Latest / Your Girl: The High Ticket Sales Podcast | Scale Your Business & Get More Clients / From -$1,000 in the Bank to a $7K Week: Surviving Entrepreneurship

Transcript

From -$1,000 in the Bank to a $7K Week: Surviving Entrepreneurship · Your Girl: The High Ticket Sales Podcast | Scale Your Business & Get More Clients

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about the messy middle in business that people on social media do not like to advertise.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about being bedridden in hospital, losing clients, opening your bank account to negative$1,000, getting denied at the supermarket for buying a grapefruit, all the beautiful parts of entrepreneurship that we don't want to admit, which is being in the messy middle and how to survive it.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Hey y'all, welcome to Your Girl.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Marie.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: I am the founder of Your Girl Media, which is an agency where I'm helping scaling business owners just like you through podcasting into my badass networking group called Cocktails and Clothes.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: And today we have on a member from Cocktails and Clothes.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Her name's Alex.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: And Alex is an insanely talented designer.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: She does graphic design, she does illustrations, she's a hot commodity, and everyone's hiring her in cocktails and clothes for a reason.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: But that's not where she started.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: She started last year in the hospital bed, opening her bank account to negative$1,000 in a dire situation, and she came to our community for help.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: And not just that, we are also talking about my personal messy middle situations that I've been in and currently am in right now.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: And I know you have been in messy middle situations too, if you aren't in one right now, because entrepreneurship is not a smooth sailing ship.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: It is all about extreme ups and downs.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: And I really wanted this conversation to be very honest about that and very vulnerable because it gets really boring opening threads in Instagram and only seeing people's wins when we know that they have been down in the dumps too and they're not sharing it.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: So I hope this episode brings you some relief that you're not the only business owner who goes through the best little.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: So your starting question is say your name, say your business, like what it does, and then your business is a top scale.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: What would it be?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Oh, these are good.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Hi, my name is Alex D.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Mattea.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: I am the owner of Sperboled Sage.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm a brand designer, strategist, and a web designer.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: I am also unofficially an illustrator, but I built brands for entrepreneurs and service providers who really give a fuck.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: They really give a fuck.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: And if I was a cocktail, I would be a spicy margarita.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Easy.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love it.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Easily.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: With a tahine rim and a salt rim when I choose it.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: I 100%.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm a I'm an Adl Mescalan mind, but like I love, I love just a spicy mark.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Like that's my shit.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, no matter what restaurant I go to, that's probably my first order.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Cause I'm like, let me just get this one in and then I can look at your craft cocktails.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like it never misses.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: We make them at home, and I like do like a hot honey situation set of agave.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: So good.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: So good.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: When we hang out, I would like you to teach me that because I'm actually really bad at making cocktails.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's my forte because that's what I did for a hundred years.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you were a bartender?
2:46
SPEAKER_01: I did.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, I did bartender a little bit, but I mostly served, but I still know how to make drinks because if it was like real busy, just like pop behind the bar and make our own drinks.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, no, same.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: But I like made re like I was finished server since I was like 15 and I was just so horrible behind the bar.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: I always hated being behind the bar unless I had to, because I'm very like chaotic in general.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: And I felt trapped behind the bar.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Like I like being able to talk to my tables and then run off to the server alley and then like go to the kitchen and then like chat in the kitchen, steal a bunch of fries, then come back out.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: The bartenders are kind of in jail, like because they can't just go off to the kitchen or expo and just hang out or the dish pit.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Like they're in a little jail.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: I just realized that they're trapped and they have to listen to like the worst regulars, like the best, but also the worst regulars.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, I've heard this story 30 times.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, stop.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: When I was worked at a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, there was this regular who came in and she just had a thing for Hillary Clinton.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, not trying to make this political.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying this woman had a thing for her.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, I could be like, How's your day?
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Better than Hillary Clinton.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh well, but okay, okay.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, how's your daughter?
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I haven't talked to her since Hillary Clinton was in an office.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, how is everything?
4:05
SPEAKER_00: How is everything you say?
4:07
SPEAKER_00: Everything.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I was like, every time she came in, I was like, fuck man.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, do you remember Hey Arnold?
4:13
SPEAKER_01: Did you watch that?
4:14
SPEAKER_01: You're younger than me.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: I watched Hey Arnold, but it's in a law, obviously a lot.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that Helga Pataki had like a shrine of Arnold in her house made of gum?
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that this woman had recolored quit in a shrine?
4:25
SPEAKER_00: It was like at this point, I'm like, do you have a crush on her?
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Like I think you have a hate love.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: It's just like that's the only like regular that ever came in.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: I was like, why can't I have a cool, sexy man?
4:37
SPEAKER_00: No, I have this fish.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: I feel like they're always like the just the most they're characters, the regulars.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: Because you probably should like branch out a bit, actually.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't be going to the same bar every single two days.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: When I like see you coming in and I know exactly like I know to put your order in already.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: Like you gotta switch it up.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: Switch it up.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: Wait, okay.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: I do want to think about this bartending stuff in serving because clearly we have that had that background.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, when did you make that switch?
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Because that that was like I could not wait to get out of it.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: Like to get I was still serving up until January of last year.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Really?
5:16
SPEAKER_00: You doing with your business?
5:18
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Was it just like, did you like need the money, or was it like I just like doing it?
5:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, so so so you know, I've I've had years and years and years of hospitality.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: And then when we moved to Florida, it was five years ago.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: And I was the wedding coordinator at the time, and then it was COVID, and everybody got furloughed.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: There were no events, there was nothing to do.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: So we were both like, we have no jobs, what do we do?
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And we were like, does this sound like a good time to like pack our whole lives and move to another state all the way across the country where we don't know anybody?
5:49
SPEAKER_01: And we were like, yeah, let's pack our stuff.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: So we moved, moved here with no friends, no jobs, nothing, ended up back in restaurants.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: So it was like, it was the only thing to do, you know?
5:57
SPEAKER_01: And this was before I started my business.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was there, it was 2021, and I was there until 2025.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 2025.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: I left the maybe like the third week of January, which that's a busy time for us here in Florida because we got like snowbirds and stuff, like it picks up.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: And I had a bunch of like other servers who were like on college break, where that was their main job.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, don't schedule me.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you can schedule other people who need this money, because my business was starting to like outweigh my serving dollars.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, if you need me, I'm here.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Maybe don't put me on the schedule unless I need pickups or whatever.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: And then I just kind of like slowly phased out over time.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: But Nick was at he Nick was serving until this time last year.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: He I brought him on almost a month, almost a year ago to the day.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Like okay, I'm so curious because like that's this whole episode is about like the messy middle.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so curious, like if you could tell us like how that this year has been since you dropped that serving gig, like what have been the ups and the downs?
6:57
SPEAKER_00: And like, where are you at?
6:58
SPEAKER_00: How are you feeling right now as your entrepreneur stage?
7:01
SPEAKER_01: Right now I'm good.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: Right now I'm um so last year, like a year from a year ago now, was we were kind of like, you don't want a steady increase.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: I was starting to get so much work, which I was very grateful for.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: And then I was like, oh my gosh, like I I feel like I can't get all of this work done.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't in a place where I could hire anybody.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't in a place where I could do it all myself.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: So I started kind of like I added on websites as one of my services.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: And then Nick was curious and was like, Do you think I could like learn how to do this?
7:34
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, actually, that's perfect because I need a whole nother body in here.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, ended up bringing him on as like to help with like back end systems.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: July through like the end of the summer was insane.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: We had wonderful, we had multiple five-figure months, everything was great.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: We traveled for an entire month last year, not like anywhere exotic.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: We just went back to like Philly and like South Jersey area where we grew up.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: And um, everything was like bomb.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: It was wonderful.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: And then I had my my insane emergency surgery in November.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: And that was like the beginning of absolute chaos that was like that was just like the lowest low.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, things are gonna get better, and then it just kept getting lower and worse and more horrible and more chaotic and just like so depressing.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: So we were, you know, struggling for months.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, December and January.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: I think I had one inquiry in December and January, and like I was recovering from surgery, can't be in restaurants, you know, I was like, I couldn't pick up another job.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even, I couldn't even pick up more than two pounds at that point.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: So holding my laptop was like the limit of the things I could do at that time.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: And I had my surgery on a Friday and I was working on Saturday because I was like, I don't have another, I need the money, I don't have another person.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: Like Yannick could help me, but he was also trying to help me stay alive, you know.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: So it was like, it was so chaotic.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: And then it was just like everything was just like more and more and more horrible.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: And I must have Googled how to dissolve my LLC 20 times this year already.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Like I was like, this is it, this is the end.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: I can't do this anymore.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, and now we're back on an upswing and I'm like, okay, I'm feeling great.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: I am untouchable, you know.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: But it's like that fear that at any given time, what if it's what if it's shit again?
9:23
SPEAKER_01: What if it's horrible again?
9:24
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
9:24
SPEAKER_01: It's probably gonna be at some point in time.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: That's so trippy because you're like, this month where things are going so well.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: I kind of do the opposite where I don't even think about when does it go shit?
9:36
SPEAKER_00: I just kind of settle into it, which is not great because now I'm in the messy middle.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: It's like a shock to my nervous system because I got too comfortable.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, whoa, like I just this week of just a lot of stuff has happened in general, but the the main biggest thing is like I uh okay, I was literally about to like move back to LA, but put it down to deposit.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: And then one of my biggest clients, and I know this is no shade to her.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: I've no this just shit happens.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: She just wants to, yeah, she wants to stop her business, aka she doesn't need the podcast anymore.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: That's totally fine.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: I want her to do what's best for her.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: It's just like it took a big chunk.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: And so then I went from like, I'm about to change my life, I'm probably gonna achieve what I've been looking to do for three years.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: I've been trying to move back to California for three years.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I was about to put down the deposit, and then boom, I'm back in the messy middle.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: And it's literally not fun.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Like it's so nice at the end of it when you're like, I understand why.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: No, not in the middle.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Not in the middle.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: Do you have any lessons that you took away from that like deep dark pit of despair that happened?
10:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was just I I just felt like I just felt like I was like, what am I doing wrong?
10:49
SPEAKER_01: Like it, you know, you the first thing you want to do too is like blame yourself, right?
10:53
SPEAKER_01: We're like, I'm shit at this.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: I am have never been good at my business in my whole entire life.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: I have nothing to offer anybody.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: This is horrible.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, wait, like, let's look at the facts, let's not spiral, let's figure out what's actually the problem.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: So it was a lot of like, I don't want to say soul searching, but it was also a lot of like on one end, soul searching, figuring out what things I was doing or offering or not doing or offering that was not making a difference or was making a difference, and then how to fix it.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: And like a large part of it was again, like I had for I will not terrify your entire audience with this, but I had a 22-pound ovarian cyst and I had no idea that I had it.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: I went into the ER with like stomach pains and I figured they were gonna be like, shut up, here's some ibuprofen, have a nice day.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: And they were like, you need emergency surgery right now.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, wait, like I have plans.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: We're supposed to be leaving on vacation the next day.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I can't, I don't, I don't have time for surgery.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: I really don't, this is not gonna fit in my schedule.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was like, you know, I I couldn't do anything for like eight weeks.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: They were like, You you're not supposed to be lifting.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: Like I had, I mean, I have like a huge, like it's like a C sec C-section scar a long ways like this.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: So they were like, you can't do anything.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: So I felt like I was in one end trying so hard to like heal my body and like heal my nervous system that I felt like I was not like reserving myself, but I was like pulling back and I wasn't like networking and stuff.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: And then I was oh my god, because I'm not networking, because I feel like shit and I'm trying to heal, I'm not making new connections and then I'm not building my business.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: And then it was like, oh my gosh, if my whole entire business is just reliant on the fact that I have to be on all the time, like something's off, something is broken in the tunnel, something is broken in the system.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, but then at the same time, like I also know that my business does revolve around a lot of relationship building.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: Like people trust me to put their entire brands and their strategy and every idea and thought they've ever had in their head, pull it out of their brain, make it beautiful, make it make sense, and make it feel like them.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: So, like, yeah, it relies on relationships a lot.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: But I also feel like I just didn't feel like myself um for a long time.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: And I had to kind of be like, remember, it was like a like a Simba moment.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: It was like, remember who you are.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Like I had to be, like I had a Lion King moment, you know, where I had to be like, remember who I am.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: So you're in like a certain like moment where you that kind of started to click where you're like, I'm kind of over this.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't know, maybe like February or March, where I started feeling like mentally, like my body felt like better, and I felt like mentally like, okay, I could like do things now.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: I feel like back back in the groove.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you know what?
13:49
SPEAKER_01: I had had posted um on threads about wanting to start a course.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: And this is kind of like I think where I had a turning point because I was like, LOL, wouldn't it be so fun to like build a course all about illustration, sell it out and be like great for me, which I thought was going to be like this totally random thread, and it blew up.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, all these people were like, I want to get on the wait list for that.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: I want to learn how to draw, I want to learn how to illustrate.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, the people actually want to do this.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: So I think that was the tipping point of maybe things are getting better.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: But then as you know, it was a struggle for a little bit there.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: All of August was, or not all of August, all of April was a struggle.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: April was a financial hole in the ground.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to pull that back real quick because you you mentioned like I I love how with this with the illustration course, like you literally just followed an idea.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Like you're just like, I'm gonna just fuck around and find out.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's when some of the best stuff happens because that's what happened with cocktails and clothes.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: I just created it for fun, no intentions, and it's just people start, yeah, it's like attracting and out, flowing up and stuff.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: And it's like I didn't put any like really intense, like this better pay my fucking rent or I'm gonna scream, like none of none of that energy in it.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: And you just like followed your creative gut and kept having fun, even though you were in a crisis mode, you still like were like, let me just try this thing out, you know?
15:16
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure you feel the same way about cocktails and clothes.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: Like, like I I still to this day, I do not consider myself a course creator or an illustrator.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: Like I have a very hard time saying, like, yeah, I'm a course creator, yeah, I'm an illustrator.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Do I do those things?
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Sure, they're part of the bucket of shit that I do, but like I'm sure that you didn't enter this idea of cocktails and clothes by saying, like, I'm gonna be a community leader and a community manager or like a community host, and I'm gonna be this and this.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: You were like, I need some friends to talk to, and I want them to be cool as hell.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Like, anytime things get dark, I think you should feel it.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Like, you should cry it out, feel it, bitch, moan.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm a big believer, like, you need to feel it, or otherwise it's it's still gonna be there, and you're just gonna get more agitated, irritated that things aren't coming.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: So I think you need to like have a couple ice cream days where you just pity, but just pity yourself.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: Everything sucks, blah, blah, and then put a stopping point, be like, all right, I'm over that, and then pause and just get creative again and get excited about something.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's when good stuff happens.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard to say that because I'm in that period right now, like I'm in kind of like a like poopy period, but like this is like year three of my business.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: Like, I know this, what happens here.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: I know if I just pause, something fucking epic is gonna come out of this.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: It's just not fun.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: And then what the whole the financial part I think is so hard.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, even just I'm gonna be super transparent.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I spent a lot on my business this month because I thought money was coming in as it has been coming in for 10 months.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: So I spent 1700 investing in my business.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: I lose the client.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: My contractors always get paid, so that's always gonna come out first.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm yeah, it's really tight right now.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: But I know it'll be okay, but I just I think this is the part that kills me the most.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: It's not the like the messy middle, like, oh, something's off in my business, or I don't know, where's my where are the clients at?
17:20
SPEAKER_00: It's the financial heaviness of like I'm gonna need to like count how much those strawberries are, and maybe I don't get fruit and I just eat cantuna this time.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: Like, I hate that fucking, I hate that feeling.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: It is so like you just have this sense of like insecurity where you're like looking around every corner, like someone is physically coming to get you.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Like standing, we talked about this before, but like standing in the Aldi line, and I'm like, I have one box of pasta and a bag of frozen peas.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: Like, we are eating pasta and peas with olive oil.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: The end, goodbye.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: That will be like weeks and weeks of that.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Like, fine, sure.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm gonna get I'm got a vegetable.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: Peas are a vegetable, but I'm like standing at the Aldi thing, like, oh my God, like, is my card gonna go through for two dollars and sixty-two cents?
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Is it gonna decline?
18:11
SPEAKER_01: Like, there was one point in April where I opened up my bank account.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have to send you a screenshot.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna have to be the the picture for the for the pocket over my bank account, and it was a negative one thousand forty-four dollars and forty-four cents.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh, angel number, but not in the right direction.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, not in the right direction.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: I was like, wow, what the hell?
18:34
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, not only do I not have any money, but I owe the earth a thousand dollars.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
18:42
SPEAKER_01: From where?
18:43
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, whatever, they're gonna come to my house and get me.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: At this point, I'll know.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: Wherever you want me to serve you pasta in peace on the way out.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: I was like, what?
18:54
SPEAKER_00: But it's just you know, just like that feeling right there, like of being like, I'm scared to check my bank account.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I've trained my body to look no matter what.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: I've trained to like to always open it with ease and just be like, no matter what, it's me okay.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: But I actually just really hate that feeling.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: And what sucks is for the past like few months, I haven't been feeling that.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: I've been feeling so good, but then I'm in a hard month and I'm like, I can't believe I'm feeling this again.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: Like where I'm like again at the grocery store, and I'm like, I get kind of like a a bit of a game with it.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, I where I've and I learned this with my mindset coach.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: I kind of have like I like games and I like when I'm like, uh-oh, do I have enough money?
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And then I like when the car goes through and I'm like, oh, we made it.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: But there was one time that was so embarrassing.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, real quick, there was one time that was really embarrassing.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: I went to Publix, first of all, mistake.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh first of all, everything at Publix is$10 billion, even though I love Publix.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Like Publix, if you're listening, I love you, but please decrease your prices for us and must know.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: Chill out because it's in the South, your options are Publix or Walmart.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to choose Publix.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: But like so, I all I all I wanted to buy was a grapefruit.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: One grapefruit, and my account was already at zero.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: This is not this was like a two years ago, maybe.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know, here's my card.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: And she was like denied, and I was like, oh with one grapefruit on the carousel.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, just I was like, my I'm having a card issue.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: And then I just like pull aside and like transfer like whatever from wherever.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: And I was just, I'm like, geez, I was like, that was I told myself when I was walking to the car with my one grapefruit, I did actually end up getting to buy.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: I did get to buy it, but I was like walking the car and I was like, this is gonna be my motherfucking podcast moment when I'm like on e News or something, and I'm like, I I almost let a grapefruit take me down, you know?
20:49
SPEAKER_01: You have to gamify though, like there was a point where the account was negative, and I was like, we have to go through every gift card that we've ever had in this house, like shake them down to figure it out.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: And I had like a Wawa gift card, and I was like, wait, save that.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, because I think that we can buy milk and eggs at Wall or at Wawa, because like that's fine.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: And like then we have enough money to go to Aldi to buy pasta and some tuna.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, at least we'll have like enough to make like a sandwich, like a tuna fish sandwich.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: And then I was like, is this really my fucking life?
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, is this my life?
21:17
SPEAKER_01: And then you're like so angry with yourself, you know, like so disappointed.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I am smart, I am a smart girl.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, how the fuck did I get to be?
21:24
SPEAKER_01: You are and talented.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: Smart and talented, but like then you think to yourself, like, how the fuck do you get here?
21:29
SPEAKER_01: It's just like it's a combination of I feel like that that nervousness and that insecurity, and then that if you don't know how to or you haven't had the experience before, it's so easy to spiral.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: It's so easy to turn into I'm having a bad month, I'm having a bad six months, I'm having a bad year, I need to pivot some things in my life to I'm worthless, I have no value, I hate myself, I hate everything, I hate everybody, I hate the earth, I hate the sky.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, like you gotta reel it in, but it's very hard to do that when you're off.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: drowning and you're just eating tuna for the ninth day, you know.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: And also like knowing like when should you call it quits on something in your business.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Like I remember I was trying to like last year I was trying to become a high ticket closer and like just nothing was working out.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: And then that's when cocktails and clothes came about, but still like I just called it quits and I was like, you know what?
22:18
SPEAKER_00: For now we're just gonna we're gonna table this because I don't know I'm not one of those people that I'm just gonna keep dragging something out.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Like I will pivot if I need to because sometimes you just you just have to in your business.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't just keep beating your head against the wall.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: You know I think people will tell you to do that.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: They'll tell you to keep just be consistent and it's like okay how long does that I don't think so girl get out of here.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: I only say that because and I only say that because my I have family members in my family where like they just don't pivot and I see what happens when you don't pivot.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: Like they just they put all their eggs in one basket and decades go by and they're just a not a successful business owner because they just don't pivot.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like so I I'm a big fan of pivot but not don't pivot too much.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Like you need to I think you need to give something like six months before you realize like this there's nothing here right now.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah I agree.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: But I think that if you're also like if six months go by eight months go by and you're like I'm not really happy I'm not really loving this.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: It's not fruitful but I think yeah if six months go by if eight months go by and you are still miserable you're finding that all of the consistency hasn't like scaled up or it hasn't been trending upward like how much longer does it become like pivot to punishment you're punishing yourself now you've made an edit and you've made a change you've made some tweaks but if it's not working like don't keep yourself trapped in that horrible place when you could reevaluate and do something that might be more sustainable, more financially suitable or just something that like you don't hate every single day.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: You know?
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah because you will you will eventually you'd start to whatever hate to hate that thing you're selling because you're like it's it's just not working.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: But I mean I still think like you can always pick it up later you know but I think I'm a big fan of like just after a certain time what else is in the creative box.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: You know I know everyone has more ideas than just one if you're like an entrepreneur.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And then the other thing I'm trying to work on is which this sucks is I've been so good at it is I've built up an emergency savings and I built up a rent emergency savings.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Because my whole thing is like okay I'm gonna move to LA it's gonna be expensive let's go ahead and create like a rainy day cloud rent savings in case something like this month happens and guess what something like this month happened and I wasn't even paying rent and I was like oh man I had to wipe out my rent savings because of a bad month and it just like threw me off.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: It threw off my move and I don't know I don't know I just am like I got so close to having like cushion because that's the that's the real solution is like it doesn't matter what business what what business you have like you will always have a rainy day month even maybe year you need to have cushion but the hard part is don't need to fucking cushion before the next rainy day hits yes when you have like a bunch of rainy days it's hurricane season suddenly and you're like hemorrhaging money and realizing like oh my gosh I can't replace it faster than it's leaving my account it's so so like disheartening.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: And the other thing is like depending on what kind of business that you have like some people don't have a a team or some people do have a team and then it becomes like you have contractors you have to pay your contractors you have to pay people who you've hired like you know already that if you have a slow month or like a change in your financial situation that they're getting paid and you are the one eating ramen.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's like great on the other hand it's like I know I don't have a team I just have me and Nick and it's like if I need to make more money sure I can take on more projects but at what capacity?
26:06
SPEAKER_01: At some point I am burnt toast and I'm working 15 hours and I'm like I didn't sign up for this but I got to do it you know and I feel like if there's an endpoint in sight, great if you're like I know I only have to do this till I make X amount of dollars or till I'm in this better place, it makes it more sustainable.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: But when you aren't sure of what's happening and it's not even that it could just be something that totally came out as a blue one million percent out of your control like an emergency surgery.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: And like we don't have health insurance either so like they hit me with a bunch of bills and I was like that's funny.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: Y'all ain't getting that like I'm gonna pay one dollar a month till I'm like 500 years old.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: So whatever totally out of your control you know like I could be as prepared as I wanted but I was not anticipating eight weeks of being a vegetable and also paying medical bills.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: So it it's very it's very difficult.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: The other thing I think too is like I feel like I mentioned this one time when we were talking about this um in cocktails and clothes is that like when you zoom out on your business, you've been a business owner for three years, four years, five years, whatever when you look at your entire business ownership journey, you can see right like this period of time was a rough period of time.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: But overall your business is like trending upward and it's doing great things but you don't see that until you zoom out and have gotten to the other side of it.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: Like so it's like you know you know as a business owner there's going to be ups and downs there's gonna be times where it's gonna be a struggle but when you're in it you literally cannot zoom out because you are so in the thick of it.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah I yeah and so right now what I'm doing is um I am not expecting another client I'm not like I better get a client tomorrow.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: Like I I can't control that and that puts out really bad weird energy um so what I am doing and what y'all can take advice on this too if you also agree is I am just going to create better systems to where I don't have this no not this problem will totally come up again you know losing clients whatever or emergency situations but do you have a system where you can look at your there's like a chalk full of leads that you can always talk to or you have like your workshops or your master classes or just something that's like yeah like you have your insurance in that way despite having systems and I just don't I think I'm really now understanding that because I've been running my business off vibes for like three years which is like vibes, referrals I didn't have a website, no Instagram I was just like ah a podcast client will come and I'm like that's crazy that I've been doing that I operate that way as well there's probably like five million coaches who are listening to this that would be like you two are fucking dumb whatever and like fine okay but it's also and there's I don't think there's anything wrong with leaning into your intuition and using energetics in your business like not necessarily that it has to be like oh my gosh I'm just running on vibes like just running on vibes and being like the universe will answer my problems like that can be problematic.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: But on the flip side knowing that you have like these intuitive beliefs and this mindset that is like it'll turn around it'll be okay in the meantime what can I do to ease my situation while I'm waiting for the better things to happen.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: And that is like the systems that's looking at your your website things that are converting your newsletters focusing on like what can be done in your inside world that will later make your outside world so I don't necessarily think it's bad.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: I think when people are like you can't run a business on vibes like I think that you can actually but I I have I have I have too but it did but definitely it's not like the safest thing like I I think we should like a good mix of both and like I think this lesson I'm learning right now is that I have created a really good system for cocktails and clothes because essentially now I'm running two businesses but for my podcast my my first child I just left them in the fucking dust I was just like he'll be fine like I'm I'm focusing on the second child right now who needs a lot of attention and then that the the first child's like well fuck you like I'm gonna have a timber tantrum.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: And so now I am like I pay I have to like pay attention to both kids or you know like I need to make sure that the first one which my podcasting business has these systems they can both run and then I could just if there's an emergency or if there's an issue I think this lesson was very very important to learn especially before I moved to LA so I'm I'm not I'm not upset about it.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: But damn it just like it's just it's like a slap in the face.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: So you you pivoted and you did the workshop and it's like fuck yeah there's a huge craving index everyone's like yes yes yes and then what happened in April?
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Well so March was when I had like posted this thread that was like I have this dream delusional you know to build this course and sell it out.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: I would love to do that.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: So that was in March but I was like okay actually like if I have to do this like okay I actually have to like build a course and once again I'm not a course creator.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: I had no idea what I was doing.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: I was just like I'll figure it out like I I do everything like I don't know if you follow Elise Myers but she's always like how hard could it be?
31:26
SPEAKER_01: I I was born with the how hard could it be Gene in my head I'm like how hard could any of this really be?
31:30
SPEAKER_01: I I learned how to tile our entire sunroom when we lived in Jersey and I learned how to build I like my taught myself carpentry.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: I built a whole set of shelves and my husband like do you how do you know how to do this and I was like honestly how hard could it be just like nailing shit to the wall but I digress and I literally just think to myself like this can't be that hard.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: It really can't be so I figured it out I have um you know a friend who has a course whose course I took who I I love her and was like all right she's like you know use this as a framework.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of like laid it out and was like what's the worst that could happen but that was in the it was in March that I started building it.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: I didn't launch it till June because it did take me a while to get everything together.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: You know I had like a whole bunch of videos I have to do like a whole welcome sequence.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah people were interested but then I had to figure out a funnel to get that email buy it yeah I'm like okay do you actually care or are you just like hyping me up um so it was it was a a lag and I I also I don't know if you follow um Hannah Becker she's like really great she's like a like a business strategist but she really uses like human design but she always says like income is a lagging factor both ways.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: So like you can be doing all this work and pouring things in but your income might not reflect it for a period of time until it catches up to your energy that you're putting out in the world your habits you're establishing whatever the situation is so that was like crazy a little bit.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: Told me that and that blew my mind.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: I think of it every day every day.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to this I fucking love you so much.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm obsessed with you.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Well that makes sense because it's like that's what that makes sense for those moments be like I'm doing everything.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: I don't get it and then the rewards hit three, six months a year later and you're like oh like and it's the same like the opposite way with like the pod that you're like not this is not like obviously anything anything negative at all but putting your attention to cocktails and clothes the pod was running itself and then at some point it wasn't because it didn't need as much attention but then it's it's attention that it required shifted and then the income shifted later because of it.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Like I felt that same way on like doing certain aspects of business where I'm like I'm not focusing on this.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: So then it's like dipping really poorly and I'm like well what the fuck and like well it's my fault because I didn't set up a system that reflected the income I wanted to make off of that thing.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: Is that the craziest I ever heard mind blowing.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: That actually I really needed that I really needed to hear that.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: It is not my idea so but yeah that changed my brain chemistry.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: But um but yeah that so my course launched in June um June 8th it was a it was a month yesterday and it was wonderful.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean it wasn't I didn't make like I'm like no shade of Jesse Jean love her get your bag but like I didn't make one million dollars off of it but I made a few thousand dollars off of it.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: So which back you know in in January I was like I have a dollar and in April I had negative a thousand dollars and then here I was with a successful launch that made thousands of dollars and I was like okay maybe I know what I'm doing a little bit maybe I'm okay at my job.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: So it was that lag it's that lag you were talking about.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: And it was like I was down here in the pit and then like all of a sudden it was like to the top of the roller coaster and I was like over here on Space Mail and I was like how'd I get here?
34:46
SPEAKER_01: So like I was like how did I get here?
34:48
SPEAKER_01: Like it changed so fast.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: But it was like you know I had put in months of work and months of analyzing what was right and what was wrong in my business and how I was showing up and when I didn't have the capacity versus being like everywhere and having my hand in everything.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: It's like okay now it's paying off now we're in July another month has passed and I'm lucky that I'm seeing like a ton of inquiries touch wood and that people are like oh my gosh I'll refer you for this and I'll recommend you for this and I'm like thank fucking God but it lagged for a really long time.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: A long time right a long time oh it just makes me feel so good.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: Just like I just love to see my friends win because it's just like I I know how hard my friends work and I know every inch of their business and it just like when my fucking friends can breathe and they can win and not just breathe like they can succeed.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: It's just I'm like fuck yes like you need you need this you know um me and Rachel Perry were just talking about this yesterday and I said you know when your friends are winning like I'm winning when my friends are winning.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm like we're all in the limo we're all at the top let's go I don't understand how people can be like so like jealous or like wish bad when somebody's winning and they are saying something like yet so like great when people are saying oh my God I made all this money and I had all these connections and when you are at you when you were in dire straits you're like ah I want that to be me but there's a difference in being like I know I'll get there one day maybe I can pick their brain maybe I can figure out what they did to help me get there versus I can't believe this bitch.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: She made she doesn't deserve it deserve it she doesn't work hard no I guarantee you that whoever she is she was crying at 2 a.m trying to figure something out she also probably had to put her grapefruit back in public to get to the other side you know but it's also like in there like and I think people have this an immense sense of shame and like this feeling of inadequacy because they go through these like horrible things and then people don't want to talk about it because they're like oh like shh keep it under the rug you know we're trained not to talk about that but like I don't give a shit if I can tell you that I was fucking in dire straits and like we said like I'm in desk I'm like literally destitute right now like hard like if somebody else can be like oh my god it's not just me then like help also I'm the first person to say if you need help like do you I will give you money I will give you the last dollar out of my fucking wallet.
37:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't care people need it you know they need that they need that camaraderie we're all humans especially business owners we a special kind of human yeah we are and like we have to help each other and um and like bringing it back to like April so that's when you well you joined the community in like I think January and I remember you were like I I could I can't afford this right now and I was like dude literally like no you're like I am that'll be a thousand and sixty seven dollars in debt like I could not even sixty seven dollars and and it what's crazy is like I've gotten that before and I never everyone pressure someone but I do think if you give it a chance come check it out and see and so you did you took you came back and you're like okay I'm gonna I'm gonna check out the community and then I will say this before before I go into the story like this community is not like a pitch fest like this is not a place where you can be like oh my God everyone buy my stuff like it's not that but I think everyone here is very hype girl and I feel like you had an emergency situation you I call it like your emergency card you pulled an emergency card and give me out a jail card and you wrote in the community and you were like you said you wanted to dissolve your LLC and you just simply asked you were like do you know anyone who needs websites can you bring us to that moment and then like kind of what happened after once you posted and clocked and close I'm pretty sure that that day was the same day or maybe the day or two after that I had checked my account and it was literally negative a thousand dollars and I was like I have no idea what I'm doing right now.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Like I don't know where to even go I was like I it's not even that you know like you it's not even that you have no money it's that you have less than no money.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Like how's physically possible you know and I was like so I said finally and like you know I I am an eldest daughter I'm a problem solver I am an independent woman I am strong and fierce but I was like I need to like literally ask for help like I am I hate to even do this but I was like you know if anybody needs anything any kind of branding carousels templates merch websites do you want me to come to your house and paint a picture on your wall I don't care I I will do it like at that point I would have licked stamps for money.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: I was just like so upset and everybody it was like within five seconds of posting it there was like a million comments of everybody being like oh my God I could use you for this can you do this?
39:52
SPEAKER_01: Can you do this?
39:53
SPEAKER_01: I I want to give you money I want to pay you for this here you go like it JC sent me$200 and was like put it on my tab for my website when we do it in the future and I was like you got it girl let's go Dragon Wall sent me money immediately to do uh to do Canva um carousel templates um Samantha gel like a million people were just diving in hyping me up and I ended up that was the it was you know what it was the end of the month because I was like thank God I closed out the month like in a positive and ended up booking like 70 I think I have to look at my exact number but I think it was like$7300 in revenue that came in from a negative number negative four figures to a positive almost five figure month that was sick in like a week of time.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: I did a lot of work but it was it was worth every penny but I was like thank God because like if I didn't have all of you guys who understand what it's like to be in this situation who have all been there before and who are like more than willing to help support other people in our industry and like other entrepreneurs and business owners I what the fuck would I have done I was literally going to sell my wedding ring.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: I was like I don't know if I need it I can probably get a couple thousand for it makes me cry that's your wedding and I was like do I sell my wedding ring and we were just like this is bad.
41:18
SPEAKER_01: This is really bad.
41:21
SPEAKER_01: So but it flip you know flipped and I'm so lucky and it it might not have turned out that way you know what I mean it it very well could have turned out a sadder story than it was but I feel so grateful and so thankful that I was like first of all not like you you have cultivated a space and a community of people where I could literally say bitches I'm poor very poor you know and I knew that nobody was going to like judge me and that if people could help that they would immediately jump in and they like leaped with both feet.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: So that's on you for creating an amazing community which I'm so grateful for and will pay$67 every month till I die to be in I don't know I want to I want to attribute this whole community because I went to one event that JC, our friend JC and Lucy did and it opened the doors to this whole community of women in the South that I didn't fucking know existed.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: That call opened up the whole network that changed my whole business because like this is the kind of women I love.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: And then from there like creating the community was easy because y'all were already my friends and then y'all bring other awesome friends in and like I think it's just been the easiest business and it's I literally have so much fun but also it just blows me away so on this podcast like I'm a stranger to these people.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know how to tell people without shaking them that like the women in here are like just real friends like real fucking friends for you.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: There are there are so many like girls that are were strangers to me a year ago that I have had hour long conversations with on the phone and in real life and have been like just been able to be like for real with and I grew up like I know everybody always says this I feel like in in your community you have a lot of like um like everybody's like girls girls like everybody's like go to bath for the girls everybody's hype girls for the girls I grew up a very like guys girl.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: I played a lot of sports my whole life I was always around like men and I had girlfriends but I always like gravitated towards these like male groups of friends.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: So it always felt like I didn't have like aside from a very select few of friends who are still my friends to this day but like I feel like I never had all these like girls who are like going to bat for each other.
43:35
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like this is like this community of girls like that I could text everybody and tell you anything from a new show I'm watching to my new favorite cocktail to the best thing that happened in business, the worst thing that happened in business all in one breath.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: And everybody's like yeah no matter what it is.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: We're like everything like today I posted I was like does anyone have a clothes chair where you just keep moving your dirty clothes Clothes and everyone's like, I have a clothes hamper.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yay.
44:06
SPEAKER_01: It's like so good.
44:07
SPEAKER_01: There's a giant basket in my closet filled with clothes.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, again, it's not not, they're not dirty enough to go into the dirty hamper.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: They just want to rant about this.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I need I need a clothes chair.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: So like I had my moment like this week.
44:21
SPEAKER_00: So I had like, oh man, yeah, this week was like emotionally just strong.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: Tell me about it.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm in it.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm in it.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: And so we have this event called Sip and Solve where like you can bring your problems.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: We all help each other.
44:31
SPEAKER_00: And then vice versa, like you can help another member.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: And like just even on that call, like everyone was just like, oh, just so helpful.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: But then after the call, Rachel immediately FaceTimed me.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: Jasmine, who's one of our newer members, who's Australian.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: She just came on the podcast.
44:47
SPEAKER_00: She immediately faceted me also.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: And she helped me so much with like my new podcast funnel.
44:52
SPEAKER_00: And then Megan was like, bitch, meet me at this restaurant.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm taking you out to eat.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: Like JC called me.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: Like everyone, like, oh God, just I could just go.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to tell anymore.
45:03
SPEAKER_00: Like everyone's just so kind.
45:05
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's that shit that that helps in these months.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: Because think about if you just didn't have that, who would you talk to?
45:13
SPEAKER_00: You could still talk to your friends, you could talk to your husband and everything, but would they buy from you?
45:17
SPEAKER_00: Would they refer you?
45:19
SPEAKER_00: Would they be like, bitch, I get it, you know?
45:22
SPEAKER_01: People don't, and I I truly think like I don't know how people were owning businesses like before having like access to other people, like and and the internet.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: Like, I know obviously we have like in-person circles, but like your world is so much richer and wider because we can talk to people like you can talk to Jasmine right now.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: It's tomorrow in Australia, and she's like, hello mate from Jasmine, don't tell me, but like she like talking to you from tomorrow, and she's like, it's all good.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: Like you have no, you have no borders or boundaries because we can all be in each other's lives, and like it's just it's like a mirror, like without sounding so corny, it's literally a miracle.
46:03
SPEAKER_01: Like we have at least friends, not luckier way.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: No, not early.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: I know, and like I'm I'm trying to get to a point where we can all meet up.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: I was I'm trying to see what a retreat is like.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: I want us all to go to Mexico, so oh, I will probably have a hard time coming home.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: I will be there the whole time.
46:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, this retreat's a month long, right?
46:23
SPEAKER_00: No, that's what I'm I'm like, low-key, that's what I'm gonna plan.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, the retreat is X amount of days, but like I'm gonna be living in Mexico.
46:29
SPEAKER_01: So whoever wants to hang with me, I'm not I feel like that would be so so fun.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: Also, like the just the energy of having everybody all in one space to like share ideas and like just cackle and like watch shows and have yeah, like that is yeah, that's what people need.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: I want us to go in a boat party.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: I want to rent a boat.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: I have my boating license.
46:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm ready.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: Shut the f you should have.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't I would love to get my captain's license.
47:00
SPEAKER_01: This is another thing where I'm like, how hard can it be to get my captain's license?
47:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I hope I have the mentality.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I had the opposite mentality.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my god, it's so hard.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: I wish I I feel like I want to start thinking like that.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna start using that as my mantra.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna just text you randomly and be like, how hard could it be?
47:16
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: Like, no offense to men, but most men on earth think that way.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: They're like, How hard could it be?
47:24
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
47:25
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be easier for me because I got a community of A's.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: But I like people shit on men all the time, but I have so much respect for them in so many ways because like they don't give a fuck and they're so confident and they do it wrong, and they're like, Okay, what's the problem?
47:40
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I love that.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's because I like had a lot of like male influence in my life it's like that, but I also um I also feel like it's just like I I also think to myself, like, what's the worst that could really happen?
47:53
SPEAKER_01: Like obviously not talking about like life and death, but you know what I mean?
47:57
SPEAKER_01: Like something like building this aspect of your business.
48:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, what's the worst that could happen?
48:01
SPEAKER_01: You hate it, it sucks, you never do it again.
48:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you learned a bunch of stuff.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: It can't be that bad, it can't be that hard, or it could go incredibly well.
48:12
SPEAKER_01: It could be amazing, like cocktails and clothes.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: You'd be like, I want to talk to some friends, and now it's like your main source of income every time.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: It's my main set that no cocktails and clothes is what's held me up in this bad month.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: And that's when I was like, I was talking to my friend, and she was like, Oh, well, that's your fun business.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I don't think it is.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, it's fun.
48:33
SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, it is fun.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: But this is technically like what's fucking held me up in this hard month is this membership, and it's the thing that's gonna scale me.
48:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, because every two months we're gonna bring in 20 new people and do the math.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's this thing is gonna get me my yacht.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: It is gonna get you your yacht that I'm gonna catch.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, I want everyone to know, and I can't stop saying in every episode, all I care about is a boat.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's my only thing I care about.
49:02
SPEAKER_00: A boat and an English Bulldog.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's all I want in life.
49:04
SPEAKER_00: And cocktails and clothes, I created the funnel, I saw the numbers and I was like, holy shit.
49:09
SPEAKER_00: And same with your workshop.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: I bet you that's gonna be really scalable.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what?
49:14
SPEAKER_01: I kind of like the same thing how cocktails and clothes is.
49:16
SPEAKER_01: I I because it was the first round and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.
49:20
SPEAKER_01: I did it and I left it open for like a couple of weeks and then I closed it because my thought process was like, let me go in and get some feedback, make sure that things are like functioning the way they should, that people are learning what they want to learn, that everything is seamless.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: And then I was like, let me take a little take a little breather and then relaunch it in the fall.
49:38
SPEAKER_01: But I don't, I mean, I think it could also be evergreen.
49:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know if I need to keep it um open and closed because it's it's mostly self-led.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: It has a community aspect if people have questions.
49:48
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, but most people are like, I'm good, I just want to do it in my own time, which I get, you know, we all live very different lives and people are on different time zones.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, like it also could be a huge scalable, nothing is really passive, but passive form of income.
50:07
SPEAKER_01: And I really love doing it.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: And the biggest piece of feedback that I've heard from people is like, I just feel like so, my my body feels relaxed.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: Like doing it makes me feel like I'm so creative.
50:19
SPEAKER_01: And like the way that I teach it is through this method called Shape Safari, which is basically like everything we see in the world is shapes, and it's easy to draw because instead of looking at something like a whole picture, you break down into the simplest shapes.
50:31
SPEAKER_01: And people are like, that like rewired my brain chemistry.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: I never thought about it like that.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: This is like making me get in touch with the creative part of me.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, that is like that is like the real magic.
50:43
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, if you use it to make money, you use it to grow your business, to offer illustration as part of your services, cool.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: But I also want people to just very much understand that like this life is not that serious.
50:56
SPEAKER_01: Like, we can have fun doing all kinds of stuff, like it's an enjoyable thing.
51:02
SPEAKER_01: So that was like the number one thing.
51:03
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, like I can literally make money and make people feel empowered by drawing fun shit.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: What a dream, you know, like what let's all draw a dinosaur and I'll make some money from that.
51:17
SPEAKER_00: Like people loved it.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: The people loved it when you launched that.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: I was something was going on.
51:21
SPEAKER_00: I was like too busy, I think I was traveling, but like I I want to do it.
51:25
SPEAKER_00: Like it's all I has not left my brain because I love a doodle.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: Like I've I love doodling and I've always wanted to know like, how do you doodle?
51:32
SPEAKER_00: So I want to take your course.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just want to do it like when I actually not be bopping around the world.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to, you know, just personally, like I've I want to take your fucking course.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: Like it is always there.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: I was always thinking about um, I was also like, you know, playing around with it because I had so many people, you know, want to do it and want to do it for work purposes where they want to offer it as like a service to their clients.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: And then now everybody's like all the feedback that I've been getting at least is like, oh my gosh, I just love it for like my own like personal development, like not necessarily professional development, but just like because I love to do it.
52:07
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, oh my gosh, do I change the format of it?
52:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, do I just make it super fun and and whatever?
52:11
SPEAKER_01: So I don't have to uh I'm gonna have to reevaluate before I do it.
52:15
SPEAKER_01: But I'm thinking October for a relaunch.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: So let's Okay, fuck yeah.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: One way I want to exit this conversation is I think let's describe a year from now us and maybe give ourselves a mantra, a go-ahead like mantra for the hard months too.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: Like where it's like, here's the dream life that I see for us, but also here's my mantra where I'm like, you got this bitch, you know, like what's that thing you're gonna tell yourself?
52:38
SPEAKER_00: Because there will be another hard month.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: So I'll let you, I'm gonna let you go first.
52:41
SPEAKER_00: I want to sit on that one.
52:43
SPEAKER_01: A year from now, me.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: My my latest delusional goal, because you know, I like to set a delusional goal.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: My latest delusional goal is that I think I want to speak on a stage about what I have no fucking idea, actually.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
53:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I would even talk about.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: I just think that the vibes would be cool.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: Again, vibe coded.
53:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would also love, I would love to have a one long-term retainer client because I actually do not have any retainer clients.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: I keep nobody on retainer at all whatsoever.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: I know that's uh we probably should have talked about this earlier.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like that that's intense.
53:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't have any.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: I have a lot, I have about my um my like book of business, I guess you can call it, is made up of like over 90% repeats and referrals.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: So I do have people who continuously come back, but I don't have anybody married to a retainer.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: But I would love to do that, especially in like a white label or what I'm calling a gray label situation where I can like help support another business owner and be in their back pocket for a long time.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: Um I have a lovely partnership started um with our beautiful friend Rachel, and I would love to just work with her for the rest of my life because she's fucking incredible.
53:57
SPEAKER_00: When I heard that, I when I heard that y'all working together, I was like, oh my god.
54:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, what a call, though.
54:03
SPEAKER_01: We were on the phone for like four hours the other day, just screaming and laughing.
54:07
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, this is the best.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: Like literally.
54:10
SPEAKER_01: So I that is it.
54:11
SPEAKER_01: So I think I would love to be on a stage, we would love to be cackling on a stage.
54:15
SPEAKER_01: I would love to be screaming and laughing with a long-term partner on something.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: Um and I was I would love for my nervous system to be balanced enough to when these weird months come to just be like, I'm rolling with it.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: What's my mantra gonna be?
54:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, my mantra in life is like you said, how hard could this be?
54:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, but also it can be pretty hard.
54:38
SPEAKER_01: So I don't really think to think of what a what a good mantra is.
54:45
SPEAKER_01: What would you have wanted to hear when you were at the hospital bed?
54:48
SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's literally the dumbest, the dumbest fucking answer for this, but like it has to just be like, I feel like to myself, I'm always like, I'm not even worried about it.
55:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even worried about it.
55:01
SPEAKER_01: Or you know what I do say a lot that I frequently use as a dismissal slash mantra is I'm unbothered.
55:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm not, I can't even be bothered by it.
55:11
SPEAKER_01: Which like that I feel like is a good encapsulation of yes, there is struggle, yes, there's strife, yes, there is a rough situation, but I am also not gonna let it like penetrate all of the positive energy that I'm trying to encapsulate in my own life.
55:32
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not even bothered, whatever.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: Let it go.
55:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm not bothered by it.
55:35
SPEAKER_01: It can't affect me, it can't touch me.
55:37
SPEAKER_01: It's happening around me, but it's not happening to me.
55:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
55:41
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
55:41
SPEAKER_01: That's good, right?
55:42
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's let's roll with that.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: Like the whole like bubble, like, yeah, like obviously that's XYZ happened, but we're not gonna let it affect our bubble, like our good vibes.
55:51
SPEAKER_01: Somewhere around us, it can happen in front of us.
55:54
SPEAKER_01: It is not gonna penetrate our bubble of happiness and joy and peace within ourselves.
56:00
SPEAKER_01: That just like I hope that Heidi would be really happy and proud of it.
56:03
SPEAKER_00: I think she would, yeah.
56:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that I'm gonna I'm gonna remember that one.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, I got my mind broken a lot today.
56:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, so to end my a year from now, I am in a band.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, yes.
56:17
SPEAKER_00: What are you playing or singing?
56:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm I can't play an instrument, guys.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: I I'm really very honest about that.
56:22
SPEAKER_00: I can only sing and I'm in like a indie rock, yeah, indie rock and roll band thing like the Yeah Yas or like Lake Street Dive.
56:30
SPEAKER_00: Like how about that you are a singer?
56:32
SPEAKER_00: Hello?
56:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, because I don't sing and I need to shut the fuck up and do it and stop being imposter syndrome about it.
56:38
SPEAKER_00: So I between now and then I will have made moves to slowly get there, but I have am in a cool band in like California and like we just do local shows and like I like jumping on stage and shit.
56:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm in a band.
56:54
SPEAKER_00: I have a really bright, airy home.
56:57
SPEAKER_00: It's not big.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't need big, but like everything in there is really intentional.
57:01
SPEAKER_00: Like everything in there is just really fucking intentional that I pick out.
57:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm probably dating my band boyfriend, drummer, of course.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, not dating the tar guitarist, because no way.
57:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I like business-wise, I don't even have that many goals.
57:19
SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like I'm I'm really ready to move away from business.
57:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, I want business to like always make me money, hello.
57:25
SPEAKER_00: But like I'm tired of it being like my existence.
57:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm I just want it to like vibe with my friends in cocktails and clothes, vibe with my clients.
57:33
SPEAKER_00: I have no big aspirations.
57:35
SPEAKER_00: I want us to like, I want a Europe retreat every year for the Europe girls so that Jasmine and Bethany and Ivy and all of them can all hang out.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: And then I want a Mexico retreat for us North American girls.
57:46
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just I'm home in California, I'm in a band, I'm happy, I probably have a bulldog.
57:52
SPEAKER_00: And my mantra to myself for the hard months that are gonna still come up, because they always do.
57:57
SPEAKER_00: I think the thing I always I'm like, I always got it.
58:00
SPEAKER_00: Like I always fucking got it.
58:01
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm a fucking hustler no matter what.
58:03
SPEAKER_00: Like I always got it.
58:05
SPEAKER_00: And if I don't have it, like I have an insane amount of network and group of people around the world that always helped me.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Like I have had so many people open their doors to me in hard moments that they did not have to.
58:19
SPEAKER_00: I've stayed at so many people's houses for free in Amsterdam, Boston, Lara, like LA, like New York.
58:26
SPEAKER_00: I it's just I feel very like no matter where I have friends, that's my self-talk that I'm gonna tell myself right now in this hard month, is like it'll be fucking fine.
58:34
SPEAKER_00: We always got it.
58:36
SPEAKER_00: There's always a friend.
58:37
SPEAKER_01: It's probably not my there's always like really we think that we're on this journey like by ourselves, but like we are never alone.
58:45
SPEAKER_01: Like if you just look around at like all the people in your life, you are literally never by yourself.
58:52
SPEAKER_01: There's a million people that you can call and will have your back, even if it's just still like this, have a little chat and then feel better about it, or if there's somebody you can call and say, like, I need to crash on your couch, or I need to borrow$5.
59:03
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
59:04
SPEAKER_01: There are people who have our backs.
59:05
SPEAKER_01: We just sometimes are like afraid to ask, but like that's literally the purpose of having friends to like rely on them when you need to.
59:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
59:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
59:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is such a good episode.
59:17
SPEAKER_00: If you want to connect with Alex and if you want to actually take her illustrator course and learn how to doodle and have some fun, I will leave everything in the show notes for you.
59:25
SPEAKER_00: I feel like this episode's a great testament to show like what happens in the community.
59:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, we stick together, like we help each other out.
59:32
SPEAKER_00: I had a really, really hard month this month and I felt so supported.
59:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, another girl came to us and she was like, hey guys, I need some help.
59:38
SPEAKER_00: We all got her tagged on threads.
59:40
SPEAKER_00: She started booking sales calls after that.
59:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, it's not just like a hype girl place to be, it's also the place to go to when you're just having the shittiest month ever in business.
59:50
SPEAKER_00: And it's really nice knowing there's other girls in your corner.
59:52
SPEAKER_00: So check below in the show notes if you want to sign up.
59:54
SPEAKER_00: We might still have free trials available as you're listening to this episode.
59:58
SPEAKER_00: If not, we have a wait list you can join.
59:59
SPEAKER_00: So I would love to see you in there, and I hope if you are having a shitty day, a shitty business month, or a shitty season, you know you're gonna be okay.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_00: You know you're gonna be okay.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna end, and you're gonna rise up.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna make it through this messy middle season.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_00: So as always, remember you're a bad bitch, and I will see you guys next time.