Latest / The Heart-Led Business Show / Harmonizing Purpose and Profit: Insights with Madison MacEocain
Transcript
- 0:01Welcome to the Heart Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love.
- 0:09Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second.
- 0:20From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism.
- 0:29So buckle up and let's go.
- 0:31Let your heart guide your business journey.
- 0:42All right, ladies and gents, fasten your fun belts and prepare for a fantastic flight because we have the mighty Madison MacEocain, our guiding guru of goodness on board today.
- 0:55She's a functional medicine marvel and a heart rhythm hero with a touch of spicy yogi zest.
- 1:02So sit back, chuckle a little, and let's tumble into this tantalizing talk.
- 1:07Madison, welcome.
- 1:09Oh, I'm so glad you're here.
- 1:11Me too.
- 1:12Thank you.
- 1:12I would love to meet that person.
- 1:14Wow.
- 1:16Look in the mirror.
- 1:17Well, I'm so glad that you're here and I always ask the first question, like what is your definition of a heart led business?
- 1:25For me, a heart led business is a business as that is an extension of the business owner where they are in alignment with their personal beliefs and values.
- 1:38Yeah.
- 1:38And so how does that, how does that relate to you and, and, and your business then?
- 1:42As I began my business, as I started to put it together, cause it, it, it didn't come naturally for me.
- 1:49I'm someone who enjoyed working for other people and I had this.
- 1:53Sense of like, Oh, this environment, there's something about this environment that feels really good.
- 1:59And there's something about this environment that doesn't.
- 2:01And, and so I really enjoyed that.
- 2:06And when it came to how I brought that together in my own businesses, I started with myself.
- 2:13It didn't start with the business.
- 2:15It started with me.
- 2:17And then through my own process, as I, as I was working with other people who have really great intentions, and they really would like to bring something forward into the world that's meaningful, and yet they're out of sync.
- 2:29And it doesn't quite work for them.
- 2:32There isn't a flow.
- 2:34In the way that they're working and, and they're really working at their business.
- 2:38That's one of the things that I enjoy about aligning myself with my heart in what I do is a lot of it is not what we consider work.
- 2:48For me, it's, it's really fulfilling.
- 2:50Like I leave at the end of the day and I feel full.
- 2:54And the best way I can describe that is forever ago, I'm a yoga teacher for 20 plus years.
- 3:01And and I did other things to support myself because being a yogi, yogi and a yoga teacher isn't very fruitful for where I was at.
- 3:09It was the one job that when I got to the end of the class and people were in Shavasana and there's this period of silence, of stillness.
- 3:23And yet it is really full of the life that's in the room.
- 3:28It's collective.
- 3:30And in that moment, there's peace.
- 3:33And when people leave the room, they say, thank you.
- 3:37And they really mean it.
- 3:39They really mean it.
- 3:42And when I'm in my heart flow with my clients at the end of the day, that's where I am with myself.
- 3:51I'm in that moment of peace of just being filled with whatever it was or whoever it was I was in contact with throughout the day.
- 4:02And I feel an internal thank you.
- 4:07That's really beautiful.
- 4:08And so how is that different than what you were doing before?
- 4:13So talk about kind of what inspired you to move into a heartled business, making that an extension of, of you, which I think it's a beautiful definition of a heart led business because that it is you, you're leading with your heart.
- 4:27So what inspired you to do that?
- 4:30I had a health crisis and and I was a yoga teacher.
- 4:34I did Reiki healing.
- 4:36I, I really like, I was drawn to working with the bio, the, the energy field of the human body and all of its different layers.
- 4:46As I was developing into that, somewhere along the way, I, I was out of alignment with myself and, and I ended up in a health crisis.
- 4:59And through that health crisis, I, I abandoned myself to a point where I didn't really recognize who, or what I was, or how I was being in the world.
- 5:12I was really driven by this state of, of fear and confusion.
- 5:18And in that state, I lost my compass.
- 5:21And so when I stepped into acceptance of where I was at, it was a pretty dark, dark place.
- 5:27It was a, this kind of an, that edge between existence and non existence.
- 5:32It was like this, this hairline difference in that space.
- 5:37And I had fought that, fought with myself.
- 5:40I was in conflict with myself for so long about the direction in which I was heading that I wasn't able to experience myself.
- 5:50I was just at war with myself.
- 5:52And when I stepped into acceptance, to accepting where I was at, and I went into the pain rather than push it away, try to fight with it, then that put me into a place of being curious about the curiosity about my animosity.
- 6:09And through that, it shifted my thinking from, to me, into for me.
- 6:14And as I made that shift, that allowed me to ask myself the question, why am I here now?
- 6:24And how did I get here?
- 6:25And as I asked those questions, as I was going into the pain, rather than pushing it away from me, running from it, hiding from it, fighting with it, then I was able to shift into a place of gratitude where I was able to appreciate what was in my life in place of being angry about what wasn't in my life.
- 6:48And, and what I mean by that is there, there was a point where I grew up in a tumultuous household, nontraditional background.
- 6:56I've been a lot of places.
- 6:58Most people who meet me now look at me and they think certain things about me, but they really don't have a, an understanding of just where I came from.
- 7:08And I had a lot of resistance against that.
- 7:11And that was part of my own internal conflict and, and war within myself.
- 7:16So I had a, you know, my father showed up.
- 7:19And he had never showed up for me in my life ever.
- 7:22He was never there for me.
- 7:25And at this time of all times in my life, he showed up with, with all of himself, which is quite a lot to handle, but right.
- 7:37But he showed up with all of himself and and I wasn't able to appreciate that when I was in that fight with myself.
- 7:46But when I stepped into that gratitude, when I was able to see him for what he was bringing into my life, I was so grateful that I wasn't losing my children.
- 7:58I was so grateful that even though my father was giving them McDonald's three times a day, four weeks on end, which the kids loved, Of course.
- 8:08Right?
- 8:09But I was grateful that they were, that someone was there to make sure that they had three meals a day because I wasn't able to do it.
- 8:15And, and so it took away a lot of the static, a lot of the noise so that I could just appreciate that I was able to wake up and see their faces.
- 8:26And as I started to do that, I started to be grateful that I could at least walk down the driveway that day and walk back up.
- 8:35And then the next week I could walk down the driveway and a few feet and then back up.
- 8:42Right?
- 8:42So when that happened, I started to realign myself with the core essence of who I am coming back to self.
- 8:53And that changed my perspective because I didn't have the resources in my life to change my circumstances, but I had the ability to change my perspective about the circumstances in which I was in.
- 9:07And the heart is the center of that, right?
- 9:09So that's when I stepped into heart math.
- 9:12I was like, what is this all about?
- 9:13And Oh, this is really about opening up this area.
- 9:17This energy center in which we can then begin to align everything else.
- 9:23It's a pathway into everything else.
- 9:26I went back into the early teachings of yoga.
- 9:29I had this wonderful militant yoga teacher forever ago before yoga was a thing.
- 9:36And I showed up, I followed a handsome young man into a yoga room, not knowing what I was getting into.
- 9:42Cool.
- 9:43And there was no music, there were no candles, there was no, you know, all of the, the frilly things that, you know, delight the senses, just a room full of people with yoga mats and a lot of breathing.
- 9:58And I got on the mat, you know, I looked at this guy like, okay, I'm here because of you, but I have no idea what I'm doing.
- 10:05And he did not help me out.
- 10:08And I just started doing all these weird things that everybody else was doing.
- 10:12And this beautiful teacher Mati Asarati she's no longer with us the very strong Ashtanga background showed up and saw me on my mat and she was, what are you doing?
- 10:25And I go, yoga?
- 10:29And she's like, No, no, no.
- 10:32This, this isn't yoga.
- 10:35And she sat me on my mat and said, when you breathe, when you learn to breathe, then you can do yoga.
- 10:46Wow.
- 10:47And that was the, yeah, the first instruction.
- 10:51And what I gained out of that, through that lesson is you can typically tell the quality of someone's life.
- 11:00through the quality of their breath.
- 11:03And so I went back to that.
- 11:06I went back to that basic foundational.
- 11:11And as I reconnected into that, it reconnected me to the opening of my heart, which then, you know, opened me up for all of these, the direction in which I am now have moved this set me on my path.
- 11:26And you had said earlier that the, you were out of alignment with your heart leading up to the health crisis.
- 11:34And now, you know, from your story, correct me if I'm wrong, you know, taking that yoga class got you on that pathway to becoming more in alignment and yes, with leading with your heart then and allowed you to build a business around that.
- 11:52Yeah, that was 20, 20 plus years ago.
- 11:55I don't want to give my age away.
- 11:58But it was something I had forgotten because I was at war with myself, you know, so I, in what I do now, I do really heavily lay on the early teachings of what I learned through yoga and and through energy work through through Reiki itself and I And it applies in all directions.
- 12:17It's not just in your personal life in which this applies, right?
- 12:21When, when you are in alignment, then when you move into, into your business, you start bringing in people that also aligned with you.
- 12:32And and there was an idea that sometimes that because you're in a line that you're, if you're someone who's coming from the heart in your business environment, that everything else will naturally fall into place.
- 12:44And this isn't.
- 12:46necessarily true.
- 12:47Because some things can be out of alignment.
- 12:49And an example of that is, I was working with a gentleman who really struggling in, in all areas of his, of his life, personal life, business, and, and just an amazing, inspiring person, right?
- 13:04Very, very openhearted, has a lot to give, lots of love, lots of love.
- 13:09And how they brought that into the world.
- 13:11He became a restauranteer, opened up a place because he, that's how he loved people.
- 13:16Let me feed you, you know, man, demand.
- 13:19I got to feed you.
- 13:20I love you.
- 13:21Eat, eat, eat.
- 13:22And that was his, his way of expressing that through his business.
- 13:27Now, I would say that that's a very heart led, aligned business.
- 13:33That owner wasn't able to succeed because, or he wasn't succeeding.
- 13:40And partly that was due to being out of balance with that heart, right?
- 13:46He was giving, giving, giving, and it wasn't coming back.
- 13:53So this was depleted.
- 13:56And so when he didn't have it within himself to give more, because his cup wasn't being filled, it wasn't due to the lack of the heart.
- 14:06In his business, it was that it was out of balance for him and that was bleeding into personal life and in other areas.
- 14:15And the business was, was feeling that because it was dependent on him in order to thrive.
- 14:22And when he didn't have it to give, the business started to become ill.
- 14:26It started to shift into chronic patterns of behavior.
- 14:30Within the employees and the structure itself, where it was beginning to collapse upon itself, when that business owner started to become imbalanced with his center, with his values, then it opened him up to be able to see, well, what am I missing here?
- 14:49What am I seeing that I'm not seeing?
- 14:52One of the things that I love that I get a choice to do now is I get to choose to work with people who inspire me.
- 14:59And because I work with clients that, you know, most people from the outside would go, Oh, how is that inspiring?
- 15:05You know, I'm working with people who are like in turmoil and stress.
- 15:10There are a lot of people who are in those spaces, but, and at the same time there are elements and qualities to people that I'm able to be open to that inspire me.
- 15:27And so when this owner was able to rebalance themselves in that space of love to then start to receive as much as they were giving it.
- 15:39Open them up to, to seeing opportunities in the business and in the people that worked for them.
- 15:49And then when I asked that question, who inspires you in your business?
- 15:56Well, it, what do you mean?
- 15:58Who inspires me?
- 15:58I inspire everybody, right?
- 16:01Like I'm this disorder.
- 16:02It's up to me to inspire.
- 16:04And yet as they sat with that question, it allowed them to open up and go, you know, the cook in the back.
- 16:12That guy who's providing for family, not just here, but in, you know, in another country or who does this and does something else and they always show up with a smile on their face.
- 16:25That inspires me.
- 16:27That's somebody to have in your environment.
- 16:30It's an alignment that person comes in and they do what they do and, and they inspire you at the same time.
- 16:37It doesn't have to be like, you know, oh, they've, they have a hundred businesses and they're doing, that's inspiring.
- 16:43It doesn't have to be that big.
- 16:45And it creates that balance as well.
- 16:47You were talking about he was always giving, giving, giving and not open to that receipt as well.
- 16:55And that caused the business to get out of balance as well.
- 16:59And perfect to your point that the business is the extension of the business owner.
- 17:05Like you said at the top of the show.
- 17:08So going to your business now what surprises have you had either pleasant surprises or not so pleasant surprises that came up because you were leading with your heart, being in alignment with your values and, you know, in balance as well.
- 17:26So what's come up for you?
- 17:27One of the challenges that came up for me was with my misalignment with money.
- 17:33So many.
- 17:38Yes.
- 17:39All right, so that, that was a tough one for me.
- 17:42That was a tough one for me.
- 17:44And as I went back into history, I was like, wow, that's always been a challenge for me, which is why I liked working for other people.
- 17:51You don't have to ask for money, right?
- 17:53That's right.
- 17:54I could just let them deal with it.
- 17:56And I'm like, happy to show up to work.
- 17:59When I started working for myself, and generating my own business that, that came up, it was like glaring in my face.
- 18:07How much do you charge?
- 18:12And I was like, I don't know, because the me, me in here, right, would love to just work with everybody because there's, it's, there's such a need.
- 18:22Let me change that word.
- 18:24It's not that there's such a need, but there are so many gaps within people.
- 18:30That could really use, you know, some filling.
- 18:35Well, it's to that point too, about not being able to ask for money.
- 18:40And everybody I talk to that's a heart led business owner, that's like the number one thing.
- 18:44Yeah.
- 18:45That's part of that receiving to create that balance of the heart, because you're always giving, giving, giving, you need to be able to receive just like what you're talking about with the restaurant owner.
- 18:56If you're not receiving that you're out of balance and the business is going to suffer.
- 19:01Totally makes sense.
- 19:01It's a beautiful analogy.
- 19:04I did learn that when you do just give things away, that it often isn't appreciated.
- 19:11And so I, I did, I, I gave myself away into poverty and there wasn't a reciprocal appreciation for what that meant.
- 19:23For me, my children are my teachers.
- 19:28They are my teachers in life.
- 19:29If not for them, then I would not be on this path.
- 19:35Being an example for them, and I, I often do that's one of the ways I align myself is what is it for my children that I am here to guide them into, right?
- 19:48What they choose to do with their life is their own, but how am I guiding them into that?
- 19:52What do they take with them when, when they leave the nest, which is like right around the corner.
- 20:01And, and one of them is, you know, children and people, we often don't learn by what we're told.
- 20:09We learn by what we're told.
- 20:11By example.
- 20:13And that's the same for a business owner, right?
- 20:15When we, when someone steps in and they're like, I'm going to tell everybody what to do and you need to be this way.
- 20:21And you need to be right.
- 20:22And people go, okay, that's part of my job, but they also feel that whatever you're putting out.
- 20:28Right.
- 20:29And they take that with them and children are very much like that.
- 20:33And they're little mirrors because when you're angry with your child, take a moment and reflect upon yourself.
- 20:38Yeah.
- 20:40Right?
- 20:40Like, Ooh, what did they just mirror back to me?
- 20:43Like what in here might need some adjustment?
- 20:50And so that's where I check myself, right?
- 20:54That against them.
- 20:56And I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought on that one.
- 20:58It was perfect.
- 21:00Cause we're talking about the give and receive the balance and kind of the money issues as well that, who's your teachers as well.
- 21:09That's right.
- 21:09Yeah.
- 21:10My children did teach me that it is part of the process and the value of valuing yourself.
- 21:16That helps to guide us forward and that includes reciprocal appreciation through payment.
- 21:22Another guest was saying that it was the exchange of energy, which is the exchange of money.
- 21:30And if, if you don't have that, Then there isn't, you know, more of like a contractor.
- 21:35There isn't that, you know, skin in the game, so to speak, in terms of, you know I'm going to do what you tell me to do and I'm going to get the result because I'm paying for it versus I'm getting it for free.
- 21:46Like, yeah, maybe I'll do it.
- 21:48Maybe I don't.
- 21:49Yeah.
- 21:49I'm sure you've had clients too that have paid you lots of money and haven't done what they're supposed to do either.
- 21:58I'm in the unique situation in which when someone isn't doing what they have agreed to, then that is the opportunity to dive deep, to go into, okay, so what is that?
- 22:12What's that about?
- 22:13And it's really interesting how, what comes up for people.
- 22:18One of the things that I found that came up for me and if we flip it into alignment of values and beliefs, with business, like if you let's just say that you value integrity and, because values and belief can be in the same space, even if they're not in alignment.
- 22:36And then the belief underneath that might be people who have money are greedy.
- 22:41If they sit in the same space, they're at war with each other.
- 22:44They're in conflict.
- 22:45And, and that's what I discover with, with most people is when they aren't moving forward, they're in conflict somewhere.
- 22:52They're not in alignment in whichever direction that is.
- 22:55And those are moments of for you, as opposed to, to you.
- 23:01And it's just whether or not that person is ready to step into that, to walk into it and explore it.
- 23:10And I'm sure you as their guide are able to pull that nicely out of them with all the different work that you do.
- 23:19Sometimes it's very elegant and sometimes it's a little bit of kicking and screaming, but if they're willing, if they're willing.
- 23:29Sometimes we come to the conclusion so when I started, I started very much in the health and wellness space and you can educate.
- 23:38And I eventually came to the conclusion that education is not, not what prevents people from moving forward in life, right?
- 23:45It's, it's the values and the beliefs and being out of alignment as it was for myself.
- 23:50And sometimes what we find, we meaning myself and the client, is that they dont't want to get better.
- 24:00And, and sometimes that's a relief.
- 24:02Sometimes it's a moment of, okay, I, maybe I don't, maybe I can let go of fighting so hard at this, that, and the other thing, because I'm not really ready to get better.
- 24:15And we call that benefits, you know, there's benefits sometimes to not being well and those benefits are comforting and soothing to them at the moment.
- 24:25What that might mean is that person, when they are ready to resource them so that they have the ability to step into or walk into whatever that tender spot is for them.
- 24:39But not everybody's at that place, and that's okay.
- 24:44That's okay.
- 24:44It's a journey, right?
- 24:46Yeah.
- 24:46Awesome.
- 24:47Well, there's some great, great conversation.
- 24:50It just took some notes here as well.
- 24:52And, and we'll put those into the show notes.
- 24:55How can people find out more about you, what you do and get some of that alignment and tough love that you can get.
- 25:05Yes, you can find me at UQI and that's U Q I dot life.
- 25:10UQI, is a, and it's personal meaning for me.
- 25:15I'm half Korean, so it's got that little bit of a Korean spin on it.
- 25:19Very much a, a Western and Eastern blend, as that was my experience growing up being Irish and Korean.
- 25:29So those worlds kind of coming together and Qi, Qi is energy.
- 25:37Nice.
- 25:38So we'll put that link in the show notes and I think you have a special offer for the listeners as well.
- 25:45Is that correct?
- 25:46Yes.
- 25:47Yeah.
- 25:47So when you go in I don't have the ability to apply coupon codes or things like that because it's not consistent throughout the website.
- 25:55But what you can do is reach out for a consultation or just a a quick meet and greet to see if our energies can co mingle with each other and, put in your, your code, HLB 20 something.
- 26:11Yes.
- 26:12Yeah.
- 26:12Heart led business 20 and then I'll apply that to whatever we decide to do moving forward.
- 26:17Well, that's so generous.
- 26:18Thank you.
- 26:19I'm sure the listeners will appreciate that and getting into alignment, leading with the heart as well.
- 26:27Madison, thank you so much for being on the show today.
- 26:30It was great, great conversation.
- 26:32I really appreciate you and wish you all the best as you lead with your heart going forward.
- 26:38Thank you, Tom, for, for being here and allowing this platform.
- 26:42To be where we can all come together.
- 26:44People are curious about leading a heart led business.
- 26:48Like what's that all about?
- 26:49You know, and until you really feel that in here, it's, it's a little bit of a mystery for most people.
- 26:57Absolutely.
- 26:58Cool.
- 26:59Awesome.
- 26:59And just a reminder to the viewers and or listeners if you could just give us a good rating and review that helps spread the word and get more people to learn more about being a heart led business owner and the trials and tribulations and the successes that come from that and the personal jet And the personal gratification that comes from being a heart led business owner.
- 27:23And until next time, have a great day and lead with your heart.
- 27:28You've been listening to the Heart Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs.
- 27:33Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.