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What I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Business with Jennifer Foley · The Boujee Multipreneur

• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to the Bougie Multipreneur.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: Hilary Heschauer.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: If you've been listening for a while, you might have noticed that we've changed things up a little around here.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I love talking about business, leadership, money, and what it really takes to build something of your own.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: But I decided I don't want to be the only one talking all the time.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm bringing on more business owners, entrepreneurs to the podcast to have real conversations about what owning a business actually looks like.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Today I'm excited to introduce you to Jennifer Foley at Balance Soul.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: She's in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: I have known Jennifer for quite some time.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: And my favorite thing about Jennifer are my Reiki sessions.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for coming on, Jennifer.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me a little bit about yourself or the listeners since they don't know you as well as I do.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello, Hilary.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for inviting me to talk about my business.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I too have known you for a long time and have come to you for healing, for chiropractic work and getting my system, my nervous system regulated.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So right back at you.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So balanced soul.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Balanced soul is an idea I had when I was 25.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, um I didn't have the life experience, the maturity, the idea, all those things that led me here to this to start it.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I started uh Balanced Soul April 3rd, 2021.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I opened up during COVID.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Very interesting uh concept there as I look back at it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: But um balanced soul is a well-being collaborative, and I offer a variety of services and modalities that embrace natural, spiritual, and balanced approach approaches to living.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And those include balanced soul coaching, intuitive body mapping, integrated smoking cessation, Reiki, forest bathing, and lots of book clubs and retreats.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that you host a lot of retreats, especially your um wilderness ones.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: I have yet to make it, but I always put them on my schedule and all the ones with the horses.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: You do so many like fun things to really take care of like the person.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm really fascinated by helping people get over more to the right side of the brain, which is our creative, spiritual, um, aha moments, spontaneity side of the brain, because we can't solve issues from the energy that we came in with it.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when we get people over to the right side of the brain, which is kind of taking them out of their box and doing more creative things, it helps you to create new neural pathways, and that helps maybe get a different opinion or look or experience of what you're dealing with and being well.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, something we all need.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: So today our topic is something to the effect of if you could start your business over, what would you do differently?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Or what's something you wish you would have known perhaps when you started this business in 2021 during COVID?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, during COVID.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that might be the big question.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why did I open during COVID?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had an experience of during COVID, as many people did, of if not now, when.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um I was working corporately and very frustrated with a lot of the things that were going on.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I quit cold turkey.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I jumped in um without looking.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um what I would say, what I would do differently is one, to understand that it takes about three years, at least in my industry and with me, to really get got a constant income.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of thought it would just be automatically, and uh that was not the case.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now I was doing all right, but I wasn't making the money that I thought I was gonna do.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just it takes time to build clients, it takes time to get yourself known in the community, and I wanted it like immediately.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Don't yes, I was like, well, I would, I would, I did not know that there were going to be months that were actually actually like lower times that I would have client activity.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for me, that's typically January and July, because a lot of people are on vacation in July.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so other women-owned businesses around me, we talk about this, and actually um the boutique that's underneath my office, they actually close for most of January and do repairs.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And other places will like have their employees go on vacation and things during their slower time.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So now I look at it, yeah.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I look at it as a time where I'm gonna do, oh, if I need to repaint or organize or get more marketing going, I use that downtime instead of being anxious.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, where are the people?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Are they gonna come back?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Am I done?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: I know I call it the seasons because it I agree.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I ebb and flow, and we're like in the down season, but financially the businesses have to prepare for that and know that you need to save money aside for like January, your down month, because you still have the same overhead despite lack of revenue.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've generated things now, having been in business over six years, where I create packages obviously at Christmas, and then I'm getting more uh clients coming in January than I did before.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um in July, I just use that as me time.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Me time.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I go on my vacations, I go do what I need to do and take care of me.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, working with that instead of being in a state of being anxious and fearful, just seeing it as a time to for me to do some reset and the business to do reset.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm much more at ease with that now.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think there's anything that you spent too much time on at the beginning or too much money per se?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yes.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: You wouldn't have.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about that.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um I signed up for um, there's a program, there's a big launch called heal.me where I could get on this nationwide experience to pull in more clients, and I had to pay a lot of money to do that.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And to date, I did not get one client from them.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I was paying into things in the beginning, just I think all business businesses that are starting do that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I did, I don't know.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe other people don't do that, but I did just to figure out where's ways that I could find other clients.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that I would say no, I did some um marketing type things um where I was in magazines and different things like that, and I'm much more selective now with where my clientele is coming from and matching that up versus just sending it out there to any little magazine kind of thing.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's more trial and error, don't you think, at the beginning?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Waste money.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um where else did I waste?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm trying to think.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you where I spent money wisely.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yes, let's hear about that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really invested in the bones in the beginning of my business, meaning I worked with um someone to create my business plan and um my website and all of that and the tech stuff and the the way the payment was talking through to my um bank account, all those basics.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I really worked hard there because I'm a kind of person that'll kind of get all excited about all these ideas, and I don't like to do the nuts and bolts of like, okay, you got to make sure you're you know getting your accounting right and all that stuff.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I work, I I spent a lot of time there, um, which I'm glad I did, and it and it was money well spent.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because you're the visionary, you're not the person that's gonna integrate and do it all, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm also the the visionary where I don't I don't want to do all that little stuff.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're just chatting about how much we hate technology as we try to set up the podcast.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, not my friend.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's not my strong suit, and that's okay, right?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right, right, right.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: What about if you woke up tomorrow and you had to start the business again from zero?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what's something that you would do differently?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: Or would you even start the business again?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I would oh, I would absolutely start it again.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I have absolutely loved what I what I'm doing.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um what would I do differently?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love my location.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I really spent a lot of time researching exactly where I wanted to be.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in Broadruple in Indianapolis, and it's one of the highest per capita of women-owned businesses in the area.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I live near here, and one of my prerequisites from my life change in quitting in COVID was I wanted to walk to work because I had such a long commute and was in the car so much with my other corporate job, and that was not fun.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think people need to think about that time wasted in the car.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was a lot of time in the car, it was very stressful, traffic, and I just not only did I start a business, I did a life revamp.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um one of the things I would tell myself, I I really had a lot of self-doubt when I when I quit because I walked away from a nice paycheck and insurance and all that great stuff.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And definitely in the beginning, I was questioning myself, who am I?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: What am I doing?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: How do why do I think I can do this?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: What do I have to offer?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Does do people really want what I have to offer?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it was all that self-doubt just came like flooding up, and my lovely husband would talk me down off the cliff a lot of times.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um, as it progressed and I got more confident in it, it it's now I just it's it's so much better.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think you're right about the self-doubt.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like we all go through that, most of us at least.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um had your husband to to talk you down from that.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: But um I think that's really common.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: How long do you think that you felt the self-doubt?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And is this am I really doing this type of talk to yourself?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how long did that last?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely the first couple years because I I was trying to figure out the rhythm of the business, I was figuring out the rhythm of the clients.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, my cash flow was much lower than my constant steady paycheck.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I also chose a good time in life because I have my children are raised.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I and it back in the time I was in corporate, I had a lot more bills and things and responsibilities.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so um it was it's just now my husband and I.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we can afford for me to have a couple lower months.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great point.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: When someone's opening a business, keeping in mind that if you have certain needs every month to meet, you really have to talk it over with your spouse or the family to make sure, right?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, absolutely and and I benefited because he he's an he he ran um, he's an attorney and um he was the managing partner, so he knows what it's like to run a business, and he he gave me a lot of insight in that, and and a lot of from what I gleaned just being in a corporate setting, but the nuts and bolts of it, I got a lot of coaching from him as well.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: He really is really supportive, and I read a lot of books.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm very right-brained, and so I I really lean into like there's a there's a business uh book that I got on, you know, doing business for the right brain.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm highly creative, so I'm not gonna do it quite like maybe another side of the brain would do.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm much more creative, I'm much more intuitive.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I lean into what feels right, whether that's right or wrong, it's been working for me.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: I was just gonna ask you what book, and then you came out with it because I know that you're a reader and you always give me books to read, and that has my homework.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I I looked at a lot of that, and um and and I really use the model of Martha Stewart because Martha Stewart picks out and shows everything she loves, that's what she does.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm sure now she's got some other crazy team that finds out everything for her, but in the beginning, that's what she did, so that's what I do.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I teach and give services and modalities to people that I love that work for me, and um and the way of being and the way of thinking works for me.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that's I'm I sit right in it.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I think that's the best, is coming directly from your heart, and you have experienced it, etc.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'd like to um go backwards a little bit and talk about when you mentioned that your husband was uh strong support for you at the beginning.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, can we go a little bit more into like what it's like to have a supporting spouse or a friend or someone that's really there when you're starting the business and how important that was for you?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was in and I will say my friends were incredibly supportive.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And but a lot of it was on me because I'm a person that I don't tell a lot about what I'm doing or creating in the beginning because I'm just that way.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um I don't know what that's about.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like I felt like I needed to kind of get it figured out and and then and then talk about it.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But um yeah, he he just he he really was very understanding.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Hey, I'm not sure, you know, financially we can't completely depend on me immediately in the beginning.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I absolutely understand that.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm in this with you.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um he helped me through the ebbs and flows of, you know, uh it also him being my partner, I could get my insurance through him.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna say that that was a nice benefit for me.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, he we we he I just would kind of download what was going on through the day and what I was coming up against, and and different marketing strategies he thought, or I would just roll those things off on him quite a bit.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like he was very supportive, very supportive.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Very he listens.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um first go around, and my experience of life with a partner was not like that.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a life revamp and now I have a fabulous partner.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love who who loves what I do and and talks about what I do and supports what I do, and um yeah, he he's really aligned with me.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's key.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think you and I have talked about that on different aspects, but you know, starting a business, you really need people involved that believe in you.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um just listen to you, maybe not always quote, tell you what to do, uh-huh, and offer you know advice and just be a sounding board and someone like a cheerleader.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you just need a cheerleader, right?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yes.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um, someone that can come help me fix my printer.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or hey, yeah, um, come help me, or my accounting didn't come out quite right.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that it would be very difficult, those listening, if you're wanting to start a business and you have a spouse um or someone significant that doesn't believe in what you do necessarily or isn't your cheerleader, it does make it more difficult.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it does.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Work, right?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like you just can't get it all out there when you've got some negativity surrounding it.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: That is so true.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I um like I said, I had this idea when I was 25, and it's morphed and changed in what it's become because of my life experience, work experience, that kind of thing.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: But there's no way I could have done any of this um with my former partner.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: So how many years from 25, since not everyone knows you, how many years did this um sit and meditate in your brain in your right side of your brain?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: What's the math here?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be 60.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I started this uh five, six years ago.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So we're looking at 30, yeah, 30.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: We've had three years of yeah, formulating this.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it just wouldn't go away.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I I just I've always been an entrepreneur at spirit.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did other smaller businesses, um, I did consulting work and things like that, but this this is truly my baby, and I love her.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, before we end the podcast, you know I have to ask you a question.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Since this is the bougie multipreneur podcast, I need to know what's your bougie splurge, like something that you just spend money on, Jennifer.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I the first thing that comes to mind is I absolutely love attending retreats and trainings with either spiritual teachers or uh wellness people.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And typically those and those places environment have like a really great environment.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a great retreat center or a fabulous hotel, and I go all in with that.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I get my own room, I do all that stuff, and I take time to just reset for me.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a I'm an avid learner, and I can't think of anything more I'd like to do than to learn something more.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that sounds like a blast to me, and that's where I spent my money.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: And where was your last trip?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: I know that you told me personally, but tell us where your last fabulous trip was.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I went to Peru and I uh a spiritual retreat in Peru for 14 days, and it was just absolutely um a trip of a lifetime.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people say that that about trips, and I my husband and I travel quite a bit.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to travel, but um, this one this one was amazing for me personally and spiritually.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love it, and I love that you spend money on yourself.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: May um I add your email or any information in the notes to this podcast in case anyone wants to reach out to you, Jennifer.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, should I get my website?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let's put it in there and I'll also um put it in the notes so if you're listening and you don't have time to write this down.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so my website is balanced soulindi.com.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like to reach out to me, it's Jennifer J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R at balanceoulindi.com.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd love to hear from you.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for being on the podcast.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate it.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: I love chatting with you and we'll have to do another one soon.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think maybe we should do one just about Reiki because you know how much I love it.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I would love to do that with you.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Hilary.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.