RAWFEM
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MEGAN MURPHY
Actress / Radio DJ / Documentary Filmmaker / Comedy Improviser / Professional Emcee / Writer / Public Speaker / Firestarter / Ferociously Proud Sister and Aunt / Fierce Friend
Based in Canada, Megan produced Murphy's Law, her story of rising strong.
Roots & Home
Born and raised in Canada. Strongly connected to my Irish roots, but with the soul of a wanderlust gypsy!
Inspirer
I collect people! I connect deeply with people almost instantly. I can have you believing in yourself, in all the possibilities, feeling like the worlds a great place to inhabit!
Mastermind Topic
Own Your Sh*t: How to become a participating member of your own life.
Top 3 Influencers
My parents / Kahlil Gibran and his incredible book "The Prophet" / Rainer Maria Rilke
Most impactful book/podcast
So many!! "Broken Open: How Difficult Times Help Us Grow" by Elizabeth Lesser. "Anam Cara: a book of Celtic Wisdom" by John O'Donohue. "Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell. Or really anything by Joseph Campbell! Oh and "The Creative Habit" by Twyla Tharp.
Everything! Life's foibles are fodder for humour. You have to have whimsy and a gladsome heart. Life is too hard to be taken seriously.
I used to BE scared OF...
I look at my fear like a friendly challenge now. I think of fear like an airport. Nobody lives at the airport! It's a necessary place to get to your next destination, a place that makes you slow down and think, tests your security... you have to go through the fear to get where you're going.
F*ck this shit moment
I buried my mom, left the man I'd been engaged to and started the process of exhuming my broken spirit.
Advice to 13 year old self
Worrying won't change the outcome, it just poisons the present.
Best advice received
Find humour in everything, even in dying.
If you laugh at yourself first, you'll never be a punch line.
Live the questions - eventually, you'll live your way to the answers.
Self-employed morning radio show host, acting sporadically in plays and on television, make films and screen them publicly, public speaking engagements for service clubs, women's groups, community groups. Generally, I'm a creativity pimp!
I say RAWFEM, you say...
Hells Yeah and ROAR on ladies!
One of the Hardest moments in your life?
My folks died, I ended my engagement, on my 35th birthday, moved into my childhood home. I was wildly depressed and desperately broken.
How did you overcome it?
I asked for help. I opened myself up to any and everything that might heal me. I tried to turn my pain into something creative and universal, so that it might someday help someone else.
Who's your tribe?
Great friends and family. People who don't blow smoke up my bum! And I like to surround myself with a few people who are more talented and smarter than me!
What do you wish you stopped doing a long time ago?
I'm still working on it, but I'd stop asking for everyone's opinion on my choices.
After A shitty day/month/year, How do you keep going?
I give myself permission to feel whatever comes. It's like an emotional jet stream - you can't deny it, just weather it, witness it, learn from it, be gentle with yourself and honour the storm!
who/What changed your direction forever?
A workshop called The Bigger Game. It led me back to school for documentary film. And my dead parents... sounds weird, but it's true!
Hardest part about being a trailblazer?
There aren't as many role models to look to for examples, but if something doesn't feel personally congruent, regardless of the societal pressures, don't do it.
Sacrifice made to get here? Sacrifice NOT willing to make?
I'm not willing to be uncomfortable in my own skin again. I'm not willing to change myself to make someone else happy. I'll follow my own barometer, even when that means making some unpopular choices.
Growing up, money was _____. Now, money is _____.
An elusive goal / Useful only to provide me with creative and emotional freedom
ABOUT HER BUSINESS
What is your business about?
I'm a professional story teller and firestarter
What stage is your business at?
Where do you get support? Or do you do it all yourself?
Friends and family of course. I LOVE my house cleaner, she keeps me sane! I hire people people who are better at certain things than me and in areas of life that I loathe...like an accountant and a film editor so I don't eat my own face off!
Do you have employees? If so, What do you look for?
On a per project basis. I am always looking for great creative collaborators. And for people who are the opposite of myself, (more introverted and super detail oriented), but who share the same passions.
How did you overcome your fear of selling?
I'm still working on that! But I started to realize that people were seeking me out and were interested in me as the product itself! It's an odd feeling to wrap ones head around!
What should you do less / more of, but don't?
Less time on the technology, researching, and following up side of things. / Spend 90% of my working day on creative endeavours, doing something new everyday.
biggest high and most challenging low in your business?
One in the same: 2 years creating, starring in, directing, editing, producing and promoting my documentary film, Murphy's Law. By the time I had my premiere, it was an overwhelming high, but it was quickly followed by the "Oh GOD! What now?" low.
Your advice for new / growing / peaked entrepreneurs?
Be realistic about your talents. Grow a thick skin, learn to love the challenge of rejection and please, for the love of all things holy, have a sense of humour and adventure about it all!
Networking, how do you?
Be interested and authentic and build connections that are deeper than your average "what can you do for me" interaction. Oh, and always remember who helped you along the way. Jack Lemmon used to say, "When you get to the top, send the elevator back down".
biggest leap of faith you've ever taken in your business?
I hired a coach, (Yay Ella)! And I invested my money in myself, creating my first feature film. If I'm going to ask others to back me, I'd better be willing to back myself!
How many hours a week do you work on / in your business?
Radio station (in my pj's with bedhead!), about 25 hours a week. For myself another 30 or so. Plus traveling to screenings, emceeing and public speaking gigs.
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