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What Work-Life Integration Actually Looks Like When You're Building Something Big · Kind of a Big Deal

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, welcome to Kind of a Big Deal.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Kristen Belton.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been enjoying the show, please hit that follow button and consider leaving a review.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: It helps more awesome folks like you find us and truly means the world to me.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm sitting down with Cherie Hager, co-founder and CEO of SALT, a women's period care company on a mission to end global period poverty.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And one that hit eight figures in its second year while landing in every Target store.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Cherie has six kids, ages 4 to 19, a 90-minute morning routine she cards with her life.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And since launching less than 10 years ago, her company has donated over 160,000 products in 60 countries.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: What struck me when we first connected was how grounded she seemed for someone holding all of that.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: There was no frantic energy, no I'm barely surviving.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Just someone who had clearly done a lot of work to figure out how to actually live well while also building something really big.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about the phone call with a family member that sparked the whole idea.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: What work-life integration actually looks like in practice, the vital few frameworks she uses to shape her daily decisions, and why she thinks her to-do list should actually be a to-be list.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait for you to meet her here, Sheree.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Sheree.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, it's so lovely to be here.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy you're here.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: We recently connected and had, you know, a really great conversation about what it means to be a founder, a mom, all the things.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know that a lot of what you share is gonna resonate for folks.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you again for joining us.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have done all the things, so you can add to this or tell me where I may have aired.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: But here is just a general summary for the picture here of all that you've done.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: 15 years as a technical writer and textbook editor, freelance work, co-founder of SALT, which we'll get to hear more about back in 2016.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Salt hit eight figures in its second year, if that is correct, after launching in every Target store.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Six kids, ages 19 to 3, if that's still accurate.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you just launched your own podcast.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there's more to that laundry list, but I think honestly, what struck me when we connected is just how grounded and present you seem to be in that work and in conversation.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know that that's you know, always gets to be the truth for folks that are holding so many plates and spinning so many things.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't wait to hear all your secrets and for you to share some of your magic.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I think, I mean, before we even get into it, what did I miss from that list?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that I should be adding in there?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think you covered it well.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: My three-year-old is now four-year-old, and I have six children, five of them are daughters, and the youngest is a little son, and it is so fun.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: He's just the prince of the family with six moms essentially.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: But no, I think you covered it well.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the the last thing I'll say and we'll touch on, but our company pro combines purpose with profit, and we have a 1% give back mission where we are trying to end global period poverty, which is a lack of access to safe and reliable period products.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so since we launched officially in 2018, started in 2016 with all the you know pre-launch work, but our official launch was 2018.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: We've donated over 160,000 of our products in 60 countries as part of that social impact mission.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I'd be happy to touch on that, but it is what I'm most proud of because that is actually impacting lives.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: It changes lives every day.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I truly believe that when you empower the individual and you help them create a better life, then it has ripple effects that affects the world and can make big changes to our world.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it is our impact mission that really drives me every day.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we will get into that because I think, you know, one of the things that also struck me from our original conversation was this idea that it can be tricky, I think, for folks to think about mission-driven work and impact work and also recognize that there is also the potential for profit.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: You it's the yes and, you know, you can be revenue generating, you can have a great business, and and I think a lot of folks are trying to crack that code, and it's not always easy.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'll be really curious, yes, for some of the kind of background there.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I think before we go there, I'd love to learn a little bit more about that kind of moment, you know, what the inspiration was from going from technical writer with young kids to deciding to launch and run a consumer brand.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that is not like the easiest, you know, connecting of the dots necessarily.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously there's a story there and would love to hear what that inspiration was from.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's really my need to help people.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, I'm a cancer, I'm a very mothering individual and I'm an empath, and I really just want to improve lives truly at my core.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I was on this conversation with my aunt in Venezuela, so my mom is from Argentina, so I come from Latin heritage, and my husband is also Venezuelan.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: I was speaking with his aunt there, and she was describing how she couldn't get anything on grocery store shelves.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So she couldn't get baby food, you know, personal care needs, let alone things like pads and tampons.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: And as we were talking, and I said, What do you do?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: What do you use?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: And she talked about the rudimentary methods they had to use, things like cloth, right?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Old cloth and rags when you can't afford or access disposable products.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it really got me interested in reusable options and what was out there as alternatives.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I had never researched this before.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, is there an alternative to pads and tampons?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that's when I was introduced to cups and discs for the first time, to period underwear, which is basically, you know, underwear that has a built-in pad.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: So all of these replace traditional disposables like pads and tampons.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I was a woman in my 30s.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: I it was it was the first time I had even discovered or knew and had an awareness about these products.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so I bought several different products to try out.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: I tried cups, I bought, you know, underwear, and I was like, oh my goodness, these products are like mind-blowing.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: The fact that they can hold four to six times more than tampon, so they're higher capacity, which means you can wear them longer and go out through your go out about your day longer.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that they're made out of 100% medical-grade silicone, so they're actually hypercompatible with your body, they're biocompatible, they're hyperallergenic, you know, they're better for our bodies and the environment and healthier.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: They don't have the same kind of toxins and heavy metals and so forth that tampons have.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: And what blew me away was that they were also just a more comfortable experience and they felt cleaner.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of people, and I certainly did, come into this category thinking, oh, these are like fringe alternative products, really taboo, you know, maybe very granola, you know, who's using these cup things?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I actually tried them out for myself, I was like, I feel cleaner using these.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have a smelly trash can.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the blood, you know, stays within the pocket of the cup, and so it doesn't hit that air, so it doesn't have odor, so it's totally odor-free.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I had it in the small container, I just dump it into the toilet and put it back in.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just blown away by how much better they were overall.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: I would literally forget that I was on my period because I put it in and I said it, forget it, and was like, oh, I forgot I had that in.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't even know I was on my period.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, this is the most magical feeling I've ever had.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: And it brought me a sense of freedom and dignity as a woman as well.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because as educated women, ambitious women, not knowing when your period is coming, having those surprises, or having to go to the store and do those emergency tampon runs, it actually brings you this sense of, you know, this lack of confidence, like I can't take care of myself.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: So when I bought a cup, it was kind of one of those things that you couldn't put your finger on.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, what else is making is making this feel so life-changing for me?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's the freedom.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's the fact that I could have one of these in my purse and I just have one in my bathroom.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: I never had to buy tampons again because they last 10 years or longer.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I just felt like I can take care of myself.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so put all that together.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: I had this experience and was like, these are mind-blowing.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: I need to recommend these to my friends and family.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I couldn't really find products that were US made that I could really trust that were like FDA compliant.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I want to recommend these, but the ones I bought off Amazon, I tried several, you know, and they they were Chinese made a lot.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to create a better experience for the mainstream consumer.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: I said, these products to me should be the gold standard, not this alternative fringe product.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And there was also some macro movements happening where there was like the clean beauty care movement and the clean cleaning products, and it hadn't really hit personal care and period care yet.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: I said, okay, there's an opportunity here too to tell a better brand story, to tell a better clean story, that these are more environmental friend, environmentally friendly, and better for our bodies.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's both, you know, healthier for our bodies and the environment, and just better overall.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so I saw this opportunity to get a US-made product out there that was better overall and that really took the stigmatized category and flipped it on its head with beautiful packaging and branding.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: I do love your packaging.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Your branding is so good.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like a high-end lipstick and said, this is on a pedestal, this product is on a pedestal because that's where it should be.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: It should be a gold standard product.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I like to also tell journalists that cups were actually invented in the 1930s by an American actress.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: Her name was Leona Calmers, and a lot of people see that as a modern product, but it's been around just as long as tampons because the tampons were invented in 1937 by a man.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, how come we're using products invented by a man instead of the one invented by the woman?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa, I didn't know that.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a great fact.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did not know that.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: So they did exist in the market.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I didn't recreate the product.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: What I did is I just made them better, you know, with higher quality manufacturing products.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: So with our, with our nylons and with our with our different premium fabrics, with our underwear, and then also with our premium silicone, and then retweaked it also to create our own custom design to make it really work with our anatomies.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, just disrupt it in that way.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's important also for any entrepreneur to see if they have an idea that's in a market that may look really proliferated, you know, and may look like it's too saturated, you can always go in with a better brand story, you can go in with, you know, better marketing, you can go in with better branding, and you can shake up that category and do what you're passionate about.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, and especially if you care about it and you obviously care about this product and you care about the lives that you're affecting.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you even talking about it, this is not just a product story, it's kind of a movement, so to speak, and thinking about what it means to enter that season with dignity and ownership and some way of having some kind of control over something that feels very uncontrollable.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I can imagine for women that experience that at, you know, level 10 because they don't have access to so much that we all take for granted, you know, how much that must affect just their day-to-day, not just in the in the season of being in the menstrual period, but in cycle, but just to know that that's on the other side for them and rate ready for them, I have to imagine.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, are you like what are the you don't have to share the specific stories, but I'm curious if that's part of what keeps you going.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I the entrepreneurial journey is not easy, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many peaks and valleys.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so outside of just, you know, being ambitious and I'm sure stubborn in many ways just to keep going, you know, are are part of the stories what keep that fire for you?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: It is literally the thing that keeps me going.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I share this very openly all the time.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: But two things.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we have an internal Slack channel, and one of them is our great reviews channel.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: So our US customers, you know, some of our overseas customers were in a few different countries.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: They, when they write in and say, This product has been life-changing for me.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I would have switched sooner.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: That keeps me going through all the ups and downs because I know our products are actually changing lives.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Whenever I hear a friend that says, Oh, I've been using your cup for so long, I'm so grateful.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I've been able to change such an intimate area of their life that affects them every single month.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: And woman-to-woman, you know, created a product that works for other females is just, is just really fulfilling.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: And on top of that, then we have our impact mission.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll go backwards just a little bit, but what we're talking about is when I had that phone call with my aunt in Venezuela and realized that she lived in period poverty, she lacked this access to safe and reliable products.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: I introduced was introduced to the term period poverty and knew what that was.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it can happen for anyone who's living below the poverty line or somebody who just literally can't access the products because they're not available, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I realized that this actually affects 500 million women and girls.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's over a quarter of the menstruating population of the world lives in this period poverty.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it causes girls to miss school, it causes women to miss work and people to miss out on life because they're inhibited by their period.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I always like to tell a story, but let's say you started your period today and you have no period care.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Would you go to school?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Would you feel comfortable sitting in front of peers?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: Would you go to work?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, on video, I'm sitting on this light chair here.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: Would I feel comfortable sitting on this podcast right now if I thought I was gonna leak out onto this chair?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: No, right?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: If we don't have products, then we lack that confidence and it sets us back.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so all of these women and girls across the world have to make that decision every month.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: What do I do?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have anything, what do I do?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: And most often they choose to stay home.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so as soon as girls hit puberty, school dropout rates just skyrocket.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: And as a mother of five daughters and a highly educated mother who wants the education for my daughters, I just struggle to see a world where people are inhibited by something as basic to the human condition as a period that affects 50% of the population.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: So when I learned that these products, something as basic as a menstrup or period underwear, which is just, you know, built-in pads that go into underwear, could literally keep girls in school, could help women progress economically, and could break cycles of poverty for generations.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: I thought this is something I have to do.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: I felt a moral obligation to do it.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so not only did I want it for the US consumer, for my friends and family, but I wanted it to change lives.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that is what has really kept me going.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Back to your original question, what keeps me going every day?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's that mission to end that global period poverty because I feel like it's one of the most impactful things I can do with my finite time on Earth.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at some point I'm gonna ask you about legacy, but you're already answering it.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: We might go reverse a few times here.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: When you talk about, you know, the stigma, I, you know, I keep thinking about just in general, right?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not even with reusable period products, but just with our cycles in general and our conversations or lack of conversations about.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious for you all, you know, when you think about the power of storytelling and when you think about your opportunity to really shift some of the additional stigma around reusable products.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's your approach?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like what how did you start thinking about that as you were looking to connect with the consumer and say, no, this is good and this is great, not only just from your own personal experience, but how you were talking about the brand itself.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm a marketer at heart and it's actually a really fun problem to solve.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: So it's because those stigmas can work for and against you.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what's made it fun over time is as we said, okay, this is our biggest challenge, but it's also our biggest opportunity.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Our customer journey is a lot longer because people have to see us seven times and hear about it from a friend and feel confident enough to and brave enough to take that one moment of bravery and try a menstrual cup for the first time.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: It requires behavior change, which is tough.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: But I also came from the technical writing industry.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: And as a technical writer, you take things that are really big and ambiguous and difficult and you break it down to actionable steps for somebody, whether it's like an instruction manual trying to teach people how to do IKEA furniture, which they need better technical writers, by the way, or writing textbooks on health and fitness.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: I had really fun chapters like STIs and addiction and stress management.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I had to try to teach college students how to get through these problems and how to be independent adults, but do it in a very consumable way with where they would actually listen, right?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: And all of that experience really translated to this business in this category because I said, okay, this is a big scary problem that people don't want to talk about periods.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's so many stigmas and taboos, or there's even more stigmas around reusable period products, let alone pads and tampons.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: How can we make this approachable and fun and beautiful and dignified and showcase what a clean and incredible product this is?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you do it through storytelling, you do it through brand by creating a brand that looks beautiful and clean and showcases the product.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: You do it through your voice, having an approachable voice.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we are very deliberate about all of those things.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so I spend all my time educating, even when I come on podcasts, most of the time I'm just saying what the products do.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: What's the difference between cups and discs?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: How does the underwear work?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: How do you wash them?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: How do you clean them?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really most of the doubts is that education, but also educating on how we can have straightforward conversations about these topics.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because especially us millennials, definitely the boomers, the Gen Xers, like they were taught, don't talk about this, whisper, period, put the tampon up the sleeve, don't he don't let anyone hear the crinkle of the crap of the wrapper.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you dare ask your male partner if you need a tampon, right?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much there that had to be broken and continues, right, to have to be broken.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's a woman's woman's problem.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even tell you how many men, you know, they'll ask me what I do, and I'm like, well, you know, you'll be glad you asked.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: I do women's period care.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, oh, okay.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, they physically move back, but that is shifting.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the good news is with companies like ours, the conversations that are happening.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I especially love our Gen Zers and our Gen Alphas because they don't care.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: They're done with that status quo.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh yeah, whatever.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm gonna tell my boyfriend when I'm on my period and he's gonna go buy me products, and that's fine.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: And they'll tell him, I'm in my Ludeo phase.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, treat me a little bit softer.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: They're more educated, they're more willing to have the conversations, and they're breaking those stigmas.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: And that needs to happen for progress in women's menstrual progress and also women's health because all that lack of talk around our health, you know, all the things that we face is what has caused this lack of innovation.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, and I can go in a soapbox for it, but I'll just give the high level.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: But the pads were invented in the 1800s.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: Tampons were invented in 1937, you know, it's been it's been over a hundred years since we've like had this innovation.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: The most we got was the pad with wings in the 1980s, you know, and we have iPhones that are basically small computers that fit in our pockets, and we have cars that go from zero to 60 in 1.9 seconds.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: Why haven't we had more innovation in period care?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's the stigmas.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: We have to break those so that we can have more conversations.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I love, I love to talk about, I love to talk about periods.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: I love to talk about how meaningful they are to the world and progress for the world because solving period care for women and girls suddenly not only affects them and then their families, but it ripples out to their communities and suddenly it's adding to the GDP of nations when when you are actually allowed to talk about it and find solutions.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love what you're saying about the younger generations.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like such a transparent shift that's happening, and it reminds me of a woman I actually interviewed recently who you would love.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I should send you her article.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's I found her because she wrote something titled The Most Powerful Generation of Women Just Stopped Caring What You Think.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it her, she is like a transpoder marketer, and her whole, you know, thesis was specifically around how brands need to evolve to meet the moment, because you can't keep talking to this generation of women and those that are coming up in the same way that you did to ours and the generations that came before.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because while many of us were looking to try and kind of mold ourselves to those, you know, societal expectations, the younger women are saying, No thanks.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna do this.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so past that.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's fascinating and so encouraging and exciting.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: But it's cool to hear you talk about that from a brand perspective and connect those dots and go, yeah, you can see that and you know that you're meeting the moment, not only for the larger mission, but for your consumer and who you're actually marketing your incredible product to.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to for you to, if if a woman were to say, you know what, I tried one of those years ago, it freaked me out, I couldn't do it.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what would your encouragement be for somebody that maybe tried, but they were like, I'm not sure if this is right for me.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, if they've tried it already, you know, if they haven't, I usually say it just takes one moment of bravery.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: Try it in the shower.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a no-risk zone.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Use water as a natural lubricant, just try putting it in and out.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: You don't even have to be on your period.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: So if you haven't tried it, that's what I usually say.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: For those who have tried it, maybe they haven't tried our cup, so have to put that plug in.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, try ours.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's the best.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's got it's got the highest reviews for being the best for a beginning consumer for someone who's trying it for the first time.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: It opens up easily, it has less leakage than others.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Most people say it's leak-free.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it has great reviews and is the highest and best seller on Target shelves and also on Amazon for a reason.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: So try that.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: But but also there's other alternatives.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: So if you've tried a cup and that didn't work for you exactly, try disc.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: A disc is great for those with weaker pelvic floors, for those who want mess free period sex, you know, for those who want higher capacity products.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many people that I interview on my own podcast that talk.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: About being so debilitated by heavy periods, like not even leaving the house because they have a condition, whether it's endometriosis or a PCOS or some condition that's causing very, very heavy bleeding.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: And the disc is the highest capacity menstrual product.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: It can hold six times the amount of a tampon.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you back that up with one of our super pairs of underwear and you're you're able to leave the house because you have what you need.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're fully covered and it lasts you longer.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: So give other products a try.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't want to use an inserted product and you want a free bleed, you don't have to just go to pads.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, pads stick to all the wrong places.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: They're bulky, they're wet.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody likes them.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like really, I don't, I've never I've never met a single person who's liked a pad before.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: But an underwear that is really silky soft, that feels like your favorite underwear, that has a built-in pad that you can, you know, bleed or flow into, whether it's periods or bladder leaks, and then you just wash it, reuse it, you know, they're better for the environment, they feel comfortable and you still feel dignified.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: So what I would say is try other solutions.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: There are more modern solutions out there now.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: And there thankfully, because of the shift with stigmas, more innovation is happening.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, that's what we're trying to do at SALT.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: So try one of our products.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great reminder.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was laughing so hard.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about, I saw something on Instagram, a comedian I follow, and she did like a whole bit about walking out of the house with a pad, and it's like it's so real.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we've all experienced some version of that.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: You have to do the mere butt check, and you're like, can people see it?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: You feel like the whole world can see it.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: They usually can't, but you feel like they can.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: How much of a diaper am I wearing right now?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear, you know, when you went from making this decision to build a consumer product, what was maybe one of the hardest early lessons that you had to learn as you were moving from, you know, the kind of more traditional W-2 work to building something on your own?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, that's such a great question.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: So my husband and I have been self-employed.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: We've been entrepreneurs in some form for all of our married life.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: So back in our 20s when we got married, because we got married young.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so we haven't done a lot of traditional W-2 work.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: I did like prior to that, but I was a freelance writer, you know, and kind of had it, you know, where I just had limited hours and we just updated the chapters when I needed to.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we also worked in real estate.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: We did different things, and we had an e-commerce venture too, where we actually imported products from Brazil and sold them online.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: So we had some steps to like get us to this company.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: But initial challenges, there's quite a few.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Number one, neither one of us had come from a larger company.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: So we didn't even know what hierarchical structures look like, organizations look like, what an accountability chart should look like.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so we had to learn all of that.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, we're avid readers and we could hack our learning through other people's experiences.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: So that's one of the best pieces of advice I would give people is even though I had imposter syndrome, that I had never been a CEO, I've never led a company as large as ours or as front-facing or as national as this company as we started building it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: I was able to turn to books, to turn to other examples, to turn to podcasts, and to find the answers to those questions through other people's experiences.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's one of the best things you can do.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: I would reach out to other entrepreneurs and say, what did you, how do you get through this?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you should, you should do that because it really can hack your way to solutions without having to go through the mistakes.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: But that was a big challenge.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: The other one was I had been an at-home mom for, you know, a decade in my life before that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: I had young toddlers, you know, six children.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: And they were, when I started this company, they were often playing next to me, doing puzzles, doing coloring, and I was trying to keep them busy while also working, which of course means I'm not present for work or present for them.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: And they're getting some of that negative attention.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we had to find a solution.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: And this is where my belief in work-life integration comes into play because I don't believe in work-life balance, and it was something, a hard lesson I had to learn.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it was really because I reached a stage of burnout realizing that with this company, it needed me to be more front-facing.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: It needed me to be more in the office.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I had been mostly at home before doing our entrepreneurial work from home behind the scenes.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it required a massive shift in how I lived my life and how my schedule played out.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I felt like I was having two full-time jobs, full-time mom and full-time CEO.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that really caused me to be very deliberate with my time.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: When you have so limited time, I actually think it's a great place to really grow and stretch yourself and become intentional because you have to.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: You're forced to look at your time and say, what's the most important things?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: What can I cut out of my life?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, quick pause before we get back into it.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to conversations like this one and something keeps nudging you, like, I know I'm at some kind of turning point.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't quite see it clearly yet.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually exactly what I do.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: I work with women leaders who are in the middle of something a career shift, a business that's ready to evolve, a moment where what got you here just isn't cutting it anymore.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes what you need most isn't a whole program or a big engagement.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: You just need a few hours with someone who can help you see what you're too close to see yourself.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the clarity session.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's a focused, one-on-one conversation where we dig into where you are, where you want to go, and what's actually in the way.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: You walk away with real direction, not a list of homework, but genuine clarity on your next move.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: If that sounds like what you need right now, I'd love to talk.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can find all the details at Beldenstrategies.com slash clarity.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: So a few of those for me were, you know, TV.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was never really a big avid TV watcher, but the little that I did watch that was out, you know.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: I only watch a couple movies on on Friday sometimes.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: We call it Friday Fun Day.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: We'll do that.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: And for some people, it's a big part of their life, but for me, it was an area that just wasn't part of what I call my vital few, which is the vital few things that are most important to me.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I have five.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: One is my relationship with God, essentially my character.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: My second is my relationship with my family.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: So my marriage, my children.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: Third is my health, and then and then my impact in the world.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then fifth is those things that bring me joy.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: I was a ballarm dancer, I love to dance, I love to sing, I love, I love to, I was a gymnast, I love to do gymnastics, I love to keep up with some of those fun things.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Fly fish, we're big outdoors people, whitewater raft, all those things.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: That deliberate living that brings you joy.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: So those five areas are the most important things in that order.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I had to very be very deliberate with making time and prioritizing those things because I didn't have time for anything else.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, with the challenges, not only was it how do I scale a company, how do I lead a company of this size, and I felt like I had to be one step ahead.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Some of those solutions were taking coaching programs.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: I be I became part of a coaching program that helped me stay a step ahead.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: And then the other one was adopting work-life integration, which is really making work work for your life.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: And can I tell you a story about that, actually?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I told you I reached this place of burnout, and that was realizing, okay, I am I am just having to do so much at once.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many demands on your time as a young entrepreneur, you know, trying to get a startup off the ground.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: You have to write all of the web copy, you're writing the instruction manuals, you're doing all the social media, right?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: You haven't hired people, you haven't duplicated yourself.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: You are everything trying to get it out there, trying to land the retail accounts, all of those things from launch all the way on.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember attending a conference at this stage of burnout, and it was in San Francisco, where you're at.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: And it was, there was a panel of women.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: It was an all-women's conference, and it was called In Good Company.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: And in that conference, there was a panel of women, and they started talking about work-life balance.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: And there was one woman from J from Jenny's ice cream.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was Jenny herself from Jenny's Ice Cream out of Chicago.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: And they asked her the question, how do you balance work in life?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: And she says, Oh, work life balance is a myth.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: And everybody in the room was just like, What?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: She might as well have just said the earth was flat, right?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: And and everybody on the panel agreed, oh yeah, it's a myth.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Okay, what's the solution here?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: And they started describing basically what I call work-life integration, which is they said it's more like spinning plates where you're, you know, giving some time to this, you know, this need, and then sometime to this need, and your work and personal life, sometimes you need to give more time to work, and sometimes you need to give more time to your personal life if you have a sick child or if you have travel for work.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really giving your time and energy to the things that need it most.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I've kind of gone a little bit beyond that now instead of just spinning plates and being more intentional about how you spin those plates.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: But it helped me realize, oh my goodness, like I need to re-look at the way that I structure my life.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: And she also said one more thing that was really, really mind-blowing for me.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I had carried so much mom guilt because here I had these toddlers and I was having so much time away from them.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I'm missing the best years of their life.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: How am I going to be so present as a mom?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: What can I do?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, you know, my kids are the luckiest kids in the world.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, what a beautiful mindset.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'm here.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what am I modeling for my kids?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I've been, I've been showing them how depressed I am and how guilty I feel.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: And she's like, Oh, yeah, they're the luckiest kids in the world because they get a mom who shows them by example how to have a career and how to be a mother.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that doesn't have to be mutually exclusive.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: We need to emulate that for our kids and they get to learn how to be independent and have it modeled for them firsthand instead of having to figure it out.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, she talked about taking her kids with her to go see her speaking engagements, to go, you know, travel with her and so forth, and them having these incredible experiences where they're meeting people and seeing success.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, I need to adopt that lifestyle.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_02: What am I modeling for my kids?
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: How can I change this?
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was very deliberate in changing that at the time.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, going back, the whole reason I got there was because I talked about our in-office preschool.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: And this was just one of the creative solutions that we came up with to adopt work-life integration to answer this challenge of how do we scale when we're when we're parents with six kids?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so we decided to have an in-office preschool that was free for all of our employees.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: So our working moms, our working dads loved it.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: We instituted it eight years ago when we first launched.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was very quick.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it was incredible because we had go figure other women in our team who also needed childcare and who wanted to be able to give their time to our company and also give their time to their kids and not have to drop them off at daycare for nine hours of a day.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: I say nine hours because it's usually an eight-hour workday, then you've got the commute time in between.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just a lot of time away from your children.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas if it's in office, then they can go see them, you know, for all of the breaks, for the potty training, for lunches and so forth.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: And they can both be a parent and also contribute and not have to sacrifice both.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been one of the best things we've ever done to attract and retain talent.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's finding those types of solutions.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, as a leader, if you're a career woman and don't have, you know, the ability to create that solution, there's other things you can do to be able to find creative solutions that'll work for you to meld both work and life together to make it fulfilling.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so much there, and that's incredibly beautiful.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think I have reached a season in my life where I say harmony, like instead of balance, because I think similar to integration, it's balance can tend to pit two things against each other, right?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Inevitably, a scale's gonna weigh heavier on one side, which means the other's not getting as much of the energy that you'd like to give to it.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: So how can we build lives that are harmonious enough to allow for whatever our top five are, right?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever list, you know, makes sense for us.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what I really appreciate about what you're sharing is the intentionality because I think it looks different for everyone.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think many of us carry guilt for one reason or another, whether it's, you know what, I decided to be a stay-at-home mom, and now my career's on hold and there's guilt around that, or I decided to continue my career, and therefore I don't have as much time for my kids in the way I might have imagined.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now I have guilt for that.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, there's it's like no matter which way you look at it, it can be a tricky trap that it's really easy to fall into.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: So to recognize that we get maybe we don't get to choose, that's not always the case.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: When we are choosing one of these options, that there is intentionality behind it to live fully into it and not live with the guilt of what it isn't, I think is so important because that just can look so different for everyone, but it applies to everyone no matter what you've chosen.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that you have to be ready to accept what you've chosen for yourself, I think, right?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like no one forced us to build a business, right?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: This was not, yes, maybe it was a calling, but it wasn't like a mandate.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think we have to just continue to to honor that choice.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I love what you shared about.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: I actually had written a question about what it means to build a high-performing culture that's also flexible and family-friendly, because that's such a clear philosophy of yours.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I think going all the way to what you said, that it is about empowering and it is about retention at the end of the day, because ultimately people want to give back to the company that's giving to them.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: The company I was with before I started my business was unbelievable in that way.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I major kudos, we were looking to find ways we had locations in 11 cities across the country, and we were constantly trying to find that childcare component because we had always thought, you know, if you can help families and wrap around that service, then, you know, that's just one more thing that they don't have to think about.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that is not easy to do, like all of the things the permitting, the staff, like that's a whole ass thing.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, just major key just here for that.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: But what they did for those of us in COVID, our main headquarters were in Central California, Central Valley.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there were those of us in pockets all over the place.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, but because we were so location-based, and of course, during COVID, when things shut down, folks like the front desk person or you know, support staff, cleaning staff, they didn't have a job.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so they basically restructured people's roles to become part-time caregivers for those of us that lived remote.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had Lizzie, shout out to Lizzie, she was front desk at one of our locations.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: She came, they paid for her to live in Sacramento.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this was, of course, like she wanted to, right?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was not like she was being ripped away from her own family or anything like that, but she came and that was her new job was to come and spend time with our family to make sure that everybody had the resources they needed, not only from a logistics perspective, but from a community perspective and supporting each other through one of the hardest times, right, in our country.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just think about that kind of stuff all the time when people say it's not possible or it's too hard.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, sure, but the alternative is we don't build those things into the culture of the company that we care so deeply about.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, there's there's ways to do it.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's just huge that you are doing that for your people.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure it's very well appreciated.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you share that experience because it really was your company making a choice to put people first.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really the mindset that the solutions come from is that we say, okay, if our people are our biggest asset, then how can we enable their lives and their fulfillment so that they can give their best to us?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why we have the pro-family culture.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that same mindset also applies to your own life.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: So anyone who's feeling burnt out, you know, any listeners who are feeling like, okay, how do I do this?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: How do I make it work?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the first step is recognizing that you are your family's biggest asset.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm saying family, I'm assuming that many of your listeners are in the same sandwich generation that we are, because as women in our, you know, 30s, 40s, 50s, we are in that generation where we have, you know, young kids or we have teens and we're taking care of them.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_02: So families who are still trying to teach to be independent adults, and then we also have our aging parents, right?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: And we're sandwiched between them.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, when do we give time to ourselves?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: And truly, we are our family's biggest asset.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: We are our company's biggest asset.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't have kids, then you are the biggest asset for all the people that you love, the people who surround you and your other family.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: We're great aunts and aunts and uncles and all the things, right?
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if we don't take care of ourselves and we can't give, and it's really not an egotistical thing.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a very selfless person and I give too much all the time, but that recognition that, okay, I need to have my cup filled in order to fill other cups.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: And to do that, you have to focus on your health.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: You have to focus on filling that cup with inspiration, with learning, with, you know, good nutrition happens, habits, with enough sleep, like all of the things so that so that you can perform your best, or you'll find yourself in that burnout stage.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: So one area, I like to give practical tips because I'm a technical writer, but one area that it's been a big win for me too that can hopefully be helpful is I started a very deliberate morning routine.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I told you about my vital few, which is a term called that I got from a book called Essentialism by Greg McKeon, where he basically takes you through how to recognize what your vital few are in your life.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's those vital few are the most important things that bring you the most fulfillment in life, the things you really care about.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: And the whole premise is basically if you want to make time for your the most important things, you need to cut out other things and actually deliberately making time.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so the way that I've done that primarily is through my morning routine.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's 90 minutes every single morning.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people wake up and the first thing they do is they look at their phone, they do reactive email, they'll scroll.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: And that is the worst thing that we can do during that highly creative period of time where we've just woken up and we have our brain functioning at its highest and at its best.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's when we should be giving it to the most important things.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: So some things I do is number one, I start with, I'm I'm an avid Christian, so I'll start with scripture reading.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'll read the Bible, I'll do my study, and I'll say my prayers, my meditation.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: I connect and ground myself with God and with my character, what I who I want to be.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: I say affirmations and then I go to my health.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: So then I put on an inspiring podcast.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's not so much music because I want to get, you know, something that's going to lift me up.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so to be a podcast while I do a hit routine that has strength training because I'm in perimenopause.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm hitting my health.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm there for my family as they're getting ready.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we have young kids who are still going to school.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: So present for them, for my husband, for the people I care about, and making sure that that I'm fully present with them and actually giving them just those little daily moments and those little deposits of love and appreciation until they go.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then after that is when I dive into my work and I have two, I have just principles that I abide by.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that's I work on the two most important things for my business and then two most important things for my personal life before I do anything else, before I go into meetings.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: My team knows I don't do morning meetings, really early morning meetings, I should say, because I have my morning routine and I try to stick to it religiously as much as I can.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: And those two most important things are things that drive your business forward.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't answering an email, you know, this is creating something, this is pushing something, this is sales, whatever it is.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then for your personal life, you know, what child needs, you know, help rising to their potential.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: What can I do to help enable them?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Or it's simple things for the house or whatever it is.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: But those two most important things that are going to help you feel fulfilled.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: And the most incredible thing is when you start your day that way, I just talked about 90 minutes only, right?
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: Just an hour and a half.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: Then suddenly it doesn't matter how the rest of your day goes.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like the rest of your day could be a train wreck, you could get a flat tire, you could have a really poor meeting, you know, problems always happen in the business, but you already start your day feeling fulfilled and like you're progressing.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: And you do that every day.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it is like laying a road and a foundation.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: You're just taking step over step over step.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't get it perfect every time.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oftentimes we're traveling on or on vacation.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: But even if you hit it 70, 80% of the time, you're above what most of the world is doing because you're so deliberate with your time.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I was gonna say it's like having that anchor to come back to, right?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we can again with the guilt, like, oh no, I didn't do my thing, you know, for a week.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh no, it's fine.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just as long as you get back to that anchor, I I, as somebody who's terrible with routine, like I've just always been awful, awful, awful at it.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have found that like my morning rituals, so to speak, like it might ebb and flow depending on the week or what it is, but I I learned finally the phone thing a while ago now, and it changed my life.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds so silly, but it's so true because I think I heard somebody talking about it, like imagine your brain as a lemon, and as soon as you start to scroll, as soon as you start to fire on in the online world, like it's the squeezing of the lemon has already started, and that's like your dopamine and all of the rest.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: And once you squeeze the lemon, the lemon never comes back fully, right?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like it just keeps getting squeezed and squeezed and squeezed.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're already starting that as part of how you're entering your day, then you're just like already starting depleted.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that imagery has just stayed with me forever.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: So now if I like catch myself wanting to just be like, oh, maybe just this one day, you know, I'm like, nope, there's that lemon in my head and it keeps me.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: Lemon.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, squeeze it, squeeze it for your family, squeeze it for your business, right?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: Use it.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: And we really only have really peak creative energy in the morning for a limited time.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're using all that creative energy and thinking, On something that's reactive, then we're already going to feel depleted once we hit work.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like use it, use it to do something that's pushing forward.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: I had something else I was going to share.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't want to interrupt you.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: You have one more thing because I I don't want to interrupt your train of thought, but I also I did.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: You're editing, right?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Where I was going to pause for a minute.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what was it?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: There was something else I was going to say.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: It'll come back to me.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: You keep going.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: That I love about what you said, because so many people will tell you, you know, clear out the noise, clear out the noise, pick out your top three things that you need to get done for the day.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you literally just helped me with something because I think that's always kind of pissed me off, frankly, because I'm like, well, if that's not possible, because I there's not only three things that I can really focus on if I have a life and a family and a community and volunteer work and community work and blah blah blah and my business.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the idea of integrating that and saying, you know, whatever the number is that's right for you, you know, two most important things for your business and two most important things in your personal life, I'm totally gonna do that now because I think that that is what has bugged me the most.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: As I like, in my mind had this like strange rule of like, well, the do the business stuff first and then the personal stuff, as much as I'm all about the harmony, like in my to-do list, that's always kind of the thing.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm like, ugh, I don't want to do that thing.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I love that, and I'm definitely gonna try that going forward.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for that.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, Kristen, I'm gonna yes and this because I remembered my thought.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: And this will hopefully blow you away.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm actually writing a book about this, and this is the reason is because I want more women to feel just absolutely like they're creating the best lives that they can.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so the yes and is I I love that you identified, okay, those three things are just saying what's on my to-do list.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_02: And often those three things aren't taking into account priorities, which is like my personal life is also priority.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: But one step further is you actually do the work and the vision work of saying, who do I want to become?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: What does my best Kristen look like?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: What does my best me look like?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: And when I did that work, I was like, I want to be an incredible mother who's known as being compassionate.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: I want to give an impact to the world.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: I want to be a great spouse, a great friend, a great aunt.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: I want to, I want to change people's lives to make them better when they interact with me.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: I want to be fit and healthy and strong, you know, and you write all these things out of like, who do I want to be and who do I want to be known for?
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: You can think about like, what do I want people to say at my eulogy?
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like ultimately, what's my lasting impact?
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then from there, you work backwards.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: And you can have some fun things too.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm like, I actually want to keep my round off back tuck till I'm 50 because I was a gymnast and I still do backflips on the trampoline.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: So fun things too.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_02: I want to visit this many countries.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: You write all that down, and then you work backwards and say, what do I have to do each day to become that person?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: And something beautiful happens when you do that.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_02: I actually have it in a spreadsheet, and it's like my nerdy habit tracker where I have like all the habits and things I want to do each day to become that person.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then I have it in my affirmations too, which I write as not I will and I want to do this, but I am this.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: I am this person.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_02: And you suddenly you've you've become that person.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_02: You've done you've done half the work already just by writing it down because your mind is already thinking, oh, this is who I am.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: And a person who's like this talks to people this way, treats people this way, and isn't gonna choose something wrong with my body.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so then that, you know, to do list becomes your to-be list.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: And what's fulfilling about it is it's not just like what can I get done, but what's gonna lead me to continue to be my best self.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so then your priorities naturally fall into place.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yes, you want to do the two most important things to drive your business and the two most important things to drive your personal life.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_02: But beyond that, what the morning routine does is this is who I am.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_02: This is who I'm becoming, and this is how I fill my cup.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I have the most important things every day.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_02: So your progress isn't progress towards a dollar number.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's not progress towards a time frame.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's progress towards your best life and you becoming.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think it just gives you so much clarity where you can do nothing for your business that day and still feel incredibly fulfilled and like you're progressing in life because you're progressing in your character and it's truly what's most important.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, I could talk about it for hours, but I'm I I love life shaping and I love grounding people in what's really fulfilling so that it it brings a sense of calm to life when even things are going crazy, and you're like, you know what?
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_02: Things are actually pretty great.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm progressing towards my goals.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: We live in an incredible country.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: You live in a place of gratitude for for your health, for what you have, and it's a beautiful way to live.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Heck yes.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think for those who manifestation has become like a bad word or like a dirty word, you know, I think it's like being able to speak about things in this way that's more active and less like the secret, right?
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: I anytime I share my own practices in these spaces, sometimes I disclaim it because I'm like, listen, I know it sounds a little whoa, but like I'm done saying that because there's actual science behind it.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what I really like what you're sharing too is this integration.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes I think I can tend to like my list is over here, and the way I think about the shape of what I need to get done is over here, and then I have my activations and my meditations and my manifestation, right?
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: All of these other components that make me a whole person.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes I can tend to separate those.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love this idea of pulling them together and like more of a holistic picture.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I think it also lends a lightness to what can at feel at times feel incredibly daunting when you're looking at all of the things that we're holding and all the things that we feel like we need to get done in order to like just move through the day.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a great reminder.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear, I have two last questions for you.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: One is around how maybe your definition of success has evolved over the years.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: When we chatted, we recognized we're both in a really similar season, mid-40s, kids, right?
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like watching what's happening all around us as we also have parents who are aging.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you were looking at 20-year-old, 25-year-old version of you and the way you thought about success, how has that evolved?
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_02: I really that's such a great question because it has evolved to a place of becoming.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's who am I, who am I become, who have I become?
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's not a it's not a dollar number.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's not how many possessions do I have, how big my house is, whether I have this or that, right?
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_02: It really is like what impact have I brought to the world and who have I become and who have I stretched myself to become.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this comes a lot from my belief system because I believe that we're we're here on this earth to really grow our infinite potential and to become the best version of ourselves.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so those core beliefs really drive that.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it's what you know brings me the most fulfillment.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I like to see that in other people.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: I like to help them also reach their highest potential, whether it's my own children or whether it's my team members or whether it's the people that we impact.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I do believe in not only stretching yourself, but then also leaving a lasting impact in the world that can help people improve their life stations, improve their capacity, improve their belief in themselves, and improve their ability to change the world.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really how I measure success.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's a great way to live too.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I will say, I'll add some vulnerability in here, but I've had some loss in my life.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_02: I lost my younger brother to suicide, I lost my mother recently to cancer.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_02: And those experiences really bring the mortality into the limelight and show you how finite life can be.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so you really start to think about your day-to-day not as a destination because we none of us really know when our time is up.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so that destination is not something we have control over.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_02: But what we do have control over is our character and what impact we're making day-to-day.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: We can't take any of these possessions with us.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so that that really informs my worldview, is that loss it's been a great teacher for me to understand that, you know, we we really what we can take with us is our relationships, you know, our love.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: My mom was one of the most incredible people who taught me compassion.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: And her legacy lasts within me and what she taught me and how she taught me to care for others and how to be compassionate for others.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I've been able to do that through my business.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the way that I honor her.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so truly, I look at success as only that, you know, the few things we can take with us to the next life when I do believe in an afterlife.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: And and that, yeah, that informs my ambitions and what I care most about.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm first so sorry about your loss.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: I know that it is, it is, it's a shaper.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: It it determines how we think about how we navigate the world.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that also it's not funny, but kind of funny.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was listening to Oprah.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love Oprah.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, she's amazing.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: She was just on Mel Robbins, and I I just listened to that episode.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was so good.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like we're kind of we're channeling it a bit because there are moments, you know, that are reflecting, you know, as you're sharing.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oprah said something, and I know she also has the disclaimer as she shares, like she gets it, she's Oprah.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy for her to say X, Y, and Z, but her whole point was but I was doing things in I was doing these things in order to become who I am today.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was doing these things, I had a practice of gratitude.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like, oh, now I'm Oprah and now I have gratitude.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was, no, that's what made me who I am, and she's most proud of the woman she's become, and how that causes her to think about legacy differently and how legacy is the thing that we are doing every single day.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it is always the last question I ask, but I feel like we've you've you've already answered so much of it.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I will give you kind of one last opportunity if you want to share anything else to like round out, you know, the way you define legacy, because I think as you've spoken about the work you do, the impact you're having, how you're so intentional about raising your kids, how you show up for your top five, you know, carrying your own mom's legacy forward.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all of that is such an incredible picture and what an honor to like carry that all forward.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: But is there anything else around what building a legacy means to you?
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: I will add one more, and that's that our legacy isn't a destination or it's not a time frame because none of that can be controlled.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: Our legacy truly is built in the day-to-day moments of our life.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's those, it's those little, you know, crocheting, it's it's that those little parts of the divine tapestry of our life that ultimately shapes our character and our ultimate impact.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's those daily decisions, those daily moments where we make decisions that impact others and showcase who we are in our character.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we should be far more concerned with the daily things that we do than oftentimes those future goals, because those are truly what matter most.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm with you 100%.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for this.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_00: You have inspired this girl who did try a cut before to try again.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I will keep you posted.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I just think there's so much for women to gain from sharing our stories and from hearing each other's stories to get inspired, to think about things a little differently, the practical stuff as much as some of the more inspirational stuff.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I just really appreciate you sharing so openly here with us today.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thanks so much for having me.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_02: That was such a lovely conversation, and I hope it brought value for your listeners.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_02: Good to see you.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: See you soon.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening and spending some of your time with me here.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_00: I hope our conversation sparked some new ideas for you.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed the episode, please make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's next.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready for even more tools and stories, head on over to beldenstrategies.com slash newsletter.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: I share fresh insights, stories, and tools for women leaders every week.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep building, keep evolving, and remember that you are kind of a big deal.