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Rooted & Relentless is the podcast for big-dreaming, soul-led entrepreneurs building businesses—and lives—on their own terms.
Hosted by Biz Growth Strategist & Operational Powerhouse Steph Rubio, this show blends unfiltered business strategy with personal growth stories, mindset shifts, a touch of randomness, and plenty of humor to keep you laughing. Everything is on the table. It’s raw, real, and relentlessly honest.
New episodes drop weekly(ish). Bring your notebook & an open mind. This is where strategy meets soul, & scaling doesn’t mean selling yours.
Hang with Steph:
Boost Your Biz Strategy Sesh: https://www.stephrubio.com/small-business-consulting
Find Out Where You're Blocked w/ The Biz Blocker Quiz: https://www.tryinteract.com/share/quiz/6810432a8fa23ab768307116
Follow (& DM me - really, I love DM chats) on IG: https://www.instagram.com/virtually_stephrubio
Anybody have any idea why I've been so excited about this podcast? As I dig deeper, and these are my first episodes, right, that I'm putting out into the world, the reason is because I get to tell you the real story, the whole story, and nothing but the story. That was lame. But here we are. So one component of my story, I'm laying the foundation here.
Steph.Rubio:I really want people to intimately understand me and what makes me tick and how I approach business and life and what makes me a mentor and how I pour into other people. I wanna talk about when it all changed for me. And this is not the first time I've talked about this, but the first time I've talked about it unbridled and in talk about it as long as I need to. You know? Not those one or two minute reels where I've been cut off.
Steph.Rubio:Hey. I'm Steph Rubio, your go to for no nonsense chitchat on growing a business and life that you actually love. Around here, we're rooted in who we are, even if we're still learning to love her, getting clear on where we wanna go, and we're relentless in our pursuit to get there. We're clawing our way out of survival mode and learning to bet on ourselves. We get into the nitty gritty of growth in life and in business, money, identity, boundaries, healing, leadership, parenting, partners, and all the messy bits in between.
Steph.Rubio:If you're ready to grow on your own terms, laugh a lot, possibly cry a little, maybe laugh until we cry if we're lucky, then hit subscribe and let's get into it. This is Rooted and Relentless, where strategy meets soul and scaling doesn't mean selling yours. Grab your notepad and hold on to your tits. This one's for you. When it all changed for me about three years ago in 2022, and when I say it all, what I mean is truly a pivotal moment I'll always look back on.
Steph.Rubio:I mean, always look back on and say, oh my god, it really did change. It literally is what dictates the person that you see showing up today, the one who shows up confident, not cocky, and doesn't apologize for that and is so freaking relentlessly passionate about helping other online entrepreneurs and women in business do the same is because I went from doubting myself like, impostor syndrome was the name of the game. I would show up to meetings and leave with a headache and a red chest because I was so anxiety ridden in not being convicted that I belonged in the room I was in. And it was literally causing physical reactions. It's insane to think about now.
Steph.Rubio:So this is what it looked like. I was supporting an organization as a virtual executive assistant and project manager. This was the first year in my business, and I landed in a really great organization that was a technology company. Technology is a great space to be in, at least from a financial component, and it rapidly changes. So if you love operations and back end stuff, then it's a great zone for you to be in.
Steph.Rubio:And hello, that's what I love. So that's what I was doing. I was there. It's when I really got into strategic management and became pretty much a junior chief of staff of that organization. So I went from a year prior being an administrative assistant to a financial advisor here locally, and it was great.
Steph.Rubio:It was my foundation truly of operations. But at this point in time specifically, I went from that and found myself in the room with a c suite executives. If you're not familiar with the c suite, that is your chief of staff, that is your CEO, chief executive officer, your chief operating officer, your chief technology officer, chief financial officer, all the chiefs, right? Literally the top of the company. You can't go higher than that.
Steph.Rubio:So the big mojo's in charge. And for me, little old me that's from the country in the middle of nowhere, I just moved from there nine years ago, and had only had, like, sales jobs and things to get by until I landed my administrative assistant job that I was in for five years, I hadn't been in a room with big, important people. Right? The big, important people were always five hundred people removed from me anyways. They just made all the decisions, and then like I was the brunt of receiving them.
Steph.Rubio:So suddenly I'm in the room with all these people and they're using words and stuff I wasn't quite familiar with in an organization. Luckily for me, I'm a sponge. So, that changed quickly and actually made me the powerhouse I am today. So, that was very helpful. Appreciate y'all for that and allowing me the space.
Steph.Rubio:But that didn't change the fact that I'd be sitting there in a virtual room with them and was literally not not hyperventilating, but my chest was red and I was getting a headache because I was like, what am I doing here? What the fuck am I doing here? Like, they got it wrong for sure. That was an accident, so I gotta like pretend I know what I'm doing. You'll fake it till you make it.
Steph.Rubio:You know? Like, they'll never know. They didn't. The difference was that I wasn't faking it. I actually knew my shit.
Steph.Rubio:I was terrified and didn't believe that I knew my shit, and that was the difference. Okay? So when it all changed, just the COO of that company who happened to be the person that I worked closest with and supported her essentially in setting up the strategic plan and making sure all the functions of the business were doing what they need all the time. And love that. I have another episode on strategic planning.
Steph.Rubio:So I'll drop that in the show notes because it is important to understand the difference, and that's what I bring to businesses now and how we actually make what you do make sense. I was literally already an operations powerhouse, but I didn't know that. I thought for sure they got it wrong and they were gonna find out at some point or they were gonna be sitting there thinking, why did we let her hear? What is she talking about? Why is she speaking up?
Steph.Rubio:When the opposite was true. And my mentor, the woman you can still see quoted throughout my website, she changed the game for me. She always will be a part of my story because she would come to me and say when she heard me asking these questions or calling out these gaps or pushing further on what I see and coming up with solutions, she was like, you're really smart and you need to bring this to the group. And so I was like, okay, I'll do it. So on shaky knees with a red chest, I would wear shirts that covered my chest so that people couldn't see how red I was and again, had the headache after.
Steph.Rubio:Still is terrified. Still is, like, absolutely sure they got it wrong and they were gonna realize that when I started speaking. Would call that out. Would ask questions. Would give smart solutions.
Steph.Rubio:And same mentor would immediately Slack me or reach out after and say, that was really smart. You should do that more often and follow-up with those little confidence boosters. And so what do you know? Soon I was like, she's right. I started showing up holding my shoulders back.
Steph.Rubio:I started speaking up more. And the more I did, you know what happened? The more I realized she was actually right. The whole time, I did know my shit. I am one of the smartest people in the room even without that c suite title, which I was never after, and I'm still not.
Steph.Rubio:Just means more money and more problems for sure in that case. Essentially, what happened is I started believing in myself, and I started showing up like it, and I only got smarter and more confident from that point. What I'm describing is impostor syndrome, and let me tell you the problem with impostor syndrome. First, it held me back for many years. I didn't realize that.
Steph.Rubio:I would have showed up in the rooms a lot more confident a lot sooner. And if people don't want me in the room, I just create my own room. Okay? And I'm bringing you with me, so it's cool. At that point, when I started showing up like that, people started coming to me as the expert and coming to me as the authority figure.
Steph.Rubio:And I realized how long I'd been holding myself back living in fear that I was in the wrong room. Let me tell you let me give you a way to reframe it if this sounds familiar to you and it's something you face, even if it's not for the same exact, like, scenario. You're showing up in a room of c suite executives, but you might be showing up on sales calls convinced they're gonna figure out you don't know what you're doing and they're not the right one to work for you. Wrong. You're wrong.
Steph.Rubio:And let me tell you what happens. When you assume that the person on the other side gonna find out that you're faking it till you make it or they made a mistake, they just don't know yet that you aren't the expert or whatever, like, you're just hoping and wishing for a chance, you're actually discrediting them. You're assuming that they're not smart enough or educated enough or knowledgeable enough or enough of the expert to know that you know your stuff, that they would even waste their time talking to you, you're discrediting them. So maybe flip that on its head. Maybe you're not in a position yet where you can actually step outside the box and start believing in yourself.
Steph.Rubio:First, your support group is going to change that. I would have never gotten to that on my own. I had to have that mentor, a powerful woman who was communicating directly, who I trusted would have told me if I didn't know my stuff. And again, I would never have discredited her. I'm still wowed by her.
Steph.Rubio:She was the COO of A lot of us in the space are familiar with Xero. They're an accounting software. She was the COO of the company I worked with at that time. She's still a COO now and looking for her new CEO opportunity. And I trusted her.
Steph.Rubio:She's extremely smart. She's extremely direct communicator. A lot of my traits have just gotten better because I communicate directly. I don't fluff, I don't shy away from calling something like I see it because it makes us all better, I would have never assumed that she got it wrong with me. So why was I?
Steph.Rubio:Why was I just assuming any of that to begin with? That switched for me. Quit discrediting the other people in the room, the people that you're at the table with, the people you're in the room with. People get really scared to show up in rooms in person, especially when you've been working online for a while and maybe you found some success and you're about to go be in a room with 75, 100 plus other really freaking awesome powerhouses in the business space. And if you're doing it for the first or second time or you feel like you're not as far along with them or insert whatever reason, you might start second guessing yourself and be like, I don't belong in the room.
Steph.Rubio:You belong in the room the moment you bought the ticket or the moment you got the invite to be there, period. So stop discrediting them and assuming they got it wrong and start trusting yourself a little bit. Stand up. Hold your shoulders back. Walk in the room like you own it.
Steph.Rubio:Sit at the table like you own it. Speak up and stop being scared. The right people will value that. The wrong people aren't your people. Period.
Steph.Rubio:Well, that's a wrap on this episode of Rooted and Relentless. If it made you laugh, nod along, or grab that cute little notebook of yours and scribble something down, please hit me with the SSR. Subscribe, share, and review, as in leave a review. Don't forget to tag me on Instagram at virtually underscore Steph Rubio and tell me what you're reading this week. Seriously, a live for a good book moment.
Steph.Rubio:Thanks for hanging. Bye.