindsey Stirling took that time to have that marker and that set point. So in your own life, if you're able to stop and look at different things that you remember fortunately for me, it was a concert I missed a year ago, and that artist reflecting on where she was at that concert a year ago and where she is in this better place now. And we were at a concert with Drizly Rain and things that could have been a negative, but it was an epic, incredible experience. It really was a great experience. And to be able to see, like, how much things have changed and grown in the place they're at.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:04:57

So to have that opportunity to pause and have those markers. And I do more now with actually writing things down and journaling and to have that to look back on, I think will be helpful for me as well. So if you have those markers in your own life to look back, if you remember something from last October, right? Last September, something from last summer to look back and see how far you've come. I think that's a really great marker that she offered as a gift more or less that she shared her story and helped reflect on mine as well. So I think that's a really important lesson I took from that as importance of reflecting back as well as looking forward. Another incredible thing that Lindsey Sterling talked about was the concept of yet. That just because you aren't there, you don't have what you want to have that you plan on having doesn't mean you don't have it yet. That is not still waiting for you.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:06:19

It isn't still ahead of you. That you may not realize all you are capable of, and you may not have even imagined all that you're capable of yet. And if you've seen Lindsey Stirling perform or you're aware of her, she embodies this fully. Like, I can never imagine playing the violin or the cello. The cello is more my string instrument that I'm inspired by. I saw the witch Witches of Eastwick when I was in London in my twenties, and that was the first time I'd seen someone play a cello. Is that a strange thing to admit? I grew up in a small town. I'd never been to an orchestra.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:07:03

I had not seen a lot of things. So when I was in my twenties and I was in London, it was the first time in a play because I did have an affinity for the theater and had a a bit of exposure to the theater. That was the first time I'd ever seen someone play a cello. And I was, like, amazed by this instrument. It was like I'd seen fiddles and violins, but never cello. And it was just this phenomenal instrument. So for me, this concept of me ever playing a cello is pretty far fetched. I'd never even seen one till I was in my twenties.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:07:39

Right? So playing a cello, just mind blowing. And when I see children play them, I have one of my good friends, her daughter plays the cello. I actually went I flew to another state for her birthday and got to see her play, that on her birthday. And that's just amazing to me that she's, like, in junior high and playing cello, and I didn't even see one till I was in my twenties. So the concept of me even, like, playing the cello is, like, a pretty far fetched concept. Right? And so to take that to the next step of playing a cello while dancing around a stage is, like, pretty crazy. It had to be on wheels or whatever else. Right? And so for Lindsey Stirling, if you aren't familiar with her, she plays the violin.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:08:23

I hope I'm maybe it's viol I think it's violin. She plays the violin, but she does it while dancing, while hanging upside down from scarves that are hanging from the ceiling, while doing acrobatics, while swinging from side to side on the stage, while doing all this high energy incredible stuff that you just wouldn't even imagine being combined with this type of performance. Because even if you have been exposed to the violin from a young age and considered playing the violin, you probably consider being played in an orchestra in a very traditional fashion, sitting in the first chair being your highest ambition. And she just reimagined and broke all of the rules and found new ways to express and entertain and elevate her artistry and her way of performing. And she is this incredible example of new incredible ways of doing things. I run a podcast network. When I was growing up, there wasn't podcasts. Women running networks, podcast networks for women, like, doing the work I do, working with other solopreneurs.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:36

Like, all of this is amazing and outside of a scope of anything I could have imagined because that wasn't available yet. That path wasn't a path yet. There are so many things I've gotten to do in my life and my career as I've gone throughout it that I never imagined I would do. And I just went along the paths and found these next amazing ways of doing things. And she's just this beautiful example of that, of how far you can take things when you follow your passions and combine them. And you spend much time with me, you'll find about skill stacking and my way of you find your unique stuff. Authenticity Amplified. Right? That's my new podcast I'm launching.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:10:17

Right? Authenticity Amplified that you take what's uniquely you and you stack it in incredible ways, and Lindsey Stirling is the embodiment of that. Who would have thought about dangling from scars in the ceiling while playing a violin? Like, she invented new ways of doing things by doing what she was passionate, what she was best at, and taking it to new levels that no one thought was possible. And that's what each of us has inside of us and the ability to do. So this concept of yet, like, we're not there yet. We haven't figured it out yet is just beautiful concept that she really drove home that I feel each one of us needs to take inside of us and start putting that at the end of our sentences as we figure out our paths and our way of doing things that just not yet. Because there's so much more in our path and so much more that we can achieve that we don't even know is possible yet. Because we haven't figured out the way and there may not be a way. There's not a bridge yet, which brings me to a hilarious side story.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:11:18

From when I was in college, I went to college in Louisiana, and I might have told this on The Grit Show before. But I went to college in Louisiana and got to study Louisiana state history as part of my collegiate experience because that's what happens when you go to college in a out of state, not where you grew up. And I do believe it was Huey Long. I should know this. Right? But I just remembered that there was there is a governor who, like, built bridges and roads in different places so that he would get the funding to then build the roads to the bridges and then put the bridges where the roads were so that he put them in places where they didn't connect yet. And so sometimes, like, you just put the bridges here and you put the roads there, and then later on, you figure out how they go together. So build your bridges, build your roads, and eventually, you figure out how they all come together. And that's a beautiful message that I think was reinforced by my time with Lindsey Sterling when she came through my town, and I had this epic experience at this concert with her that I think that is something you can take without having to even be there.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:20

Even though I highly recommend going to one of our concerts. And the 3rd point that I got from my epic experience at my Lindsey Stirling concert is the importance of your voice. You think this is something that I would know implicitly? I have a podcast network. I have more than 1 podcast. I use my voice frequently. Yet Lindsey Sterling gave me this beautiful example when I was at her concert that just drove this point home like no one else has for me. And I'm hoping that maybe it will help you see it if I share this story with you. So some of you might have heard of the book Untamed by Glennon Doyle.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:18

It's a great book. A lot of my friends have loved it and read have read it and loved it. I definitely, enjoyed it, but Glennon Doyle isn't somebody like, I enjoy her, but she's not super resonant for me. And so read the book, got little pieces out of it, and things didn't, like, especially stick with me. And when I was at the concert, Lindsey Stirling was repeating information from this book. I've read this book. I've had conversations about this book. And yet, Lindsey Sterling repeating information from untamed, beautiful concepts that made me surprised that I didn't get them on that level when I first read them or saw them, that they didn't resonate and stick with me and stand out for me 10 times more than they did when I first read them.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:14

But she reiterated this concept about the cheetah that's kind of like the point of the book, or it starts with the point of this book. There's so much more to the book, which could be part of it because I, you know, read the entire thing. So I I got other pieces, and this is where it began with with her at the zoo with the cheetah that's at the zoo and the cheetah chasing after, mechanical I think it's a mechanical bunny with, raw meat put on the back of it and this concept of the cheetah being in the cage. And, like, I remember that concept. But the the concept that Lindsay brought out that I guess didn't resonate or I didn't quite get it in the book or it didn't stick with me like it should have, I'm really surprised by, is the concept that this cheetah had did the cheetah know? Did it have in any core part of its being the awareness of its power, of the fact that it's the fastest animal on earth, and yet it is playfully jogging after a mechanical bunny on, you know, that the point of all of that is that each of us are raised in a container. We are raised in a cage, whatever that is, whatever construct that we are put in by the world we grew up in, the family we grew up in, the town we grew up in, the judgment, the society, the the the boxes we are put in, that when we're put in that cage, just like that cheetah is put in that cage, it's still a cheetah. It's still one of the fastest animals on earth that is capable of things that we could never imagine be capable of. It's still that cheetah with all that potential, all that capability.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:02

And yet here it is in the zoo, in this cage believing that it can that this raw meat on the back of this mechanical thing is all there is? And that this is as fast as it runs? And that this small world is all that it's capable of? And, like, I read that. I read that book. I read that piece. I knew that it was impactful for the author. And yet somehow when Lindsey Sterling was telling that story and that concept, it, like hit me in such a different way. Like this concept that, oh my gosh. The world that I was raised in, the place that I was in, I was always the cheetah capable of all of these things and didn't know it because of where I was raised and where I was kept in the places that I was in. And it was so interesting.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:00

I don't know if for some reason when I read it, I was just too stuck on the cage and not thinking of the construct. I have no idea. But it was so interesting to me that until Lindsey Sterling shared it, I really didn't resonate with that, that I read this entire book and got some miscellaneous things that I don't must be embarrassed to tell the things that I remember from that book that weren't that powerful. I remember that entire story, but did not get that resonant message of each of us are raised in these environments and not aware of what we're capable of. Like, I got the trapped. I got trapped is what I got from it instead of our potential, us not knowing who we fully are. And we are always the cheetah that's capable of all of these things yet never aware of it because we don't have an environment in which we can express it. And Lindsey's sterling voice, her telling that, her repeating that piece just hit me so differently so many years after I read the book in such a different way.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:18:08

And it was so powerful. And it was surprising to me because when we think of, like, I love Brene Brown, and I cannot imagine that somebody else could repeat a Brene Brown story, and it would be more powerful than me reading it directly in Brene Brown's book. So even when I tell that story to somebody or mention those things, I feel like I'm just doing a you know, trying to spread a little bit of a little bit of the seeds, a little bit of the sunshine, but not doing any any anything near the impact that someone like Renee Brown or someone like Deepak Chopra or somebody else that's powerful or Oprah or somebody with this big powerful voice that even if I'm repeating their words or sharing their wisdom or or interpreting what I've gotten from talking to them or listening to them, that I'm just, you know, giving you a little shadow of it. I'm not giving you anything that's that powerful. And yet, Lindsey Sterling, an unexpected messenger, right? A a performer, a violinist, incredibly talented, wonderful woman. Yet that was not what I expected to get out of that performance was the repackaging of a book I'd read years. I'd read the book like I'd read it. It wasn't the first time that I'd heard this and yet it hit me completely differently.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:19:30

And it made me realize how important my work is to help elevate women's voices. Right? And to help launch podcasts and to support solopreneurs and their mission driven businesses and that messaging and getting that out. That's why I'm here. That's why you're here. Right? But to realize that my voice, your voice, your mission, even if you feel like at times you're repeating or mirroring or sharing something, you think people know that your voice might be where they need to hear it, or you might be saying it on the day they need to hear it, or you might be providing the service through your business and the work you do that's giving it to them in the place that's at the right time for them to ingest it? And maybe it was that when I read that book, I just wasn't in the place to to hear that part and I need to hear it again later. And if it wasn't for the fact that Lindsey Sterling was sharing that, I may not have received it. Isn't that just amazing? Like, I was I was so impressed with that. It really struck me, the importance of that and that even I need that reminder, even though this is my work.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:20:56

And so I wonder if that's not a reminder you need as well about the importance of your voice and your message and what you're sharing and the work that you're doing. That it really does matter, that there's an importance to it. I was very taken with that. And she also did things with breath work and talked about anxiety and all of these pieces that even if they weren't things that I needed to hear, I kept thinking that there was people in that audience that were getting to hear this from her, that this probably was powerful to hear from her. So it's incredible that our voices can share things that an amazingly talented performer and musician is also very inspirational and this passionate messenger for this important information. So as each of us are doing our work that we realize how much we really do have to offer and how our authentic voice and us magnifying that can actually make an impact even if we feel at times that we're sharing something that somebody else said more eloquently, that they got a book deal for. But us repeating these concepts and us sharing these perspectives can do so much to impact our world. And I got so much out of that concert and now that opportunity from Lindsey Stirling, who is a phenomenal human, clearly.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:22:21

Right? But it was so exciting that that was not, like, why I went to that concert that night? I expected to have a wonderful time being entertained, being loaded up with incredible music, but there was so much more depth to it. And I just find that incredible.