Balancing Business and Healing: Interview with Angie Mcpherson

Nikita Williams: [00:00:00] I am so honored to have this guest return to the show. Her name is Angie McPherson. She is an amazing, branding photographer, and she's just a beautiful soul inside and out. And I wanted to have her back on the show because a few years ago, she had a huge life altering... change in her health situation. I know all of us are living with different chronic illnesses and it seems like often we are given new things to deal with.

Nikita Williams: And what I wanted to do is have Angie share her experience of getting diagnosed with breast cancer. And then also sharing the things that she had to do for self care and taking care of herself while running a business through her treatment. We get really real and raw in this episode about the real needs that are [00:01:00] required in order to run a successful business while prioritizing our own wellbeing.

Nikita Williams: So I can't wait for you to tune in. And cheer on Angie and continue to see how this can help you in your life, in your business as a chronic illness warrior and entrepreneur. So stay tuned.

INTRO: Welcome to crafted to thrive the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, Nikita Williams and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses, myself, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well being, you're in the right place. Together we're shifting the narrative of what's possible [00:02:00] for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

Nikita Williams: I am. Really excited and like over the moon to have Angie back on the show. 

Angie Mcpherson: I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me. 

Nikita Williams: Thank you for coming on. Thank you for saying yes to come and kind of do like, where are we now? And where did we come from? It's gonna be so good. So for anyone who doesn't know who Angie McPherson is, let us know who you are, what you do and where you're from.

Angie Mcpherson: Hi, so I'm Angie McPherson. I'm a branding photographer, a marketing strategist, and a hype woman for creative entrepreneurs. And I am based here in Virginia. Yeah, 

Nikita Williams: I was actually just there recently for a summit. What part? Yeah. Where were we? Where were We Were near the water Hampton, Hampton 

Angie Mcpherson: Road. Oh my [00:03:00] gosh.

Angie Mcpherson: Yes. I live in Hampton Road. I can't believe you didn't tell me what, gosh, 

Nikita Williams: I didn't even know. I thought for some reason I thought you lived like in a, like further away from the water, so, no, 

Angie Mcpherson: it's so funny. I'm about, gosh, 15 minutes into 15 minutes to the beach. Oh, wow. And it's, it's funny that you say that.

Angie Mcpherson: So many people. I mean, I don't really talk about where I live all the time, but so many people have misconceptions about where I live, and I'm like, that's so interesting. So many people think I live in North Carolina, and I'm like, I don't know where y'all get that from. I'm two hours from there, but I don't live there.

Nikita Williams: That's so funny. Yeah, no, yeah, we were just there actually doing a summit about chronic illness and how to run a business and feel like, you know, how did, how do you deal with the mindset drama that comes up with running a business and living life and overcoming those things while living with chronic illness?

Nikita Williams: And so that's what we were there for. And you've experienced that, you know, when we [00:04:00] first, when we first had you on the show, this, we were both in different 

Angie Mcpherson: places. We were talking about Yes. Yes. 

Nikita Williams: Before the conversation. 

Angie Mcpherson: Yeah, things, things have changed. I mean, it's and it just, it's just the rug is just pulled out from under you.

Angie Mcpherson: That's. That's what gets me is like, you kind of anticipate there are going to be some life struggles, you know, but when it's just like sudden and unexpected, you just, you don't know which way is up and you don't know what to do about anything and you're, and, and, and put that on top of running a business, it's like 

Nikita Williams: kids and being a wife and 

Angie Mcpherson: being a daughter and all the same.

Angie Mcpherson: All of the things. So yeah, things have definitely changed since our last conversation. 

Nikita Williams: So let's kind of like dive into that a little bit. Like how, how do you feel looking back right now [00:05:00] at what has happened over the past year? 

Angie Mcpherson: Yeah. Yeah. So I, I started January, 2021, like just a beautiful start to the year.

Angie Mcpherson: I mean, I had booked a ton of branding photography clients. I launched my course that I launched every year. Like I had a beautiful start and I was like, you know, I mean, everybody, when you get to January, you're like, this is my year. This is my breakthrough year. I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to hit all these goals.

Angie Mcpherson: I'm going to go on all these vacations, but every, I mean, that could just be me, but most people in my circle, they started that the year that way. And so in January, I felt a lump. I felt a lump in my breast and I was like, yeah, okay, what's that? It can't be what I think it is because You know, you just don't expect that to happen.

Angie Mcpherson: Yeah. You think, oh, that's somebody else's path. You don't really think that's going to happen to you. And so I put it off for a couple of weeks and finally it was just like, it was, it literally started like throbbing [00:06:00] and I'm just like, well, I can't ignore this. So. Went to the doctor, you know, got a mammogram.

Angie Mcpherson: I was only 33 at the time. So I, you know, insurance doesn't even cover mammograms until 40, unless you're like begging because there's something wrong. And so yeah, I did get a mammogram. They said, we. Don't see one, we see two masses and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like, what is this? And so did a biopsy and, you know, they said they'd be in touch within, you know, the next, the next week with the answers.

Angie Mcpherson: And literally the next morning I was on my computer. I was planning out content for my course. I was planning a vacation that summer, just doing, you know, putting around. And I got an email from my chart from my hospital said you, your results are ready. I'm like, I hate my chart. I hate my chart. Let me tell you.

Angie Mcpherson: Your results are ready. I'm like, okay. Open it up, log in, big black, bold letters, it says invasive ductal carcinoma. And I just, [00:07:00] I just, I just saw red, like, just probably the biggest panic attack I've ever had in my life. I googled it, which was the bad, not the right decision. And I called my sister, I think I called my sister first, and she's just like, we're going to get through this.

Angie Mcpherson: Just like my sister. Jesus. She was living in New York at the time. She's like, we're going to get you to the New York hospitals. We're going to get you the best. I just remember calling my mom and just saying, I have cancer. And she's like, girl, no, you don't. Like, you know, she thought I was just like freaking out before the results came in.

Angie Mcpherson: She's like, no, you don't like nothing. No, literally, literally I have cancer. And that just completely changed. the trajectory of that year. I immediately scheduled surgery, double mastectomy, and I, and I, every little layer of this, I'm like, this is it. I'm done. Like, you know, we'll do surgery, then I'll go back to work.

Angie Mcpherson: We'll do surgery. You [00:08:00] know, it was like layer upon layer upon layer. They're like, we'll do surgery. You're young. We don't see it anywhere else. We're just going to, you know, do surgery and you'll recover for six weeks and you'll get back to your life. Probably do, you know, some medicines. So did the surgery and they said, well, we found cancer in a little bit of cancer in your lymph node.

Angie Mcpherson: And as soon as it hits the lymph node, you just don't know, you just don't know. Cause that's how I learned so much about this. Like that's how it travels. throughout your body. And so they said, we highly recommend that you do chemotherapy for five months. We recommend that you do radiation for six weeks.

Angie Mcpherson: And so literally from January, 2021, my last day of radiation was November. So almost the whole calendar year, I was an active treatment while running a business and being a wife and being a mom. And it's just like, you just. It wasn't in my life bingo card. Like I just wasn't expecting that. And I'm just like, how do you even, [00:09:00] first of all, like, other than, you know, the family stuff, like, You know, how do you even show up in life anymore after this?

Angie Mcpherson: Like, I was so depressed. I would literally smile all day, be happy with my kids, you know, show them I'm, you know, there, and encourage mom to sleep. Even if I closed the bedroom door, I'm going to go to sleep. I would just cry. I would just cry until I fell asleep. Like, my poor husband, every single night, he just makes me go from da da da da, I couldn't watch it.

Angie Mcpherson: Oh, my God, I don't know if I'm going to take it. It was such a hard season. And like I said, and that's just the personal stuff. So I still had to like, I would, I had just launched my course. So I had to go through my six weeks of my course, midway through, I had my surgery and I'm recovering. I remember doing calls from chemotherapy, like mastermind calls that I was in.

Angie Mcpherson: Like, and it was just a struggle to, to balance. And still be myself because me, I'm fun, I'm joyful. I'm like, three type a, I'm like in your face. [00:10:00] And I was just like on the inside, I was just so like depressed and so sad. And the thing that was getting me through it was the way I know I needed to show up.

Angie Mcpherson: If I didn't have a business or if I didn't have anything else, like any of these responsibilities. I, girl, I don't know what I would have done. I would have been in my room and I would have been in the dark and I wouldn't have talked to anybody, wouldn't have called anybody, but the way that my business Was set up that I had to do these things.

Angie Mcpherson: It was a perfect distraction. It really was. Like I was excited to hop on Zoom calls with my core students and my members. I was excited to photograph branding shoots. I was excited to be forced to do, to show up, to show up in business, to show up in life. And I'm so thankful that I, that I had set myself up in that way.

Angie Mcpherson: And of course I gave myself lots of grace. You know, I had to reschedule some things. I had to. You know, just really just plan out my year, but you know, I, I had a [00:11:00] fire under my butt to still continue to be successful, um, in life and in my business. And that, that really honestly pulled me through and of course, God too.

Angie Mcpherson: I mean, I can't hear everything, you know, but like he, you know, he, he put all this in my path, you know, like my, my business and my life is where it is because of him. And so. It just, I had to do it. I had to show up in that way. It was hard, but I had to do it. 

Nikita Williams: So when I hear, so first of all, I remember when you posted it on Instagram and I feel like I had just like, I'm getting goosebumps even thinking about it right now.

Nikita Williams: Like, I feel like I have never Hugged you in like person like we've only had like this. Thanks to Jasmine from this, you know, social curator. That's how we connected like that's how we even knew each other and I just remember feeling like Two things. She's so young. [00:12:00] She's a mom. Well, three things. And oh my gosh, like, that's all I thought.

Nikita Williams: And I was just like, she is so brave to even share this right now. Cause I, I remember, I remember you like literally launching that course. And I was like, she's on fire. We were, I think we even talked about that course. Yeah. 

Angie Mcpherson: We were talking about it with my mastermind. Yes. And I 

Nikita Williams: was like, you're like, the ads are working and everything.

Nikita Williams: And I just remember sharing that. And I was just like, 

Angie Mcpherson: Oh. My goodness. Yeah, literally rug pulled from beneath me. And yeah, and I do remember hearing that on social media because I um, When I was first diagnosed, I was like, well, how do I even show up? Do I just continue to work as is and just be posting on social media, like nothing's going on and then be, you know, going through, you know, surgery and, and all this stuff, or do I just share, because this is now a big part of my life, especially in this season.

Angie Mcpherson: It is like [00:13:00] consuming my life. And, and so I literally would just click on the hashtag like breast cancer, breast cancer survivor and see how other people were showing up on social media. And I wasn't looking for like, you know, to connect with anybody. I just, I just wanted to like see one other people living, like being alive, you know, because of course you think cancer, you think death sentence.

Angie Mcpherson: And two, I was just like, how are they showing up? And just. Just like any time I would comment on somebody, they would send me like a message and a voice message. Like I wasn't asking for help. I'm just like, Oh my gosh, like, thank you for sharing this. I was just diagnosed and they were like sending me messages.

Angie Mcpherson: People were asking for my mailing address. They were sending me books and all this, just random other breast cancer survivors, just putting themselves out there and just like really sharing. And I was like, that was so therapeutic. Like the fact that I could message with these people. I can see like, I would literally go through, you know, the highlights on Instagram, like they [00:14:00] would make a highlight and it'd be like chemotherapy.

Angie Mcpherson: And I would literally tap through and see week one, week two, week three, week four. Okay. Week six, she lost her hair. Week eight, she was throwing up and asking for, you know, therapeutic medications. Just, just seeing and I'm like, yeah, like I would love to, to do this for somebody else because it really, really.

Angie Mcpherson: And so I just started sharing whatever I was comfortable with. I shared my surgeries. I shared what it was like to go through chemotherapy, what I took to chemotherapy, the snacks I ate there and how sweet my nurse was like, just really taking a lot of the fear out of everything, because when you're first diagnosed with anything, it's just fear, it's just like, I, the fear of the unknown, so I just wanted to share as much.

Angie Mcpherson: As I was comfortable with to let other people know my experience and to see that, yes, it's scary, but you will get through it. You will get through the hard stuff. And so, yeah, just seeing other people do that really motivated me to do the same thing. [00:15:00] I 

Nikita Williams: think that's such a Like powerful thing, because I mean, there's no, like, there's no guilt.

Nikita Williams: I feel like people feel like when new things happen with their health, like they feel like they have to share it all. What I really appreciated about your journey is like you, you shared what it felt genuinely comfortable, the things you would share. And I think sometimes people feel like, well, I have to show everything and share all of the bad and the good.

Nikita Williams: And I felt like you had a really authentic. Boundary of sharing. Like, how did you create that for yourself? You know, 

Angie Mcpherson: I... It's funny because even though you put up boundaries, you'll, you'll still get some people that like really just cry and give you a lot of criticism. And so, you know, I, I shared what I was comfortable having conversations about because I knew, yes, I can share, but I'm all about that like interactive, like interaction, like send [00:16:00] me a voice message, send me a DM, send me an email, like let's go back and forth.

Angie Mcpherson: I'm just not on a stage. Yelling to a crowd. Like I love having like conversations and building relationships. So I had to think like, what am I comfortable getting on the phone with somebody about? What am I comfortable going back and forth in an email? And some of it, you know, was, I was really comfortable with it.

Angie Mcpherson: And some of them, some of those ideas and thoughts, I'm like, you know, I think I'm going to keep that to myself, keep that in my household because I don't want to go back and forth with somebody on it. So those, those are my barriers. Like what, what am I comfortable with talking to somebody back and forth about?

Nikita Williams: Yeah, I think there's something that you said earlier about like you. The question I'm curious about is the things that you like in your life personally that you had like skills or emotional support that you had before that I feel like maybe did they come from entrepreneurship and you had to learn how to deal with them and then they serve you in this season of like what the heck is going on with [00:17:00] like with my with all of the things did those things really help you to like reframe how you would show up if that makes sense?

Angie Mcpherson: Yeah, I mean, yeah, for sure. I, I feel like my, my support system 10x after I spoke, like, you know, I have my closed circle. I have my family. I have, you know, my, my tight knit circle, but it was just like, as soon as I shared, like, I would literally be on the phone with people in other countries. Just talk. They were just talking me through these things.

Angie Mcpherson: And, yeah. And just seeing how they were so helpful. I was just like, I can make this a part of how I show up. Like, you know, I'm always sharing the business stuff, you know, that's, that's my thing, business and marketing. But now that I have this huge part of my life, now I can show up on a more personal side and really help people, you know, really help people deal with not [00:18:00] only balancing business and family, but business family and.

Angie Mcpherson: You know, now I'm on multiple medications for the next five years that, you know, I'm not, I'm not like, oh, I've done everything. You know, it's all good. Like, no, they're like, you're still young. There's still time for it to come back. There's, you know, you had a high risk cancer, so let's throw the entire, you know, kitchen sink and everything else at you.

Angie Mcpherson: And so I, you know, I still deal with a lot of side effects. And so I'm, I'm really. People who reach out to me, people will send me DMs like, I found you via a hashtag. I found you, and you know, I'm on the, I'm on the other end of what I needed in the beginning. And so I'm sending out pieces of things in the mail.

Angie Mcpherson: I'm sending gift cards to people. I'm sending, you know, welcome packages. And so it's really opened up a part of my life that I really wasn't in, you know, focused in before, before it was like business. Mom life, let's do this. And now I'm just like, how can I help you get through this? How can I help you feel stronger?

Angie Mcpherson: You know, what questions can I, can I answer? So it's opened up this [00:19:00] whole other, other world of support. 

Nikita Williams: Yeah. So to the support piece, you know, it's interesting. When that all happened, it's so, it's so funny how, like, I feel like we're all like connected by strings at times, like community wise, like there's people in our world that go through something and then the, the, something is helping someone closer than you think it's helping.

Nikita Williams: And I had a client who was diagnosed with breast cancer and. It was like anything, a shock, because we have been told that, you know, cancer doesn't happen to young people. It happens to, you know, anyone 40 and above. That's why we only get mammograms then, right? And so it was one of the things I was like, well, I know someone, I knew several people, but you had just gone through like the big shock and she found it the same way you did with my chart.

Nikita Williams: Yeah. Like, Oh 

Angie Mcpherson: gosh, my chart. 

Nikita Williams: Right. And it was, yeah, it was like a beautiful thing because she's like, I was, [00:20:00] what you expressed about being able to go and see like, oh, kind of more expectation management of what to expect during things are going. She also felt that way by looking at what you were going through and she wasn't open to like looking at hashtags that would felt like super overwhelming.

Nikita Williams: Yeah, 

Angie Mcpherson: it can be. 

Nikita Williams: Yeah, but for her, it was like, I'm so glad you just know these like one or two women that I and you already kind of. Know their personality that they wouldn't like. I wouldn't feel a certain way. And I think that's the power of story. And I think that's the power of community. I think it's the power of vulnerability as scary as it can be, you know, 

Angie Mcpherson: for sure, for sure.

Angie Mcpherson: And you're right. It is that story. And our stories can change over, you know, the course of time. My story, you know, two years ago is Was very different than what it is now. And we just have to know that we all have a story to tell and, you know, share what we're [00:21:00] comfortable with and that that story can really impact somebody else's life.

Angie Mcpherson: I've had multiple people message me over the past couple of years and say, I, um, you know, I finally did a self check, you know, I saw that you were diagnosed and I'm the same age as you. And I never thought to do a self check and I did it. And I found out I have cancer. And so it's just like, it's just blows my mind.

Angie Mcpherson: You know, I wish I had checked sooner. I wish I had checked, I wish I went to the doctor as soon as I felt it instead of waiting a couple of weeks, because I always live with, if I would have found this earlier, maybe it wouldn't have hit the lymph node and maybe I wouldn't have. To do chemo and maybe I wouldn't have this high risk that it comes back.

Angie Mcpherson: It's just like, I want people, I want a part of my story to tell other, to be, to tell other people, like, if you feel something that's wrong, like, go to the doctor, like, check yourself out, like, don't sit here and be prideful and. It's scary, but you've got to do things scared. Like, and [00:22:00] I, I, you know, I do that every time I do a PET scan or a CT scan, like, yeah, the active, you know, the cancer, the tumors are out, but gosh, every time I go to get a scan, you might as well have just told me I had cancer.

Angie Mcpherson: Like it is so they, they call it scan anxiety, like the anxiety. It's so real because I've been through this before I've been, I've had scans before when I first was diagnosed, I had these scans and they're like, okay, here's your cancer writing, you know, right in the picture. And so it's like, every time that dad on my chart message come,

Angie Mcpherson: before it, before I even open it, you might've, well, you might as well have told me that it's back. Like, and it's just, it's just, I don't know if that's ever going to stop. You know, I really try to do a lot of like, personal work to reduce that anxiety, but I tell you when that my chart result comes back, it [00:23:00] all goes away.

Angie Mcpherson: It all goes away. I've had to tell my doctors like, You know me, you know how anxious I get. I need you to call me, but even then Akita, when they call me, I'm like, why are they calling me? Oh no, this is going to be horrible. Like, I just always have that anxiety, but you just, you just got to do it scared. You got to do it scared because you know, what, what's going to happen is what's going to happen.

Angie Mcpherson: Whether you're. Whether you ignore it or not, you know, you've got to do it scared. I 

Nikita Williams: think that lesson of doing it scared. I think. The lesson of doing and scared and doing it, even when there's no line, like, what is the thing I'm trying to say? There is no perfect circumstance for anything. Like, I always think people are like, they're waiting for like the perfect time to post on social media or the perfect time to start eating better.

Nikita Williams: I'm like, there isn't ever going to be a perfect anything. Like, it just doesn't. Right. [00:24:00] And I think. When you are living and going through, once you've gone through something like this, your priorities change, right? Like the thoughts of things change. How has that changed for you when you look at life, your business, like your, your everything, like now that this is a part of where you are now?

Angie Mcpherson: For sure. For sure. You're right. I mean, in all aspects of life, it's like, okay, well, I'll start. This diet on Monday, or I'll start, you know, working on something new next week, or, you know, I want to do this, but I don't know if I'm ready, and I'm just like, my life is short. Life is so short. Like, I just, I look at life so differently now.

Angie Mcpherson: Before, I'd be like, okay, this has been my five year plan. This has been my 10 year plan. And now I'm just like, girl, you don't know if you're going to be here tomorrow. Like, and of course I can't do everything now, even though I have an Enneagram 3 and I want to do everything now. [00:25:00] I know that I can't, but I can make these like baby steps.

Angie Mcpherson: I can, you know, I can make these needlepoint moves to where I want to be in five years or 10 years. I don't have to, you know, jump into something brand new, but I, I'm not going to shy away if there's something. That's going to help me get there. 

Nikita Williams: Yeah. So I want to talk about how this is like showing up in your business now.

Nikita Williams: I know like living with any kind of chronic illness. It's chronic and cancer, you know, we don't, people don't think about cancer as being chronic. They think about it like, Oh, you get a treatment. It is different, but still the same because there's still this ongoing. Like you said, there's still this ongoing thing that you're doing to try to make sure.

Nikita Williams: And there's constant checks and all these things. How are you balancing? I hate using that word. Cause you know, I hate that. How are you finding like [00:26:00] flow? Really? How are you finding flow with, okay, there's side effects to these medications. There's energy stuff. I also taking care of these things. I have a business that you love.

Nikita Williams: How are you finding your flow with 

Angie Mcpherson: all of that? You know, my calendar and my time was very important to me. I probably like the number one app on like my phone probably used to be Instagram, but now it is my calendar. Like I have to make sure things. are lighting up correctly. So I know in advance, you know, I, I get a shot of my stomach every 28 days for the next couple of years, just as part of my ongoing treatment.

Angie Mcpherson: And so I know how I feel the next 48 hours after that shot. So I know every month on whatever day it is, I need to block out my schedule. the next two days after that shot, because I'm not going to feel up to it. You know, so no branding shoots, no, you know, [00:27:00] maybe I could do a zoom call and I have to think about like, what can I do, you know, in that timeframe, I could probably hop on a zoom call, but I'm not going to go out and shoot a three hour branding shoot the day after I have one of my treatments.

Angie Mcpherson: And so I, and, and so just like, My doctor's appointments. I still have quite a few doctor's appointments, you know, even per week. And so I'm like, how can I make sure that I'm not going to the doctor? I had a horrible grasp on this when I was first diagnosed because I had my whole calendar year set already.

Angie Mcpherson: And I had to fit in these appointments and surgeries and things like that. And so that first year it was horrible. I was like going to the doctor, going to a different doctor every single day. Coming home, doing a Zoom call, doing a branding shoot, and I'm like I've got to get this together. I've got to be able to Have one day where I'm just not working.

Angie Mcpherson: I'm going to this doctor at 9am, this doctor at 11am, meeting a friend for lunch at 12 o'clock and then this doctor at 2pm, like I can't do every day going to the doctor because I'm never going to be in a flow of running my business. [00:28:00] My business is always going to be secondary. But if I tell myself Tuesdays are for appointments.

Angie Mcpherson: That's what it is. And I know I don't work on Tuesdays, you know, I'm going to work Monday, Wednesday. And if I know that, you know, like I said, the 20th day of the month, I'm getting a shot of my stomach and I always try to make it on Thursday. So because Friday, I like to have a casual Friday. So maybe I'll answer some emails, maybe I'll do, you know, things like that, but I'll usually like try to go to the movies by myself or my kids are at school or meet someone for lunch.

Angie Mcpherson: And so I'm like, okay, I need to, I need to match up my shot in the stomach days on a Thursday. So that I can rest on Friday and relax. And not doing work. And so I'm just very particular about my calendar, which is goodness bad, because if something goes off, I'm like, ah, like this is how it's supposed to be.

Angie Mcpherson: But that really ever happens because I, I'm really good with, with scheduling. But that, that's how I stay in the state of flow with my business. I give myself dedicated. Business hours to show up, to content [00:29:00] create, to connect with people. And then some days I need to set for appointments and even just like not even the physical part of going out to the doctor.

Angie Mcpherson: Every, you know, certain parts of the day on one day, like I know my mindset that day is going to be weak. Like going to the doctor, talking about reoccurrence rates and percentages and this, this and that. I don't want to be working on business that day. I just want to give myself the time to be like, this suck.

Angie Mcpherson: And then the next day I'm back to business and I moved on. And so, yeah, I just, I just really, really, you tell people like just being in control of your calendar, like prioritize what needs to be prioritized, give yourself some white space, give yourself some time for self care and, you know, just, just do it that way.

Nikita Williams: Yeah. I think it's so good that you talk about this as something that I constantly, like I'm constantly telling my clients, like, it is a not about if, but it's You are going to have a doctor's appointment. It's not about if you're going [00:30:00] to feel crappy. It's not about if you're going to feel like it is going to happen.

Nikita Williams: So plan for it. Like it's, it, and don't beat yourself up for having to plan for it because that is life right now. And you can still create what you want and still have kind of, you don't, I hate the thought of You, you don't have to be limited in what you're able to, to do, unless you choose to be limited.

Nikita Williams: And I know that's hard to say when 

Angie Mcpherson: you're like, but 

Nikita Williams: girl, I have like 10 appointments to go to. And I have, you know, chemo ain't no joke, radiation ain't no joke, these chronic illnesses that come because of those situations, look, those are things that definitely mess with us, but we still can create the business that works for us.

Nikita Williams: For us right now. Right. And I think that's the power of what you're saying is like, yeah, there's going to be all those [00:31:00] things and I can still choose, right? 

Angie Mcpherson: Right. And, and is the key word. It doesn't have to be an or, you know, can I run a business or do I need to deal with XYZ? Like you can, you can do both.

Angie Mcpherson: You can plan to do both. And I just had to learn that the hard way because that first year was rough. It was rough because I, I've always been a stickler for my calendar. That's nothing new. But I had, I had planned out that whole year. I had trips, I had photo shoots scheduled. I had launches for my educational horses and I'm like, all right, I gotta, I gotta fit this new life into what I'm already doing.

Angie Mcpherson: And it was, it was really rough. So now I plan way in advance. Do you, 

Nikita Williams: do you find, so that's interesting. Do you find that when that happened, you realized how much you didn't plan for you? Oh, a hundred 

Angie Mcpherson: percent. Yes. I put everybody else [00:32:00] in front of me. My kids, my husband, like I put everybody else in front of me.

Angie Mcpherson: And that really, that whole year really forced me to put me first and just, you know, put my health first, put my mental health first. Cause man, my mental health was. A mess. It was a mess. And so yeah, I, I, I gave myself lots of time for me, even if that time is like getting up at 5am before the kids get up and just having quiet time, coffee, you know, reading a devotional, maybe even checking a couple emails.

Angie Mcpherson: Like I, I, I still do that. Because man, it's like when you, when these kids gets up, it's all about them. It's all about them. And it should be because they're kids that they can't do much for themselves, you know? So I'm like, okay, that's fine. I'm going to pick the end. It's not going to be them or me. It's going to be both, you know, all of us [00:33:00] and I'm going to get my time.

Angie Mcpherson: And so I hate getting up early. I hate it. But as soon as I'm up, my gosh, it feels so good. Like I get up and I'm just like, all right, like the alarm will go off and I'll be hating life. But as soon as I'm like up and downstairs with the drink, I'm like, man, I get to take on the world. And I have a good 90 minutes if I'm lucky, 90 minutes or two hours.

Angie Mcpherson: Before these sweet little angels get up and I turn into a whole other person.

Angie Mcpherson: Yeah, you got to give 

Nikita Williams: yourself time. Yeah. And you know, I think that is something, if anything, if you haven't had a life altering health condition or something COVID should have taught us all. Hmm. That we need to make more space for us and, and these businesses that we're growing so that we can truly live the life we really wanted to have when we started the business.

Nikita Williams: Yeah. You know, I think it's the reality of that. [00:34:00] I had Julie Paisley on the show a while ago and love her. I love her too. And she had a similar. Experience of being like, I realized I was trying to build a whole empire that rested on my shoulders and I didn't include myself in it.

Angie Mcpherson: Right? Right? Oh boy. Yeah. So I 

Nikita Williams: think it's really powerful for us to have those conversations because I think social media, like as much as we love social media, social media puts this glitz and glam on so much we don't see. Of real life and got to talk like we got to talk about like, yeah, real life is you got to be included in this journey, right?

Nikita Williams: You got to make space for you. Yeah. I like to say a lot of space. 

Angie Mcpherson: Oh, I like that. You are 

Nikita Williams: the space. Everything [00:35:00] is going to fit around you, you know, right? 

Angie Mcpherson: And you got to take up space to exactly. Yeah. 

Nikita Williams: I love that. So what are you looking forward to as far as. This new season. Of life, 

Angie Mcpherson: you know, I, I want to say it.

Angie Mcpherson: I 

Nikita Williams: feel like it's going to be 

Angie Mcpherson: a breakthrough year and I, it scares me to say that because I tried saying that and whoo, so it literally like just that those words coming out of my mouth. I'm like quivering. I'm like, like, Lord, please, 

Nikita Williams: please just don't pull the rug 

Angie Mcpherson: out for me, you know, because I, I feel like 2020 was, Like, The pandemic and that was a mess and then.

Angie Mcpherson: 2021 was cancer, and I was also homeschooling my oldest because I wasn't comfortable putting him back into school yet. And then 2022, I'm just like, you know, I was getting my head above water, like, okay, you [00:36:00] know, treatment after treatment is done, let me start to adjust to this new medication. Let me adjust to, you know, getting help with, you know, one kid going to preschool, the other kid going back to school, like, I'm just adjusting to 2023, I'm just like, alright.

Angie Mcpherson: Like I am here. I'm going to pull out all the dreams that I had before all this mess. I'm going to think bigger. I'm going to get more help in my business. I just hired a VA a couple of weeks ago. And so she's been working in my business. I'm like, this is the breakthrough year that I haven't had the past three years.

Angie Mcpherson: And I don't want it to just be like this breakthrough year. I want it to be. a conglomeration of the past three years that should have been a breakthrough year, like I want to text everything. And so I'm just really gotten Akita. It's just. It's so weird to say it because it's like, I get all excited and then I do have that back of my back of my head, like, girl, like, humble yourself just a little bit.[00:37:00] 

Nikita Williams: You know, that's your nervous system doing the thing that it does to try to protect you from what that has meant in the past. But it also, you know, I like to think about, Angie, I like to think about because When you get hit with chronic stuff, when you get hit with a health thing, you shift your whole nervous system straight up shifts into like thinking survival on all of the levels, not just physically, but also like financially, emotionally, like it shifts.

Nikita Williams: Yes, right. But when you kind of get over those humps, it's hard sometimes for us to like. We have to like retrain that nervous system, be like, you know what, we're not at that pinnacle anymore. 

Angie Mcpherson: And 

Nikita Williams: yeah, it's like, okay, we have, you know, we, we, we, you know, this is going to be a breakthrough year, but we go, 

Angie Mcpherson: okay, we'll be like, we, okay.

Nikita Williams: So [00:38:00] I think the women that have come to really appreciate and learn from over my years of living with chronic illness, their breakthrough years always included. A somatic one, like a healing with their body, the conversation of like the love on the deeper level of how that mind body connection is there has just been a huge part of that.

Nikita Williams: So I'll be excited to hear how that's part of your journey. And this break. Yeah. 

Angie Mcpherson: Yeah. It's going to be a breakthrough and it really is not, you know, I'm just being real. Like I do have those fears and anxieties in the back of my mind. I'm not even going to shy away from that. It's going to be great and everything.

Angie Mcpherson: No, I still worry that something is going to pull. The rug out from under me, but I'm more prepared now because I've gone through it, I'm definitely more prepared. And that's, that's all I can do is to work for my own version of success and [00:39:00] to, you know, give myself lots of grace and to just pray about it and be faithful that, you know, amazing things are on the horizon.

Angie Mcpherson: And that, you know, I'm taken care of no matter what, no matter what comes my way. So yeah, the best I can do, best I can do. 

Nikita Williams: I love that. So what's one thing or not one thing, what are three things, you know, always like the threes, three things that, what are three pieces of advice you would give to someone who one is headed into their breakthrough year or who is headed out or into their overcoming year?

Nikita Williams: Right. 

Angie Mcpherson: Mm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Let me, let me think. And let me also give myself the advice that I'm going to give.

Angie Mcpherson: You know, I would say to get a support system for sure, because you have literally [00:40:00] had the weight on your shoulders of, you know, of whatever you've gone through and it's time to, to pull off. The wait wherever you can, you know, that can be in your business by hiring help. That can be with your kids by, you know, getting a babysitter, signing them up for preschool or some type of camp.

Angie Mcpherson: It could be in your home by taking off things off of your plate, whether that's a spouse or your kids, can they do stuff or whether you hire somebody to come in once a month and do a deep clean. I mean, just wherever in your own personal life you feel that weight, where can you, where can you get some help?

Angie Mcpherson: That's, that's one tip of advice that I've really, I've really done a good job of the past couple months because I'm, I'm the type of person, I want to do everything myself. Like I hate to say, but I'm kind of a control freak. Like I just know if I do it, it's going to get done well. It's really hard for me to ask for help.

Angie Mcpherson: It's hard for me to [00:41:00] To ask for help. Cause I, I don't know, that's, that's something I need to work out in there because I don't, I don't like asking people to watch my kids. I don't like, you know, outsourcing side of my business, but I just, you just gotta do it, I can't do everything. You can't do everything.

Angie Mcpherson: You have to let some stuff go. You know, I had my. Youngest at home for a long time before I put him in preschool because I just had this like this prideful, Oh, I can do it all. I can work during nap time. No girl. No, no, you, you can, you can try, but you're not going to hit that version of success that you want by just.

Angie Mcpherson: chasing something the whole time. You have to be more, you know, aggressive and assertive in things. And if that's having a dedicated four hour workday, then your kid needs to go somewhere. That's what I had to tell myself. And so number one, definitely getting a support system. Number two, I would say to, you know, just be [00:42:00] comfortable with, with sharing because a lot of breakthroughs.

Angie Mcpherson: in life and in business can come from, like we said, these conversations and building relationships and pouring into other people. I've made so many friends, you know, in the cancer world, in the survivorship world by sharing, and they have made such an impact in my life and have probably contributed to a couple of different breakthroughs in my own life.

Angie Mcpherson: So definitely don't be afraid to share, you know, what you're comfortable with. Third would be Just to give yourself grace, like, don't be hard on yourself. It's tough. This stuff is really tough and it's completely cracked me open. I cry very easily now for good stuff and bad stuff. Like I, you know, I don't, I don't say I'm a sensitive person, like things don't really bother me, but I can be an emotional person.

Angie Mcpherson: Like. If somebody said something really nice, it's not unlike me to cry a little bit and be [00:43:00] like, thank you. And before it wasn't like that, I'm like, Oh girl, thanks. You know, I did the best I can. And now I'm like, Oh, you saved me. Oh my gosh. And so just give yourself some grace. You know, you're going to have some mindset shifts.

Angie Mcpherson: You're going to have some behavioral shifts, some emotional shifts. And, you know, you, you can be hard on yourself. These, these things are already hard already. Like, why add to the hard? Like, just don't be hard on yourself. Yes. Yeah.

Nikita Williams: I, I so appreciate you saying those are like, probably the three things I would say to like, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's. And Angie, I will say this about being like on the side, very far side of this journey of watching you and you see you share it. I, I have lived with chronic illness for 14 and a [00:44:00] half years and I have been inspired by you.

Nikita Williams: Oh, and so I am just like. When I think about so many, there's so many people going through so many different things and some people are like, yeah, it's just a business. But when you love a business and you love, like that's a part of you, like it's, it's not like a, again, it's not a this or that. It's like, how can I still bring this joy into my life, even when I'm going through like the worst situation ever.

Nikita Williams: And I. Felt that joy coming from you when you would show up, even though it was like hard, like it, it exuded out of you, even though it was the hardest time of your, your life in a way. Like I felt that and other people felt that, and I just thank you for sharing your story. Cause I think it opens the way for so many more people to see and feel heard and feel seen and.

Nikita Williams: Not only that, just be like, it's [00:45:00] okay to be vulnerable in this place. And it's also okay that if you choose to still work a business, it doesn't mean that you are like sacrificing your health, your addicts, for some of us, this is the way we 

Angie Mcpherson: get through. Right, exactly. Exactly. Like I said, I, I needed to be active.

Angie Mcpherson: I needed to communicate with people. I needed to, to go along life as similarly as I could. I didn't want to just shy away. Like I needed to know your life is not over. It's not, you're, you're still going to be able to do what you love and you have to do that by doing it. You have to be active and doing it.

Angie Mcpherson: And I'm inspired by you, the way that you show up, the way that you help so many people. I mean, 14 years, like you've been dealing with chronic illness and. You, you continue to just constantly show up to constantly help people to have these conversations. Like, I am very, very inspired by you. 

Nikita Williams: [00:46:00] Girl, we ain't going to be crying 

Angie Mcpherson: on this thing right now.

Angie Mcpherson: I just told you I'm emotional.

Nikita Williams: Okay. Okay. So you have something really cool coming up, which is a retreat. Tell us a little bit about that. It's happening in May. 

Angie Mcpherson: Yes. So I have been wanting to do. So I'm a branding photographer. I've been wanting to get people in person to do a retreat, like workshop style, retreat style for years. I mean, I literally launched a wait list for it in March of 2020.

Angie Mcpherson: And I was like, I picked a location, here's the waitlist, I had everything ready. And then like five days later, the pandemic hit. I'm like, okay, next year. All right, I'm gonna do it. We're back to being comfortable with being in person? Nope. Answer. And so this year, I finally put it out there, I've already booked the house, I already have a couple people signed up, and I am just like, I'm ready to get back in person with other people.

Angie Mcpherson: Thank you. Business owners talking business, [00:47:00] talking life, staying up late, you know, eating snacks, like just really, that is where I find the most growth for me. You know, I've invested in digital products and courses and memberships and masterminds. And the most growth that I get is when I'm in a small.

Angie Mcpherson: Hype knit community, and we are just pouring into each other, and I am excited to facilitate that with my own community. That's gonna 

Nikita Williams: be so awesome. Well, y'all, I'm excited. If you wanna connect with Angie , how can they 

Angie Mcpherson: find you? Yes, you can go to my website, angie mcpherson.com, and then I'm big on the Instagrams.

Angie Mcpherson: And that is Angie, Janine. So Angie, and then Janine is spelled j a n i n e. That's my middle name. 

Nikita Williams: And we'll have all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for coming and do this. This has been 

Angie Mcpherson: awesome. Thank you for having me. 

OUTRO: That's a wrap y'all. Thanks for tuning in to craft it to thrive the podcast that helps [00:48:00] entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at@craftedtothrive.com for this episode, show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram at Thrive with Nikita for more tips and behind-the-scenes and more. Tag me to share what you loved about this episode and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.