MICAH LARSEN: Being vulnerable as a woman in business

MICAH LARSEN

Micah Larsen helps women creatives build audiences of engaged ideal customers so they can make a consistent income doing work they love. She is the Missoula-based marketing expert behind the 10 week program “How To Hustle.” She teaches everything from how to create a first impression to nurturing loyal customers.

Fumbling in Business

I effed up a lotttt while trying to make this interview happen — we’re talking calendar mess ups, communication failure, and overall looking foolish while trying to connect. We talked through the feeling of fumbling in business and the “why” behind the easy grace that Micah gave to me. Micah shared her own anecdotes of times she needed grace in her business and we talk through vulnerability in business and women’s tendency toward shame.

The Invisible Backpack

One of Micah’s core values in her business is to tell women business owners the things she wish she had seen as she was coming up — she calls this practice “opening up her backpack.”

“My thought is that we, as women, are carrying invisible backpacks of our experiences and heavy things that we keep silent. I always want to set an example and hold myself to the standard of opening up my backpack and sharing those stories.”

— Micah Larsen

Prioritizing + Focused Time

Parenthood has accentuated the need for separation between business and personal time for both Micah and me — we talked about the shame surrounding ambition for mothers, and the impossibility of trying to do both at the same time. Micah explains this beautifully by explaining the different parts of our brains that each practice requires.

Feminism and Partnership

The shape of Micah’s ambition has changed throughout her life — she explains that she “fell out of love” with academia, and then she directed her attention to entrepreneurship. Micah also acknowledged that her life path took a turn largely because of her now-husband, so we dove deep into the tension that can come from partnership and our feminist beliefs.

Head Trash —

You can’t talk about feminism, partnership, and business without diving into money and the mindset around it. Micah sums it all up perfectly with the phrase “head trash.” Micah quips that she’s in business because of this head trash — she helps women close the gap between the thing they make and how to sell it.

Stepping into Motherhood

Micah’s journey into motherhood included donating her eggs, loss, and an accident causing hospitalization and an early delivery with her child. Her time in the hospital forced meditation on her life and what she wants. Micah came out of this experience knowing her why and her message for other women and mothers in business.

Uterus in a Jar

Micah said, “Shayna — I never thought I’d be the person whose most significant moments of my life had to do with reproduction.” She needed a hysterectomy this year, which brought out complicated feelings related to womanhood and ownership over her reproductive organs. She kept her uterus in a jar and even showed it to me during the podcast episode. Micah explained, “I grew our child in it… I can’t just throw it away.”