We recently connected with Karrie Lemansky-Straub and have shared our conversation below.

Karrie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of Women Out Loud started about 3 years ago. I had started a new business, which I tend tend to do being multipassionate. But my anxiety went through thr ROOF. I had all of these great ideas but the anxiety was lying to me telling me that I had no business doing anything like that and that the kind of success I was looking for was for other people, not me. I used to be so judgmental of myself until one day I just started getting curious. Next, I invested in coaching and found some Business Besties aka community. Then I joined a women’s group. Community again. There was a theme here. So starting Women Out Loud: The Community is born out of wanting to create a space that doesn’t exist. A space for women entrepreneurs to come together, bring their anxiety along with them (the Not So Silent Passenger lol) and help each other along with my guidance as a coach and mentor. I want to help women connect to other women in business which will, in turn, help them be more successful. Having amazing women together in a room is magic. And as for anxious women, we need a little different kind of support from others. Having women with anxiety come together gives a greater knowing …that we are not alone.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Hi! I am Karrie and I’m a California girl through and through…born and raised. I love seeing live music with my husband. Live music is life!! I have one son who just turned 19. My dog/coworker is named Oliver Twist The Third. Give me a non-caffeinated Starbucks drink and I’ll be happy. I love swears and use them often but always in context. My friends describe me as a positive ball of fire, and I know that if you hang out with me long enough, I will brainwash you into believing in yourself. It is just that simple.

My road to coaching started 15 years ago. I wanted to become a coach but I didn’t do it then. I was very codependent at that point in my life and I had someone close to me say that it was a bad idea so I didn’t go for it. Being someone with anxiety who is always looking for approval, I decided to drop that dream and do something else.

I realized at a very young age that I didn’t want to work FOR others. I wanted to work WITH them. I saw that there was another way available to work. A way to do life in a way that affords more freedom and more flexibility and makes a major impact on the lives of others. I knew that building businesses was for me. Does it come with anxieties too? Yes!! Of course it does. It is different though. It belongs to you. You make the rules. You schedule your appointments. You hire your team when it gets to that level. You have the say in what you put out into the world and what you have to offer. YOU!! I was like….well, this is a damn miracle!

My anxiety coaching business was born out of being a business owner with anxiety. I have owned my own business for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I knew that a typical 9-5 wouldn’t work for me. I knew I was not designed to sit in that cubie doing work for the man. So I found my own way. Once I started my first business, I never looked back.

When you are a woman in business with anxiety, that overthinking voice in your head can turn itself up to an 11 quickly and drown out the amazing business that you are supposed to bring into the world. Their Business Baby, as one of my friends calls it, gets quashed and never sees the light of day. That is so frustrating!! I have continually seen women with anxiety say no to themselves over and over and over again because they either lack belief in their concept and the confidence to do it. I hate seeing that. Often they tell themselves stories as to why they can’t do this or that or the other thing. I am here to show them that isn’t true. It is more about the stories their anxiety is telling them and lack of trust in their own instincts even though they are usually on point! The stories they are telling themselves are usually untrue. There are always exceptions to the rule. However, I help women get around those stories so they can get that Biz Baby out of their minds and into the world.

I currently offer 3 ways to be in my orbit through Women Out Loud.

Women Out Loud: The Podcast: I started a podcast way before I was ready (because messy action trumps perfect inaction every single time) called Women Out Loud. You can listen on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher. I love helping educate others and this is a great way to do that in more detail.

I run Women Out Loud who want to collaborate and find their people aka community! Working as a solopreneur can be HARD and lonely. Especially for overthinkers who get stuck in their head all day long. So I wanted a place for women to gather and find other women, like them, to do life and business with.

I was so blessed to have this in the group coaching that I was in. I saw the impact it had on me and my own businesses, and the women who became my Biz Besties too. So much thriving instead of barely surviving, you know? That got me thinking…what if I created something I have never seen? I looked everywhere and it didn’t exist. This is an extremely unique container that women can come to and seriously make their business dream a reality whether that is starting a new business altogether or scaling/up-leveling their current business.

I come with this really unique skill set. I have anxiety too. I have been where these women start. I have worn their shoes. I know how to help them because I have lived it and I walk the walk on the daily.

My main mission is to help as many women as humanly possible in my lifetime through my coaching and community. I want to help make an impact on their business and their lives.

I am most proud of the fact that I didn’t let my anxiety win and that this brand and company exist. It is fun and dynamic but also serious and full of actionable ways to get things done. We have fun but we get things done, you know? Accountability goes a long way, especially with anxiety. We tend to be rule followers and anxious about screwing up. So if you have someone give you tasks and some guardrails, it makes it so much easier to get there. How do I know. I did that myself and it worked so beautifully!

You do not have to go it alone. There are others just like you. And I am so proud to have a place like the one I have created. It lights me up and I wake up every day thinking, “Is this REALLY my job?!?” I mean, who doesn’t want that??

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I run my business through my website, on Instagram and Pinterest, as well as through email and DMs. I love sending emails that have a stream-of-consciousness bloggy kind of feel to them. Because I am a real dang person. I want them to hear my voice, my tone, so that they know it is me. I love to connect with other women so much and writing in that way to them makes my heart so happy.

It is also why I love doing the podcast so much. Same thing! I love the women that come into my DM’s with a takeaway or something that they tried which helped them. There is no feeling like it.

So, how do I foster loyalty to myself and my brand? I am going to guess you have heard this over and over and over again lately. It is totally by being my anxious, dorky, quirky, awkward, weird, authentic self. And none of those are bad words in my opinion. I often ask my people, “Where are my fellow weirdos at?” They get it, you know? I know that the words ‘be authentic’ gets used a lot these days but I take it truly to heart. I refuse to show up as a version of myself. I show up as my whole self.

Once I released myself from the judgment of others and so many of my own fears, I started showing up in my fierceness and people took notice. It helps me keep in touch with them through social media and email and it really brings people coming back over and over again.

If I were to offer you some pearls of wisdom? Don’t hold back. Show up as your full self, warts and all. It helps other women to see that it is okay to make mistakes, have hard days, and have the anxiety spin out of control. I have learned how to make it all work for me and my own anxious overthinker of a brain. I want the same for other women in business too.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I swear to you that this will sound simple but it is not always easy.

The most effective strategy is to choose where you are going to be running your business and marketing (social media, internet, blog, YouTube, etc) and show up consistently, whatever that means for you and your brain. You know you can post 3 times a week? Great. Keep it simple. Post 3 times a week. You love to do reels? Batch a few for when you are having a tougher day. Doing YouTube videos? Have a few in the can so you can put them out on a schedule consistently even when your brain is not working with you that day. lol.

Here is the bottom line. Consistent doesn’t have to mean all day every day. It means to show up in your business, do items that move the needle forward, do them in a way that gives the most value to others but that doesn’t drain your battery so much that you can’t take care of your people. You don’t want to be at empty every dang day! I learned this lesson the hard way so let me save you some time. Don’t do what I did.

Show up consistently and be you. That has helped me grow my clientele organically and it has been really cool. I have a really engaged IG community and that has taken a while but it can and will happen if you show up. I can make you that promise.

Contact Info:

• Website: karrieoutloud.mykajabi.com
• Instagram: @karrieoutloud

Image Credits
Josh Fogel Photography