Courtney Elmer’s Journey to Successfully Empowering Entrepreneurs and Gaining Her Voice Back

Pamela Bardhi: Hello Everyone, and welcome to the Underdog podcast. Today I have an incredible guest here with me. Courtney, how are you?

Courtney Elmer: I am awesome, Pamela. Thank you for having me.

Pamela Bardhi: Thank you so much for being here. I was literally just getting on Zoom, and I see your beautiful radiant light. and your beautiful energy there, and you’ve got this gorgeous background. I’m just like, I can’t wait to meet this woman.

Courtney Elmer: So kind of you to say. It truly is an honor to be here with you today. I’m so excited for our conversatio.  because I know we’re going to dig into some good stuff.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. And in reading your bio, I’m like, my goodness, she’s so amazing. Where do we even start?

Courtney was diagnosed with thyroid cancer just weeks before her wedding

Pamela Bardhi: But I have a place where I think we could start. because I really want to know what inspired you on your journey to where you are today. Courtney.

Courtney Elmer: Yeah. So I got to take you back ten years. Step back in time with me. This was the summer of 2013, and I had just gotten married to the love of my life. We had spent nine months planning our wedding. It was the perfect fairytale wedding. 

Every last detail fell into place. Couldn’t have asked for better. And a couple of weeks prior to the wedding, I had gotten really sick. where I had sinus symptoms, your typical congestion, sore throat, fatigue. Wasn’t feeling so hot, and I was in bed for a couple of days. Had to miss work. 

So I called my doctor, and I said, look, I’ve got this stuff going on. My wedding is in a couple of weeks. Can I come in and just have you check me out. make sure there’s not something serious going on? Yeah, come on in. Thinking he would just write me some kind of steroid or prescription right. And take that and be on my way.

 So I went in, and he’s like, you know what? Let’s run some test while you’re here. Just do a workup. make sure everything’s good. and we’ll do a follow up whenever you get back from your honeymoon. Said, okay, great. So had the wedding went on our honeymoon. came home and was sitting in the doctor’s office two days after we got home from our honeymoon. 

And my husband was still off of work, so he was there with me. and my, doctor knocks, and he walks into the room, and he looks at me. he says, courtney, so we got your test results back, and  this falls beyond the scope of my expertise. So I’m going to transfer your case over. to another doctor in our practice who handles this sort of thing. She’s here today. I’ll introduce you.

 She’ll be here in just a moment. Really came out of left field. What is going on? So the doctor walks in, she sits down. she looks at me and she said, courtney, you have thyroid cancer. And when I tell you, Pamela, my life, my world stopped in that instant. And then things started moving quickly. 

And she said, Good news is very treatable. Bad news, yours has started to spread. You’re the youngest patient I have ever had to diagnose with7 this. I’ve cleared a spot for you on my surgery schedule next Monday. We’ve got to do surgery immediately. and we’ll talk about next steps from there.

 And I can just remember sitting there under that horrible fluorescent light. holding my new husband’s hand, thinking about these vows we just said, in sickness and in health. Not knowing where this was going to go.so went through surgery, radiation recovery. And that was the first time in my life that I had to slow down and stop and think. because prior to that, I was climbing the corporate ladder. 

By all the world standards, I was successful. I had the luxury car, had the nice job, had my own desk. I had responsibilities at work. and I was moving up and going places, and I thought that was my path. But when I was home recovering, I just remember this sense.

 Can’t say it was a voice. I can’t say it was a clear message. It was just a sense that the work I was doing in the world. wasn’t the work I was supposed to be doing in the world. I didn’t know what else to do. But that was when I started thinking about, if I were to do something differently, what would it be?

And so I started looking at what were the gifts and talents that I had. that essentially I was letting go to waste, that I wasn’t using. Then I started thinking about how could I better utilize those to make this life count? Because this is going to sound so cliche. I know how cliche this sounds. When you get hit with a diagnosis like that. suddenly you realize how short and how fragile life really is.

Pamela Bardhi: I can only imagine. And I think that it’s in those moments that you really figure out what really matters. First off, health is your wealth. That is, above all things, the most important thing. because nobody can get that back. Once you lose it, it’s very hard to climb up. And then next is really evaluating what’s really important. 

When you I say this, and people say that I’m sometimes morbid because of this. but I’m like, what motivates me is the fact that I don’t ever want to be on my deathbed one day. and say, like, I wish I did this.

Courtney Elmer:  Yeah. That scares I don’t think it’s morbid. I think that’s a reality. Yeah.

Pamela Bardhi: It scares the crap out of you. When I fast forward to that. I went to a retreat one time and they made us write our eulogy. And I was like, oh, my God. When you’re in the face of potentially that or thinking about that.

 I feel like it motivates you in a way that you’re just never going to. you don’t ever look at anything the same ever again. because you’re just like we are limited here. and we really don’t know how much time we have.

So we put such an emphasis on this. So I can only imagine. Thank you so much for sharing that story. I cannot imagine what that was like. but I see the radiance and the courage in you. and it’s just absolutely beautiful and I just man, just speechless. 

Pamela says thinking about mortality can help you think differently about life

Courtney Elmer: Thank you for know it’s funny you mentioned the thing about the eulogy. I just want to share this real quick. I was driving my son to camp yesterday and we passed by. and down here in New Orleans we’re below sea level. which means that we cannot bury in the ground. 

So when someone passes away, they cannot be buried in the ground. So if you’ve ever seen pictures of New Orleans cemeteries. it’s like these little tombs that stand above the ground where all of the dead get buried. And some of these pictures are actually really beautiful. You should look them up, google New Orleans cemeteries just to see what that looks like.

 But of course we’re down here, we just drive around and they’re everywhere. You just drive past them. But literally yesterday I’m driving my son to camp. and we pass straight by one of these cemeteries. and it’s one of the better known ones. They have these huge monuments and different things. as we pass I’d never noticed this before. but I noticed this bench. 

Almost as if like just a little park bench sitting there. And I’m sure they must, I assume, have these scattered know. So if you’re going to visit your loved ones, you can sit, you can ponder. And I had the thought pamela, this is going to sound totally nuts.

 but I had the thought, you know, it would be really interesting to just go sit there one day. and just think about how limited we actually are. and to just spend some time reflecting on that and actually getting in touch with our own mortality. It’s something none of us want to do. We don’t want to think about the end. 

But to your point, gosh, if we do have that end. we all know it’s inevitable. How can we make this life matter? And it lights a fire under your ass. I mean it really just gets you like, okay, the small stuff falls away suddenly. 

The fact that someone honked at you on the way to Whole Foods this morning. it doesn’t matter anymore. The little stuff just has this way of falling away. and it’s just got this way of once you see it, you can’t unsee it. You’ve got a new perspective, and you can’t think differently. because now you’ve seen what this path is that you’re actually on.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely, Courtney. That was super powerful, and you’re absolutely correct. We are limited. And that’s the thing. when do you want to find out? On your deathbed, or you want to start doing something about it? Now? And with you, what I love is how you’ve handled the news with such grace and was able to bounce back. 

Even in your recovery, you’re thinking about, what work am I doing. and how is it impacting the world? You’re not saying, like, woe is me. Playing the victim mentality and all of that stuff. because we can get tied in that very easily. especially when it comes to health issues. 

Because sometimes it becomes our identity at the end of the day. But you didn’t allow that, which I love. and instead, you almost powered it through thought. and said, okay, how am I going to use this to really make some impact in the world? Because you felt that inside, that you’re like, what I was doing before just wasn’t working. Here’s what’s next for me.

Pamela: Tell us about your transition from recovery to business

Pamela Bardhi: So I’d love to hear a little bit about the journey from recovery to transition into what you’re doing now. because I think it’s absolutely incredible what you’ve done.

Courtney Elmer: Thank you. Well, I wish I could say it was all wonderful and easy. and the path just unfolded before me that. would have been great, but it wasn’t, like, at all. And honestly, there were some dark moments there where in my recovery. I didn’t have answers, and that was difficult.

 I am like your classic type A, want to have a plan, want to have it mapped out. let’s go check the boxes type of person. And I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have answers. I didn’t even have arrows pointing me in a direction, I was asking these big questions. and I was pondering all of this stuff. but I didn’t have that path. 

Like, suddenly just the red carpet rolled out. and it’s like, Here you go. Walk this way. so what I did was I went back to corporate. I, wish I could say that that was the turning point. and I started my business, and the rest is history. But I didn’t start my business right away because I was afraid. I was afraid. 

So I went back to my comfort zone and doing what I felt capable of doing. But that voice wouldn’t leave me alone at this point. It was a voice, It wasn’t just a sense. It wasn’t just a little whisper, It was like, Courtney, come on, wake up. What are you doing? What are you doing? So it took me a couple of years to actually make the leap. 

The thing that caused me to make the leap was complete and total emotional abuse in the workplace, terrible environment. And I just got fed up with it. I’m like, you know what? I am not dealing with this anymore. Looking back now, I think it all happened for a reason. Because it was the thing that got me out the door. and just kind of kicked me out of there and got myself on my way. 

So I’m grateful that that happened. But starting a business, I’d never done that before. I mean, my best friend, when we were seven years old. set up a little card table and sold pine cones to passers by. Who would want to buy pine cones, of all things? We lived in the country and we had this beautiful huge pine tree that would drop these enormous pine cones. 

And my best friend’s mother one day was like, you should sell that. People would decorate like, their fireplaces with that. and you can scent them with cinnamon for Christmas times. Of course, me and my friend were like, let’s do it. We never sold a single pine cone. But other than that, I didn’t have any business experience. 

So I’m like, I got this online business. Oh, okay, I can set up a website, I’ll put together something. I can just start coaching people and teaching them what I know. Which at that point had no coaching training. I had no background, really, in psychology to speak of at that point. didn’t know what I didn’t know and very quickly realized. what did I get myself into?

This is hard, this is crazy. And for those of you listening and Pamela. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Dunning Kruger effect. but Dunning and Kruger were two researchers and psychologists. who discovered that when we set out to do something new. we’re the most confident we’ll ever be. And our ego gets in there and is having a field day. It’s like, yeah, I got this. 

This is going to be great. Then suddenly we realize we don’t know anything. and we fall into what they call the pit of despair. where, we’re like, this sucks, I’m terrible, I’m not enough. This is going to be horrible. I better just throw in the towel now. 

But if we stick with it long enough, eventually we’ll reach that point where we realize what I’m learning? I’m growing, I’m changing I’m evolving and that’s okay. And I’m okay with not having it all figured out. And I am capable, I have learned a lot. I can keep going, I can do this. so we choose to stay in the game.

Courtney says using her voice has been consistent throughout her business

Courtney Elmer: This is like the journey of all entrepreneurs. If you’re at one of these points in the journey and you’re laughing right now. because you’re like, yeah, that sounds familiar, I’ve been there too. And so for me, setting out on this journey to build a business, I thought it would be easy. I thought it would be nice. 

Just set up your website, open it up, put a buy button on know. and suddenly you would have people walking through the door. But online business is totally different than setting up your ice cream shop on the corner. Or rather, here in New Orleans, I should say, our little beignet and coffee shop on the corner. in a busy intersection in the shopping district and having foot traffic. just walk in because they smell the beignets and they smell so delicious.

 And so online business, what most people don’t realize is. when you get into it, you have got to build your network. You’ve got to put your sign out there. You got to drive the traffic, You got to convert the traffic. You got to deliver to the traffic. And you’ve got to wear all of these hats. It’s exhausting and it’s grueling. 

And you might wake up one day and think, why am I doing this? It’s easier to just work for someone else. Let them deal with the headache of growing the business. and I can just do my thing, whatever I’m good at, right? Using those talents. But for me, going back to that time in recovery. I knew that two of my gifts are, writing and speaking. I wasn’t using either of those things. 

But this didn’t become obvious to me until I was sitting in this conference one day. Small group of people. Wasn’t a huge conference, but woman who was talking, I remember her. She was standing up there, She was talking about this book she had written. She was talking about overcoming all this adversity that she had faced in her life. and how she got this message about how she needed to be using her voice in the world. 

as I was reflecting on all of this, I’m journaling about this after the fact. And very clearly, I write in my journal two words write, speak. it became so clear to me in that moment that these were the things that I have been gifted with. and wasn’t doing anything with that I needed to be using in some way. Like you said earlier, I didn’t want to live with that regret of not using those.

 But I also didn’t know exactly how to go about writing and speaking. But all throughout my journey, that has been a consistent message. And what’s so interesting is that as this path of business has unfolded here. almost seven years now at this, that has consistently been the thing that I come back to.

 And all marketing and sales tactics and email funnels and all of those things aside. I think what’s gotten me to where I am now. is staying connected to that deeper purpose. and using my voice in some way to bring about positive change in the world. Because when I was nine years old. I can remember this like it was yesterday, standing in the kitchen, mouthing off to something at my mom. She’s there washing dishes.

 And I was opinionated, I was sassy, and I was going to let you know it. And that was just me. That was my personality. My mom would put me in my place, and rightfully. so, for whatever reason, this day, she turns, she looks at me, the dish is like, dripping water everywhere. she’s like, Courtney, go do your room. Your mouth is what gets you in trouble. 

She had just been so fed up at that point, right, Pamela? I remember walking down we had this long hallway to walk down this long hallway to get to my room. I remember walking down this hallway and for whatever reason that day, I internalized that message. And for the next 20 years, I didn’t use my voice, would talk, but I didn’t use my voice. 

And in doing so, gave my power away. So this message of write and speak was something that terrified me when I first received that message. but something that as I’ve grown and stepped more fully into the person. that I believe I’ve been created to be. this message has been the thing that has pulled me through.

Pamela Bardhi: I, absolutely love that.

Courtney was bullied when she was in middle school, which triggered PTSD

Pamela Bardhi: Courtney oh my goodness. Well, there’s a couple of things. One thing really stuck out of me. When you know, you internalized it, we don’t realize how many wounds that our inner child holds. until we’re faced with it. Until we recognize, oh crap, this thing triggers me. Why? 

then you dig deep into the psychology and neuroscience. and you realize it’s rooted back to something in your childhood. that happened to you that you internalized. Probably didn’t even realize it, but it’s stuck in the back of your subconscious mind. and you have absolutely no idea that it exists, but it’s there. 

And then as an adult, when you have to face it, that can become quite terrifying. because you start freaking out and you don’t understand why. It is a healing process. So the fact that you were challenged with those two things. how did you maneuver past that and start that healing journey to kind of nip it in the butt and face it? 

Because me myself was bullied when I was in middle school. and I never realized how much it really affected me. Just went straight into subconscious mind trauma, whatever. Didn’t realize it until the last five years. How certain things turn into people pleasing. 

And it’s just crazy how it all intersects and connects and just healing journeys are so different. So I’d be interested to hear how that went for you and how that whole transition happened. Because it’s not easy. Healing is not fun.

Courtney Elmer: It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. I’m so glad you bring this up though. because it really does come down to these situations that we experience in our life. and what we make it mean about ourselves. So when my mom told me, courtney, your mouth is what gets you in trouble, go to your room. 

What I didn’t share was that prior to that, my mom and I’s relationship growing up was super tenuous. We were always at odds. And I never knew how to connect with my mom. And I didn’t feel connected to her. I knew that she loved me, she cared for me, she provided for me, she told me she loved me. 

But I didn’t feel that in the way that I, as little girl Courtney, needed to feel. so this was a wound that I harbored for so long. And as it related to the voice, the piece about the voice. I was afraid to use my voice. and in that moment decided that if I spoke up. if I mouthed off to my mom and told her what? I thought and gave her peace of my mind. then I would lose her love. because she was so disapproving of when I would speak in that way.

 So in order to earn her love and attention, and therefore to be lovable, I had to fit the mold. And that’s when I started fitting the mold. not being who I am made to be.  but who I thought I needed to be in order to try on some way. and all completely unconsciously earn the love and affection of my mom. because I deeply desired more than anything in the world feel connected to her. 

So therefore, I was willing to do anything it took. even if that meant giving my own boys away. That was how it manifested. You go back like my earliest Facebook video, please don’t do that. because first of all, it’s embarrassing. But these early videos, I am a different person. My voice is a good like four or five decibels higher than what you hear right now. 

And I was again fitting myself into a box to try to win the love and affection. and approval of the audience I was trying to build. Because what was I making it mean about myself. if I didn’t have their love and approval that I was unlovable?

 And it was that deeper fear of rejection that drove the early years of my business. Very unsuccessfully, I might add. I didn’t get anywhere. We thought it would be easy go to six figures. It took me a long time to break through that milestone.

One of the biggest risks of having your thyroid removed is having your vocal cord severed

Courtney Elmer: The other thing that’s really fascinating about this. as I’m sharing all these different facets of my story and my journey, write and speak. Thyroid cancer. The voice, my mother being unlovable. One of the biggest risks of having your thyroid removed is having your vocal cord severed. 

So when my doctor walked into when I woke up from anesthesia, she said, Courtney, hey, I’m here. It’s Dr. So and so. Can you say my name? And she wasn’t there to see if I had woken up. Okay. What she was doing was to make sure that I could speak.

Pamela Bardhi: Wow.

Courtney Elmer: so even more then was I just now, as I looked back. and reflected on all of this, I got a pass. Something could have gone wrong in that surgery, but it didn’t. So all the more reason for me to not sit on this and just let these gifts go to waste. it’s very powerful, our, beliefs, and the way that that manifests.

And only when you can cultivate the awareness to become more attuned to that. and how it plays out in your life will you be able to change it. That’s the hard part. The change is hard. The healing is hard. Yes. But my heart breaks for the people out there walking around right now who aren’t even aware. Awareness is such a gift.

Pamela Bardhi: It is, absolutely. And like you said earlier, when you see it, you can’t unsee it. Right?

Courtney Elmer: Totally.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s the whole crazy part about it is like, it’s stuck. It’s, like, printed in your brain and that’s know wow. My goodness.

Courtney says antifragility is about bouncing back from failure

Pamela Bardhi: and then taking it into your own entrepreneurial journey, which you said you’re like. it was so hard for me to get to six figures and kind of build up. But what were some of the biggest lessons that you learned throughout your journey. in building your business and really finding.

Courtney Elmer: Your voice, if you, absolutely. So I talk a lot about this idea of anti fragility. And if you follow anything that I do, if you follow my podcast. you’ll hear me talk about this. What does that mean, though? Courtney antifragile. I say that word, and people are like, oh, that’s interesting. but what is that? What does that mean? And it is not a term that I coined.

 This was a researcher who developed this by, the name of Naseem Taleb. And what he realized in his research was. there is really no direct opposite word for the word fragile in the English language. And he would ask people, he’s like, okay, if you were to describe the opposite of something that’s fragile. what would you say? People use words like robust or resilient. 

But he said, you know what? Looking at something that’s robust or resilient doesn’t get deep enough. because describing something that’s robust or resilient simply means that it can withstand pressure. it can withstand stress and chaos. but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to grow because of it. which is really important.

 And so something that’s antifragile actually takes the idea of resilience. which we talk a lot about in the business and entrepreneurial space, bouncing back from failure. It takes this idea of bouncing back a step further and actually growing because of the failure. That’s what antifragility means, growing through what you go through. and so my cancer journey is one point on my timeline. It’s a big point.

 There have been hundreds, if not, thousands of little ups and downs along the way as well. And in those little moments, I became really fascinated with this idea of failure in entrepreneurship. because let me tell you, I failed hard. For like the first five years of my business, I pivoted like 100 times. I never had a clear niche, I couldn’t define who I was here to serve. I wanted to help everybody with everything and I made every mistake in the book.

 But as, I look back now and as I’ve seen this golden thread start to emerge in everything that I do and the ethos of our company. and the heartbeat of what we do, it all goes back to this idea of antifragility. which is about how to better leverage and navigate the adversity that you face. not just resisting it and being like failure. No, I don’t want to fail. Or saying, oh shoot, I failed. Now what? Right? I’m a terrible person because I failed. and now I’m just going to throw in the towel. It’s about actually getting excited about failure.

 How can we look at failure differently? I mean, however many thousands of business podcasts that are out there all talking about how to succeed. but no one’s telling you how to fail. Well, because we’re going to fail. It’s going to happen. 

So that is what fascinates me and the work that I do and has all emerged from my own failures. from my own shortcomings, those 20 years that I gave my power away. by letting others claim the power of my voice, so to speak, no pun intended. And also just the many myriad failures of getting a business started. and off the ground and growing to where I can honestly say. even up until up about a year ago, it was still unclear. 

And I say unclear in that it has never been as clear as it is now. It’s always evolving. It’s always growing and changing. And I’m okay with that because guess what? This digital environment that we live in, it’s rapidly growing and evolving and changing. So even deeper than building a strong business or resilient business. or having your niche clearly defined, or making six figures or seven figures or perfecting your offer.

 What I’m interested in is how can we build antifragile businesses. that no matter what comes our way on our journey. whether it’s a curveball out of left field, something personal, something business related. a team member up and quits, you’re having to navigate all of this. 

And essentially for us, as entrepreneurs always say, we’re building the plane while we’re flying it. We know what that’s like. Like building this thing while we’re trying to grow it. It’s really about how can we better navigate the failures that we face the little stuff every day.

 Like the client who doesn’t show up for their call or that podcast interview. you sat down to do and suddenly it got changed to the last minute. or whatever it might be, to the big stuff, the big failures, where we invest.

Money and we lose the money, or where we make some big mistakes. that, kind of affect the way our image appears in the world. Affects our image, affects our ego. There’s a lot to be learned from failure. I don’t know if that answered your.

Pamela Bardhi: Question, but absolutely, I think that’s one of the biggest things that the world is so afraid to do. Oh, my God. What if I fail? What if you learn if you take the word fail with the word learn. and replace it with the word learn, it’s a whole different story. I’m like, Failure is just lessons. If it wasn’t for all of my failures, how would I know what I’m good at now? You wouldn’t.

Courtney Elmer: Right?

Pamela Bardhi: That’s just simple fact. So don’t be afraid to. And thank you for your open honesty to say. like, hey, I had a hard time clarifying what I wanted to do. because I, much like you, was in the same boat. Being in a very comfortable place in real estate development for ten years after owning two restaurants. doing a whole bunch of stuff, and knowing, like, hey, I could make a lot of money in this industry. or I could go build a team and do consulting and also coach people on how to invest in real estate.

 That stuff terrified me, too, because I was like, oh, my God, this is a totally unknown territory. but I know the world needs it. So it’s like challenging yourself and throughout those moments. learning so much along the way. 

That a lot of failures, but a lot of lessons that pivot you into the right position in the right place. because you’re right, we’re always evolving with time. We only grow. So it’s like you, think you knew who you were yesterday. Great. What about right? Absolutely.

Courney Elmer: Absolutely. You know what’s interesting is that someone asked me that question on a podcast interview recently. They said, So who is Courtney Elmer? I gave them this long know, and I think about it often, and it’s very simple. It’s just that mistakes are rich in information. That’s it. 

when we can embrace that and apply that, gosh. what a more enjoyable experience building this business would be? We could actually enjoy the process. and not be so focused on the outcome and not, procrastinate. and put off our life and our dreams and saying, well, I’ll relax when or I’ll take a breath when. or I’ll go on vacation when I hit six figures, seven figures, whatever it might be. But to actually enjoy the process in the moment. even if it unfolds differently than maybe you expected it.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely.

Courtney Elmer helps people find their voice through podcasting

Pamela Bardhi: And that kind of leads me to my next question for you, Courtney. and this is my favorite one is what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now? What is the one thing oh, gosh.

Courtney Elmer: That I love you even if no one else does. I love you. And I think that’s something that, for me, I needed to hear more when I was little. but I didn’t realize that I could be that person for myself. and I’m so grateful that I know that now.

Pamela Bardhi: I absolutely love that. Courtney, thank you so much for sharing. And, like, in your world, what is happening in the next few months? What’s happening in Courtney’s? World, life, business, whatever.

Courtney Elmer: Yeah. Right now, I’m doing the summertime juggle with my five year old. carting him to camp every day, working in the little windows of time that I can in between. But what we’re really excited about right now is actually a program that we’ve been running for years. but under the radar and going back to this whole thing about the voice and about podcasting. which literally having conversations with amazing people like you, Pamela. 

This is something I could do all day long, every day. It’s like it just time falls away, and I just get in the moment. and just have such rich conversations with people. I love it. I’m obsessed with it. so when I launched my podcast, we had really great results out the gate.

 We had over, like, 68 five star reviews come in within 48 hours of launching. and hit the charts, all these things. And people were reaching out, and they’re like, Courtney, how’d you do that? You tell me. I want to launch podcast. We’re like, yeah. I’ll tell you what I did. Here’s what I did. 

Eventually, I had so many people reaching out asking me that. I’m like, look, I’m going to put you guys in a group. We’re going to meet once a week for six weeks. I’m going to walk you through exactly what I did, and if it works for you, great. Fast forward six weeks. They all went out and applied this, launched their own shows. 

Some of them outranked Jenna Kutcher and Amy Porterfield. Some of them had the best month in sales in their business whenever they launched their podcast. with over 105 star reviews landing number 30 on the business charts. which was, like, super competitive. And I’m like, okay, maybe I’m onto something. 

But, then for three years, I pretty much resisted that that was the direction that I was being led. because I had all this other stuff that I had spent all this time building in my business. But as time has gone on, it has become clearer to me than ever that this is the work I’m here to do. 

I am here to help people learn how to embrace their voice, use their voice. and bring about positive change in the world. So we teach a program, and we have been, like I said, for years now. but now it’s becoming more front and center that we help people create, launch, and leverage top 1% podcasts. not just to generate leads or to bring about sales. have other monetization streaming their business. 

Yeah, it can do all those things. But more than that, to have a way to connect more guided about this. and about specifically bringing it more front and center, stop hiding it behind the scenes. Like, this is Courtney Elmer that everybody knows. Or systems and all these other things anti fragility and all this stuff. But no, this is actually the thing that I’m here to do. So it’s been exciting to see that unfold this year in a really big way.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that it’s the voice. Now you’re helping people find their voice, which is incredible. and that can be super powerful and build authentic business relationships. and just relationships in general with your audience. 

So I love that. Courtney, that’s so exciting. Oh, my gosh. The work that you’re doing is absolutely I just I adore you, your story. all that you’re up to in the world, genuinely like, you’re just a bright, radiant light in the world. and very lucky to have you and your voice. And now you’re helping others get there. So now you’ve got to let everyone know where to find you and your awesomeness.

Courtney Elmer: Yes. So I hang out on Instagram and LinkedIn. You can find me there at Courtney Elmer. I’m, the Courtney Elmer on Instagram. Courtney Elmer on LinkedIn and then my podcast. Anti fragile entrepreneurship. Whatever app you’re listening to right now, you can type it in, go find it. 

And I will mention this if you have anyone listening right now, pamela, who is interested in podcasting. I host a live workshop every once a month or so. It’s live. We do this on a perpetual basis, and this is purely educational. This is not a pitch fest. This is not anything like that. We just walk people through our methodology for launching Top 1% podcasts. 

So if you’re listening right now and that kind of perked your interest. and you’re like, yeah, I’ve kind of been thinking about this. Maybe this is a sign for me about the path that’s unfolding before me. I’d love to see you in one of our workshops. antifragilentrepreneurship cowork is the link that you can go to. It’s a live link. We’ll always have the latest information about the next upcoming workshop. and you can register right there if you’re interested.

Pamela Bardhi: You are amazing, Courtney. That is incredible. I mean, there’s so many people, out there looking to launch their podcast. and build their voice authentically to the world and connect with their audience. 

So I hope that anyone who’s listening and thinking about this reach out to Courtney. join one of her workshops. She is unbelievable. And just oh, man, you’re just incredible. Courtney, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re such a light to this universe. And just thank you so, so much for the work that you’re doing and helping others find their voice. Thank you.

Courtney Elmer: Thank you for having me.

So that’s it for today’s episode of Underdog. Always dropping on Thursdays

Pamela Bardhi: So that’s it for today’s episode of Underdog. Catch us next week. Always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. check out Meetwithpamla.com and let’s chat. Sending you so, so much love.