Ep 83. Big Fish Energy: How to Stop Ruling Yourself Out, with Hannah Isted
Nourish Your Brand · Episode 83
This chat is going to make you re-look at every goal you have.
I'm joined by Hannah Isted, founder of HI Communications, author of The Best 90 Days Ever (with a membership of the same name, which I'm in), and the brain behind a concept she calls Big Fish Energy. It's all about the sneaky ways we rule ourselves out of our own goals. The pitches we don't send. The speaking gigs we don't apply for. The version of the business we keep saying we're not quite ready for yet.
Hannah's used it to speak at Atomicon, run the London Marathon, and go solo camping at a festival on her own. In this episode she walks through exactly how to do it for yourself.
Let's get into it.
Where Big Fish Energy came from
It started with a text to her friend Liz. Hannah wanted to pitch for a podcast, but didn't feel like they'd accept her. Who was she to pitch for it, you know?
Which was mad, because at the time she already had a book out, a thriving membership, in-person workshops, all of it. The only thing standing between her and that pitch was her own mindset.
So she and Liz landed on it: she needed to go in with the energy of a big fish. And that was the whole thing. Once she asked herself, what would it look like if I just went for the things and put myself forward?, some amazing stuff started happening.
She was already doing it in smaller ways before. But naming it turned the volume up.
Naming it made it real
This is the bit that made me sit up, because it's exactly what I bang on about with branding.
Hannah sat in front of a window one January and recorded herself saying, this year is all about Big Fish Energy, that's my phrase of the year. And that was the switch. Giving it a name, giving it an identity, made it feel like a real thing.
A named thing is a real thing.
It's the same reason I tell people to name and brand their offers rather than leaving them as a vague "thing I do." The moment my signature offer became the Offer Oven, it had gravity. People could talk about it, picture it, recognise it. Hannah did the same with a mindset, and suddenly she had something to actually move towards.
And once it had a name, she had to ask the harder question. Well… what do I actually want?
You have to actually know what you want first
Here's what Hannah hears the most: people aren't failing at their goals. They just don't know what the goals are in the first place.
We're on the hamster wheel. Running the business is the goal, so we never stop to ask what else there is. I said this to her honestly, when she asked me my big fish goals, I blanked. I've got the generic "I'd like more clients," but that doesn't light a fire. It feels like a given, not a goal.
So her fix is almost annoyingly simple: sit down and give yourself the time to think about what you want.
One of her favourite ways in is jealousy. Who are you a little bit envious of, and what have you seen them doing that made you think I'd love that to happen to me? Flip that feeling from "ugh, they have it" to "oh, that tells me there's something there I want."
Good for them, and same for me. That's the energy.
Get specific enough to scare yourself
A goal becomes a big fish goal when it's the one you'd quietly rule yourself out of.
Not yet. Not now. I can't do that. There's always a reason. That reluctance is usually the tell.
Hannah's trick is to take a normal goal and sharpen it until it has stakes. Not "I want to do more public speaking." That's soft. It was "I want to speak at Atomicon."
See the difference? The specific one gave her something to aim at. It meant sending a really cool pitch, blocking out a whole month to work on the talk, getting help to make her speaking better. The vague version would've just floated off.
Set the standard goals. Then add the one with a name on it.
The power of the follow-up
My favourite story from this one is the sponsorship.
Hannah wanted her retreat sponsored. Didn't get it. Wanted a co-working day sponsored. Didn't happen. Tried a few companies. Nothing, this time last year.
Most of us would've filed that under "oh well, that's a no." She didn't. The event was still one of her big fish goals, so she kept going, and this year she got the sponsorship, more than she originally asked for.
That's the follow-up. You don't take the first no as the final no.
But she was clear it's not just being cheeky and asking. Back in 2019, someone told her she'd never get sponsorship for the first Barry Pride, that she'd do the community a disservice. That lit a fire. She asked one company, Spectrum Makeup Brushes, and they funded the whole thing.
The difference was that she didn't just ask. She thought about how both sides would win. How is this brilliant for their business, and them brilliant for the event? Ask smart, not just bold, and you stand out.
Look outside your own pond
If you want inspiration, stop looking at the people you compete with.
Hannah's point (and it's a marketing one too): if you only watch the people with your audience, you all end up churning out the same stuff. Same content, same offers, same everything.
Go and look at someone completely different, in business and in life. Something in there will spark an idea, or you'll strongly agree or disagree and turn that into content of your own.
I do exactly this. I go out into the world for inspiration rather than just scrolling Pinterest. As a fellow introvert, my instinct is to stay in my little circle, so getting out of it, offline, around different people, is where the good stuff comes from.
Let it marinate before you serve it
Hannah is an ideas machine. Her brain never stops.
But if she published every idea the second she had it, her business would be all over the shop and nobody could follow it. She knew Big Fish Energy had something in it, so instead of rushing it out and not doing it justice, she let it sit.
She popped it on her stories, made a reel, and then… left it. Didn't do much with it that year. Came back to it this year once it had marinated and she could see what it could actually become.
I see the flip side of this in branding all the time. Someone rebrands before they've sat with their business long enough to know what it's for, and six months later it doesn't fit, so now what? A clear Brand Recipe is often the difference between a decision that sticks and one you unpick in half a year.
Let it simmer. The good ideas get better with a bit of time in the pan.
"What would a big fish do?"
This is the question Hannah asks herself most days.
She's not always feeling like a big fish. But she can ask: if I were, what would I be doing? What would I say? How would I approach this?
At the festival she stood there with a wine in a plastic cup, hundreds of people around, and thought, a big fish would pick a table and sit down. So she took a breath, walked over and asked to join a group. They were lovely. Best night.
And it scales to you. Your big fish move might be one tiny step braver than usual, or it might be the huge one. Either counts.
She practises it constantly, she's literally got a jar she pulls fish out of. One was asking for a discount on a drink, which terrified her. But doing that small brave thing gave her the confidence, days later, to ask a woman at the festival to swap numbers and make a new friend.
You can't always see the connection. You're building the confidence brick by brick anyway.
A big fish goal should stretch you a little. If it doesn't ask something more of you, it's probably just a goal you're being a bit lazy about. And the discomfort isn't the point, it's the discomfort of moving towards something you actually want.
Ask yourself this week
What's one goal you've been quietly ruling yourself out of?
Who are you a little envious of, and what does that tell you that you want?
What would a big fish do, right now, in the thing you keep putting off?
About the guest
Hannah Isted is the founder of HI Communications, helping small business owners promote their business in 10 minutes a day. She's the author of The Best 90 Days Ever, with a membership of the same name (now always open), and the creator of Big Fish Energy, an intimate month-long programme for working on the goals you keep ruling yourself out of. She also runs a community called Gals Who Do Things. Find her on Instagram @hicommunications_ and at hicommunications.co.uk.
Related episodes
Ep 64: Why naming your offer isn't enough
Ep 82: What happens when you outgrow what you sell
Ep 16: The right and wrong reasons to rebrand
Resources mentioned
The Best 90 Days Ever – Hannah's book and membership
Big Fish Energy – Hannah's month-long programme for going after the goals you rule yourself out of
Brand Recipe – my 90-minute session to get clear before you commit
Come say hi on Instagram: @studiocoya
About the host
I'm Aiza, the brand chef behind Studio Coya, a branding studio with a food-themed twist. I help established coaches, creators and service providers brand their signature offers so their best work looks as good as it actually is, and sells like hotcakes.
