Miranda VonFricken shares her journey from corporate HR to keynote speaker and LinkedIn strategist, revealing how loss, resilience, and authenticity shaped her mission to help women own their stories and magnetize their personal brands.
Check Out These Highlights:
Miranda opens up about the pivotal season of her life, losing her brother and being laid off just two weeks later, which sparked her decision to never again let someone else’s business dictate her success. She shares how she accidentally built a personal brand on LinkedIn before it was even a buzzword, and why authenticity and faith became her guiding principles. We explore her philosophy of “owning your awesome,” the importance of self-awareness in branding, and how showing up boldly (sometimes even in a tutu!) can transform both your business and your life. Listeners will walk away with practical strategies for LinkedIn, fresh insights on personal branding, and the courage to express their true selves online and off.
About Miranda VonFricken:
Miranda VonFricken is a keynote speaker, LinkedIn strategist, and founder of Own Your Awesome. She helps women elevate their presence, magnetize their personal brands, and lead with authenticity, strategy, and heart.
Connect with Miranda:
🌐 Website: https://MirandaVonFricken.com
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirandavonfricken.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirandavonfricken/
🎙 Podcast: https://mirandavonfricken.com/podcast/
🎁 Free Resource: https://mirandavonfricken.com/freebies/
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Toby Myles: My guest today is Miranda VonFricken keynote speaker, LinkedIn strategist and founder of Own Your Awesome. Miranda is all about helping women own their stories, magnetize their personal brands, and elevate their presence online and off. But her path to purpose wasn't a straight line.
A pivotal moment came when she was laid off just two weeks after losing her brother. That experience cracked something open and eventually led her to the work she does today, helping women reconnect with their calling and show up with boldness and faith. Today we're talking about that moment. How Miranda built a business that amplifies women's voices and leads with authenticity, strategy, and a whole lot of heart.
Hey, Miranda, welcome to the podcast.
Miranda VonFricken: Hello. Thanks for having me.
Toby Myles: Thanks for your patience while I stumbled over my words there, but
Miranda VonFricken: they were perfect.
Toby Myles: We're we're all good. We're human here. So thank you for agreeing to do this. Um, I know this is gonna be amazing conversation. I usually kick things off by, uh, saying how we met, which is funny because this, I think the first time you and I have actually had like a one-to-one.
Right,
Miranda VonFricken: that's true.
Toby Myles: Which is weird because I feel like, um. At least from my perspective, I've been like stalking you on mine for quite some time. Um, I know, um, you are closely connected to, um, Christie Mitchell, who's my business bestie. She and I are in each other's dms and Voxer all the time. Um, and then we were on, um, what Christie put together like a dream team for a mutual client.
Yeah. That we both worked for, um, for quite some time. Um, but we never really got to actually like, collaborate. You kind of did your thing for LinkedIn and I was doing the newsletter. Um, so anyway, that's, and so that probably goes back a few years now.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. It was about two years from ago, I think. Yeah.
What a, what a dream opportunity. Like Christy obviously is fantastic at bringing people together, but even that client was like a dream client. Yeah. That's so easy to work with. Yes. Great experience. Yeah. Yes.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Same. So, um, I would love for you to kind of take us back to the moment I sort of alluded to in the intro.
Um. A moment that you feel like really sparked the journey that you're on right now?
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. So this moment it feels like, it, it moment seems like, it's like a quick instant, but I feel like there was like a lead up and then, you know, the actual experience and then really what happens is after the fact. So this is a true pivotal time season in my life.
Um, I had, it was 2018. I had been working for a company for about three years. Um, and I was a talent acquisition manager and I had been in HR in a previous life. So I was helping this organization to market themselves as like the place to work, not only locally in my area, but in two other locations in the US and in the uk.
And I had grown this organization, um, from one 50 to four 50. Great experience working there. Phenomenal culture. Um. Really a leadership, just like it was, I thought I would retire from this company, to be honest. Um, there, I mean, it was never perfect. No organizations are, but it was going, it was going public, then it went private again, and then public and private again.
There's a lot of like growing pains for the organization itself. And there personally, I got a call on a Monday evening. My brother had passed away. Um, actually he was being rushed to the hospital that evening, so, you know, I go to meet him. He ends up passing away. He was 19, um, an aspiration, choking accident and passed away at 19.
So our world is shocked. I have three little brothers. Um, they were born when I was 14. This little brother was born when I was 18, and then another one when I was 21. So like, I feel like they're my children, you know, like yeah. They're an extension of, of me. I'm the third parent.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: And so when this brother passed away, it, it just, it really shook my world personally.
And I had my husband call my boss at the time who was close in age. So we were kind of friendly, you know, like we all had kids. This team was a very close knit team. Uh, and of course she was like, oh my gosh, like, I'm so sorry. Tell Marta take whatever time she needs, blah, blah, blah. Um, so I came back about a week and a half later from bereavement and before I came back on, it was a Monday.
So I took that entire, actually I took that entire Monday and maybe like, I worked from home a couple days the following week just to ease my way in. Um, I got all of the applications and the resumes that came to me, so nobody else went through them. I mean, sometimes my boss would, but, you know, it wasn't her role.
Um, so I, and I loved my job, you know? Mm-hmm. So it kind of took some of the pressure off of me feeling the sadness all the time. Yeah. So she gave me a heads up that her job had been split in half, and another director was coming in to lead the talent side, and she was keeping the employee relations side, which I fall under talent.
So I was like, wow, I'm gonna come back to a new boss. Like, that's shocking enough, you know?
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. So I
Miranda VonFricken: come back, my current boss was in Seattle, our other location for a week, and the new guy who is my boss, you know, probably spent 13 minutes with me that week. Um, she comes back on Monday and I get laid off.
So two weeks. Oh gosh. It was a position elimination, a business decision, and I was like, wait, what? Like, this guy's been with me for a week and couldn't, you know, I just couldn't, obviously I was, I feel some type of way about that situation.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: I felt bad for my old boss because like, they waited for her to come back to do this.
It was just so rude.
Toby Myles: Yeah, yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: So rude, uh, and rude and mean for her too, to have to do it that way. But yeah, I understand the reasoning. But anyway, so I got laid off. They did right by me financially. So that was nice. I think they, you know, really was like, oh my gosh, like, who loses a brother? And then you lay the person off to you.
Yeah. So I really lost a huge part of my professional identity, um, and my personal identity as a sister of three, you know, so, I mean, I know there's, I have three brothers still, and I'll always say that, but it was definitely, it was a hit and then another hit while I was down. It was just a double whammy.
Mm-hmm. And so, um, I realized once the shock wore off, I actually put a post out on LinkedIn that said, I can get bitter or I can get better, right? Mm-hmm. So, and I'm, I have a master's in motivation, which is just kind of how my brain works, you know?
Toby Myles: Yeah. So
Miranda VonFricken: I, and even today, when things are disappointing, I process them, I pray on them, and then I usually post about 'em.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: That's just kind of my process. It's what I do. It's mm-hmm. S how I put it out to the universe, what my plan is. Mm-hmm. Because all too often we all prey to somebody else's plan.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: I had realized once the shock had worn off, I'm no longer allowing somebody else's goals and business decisions to dictate my success.
Toby Myles: Yep.
Miranda VonFricken: So I went all in on entrepreneurship. Um, I did end up getting another nine to five, um, but it was for like four months because it was a friend, a company, a gentleman who ran a company. I knew what he, you know, he needed some help or whatever. Um, I knew it wasn't gonna be long term. Mm-hmm. And it was a salary, you know, it was a salary while I was Right.
Doing the business. Um, and so I remember looking up. At the sky preying on the way into that, that next job, and saying like, if this isn't it, which I don't think it is, like make it be quick, you didn't get me out. Yes. Four months later I got a position elimination from them too, because they sold the company so they had eliminated more people.
So I was like, all right, well thank you. So I had that moment, that first layoff, um, that. That gave me the spark I needed. Mm-hmm. And then the second one was the confirmation. Mm-hmm. And so I went all in on, at the time I was doing like career coaching, LinkedIn strategy. Um, it was going really hard on like the, the career side, right?
Yeah. Like helping people find their best fit resumes, LinkedIn cover letters, negotiations, all that good stuff. And I loved it. Um, and then it just kind of, it kind of went from there. I was already a certified life coach at the time. Mm-hmm. I had been running women's masterminds, uh, at Panera after work.
So I had been sky hustling for quite some time.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: But that, I would say that was the moment. 'cause it's a cluster of a moment, but that's, mm-hmm. If I have to sum it up, that's really what it was getting laid off two weeks after a loss, a personal loss that just shook me and something said never again.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's such a relatable, um. Experience not the passing of your brother, which I can't even imagine something so sudden like,
Miranda VonFricken: yeah,
Toby Myles: I've lost a sibling. But it was, we had time, right? Yeah. It's very different. Yes. Um, but what I have experienced when I have been on that side of losing a client, not necessarily a job, but a client due to business decisions, like, it, it feels this, it feels like you have zero control.
Like all these things are happening behind the scenes that I don't know about. And the only way that I know is when they finally say, yeah, we don't, we're not gonna need you anymore. Right. And it's, I think it, it further kind of like motivated me when it has happened to do exactly what you're saying.
Like, I'm gonna create something of my own. So never again am I at the mercy of somebody else's decision. Um, so you, so when you, but you were, when you were in your role with that company that you got let go. From after your brother's passing. Um, you were already on LinkedIn, right? Like you were already Yeah.
'cause you've been, uh, you, you call yourself the
Miranda VonFricken: og. I'm, I've been there since 2009. Like, yeah, I just got my year in review from LinkedIn and they're like, okay, 2009. I'm like,
Toby Myles: yeah,
Miranda VonFricken: I'm, I'm probably one of the originals.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. So I
Miranda VonFricken: had been in LinkedIn for years, um, but I actually started to really grow my personal brand at that organization accidentally.
I, I joke and say I accidentally created a personal brand and I didn't even know that's what it was at the time. 'cause I was in marketing. Yeah. I, human resources, right? Mm-hmm. So there was a meeting where, um, the CEO calls marketing and me and my boss and is like talking about the numbers and how we're growing and blah, blah, blah.
Talks about social. Mm-hmm. Says, you know, we've got about 2000 followers on LinkedIn. That's pretty cool. Um, and everybody's like, yeah, nice. And they're like, why does the HR girl have 5,000? What is she doing that we're not? And they're like, well, she, she does it a little different. She's growing her personal brand so she can put selfies, um, of her in the lunch room and people, and because I was hr, we did a lot of corporate like.
Pizza Fridays, little events, stuff like that. Okay. Cultural stuff that is comical that people think it's culture. But, um, so I would take all the photos of what it's like to, to be in that organization and that's what I shared on LinkedIn, along with the job openings and stuff like that.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. And
Miranda VonFricken: so the, one of the roles that we were hiring for a, a cover letter came in that said, I heard about your company through, uh, a LinkedIn post by Miranda von Frick, and I believe she works for you, blah, blah, blah.
And the CEO Got it. And was like, what, what is Miranda saying? LinkedIn? Like what is happening? This is like a VP of something. Mm-hmm. This guy in our industry didn't know about the company, but you knew about me. Mm-hmm. So I was obviously onto something.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: So I googled personal branding. Mm-hmm. I was like, what is happening?
Uh, LinkedIn came to visit me because at that time, that was about 2016.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Around that time. It really wasn't what it is today.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: That's nine years ago. So obviously like at that. They weren't writing personal articles or stuff like that, a post about themselves. I think it was like Linda, LinkedIn learning was really big at the top.
Oh yes.
Toby Myles: I remember Linda.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. Write and articles and stuff. Um, and so I, I just, I did what I was doing on Facebook,
Toby Myles: right? Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Because I had like a Facebook group for, you know, like life coaching clients and I just wanted to attract more people and show 'em how cool it was to work there, how fun it was.
Um, and so LinkedIn came. They were like, we wanna see what you're doing. We, we like to celebrate users who are making a splash.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: But I thought that was cool. So I took selfies with, uh, the guy who came and the company bought into like, some ads and stuff. So it started growing a little more.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Um, and it was, it was nice.
I got some swag.
Toby Myles: We love swag, we love
Miranda VonFricken: swag. Um, and it was just a really great experience. And I realized when I, when I got hired by that next company, they actually said, we are gonna hire you for talent. Acquisition. Mm-hmm. What we want you to do for us, what you did for that last company.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Because we wanna attract people nationally.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: You know, LinkedIn's a great place to do that. And we want them to see the culture. And they had a decent culture too. It is smaller, but still pretty cool. And I was like, all right, let's, let's see what I can do. And I was doing some fun stuff on LinkedIn and drawing in people, you know, I wouldn't do the whole, I'm working for another company now.
I would just say like, I work for an awesome organization. We've got this job opening. You know, you should come here, work with us. And it didn't matter. Where I worked, I got to do that because that was who I was.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: How I attracted people to things I liked, it was very influencer like before, that was a whole thing on LinkedIn.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: And so when I got, when I went all in on my business and made LinkedIn a huge part of my business, I had already established a brand, a reputation as somebody who knows the platform. Mm-hmm. Who values what it, what it can do for your career and now your business. Um, and I just loved it, but I also.
Didn't accept everybody and their brother who connects with me online, like I'm mm-hmm. I don't use bots. I, I'm, I'm a hundred percent authentic. I do everything organic. I don't even pre-post.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: I don't even batch. I post when the spirit moves me. Mm-hmm. And so everything I do, it may, it may not look like I've got like, the a hundred thousand followers, but I probably know or have had a conversation with, at least in the dms, every single connection
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
For some
Miranda VonFricken: reason or another. Mm-hmm. And it feels really good. And I think that's why I, I get a lot of my business about, like, 80 to 90% of my business comes from LinkedIn alone.
Toby Myles: Mm.
Miranda VonFricken: Just because of the way I treat it. Like a partner. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Not just a
Miranda VonFricken: problem.
Toby Myles: I, what I love about your story is that, um, you know, you didn't have a guidebook No.
At all, right? Nope. And what you were doing, you know, back in, in, you know, the old days, the good old days, like you were like, how. Okay, let me, let me pause and like, say this in a coherent way. My, um, um, I'm a story coach and I train, I work with my clients to, um, tell better stories for the purpose of, of connecting and building trust and authority.
Um, you know, these are women that have years of experience and expertise, um, and don't really know how to kind of like, use that to, to connect with more people and grow their businesses. But this was something you were onto, like way before it was even a thing, like you say, you know, personal branding, like you were personal branding before it was a thing, but like, yeah, yeah.
What was it like, did you, did you just trust your gut? Like, I'm just gonna do this in a way that feels very me and hope that it works.
Miranda VonFricken: I'm very much, I just gotta be me or. People can tell it's fake. Yeah. And if I am, because it was my LinkedIn profile. Yeah. So I, I just assume it's, I have carte blanche, it's me.
It's not, I wasn't posting on the company's page. It was just, just like my Facebook, I got to do what I want. Mm-hmm. With people who followed me, who already knew me. So if I was trying to be something robotic and very stuffy, they'd be like, what are you talking about? You know, because I, I, I just felt very much like, and, and I am a ask for forgiveness, not permission kind of girl.
Yeah. I used to get in trouble for that a lot. Um, but whatever they forgive me. Yeah. They produce results no matter where I am. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, I very much like even now, I, I get on stage in a tutu. I'm a 45-year-old grown ass woman. I'm wearing a pink tutu on stage. I remember the first time I walked into a very masculine room.
It was like a Chamber of Commerce event, and I just walked in with, had a BTU on actually this color. Usually it's pink, and I just walked right in and people were like, what? And suits so confused. By the end of the night they're taking selfies with me. Not 'cause I was like a, like a cartoon show, but because my energy matched like on the inside, what it looked like on the outside.
Mm-hmm. And what I delivered was good. I was doing a LinkedIn training, so I had to be in blue, you know? Yeah. So they were just like, wow, she's a, she's a whole vibe. I'm like, yeah, this is a brand. Right. I show up, they say like, dress whatever you want. Here I am in a two, two on stage talking about a platform that I love.
So it, it comes naturally for me. Mm-hmm. I work with a lot of introverts and they'll say like, I can't do what you're doing. That's too much. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Yeah. And
Miranda VonFricken: I, I still design company pages and write content for people and help them grow. A lot of them say, I'm attracted to your energy and what you do, but I don't wanna actually do that to that extent.
Yeah. And I'm like, no problem. No, let's do you,
Toby Myles: yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Let's do exactly who you are on this platform in a way that works for you. And I think that's what really works well for me and the clients I work with, because they trust me. They mm-hmm. They trust that I want that. And I don't have like a huge team where somebody else takes it over.
It's just me. And, you know, I got a be of course to help with my stuff, but like, I, I can listen to them and my whole brand, it's called Own Your Awesome, not Own Your Awesome. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's yours, you know, let's, so that. That makes a big difference to be able to embrace who you are, why you're here, and express it in a way that feels right for you.
Toby Myles: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think, like I get that a lot with, um, my clients that, um, like what I might feel comfortable sharing online. I, I'm okay sharing personal things, um, because I can, um, like, like you, like that's who I am. I'm okay. You know, I'm not one for like surface level and, and small talk in real life.
And so why would I be that way online? And I've always felt like, you know, if I'm breaking some sort of rule, like, oh, well, like if I, if I can't be me, then it's not gonna be fun. I'm not gonna wanna do it. And it sounds very much like that is how you, um, operate with your clients. Like, you know, like if they, if they have to follow someone else's rules or or way of doing things, they're probably not going to stick with it.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. I have a hard time with somebody putting on a blueprint for everyone. Right? Yeah. Everyone is different. Yeah. So maybe you follow some guidelines because mm-hmm. You know, like, and I have guidelines for my, this is what I do, this is what I won't do. You know, I have some standards of excellence that mm-hmm.
I would love to, I follow with everybody and they get it. Um, but I also am very free flowing and let, let that blueprint unfold naturally. Mm-hmm. Um, because really in the end, it's not about follow what I say. It's about let's get these results.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. So it may look different in the process. Yeah. Um, but the outcomes should always be the same.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Because that's, that's what I say I can provide and that's what want, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The process does look different. I mean, again, there's a structure, but there's, it's not, I'm not So, hold tightly, so tightly to the process.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: People expect the results to look identical to everybody's, but it's gonna look different because you're different.
Toby Myles: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I'm curious about that. Um, like own, own your awesome. Like do some people come to you and not even like know what their awesome is? A hundred percent. That's,
Miranda VonFricken: that's
Toby Myles: pretty much where I start.
Miranda VonFricken: Okay. So my, um, my educational background is in human performance, motivation, um, and life fulfillment.
I actually have a master's called Master's in Motivation and Life Fulfillment, which is kind of funny. Um, it was a program I developed myself with a college who does like a liberal studies program. Oh, okay. Yeah. Mentorship. So we studied, you know, psychology, sociology, even some marketing stuff, um, program development, stuff like that.
Um, and I often have to start with the self-leadership, the awareness in order to get them to this abundance that we're looking for, right? Mm-hmm. So, what I say often, my funnel sales funnel business funnel looks like, you know, LinkedIn, personal branding, and then self-awareness and leadership.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Because
Miranda VonFricken: you cannot lead yourself, like your brand, your business if you don't understand who you are and how to lead yourself, you know, first and foremost. Um, so a lot of the times you're like. What is awesome and they want me to define it for, for like what I mean as a part of the brand. 'cause the word awesome is kind of vague, right?
Yeah. Um, so they just think like, oh, and you're fine. I'm like, awesome. Could be anything and we'll define it together. But usually it's like your skills, your calling, your gifts, why you're here on this earth. Um, yeah. Because instead of saying like, own your calling because. If that's the fun side of me is the awesome, I use that word.
I've got it all over the place, you know? Um, and so owning it, like, if you can own why you're here, the awesomeness that is you mm-hmm. And then we find a way to express it that works for you. Mm-hmm. And make your money of course, because we're all right. Um, even if you're a nine to five or looking to get a new job, get promoted mm-hmm.
If you could own that side of you, but you have to know who it is first. Yeah. So you, we do a lot of that work, uh, in order to get to the outcome, which usually is, you know, either an increase in business or beautiful LinkedIn profile. You know, a conference full of women who are jumping up and down, you know, like whatever.
Mm-hmm. Whatever calls for, but I'm able to roll that back and meet them where they are.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's so good. I think that that's, you know, a lot of people say that, um, entrepreneurship is. Really a course in personal development. Like we all learn so many things about ourselves and a lot of them not good things along the way.
So I would, I, I could definitely see that people not even really knowing, like what makes them special? What, what's, what are they actually here to do? And so they get so much more than just, you know, a beautiful profile or a room full of women or whatever. They really like, understand why they're here and what they're meant to do.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. They're always very surprised. They're like, I came to you for a new LinkedIn banner. Yeah.
Toby Myles: And you're like, oh no.
Miranda VonFricken: And I leave with like a whole new identity and, you know, uh, outlook and vision for my life. And I'm like, yep. So now let's ex, this is why I have like, lifelong clients, because they do, usually they do start with LinkedIn.
Mm-hmm. 'cause it is, mm-hmm. The easiest sexiest thing to sell. Nobody wants Yeah. The like, be sold. I'll teach you who you are. You know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who are you to tell me who I am, you know, kind of thing. Yeah. Um, so we'll do your LinkedIn and then when I start pulling out questions and pulling out answers for who they are.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Sometimes they don't know that I don't know what to say. I am like, if you could sum it up in, you know, three words or one liner, like what's your life tagline? They're like, what? You know, like they don't know they they really don't. Yeah,
Toby Myles: yeah. Or they,
Miranda VonFricken: they know, but they don't know how to articulate it in such a concise, slick way that draws in an audience.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Where like the business side of it comes.
Toby Myles: Yes. Mm-hmm. Um.
Miranda VonFricken: So I tell them to word bomb it, let it out. Tell me all the things. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like what do you love about life? If you, you know, magic wand and never had to work a day in your life, you're a billionaire, what would you do all day? Like, and, you know, what do you, what's your favorite part about making money in your business?
Like if they're like, I hate sales, but I need 'em, you know, like we, yeah. We unravel all of that. Yeah. And you get to usually a LinkedIn headline.
Toby Myles: Yeah. All of that for a headline.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. All that for a headline. But then it becomes their about section, their content, you know, like it becomes Yeah. They are their, their, their expression of their brand and their energy.
Yeah. Everything.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Well, for people listening that can't see, I'm like holding up a copy of your book. Actually. You can't see it because of my virtual, but, um, oh, and you're awesome on LinkedIn. There you go. Um, and like, and we were, we were joking before we hopped on that. I've had your book and read it for a while, but, um, I was feeling it was so, um, precious that I wasn't filling in the blanks.
'cause there's like a bunch of questions. So I, I'm guessing like, um, this is kind of like a, a taste of what it would be like to work with you in this book. Yeah,
Miranda VonFricken: yeah. It's a LinkedIn book, but it's meant to outlast the algorithm. 'cause as you know, it's changed again. So,
Toby Myles: yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: So thank God I wrote it that way.
So it's, it's about, um, it's not just how to do LinkedIn, it's how to be on link, how to be, how to be yourself on the bubble. Mm-hmm. Um, and so this will, this will last the test of time for this platform, which is amazing. And inside is actually a personal branding workbook because it's huge section about branding.
On LinkedIn because you don't wanna, you don't wanna just post something on LinkedIn just to post and see what happens. Yeah. You wanna be strategic about it and first you kind of gotta know. What's the point, right?
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the, the greatest compliment is for someone to meet you and say, oh yeah, you're the so and so girl.
Right. Um, every
Miranda VonFricken: time I meet someone new mm-hmm. And this is, it's funny, at first I was like, oh, that's cool. Now I, now I, I expect to hear it because that means I'm, I'm good at what I do. Yeah. They always say, you are exactly who I thought you would be. But I saw some lady at Marshall's the other day. My daughter was like, here we go.
'cause we're, oh my God, you're Miranda from LinkedIn and now in mom mode. I'm, I've got a, a messy bond. I'm usually an all black 'cause I'm just like, I'm not like this version of me. I'm just like the chill. I don't wanna like kind of be noticed version when I'm DJJ Maxx, just wanna kind of do my own thing.
Uhhuh and the lady's like, oh my God, like you are, you're Retta. I see you on LinkedIn, I follow you, blah, blah, blah. And then we start talking and then of course, this is who I am. This isn't like a character. Yeah. Can't hide that with a black shirt, you know?
Toby Myles: Right. Even with your dark sunglasses and your
Miranda VonFricken: uhhuh.
Exactly. And she's like, wow, you are exactly who I was hoping to meet. And I'm like, oh, that's really cute. I'm like, thank you, I appreciate that because I've met people, like celebrities, big famous coaches, whatever. I've met people and been disappointed. And you're like, oh yeah. What? Yeah. Future heroes. Like I'm no hero, but I'm definitely, um, I never wanted to do that to somebody.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Even in a bad mood, I usually will, can take a deep breath kind of pause
Toby Myles: mm-hmm. And just,
Miranda VonFricken: you know, go into serve mode, like
Toby Myles: what's that? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think the thing is, at least that from what I've observed while stalking you online is that, um, and I think one of the reasons why I really finally said like, you need to come on the show is that, um, because I'm all about storytelling and that is not always like the, the sexiest part of life, right?
Like, shit happens in our lives. It is like we're not always like positive and we're not always, you know, in a really good spot in life. We're in our businesses and you at least it appears that you're comfortable sharing those like vulnerable moments.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah, you have to. I mean, I, I have all the time. I'm in the middle of one now.
You wouldn't even know it. Like I'm in the middle of one, I was in the middle of one in November. I had a major surgery, um, a family member's having surgery right now. Like I got a lot going on with my kid. The life is not. Clean. Mm-hmm. Life is messy, but you can still be awesome. Mm-hmm. And you can still run a business and be super successful and run a team and yeah.
Get promoted in the crazy, because actually you are most successful when you can handle this all. And not that we Yeah. Shouldn't want to, whatever, like, don't make your life crazy if it's not. 'cause there comes time, so just prepare for it. But this, this resiliency is, is a huge part of growth. If you can't handle it and you shut down mm-hmm.
Then you don't really, you'll never have a successful, thriving business. So,
Toby Myles: thousand percent. Yeah. I mean, one of the things that you wrote, and I wrote it down so I could quote it properly, um, is life is an unrelenting balancing act of highs and lows. None of us escapes the inevitability of change. And I think that like, like if we can just grasp that.
Know that like, it, it change is going to happen good and bad. And there is no like, oh, well that was a season of change and now everything's gonna be smooth sailing. Like no, it's, it's all change, all change ongoing all the time. Right? Yeah. So
Miranda VonFricken: I used to say I eat change for breakfast. Like I know that was like, that's out there.
But back in the day before I was in hr, I was in higher education and I was a director of admissions and a director of career services for about six or seven years. And, um. I remember there was always like, turn and burn in like this recruitment department. 'cause it was very much like a call center and I hated it.
And then my boss said to me like, you have to accept this. There's always gonna be turnover. There's always gonna be, you know, change here. And I didn't like that.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And
Miranda VonFricken: so I said, I can embrace change, but I don't have to embrace the constant of the turnover. I can get these, this is why I got into hr.
'cause I loved building cultures. Um, and so I was like, I can make this department like a good one people wanna come to. Mm-hmm. And so, um, I had to eat change for breakfast every day.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Just to
Miranda VonFricken: embrace that things change. And when people left, it was never at that point because I didn't like the job, the company, whatever it, you know, it was a money con decision that I didn't have control over or something like that.
So I could, I can embrace that. But, and with me getting laid off, I mean, I told you about two layoffs. There was really four. So my life has been in a constant state of change because I, I have to, I have to embrace that. Or I, I don't know where I'd be right now. I'd be a mess, you know? Yeah. Yeah. The alternative is not for me.
Toby Myles: Yeah. No, no. Same. I, um, um, I lost a client about three, about a month ago, I guess. And it was a good client, big client. Again, it was one of those business decisions. Something has zero control over. Yeah. Didn't even find out until like the day of you're like, sorry, you know, this happened and you know, you've been great and bye.
Miranda VonFricken: Basically that's how you change your contract, put a bigger notice in.
Toby Myles: Exactly. And, but what I realized, um, is that each time something like that, uh, shows up in my life, um, I strip away more bullshit, like I strip away more of the stuff that is not for me. Yeah. And the thing about that client was. They were great, they were easy to work with, but I was doing it for the money.
I didn't love the work. It's not even the work that I'm doing now, it's work that I took on a while ago. But, you know, I loved the team. Yeah. And, and so I did it. And so when that happened, like, okay, I did like 24 hour pity party and oh my gosh, and you know, I can't do this and you know, all the things that we do.
And then I was like, okay. And you know, over the next 24 to 48 hours after that, I was like, this is actually happening for a reason. Like this is, this is because that work is not in the in alignment and I have to shed that in order to really like go all in on what I'm meant to be doing.
Miranda VonFricken: So I learned very early on we know what we're meant to do and who we're meant to work with.
It's when we avoid that decision for ourselves that the decision gets taken out of our hands. Right. So if you knew that wasn't with the work you do anymore mm-hmm. And didn't release that, eventually it's gonna, the universe is gonna sense it and yeah. You would've gotten, you know, left. So. The client we worked on together.
I held onto them for a year after I stopped doing that work.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. Um,
Miranda VonFricken: that extensive work. And I just loved them. I loved them. Yeah. They were so cool. Uh, I loved the, the later, the one that kind of took over, I loved them all. Loved them all. Yeah. Uh, and the money was great. Yeah. The money was great, you know, and so I was like, oh, I'll just keep it.
I'll just keep it. But I know every time I had to go do a part of their project, I'd be like, oh, I could totally, like, I'd have to leave a different part of my business to focus on that. Mm-hmm. And I'd have to channel them all over again. And it wasn't at all what I wanted to do anymore. So I remember thinking, I've been laid off four times because I didn't quit those jobs.
Right? Mm-hmm. I should have probably left those jobs before the layoff, because three of the four weren't, uh, two of the four weren't for me. Um, one, I, well, I said I would've said that forever, but I realized when the universe knocks and you don't answer, it will knock you over. And that in one of my, like.
I think I may have said that or wrote an article about it, or at least a post, but that's a huge life lesson that, you know, we say we learn. So this for you may be an expensive life lesson.
Toby Myles: Yeah. So, and that's okay. I'll pay for lessons. That's fine. Yeah. As long
Miranda VonFricken: you don't repeat 'em, right? Yeah,
Toby Myles: yeah, absolutely.
So, um, you know, kind of round that, um, just sort of claiming what is ours, I guess, for lack of a better word, I'm in the process of reworking some content on my website to really better be in alignment with what I'm doing and what I'm doing going forward. Um, and I've been working with my coach on the language and what, you know, what is this, how do we say this so that the right people know who it's for.
And something I've been, I've been skirting around the edges that for whatever reason, I don't know, I, I refused to claim until literally this week as I was going through this copy, is that I work with women, right? Mm-hmm. Like I before saying it. I always worked with women. I had two, two male clients that were a disaster.
Yeah. Um, bad energy. They even paid me money and then just, we never finished the project. I'm like, what? Who does that? Right. Yeah. Yeah. And so finally I was like, no, I, I, I feel confident that I can say this. Right. Like, and, and it is going to be in all my new content, my new website, copy all that. So, but I want to then like, kind of turn that back to you because you also work with women and so has that always been a thing or when did you decide?
Miranda VonFricken: So, I, I actually work with men too, but I only advertise that I work with women. Okay. I just, sometimes guys will come in and love the energy. Okay. Only in LinkedIn. Mm-hmm. Only in, I won't do business coaching or life coaching with men. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I don't want to No, thank you. Yeah. I've got a husband and a son that's 22.
I deal with men. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Same.
Miranda VonFricken: All set.
Toby Myles: Yep.
Miranda VonFricken: Um, so I, I. Let's see. I always did, so I started as a life coach, so it was always women. One day a gentleman, um, messaged me on Facebook back in the day and was like, Hey, I'd love to like work with you. And I'm like, let's meet for coffee, you know? Mm-hmm. Because at that point I was like, Hmm, I don't know.
I never worked with the dude before. Yeah. Um, I do what my corporate like existence. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not like afraid of man or anything, but I'm like, let's, so we had coffee for like maybe an hour and a half, two hours. And it, it sounded like he wanted relationship coaching and he was a really good guy and really wanted to like do things the right way and fix his relationship.
And I was giving him hints, a little sweet, nothings for his, you know, girlfriend or whatever. Um, but I knew at that point I wasn't gonna take him on because mm-hmm. I'm not a relationship coach. That's a whole different beast. Um, yeah. And no, I don't think any relationship's perfect, but you do need someone to guide you through it.
Um, but it wasn't gonna be me, so I spent like some time with him. I gave them what I could and then told 'em like, you know, I don't think we should work together, but I've got people I can refer you to. That's what actually woke me up to having referral partners, right? Mm-hmm. So now I have men coaches, business and personal that I refer people to because then one time a gentleman came to me and wanted life coaching, um, but it was very career ish too.
'cause it, his, his life was his job. Mm-hmm. Um, and the company was like the coolest company in our area. Legit like Super Bowl commercial. Cool. Like I was like, I am, I don't give a shit if I work with men not working with this. Right?
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: So we ended up doing like a six weeks of sessions. I met him for coffee once, once a week, whatever.
And the first three weeks were fantastic. And then he got comfortable and it got a little more like he wasn't taking my advice as well 'cause he thought he knew better. And like the energy shifted to I was the expert, or he thought he was the expert. Yeah. Well, why don't you try this with your clients?
I'm like, okay. At that point I was like, I'm gonna stop this. Yeah. I was like, I'll give you your money back. But I think at this point he's like, no, no, no. I think you did your job in three weeks. And I'm like, cool. It's 'cause you're, it was just, I couldn't do it. I was like, I don't know if it was arrogance Yeah.
Ego or what it was, but I couldn't do it. Mm-hmm. Um, so now I say I work with women and I help them to express their voice and all that stuff. If a man comes to me, I say, I, I'll help you with LinkedIn. Mm-hmm. Like, I don't care how you pee. Yeah. Um, it's LinkedIn.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: You know what I mean? Like, it's LinkedIn.
Um, and so I think at that point, because I, I won't get into much of the branding side with them on LinkedIn. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I may be like, how do you make your money? Mm-hmm. Because I actually have a very masculine energy as a woman. I'm very girly, but I have a masculine energy. I love to, you know, get shit done.
I can speak. Their, their energetic language. Mm-hmm.
Toby Myles: Um,
Miranda VonFricken: less fluff I guess, but with the woman, I really wanna say, like, how does that make you feel?
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: And if I said that to a guy, he'd be like, what,
Toby Myles: what is, what are feelings?
Miranda VonFricken: What do you mean? How does it make me feel? It's my, it's my headline. What,
Toby Myles: what
Miranda VonFricken: Fuzzy lady.
But I do actually work with men and I have a, a marketing gentleman that refers me his male clients all the time. Mm-hmm. Because I know the platform of LinkedIn, you know. Yeah. It makes it easier. Yeah. And usually they just, I get them to hire me to do it for them. So yeah. They're just like, just get it done.
Cool. Thanks. There you go. Yeah. Days later it's done. Um, but I, I did feel awkward putting that out there, like, I work with women 'cause it was actually because I didn't wanna cut off half of my potential income.
Toby Myles: Sure. Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: So that was really the, the thought process there. Um, and one of my, my biz besties, um, at the time was like, you, you need to say, I work with professionals.
And I'm like. No. No. 'cause I don't wanna open that door. Yeah. To every professional. I, I want it to be women, you know? Mm-hmm. Everywhere is fine. Mm-hmm. But like, I just sometimes too, I think I, the more you niche, I think that the easier you become the expert in that realm. Mm-hmm. But I didn't want to, there's like a niche that's like a specialty, you know what I mean?
I felt like I needed to not niche the who I work with. I can niche the specialty mm-hmm. Of what I do and, and kind of who I do it for. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And you know, if that can change tomorrow and that's okay.
Toby Myles: Right. Exactly. You know, I, you could
Miranda VonFricken: change your website in four minutes.
Toby Myles: Oh yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: If you wanna go back to working with everyone, you know.
But I think if you we're in the room with a lot of women and I think yes, we understand women, especially the stories of women. Like I don't wanna help a man tell his story. Yeah. I don't think you can hear it. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Right, right. Exactly. I
Miranda VonFricken: stuff, but I'm good. I'm good hearing your stories, dude. Yeah. Yeah, I'm good.
Toby Myles: Yeah. I'm like you husband son. I have two grandsons now, so I got plenty of male energy around me. I'm, I'm good. Um, so let's take a little, um, a little like look at like even before like your professional career. 'cause this is always fun to do, I think. Um, and we'll see what happens. When you were a little girl,
Miranda VonFricken: oh boy,
Toby Myles: did you know what you wanted to be?
Did you ever think about what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer.
Toby Myles: Oh my God. My stepdaughter wanted to be a dolphin trainer.
Miranda VonFricken: I wanted to be a dolphin trainer, a judge. Uh, and then I kind of went into like a veterinarian because I love animals. Um, I did, I, the judge part, I really wanted to, I love making decisions.
I love, I wanted to be a judge, but then I heard you had to be a lawyer and I was like, yeah, I don't wanna do that. So, yeah, it's kind of, could we
Toby Myles: could just skip that lawyer part?
Miranda VonFricken: Come on, I'll go to the schooling. I just don't wanna do the do, do the job, you know? Um, and then I wanted to be Britney Spears, and I think that's where this all started.
Like, I, I sang and dance and act and all that stuff. And I lived in, um, Manhattan. I did beauty pageants and commercials as a kid. I did all that stuff. Um, and I realized I love performing. I love being on stage. I love being expressive. Um, and so I moved to Manhattan to go be, try to become Britney Spears. I did American Idol.
I did making the band. Did you
Toby Myles: really? Oh my gosh. Wow.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah, I tried, I did all those things. Um, I worked for MTV 'cause I thought if you work for MTV, maybe they'll notice my talent and put me on camera.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: That happened. I met a lot of talent. I just didn't actually become the talent. Um, but then I, I came back home and became a radio dj, which gave me like a taste of that.
Mm-hmm. As I was starting my like more professional career. Um, and then I worked with my first life coach. Um, we did one strategy session. I met her at like a woman's group. She dressed like a unicorn and I knew she was my person right away. And I was telling her how I feel very much in the middle of these two worlds.
Like I wanted to do, like the mom and the wife and the white picket fence thing, the corporate woman. And I wanted to do this performance travel the world, Britney Spears, stage makeup, all of it. She's like, you could do both. I was like, tell my husband that. Yeah. Uh, and she was like, you could do both, because like, you know, you can, I mean, I also spoke at colleges a lot at this point too.
Um, and she's like, just do more speaking.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: You know, do public speaking women's conferences and kind of showed me I can travel to go do the things and get that part of me fulfilled and make money that way too. Mm-hmm. I can also do a day job if I wanted to as well. Um, and then I can come home to, you know, my family and Yeah.
I take my family with me sometimes when I travel. Yeah. You know, so it, I realized like. Everything you want it to be when you were a kid, there's something in it there that's real
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: That, that needs to come out in you. Mm-hmm. And I think like it's a remembrance, but it's also in aligning it with the reality of today.
Yeah. And I'm okay with saying the reality, you know, not the fantasy, but like, I often get told I live in a fantasy world, but I also think I live in the world. I create, you know, and I'm okay with it.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. So I can speak on stages with tutu's. I've got, you know, pens that look like wands, you know, I mean, like, I'm very girly.
This is a very fun frilly book.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Um, but then I can also be very serious. I was the first corporate, um, director level person at the college I worked for. I was the first like, um, youngest and the first woman director mm-hmm. At the time with my parking spot, with my name on it in front. I like, I like the spotlight, like people say.
Mm-hmm. You're born with a silver spoon. I was born with a microphone, so, mm-hmm. I, my voice is my gift. That's my awesome, right. Is my voice. Mm-hmm. And I realized I probably wasn't gonna be singing. I, I did the national anthem here locally for all the different arenas and stuff. Like, I, I did, I did my part as much as I could to, to try to do the singing and stuff, but maybe that wasn't my voice.
My voice was just the speaking, the expression, my thoughts.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Coming out through my voice. Now I write books, you know, like, so I'm still using what I was meant to. Mm-hmm.
Toby Myles: Just
Miranda VonFricken: without, I do have background music too sometimes. Um, but it, I think it, it's a lot less pressure to just be who I am and not try to perform who I am.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: So it's actually worked out.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you get to use your voice, but you also get to help so many people too. Um, yeah. Which was maybe something you never knew that you had a gift for. I think.
Miranda VonFricken: I think, I mean, it all comes out right little by little. And so I do a lot of work in like human performance too, like, or, um, I'm sorry, in human design with mm-hmm.
Other people who are experts in that, that area. Mm-hmm. Um, and I realize, and we do a lot of time traveling 'cause I'm kind of a, a geek and I love to time travel, but we work on like, this is a nine year, what happened in the last nine years? What are you closing out in this cycle? Mm-hmm. What happened nine years before that?
Like when we do those kind of exercises, there's so many pivotal moments that led to where I am today. Yeah. I'm just so grateful for that. I'm also very grateful that I either realized early on or was taught early on. To not say like, you know, looking back was such a mess. If I could do it again. Yeah, sure.
I'd love to do some things over again, but it's, it was all for a reason. Yeah. Like, it, it does eventually, even if the path that like you start here and you end here, you know, wherever you're meant to end, but no matter how you eventually get there
Toby Myles: mm-hmm. It's
Miranda VonFricken: just, maybe I had a little more adventures over here.
A few more stories. Yeah. From there. Little trip or something over here filling a pot.
Toby Myles: Yeah. I think that we could all probably look back and say, Ugh. Like, that was a really hard time I could have done without that, but Uhhuh Yeah. I wouldn't have done this, were it not for that. You know, I have plenty of those where
Miranda VonFricken: it's a hard thing to say.
Yeah. Especially when trauma happens, right? Yeah.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: So we talked about me losing my brother. I've lost two of them actually. Mm-hmm. The second we didn't even talk about the second one and that, that's okay. Like we've a two in a five year period. Yeah. One was an accident, one was long form COVID, you had a heart attack at 21.
Toby Myles: Mm. So.
Miranda VonFricken: To say that happened for a reason is a hard pill to swallow. Yeah. But what actually happened because of that was how I handled it. Right? Yeah. So the first one I kind of like got in a fight with God and was kind of done like, Nope, this ain't, you know, whatever. The second one. So it took me so much longer to kind of heal and to get back to life and to trust again.
And, and it really like threw me mm-hmm. The second, and I realized how long it took and how bad it was. And I ended up making really bad decisions for my own life based on, you know, my sadness and my fear and whatever. Yeah. And the second time I was like, I'm not doing that again. So I actually went the opposite and I kinda went all in and I was, it was just gonna, it was kind of a little too crazy too.
I'm kind of an extremist.
Toby Myles: Um,
Miranda VonFricken: but I realized I can't do that again. And this time around I, I almost like, kind of like walked with. You know, the, the grief and the sadness versus like repelling from it kind of thing. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Um,
Miranda VonFricken: and it was an easier way to heal, you know? Yeah. So I actually just helped my mom finish writing her book about Oh
Toby Myles: wow.
Miranda VonFricken: Her grief and how she came through that on the other end as a parent who lost two children. And I don't think, you know, if I didn't learn the lessons the way I learned 'em, I couldn't have, you know, walked with her or even helped edit that book. You know, like there's so many different things, um, that my business changed and how I deal with relationships changed.
Um, and if they were here, I think my life would still be fabulous. But I also think I wouldn't have learned some really tough lessons because more crap has happened since that too, you know? So,
Toby Myles: yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Not just death, you know, like other things, you know. Yeah. Makes you stronger and you know for sure. You know, you have to be for a reason.
Yeah. And that's, that's not about us, you know, like people passing isn't. It's not really our, it's a part of our story, but like, that was their, that's their story. That's their journey. Mm-hmm. That's, you know, not that they can come back and read a book about it, but like, they, you know, that was their life.
And, and I feel like very much like we all agree to what's gonna happen to us here on earth before we come, you know, a little soul journey. Mm-hmm. We already kind of know about it, so there was a reason. Yeah. They left early, you know.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: I'll never know it till I see 'em again, but
Toby Myles: yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: I'm gonna trust it.
'cause my thought is maybe their decision for some reason. Yeah. Yeah. You don't know. I talked about that and I know,
Toby Myles: yeah. And I know that, you know, you'd probably give it all back to have them here.
Miranda VonFricken: A hundred percent
Toby Myles: right. So, um, but, but what you can do is, is, you know, find what good came out of it. I mean, I don't, I don't talk about this, I haven't really shared my origin story, but, um, many years ago before I met my husband, I was in an abusive relationship and I am thankful for.
Things that I do now as a result of having gotten on the other side of that, that I don't know if I would've found, or maybe I would've eventually, it would've taken longer. Right. Um, if I could have erased that time period. Yeah, absolutely. 'cause there was a lot of residual stuff. Um, it took a while to get over, but, um, but so I can relate to that, um, that experience.
So, um, you did mention your kids, um, mm-hmm. And I, I'm curious, um, what do they, what would they say you do, do they understand
Miranda VonFricken: your world? I, my daughter used to say when I was in hr, she'd say, my mom can make you a badge.
Um, my stepson, I think he would say, she talks to people. Uh, she writes books, she talks to people. Um, I, he knows I do LinkedIn, obviously. Mm-hmm. Um, he's, he's an adult and he's been through college, so he kind of understands what I do a little bit more now. Yeah. Um. My daughter does say, um, I help people. She does say I'm a coach.
Um, she says I'm a speaker and author. I think, I think I've trained her well too to, because people say like, oh, what's your mom? Do you know, like, oh, she's a speaker and author.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: I think it's hard to say like, she helps women express themselves on a platform. You know, like, it's like a weird Yeah. You know what I mean?
Like for a kid to say exactly like what I do, um, yeah. I just tell her, say, you know, my mom's an entrepreneur, she works with women.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Helps 'em to be awesome. You know, that kind. It depends on who you're talking to. If they're also a business owner and could use LinkedIn, you say this and she's like,
Toby Myles: and here's my business card.
You can hand that out to Yeah. Say
Miranda VonFricken: so tell 'em just LinkedIn. Just say LinkedIn. She does LinkedIn. Um, that's like the top of the funnel. Easiest. 'cause that's where they'll connect with me, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I'll say, just tell 'em I'm a speaker and a coach and I teach people LinkedIn. Yeah. She's, it's 15 so she can articulate it Fine.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: She's been to women's conferences with me and one time. Uh, it was a smaller one, thank God. If it was a bigger one, she may have had a small heart attack and she's opposite of me. Um, introverted, you know, not very much into the spotlight kind of thing. She's a athlete, um, which is funny 'cause spotlight's on her all the time, but for a different reason.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. Um,
Miranda VonFricken: and so they made it, oh, and your daughter's here. Oh, stand up. Stand up, say hello. And she's like,
like they had her stand up and introduce herself. And I swear she was flexing because like, like, I don't know if she was tense or she was, when she, like when you shoot a basket and you make it, you kind of to this like self flexing mode. Yeah.
Toby Myles: That
Miranda VonFricken: funny photo of her like standing up and like in her like warmup outfit.
'cause we were about to go to a game and she's kind of like flexing and she's like, this is so amazing. Don't put this on thank dear mom. She's like, please do not. Oh my gosh. You know, I have an office that used to be her bedroom, hence the pink, you know? Yeah. Um, I mean, they see my books. Sophie's walked the red carpet with me.
My son couldn't come 'cause he just started a new job outta college, so he was afraid to take the PTO. Um, but she's walked the red carpet with me twice. Like she, she knows I won an award this year for my book and you know, I got a picture of her holding it. So I, I try to get them all to be a part of this journey as much as possible.
Mm-hmm. So when I leave and travel, they're less like, where are you going? Like,
Toby Myles: yeah,
Miranda VonFricken: you're on vacation. I went to Hawaii with a client, like they flew me to Hawaii first class to teach their team LinkedIn. So my husband's like, are you kidding me? You know what I mean? Yeah,
Toby Myles: sure. You're going for work.
Miranda VonFricken: Then I go to LA a couple times a year and Vegas and he is like, what?
What?
Toby Myles: Yeah. I just have the best job ever. That's all
Miranda VonFricken: I know. I mean, I'm mostly here in New York, which is fine, but I can take some Hawaii right now and not have the snow anymore, but
Toby Myles: mm-hmm. I'm with you. I don't think we have as much as you do, but we got our share down here in Pennsylvania. Yeah. So, um. Two things.
I'll get two more questions and I'm gonna let you get on with your day. Um, for somebody, um, who's maybe thinking about starting a hustle, maybe they're on LinkedIn, maybe they're not, um, side hustle, not hustle, that didn't come out right. Um,
Miranda VonFricken: happens on the side, or if it's the main thing, whatever.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Right. Um, or if they already have taken the leap. Yeah. Um, and maybe they're struggling a little bit. Like what's, what advice would you give someone
Miranda VonFricken: in business or in life, in whatever advice? Yeah. Um, I would say take some time with yourself if you haven't already. Like step one, foundationally, get a hotel room, bring a notebook and a pen, some earbuds, put on some like megahertz frequency and just kind of like, get real quiet and tune into yourself and ask yourself like, what do I want for myself?
You know? Mm-hmm. For my business, for my life. What do I truly want? And then. You'll get to that end vision, right? So then if you don't know how to reverse engineer to get back to that hotel room or wherever you are, your couch drinking coffee, whatever, like you have to find a way to connect those dots.
And there's gonna be a lot of bridges in between A, it's okay to ask for help. B, it's okay to Google, like how do I blah, blah, blah. Um, there are people you can get on their calendars for free, for like 20 minutes, pick their brain, whatever. Like utilize your resources that you have closest to you once you find out what you're meant to do.
And if you don't know what you're meant to do and you're in that, in that seat and nothing came to you, then I'd say like, get some help, right? Like, find somebody who you trust, uh, or who has been referred to you, who has a lot of recommendations to like, help you figure it out. So then once you figure it out, I think that's the kind of the hardest part is the figuring out.
If you know what you want your side hustle to be, if you know what you want, you know, you wanna leave your job, become an entrepreneur, then I say, um, don't just make like a rash decision and quit your job. Right? Like, there's a way to do it in a way that feels comfortable for you, but also still taking risks, also still expanding yourself.
Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah, I would say get quiet and answer your all the questions. Right. And then I'd find a resource to help you execute or to create the plan and then hold you accountable to that execution. Mm-hmm. Um, I love me some LinkedIn, of course, I would highly recommend if you're like, oh, I'm not, I'm not a content person.
Like, just get on without, without your photo and just snoop around.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Poke around at the people who are doing what you say you want to do. If you wanna be a speaker, go to LinkedIn, search speakers, see who pops up. Look at, look at the people filter. And maybe even in your area, like are there speakers in my area?
Are there coaches? Are there, you know, like website designers, whatever you wanna be. And just poke around and see what they do, what they say. Do they go to events? Mm-hmm. You know, stuff like that. So I think it's the get quiet with yourself, ask for help, do the research, whatever. But I would say don't do it alone.
Like,
Toby Myles: yeah,
Miranda VonFricken: the first part, do it alone. 'cause you don't want anyone else to, to really, um. Be louder than you ever. Mm-hmm. Um, but once you figure it out or you're close enough to figure it out, then you should call in some resources. And there's different levels of resources people have freebies. Mm-hmm. Um, if you can afford to invest in a coach, please do.
Like, I have a coach now that I probably can't afford, but I'm still doing it 'cause I want bigger results.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Um, but, uh, I would, I would say take that chance. Right? Yeah. Because anytime you can get closer to where you wanna go and you can like speed up that time.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: My thought is the, the more you invest, the more you speed up the time is actually.
Mm-hmm. Like how I look at it for myself.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: If I'm paying for a coach that I can totally afford and it's easy, I, I won't participate as much and be, I won't get there as fast. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Um,
Miranda VonFricken: so if you want to be stretched based on where you are today, you, you have to make stretched decisions
Toby Myles: for sure.
Miranda VonFricken: To expand yourself.
But Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a lot, but I don't really know.
Toby Myles: I think that's great.
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah. Like where these people are. Yeah, yeah,
Toby Myles: yeah. I think that's great. And I think the point about, you know, stretching yourself just personally, but also financially, like I would never recommend somebody, you know, not be able to like, you know, pay their bills to do it.
But I will say like that first big investment, whatever it is, it's gonna be small in the beginning, but it's gonna feel really big. You know, it might be like $200 for something. It's gonna feel like, oh my god, you know, later it's gonna be more than that. Right. But it's like you, you sort of like, um, build your tolerance for those investments because you realize like what you get in return and how it pushes you, you know, to grow and keep growing.
Miranda VonFricken: I remember my first big investment after that. Um, second layoff, the, the big one we talk about, um, I was $2,000 from Marie Forleo's B-School. Mm-hmm. At the time. Um, I've still only taken one module outta six or something, because sometimes just making the investment something like turns on in you Yeah.
That like, I'm worthy of this investment. Yeah. I'm doing the thing. Mm-hmm. So now I'm gonna go take this, I'm gonna learn how to be an entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. And I took the course. Oh, I, I bought the course. The minute I clicked the button, something changed in me.
Toby Myles: Yeah. And I
Miranda VonFricken: was just like, that's good. Which is so valuable to learn about yourself.
Right? Yeah. Yeah. I can still go back and take the class, you know, whatever. Yeah. See what I'm missing. Which is hilarious now. Yeah. Probably like eight years ago, nine years ago.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: But even now, I remember somebody saying to me once, like, it was like a $6,000 investment, and I was like, oh, hell no, I ain't got $6, $6,000.
And they were like, just, that's what credit cards are for. And I'm like, uh, no. 'cause I, I'm not a big credit card person. Mm-hmm. Um, but I was like, no, that's ridiculous. But when I did a $10,000 investment, I took out a credit card for it. Mm-hmm. Like, I've business card, I make payments, whatever. And yeah, I, it has been the biggest in like learning lesson slash investment in my business.
And I remember thinking like, I would never recommend, it's kind of irresponsible what I thought to recommend getting a credit card, um, to invest in something. But I've earned back so much based on what I learned in that experience.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Tenfold and, and it's building my credit, which is fantastic, but, um, you have to do what's comfortable for you and then one more step, right?
Yeah. So it's comfortable for you. Like if it's not getting a credit card, is it borrowing it from your 401k right. Where you eventually pay it back every pay period and sometimes more. Um, yeah. Had a client do that before she, you know, she had a huge project she wanted to invest in and she had 401k and mm-hmm.
She, she's like, I've put that back in and more and invested enough. Yeah. You know, so it's really what you get out is what you put in. Yeah. Energetically, financially, all of that. Um, and it's, you gotta do what's best for you. Don't let anyone else make your decision, but. Don't be scared. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Don't
Miranda VonFricken: be scared about it.
'cause no, you know, nothing good ever came of me being afraid. Mm-hmm. I half acid or I pull back or I find a way to get out of it.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Right. Talk yourself out of it. Yeah. Yeah. And I've done what you've done. I've done both, you know, credit card and borrowing and, um, and, and I can make a commitment to myself like, okay, I'm investing, you know, we're, I'm, I'm doing this in October, the mastermind is 10 months, um, but I'm gonna pay it off by the end of the year so that the rest of the time it's like, okay, like it's done and paid for.
Yeah. I've done all different
Miranda VonFricken: Yeah.
Toby Myles: Variations. But I will definitely say that my, um, sort of tolerance for the investment has definitely grown over time.
Miranda VonFricken: You know how you can pay it back. Right. You've done the cycle a few times. So you get one card that's just for investments. Yeah. You open up another one, you pay it off.
Mm-hmm. You invest again, you know, like, so you can get your own routine for what feels good for you.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: I remember getting in such a big fight with my husband about that Marie Forleo School. If he ever listens to this, he's gonna be like, wait, you never took the class?
Toby Myles: Don't tell him
Miranda VonFricken: he won't listen to this.
Toby Myles: There you go. I, um, I was in Laura Belgrade's mastermind a few years ago, and that was like my biggest investment. Yeah. I remember, um, talking to my husband about it. It's
Miranda VonFricken: expensive. We all shrimp's expensive.
Toby Myles: It's expensive. And, but I had been following her for many years. I knew a few people that went through it the year before I did.
Yeah. And I had major fomo, um, but I was just like, I could never, and then when it came around again, I remember talking to my husband about it, fully expecting for him to say, are you outta your mind? And he was like, I think you should do it. I'm like, no. Like somebody has to be the grownup here in this situation.
Miranda VonFricken: Yep. When I did this big investment for my current coach, I work with Heather Monaghan right now, which is okay. I've never wired funds before. Um, like it's that expensive. Um, I, I was in LA already in the middle of a big investment and he was like, yeah, you're kind of on a roll. Like maybe you should just make this work.
And I was like, okay, honey, I'm just gonna make this work, but don't expect a big Christmas. Mm-hmm. Um, but it's just being in the presence. I'll tell you this, the, the, this may be the one piece of advice they wanna listen to. Like, being around people who are where you wanna be or have the energy that you need to get to where you wanna be is priceless.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: Like everything I hear so far, it's been a couple months. Um, a couple things I didn't know about, but most of the things I pretty much say a lot of the same things are very similar. Mm-hmm. Um, we've worked together in the past before. Um, and so it cracks me up that like, but one piece of advice she'll give me.
Is worth that month's payment because she's a higher, she's a multimillionaire. She's a higher level. Yeah. She's on ginormous stages. Mm-hmm. She's on multiple TED Talks, you know? Mm-hmm. So, I mean, she's so, like, she's me on steroids, you know? Yeah. She's where I wanna go, you know? Yeah. So I need to be in the room with people making bigger decisions, you know?
Yeah. Her investments are way bigger than mine, but, you know. Yeah. So there's just something to be said about that, and you don't have to do it all the time. Like, I'm not gonna have six coaches. Right. That expensive. I'll have one main one, I've got two, I've got an energy coach who's my intuitive business coach, that's more about my feelings.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Where Heather's like, get shit done right now, do X, Y, and Z. Yeah. I'll call you in 10 minutes. Do it now. You know what I mean? So, yeah.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Miranda VonFricken: I need that kind of energy.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Miranda VonFricken: Um, but if you can get in those rooms and be with those, let that level of person mm-hmm. It's worth it. It's always worth it. I
Toby Myles: agree.
Yeah. I agree. Well, that was, um, I said I was gonna ask you two more questions. Then I asked you a few more mixed in. Um, but this is like the big one because people listening are going to want to get to know you if they don't already. So where can people find you?
Miranda VonFricken: That's gonna be shocking. But LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is where I live. Um, I have a website, MirandaVonFricken.com can give you probably a little bit more. Um, but LinkedIn, Instagram, I'm on Insta as well. Miranda VonFricken at both. Um, you may see more like funny reels, silly version of me on Instagram, so mm-hmm. Corny. Miranda's on Instagram. Um, I share a lot of Grinch things lately.
Toby Myles: The season.
Miranda VonFricken: It's the season. I love that energy too. Um, but LinkedIn is where I live. It's, it's, there's videos there. I've got freebies on my website with a lot of video trainings. You could always learn a lot from me there, but LinkedIn and. Insta my website. Yeah. Um, of course you can get my books on Amazon.
You, if you wanna, you can get 'em on my website too. Uh, but, but yeah. And I, I have, I have tons of, I have a podcast too. Own your awesome on it's called Own Your Awesome, uh, on the podcast. And I share a lot of those stories, like the personal stories, um, in detail. A lot of them, uh, on my LinkedIn, or I'm sorry, on my podcast.
Um, because I, I love talking and I I actually record it. You're And a laugh. No podcast coaches come at me 'cause my, I have one and he hates me. I'm sure I record it on my phone. Like, I'm, I'm walking around the house recording it on voice notes. It's hilarious. It's very much like I'm boxing a friend.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
And
Miranda VonFricken: a lot of my clients, I box her with them and they're like, I feel like that was like a 30 minute boxer. I'm like, you're welcome. Because it's just me. It's raw. I don't edit. Yeah. You'll hear my dogs bark. You'll hear me taking a sip of water if I say something and I'm like, oh, that's good. Let me write that down.
Uhhuh, I, I write it down
totally. I love it. It's just, it's me. It's how I roll. Yeah. And honestly, I, I have a podcast coach and. He was like, I don't know if I would change any of this, but don't tell people I'm your coach. He's like, let's revisit this in the new year. Yeah, you still don't, haven't done anything I told you to do. And I'm like, I, it just, this feels right.
So anyway. Yeah, lots of places to find me. I love coffee chats, so get on my calendar. There's a 20 minute one where we can get to know you. Um, and if you need some LinkedIn help or coaching, I'm a hundred percent here for that too. Yeah.
Toby Myles: Very cool. Oh my gosh, this has been amazing. Um, I honestly feel like we could go for like another hour because I could keep asking you questions.
So maybe we'll do a part two in the new year or at some point. Thank you so much. This has been amazing. I really appreciate you being here.
Miranda VonFricken: Thanks for having me.