What do you do when everything you’ve built has to coexist with something you didn’t choose? 

Bron Watson is a two-time cancer survivor, international speaker, and founder of The Serenity Project. After navigating two cancer diagnoses while keeping her business alive, she now helps women build resilience that bends without breaking—challenging toxic hustle culture with evidence-based, compassion-led strategy.  

In this episode, we sit inside a moment most people hope they never face — hearing the words: you have cancer. But this is not just a story about diagnosis. It’s about identity, survival, leadership, and what it really means to keep going when everything changes.

This conversation doesn’t offer clichés. It offers something far more powerful: a way to think, decide, and live when your circumstances are no longer negotiable.

What you will learn from this episode:

  • What to do immediately when life throws you into crisis or uncertainty.
  • How to keep a business running when your energy, time, and capacity are limited.
  • What it means to put healing at the center of your decisions, not productivity.

“You are the CEO of your body and your ecosystem.”

– Bron Watson

Topics Covered:

01:20 — When life doesn’t stop: facing cancer while holding everything together.

06:14 — The moment you realize something has to give — and you choose yourself.

08:29 — Who shows up for you when everything starts to fall apart.

11:52 — Choosing hope, even on the days it feels hardest.

16:53 — Redefining what healing really means when nothing is certain.

22:11 — Creating space for yourself when the world feels overwhelming.

24:18 — Finding calm by focusing only on what you can control.

27:38 — Learning to trust yourself again in the middle of uncertainty.

Key Takeaways:

“You can’t look at what you don’t have anymore. It’s what’s doable.” — Bron Watson

“It’s very courageous to be able to back yourself.” — Bron Watson

“Be where your feet are.” — Bron Watson

Ways to Connect with Bron Watson:

Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown:

 

Full Episode Transcript:

(AI helped us put this together, so if you see any weird grammar or missed words—just know we nailed it during the actual chat.)

Bron Watson

We look at what we have on our table, not what we don’t. You can’t look at what you don’t have anymore. It’s what’s doable. So I always say the words, make it doable, keep it simple.

Sarah E. Brown

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the KTS Success Factor podcast for women, where we talk about challenges senior female leaders face in being happy and successful at work. I’m your host, Dr. Sarah E. Brown. 

My guest today is Bron Watson. She is an entrepreneur running a company called The Social Coach. But she’s also a two-time cancer survivor, an international speaker, and founder of the Serenity Project, all of which we’re going to talk about today. 

After navigating two cancer diagnoses while keeping her business alive, she now helps women build resilience that bends without breaking, challenging toxic hustle culture with evidence-based, compassion-led strategies. She speaks internationally on sustainable entrepreneurship and resilience. 

Welcome. 

Bron Watson

Thank you so much for having me. 

Sarah E. Brown

Oh, well, it’s great to have this. So tell my audience a little bit about your business as an entrepreneur, because it’s kind of important to understand that before we talk about the diagnoses and how that impacted you. 

Bron Watson

Okay, great. So let me go back to provide a little bit of context here. So I’m actually a registered nurse, nurse educator in a previous life. At the same time, I’d had a career in marketing, which sounds kind of weird, but when I started having my children and there’s five boys there, I switched between these two careers alternating depending on where I was in life. So back in the beginning of 2000 or end of year 2011- 2012, I started my own business and coming out of nursing, coming out, so by this stage I was, I don’t know, 40, 41 with, you know, five children, one on hip. 

And I did the change, getting out of a profession and into running my own business. 

So kicked off my own business and then it grew and it was called the Bron Watson Brand and I pretty much mirrored what my mentor had done, which is because I had people saying to me, how, how did you leave nursing? How is that possible? How do you, how do you leave these bigger careers? 

But I did. And it’s not easy, but it can be done. 

So I started to teach other people how to grow their businesses online. So it wasn’t just about marketing. It was end to end growing this thing. And we had, we had a mastermind, I’d run retreats. I did all the things. I had all my courses. 

And so, that’s what I was doing when the first diagnosis. 

So, that business evolved, which we will get into the discussion, which is, I think, some of the things you’re interested about, is that evolved and was rebranded in 2022 to The Social Coach, where we just focus on being online, especially in social media, because it’s such an important aspect of running your business. That’s what we do now. 

So we’re still in that business and we still run it, but it has evolved. It had to evolve throughout that time period because I got very sick due to treatment. 

So the cancer didn’t make me sick. The treatment did, but that’s because, you know, that’s what happens depending on how you want to get through. 

And at that time that was breast cancer. So that was a curative treatment. 

So that’s where we are now. And that’s a very, very short version because during that transition period of having that large membership, that large mastermind to where it evolved into was quite a process. 

But I think we’ll probably talk more about that throughout this call.

Sarah E. Brown

So, when was your first cancer diagnosis?

Bron Watson

It was in September 2017, and literally I went from, Bron, you have breast cancer, and no, it’s not in the early stages, to six days later having a mastectomy. 

So not only did we have the free fall of the shock and terror of what that means, I’ve then got all these, I’ve got a business. I’ve got all these beautiful clients. And so it was a very, very difficult time. 

And, you know, three weeks after surgery, I’m into chemotherapy. And nine months later, I came out the other side, finishing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 

So there’s a lot involved with treatment and how we go about those situations, which is so not fun. 

Sarah E. Brown

Which kept the business going? 

Bron Watson

Oh, 100%. 

You know, we had that conversation. Did I keep it going? Yes. Because financially, We had to, we had the children. It was doing well. 

But there was a point in time, Sarah, where there was, it was in the December, I’d had my second chemotherapy and it was four hours after chemotherapy. 

And when, but just so your listeners understand, when you are given chemotherapy, they don’t just give you the chemotherapy, they give you a whole swag of drugs to prevent the side effects. 

So you’re getting, you know, things like Finergan, you’re getting a lot of different drugs to reduce the toxicity of what you’re receiving. 

So four hours later here, I wouldn’t have not been thinking clearly, but I had this belief, which I now no longer have, of I must deliver what I say I’m going to deliver at all costs. 

And I did a Facebook Live into my group, my mastermind group, delivering what I said I was going to deliver. And I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. 

So I’m bald, I am very sick and I caught a glimpse and I looked at myself like this and I said, do you want to die? And I shut the mask one down overnight. Hmm. 

Because it was either that, it was either the business or me. 

So what that did, of course, was instantly changed everything within the financial space. But what I did there was look at what did I have? What could I do? And I’d done a lot of work with a beautiful lady called Jennifer. She actually ran Barack Obama’s second social media campaign. 

So I’d learned a lot in social media space from her. And so I then evolved. I’m not going to say pivot. I evolved and I actually started teaching because I’m a teacher and I’m an educator in my previous life. 

So I started doing Facebook workshops. So I shut everything down. I still had to work because financially our children need to, and I don’t like using the word have to, but financially there was no choice. 

So I looked at what I had on my table and that was one of the questions you were asking me was how do people in these crises, what do we do? We look at what we have. We look at what we have on our table, not what we don’t. You can’t look at what you don’t have anymore or what you, it’s what’s doable. 

So I always say the words, make it doable, keep it simple. And I started teaching Facebook workshops in my local area. I’d never worked in my local area. 

All my clients were all around the country. In the US, they were all over the place. They were not where I live, which is in Port Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia. 

So here I am teaching Facebook because that’s all I had within my arsenal of tools left. 

And I religiously did that for easy 18 months. And I was told I shouldn’t do it. I was told that people won’t pay.

Sarah E. Brown

Did you have to market it? Did you have to build it up, build up your clientele for that?

Bron Watson

I did. I did. I did networking events. I did lots of connecting. I grew my own local network. 

In actual fact, I joined a BNI and I am still a member to this day because I couldn’t have done that on my own, meaning that I needed people to back me in that connecting space. 

So wherever you find, if you’re finding yourself in that situation, it’s a really good time to start looking at who’s in your network. So whoever’s in your network, they are your net worth because they are the ones who can help market what you do and I’m forever grateful.

Sarah E. Brown

But you had to build up that network before you had the diagnosis. That wasn’t something you could manufacture.

Bron Watson

No, I had to build it and I worked hard. So just to put to context there, I think from memory I would have chemo on a, because weekly chemo by this stage, say I had it on a Wednesday, but I’d run the workshops on the Tuesday. 

So I was seven days post-chemo. So bald as a badger, I’ve got photos of myself running these Facebook workshops, which, you know, as an educator, I loved. 

But when you’re in that situation, it’s a very, very interesting, strange place. But you know what? I dug deep. I didn’t realize the resilience in me. And the resilience is not relentlessness. 

So I wasn’t pushing. I wasn’t breaking myself. I wasn’t, I was moving with what I had. And I think that’s the most important thing is to focus when you are facing major adversity or is to just go with what is your strength? What can you do with what you have without having to add on learning something new or…and turn to your network. 

And if you haven’t built one in business, please do. And I’ve spent a lot of time since then. I’ve spent a lot of time both here in Australia and in the U.S. I build these networks because, like, you know, they’re my friends. They’ve got my back. That’s really important, I think, especially when you’re struggling. 

Sarah E. Brown

And so when did you have your second diagnosis? 

Bron Watson

So I’d come to the five-year mark of a curative cancer, and my GP said, hey, those neutrophils, that part of your white cell, it’s looking down. I think we need to send you off to a hematologist just to make sure there’s nothing wrong. 

So as I’m getting, and I hate to say the word, but as I’m getting booted out of the curative lane, bye Bron, you’re cured, yay! I’m out. I’d done all the five years of follow-up and go to the hematologist. 

First appointment after the bloods, he says, no, Bron, everything’s great. Won’t need to see you. Four days later, got a phone call. Bron, you know those two blood results that hadn’t come in? Well, they’re no good. They’re like really bad. 

And I went, what are you saying to me? 

And so from that date, because these dates are etched in my memory, that 14th of January to the 23rd of February, 2023, that’s when I was told I had multiple myeloma, which is a blood cancer. 

And no, they’re not related to each other. Now that one, that’s a whole different ballgame because I’m now in the incurable lane. 

So coming from education and nursing, you get treated differently. 

And to get into that lane, now that, that’s, that’s not nice. It’s pretty bad. But again, By this stage, I’d started to work on the serenity prayer, which is, you know, for those of you who have been around Alcoholics Anonymous and all those things, it’s the serenity prayer. 

God, so insert whoever you believe in, God, grant me serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. 

And I’d started that even before the breast cancer. I’d sort of found about the prayer, and I’d started to do some research, and I found a book written from the 1940s. 

And I loved it, but it now made a lot more sense. And that’s where the evolution I had. Someone asked me yesterday, Sarah, How come you’re positive? How come? 

And I said, well, I choose to be. And I also work on it. And yes, you can learn it. 

So this second diagnosis, of course, it did bring me to my days because now I’m heading towards a stem cell transplant, a bone marrow transplant, which is four months or 16 weeks of chemotherapy. Then they harvest the stem cells. 

And then because, of course, I’ve got to give you your own back. Don’t ask me why, but you get your own crap stem cells back. And then you go into hospital for a month and it’s, it’s pretty rough. 

So the Social Coach had been going obviously, you know, in this format since 2018 when I’d re-jigged what I was doing and it dug deep. 

And when I say dug deep, it’s the team and I, we dug in, we dug deep and that was a tough time. But this stage we were, we’d become what I call a working with you boutique kind of agency style marketing because we were now doing a lot of digital marketing and a lot of social media for clients. 

So that’s, you know, so you know what I mean? We evolved with the skill sets that we had. 

Sarah E. Brown

Okay. But since 2023, you’ve been able to keep working at least at some level? 

Bron Watson

Yes.

Sarah E. Brown

How have you modified your schedule since 2023?

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Bron Watson

Okay. So I worked really, really hard on systems and processes because, you know, I look at all those, all the experts out there and those who are the major influencers and, you know, the four-hour work week and all this sort of stuff. 

And in my business, I was still very much a part of it. I’m the one checking. When you’re doing someone else’s marketing, you want to check every single, you know, full stop and every T. 

You want to make sure that it is exactly what it is meant to be. 

And so I worked really, really hard in bringing systems that removed me from a lot of the actual doing work. So I was still the front of it. I still did my thing. 

I had a most amazing, beautiful assistant by that stage who was, I think she was 23 at the time. She went to BNI for me. 

So she was the one building the social coach network on my behalf. I was very blessed for that, but I don’t believe it’s by accident. 

And oh, we’re nowhere near where we were because I couldn’t be. How could you possibly be? 

So we just, as I said, the team, our processes became a lot tighter. And as I said, if I can remove me from any of those, cause I’m, I laugh cause it’s like, I’m the bottleneck. They’re all amazing. 

And because now I have a, my memory isn’t as great. So I now make sure that I have people making sure that I’m okay. No, it’s nowhere near what it was. 

We’ve kept going. You know, financially, it’s okay. It’s nothing like what it was, of course. But I, as I said, I have absolute faith and belief in all of us to be able to just to keep moving and doing this thing.

Sarah E. Brown

Okay, so if I were going to summarize then your tips for women who might be facing something similar and working, it’s look at what your strengths are and what can you focus on that is really going to play to those strengths. 

And then it’s building the systems and processes that gets you out of the rest. 

Bron Watson

Absolutely. 

Sarah E. Brown

Okay.

Bron Watson

Yeah. Because if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re running your own show, you’re going to come up with a lot of ideas. You’re going to come up with all the cool stuff that you used to be able to do that just in this moment may not be on the table. 

So keeping focused, I would add on there, focused. on keeping the wheels turning so that you can go do what is really important, that was for me, was to go and do my healing. Nothing comes between me and healing now because if I’m not healing, and when I use the word healing because, you know, not everyone’s going to get a cure in cancer, but everybody can heal. 

Everybody can walk towards healing and nothing, so even my goals all start with healing.

Sarah E. Brown

Okay, so how do you define healing?

Bron Watson

Healing for me, the best way to liken it is that because healing doesn’t necessarily equal longevity of life. Okay. I was given a prognosis. Okay. 

Just so you know, I won’t share that with you. Let’s just say it was a digital signal digit. But this is where the Serenity Project has come in. 

So because of my background, what happens for me in this space is that we have science and Western medicine. Then we have what everyone likes to call alternative medicine or alternative treatment. 

And somewhere in the middle, there’s the person, somewhere in there. 

So I call it the third space where we have, it’s the space between the science and the soul and the evidence and perspective. And these are all the things that we can do, irrespective of what prognosis, whatever they tell you, there is so much we can do in our healing path. So putting healing at the center of my goals in business, there’s not one, there’s not one, how many clients am I gonna have? There’s no financial, look, when I say I haven’t got a financial number written in there, because that’s the old way. 

But if I’m put healing in there, because if I’m working to healing, guess what? Everything falls into place. Everything falls into place because it just does. 

So healing for me is working on a path that is exactly what is right for you, where you are the CEO of your body, you are the CEO of your ecosystem, and that you then have, for me, I have me. I’m the CEO. And then under the CEO, I actually have my energy healer. I have my GP, my GP doctor. I have the people who are functional medicine lady from Brazil. 

And then down the bottom, I’ve got my specialists. 

Now the reason why it’s like that is because we are the executive committee. But guess who gets the final vote? 

Sarah E. Brown

You do.

Bron Watson

I do. 

So I’m an active participant in my ecosystem. That is healing. And so I liken it. Get your phone out and you put healing. What happens if you’re always focusing on healing? 

You put that into your GPS, the blue line comes in. And you follow the blue line. And then something happens. You hit a roadblock. What does a GPS on your phone do when you’ve got it on? It just recalibrates. It goes around the block. 

So if you keep following your blue line on your healing journey, guess what? You’ll get there. And what matters most will happen. So whether it’s five months, five years or 50 years, you are still working to your healing and everyone can focus on that, irrespective if someone says to you, well Bron, you’ve got an incurable cancer and you’ve only got this much time. Oh, really? How did you work that out? 

Oh, well, most people who get your disease run at over 70. What? How could you compare me? You see what I’m saying? 

So it’s, I have the ability and that’s where I talk about perspective because I have perspective. I’ve worked in the play for 30 plus years. Not everyone has that, but that’s where I, I can speak because I actually have that understanding and knowledge.

Sarah E. Brown

OK, so you put healing at the center of everything that you do. 

How does the serenity prayer fit in to that and to being CEO of your ecospace?

Bron Watson

Right. 

So the serenity prayer is when I had nothing left. 

So it became so apparent when I was, I’d be sitting outside my house and I’d be looking up at the trees and I’d be going, please, please let me have time. I just need time to process. 

Of course, I didn’t get the time that I wanted. So what happens is when you accept what you cannot change and you have the courage to work on the things you can, and you understand that there is wisdom there, and it’s your wisdom, not mine. Your serenity is not mine. 

So I call them serenity moments. 

Serenity is not sitting here and, you know, meditating for five hours. That’s not serenity. 

Serenity is in the moment where when we’re finished talking, I’m going outside to sit with my puppies and I’m going to have a beautiful hot coffee because everybody knows I’m the chief coffee drinker at the Social Coach and Serenity Project. 

And I am going to embrace and have the gratitude and enjoy every single moment of that time versus projecting and worrying about the blood tests that are going to be getting done on Wednesday.

Sarah E. Brown

Got it. 

So let’s use that as a way to pivot to what is the Serenity Project?

Bron Watson

Well, because I’ve been working, I am the beta test, by the way, on this project. 

And I think what that means is that I’ve been given this, I’m going to call it a gift, this very unique space in health, in business, in women, in life. 

And I’m working on demonstrating that it is possible to have a beautiful full life and full path of healing. Doesn’t mean I’m well, but I’m healing. 

Irrespective of what society, of the numbers, the labs, all of those things. And I’ve been able to develop that. I’ve created a community called the Serenity Project. 

And it’s for people like me who want to think beyond what we are currently taught. Because as I said, we are siloed and we don’t need, because humans shouldn’t be siloed. And we all, all this beautiful work has been done. Let’s bring it together to make meaning of that work. 

And the Serenity Project, you’ll find it because that’s what it’s about. Even on that, like I’ve started the Serenity Rising podcast and it’s more around demonstrating and creating awareness that people can find serenity moments irrespective of what is going on in their life. 

And it can go for anyone with any adversity. Cause let’s be honest, as you get older, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when something comes along. It’s just for me, it just happened to be cancer twice.

Sarah E. Brown

Mm-hmm. 

Okay, and so you’ve got a podcast that’s a part of this. Is there a way for women to plug in? 

Bron Watson

Yes. 

Sarah E. Brown

Okay, tell the audience a little bit about how they, if they’re experiencing something that they’re struggling with, like you’re describing, how could they plug into the Serenity Project?

Bron Watson

I think the best way will be to just go to serenityproject.com.au and at the top there, we put out a regular newsletter called the ‘check-in.’ 

Now these are links to all sorts of different things that we’re doing. There actually will be a community, but right now we’re just, sign up for the newsletter, get in touch, ask questions. On that website, there’s a little link where you can leave a message. You can actually just talk to me, tell me your message, or you can type it, whatever’s easiest. 

And I will always get back to you because you know, no one needs to go through this alone, you know, and we got you, we got your back. 

And as I said, it doesn’t matter what your adversity is. It’s going to be equally relevant for someone in business to someone who’s struggling with the heaviness of cancer.

Sarah E. Brown

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I get it. 

So Bron, is there anything in your journey that you feel was a key lesson for you that you would want to share?

Bron Watson

I think one of the biggest things that I, I’m only learning, and this is sort of one of a more of a relatively recent one, which is I really am focusing on be where your feet are.

Sarah E. Brown

Mm-hmm.

Bron Watson

So just be where your feet are and that when something happens, feel the feel. Feel it. Cry. Get angry. Do whatever you need to do, but feel it. But equally, control the controllables. 

So it means that, you know, at the moment my bloods are a bit up and down, up and down. The controllables for me are, is nothing’s happened yet. Nothing’s happened yet. 

Bron, I know you’ve got evidence in your past to tell you that you know what it’s like to get bloods that are not great, but it hasn’t happened yet. And when it does, we’ll deal with it. 

So the way I do that is I literally will pause, literally pause. I then reflect. 

Okay, what’s really happening here? What’s real? Is it real? Yes or no? 

Or is it that little fear monkey walking at the back of my brain going, come on, we got a show to put on. I’m going to really wreck your day. 

Or what is it? Is it real? And then once I’ve reflected, I then respond because I’m now responding from a place of being able to control the controllable. 

So now I’m now the CEO again, because I’m making my response. And then I have to repeat. And I might have to do that again and again. Like I might do that 30 times in a day if I have to, if things are really rough. 

Because you know, I know what it’s like to be given really rough, like really rough days. versus things that may be not as important as you think they are. 

But when you have that pause and that power of the pause, let me tell you, you would know. This is all well documented. Nothing what I’m saying is new. I’m just pulling it together in a way that makes meaning for someone who wants to be at the CEO of their own body.

Sarah E. Brown

Okay. 

So let’s review the steps. Pause. Accept where you are. 

Bron Watson

Reflect. 

Sarah E. Brown

Reflect. Okay. Reflect. 

Is that different than accepting where you are?

Bron Watson

No, I think it’s part of it. I just use the word reflection because what reflection does is it gives you, you know, like if you’re talking business, Sometimes something will happen, you have to literally reflect and look at what it is. 

And then you can accept what can you change, what you can’t, you know, like it’s, it’s sort of hand in hand, but I just use the red reflect because for me, I’m remembering on the beta test where for me, I am reflecting on the situation. Is it real? 

And then the acceptance comes of what’s not and what isn’t. 

Sarah E. Brown

Got it. So the reflecting is really discerning what’s real, what’s controllable, what do I have to accept, what can I do, what’s possible. Okay. 

And then controlling the controllable is taking action on what?

Bron Watson

100%.

Sarah E. Brown

Okay. 

Bron Watson

Yeah. And it’s definitely, and it’s not about, because you know what, I know that there’s a lot of things in people, you know, there’s a lot of to do, you know, do this at this time and meditate for this amount of time and journal for that amount of time. No, no, no, no, no. 

That is not how it works. Doesn’t mean you don’t do them, but you do them without the pressure of what you think that everyone else thinks that you should be doing. 

So yes, it is about taking the action is the courage. It’s very courageous to be able to, to back yourself truly is very courageous because normally I think what happens is we are influenced by what other people are doing.

Sarah E. Brown

Well, Bron, you are a real inspiration. 

And I’m so glad you’ve been here to talk with all of us. 

So thank you so much for being my guest. 

Bron Watson

Oh, thank you for having me. 

Sarah E. Brown

Thanks for listening to the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women. If you like what you are hearing, please go to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave a review. And if you would like more information on how we can help women in your organization to thrive, then go to www.sarahebrown.com. 

You can sign up for our newsletter, read show notes and learn more about our podcast guests, read my blog, browse through the books, or contact us for a chat. 

Goodbye for now.

Sarah E. Brown
Sarah E. Brown