Latest / The Unfiltered Tea with Evie / This Mother Means Business Recap with Kelsey Reidl
Transcript
- Evie Tavares: Welcome to the Unfiltered Tea with Evie podcast where personal brands and service providers come for honest, anti-sleeves marketing advice that actually works. I'm Evie Tavares, founder of Evie Tavares Branding. And if you're tired of manipulative tactics, sleazy marketing strategies, and feeling like you're the only one who doesn't have your business altogether, you're in the right place. On this podcast, we're diving into a copywriting, personal branding strategy, business mindset, I want to take a quick moment just to thank you so much for joining me in this space just to encourage you that if there was anything that kind of sparked something for you or you felt like somebody that you know maybe needed to hear, please feel free to share the episode. ⁓ And you are excited to hear more, go ahead and subscribe and listen to more of the episodes. Welcome back, this is Evie and I'm here with Kelsey and you're actually listening to two shows today at once. You have two hosts coming in for a little debrief on an event that we were both at yesterday. So I will welcome you to the Unfiltered Tea with Evie and Kelsey, Kelsey Reidl: Yes. Yeah, welcome to Rain or Shine. And this is kind of a fun opportunity where we both get to just like sit down, talk about what's on our mind from the event yesterday. And I don't know about you, but personally, these are the podcasts I love listening to the most where it's just like truly sit back, relax and listen to two friends having a conversation about business. Evie Tavares: and balancing business with kids and real life. I'll be bringing in some epic guests, including business experts share their insights and real experiences in life and business. You can expect real life stories, tactical tips, ⁓ and the spicy EV moment, all served up with your morning cup of tea. So grab your tea, get cozy, and let's get into it. I'm so excited that you're here and I can't wait to continue this journey with you. Yes, exactly. I have my cup of tea ready. I know you don't drink tea, so. Kelsey Reidl: I don't, I have a green juice but I just realized it's empty and I got really sad. Evie Tavares: let's dive in right into it. So yesterday we were at the This Mother Means Business event at the Pearl in Burlington. It was hosted by Laura Sinclair. I've known Laura basically since I started my business. I've done like mentorship with her, part of like her online community and everything. So it was really cool to go to the event. ⁓ And you I were talking about because we've been to like the High Five Women events. you host your own events. And I think what's really cool is like a lot of the people that were there are like people who have been to these other events. So it's a lot of the similar audience, but each one has its own differentiator and like each one has its own vibe. And like, if you asked me to pick one, I don't think I could because there you get something different out of each one, which is so cool. Kelsey Reidl: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was so cool walking into that room and like not only did I know you but then like, you know, we've built up so many connections over the years at these different events. So it almost feels like a bit of a reunion of sorts. But then you also know that each event host, each event kind of brings its own unique set of people too that you're like. how have I never met this amazing human being who is maybe doing similar work or I've been looking for somebody to collaborate with or this is a product I would love to use and now I'm meeting a founder of this type of brand. it's always really inspiring. I love the balance of seeing the familiar faces and then also being exposed to so many new people. I honestly think that's the joy of going to events is starting to build up that family feel, but always at every stage of business, expand your network. know, never feel like you're not meeting new people, planting new seeds, making new connections, because I really genuinely believe that when we feel stagnant in business, ⁓ whether your like your revenue is stagnant. or maybe your social media growth is stagnant your event sales are stagnant, it's probably a result of not meeting enough new people, right? Like I think that's the diagnosis and the solution or the prescription that the doctor would give is like, go shake hands or hug a bunch of awesome women. And I think that's what these events afford you to do. Evie Tavares: Yeah, and I liked the networking part where like they literally said, don't go network with your friends, go find new people. And I was like, yes, like Kelsey Reidl: And I went straight over and talked to Christina Bartold, who I know already. Did not follow that. But then I met some really cool, like I met the founder of a bathing suit swimwear brand. I was like, very cool. I'm looking for swimwear for the summer. So we exchanged information right away. She's like, you can come try it on at my house. I was like, okay. Cool connections like that, right? Evie Tavares: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Sweet. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. As far as like once we got into speakers and everything, because there was keynote speakers, there was a couple of panels, there was like some experiential things. Did you have like a ⁓ few favorite points out of the speakers? Kelsey Reidl: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'll start by sharing one of my like big takeaways and then maybe I'll pass it back to you to hear one of yours and we can just like What do you call that pinball? ⁓ It's funny I was actually just writing a LinkedIn post about this this morning because I was reflecting on my favorite part of yesterday's event and honestly I would say it was a 10 out of 10 event for me Evie Tavares: Thank Kelsey Reidl: just had a really, and you and I chatted about this on the drive home, like a very grounded, down to earth feeling, but still elevated, a beautiful day out that felt nourishing to take it away from my laptop. And I know, just get in really good energy. But when really think about one of my favorite parts of the day, it was the panel discussions. so often I think we go to events really craving the speakers, right? Like they got speakers. And ⁓ often have this vision of like a speaker kind of like talking down at the audience. Cause you know, they're coming in as an expert and I love talks like that. But then there's also like panel discussions that she weaved in yesterday and it was more like cozy on a couch. There's three women they're being asked really, I would say down to earth, genuine questions. And I think that. One of my takeaways was actually when Laura asked the first three panelists about their typical day in the life, which sounds so boring. Like, okay, we all hear this. Like, tell me about your morning routine or your day. But I just, like, I found it so relatable to hear other women, especially these three women on stage, very successful women, just kind of walking us through what a typical day looks like. Because I think that we think at Evie Tavares: in the next. Kelsey Reidl: these big levels of success. It's like, there's gonna be some crazy ritual or crazy habit. But some of the things they said were like, taking every Friday for myself. And I was like, yes, okay, like I love that. Like that's a ritual I really wanna maintain myself too. taking a five kilometer walk with my husband at 9.30 a.m. and talking. And I was like, ⁓ my gosh, like yes, what a luxury to be able to do that. as a successful business owner because that means you have space in the morning and you don't have to wait till 9 p.m. to have these conversations. And really just like a lot of them reflecting back on choosing your priorities ⁓ you have that ability as an entrepreneur. So one of the panelists was talking about every month or every year, ⁓ they ask themselves, what are our family values this month? It's like, are we valuing healthy home cooked meals. her answer was ⁓ we want to eat healthy, but takeout is going to be kind of the norm because we're valuing peace in the home and we're busy with other things. And peace does not look like cooking a seven ingredient meal that takes, you know, three hours a night. And so they such simple reminders ⁓ of ability craft our own ⁓ routines. and to really lean into what we want out of every season of life that that changes ⁓ year. But just think it really speaks to the freedom that entrepreneurship allows. ⁓ So that was one of my favorite was just like being a fly on the wall in those conversations. Evie Tavares: Yeah, yeah, I love that one too. And like you said, like it seems like such a simple question to ask, but everybody had like a different answer and there was tons of value in everybody's answers. I really liked her point too. I think she said something else in that one. I had a lot of notes here. ⁓ Kelsey Reidl: Yeah, I was gonna say, you need to share your notes on that session with me, because I was writing furiously and I didn't even get to them all. Evie Tavares: Yeah. Yeah, I think, think especially with the priorities, like, Dan and I have gone through seasons like that, where like he cooks mostly for us, I'm a terrible cook, maybe on purpose, I don't know, who knows. But like, it'll just be a really busy season. And I'll be like, Okay, do you want to order factor meals for this week? Like, just little things like that, that kind of take that extra cognitive load off for the day. If you know it's a busy season, like it's okay to just outsource some things in that way. It doesn't have to be fancy. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah, and that's actually a really good point, because I think the whole point of the conference yesterday being called this mother means business was to realize mother and business owner combo. We put major expectations. We sometimes just take on a lot of like, have to cook, have to do the laundry, I have to shop, I have to buy the kids new shoes, I have to da da, and run my six, seven, eight, nine, 20 figure business. And it's like, think we need to know what season we're in and be okay with like. delegation and offloading. Evie Tavares: Yeah, exactly. I was just thinking of that kind of ties in nicely, I thought to the first keynote speaker, ⁓ Tracy, who a family psychiatrist, I believe. I didn't her exact bio there, ⁓ but her speech was around like shame and like as mothers, we give ourselves a lot of shame and like, that it's not even something from, she gave an example that like it's not something necessarily that's ingrained in us as children. It's just like something that kind of happens as humans. And especially when we're like building businesses and we want to build in the dark because we maybe feel little shame around what we're doing, like not getting approval of other people's approval or validation that we need. And was one point that she put that we're so, as mothers, we're so busy monitoring others and reading others. emotions and like focusing on other people that when we have our businesses where we have to focus on ourselves and put ourselves into the light is incredibly vulnerable to do that because it's not what we're used to as moms. she said, somebody asked her like, how do you work through that? How did you work through the shame? How did you get over it? And she's like, well, there's not like a magic be all and end all way to get over it. It's just doing the thing, like even if you feel shame around it, like do the thing, take the steps, it's going to feel uncomfortable, you're going to have anxiety around it, but just putting yourself out there more and more and it'll get easier and easier. And building your business in the light so that people can see the behind the scenes, people can see your passion behind it, like it doesn't have to be something that you have to hide from. Kelsey Reidl: That's such a good takeaway, because yeah, I think the very nature of how maybe we saw motherhood, especially growing up with moms and grandmas, was like, you don't put yourself first. ⁓ you start a business, it's like, well, I have to go first. ⁓ I have to put myself kind of in that place of visibility, which I think goes against almost like our nurture ⁓ No, no, make sure everyone else is tended to not I need an hour for my business to show up on social media or to record this podcast. So it's almost like going against our DNA. But I love that she kind of gave us permission and she just shared like her personal stories of having to wrestle through that. But then coming out the other side, she's impacting, I don't know, millions of people right now. Evie Tavares: I think she had one line, somebody said, how do you do all the things? And she said, you don't. ⁓ Done. drop. ⁓ Like don't have to do all the things on your own. Like if you have like a partner, like you can rely on them or ⁓ family, like whatever, you don't have to do it all by yourself or you don't have to do, there's some things you can just delete, like that don't have to be done. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah, so sim. Conference over. you don't Evie Tavares: and just taking that off your plate a little bit. Kelsey Reidl: And at no time did that become more apparent to me than, cause I had my son about two years ago. I, I used to be the person that's like, have to do all my grocery shopping and pick my own apples. Realizing though that that takes two hours a week ⁓ minimum. I just remember becoming a mom and being like, ⁓ my gosh, my time is so stretched now that I'm running a business and doing all these other things. And it was like, oh yeah, I actually don't have to pick the apples off of the shelf. Like you can pay no frills $1 to do that for you. $1. But yet I had shame around doing that because the story was grocery shopping is the thing that I do and I love it and I want to be in control of it. So yeah, it's incredible. And I'm sure I could run you through that story of a million other things that I still have attachment to. Yeah. I also had to take away from Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kelsey Reidl: Dr. Tracy, she was talking about just like the stories we tell ourselves, so similar to I have to do the grocery shopping, I have to do this. But when she asked us to all write down kind of our story, what I wrote down was I don't have enough time or space to dream and be creative on behalf of my business. And so that was kind of what I wrote down. I was like, I don't have time to be creative right now. Evie Tavares: Yes. Kelsey Reidl: It's just the season I'm in. And I've said that out loud a million times and as a result, I don't feel creative. But then she asked us like to write this next prompt ⁓ well, what does that mean about me? Or what does that actually mean? And I kind of wrote down that, okay, so ideas can't drop in ⁓ when don't have time or when you're not creative. So I kind of had this moment where I realized I'm telling myself a story that I'm not in a season where I can be creative. Therefore, ideas don't drop in. in head, it's like, it will be years before I have enough white space in my calendar to be creative. So I think just like my reflection point from that was just how can I rewrite that story and instead make ⁓ for Like maybe I don't have free time in my calendar, but what about while I'm sipping coffee? ⁓ playing blocks with Freddie, my two-year-old. Like, how can I rewrite the narrative so that it's not a story of this is not the season for this, but it's just gonna weave in in new ways? Because I think right now I've just shut off the ability. So yeah, I was really appreciative that she asked us all to tap into what stories do you tell yourself that are not true? Because at first I was like, I don't know, I can't think of anything. And then I was like, I got lots. ⁓ Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Bye. Kelsey Reidl: And it's funny how the stories we tell ourselves truly hold us back, like literally block us from finding ways that these things can still happen, but in this new timeline that we live in. Evie Tavares: Yeah, I love that. Yeah, didn't go as deep on my story. now I think ⁓ go back. Like ⁓ story was like deep, but like, I think I'm still processing that part, which I think is really cool when you can like take home the things that you learn ⁓ the things like maybe you're not going to like clue into that right in the moment of the keynote speaker being there, but like it's something you take home and you kind of ponder over and like figure it out, right? Kelsey Reidl: No Yes. Yeah, I honestly think that's the best part about events is like you're there, you're absorbing, but usually the aha epiphanies come when you take like five minutes to reflect on your notes from the event or have a conversation like you and I are having where it's like, yeah, that was really something I wanna bring forward with me and not just like leave it as a paper that I crumple up and like put in a file folder. Evie Tavares: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. There was a mic drop moment that I remembered too from the panel, the first panel. And it was from Anora West who is, gonna get this wrong, an accountant, I think, accounting firm. And she said, and this like was like one of those moments that just kind of hits you in the face and you're like, ⁓ shoot. And it was, love what I do, but I need to love me more. Do you remember? Kelsey Reidl: Ooh, yeah, what about that resonated with you? Evie Tavares: I for me, it's like I love what I do and what I do is like, ⁓ my business as a whole is such a big part of my identity, feel like, along with being a mom, like such a huge part of my identity, but allowing myself to still have an identity outside of both of those things. Like I'm like, ⁓ I really want to write for myself. Like I would love to just like, not just journaling, but like write something creative and like really... have fun with it and like just doing little things every day that are for me as me, not me as the business owner, me as the mom. This is for Evie as she is like walking the dog, like having, know, making sure bedtime routine is on point so I can have a good night's sleep and just like making sure that that's always a priority along with motherhood and business. Cause I feel like if you're not looking after yourself in that way, then you can't show up fully in those other areas. Kelsey Reidl: Can you read the quote again that she said? Evie Tavares: Yeah, I love what I do, but I need to love me more. Kelsey Reidl: isn't it crazy that we can actually allow just our business and other identities kind of creep in so deeply that we almost forget that we are the vessel that bring everything else to life. So if we don't take care of us, if I don't love me the most, then ⁓ am I possibly supposed to impact on greater levels or start more new companies or be with my kids in ways I can't even imagine? It's like, ⁓ my God, that won't even happen if I don't put myself as number one priority. So now I'm gonna quiz you actually. So what are you gonna do in the next seven days to like show yourself that you are the priority? What's one thing that you probably need to change modify to put yourself in that position of I'm first? Evie Tavares: Yeah. think like giving myself the opportunity to sit down and do something creative. Like, you know, I don't know if you feel the same way sometimes when you when you're like in a creative zone and like you don't, like you said, you don't have time to create. And it's just like, you're kind of like bursting at the seams and like, I get a little grumpy if I'm like, if I can't fulfill that need to like be creative. It like ⁓ me. ⁓ I just feel like if I Kelsey Reidl: Mm-hmm. Evie Tavares: actually sat down for an hour of quiet and gave myself some space to like, I don't know, even like color or draw or play piano or write or, and not journaling writing, like writing writing and just letting that kind of flow outside of work. I think that would be a good goal to have. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah, yeah, I love that. And I see how hard that is. Because I think I've had the same ambitions of like, schedule the creative time for me and my hobbies and yeah, to draw, to color. But somehow it's always the first thing to get pushed off the list. if you find any tips, report back because it's challenging. Evie Tavares: Yeah, think because it doesn't feel like it should be a priority, but then it impacts you and you're like, oh yeah, we got to do something about that. Kelsey Reidl: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yep. Okay, I'm gonna go to, well, kind of alluded to the fact how much I loved the panel discussions. ⁓ I'll to the afternoon panel, which ⁓ was ⁓ one Julie Cole was on. I loved that panel. I think there was so many great takeaways. ⁓ There was business development manager of the printing house. Evie Tavares: Okay. Mm-hmm. Kelsey Reidl: And she shared this beautiful backstory of growing up in a war-torn country and then moving to a brand new community in London, England, and then being uprooted again as a child and moving to Toronto. ⁓ being taken out of your place of comfort and plopped into a new area really you ⁓ to... understand community building and relationship building almost out of a basic human need. And so that Rita that was talking about that? Yeah, Rita. So from the printing house, Canada. She just me. just first of all, that story, I was kind of like, wow, I've never been through that before. So can't relate. But it almost made me realize that like our struggles become ⁓ our strengths. Evie Tavares: Yes. Kelsey Reidl: Here is this woman who has gone through a lot of adversity as a single mama, now has a beautiful career. Her strength in being a business development manager and literally like doing the best for her clients and showing up and smiling and getting people the right product and making sure their needs are met at whatever printing house they're going to, that is literally a result of her challenges as a child needing to build community. build relationships, build friendships and new spots. And so I think it's just a good reminder that anything hard we've gone through in our life or anything that we deem as like, you know, that was not an ideal season of life, there be something you can kind of turn into your superpower or it's asking yourself. what did I learn from that season or what did that hard season teach me? And I just thought she was an incredible example of that. And just had like such a genuine heart for ⁓ despite setbacks as a kid and as adult because she had gone through so much. So yeah, so would say a big lesson there is our struggles become our strength and it's always possible to rebuild, I think was another through line of her story. ⁓ even if you have to start over at 30 years old, 40 years old, your business fails, you have to start another one, well, rebuild from scratch because people have to do it, we get to do it. So just thought she was incredible. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. And I loved that panel because was the three speakers. There was Julie Cole from Mabel's Labels, Christina, was an advisor from CIBC, who was the title sponsor, and then Rita from the printing house. And especially with Rita and Christina, those are two people you wouldn't necessarily always hear from at these And seeing their side of things and their perspectives on things. kind of like you could say from the outside looking in on business owners and how they can support business owners was really cool. I thought with Christina as well, she touched on some of the initiatives that CIBC is doing because saw this gap in like women in business ⁓ and working with banks, they wanted to bridge that gap because I don't know, even with like banking, I used to work in a bank, but. I don't think about going to the bank for help with my money and my business. It's just not something I think of. so just seeing what opportunities and what support was there was really cool. think they have something called the Women's Hub or Women's Hub for CIBC for women in business. And yeah, just that I just think it's cool from a brand perspective as well that they're working hard to bridge that gap. ⁓ They're not expecting us to just come to them. They're coming to us as women in business. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah, I actually think we need, we almost need like more banks to step up and speak at these types of events. because I'm like a super fan of banks, but because we all put our money through them. ⁓ when we need a mortgage, when we need a small business loan, and it seems like most of the room was either intimidated, didn't understand what the bank could do for us, confused like what their Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Kelsey Reidl: processes are, how they make decisions of who to loan money to, who not to. So the fact that we all use banks, but none of us really understand the full capabilities of how we can leverage the bank in our favor is like a real problem, I think. Evie Tavares: Yeah. And I think some people were, I don't know, I some people kind of view banks the same way they might view lawyers, like a little bit intimidating and like not sure how to approach them. So I think doing stuff like this just puts faces to the names, kind of makes it easier for you to feel like you can approach somebody about it. Kelsey Reidl: Definitely. Julie Cole on that panel said something I love. She said, the longer you're on a train in the wrong direction, the more expensive it is to get back. ⁓ And I just think that's such a potent reminder that sometimes we have these gut feelings in business. And like it could literally be something big like I've started this business, ⁓ it's going well. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Kelsey Reidl: I know this is not for me, but you keep saying yes to opportunities and then five years down the line, you're like, I shouldn't have stayed with it all this time, like I missed out on life. sometimes we make little decisions. So even, I was just reflecting on a lot of the client work that I do, a lot of my clients will feel really indebted to a certain social media platform and they'll just be like, well, I've been on this platform posting for... ⁓ seven years and I post Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7 a.m. and they have these like really rigid schedules and sometimes when we look at the return on investment we're like ⁓ there's nothing there and just reminded like sometimes the longer you stay on that train it's like well you could have been doing something else with that time but now you have to like come back to baseline be like what am I gonna do what's the better visibility strategy here and I think like overall it sometimes just alludes to the fear of, what is it called, like, sunken, is called sunken ship fallacy? ⁓ No. some term, sunken cost fallacy, I think, is what it is in psychology. And it's like, once we sink a cost into whether it's Instagram or starting a business or ⁓ committing a virtual assistant. Evie Tavares: Yeah. Kelsey Reidl: because of sunk cost fallacy, we're like, well, I spent the money so I should just stick to it. But I think Julie gave us all permission. it's not right, it's okay to just get off the train, get back to the station, ⁓ make a new decision based on the information that you've now acquired. So I love it. She's such a bold speaker and just tells it like it is. So when she said that, I was like, that's a good reminder, because I think we often stick with things that we shouldn't. Evie Tavares: Yeah, and to your point with the social media, she also touched on going where your people are. Like she started her business 25 years ago. So she started in like mom blogs and that's where they got a lot of their traction was working with the mom bloggers and then Facebook came out and all the moms moved to Facebook. So then they moved to Facebook and then Instagram came out and all the moms moved like they're moving where their audience is online. Kelsey Reidl: Yep. Evie Tavares: So I think some people like you said, post on Instagram, but like don't have a ton of traction on there, but like where is your audience actually hanging out when they're online and getting to know your audience on that deeper level so that you can actually put in the effort and get results. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah, yeah, I love hearing from someone like her who's been in business multiple decades, because she'll kind of just throw it at you and be like, you know what, were different 25 years ago, let me tell you about it. So yeah, that was awesome. Evie Tavares: Yeah, she even said, because they started in her basement or something, I think. And she said, if 25 years later, I was still just sitting in the basement making labels, then I probably should have quit. So like, it's okay to quit if it's not working, right? Like, if she was still doing that, then there would have been no point. But obviously, it worked and turned out really well for her. Kelsey Reidl: That's true. Yep. Yeah, and even like to go to that story too of if I was still sitting in the basement, it reminded me the importance of hiring at every level, right? Because I think a lot of us, we get stuck in doing the thing, doing the thing, doing the thing. as soon as she said, if I was still in my basement making labels, I was like, yeah, right. Like you always have to be stepping into that next level if you want to grow. But I think so many of us as service providers were just like so caught in the weeds of doing our things. So great reminder to not stick yourself there for 30 years. Evie Tavares: put somebody else in the basement for a little while. Kelsey Reidl: Exactly. Yeah. We don't want to be in a basement forever. That's the lesson. about you? What else was one takeaway from the day? Evie Tavares: Yes. ⁓ I'm just looking here. I think the last keynote, which was around AI, but not in the way that you would think. think she had something like AI will not replace the woman with vision. So not necessarily like using AI to replace any of that, but using it like for systems. And like, I've been digging in a lot into that, into like building a personal assistant, a business assistant. You can like hook it up to your calendar now. and I've got it hooked up to my project management so I can be like, okay, this is what I have going on. Can you like outline the different tasks for this project and then put it into my Asana for project management? It can do all of that now. So even the cognitive load of just being able to go to one spot and be like, I'll even have it sometimes if it's a busy day, I'll be like, look at my calendar, tell me what's on my calendar. These are the tasks that I want to get done today. Help me outline. what a good schedule would be for today. And like, I want to take a break for lunch, I want to take a break to walk the dog, like help me figure it out. it put like, what it thought was the most, the biggest task or like the most, what's the I'm thinking of, the most like heavy task, first thing in the morning. And it's like, ⁓ and I like, okay, yeah, like that's good. Because normally I'd be like, I want to do all the little admin things. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah. Yep. Love that. Evie Tavares: first and then before I get into the big stuff so I'm not thinking about it. But it's like for me, think doing the bigger stuff first just kind of pays off. just never do it. using it for stuff like that and to like kind of take that decision making off and figure out your day has been really helpful. Kelsey Reidl: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think her talk for me like really reiterated the fact that us moms and business owners, we can rely on AI to, like you said, reduce that mental load. So whether it's leaning into it right now to simplify your business leaning in, like you said, as a personal assistant to take the mental load off meal planning, to take the mental load off of carpool schedules, to take the mental load off of, I don't know, like how you're gonna shop for your Easter baskets for your kids. It's like, we carry ⁓ so both in business and motherhood and in life that AI can actually really take that away and it's almost silly not to use it like if you're still sitting there writing out unless you love it if you're still sitting there writing out a meal plan and kind of going ⁓ I don't know what to make on Thursday or you're looking at your fridge for an hour going I don't know we just have broccoli and frozen this and you know fresh that that is so much mental load And if you love doing that, I think it's one thing, but if you're feeling any sort of burden doing that, Johanna kind of gave us this permission to ⁓ unload of that to AI. Stop doing repetitive tasks that are stealing your thunder, your creative energy. So maybe I need to take this advice. ⁓ Like, don't not unload ⁓ those AI, because this is the time to be training it. And I think that there's this fear right now. Evie Tavares: it. Kelsey Reidl: that if we didn't kind of get in in the last few years, we're kind of behind already, or we're not going to be able to catch up. But she said something the lines of, the people who win at AI didn't start first. They started smart. So I think anyone who even starts offloading tasks today, you can start in such a smart way of just like, here's what we typically do for meal planning. Here's the proteins we always have in the fridge. Evie Tavares: you Yes. Kelsey Reidl: Can you help me find a starting point to reduce the mental load of meal planning and lunch packing for my family of four? To me, that's starting smart. It's giving it great information, telling it where you're at. it's not about being an early adopter. It's just about stepping in and starting to explore how these tools can just free up your bandwidth to be able to focus on ⁓ other important things in life. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Because I think something she said is if it only lives in your head, it's already costing you. So some of these systems and like processes that we do, like whether it's personal life or business life, if it's only living in your head, think of the cognitive load of like carrying that and remembering that all the time. If you just like had it automated or like documented or whatever and have it in Kelsey Reidl: I didn't hear that, but I love that. Yeah. Evie Tavares: then it can take that cognitive load off. Kelsey Reidl: Hmm, that's so powerful. Yeah, cuz there's so many things that I think we get frustrated at our partners or at ourselves because we're like I just have to manage and know all of this like I think that's what she's trying to reiterate is like don't just leave it in your head like get a process behind it get a system If you know you have to buy Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Kelsey Reidl: I don't know, toilet paper every six weeks or dog food. Okay, that's the one that stresses me out. It's like every six or seven weeks we're out of food for our dog. And it always feels like a burden to go to the store and get it. And I'm like, why have I not something to automate this at this point? Or even send my husband a reminder, because he goes right by the pet store on the way home, ⁓ it in his calendar. So yeah. Evie Tavares: Thanks. Yeah, whatever we can do to make our days easier. That was kind of the vibe I got from yesterday is like these are the things that other moms in business are doing to make their days easier, to make their business more like long-term sustainable so that we're not burning out trying to do all of the things but just doing little things every day to make it a little bit easier on ourselves both mentally and like very practically as well. Kelsey Reidl: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, that was a big takeaway for me too. And honestly, I think there could be like a whole panel or event around that. Like what tools are you using to make life easier? And even if we each just grab three of those tools, that's kind of life changing, right? Because you're buying back your time and your energy and you're able to make more money then. So yeah. Evie Tavares: Did you have any other? I think that's all my points that I wrote down. I took feverish notes, but. Kelsey Reidl: No, that's all my points too. I think the only other thing I wrote down was a list of people I need to follow up with, because I feel like at an event you just meet so many people and you're like, ⁓ I want to send them a message or just like get to know them better by creeping their Instagram and, you know, sending them a note. So that's my last takeaway is just make sure you follow up with a few key people that you met or that you saw and didn't get to talk to and kind of keeping that event momentum going. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I like to do that too. And just like keeping it simple, like, I'm going to share this just for like other people. But when I used to like go to events and I would follow up with like ⁓ like, all I wasn't trying to pitch them, but I would say, great to connect with you can't wait to support, looking forward to supporting you. ⁓ And they would like, ⁓ I'm not looking for a copywriter right now. And I was like, ⁓ that's the support I meant, but okay. So now I'm like, I'm like, you think I was pitching them? But just doing it like a genuine way and just like, I'm excited to follow you. And I say cheer you on versus support you just to like, you know, not blur the lines there. So yeah, just definitely following up and like, I think having those in person connections is one thing but then continuing to nurture them and grow that connection. Kelsey Reidl: Yeah. Evie Tavares: online, other events, that kind of thing is definitely important. Kelsey Reidl: So true. Yeah, and sometimes it's just about like asking yourself like who are the two to three people that I really felt like I vibed with yesterday or that I connected with and because right now my list of people to follow up with looks overwhelming but really when I look at it I'm like there's two or three that are jumping out at me of like yeah this feels like it might be a relationship that's gonna go somewhere and so yeah I think if the follow-up overwhelms you like it does me just you know kind of check in with where those people that you just felt something different with. Evie Tavares: a good point. Perfect. ⁓ Kelsey Reidl: Well, this was fun, so much fun, and it was your idea. So kudos to you for getting us to schedule in this recap because I think it's a good, potent way to reflect on everything. Evie Tavares: Yeah, for sure. I really like this. I think I liked this better than just doing a solo recap because I like hearing other people's points. It kind of brings the day back. So yeah, thank you so much for doing this and we'll share it on both and we'll chat soon. Kelsey Reidl: Same. Yep. Amazing. was a blast and yeah, be sure to follow Evie if you don't already follow her and yeah, we had fun recording this.