20. A Life and Business Update: Expanded Capacity, Big Manifestations, and Holding Both

What if the biggest transformation isn't changing your circumstances, but expanding your capacity to hold them?

In this episode of The Favourite Self Podcast, Carly pulls back the curtain on a full season of family life, business growth, manifestation, uncertainty, and expanded capacity. She shares what this summer has looked like behind the scenes, from working more flexibly while her kids are home to watching their relationship grow and recognizing how differently she is able to hold both motherhood and business compared to just a few years ago.

Carly also shares the story behind manifesting Kathleen Cameron as her live podcast guest at the High Vibe Women Full Day Experience, the powerful response to leading a Favourite Self visualization at Gather Self and Style, and why these moments have felt like confirmation that she is stepping deeper into the work she is meant to do. She opens up about creating The Favourite Self Retreat, the evolution happening inside Web of Words, and the personal challenges her family has been navigating after her father-in-law’s serious accident.

This episode is a reminder that joy, grief, growth, uncertainty, and beautiful opportunities can all exist at once. Often, the biggest transformation is not that our circumstances suddenly change, but that we become the version of ourselves who can hold more of life without losing our connection to who we are.

If this episode resonates, be sure to follow and subscribe to The Favourite Self Podcast, and share it with someone who may need this reminder in their own full season.

Key Takeaways:

• Life does not always get easier, but your capacity to hold motherhood, business, and change can expand

• Manifestation becomes more powerful when you stop trying to control every step and begin operating from trust

• The work you do on yourself often creates more growth than another strategy, system, or productivity hack

• Joy and grief can exist at the same time, and you do not have to diminish one to honour the other

• The biggest transformations often happen because you change, not because your circumstances become perfect

Links: 

High Vibe Women Full Day Experience: https://www.highvibewomen.ca/october-2026-event (use code CARLY50 to save $50 on your ticket)

Favourite Self Podcast Episode 3: How to Live and Lead as Your Most Authentic Self with Maria Tassi https://thefavouriteselfpodcast.buzzsprout.com/2597263/episodes/18976012-3-how-to-live-and-lead-as-your-most-authentic-self-with-maria-tassi 

Carly's Links
Website: carlyottaway.com / webofwords.ca
Instagram: @‌itscarlyottaway / @‌webofwords_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlyottaway

Favourite Self Retreat: https://www.carlyottaway.com/the-favourite-self-retreat

Coming Home: https://www.amazon.ca/Coming-Home-Path-Favourite-Permission/dp/1069218308

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@favouriteselfpodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Honestly, this has just been one of those manifestations that has reminded me what happens when you stop trying to control every step and just decide it's already yours. Welcome to the favorite self podcast. I like to think of it not as your future self or your best self, but your favorite self. My favorite self that just makes me feel the truest version of me. What lights your favorite self on fire? I'm Carly Ottaway, founder, author, storyteller, and a woman who learned that building a successful life means nothing if it doesn't feel like yours. This podcast is for women who are building businesses, raising families, leading movements, and asking themselves, is this it or is there more available to me? This is your invitation to come back to yourself. Let's dig in. Welcome back to the Favorite Self Podcast. Today's episode is a little different. I just really wanted to sit down and share a life and business update with you because so much has been happening behind the scenes over here the last couple of months. There have really been some incredible moments, also some really hard moments, some huge manifestations coming through, and honestly, just a lot of reflection around how different this season of life feels compared to even just a couple of years ago. So I thought I would pull back the curtain a little bit and catch you up. One thing that has really stood out to me this summer is just how much our capacity has expanded. When I say our, I mean my husband, my business partner, Luke, and I, who I think I need to have Luke on the podcast sooner than later. Maybe I'll do a little poll and see who's interested in hearing from Luke. But we run the business together and we also run the household together and parent together. And we decided to do fewer camps this year. The kids are a little bit older. We really wanted to prioritize having more time together as a family. And that meant that my schedule has needed to be a little bit more fluid. And we've also had to get creative about ways to keep the kids entertained, keep the snacks flowing without relying on screens all day. No hate against screens, they serve a time and a purpose, but I really wanted to make sure they were still spending the majority of their day outside and just really enjoying quality time together. So, funny enough, AI has officially become our camp counselor. Luke actually used AI to build out this entire camp at home schedule with activities mapped out for each day. We planned everything ahead, including what snacks they're having when. And my daughter, who is a Virgo, a little Virgo, has been obsessed with it. She gets to check off each activity as she goes through it and help her brother through it. And honestly, it's actually just been so much fun watching them both dive into it together. And one of my favorite parts of this summer has been watching their relationship grow, watching them truly become little best friends and hearing their giggles constantly in the background. And I'm really proud, reflecting back, I'm really proud that we have built this business that allows us to have this kind of flexibility. It really was a core value and a key goal of ours from the beginning. And at the same time, I'm also very aware that this version of me that I am now could not have done this the same way, even a couple years ago. A couple years ago, I remember watching other people work from home with their kids home and genuinely wondering how? How are they doing it? How are they holding it all? My brain felt like mush trying to do both at the same time, even trying to create boundaries around both. It just didn't feel possible. My kids were constantly at the door wanting to see what I was working on. And this summer feels different. Knock on wood. And I think it's just such a beautiful reminder that sometimes it's not that life or parenting or business necessarily gets easier. It really is that we become more capable. And I'm also aware that we are in a different season of parenting. So if you are in the thick of it right now, wondering how you're going to even get through the next half of the summer, it's going to keep changing. Every year it continues to change and feel different. And your capacity expands along with it. And honestly, that idea of expanded capacity has been showing up everywhere in my life lately, not just at home, but definitely in my business too. Cause it has been such a full summer in the best way. And it really started back in June when I led a mastermind session at Her Legacy Live, hosted by my friend Sarah Lambert. I went with some friends and I was sitting beside my friend Maria, who is one of the co-founders of High Vibe Women. She was also on the podcast. Still to this day is one of the most listened to favorite episodes. Go back and tune in if you haven't heard it yet. I'll leave the link in the show notes for you. I'm really excited to share something, finally, share something with you that sparked on this day. It hasn't actually been announced publicly yet. So you are hearing it here for the very first time. But this October, I will be hosting a live podcast room at High Five Women's Full Day Experience. And when Christina and Maria invited me to do it, I knew right away that I wanted to make it really special. I didn't just want another interview. I wanted someone who was going to go deep with me and just blow everyone in the room away, blow their minds. Someone who would talk to with me about identity, of course, and manifestation, energetics, 10xing your life and business, all the things that I love talking about here on this podcast and that have honestly transformed my own life. And I had a few people in mind, but nobody was feeling quite like the right fit. And then Kathleen Cameron walked onto the stage at her legacy live. And as she was speaking, I remember turning to Maria beside me and saying, She has to be my live podcast guest. I just knew in that moment. I knew it. I literally felt it in my body. And of course, her entire keynote was about manifestation, about the power of assuming it's already happened, it's already done, and about becoming the version of yourself who naturally receives the thing that you're asking for. And so putting this into practice right away, at one point, I went to the bathroom. And when I came back, I looked at Maria and I said, it's already done. And she looked at me and was like, What? Like, what do you mean? And I explained to her that I hadn't asked Kathleen yet, but I knew deep down it's already done. And then something really cool happened. We on the second half of the day broke off into these mastermind tables, and I was one of the facilitators leading a session. And halfway through, Kathleen walked over and sat down at my table. And she stayed for the rest of that session. And then she stayed actually for the third session as well. And I remember as we were wrapping up thinking, okay, now she's actually gotten to see me in my element. This is my chance to shoot my shot. And earlier that day, I had actually signed a copy of my book for her to gift to her. And after the mastermind sessions, I walked back to my table where I was selling books, grabbed it, walked over and gave it to her and told her about the live podcast room at High Five Women. And she was really into it. She loved the idea. She felt it clearly felt aligned right from the start. The only thing was that she wasn't sure if she would be traveling that week for work. So she asked me to follow up with her. Couple days passed and I followed up with her. I sent her a voice note on Instagram. And one of the other things that she had shared from stage during her keynote was how meaningful the number 111 is for her, 111. And Sarah, my friend, who hosted the event, had even told this story about how she had sent Kathleen a voice note that happened to be exactly one minute and 11 seconds long. And that was the voice note that sealed the deal for Kathleen to come speak at her legacy live. It was the confirmation for her that she was meant to be in that room because this is how she operates. So after I sent my follow-up voice note to Kathleen, I looked down and it was one minute and 12 seconds. And I actually laughed. And I was like, oh, so close. But honestly, if it had been 111, I feel like it almost would have been too perfect or felt even forced. And so I really didn't think much of it. And we chatted a little bit and she still didn't know what her schedule was going to be like. And then a few days later, I was putting together like my recap carousel from the event, and I was scrolling through my camera roll, and I noticed something. The video that I had taken while I was signing Kathleen's book, because I propped my phone up and just hit record as I was signing it. And you actually see me hit record, you see me signing it, you see me looking up off into the distance, like not even paying attention. And then you see me hit the record button again at the end. It was exactly one minute and 11 seconds long. I kid you not, I cannot make this stuff up. I like I said, I was not paying attention to it at all. I really had no idea. I just saw that timestamp on it when I was scrolling through my phone. So I sent her a screenshot and she immediately messages me back saying she got goosebumps and asking for me to send her the video. And I sent it to her. And I again, it was just like that validation. Like I already felt like I knew it was happening. But when that happened, I was like, okay, it's not even a question. It's absolutely happening. So the weeks passed and I hadn't connected with her in a little bit. And then I ended up just following up with her, I think a couple weeks ago now. And I'm recording this this week as this is going out. And then just early last week, I got an email from back from her and her team confirming that she is in for the live podcast at High Vibe Women in October. Kathleen Cameron is going to be my live podcast guest for the Favorite Self podcast at High Vibe Women this October. And if you don't know who Kathleen Cameron is, consider this your sign to go check her out. She is a Canadian entrepreneur, author, and manifestation teacher who went from working as a registered nurse in 2019 when she first started learning about manifestation to building an eight-figure coaching business in just a few short years. Today she's helped over 100,000 people through her programs, and she has become one of the leading voices when it comes to manifestation, identity, and creating a life that actually feels so true to who you are. I cannot wait to have her. You are gonna absolutely love hearing her. If you can't be there in person, there will be a recording shared on the Favorite Self podcast later in the fall. But I highly recommend being there in person if you can make it because the energy in the room, I'm telling you, it's gonna be amazing. Honestly, this has just been one of those manifestations that has reminded me what happens when you stop trying to control every step and just decide it's already yours. It's already done and operate from that frequency. That's the power. That's what I'm sure we're gonna be talking about in the live podcast room. I would love to see you there. Let me know if you're already coming, if you got your ticket. And if you didn't, I have a coupon code for you. You can use all caps Carly5050 to save $50. And I'll leave the link for you in the show notes. Okay, so then July rolls around, and I had another really special opportunity. My friend, my good friend Lauren Murdoch, and her sister-in-law Steph Murdoch, hosted an event called Gather Self and Style. And Lauren invited me to speak, which I was so grateful and honored to be included. I had the chance to guide everyone through a favorite self visualization before we jumped into a panel discussion. And I don't even honestly know. I'm still trying to find words to describe what happened in that room because you could literally feel the energy shift. There was like this quiet stillness, this like presence and a really powerful frequency. And it just felt like everyone was so tuned in. Everyone had finally given themselves this permission to truly slow down and connect with their inner selves, their true selves, even their younger selves, because of course we did a little younger self-connection as well. And afterwards, so many women came up to me saying, like, oh, I didn't realize how much I needed that, or that was exactly what I needed, what I've been craving. And some women were saying, like, I have not connected with myself on that level in so long. And it just felt like music to my ears and so affirming because standing there afterwards and hearing this feedback and talking to these women, I just had one of those moments where I felt like everything clicked. Like I feel like I could literally see it playing in my mind. Every speaking opportunity, every late night writing my book, every podcast episode I recorded and solo episode I re-recorded. And every uncomfortable stretch in the journey of sharing my story, it all has been preparing me for this work and for moments like this. And I just remember really thinking like this is exactly where I am supposed to be, which is such an incredible feeling. And this brings me to something that I am so incredibly excited to share with you because behind the scenes, I have been building something that honestly feels like the most me thing that I have ever created. Like I literally feel like this is my life's work in so many ways. And this is the favorite self retreat. At least that's the beginning of it. And I'm so excited. It's this one day immersive experience happening this October, October 1st. And I genuinely believe that it is the next evolution of everything that I have been teaching and experiencing over the last few years. Because here is what I've realized. We spend so much time thinking that scaling our businesses means working harder on our business, you know, fine-tuning the strategy, improving the marketing, better content, better systems. And yeah, for sure, all of those things matter. But if I look at what has actually moved the needle in my business, it has not been another productivity hack. It has not been another marketing hack. It has always been the work that I've done on myself. Learning to trust myself, letting go of old stories and limiting beliefs that have been holding me back and keeping me safe and keeping my nervous system safe, releasing so much of the old stories, old patterns, old behaviors, even old relationships that are not serving me in this next chapter, next era, and truly expanding my capacity in ways that I never thought possible. And this has all led to me ultimately becoming someone who operates from this place where I expect good things to happen, not even good things, magical things, miraculous things to happen instead of hoping or praying that they might. Becoming someone who walks into rooms and wholeheartedly believes that she belongs there. And this is what I call stepping into your favorite self frequency. It's not pretending or faking it. It's not acting like you have the confidence before it's there. It's really becoming so aligned with who you truly are that these dream opportunities are naturally drawn to you and meeting you there. You become a magnet for them. And this is exactly what the retreat is all about. Again, I will share the link with you in the show notes. The doors are now open. And I, if this is speaking to you, I would love to have you in this space. And I'll be sharing more on that soon. And then on the agency side of things, it's just been such a rewarding season, another transition season for sure, another stretchy season in a lot of ways. Summer always feels like that because certain things slow down while other things speed up, and it's always a little bit of a roller coaster ride in its own right. But we are working with some really incredible clients behind the scenes on complete rebrands, new websites. We're building personal brands, e-commerce sites. We are leading some incredible social media content intensives and really watching so many businesses step into these exciting upgrades heading into the fall, whether that's fall launches or just like transformations that they're experiencing in their business. I really feel like collectively we are experiencing a lot of shifts. And so having your marketing aligned with that is so important. And one of my favorite parts is always watching our social media clients also get to just enjoy their summer. They are spending so much more time with their families, taking vacations, and working on their businesses instead of constantly hold inside their businesses because they know they have their content covered. Their marketing is still happening, the leads are coming in, the sales are coming in, and that's literally the whole point freedom. Freedom in your business, in your life, in your brain. So much more space. And that space is where the magic happens. So as I wrap this up, I really want to just make sure that this episode doesn't sound like at the same time as I'm sharing these really cool wins, I don't want it to sound like everything has just been sunshine and manifestations coming true because of course it is never that simple. And I have mentioned this on previous episodes, but behind the scenes, we have been also navigating some really challenging personal things. I haven't shared a whole lot about it, but my father-in-law was actually in a serious accident. He was seriously injured at the cottage. He was airlifted to a hospital in Toronto. And we have just been doing what we can to support him and our family through a long healing and recovery journey that's going to be coming with this. And it's been emotional. It's been really heavy. And it's been one of those reminders that life is so, so precious, first and foremost. And also it does not pause. Regular life doesn't pause just because big things are happening in business. In fact, more often than not, it's the opposite. And again, circling back full circle to that expanded capacity and how it shows you that you can hold both. And you build that, and you build that within yourself, within the belief in yourself, the trust in yourself. Because the beautiful and the difficult can coexist at the same time. And we don't expect we don't just suddenly stop experiencing hard things. You know, some things might get be getting a little bit easier, or we might be feeling in the flow, but that doesn't mean that the hard parts just go away. We really just become more capable of holding them, I believe. And if this summer so far has taught me anything, it's really that the biggest transformations don't always happen because our circumstances change. More often than not, they happen because we change. And because we become the version of ourselves who can hold the business, hold the family life, be the entire village, hold the dream opportunities along with the uncertainty, the grief, the joy, the laughter, the pain all at the same time. And when that happens, life starts feeling different. And it's not because suddenly it's all falling into perfect place. It's really because you have become someone who trusts herself enough to know she is more than capable of moving through whatever comes next. And that's the work we're doing at the Favorite Self-Retreat. So thank you for being here, for listening through this whole episode, letting me share a little life update, business update with you today. I have some incredible guests coming to you for the remainder of the summer and into the fall, some more exciting announcements to share, and I really truly feel like we are just getting started. So until next time, keep stepping into and showing up as your favorite self. Thank you for listening to the Favorite Self podcast. If this episode stirred something in you, there's a reason for it. You could take a moment to share with a friend, someone who's also building something brave, that would mean so much to me. Better yet, leave a review. It helps this message reach even more women who are ready to lead differently. And before you go, remember this your favorite self is already within you, waiting to be heard. See you next time.