Faith Over Fear With Molly Trotter
SNIPPET #150
Fear is a powerful adversary. “It’s a virus,” says former news anchor Molly Trotter. Today, Molly is in the business of spreading faith. She also helps entrepreneurs build their brands, but once upon a time she was duped into being a part of spreading fear.
“My whole goal,” says Molly, “was to give the underdog a voice.”
At first she thought TV would be her platform to do that. She thought the job she landed with a local news station meant that everything had fallen perfectly into place.”I’m a good person with a good heart,” she thought, so “let’s see where we can go with this!”
But that illusion didn’t take long to crumble.
Molly was two years into her career when she could no longer ignore the reality; it was not what she’d believed it would be.
It wasn’t that she had to carry her own gear to locations that bothered her so much. It was more about the fact that many of those locations were dangerous. The salary was not what she’d expected either, but what really bothered Molly the most was the realization that instead of championing the underdog she was feeding negativity.
“The content we were putting out was depressing,” she says. Her discomfort became obvious to others, too, and it was decided that her personality was not a good fit for the “doom and gloom” evening news.
Maybe the morning show would suit her better, they agreed.
Molly made the move from the evening news to the morning show only to find she’d traded one level of unhappiness for another. Where she was now focused on more positive content, she was compelled to work hours that precluded her from having any life outside of work.
It wasn’t unusual for her to be at work at 3am, stay until 5 pm, and collapse into bed at 7pm so she could get up and do it all over again.
It didn’t take long for another, more familiar problem returned, too.
The content she was tasked with creating introduced a conflict between her own credibility and what the news station wanted. Being told to tweak the story to present it in a light she found to be disingenuous annoyed her. Trust is important to Molly, and she was determined to preserve that between viewers and herself, as well as the media as a whole.
About the time Molly’s career began unraveling, she began pursuing another area she is passionate about. Nutrition and fitness are important to her, and she started a coaching program with a partner. She shared that information in her social media platforms, never thinking it could conflict with her news job.
Her bosses disagreed, and Molly was fired without warning for refusing to stop posting her content. It was an extremely ungracious end to a tumultuous career. Molly had just wrapped up another long day after staying late to fill in for the meteorologist on the evening news. She was surprised to be called in to the executives’ meeting immediately after saving the moment for the station, and even more surprised when she found out the reason for being summoned.
Molly Trotter was being fired
Molly’s refusal to end her online nutrition and fitness posts had been viewed as insubordinate, even though each time she asked them to show her the contractual breach, they had been unable to do so.
A photo Molly posted had recently gone viral, and that was the proverbial straw for the executives. They no longer cared about a contractual finding of a breach. They just wanted her gone. So Molly, who had given 5 long years to that studio, and just walked off an extended day of answering its call for extra help, was escorted out of the building by security guards.
This became a pivotal moment in her life. She was still young and talented and could easily have sued the station as well as landed another position with a competing station. Lord knows she needed an income. Her salary was so meager that she was existing on three credit cards with payments due. Part of her felt that fear of the unknown, and the struggle, and the temptation to give in to that fear. But another part of Molly felt faith kick in.
Molly Trotter chose faith over fear, and embarked on an entirely new life.
“If you’re scared to take that jump, you are likely closing the door on blessings right there in front of you,” says Molly. So she opened the door nice and wide, and walked right through it.
What she lacked in capital Molly made up for with faith. She accepted the gracious support of family and friends who invited her into their homes as she found her footing, and doubled down on her nutrition and fitness coaching to pay her bills and rebuild her life.
Branding became her business priority. Strong branding is a key differentiator between a thriving business and a languishing one. For people like Molly, who is an extrovert that loves putting herself out there, branding can be a fun outlet. She threw herself into it and let faith lead the way. She wasn’t sure where, exactly, her journey was going to take her, only that she was in for the ride.
Her Instagram account grew and one day, it resulted in a call that seemed ordinary but would turn into a game-changer for Molly.
She was asked to speak at a social media bootcamp, and she readily agreed. That led to her meeting the CEO of a company she now works with, and to his brother, who she recently became engaged to.
The company she works with now is aptly named Dream Factory. It’s mission is to provide one-stop-shopping for anyone committed to build, launch, and scale their brand, and Molly is right where she is meant to be, as an ambassador for the company and offering her own coaching in her areas of expertise.
It’s a labor of love for Molly, not only because she found the love of her life through her work, but because she genuinely loves helping people tap into their potential. She enjoys hearing people’s passions and purposes and how they want to apply those toward making their own impact. The ripple effect that creates in the lives of clients is icing on the cake for Molly.
In the current Coronavirus crisis, especially, she is seeing a bigger need for the help her company provides. She is also seeing something else she recognizes from her time in the media: the weaponization of fear.
Fear is being manipulated to create anger and divisiveness. Molly has seen behind the curtains of the media world and understands better than many, how the news platforms are more about an agenda of fear than truth. It’s across the board, she says.
[clickToTweet tweet=”There are so many beautiful things still happening in life that the government and news is not reporting on, but they want to instill fear in you so they can have control over you. – Molly Trotter” quote=”There are so many beautiful things still happening in life that the government and news is not reporting on, but they want to instill fear in you so they can have control over you. – Molly Trotter” theme=”style5″]
She can’t control what is run in the news but she does have her own voice, and she is not afraid to use it. She is clear about her own views on life, politics, and humanity, and eloquently expresses those views on her platform. Still, she receives angry responses and messages. Friends, family, and clients who disagree with her views or her use of her platform separate themselves from her. Those hits can be hard to take but Molly is undeterred by them.
Underneath her smile is a confidence and clarity that are unwavering, and Molly remains determined to focus more on meaningful conversation as a bridge toward unity, than emotional responses that burn those bridges.
“You may lose a few but guess what? You’re going to gather many,” she says.
She’s worked hard to arrive at a place in life where she is successful and fulfilled at the same time. That is what she wants to help others achieve for themselves, and that is what she believes represents the American Dream. Entrepreneurship is a path to that fulfillment. It is what this country was built on, says Molly, and it is best built on faith, not fear.
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