Woman of Influence with Julie Solomon
Episode: "When Your Business Evolves Faster Than Your Voice"
Guest: Samantha Skelly
Date: December 17, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode is an insightful conversation between host Julie Solomon and entrepreneur/coach Samantha Skelly about the subtle challenges experienced by established women leaders whose business growth and personal evolution outpace their original messaging and voice. They explore what it means to recalibrate your message, embody your truest self, and attract premium clients—not by performance or pain-based marketing, but through authentic presence and aspirational alignment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Honoring Truth Over Performance

• Samantha’s Evolution (03:00–06:49):
  • In her 40s, Samantha realized her ambitions and way of showing up had evolved, no longer requiring previous performative patterns.
  • The past pressure to perform was a necessary phase but is now being shed for presence and truth.

  “I’m really proud of myself […] because over this last year […] I turned 40 last year, and it really just made me kind of root into the fact that my ambitions were changing and that was ok.”—Samantha Skelly (04:16)

• The energy now is zero tolerance for anything less than truth; presence is replacing performance as the driving force in business.

  “Real influence isn’t built in the algorithm. It’s embodied in your identity.”—Julie Solomon (01:57)

2. Embracing Unproductive Play & Multiple Outlets

• Boredom as Regulation (08:04–14:13):
  • Both women discuss taking up hobbies solely for joy and replenishment—pottery for Sam, French and songwriting for Julie.
  • The myth that boredom in business signals a problem; it may actually be a sign that things are working and it’s time to seek fulfillment elsewhere.
  • Permission to diversify creative expression without monetization; sometimes the “boredom” is opportunity for expansion.

  “Maybe you’re, quote unquote, bored in your business because—it’s actually finally working and in flow.”—Julie Solomon (09:06)

3. From Past-Focused to Future-Focused Messaging

• Authenticity & Identity Shift (15:05–22:34):
  • Julie shares her traditional background in journalism and publicity, which sharpened her messaging skills.
  • Critique of the “serve a former version of yourself” approach. True magnetism is about mirroring and speaking from your highest evolved self.

  “The most premium ideal client that you will have is never a former version of you. They’re always the highest version of who you are.”—Julie Solomon (21:35)

• Serving and messaging to the former self attracts unaligned audience, while aspiring upwards sets the tone for transformation.

4. The Problem with Pain-Based Marketing

• Aspirational vs. Pain Messaging (24:27–34:27):
  • Pain-based marketing, though effective for volume, attracts people not ready to take empowered action or invest deeply.
  • Aspirational messaging draws clients who see their potential and want to rise to it—a much higher conversion rate and more enjoyable experience.

  “I would rather have a hundred quality, ready-to-buy, highest-premium clients on a webinar than 10,000 people that came through pain point marketing.”—Julie Solomon (31:37)

• Specificity and going "micro" with desires—for example, the feeling of confidently wearing a long-held pair of jeans—creates resonance and connection.

5. Fluidity, Embodiment & Daily Practice

• Being ‘Her’ Now (34:28–40:29):
  • Embodiment comes from daily micro-decisions. Julie’s mantra: “Be her now.”
  • When facing moments of self-doubt, pause and ask: how would the highest version of me respond?

  “I pause, breathe, pause. And I just say to myself, ‘Be her now.’ What would she do? How would she respond to that email? What would she think in this moment, even if she was afraid? Be her now.”—Julie Solomon (35:42)

• Embodiment isn’t selective—bring your truest self into every arena of life, not just business.
• When you embody the future self, everything (including business opportunities) flows more easily and with more joy.

  “The more I play, the more successful I become. [...] Success in life—having a calendar that I love.”—Sam (40:32)

6. Flipping the Script—From “Have-Do-Be” to “Be-Do-Have”

• Practical Application (40:29–42:24):
  • Scarcity and waiting for the right conditions ("have-do-be") leads to postponing growth.
  • Choosing to embody (“be”) first creates a new reality that naturally draws the opportunities and results you desire.

  “When I switched that to the opposite of that: be, do, have versus have, do, be, and just like really being her now, just the script changes. And when the script changes, everything changes.”—Julie Solomon (41:28)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Evolving Beyond Performance:

  “There was a lot of performing that happened in the earlier stages and in the growth stages of my business. And again, it's...it needed to happen at the time. My ego needed it, my fears needed it...but it just doesn’t serve me anymore.” —Samantha Skelly (04:37)

• On Messaging to the Highest Self:

  “It's really about mirroring back the highest version of who we are so we can be that calibrator and that permission slip for the magnetism.” —Julie Solomon (19:42)

• On the Downside of Pain-Based Marketing:

  “People that are attracted to pain point marketing have a hard time believing in themselves and believing you—their process would work for them.” —Julie Solomon (31:51)

• On Embodiment:

  “‘Be her now.’ And that is always the thing that recalibrates me out of that past self version into the highest self that I can be.” —Julie Solomon (35:57)

• On Play as the Portal to Success:

  “The more I play, the more successful I become. [...] Success in life—having a calendar that I love, the ability to go to the lake...that feels like success.” —Sam (40:32)

• On the Power of Alignment:

  “When we do that, it’s an interesting thing. The universe kind of takes care of the rest. But all the characters in the script change and the parts that they play change.” —Julie Solomon (41:48)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |:--------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:00 | Samantha on honoring truth and shedding performance | | 08:04 | Embracing play & non-productive creativity | | 15:05 | Messaging mastery, background, and recalibrating identity | | 19:42 | Mirror messaging: speaking from your highest self | | 24:27 | The aspirational client avatar and switching from pain-based marketing | | 31:37 | Why pain-based messaging brings in less qualified leads | | 34:28 | Embodiment: the practice of “be her now” | | 40:29 | Be-Do-Have: switching the growth paradigm | | 42:24 | The power of serving your highest self to attract elevated clients |

Actionable Takeaways & Audience Guidance

• Audit your messaging: Are you speaking from your highest self or a former version?
• Give yourself permission to pursue non-business creative outlets; resist the urge to “fix” boredom.
• Notice if you’re using pain to attract clients—shift instead into vivid, specific aspiration and possibility.
• Anchor in daily embodiment: act as your future self, asking “what would she do?” in each context.
• Remember, true influence is rooted in identity—a presence that is felt across all life domains, not just business.

Where to Connect:

• Julie Solomon: @juls_s olomon
• The Influence(r) Podcast (soon to be rebranded): New episodes every Wednesday
• Learn more about Julie’s accelerator program: juliesolomon.net

“This is where leaders come to realign their presence, elevate their positioning, and scale their legacy—without losing themselves in the process.”