Today we’d like to introduce you to Meg Trucano.

Meg, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

Like any good tale, mine REALLY begins with a breakdown.

I’d been a high-achiever for my entire life. You know the drill: Excel at whatever task is at hand, with no real thought given to whether I liked what I was doing or found it worthwhile. I knew deep down that what I was doing (at the time, I was doing education policy and evaluation research for federal agencies) wasn’t what I was MEANT to be doing. I was good at what I did, but I felt empty, bored, and kept searching for something within my line of work that would get my spark back. So, I hired a coach.

With her guidance, I started a small side-hustle coaching practice and I was immediately hooked. Even after working a long day at my 9-5 job, I’d leave my evening client sessions thrumming with inspiration and purpose. I felt ALIVE and purposeful for the first time in my adult life. I loved it. But I couldn’t let go of the safety and security that my 9-5 represented for me.

One day, after going in circles for months, she asked me: “How would you feel if you were in this exact same position this time next year?” I felt the urge to throw up, and I immediately began to panic-cry. *Cue breakdown* When he came home, my husband found me, tears streaming down my face and staring off into space. “I can’t do this anymore,” I said. “I know. And you’ve known it for a while now, too,” he said. “So what are you going to do about it?”

We talked late into the night, and before bed, I tucked into some Mary Oliver poetry, as is my custom in hard times. That famous line–“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”–struck to the core of my being and the next day, I filed for my LLC. Three (very long, very exhausting) months later, I resigned from my full-time job and became an entrepreneur.

This October, my LLC will be four years old and I have never once regretted my decision, or wished I could be doing something different. Instead, it’s become my mission to help other women lean in to that big, bold, badass change THEY are considering, because every woman deserves to feel connected and deeply fulfilled in her life. I’m fortunate that I’ve found my purpose and connection in my occupation, though others find it in other areas of their lives as well.

It’s my heartfelt belief that to truly thrive, we must be deeply connected with our own authentic desires as a human being–and engage with them frequently.

Another Mary Oliver quote guides me these days: “Listen, are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?”

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

My journey has certainly not been smooth–or linear. But it’s been VERY interesting.

My first coaching practice was money coaching, which I loved. I served about a dozen or so women with that iteration of my coaching business, but as I began to coach more, I noticed something. People would come to me wanting to feel more secure and confident with their finances, but money was always a symptom of something bigger and deeper.

I was the best coach and version of myself when I empowered women to embrace a change they wanted to make–whether that be to their career, their lifestyle, or simply their perspective on life.

As soon as I made that realization, I switched niches. I felt like I was starting over, and it sucked. (But we are never REALLY starting over, because we bring everything of value with us to the new adventure.)

Though I have NEVER doubted what I’m doing (coaching), but I have struggled with just about every other decision about my business.
-Should I invest here, or there? Should I buy this new training, or should I try to DIY? Is this the right niche? Am I speaking in a way that will attract the right-fit clients? Am I doing this right? Do I need a new website? Do I need a funnel? A copywriter? A ghostwriter? Where should I focus my marketing efforts?

All of this is an ongoing conversation. I’m getting more and more confident each day as I learn more, and connect with more people who offer me their expertise and perspectives. I’m growing as a human, and I’m refining my business as I do so.

Someone asked me if I’d ever been tempted to “give up,” and do something else.

Nope. Not for a second. I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing, of that at least I am certain. But I remain open to whatever the universe has in store for me and for my business.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I am a psychologist and former 9-5 corporate cog, and I offer psychology-based confidence coaching for ambitious women who are ready to make a significant life change.

Clients come to me thinking that something OUT THERE is preventing them from getting what they want in life, but it’s actually attributable to a lack of self-trust. I help ambitious women build their confidence by cultivating a deep relationship with themselves.

I help clients reconnect with their authentic desires (which often lay hidden beneath years of social conditioning, people-pleasing, and others’ expectations), and to meaningfully share the gifts that ONLY THEY can share with the world.

I help them cultivate strong boundaries to fiercely protect their most valuable resources of time and energy, and teach them to defy hustle culture by rejecting busy-ness as a status symbol.

I believe that every woman deserves to find contentment in her personal life, meaning in her professional life, and deep connection with herself–without sacrificing their ambition or what they’ve worked so hard to build.

My superpower is helping clients SEE themselves–who they TRULY are–and empowering them to reconnect with that powerful inner presence.

In my podcast, Changeology, I discuss the art, science, philosophy, and psychology behind making big, bold, badass life changes. Listeners get inspired by guests who share the stories of how they embraced a significant life change and landed on their feet; are empowered by new ideas shared by experts representing a wide range of disciplines to help them along their own change journey; and get a little weird with me, Dr. Meg Trucano, as I share from my experience as a developmental psychologist and confidence coach for ambitious women who are ready to make life-changing moves.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?

I’m terribly risk averse, but I am steadily getting better at sitting with the discomfort of risk-taking. As we speak, I’m on the cusp of making a significant financial investment for the business!

I’ve taken numerous financial risks in terms of investments into the business, but each of them paid off in some way (though not necessarily in the way that they promised when I made the investment!).

My perspective on taking risks is that like anything else in business, it’s a muscle you can develop. You learn to get better at sussing out what’s an unwise risk (i.e., a risk not likely to bring a return or that might actively undermine your progress), versus what just feels scary. At first, it ALL feels scary. It feels scary to quit your job and go full time as an entrepreneur. When you’ve been doing that a while, it doesn’t feel risky at all to wake up every day and do your thing. When you first decide to do anything that feels risky, it’s uncomfortable.

But there is no such thing as opting out of taking risks to protect yourself–because that too is a risk of a different kind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.megtrucano.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/meg_trucano/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-trucano/
• Other: https://changeology.buzzsprout.com