Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Shekleton.
Hi Megan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m Megan Shekleton. I am a certified Executive Coach for founders and leaders who are transforming into a wider vision for their life and careers. I am also a 3x founder, and I most recently sold my last venture last year after scaling it to over $1MM in 20 months, and now I am building Wider Visions.
At Wider Visions, our mission is to create more accessibility to coaching tools for transformation. I have seen firsthand how impactful how coaching tools, like mindset management, nervous system regulation, better emotional awareness, and vision clarity, are with my clients and in my own life. The fact is that private coaching isn’t accessible to everyone, but the tools to change your life should be.
Our intentional guided journals and products that teach you the coaching frameworks to create lasting change in your life and become the version of yourself that you want to be. Our first guided journal – The Vision Journal – is available now!
In my executive coaching, I specialize in supporting my clients in moments of transition when they are on the precipice of change, ready to truly push past anything holding them back, and fully step into their power. Most of my clients come to me feeling unfulfilled, stuck, lacking clarity, or full of self doubt, and together, we partner together to identify what is that meaningful change that they want to create and then, start to embody it through internal and external transformation.
My clients have made major career transitions, started businesses, found their life partners, and overcome intense perfectionism and people pleasing. While their results are all different, the commonality is that they all made massive changes to live a life that is more fulfilling. My approach to executive coaching is holistic -as I believe that all outward success is first and foremost an inside job, so I use my certifications in Life and Leadership, breathwork, meditation, EFT and hypnosis, and reiki to support massive transformation in my clients. My approach to executive coaching is holistic and focusing on the whole individual – as I believe we all deserve to create lives we love.
My clients also tap me for business consulting in addition to my coaching. Previously, as an entrepreneur, I successfully exited two other businesses, in completely different industries, that I bootstrapped and built from the ground up and one sold for nearly 7-figures. And, in my first company, I collaborated with incredible women like Alex Elle, Taryn Toomey of the Class, Tiffany Aliche of The Budgetnista, the founders of Glow Recipe and with brands like Athleta, Bumble, PureWow and Kendra Scott. And from a corporate lens, I’ve worked either in-house or agency-side for Neiman Marcus, Proctor and Gamble, Smuckers, Macy’s, and Target in brand strategy and marketing- understanding the intricacies of growth and management in mid-to-large size operations.
Ultimately, I love helping committed and curious people create a life that they love and transform into the version of themselves that they long to be.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Growing up I really struggled with my self worth and confidence. I always felt like I was not enough, and this led me to really prove my worth through my achievements – good grades, getting a good job out of college, and checking the boxes of what you are supposed to do to be seen as successful. And, this really low self worth and loud inner critic, resulted in disordered eating, intense anxiety, panic attacks, and bouts of depression.I had really maladaptive perfectionist tendencies where my self worth was tied to my external achievements. And, while everything looked great from the outside looking in because I am really high functioning, I really wasn’t happy.
After college, I started climbing the corporate ladder in New York City, and I found myself in a really toxic job in advertising. I would cry everyday on my way to work and I was terrified to make a mistake. I would stumble over my words within presentations and have panic attacks in the bathroom. And that prolonged state of fight or flight in my body made me sick and I got diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
It was an all time low of feeling really sick both physically and mentally, and it really drove me to find better tools to take care of myself.
Through therapy, I started to gain the tools on how to build better self awareness around my subconscious thoughts, get curious about the stories and beliefs I had about myself, and notice patterns/ behaviors that were not healthy for me. I started to gain tools and practices for self love and self awareness.
I also felt firsthand how connected the mind and the body are – two parts of 1 system. Tools like breathwork and meditation helped to soothe my nervous system to even be able to access the cognitive and subconscious mindset work. So, my approach to executive coaching is really integrated and holistic. I started to gain tools to better take care of myself and practices to shift both my mindset and my nervous system to allow me to show up as the version of myself that I wanted to be. I started to find more presence and joy.
After a few years of building my career in advertising, there was this nagging feeling of wanting to do something more purpose driven. And, in the back of my mind, there was this idea that I really wanted to bring to life but felt like such an imposter, and so I sat on the idea for 4 years before finally just deciding to give it a go. And that idea was MoxxieMade- my first business. With MoxxieMade, I hosted intentional events for women to really connect and gain holistic mentorship – partnering up with incredible women like Alex Elle, Taryn Toomey of the Class, Tiffany Aliche of The Budgetnista, the founders of Glow Recipe and partnered with brands like Athleta, Bumble, and Kendra Scott. I am so proud of that business and all the impact that was created. Hosting over 23 events, with 75 amazing mentors, over 2300 attendees, and building a community of over 7000 women in NYC.
What’s interesting is that – again on the outside it appeared that everything was amazing. But, internally, I felt so much resistance and imposter syndrome with every step forward on that business. This is why having the tools to not only gain clarity on your vision but align your mindset and actions is so important.
It was the first time I fully said yes to my ideas, the first time that I allowed myself to take a heart-led risk, and lean into creating a space that I really wanted in my own life. But my subconscious identity didn’t yet believe that it was possible for me – so every step of the way was filled with a lot of doubt.
And, because I hadn’t yet cultivated a sense of true self worth, so much of my identity was wrapped up in these external markers of success. I was living really from the place of “If X happens, then I will be happy” – focusing on the destination vs. enjoying the journey. I was creating a company that I loved, but I felt burnt out and dysregulated.
Then, COVID hit, and that meant that events went away overnight, and so did my revenue stream and sense of identity and self worth. I had just moved to Austin from NY and I found myself without a community and unclear of what to do next.
And, that pause really forced me to look at my relationship to success, achievement, productivity, and helped me truly find my sense of innate self worth. Having all of these things that propped up my sense of self ripped away at the same time – my business, my advertising career, my community, NYC – and instead, I had to look deep at who I was at my core and without those identifiers.
It was also so important for me to learn that my worth doesn’t depend on my career success, that I can anchor in and have faith that things falling apart can be happening FOR me vs TO me, rest and not overworking myself can actually lead to more productivity, and trusting the redirect. And, this time really forced me to put into practice all of these tools for better self care into practice and really integrate them as my new identity.
As events were paused, the invitation was to explore coaching. After I gained my transformational life and leadership coaching certification, I started working with my clients 1:1 to help them get clear on a wider vision for their life and then start to align their mindset and actions to achieve it. Helping people achieve their biggest visions is the biggest honor. I have seen how transformative coaching can be for my private clients and for myself. With the right tools to better understand ourselves and create change in our lives, we can start living more fulfilling lives and feel confident that we can navigate whatever life throws our way.
I feel like a very different person than who I used to be.
Now, I haven’t had an anxiety attack in over 10 years which I never thought would be possible for me.
I very rarely have Fibromyalgia flair ups + if they do happen, I prioritize my rest + use it as a signal to take care of me.
I have spoken on stages in front of hundreds of individuals and organized events with some of my dream mentors.
I built a completely different business from the ground up and scaled it to over $1MM in 20 months, and then, sold it.
But, more importantly are the internal upgrades, that no one sees but have really changed how I feel in my life.
I truly feel like I am enough and my sense of self love is so much greater.
I have such a different relationship to my work and my businesses – while I love what I do, and it’s exciting to build a career that is so authentic to me and the impact I want to create, I love my life even more, and I really feel like if this business fails or if something happens, I am okay.
I am worthy and whole without it, and it can be a beautiful expression of me.
I am also so much more grounded in enjoying the process of growth vs. living for the destination.
And, while I have had some sticky or challenging moments pop up over the last few years, because that’s life – they didn’t rock me like they used to and I was able to navigated them with a lot more grace and neutrality. Because I now have tools to help to take care of myself.
With Wider Visions, we want to make all of these amazing coaching tools and resources of mindset management, better emotional awareness, nervous system regulation, and vision clarity more accessible, because they have literally changed my life and created profound changes in my private clients.
All of those past versions of me simply didn’t have the right resources or knowledge, and when we have the right tools and resources to better understand ourselves and create intentional change, anything is possible.
As you know, we’re big fans of Wider Visions . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Wider Visions is creating accessibility to coaching tools for transformation through guided journals on topics like, mindset management, better emotional intelligence, nervous system regulation, taking aligned action, and vision clarity. Private coaching is so impactful but not accessible to everyone, but we believe that the tools to change your life should be.
In order to live our most fulfilling lives and expand into our wider visions, we need the right tools to do so. So, we create guided journals and intentional products that help you tap into that more expansive thinking and then give you really practical coaching tools and frameworks to create change in your life.
Our first guided workbook, The Vision Journal, just launched. Through the guided journal, you will get clear on the wider vision that you want to expand into – gaining clarity on the shifts you want to create, the identity that you want to embody, and your heart-led desires. It includes over 80 self inquiry prompts to move from feeling stuck to clear on the shifts you want to create in your life and 11 coaching tools and frameworks to start embodying your expanded self – jumpstarting the process to make your vision, your reality. Each journal comes with a QR code for a more immersive experience – a guided audio course, guided meditations to align your subconscious, and tapping videos to regulate your nervous system. And, it’s all for $28 – so a really accessible price point to gain comprehensive support for sparking change in your life.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
For Wider Visions, please check out The Vision Journal and sign up for our email to gain actionable guidance for growth!
For my private coaching, check out my executive coaching website – meganshekleton.com
Pricing:
- $28 for The Vision Journal
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wider-visions.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/widervisions
- Other: https://www.meganshekleton.com/
Image Credits
Kat Harris and Sanetra Longo
