
It wasn’t them, it was ME!
I had a realisation last night – around my business that has been happening for awhile. The not so pretty side of “where the fuck is the money?”
I realised that I have BLAMED not making the money that I used to, from my business, on things like my illness and networking and my surgery and my 2nd child.
I used to make 6 figures a year in my graphic and web design business. I had tons of clients and things were pretty good.
Then, due to my Ulcerative Colitis, which was insanely painful and debilitating, I had to be admitted to hospital, many times.
Well, at one point, I took an ambulance in and not long after was a legit CODE BLUE over the hospital speaker system. I’ll never forget that. The entire hospital swarmed my bed, there were so many of them. Blood everywhere.
I even remember telling them my legs were cold and they replied that I had about 4 blankets on.
Really?
Like holy shit… this was straight out of the movies I thought to myself…. “I’m so cold” always uttered before death came.
I had to sign a bunch of papers giving them permission to perform life saving surgery NOW or I would surely die. Well, that’s fun. NOT.
I remember the whole thing until I was put under and then I woke up. I woke up with a million tubes coming out of my neck, arm, side, everywhere!
AND….. I had a freakin bag! A bag. YES, a poo bag stuck to my abdomen. uugggghhhhhh.
Anyhoo… long story short – I had to recover for months from that and had 2 more surgeries (no more bag) and more recovery time …. networking stopped.
I think during that time, I came to realise what WAS and WASN’T important to me anymore.
And ‘work’ wasn’t one of them. Well, work that I didn’t absolutely love.
But… what do you do when you go back, keep doing what you know and what has always worked. Right?
Things never really recovered quite the same for my business. But I kept on keeping on, cuz that is who I am. I don’t give up. Fuck no!
Then I got pregnant with my 2nd baby, kept working, and then when it was time to have him, networking stopped… again.
But this time, I couldn’t go back.
Hubby had shift work, I had to take Nina to school every morning (during my networking time) and I had the baby.
Slowly but surely…. it all slowed down in my business.
So I learned more things and tried new avenues… all within my business – but I really didn’t love doing any of it.
And, of course, as to be expected, none of it really took off. I was all over the place. And none of it was ME!
And…. I BLAMED all of that lack of networking, my illness, my 2nd baby…. all of it as the reason I was not as successful as I used to be.
Basically – I just realised – EXCUSES….
Well, excuses for WHAT?
BOOOM! light bulb 💡
Excuses as to why i wasn’t bringing in the cash anymore or steady clients – BECAUSE MY SOUL HATED doing all the shit I was doing and the way I was doing it. I realised that I was missing. My passion was missing.
I only did all the things because they made me money. And we all know, people like us don’t make money doing shit our soul hates to do and dies from little by little day by day.
So obvious, yet so hidden from plain sight.
It’s not the fault of all those OTHER things, it is MY fault.
My responsibility.
I create my reality and my thoughts and actions led me there. Nothing else.
But….. they also led me HERE. Which i am insanely grateful and thankful for!
Have YOU ever found yourself (I am pretty sure you have, we all do) blaming a bunch of external shit and circumstances on where you are and what you are doing?
Blaming others for your lack of what you want.
Blaming things for not being where you want to be, doing what you want to do, having what you want to have?
Well, my friend, it’s NOT THEM…. IT’S YOU!
Time to hop off the blame train and take some fucking responsibility for where you are.
It is amazingly freeing and powerful to realise that when it is your responsibility and your actions and your thoughts that got you here!
So… knowing all of that, what you are you going to choose?
What are you going to think about and do and what actions are you going to take – TO CHANGE what you want to be different?
Because, it’s not them, it’s you and you have the ultimate power to change it all!
Not much else to say about that –
Except, for me and my realisation — I am so stoked that I don’t do that shit anymore and only do what I love.
I am becoming more and more Steph and sharing my message, creating beautiful things, doing my art, extracting the YOU inside of you and designing the shit out of it as a brand that excites you and lights you up.
That is why I declaring that I am building a million dollar business in 2019 and nothing is going to stop me!
xx
Now that I KNOW who I am and what I am meant to do….. BRANDING and COACHING and all that fun stuff that lights me up….
I have a new program that I made just for YOU.
BRANDING UNLEASHED is here!
A 6 week intensive – where You and I work privately 1:1 fully unleashing all of YOU and who you are and what you are meant to do…
We will extract your purpose
Your mission
Your SUPER POWERS
and UNLEASH it all!
I have created, over the years, a fabulous way of extracting all of this juicy yumminess from inside of you and connecting THAT to your business so that your business IS YOU! … not some external thing.
And not just woo-woo stuff… the profit stuff, target audience, the offers and services, your voice, message – all of it!
Then…. ooooo then… the exciting part! The fun part….
The artsy fartsy part where I get to design the shit out of it and together we create the most perfect, soul aligned BRAND for you to UNLEASH out to the world –
So you can attract your tribe and soul mate clients.
So you can sit back and let your message and voice and brand be the beacon that calls them in.
So you can really truly be you and work and play and act from a space of already being who you were meant to be because your brand and your business and your offers and products and services are in alignment with each other and YOU.
So making money is easy and just happens because you are in flow with it all!
It all becomes so EASY and fun when YOU are fully unleashed and free to be you in life and business and everywhere.
You will wake up in the morning excited to work, because work isn’t work when it is doing what you love and what you are meant to do.
You will lay down at night content and satisfied and joyful that you did what had to be done today and lived your life as you, fully and authentically you.
THIS
is BRANDING UNLEASHED!~
And, I invite YOU to join me in UNLEASHING your badass within, your SOUL, your PURPOSE, your MISSION and your MESSAGE.
But this isn’t for everyone.
Those who merely want a logo so they can sell shit just to make money – which is fine, but not what this is about.
I want to work with the passionate ones, the bold and audacious ones who are NOT afraid to be all of themselves in all their glory and announce it proudly to the world!
This is for the ones whose souls are screaming on the inside to be UNLEASHED.
The ones who KNOW that they are meant to do more, be more, have more and be happy as fuck through the whole thing.
If this is you – then I invite you to PM me for details.
This is private 1:1 work, 6 weeks to fully UNLEASH you and your brand – mindset, coaching and DESIGN work included.
Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. What do you want them to say?
Let’s give them the UNLEASHED version, so they don’t ‘say’ anything
– they shout it out and share you with the world and become your raving fans and dedicated followers and tribe!~
BRANDING UNLEASHED!
PM me here

Steph Zahalka is the founder and CEO of Jungle Branding Co., a premier award-winning brand agency based on the Gold Coast Australia, serving clients across the globe.
Recent winner of the prestigious Female Entrepreneur of the Year Stevie Award 2020, Steph is a brand strategist and designer who has been featured on the cover of a nationally recognised ‘women in business’ magazine (GCGIB) and regularly appears on podcasts and events around the Gold Coast as a speaker, panel expert and interviewee where she reveals her unique process for building a wildly in-demand brand for ambitious entrepreneurs, modern CEOs, influencers, thought leaders, and service-based business owners.
Steph believes that, when done right, branding is the door to connecting with your people, your audience on a deeper level. Human to human connection that makes your audience ridiculously obsessed with not just your brand, but YOU and your vision that ultimately makes a positive impact on the world.