113: Building a Supportive Community with Megan Tobler

Do you feel like you are going through life alone? Maybe dealing with work or family or personal challenges can be hard and a lot of times we feel like we are on an island, party of one, going through it. But the reality is that we are not the only ones doing whatever it is.... fill in the blank. Building businesses, managing families, trying to improve professionally. Whatever it looks like for you, you are not alone and why finding community is so important. 

In this conversation, Megan Tobler shares her inspiring journey from corporate sales to becoming a podcast host and community founder for female entrepreneurs. She discusses the challenges of balancing motherhood with building a business, the importance of authenticity in her approach, and the value of creating a supportive community. Megan emphasizes the significance of finding one's tribe and the rewarding experience of empowering other women in their entrepreneurial journeys.

takeaways

• Megan identifies as a mom first, which drives her entrepreneurial journey.
• Leaving corporate was a pivotal moment that led to unexpected opportunities.
• Building a business should fit into the life you want, not the other way around.
• Authenticity is key in connecting with your audience and building trust.
• Community support is crucial for navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.
• Podcasting has been a rewarding platform for sharing stories and building connections.
• It's important to embrace your messy life and be real with your audience.
• Finding your people can lead to incredible friendships and support.
• Small wins in business should be celebrated as they contribute to overall success.

Connect further with Megan HERE or on IG at @selfstart.her

Transcript

Caroline Pennington (00:01.4)
Welcome Megan.

Megan Tobler (00:03.266)
Thanks, Caroline. Really excited to be here.

Caroline Pennington (00:06.478)
So for those of you listening, I've actually known Megan for a really long time and we've been LinkedIn friends, real friends, podcast swappers, kept in touch over the years. And when I actually met Megan, she had already started her entrepreneurial journey, her podcast journey, and I was still working in corporate. And since then the tables have turned and now I'm doing the same thing on entrepreneurial journey that she is too. So anyways.

I know you had a corporate job, had the courage to leave, you started your own business, you started your own podcast. I want to hear your story about where you are now and how did you get there.

Megan Tobler (00:39.33)
wow, it's a story full of twists and turns and unexpecteds. But today I would say that my biggest and like most prideful title I would give myself as mom, everything based on that title is why I'm doing what I'm doing today. But today I am a podcast host as well as a community founder for female entrepreneurs that are in the midst of building their business while also juggling all the realities that life has. We're all busy women, right?

I wasn't always doing this. I actually spent over a decade in corporate sales. I was rising and trying to like climb that corporate ladder and really making a name for myself. But the further that I was climbing, the harder I was working, the longer the hours that I was working. And also I was doing up to three hour commute to and from work every single day. So I just found myself thinking there has to be a better way. And I knew that I one day wanted a family, but I kept scratching my head thinking,

but how, how am I going to have this life and be present for my kids? And I just couldn't figure it out. So at one point I just, wanted to learn. I wanted to find out how other women were doing it. How did they start a business of their own? Like, why did they do it? Why did they choose the specific business that they, the path that they chose and how they become successful? So.

I like I said, I was in sales, so I figured, okay, I'm good with talking to people. I'm genuinely curious about these people's stories. I'm a great listener. So why not take this as an opportunity to use all of my skills that I've obtained in the corporate world and sales, but also that I'm actually good at and use it to learn. And also I decided to press record and I decided to use this as a podcast and share it with other women because I realized

actually after leaving corporate, that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. People in corporate just really don't talk about it because they can't. So fast forward a few months, I decided to hire a business coach thinking that I was on my way out of corporate. And then I found out I was pregnant. So I kind of rewound the bike a little bit here and pressed pause thinking, okay, I want the security quote unquote, security corporate has.

Megan Tobler (03:01.602)
while I'm finishing this pregnancy and then I'll figure it out from there. Well, be careful what you ask for because right after announcing my pregnancy to the company, I was a part of a mass layoff, literally like a week later. So I then went into panic mode and I reached out to my entire network and I literally had no kidding, like no joke here, I had 40 interviews within the span of two weeks after I was laid off. I had never worked so hard in my life.

These conversations, I found myself with just this icky feeling in my gut within every single conversation. It just didn't feel right. And so I had to take a step back and think about, okay, I don't want this. So I had a conversation with my husband and based on kind of the feelings that I was having, the fact that I was already having traction with this podcast and really had laid the foundations, we made the decision collectively to allow me to.

not return to corporate and instead to go all in on myself. And so I'm sure we'll dive a little bit more into the story here, but that's really kind of how it got started and where I'm at today.

Caroline Pennington (04:10.008)
Thank you for sharing that. And I think that's amazing that you did that. And I want to talk about that and dig into this a little bit more because I mean, you got laid off, you were pregnant, all like life-changing experiences here we're talking about. And you had the courage as obviously it's a family decision between you and your partner. How did you like, what was that like mentally for you to have the courage to do that? To say, okay, I was laid off.

now going to have this baby in a couple of months and I'm also going to grow this podcast and grow this business. mean, how did you like, I know you had the Icky interviews and everything, but I mean, how did you have the courage to say, okay, no, I'm going to bet on me.

Megan Tobler (04:53.95)
even know if it was courage. just think it was wanting something so bad in one direction and not wanting something so badly in the other direction that the one direction was pulling me more than the other one, if that makes sense. Like my why was bigger than anything. So it wasn't, I don't even know if I had courage. I just had this why that was so big at that point to keep moving forward. And I feel like

Whenever a layoff happens, I think it's only natural to, in the moment, feel like poor me. And in the moment, I was definitely in panic mode. But the more I took a step back, I realized it was actually a gift. This didn't happen to me, it happened for me. And if I hadn't have been laid off, then who knows where I would be today. And by having this opportunity when I did, it allowed me to meet so many more incredible women.

that have gone through similar experiences and then just this community that I created almost accidentally has been the best thing besides my son that has ever happened to me in my entire life.

Caroline Pennington (06:02.532)
Yeah, I love that. And I agree with you 1 million percent. You've created something really special online and with your podcasts and my hats off to you for that. So if you haven't checked out her podcast, self-start her, you need to go do that right now when you get done listening to this podcast. So you've created a whole community online. You've got this whole podcast, you know, snowballing in the best ways. You're obviously a very busy professional. You've got a small.

Megan Tobler (06:10.446)
Well, you too.

Caroline Pennington (06:30.882)
baby and son now in the home that you are responsible for, tell me about some actionable tips when you're short on energy and time.

Megan Tobler (06:41.912)
Yeah, so I'll preface this that the majority of my business has been built while I was either pregnant or with a new baby in the house. So I was exhausted. was, my hormones were all over the place and I was not like the normal Megan. I'm usually like a total go getter. Like if you give me something to do, like I will, I will do it to the, to the fullest here, but I was functioning in a, in a completely different state.

So let's just say that I've become an expert at figuring out how to do things in a different state, but also on very little sleep and very little hours in the day that I actually have to call my own. Cause that's one thing that I learned in motherhood that you really don't own your time anymore. So I might not have a corporate boss, but I do have a baby boss. So I will say the biggest thing that I did for myself and probably the best tip that I can give today is that

If you are short on time and you are building a business, really think about the type of business that you are creating. Are you creating a business where you're fitting your life into that business or are you creating a business that fits into the life that you want? So there's a big difference here. And the way that I did that is I originally hired this business coach and she and I were talking about me becoming a coach of my own.

And the more and more that I got into it, the more of that ick feeling that came back that I had when I was going through those interviews. And I love coaching. I am a huge proponent of it. I've had two coaches of my own. Coaches are in my world. But coaching takes a lot of time when you're on a set schedule and someone's counting on you on the other end. And I knew that when I was going to enter into this new phase of life that my schedule is going to be unpredictable.

I have very limited childcare. My mom, luckily comes, have childcare one day a week. So today we're able to record because my mom's literally in the other room watching my kid for me. But outside of that, my husband works around the clock and I literally have nap time to build my business. So it was important to me to think about, okay, what does my life look like? What do I want it to look like? And as I'm creating this business, what can I create that allows me to do it in very minimal hours?

Megan Tobler (09:00.376)
but still gives me the income that I'm looking for as well as the fulfillment that I'm looking for. And it doesn't require me to do it on a set schedule because for all my mom is out there that have had a kid and nap time or just a kid in general, they dictate your schedule. I mean, there's things with like the sleep habit coach and everything like that and it's great, but kids like we're human. People just make their own decisions here. So I would say that that's like

The first big one here is really reevaluate what kind of business you're creating. And for me, I needed something that was going to allow me to have it be on autopilot for one, but then also to, like I said, work very minimal hours, but still have that impact that I was craving.

Caroline Pennington (09:49.1)
One thing that you talk a lot about and you stand for, and that I love what I've seen you on the social channels, LinkedIn and Instagram is you talk a lot about why it's important to be authentic and relatable. So I'd love for you to talk about that more because I feel like going into 2025 and Gary V's the one who said it, like they're curated fees, the curated feeds and perfectionism is out. Like everybody's sick of that. So how has that been helpful?

to you and building your business and your community.

Megan Tobler (10:21.166)
So I feel like I have always tried to just put myself out there as is. And if people like it, great. If people don't, then I'm sorry, but don't follow me. I love everyone. So I hope that you like me and that's my people pleasing tendencies. But you know what? I realize that not everyone's going to be for everyone. And I agree with you. The theme that I'm seeing, and especially this year, 2025, everyone's talking about authenticity.

And there have been moments where I'm trying to do like a more curated approach and it just doesn't feel right. So going into this year especially, if you were to go to my Instagram, I have completely just gone like no filter at this point. I don't even care if my feed looks pretty anymore. Like I have put myself out there in more ways than I've ever put myself out there because I said, you know what? This is the life that I have. So come in, take a look at my messy life over here.

my messy but beautiful life and get a sense for really what it feels like to build a business while I'm also chasing a toddler. My house isn't clean. I'm in sweatpants almost every day. My hair most of time is dirty. Like it is what it is. I'm in a PJ sometimes till 10 o'clock when my son goes down to a nap. Like it is what it is. And I think that being authentic and showing up truly how you are is going, it's relatable because people, people want to know that

like there's a human on the other side and they like you and they trust you more typically when they see that. So yes, I'm all about putting yourself out there, being authentic. And I have to say by just being real, I think that that has allowed me to create stronger relationships because I'm not pretending to be someone that I'm not. Like what you see is what you get.

Caroline Pennington (12:09.986)
love that. I'm going to add to that too. Not everyone is going to like you and that's okay. And is that hard to wrap your head around sometimes? Yes. But at the end of the day, you want to attract people into your ecosystem online, whatever platform that may be that you want to show up on that actually relate and want to do business and be a part of your community. And if they

Megan Tobler (12:35.233)
Absolutely.

Caroline Pennington (12:36.204)
are negative or don't like what you have to say, like bye, unfollow me, I don't even care.

Megan Tobler (12:41.038)
Well, and this even goes to the people that are close to you in life. I have made this transition to where I'm no longer really talking about starting a business. I'm actually talking about building a business while also being a mom. And some of my audience that doesn't, it doesn't resonate with anymore. And that is difficult because again, the people please are me. I want to, I want to be for everyone, but I also know deep down that I can't be. So I actually, there's a, there's a girl that's close and

in my community that I absolutely adore, but I actually asked her for feedback on things that I was doing. And I did get some feedback that was not really the feedback that I was hoping for, but it also showed me that, again, I'm not going to be for everyone. She did tell me that my content is no longer relatable and that my feed, it's no longer cohesive. I need like more of my brand colors also.

the pink that I'm showing up with, that it might not resonate, it might be too bold for a lot of people. And then also my energy level. She said that I might need to take it down a little bit to be able to like resonate with more people. And I was reading this and absorbing it and I understand, but at the same time I took a step back and I said, you know, no.

I'm not, like, if you don't like it, then unfollow me.

Caroline Pennington (14:03.554)
Never ever dim your light for someone else.

Megan Tobler (14:07.244)
No. So again, I know it was with good intentions and I adore her, but I'm not taking the advice. And if anyone's listening out there that has ever had people try to dim your light too, just, just do you, like just shut out the noise, put your blinders on and do you, cause at the end of the day, you're the one living your life.

Caroline Pennington (14:26.692)
I love that. So one thing you talk a lot about that I love, and I want you to talk about this on the podcast to the listeners. What advice would you give to anyone listening to this or watching on YouTube? how do you turn challenges into stepping stones?

Megan Tobler (14:44.718)
Ooh, challenges into stepping stones. I think that's my entire, my entire journey here has kind of been a challenge that has been unintentionally this, this stepping stone of mine, because I've kind of accidentally fallen into this path. But challenges into stepping stones. You definitely have to think about that one because I wasn't, wasn't totally prepared. Let me, let me think about that one.

Caroline Pennington (15:07.992)
Let's circle back to that one. So let's talk about community and finding your tribe. You've done a great job about this online, on LinkedIn, on Instagram. Why is that so important when you are building your business?

Megan Tobler (15:21.602)
Well, I think that's another one of the tips that I talk about here is to find and lean on a support system. And one thing that I have really found in all my conversations with these women and experienced myself is that your support system at home might not totally understand what you're going through and might not be as supportive as you were hoping for. And it's not because they don't want to be, it's just because they don't understand and that's okay.

So what I've learned is that it's important to find your people. And I have met the best, wonderful people and some of my best friends now through like the podcasting platform and through these online connections. I'm in California. I know you're in South Carolina, right? Like we met because of the internet and this wonderful community that was created for us. And there are going to be times in entrepreneurship when you're on your highs.

You're riding those highs and they're wonderful. But there's going to be times when you're on your lows too. And that's really when you'll, need this community more now than ever. And again, I accidentally fell into community through starting this podcast and my podcast through starting that community is about to, to start and turn into like an official community for these moms. And it's just one of those things that I'm just so passionate about because

the people for these support systems, they typically are all people that share similar values and have similar different like challenges that they're facing going kind of going back to those challenges and stepping stones here that they're facing together. And it's like, okay, you lean on each other during these challenges because other people have come before you and they can help you out and you have come before other people and you can help that other person out. So it's almost like you're

You're climbing up these stepping stones and pulling each other up in the process here. And it's, it's this beautiful thing that has been created just because you found your people.

Caroline Pennington (17:20.386)
Yeah, I love that. And that's been the game changer for me. And for anyone listening to this podcast right now, I would highly encourage you to send the DM on Instagram, on LinkedIn, make the introduction, ask for a coffee chat, because you can really meet some amazing human beings online. And for me, I live in a small town in Beaufort, South Carolina. And so I don't have a lot of, I haven't met a ton of other women that are doing the same things that I'm doing and that's completely okay. But.

through online communities and through live events and through the podcasts have been the ways that I've connected with women that are doing things just like me, just like you are.

Megan Tobler (17:57.464)
Well, and I will add to that too, going back to the topic of authenticity is be authentic in your, in your approach, because if it's just like a generic message where you're feeling like you're trying to sell someone on something, I get lots of those. And while I want to support everyone, like I can't buy everyone's product here, but I do genuinely want to get to know you and figure out how I can help you. And you never know like what comes around goes around. So I think it's just be yourself and show up as you are because

If they're a good human, which most people are, they're going to say yes.

Caroline Pennington (18:29.922)
Yeah, don't pitch slap in the DMS, especially if it's the first one, because I don't know who you are. I said, want to give you my credit card number. I don't want to pay you any money. Like let's slow roll it. And I love to get to know you first and then we can talk about sales, but I see people get that wrong. So many times, especially on LinkedIn. And I'm just like, bye.

Megan Tobler (18:50.658)
See ya!

Caroline Pennington (18:52.782)
Okay, so switching gears here, you've had a successful podcast. I want to hear about your podcast journey.

Megan Tobler (18:59.092)
It like I said, it has been the most rewarding thing. It started out as a passion project and I started this in 2022. I hit record without any plans of an actual date to release everything. And what I did is I actually started using all of my sales knowledge with prospecting because I knew the types of people that I wanted to have conversations with. So I decided I went and I got

I wrote down this entire list of all the people that I knew in my own personal world that had started their own business. And I decided, okay, from this list of all these women, who are the ones that I feel like I have the strongest connection with so far? So that way I could reach out to them, tell them about what I was doing, but also tell them about how it could impact them in the same process. who would honestly, let's be honest, like who would say yes, the easiest at first, because

The beginning is when it's so critical to kind of get that momentum going. And it's like the first person that says yes to you just gets you pumped up and excited and it creates that momentum to keep going. So use those prospecting skills for my sales days, but also added that human authentic touch that we're talking about here and started it and then hit record. think I recorded about six different episodes, but I hadn't released it. And then I ended up purchasing a course.

for podcasting through Kathy Heller. And didn't finish the course, but through that talking about community, met the most amazing women that were also starting podcasts at the same time. So that gave me the courage, I guess, talk, bringing the courage back into the conversation to actually launch this podcast and put it out into the world here. So we're now in 2025. So it's been about two and a half years later.

I have just released episode 122 and I've had the most incredible women on this show where I'm able to not only personally learn from them, but to share all of their expertise and their wonderful businesses that they've created with my community because I am the biggest cheerleader out there. actually, I grew up doing cheer and dance. So I'm a natural like peppy person.

Megan Tobler (21:16.686)
So I just get so excited and I feel like I almost get more excited for these people than they do about their own business sometimes. So it's been a platform for us to just be each other's cheerleaders.

Caroline Pennington (21:28.964)
Yeah, I'd agree with you starting the podcast has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. And it's so funny. get two, two responses to when I say I'm a podcast host. Number one is, isn't it a lot of work? And I'm like, is anything worth doing a lot of work? Or I get, Oh, podcasting is overcrowded. And the people that say that don't have podcasts. I'm like, no, goodbye.

Megan Tobler (21:51.918)
Yes. Well, it's funny, even my husband at the time, he goes a podcast, like, why would you want, who listens to podcasts? And I said, um, like billions of people, there's a whole market for it for a reason. And, uh, he's now driving and commuting lots of, lots of hours every week. And what's he doing? He's listening to podcasts.

Caroline Pennington (22:14.626)
Yeah, I'm with you on that. And if you're listening to this podcast, I would highly encourage you to start a podcast because it is the best decision it is. You know, you'd have to put some work into it, but you get connected to the best people and I can't say enough good things about it. Okay. Yeah.

Megan Tobler (22:29.942)
And I would have to just echo that. if anyone is listening and wants like tips or just to pick someone's brain about how to start a podcast, I'm an open book and I'm, I'm sure you're the same way, Caroline.

Caroline Pennington (22:42.082)
Yeah, I am. I'm here to help. And I think, you know, the tech stuff seems daunting at first to people and it was intimidating to me at first, but it's really not that difficult. And you don't have to outsource all these things and hire these fancy producers and all that. You can do it yourself. I'm a bootstrap, do it yourself kind of girl. And what used to take me three hours to do an editing department takes me less than five minutes now.

Megan Tobler (23:05.708)
No, it's amazing. I use the same recording platform that you do today and I didn't start out that way and I wish I had because there's been such a learning curve to get to that point and it took away so many hours that did not need to be there.

Caroline Pennington (23:21.698)
Okay, so switching gears, what is lighting you up with some of the women that you're working with right now?

Megan Tobler (23:29.464)
So we're all in similar stages. So I'm about to launch this community that is for women building businesses while also juggling life at home. And so while I'm not necessarily, it's not just for moms, anyone can join that is a female founder. A lot of us are moms. So it's lighting me up to see that there's nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom at all. I completely, completely support that. But for women that either have to,

or want to make an income of their own while also being present for their kids at home. It's nice to see that we live in an age where that's possible. And it's nice to be able to connect with these women and to see where they started and their whole path and growth trajectory that they're on because it's

That's rewarding to me is seeing others succeed. So that stuff lights me up. It's seeing even the smallest win, just getting one of the girls that I was talking to the other day, someone just got a yes from someone that was, but she was reaching out to be on their podcast or vice versa. I'm getting it wrong. But anyways, there was a yes involved here and just hearing a yes and the excitement, like I love seeing people win even the small ones. So

Long story short, that's what's lighting me up these days.

Caroline Pennington (24:55.652)
All right, so as we wrap up, how can our listeners find you?

Megan Tobler (24:58.612)
well, head on over to the self-starter podcast, of course, since we've been talking about the podcast. And if you're interested in joining a community of like-minded women, that is also going to be full of business tips for helping you grow and launch your business. Also mixed in with the reality that we understand your time is limited and to do everything in a short amount of time, then join the wait list for the community. can just go to self-starter.com slash together. It's called the together community.

or you can head over to my Instagram, it's just selfstart.her and check out the link in bio and then everything will just be there if you're just looking for something simple.

Caroline Pennington (25:37.092)
Thanks, Megan.

Megan Tobler (25:38.414)
Thank you, Caroline.