Engaging in Authentic Self-Expression for Alignment in Business, Self-Acceptance, and Personal Branding with Kari Russell

Speaker 1: 0:00

Ooh, we've got a bit of a spicy episode today. This episode is quite different than, I think I'm sure, any other guest episode we've done in the past. Usually, if you have been listening, usually you know that we do an intro. That's just like a little clip of something punchy that we talk about during the episode. I wanted to preface this episode with a proper introduction for two reasons. One, if you didn't hear a few episodes back because Steve has been like the recurring guest for the last couple I don't even know how long it's been at this point, a couple of months and if you didn't hear a couple episodes ago we had a day where so we record our podcast episodes, we also meet to like go through what we're doing with the program, the project that we've got going on, and one day we met and everything just sort of ballooned and got really big, like more ideas and the direction maybe is changing and so we're figuring some things out and it doesn't really make sense for us to move forward with Like we actually have one or two episodes that we recorded that I have and have not released and it doesn't make sense to really release them. So and we didn't really have a proper like hey, this is the last episode we're doing together for right now. For this reason I'm sure he'll be back, so wanted to preface it with that Just in case you didn't hear it.

Speaker 1: 1:29

But also the second reason that I wanted to record an intro is because this is slightly different than guest episodes I've had in the past. Not in format. It's actually very similar to the old school guest format where we start the journey and then we get into more of like what it is that they actually do and what their expertise is around. But what carries expertise is around is in self-expression and branding. Formally, she also has a ton of expertise in human design and we speak about that and how she's transitioned through human design into branding and self-expression. And then I asked a question about spicy romance novels and that really took the whole conversation in a very different direction. So I wanted to. It's not a warning, because there's nothing like bad or explicit in any way, but it is definitely different subject matter and I think that it's fascinating in connecting what we are talking about at the end of this in the second half of this episode to business and how we show up in our business and how we sell and the shame that we feel in our business and especially for all the ladies out there listening to this, the shame that we feel around that. It's really interesting to me and I hope that it's as interesting to you. I would love to know your feedback on this. I'm sure Harry would as well. All of her links will be below. If you wanna get in touch with either her or me, we would love it, and so I'm not gonna talk anymore. I want you to get to this. I hope you love this episode and let's get to it.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Welcome to the Scaling Lounge, a podcast for established service-based business owners who believe in working smarter, resting often, playing always and dreaming bigger. I'm your host, adrienne Gallia, and I want to help you create time, financial and lifestyle freedom by scaling with systems, strategy and the support of a team, so that your business is able to grow, with or without you. Let's get to it. Okay, hello, carrie. So I'm gonna start it out with do you wanna just give the people a little bit of background of who you are and what you do? Yeah, so Sarah Russell.

Speaker 2: 3:53

I call myself an energetic business coach and I specialize in helping women leaders online who know that they are here to make a big and massive impact really tap into their true, authentic self-expression. I have built my own business and pivoted and refined and really tapped into deeper authenticity and expression myself and I've experienced living life where it's like not in alignment with what feels good putting on the mask, doing the things that you think you're meant to do and when you come home to yourself and really truly allow that authentic expression, that power, that boldness, that impact to lead the way, it opens up so much freedom and liberation. So my work and my impact and what I help my clients do is really like shift their perspectives and see things in a different way and tap into the truth when I say like the truth of their self-expression, so that they can feel that liberation and that complete freedom in running their business and living their lives their way.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Amazing, but this is new-ish for you. You've done a pivot.

Speaker 2: 4:58

Yeah, I think pivot Fair recently.

Speaker 1: 5:00

Well, I feel like the pivot was like. It was like in pieces, because I've seen, because I've known you for a little while, so there's been like pieces where it started to shift into something else. But then the real big pivot came recently. But can we go way back? So like what to talk about the beginning of your journey, and then we'll get into this. It's like we're setting this sticker. It's like a preview of what's to come. Talk about the big pivot in a minute. I actually don't know if I know the answer to this question. What led you from? Were you a teacher, a teacher, and then you started a business.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Kind of kind of. It was kind of like two separate life pathways that were happening at one time. I was originally working as an assistant store manager at Lulu Lemon and that is where I started to dive into like coaching and leadership and goal setting and personal responsibility and big conversations. I was like the resident goal coach on the team there for six years. So having these leadership, managing a team, leading a team, having these conversations I used to hold leadership training events and goal setting workshops all the time and it was through helping and coaching other people that I realized that I wanted to become a teacher. So I went back to school in my early 30s to become a teacher. Now I knew that I didn't wanna be like a full-time in the classroom teacher. I still. I valued like freedom and time and like time freedom that I went into it knowing I wanted to be just a supply teacher so I could make my schedule. I had two young kids at the time. My husband's a teacher.

Speaker 2: 6:37

So I went back to school at 33 when I graduated teachers college. That's when I decided to start my business. So that's when I decided to start leading goal setting workshops. I was originally goals and greats and it was specifically helping women yeah, goals and greats. Helping women step into their vision and create goals and see possibility. And that's where, like the alignment piece really started to like blossom. And that's also when I found human design, so started supply teaching, started my business and then, about a year and a half into my business, I decided teaching children. I still love the act of teaching and sharing and educating, but being in the classroom wasn't actually what I desired, so I left teaching and just went all in on my business and then the world shut down.

Speaker 1: 7:28

And oh, and we've reached that point of the story.

Speaker 2: 7:31

Yeah, but yeah, that's the timeline.

Speaker 1: 7:33

This is a goofy question, I think, but, like supply teaching, I think is what we would call substituting, because Carrie is in the land of Ontario and you're on Ontario, right? Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:44

Ontario Canada.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Like where you get called in for like the day to teach. Is that supply teaching? Yeah, yeah, I do not know what was called something different in Canada. Yeah, supply teaching.

Speaker 2: 7:55

Yeah, I guess substitute teaching too, but we just call it supply. It's like you're on the supply list, so you supply. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:02

It's easier to say, it's less of a mouthful. Yeah, okay, so you. What was goals? And goals was specifically to help people set goals and achieve them.

Speaker 2: 8:13

Yeah, it was all about clarity coaching. Like clarity coaching, there's a lot of mindset, emotional intelligence work there. This is kind of where the self-expression piece really started to surface for me, in realizing how much of our self-expression is tied into everything that we do. But like the shadows that we have, like not wanting to be seen specific ways in our desires and our goals and taking certain goals because it's what we should want, Like there was a lot of like. I want like fusion of mindset, emotional intelligence, self-expression work, shadow work, but all geared towards helping women get clear on what it is that they want and then taking the aligned action to step into it.

Speaker 1: 8:58

I'm curious was this the language that you used then? Like, did you already have this type of around alignment? And yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:06

It's yeah, this. It's kind of funny Like I've always been a coach but I didn't actually ever call myself that because, like before Lululemon, before I had kids, I worked as a personal trainer for 12 years so I was coaching women and I worked in an, I would say, 90% of my time training. I was working with women, so I was coaching my female clients. Yes, we were working out and doing diet plans and stuff, but it was all like interpersonal coaching, life coaching, vision coaching, goal coaching. So it's always been part of my vocabulary. It's always been part of like who I am as an individual when I'm in a relationship with people. I just started to really refine and put titles to it and get some specificity as to, like what I actually am good at and what I actually do when I started working at Lululemon and became a goal coach and that's kind of what precipitated the business starting.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Ah yeah, I'm enjoying. This is like I'm just enjoying this for myself. So I'm like I know you and so, getting these little insights, I'm like this is interesting me, hope it's interesting. I think it's interesting. I think that listening to people's origin stories in general is fascinating 100%. But then you found human design and that's what.

Speaker 1: 10:20

I get from. That's the. I think at some point I had like done the Insta scroll where you go all of it Like what was this person at before? So I think I knew the goal rapes loosely, but I did not know you at that point. But the human design was like such a huge part, it was your business, it was such a huge part of you and who you are and what you did and what you helped people with. It's like how did you find it? How did that change things?

Speaker 2: 10:46

I. It changed everything and, like, my relationship with human design has obviously shifted and changed. I was saying, like the last six to eight months and I've you know been communicating that and this is the rebrand and the pivoting that you mentioned earlier.

Speaker 2: 11:01

But, when I've landed on human design, I want to say it was like late 2018, early 2019. And it just gave me such this like release, like understanding who I was and why I was the way I was. Specifically, you know not to go into like human design, you know technically but like the way that I respond to other people's emotions, the way my mind thinks in terms of like ideas and perspective shifting. And you know, I've always felt like I can. I'm not very opinionated because I can see so many different sides of the same coin. So I find landing on the one thing that I believe has been very challenging for me and I used to think that was like I used to shame myself for a lot of the things that I thought about myself. So when I learned about human design, it just gave me this permission to be myself. Now my relationship with human design has shifted since then, but it because it so radically changed my level of self-acceptance, my level of self-knoworship, my level of self-ownership, which these are now key terms in my vocabulary. Now it just like I've seen my life as like before human design and after human design, like I can, I see so much of like younger Carrie, with like so much more compassion and grace and love and releasing that shame, releasing that guilt, releasing that frustration. So that's when I had such tremendous growth in my leadership, in my mindset, my emotional intelligence, from human design and I studied it for about eight to 10 months before I started bringing it into my business.

Speaker 2: 12:45

So I would say, like late 2019, early 2020, right when I was leaving teaching, is when human design and my business kind of like really intersected and that's really when I started working with business owners. So when I first started Goals and Graves, I was working just with women, doesn't matter what they were doing, but I one of my best friends runs a small business in our hometown and I'm connected to her and all of her business owners. So she I would start doing like business workshops for her community. And that's when I really started to connect with business owners and that really lit me up and inspired me. The ambition and the resiliency and the courage and the bravery that entrepreneurs innately have within them. It's like I knew that I wanted to work in that realm. So that's when human design and my business and working with business owners kind of all came to a head.

Speaker 1: 13:42

How do you feel like that, like either changed or propelled the trajectory that your business was on at that point?

Speaker 2: 13:50

Massively.

Speaker 2: 13:51

In reflecting back now, I can see how having the tool of human design gave me something super tangible that I could 100% share with my people and know that they would be able to make changes and see like almost immediate results.

Speaker 2: 14:10

Yes, it takes the inner work, it takes the embodiment and the integration, but just the perspective shifts that I was able to give people in that early stage and specifically with women in business who it's so easy to see what everyone else is doing and I still coach people on this Like it's so easy to see what everyone else is doing, it's so easy to get swept up in what's going to be easy or successful.

Speaker 2: 14:33

So having the ability to work with leaders in business and creating a business model and a way of showing up, expressing themselves in their business that was purely themselves was so like that's like mm. Like totally lit me up and allowed the clients I was working with to see like incredible results, not just in, like the tangible results, but the behind the scenes and how they were feeling inside of their business, which is where primarily I like to work with individuals is behind the business, not like in the business strategy and like traditional executive business coaching. I'm more of the energetic, the energetic, the alignment pieces behind the business. So me and my business, the connections I made and I'm still connected with a huge group of my we call them like my OG clients like there's still lots of connections that are still present, even through all my pivots and stuff in my business. All the changes.

Speaker 1: 15:31

Yeah, is that where you saw the most? We don't have to get into numbers, but like saw the most business growth through like revenue and clients served, and do you feel like that?

Speaker 2: 15:43

Yeah, I feel like it's funny because I have like this mixed emotion talking about, you know, the pandemic and the lockdowns and stuff, because I know that that period of time was not. It was so challenging for so many and I know that I was extremely privileged to be able to to see that time period as a period of growth and expansion for myself. With my husband being a teacher, he was now at home with me but he was able to teach from home my kids. So there was a lot of there was a lot of privilege that I experienced in that, you know, that time period of the world. But it was in that time period that I, you know, my clarity came through, my excitement really came through.

Speaker 2: 16:27

I was spending so much time like enjoying life, having my family home with me and being able to go from in-person to online just opened up my community that much bigger, because goals and grapes and most of my business was done in person before the pandemic and so shifting to online it just, it just brought me so much more visibility and it really allowed me to refine it, because a big part, like one of my big shadows and why I held on to online and in-person workshops was like I'm like an in-person person, like I like I'm like a touchy-feely, I'm like an in-your-space, like I'm like a very animated and like my energy I know my energy is powerful and potent in person.

Speaker 2: 17:12

So I had this fear that I wasn't gonna be able to translate that online. But when the world shut down, I was like, okay, got it, got it, I'm gonna do it Right, right, yeah. So I really feel like that time period, the connections, the new connections that I was building and developing and growing, and my, you know, having human design as such a transformational tool when the world is going crazy and individuals are looking for clarity and for groundedness and anchoredness, I feel like it was that. That was kind of like the fusion of where I saw my business really, really kind of. I don't wanna say like take off, but take off into that time period.

Speaker 1: 17:53

I'm gonna come back to this because there's a specific reason that I was curious about that. But I wanna keep with, like, getting to the progression of your timeline. But I'm gonna come back to that. So if you see me writing, if you see me looking down on this because I'm writing notes, I'm gonna ignore you. So that's a big chunk of time. Like you came into the human design piece of your business right before the pandemic-ish and it was only in the last few months. Can we jump forward, the big thing that started to shift human design for you? I think I know what the answer is, but what was that for you?

Speaker 2: 18:25

Two things.

Speaker 2: 18:26

So last summer so not summer of 2023, but the summer of 2022, I just started having just this like resistance, just this resistance to my design and to what I knew about myself, and like I started to see almost where it felt like I was fighting for my alignment to fit my design, which it's kind of funny because when I think like this is often what happens with clients when they first find out about their human design, not after like three to four years of integrating and embodying, but I just started to get these like intuitive nudges that something was just like, like something was just feeling off.

Speaker 2: 19:06

But that summer my Nana passed away and it was a very emotional period with lots of grief that I wasn't had no experience of the first time being an adult, having lost someone super close to me. So it was just like one of those like when it rains, at pours, kind of time where it's like just felt like everything was just kind of like feeling off, but I just kind of let it, like I allowed the discomfort and this is one thing that I play in and speak to and lead within my business is like the comfort and the discomfort and really consciously allowing the discomfort it's. You know, I think of it as like the tower card in tarot, where it's like things are crumbling, things are falling away to create space for new. So at the end of 2022, my intuition was speaking to me.

Speaker 2: 19:54

I started to just but I wasn't really listening Like this is where I wasn't really trusting my intuition, but it was starting to make itself known. And then, at the beginning of this year, I found out about 13 sign true astrology which I am by no means an expert in, but that was 13 sign true astrology and in finding out that I wasn't actually an Aquarius and I know that we're going into astrology and horoscope now, but this is what kind of led to to where my relationship with human design shifted is I found out that I wasn't an Aquarius. I was like you're a Capricorn, right, I'm a Capricorn, I'm a Capricorn, so I'm not going to spiel about 13 sign astrology, but there's a beautiful soul online who I. She showed up through another friend of mine. You know, it's like the universe gives you. You know, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Speaker 2: 20:45

So you know what I mean. So I was on Instagram and a fellow coach who I love and adore was talking about her experience with this and I was like I wonder what's changed for me? And in finding out that I wasn't a Capricorn, it made me, because human design is, you know, grounded in astrology. It made me start like what if my chart's wrong? Yeah, and so that's what led me into investigating what my human design would be if my astrology was different. And then I found out that the last four years of my embodiment, my chart wasn't actually my chart.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Right.

Speaker 2: 21:25

And that awareness led to a lot of perspective shifts around. You know how our mind really tries to make us right, how our mind really tries to fit, even unconsciously, into the rules and the roles and the titles that we claim to be, and it just led to what I called, like this identity deconstruction. It was like everything I thought I knew about myself for the last four years not that it was wrong, but it was just it was off and that led me to this like now I know why I've been feeling this resistance. Now I know why I've been feeling this disconnection to my design, to human design as a whole, and how yes, it's still a tool that I feel is beautiful for awareness and for self-reflection and for getting to the truth of what actually feels good for us my, the fighting for alignment within it, or like the pressure to be the most aligned MG. That type of a relationship with human design has kind of like like I realized where I was using my chart, as like the thing that I identified with, like I would lead with my human design instead of leading with me. It's like I'm a five one sacral generator. It's like that's the most important thing about me and like I'm so a lot like I realized where my ego was attached to the identity of being an aligned, you know five, one sacral generator and it just it was one of those like holy fuck moments of like how did I get so intertwined with this tool where I kind of forgot about myself and my gifts and my like.

Speaker 2: 23:05

When I started my business, I didn't have human design and I like what is like, and I got to the point where it's like I felt like I couldn't have conversations with people without knowing their chart because I didn't want to say something wrong. Like it almost like created this, like inner doubt of like what if I coach them incorrectly? Like it was so many pieces of like unconscious awareness, all surface kind of like all at one time and that led to just the complete shift out of my title of human design coach, human design expert, and really showed me where it's underneath all of the work that I was doing with my people with human design. It was it all comes down to authentic self-expression. Like underneath all of it all comes down to what I was almost originally coaching on four or five years ago mindset, emotional intelligence, I didn't have that happen.

Speaker 2: 23:56

I should. Yeah, how'd you go through this? Like loop-de-loop, but yeah, it was a big. It's Like, when I think back now, like I really felt and it's so fun I were talking about this today because I literally just dropped a post on my Instagram about this this morning it's like in order to step back into all of me and all of who I am and what I'm here for. It's like there was so much releasing.

Speaker 2: 24:18

I had to let go of so many things, letting go of almost every single one of my signature offers. I was saying no to clients, you know, no longer feeling aligned like saying no to money, saying no to offers, and like just it was, there was. There's been so much no in my world in order to hold the space for this big yes. And it's like not that I feel like I'm starting over, cause I don't like we're always building on what we've created, but it's like this, like this rebuilding, this freshness, this openness to like, where that attachment to any one specific thing and my identity isn't attached to my title anymore, and that feels fucking incredible, yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:02

Yeah, it's so interesting because I've had a couple people on this podcast who did Hume Design and no longer do, and there's so many like intertwined themes around something or how your identity gets tied around. You know, I'm of this, I'm of that, I'm of the other. You know, I'm a five one self projected projector, I'm a five one sacred generator, whatever it is. And then how can this one little tool shift, going from but it's a sidereal astrology, right, like going from like Western astrology to sidereal astrology? That from one little shift completely like it doesn't act, did it really change your identity? Like how can it take? Almost like it? I found this cause.

Speaker 1: 25:46

I used Hume Design for a long time in my business and my big eye opener of like I don't think I can do this anymore, was I this one client who was a projector. I've told this story before that. She came to me and was like I don't understand why nothing is working and I feel like I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing and I can't sign clients. I can't figure out, like why am I not making any money? Blah, blah, blah. And so my business is not. My business is very strategic, but I loved the Hume Design element.

Speaker 1: 26:21

But I mean, you know I love strategy and so I was like what have you been doing? What's been like laid out to me? What have you done this week? Where have you like, what have you done for lead gen? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she's like well, I just, you know, I didn't really have time, like I had this other stuff going on, and we went through and I was like okay, so what you're telling me, I think, is that you spent like 10 minutes every day, maybe totaling 45 minutes, probably less than an hour in the week. Yes, that was confirmed. What I was hearing was correct and I was like okay, so this makes perfect sense why nothing is happening, cause you've got a whatever. And she said, well, but I'm supposed to be like, I'm a projector, I'm not supposed to be working that way, and like if I want to manifest, blah, blah, blah. And I was like I can't, I can't use this anymore.

Speaker 1: 27:08

And it wasn't an immediate, but it was such a like it was almost a crutch, and it was interesting to me for that particular person that it was like a sense of relief, like a gift, that I was like no, you have to put effort into this, like it's not just because you're a projector, you can just do nothing and expect. And the relief that I saw was like this is this no longer feels good to me anymore to be supporting like this is not, this is this just doesn't work for me in this way.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Yeah, and I think, like that it's because human design kind of like, they got super popular really fast and lots of people were speaking on it. And this is it's so funny because it's like, intuitively, I knew right from the beginning of human, because I never wanted to be the human design resource where you come to learn about, like what does gate 33 mean? And you know what I mean. Like find, find the information of it. Like for me, I never, like I very I had very short period of time even doing just human design readings because it's like uh-uh, like I'm, I want to go deep, I want to the integration in the, but the coaching that needs to happen behind the human design chart, behind the human design information, that's where I and like I'm, I'm, I'm the depth in it. Like that's for me, that's what really lit me up and that's also what I struggle with.

Speaker 2: 28:28

Because there's so much information about human design out there and because what I know about our mindset and our psyche, it's so easy to attach on to those like, oh, I'm a projector, I'm only supposed to do this and then I'm going to be super successful, so, but that's not truly aligned with being a projector. So there's like it's the, the I don't want to say the amount of work that goes in behind the scenes and aligning to your human design chart, but there is like, it takes time, it takes self, you know, reflection. But so many people read one thing and they adopted as their identity and that's where there's like and that's, you know, personal responsibility comes into play here, for for people and and the acknowledgement of where our mind and our ego really likes to find excuses, right, like that's where, like the self leadership work, personal responsibility work comes into play.

Speaker 2: 29:21

But yeah, because there are and that's where it's like so many people they don't have all the information, so they're basing all of these decisions on the, on the, the, you know, like the, the one, the one spoonful of soup and a huge, you know, you know, huge, pot of potentiality for them. So, yeah, I don't know if that was the best analogy, but like they're just, they're just giving the surface.

Speaker 2: 29:44

They're just giving the surface out of it. And yeah, and I think too like this, this relationship with human design, it also goes like just the relationship with personal development as a whole, the relationship with self improvement as a whole, like it's so easy to get fixated on the fixing, it's so easy to get addicted to the improvement process and it makes us feel like we're being productive and that we're doing things. And yeah, on an internal level maybe, but it's that fusion of the intern and this is why I always talk like internal self expression and external, like they, they both go hand in hand. It's not about doing all of the healing work first and then stepping out and showing up in your business. It's about being able to walk with both and and navigate both and and really paying attention to what you're making things mean in your healing journey, as to what you can and can't do externally and and you know, outwardly in the impact that you're making in your business. So, yeah, there's so so many things that kind of are part of this relationship shift.

Speaker 1: 30:47

So where I was gonna go earlier that I was like no, I wanna hold this cause, I wanna get through your pivot and that part of the journey. But I think the most surprise cause what you know I've run businesses for many, many, many, many different businesses all over the place doing different things since I was really young and I have always been very strategically minded. Give me something until, like, my brain can figure something out. And I think one of the biggest shifts for me when the pandemic happened and moving to business online and becoming aware of all of these self-development tools, was how many very successful people like what you don't hear behind the scenes is the mindset work and figuring out what's aligned and how you get into success that's congruent with your values and what you you know.

Speaker 1: 31:42

Like all these things that are so much more like I would have just completely brushed them off as like, oh, that's too, like airy fairy or woo, woo or whatever, and it's the more like no, I think that that's that's the real work. Like you can have all the strategy in the world. And if you don't have that, if you aren't doing anything with interwork and you're not continuing like, I heard someone say like, oh, I've done the work and I was like, no, you don't, you've not done the work. You're always doing the work. You're never just it's not a one and done. And if you're not continuing to do this, like you're missing such a massive part of ever being able to be any other way around, like if you're only ever doing the internal work and you have nothing strategic, and I don't know, unless you're lucky, I don't know how far you're gonna get.

Speaker 1: 32:26

At some point that's gonna. At some point you're gonna have to figure it out. My question in all of this, as I've rattled through that, is in holding the shift between, okay, I'm moving into something that's more human design related than your business took off, and then realizing that maybe this is not, it's no longer in alignment with you, you no longer feel in alignment with your design, which was your business Like. I think. My observation as an outsider was you handled it so extraordinarily well, like it was. I mean, your business is, I think it's centered around leadership. That's what drew me to you. Like it was the human design stuff at first, but it was the leadership side of things.

Speaker 1: 33:05

And, to use the like, oh, it made sense that you were a five one then, yeah, I don't know if I'm rationalized it that way, I was surprised, but you're not. So then what does that mean? But how did those tools and then sort of the breakdown or the deconstruction or the rebuilding of those tools help from the business shift standpoint of like being able to grow and maintain growth or maintain the business shifts? I feel like that was such a long question with so many parts. So I don't see where I'm going with that. Like, how did those tools? Because really you handled it so well.

Speaker 2: 33:42

Thank you, thank you, I really this is something that I've really and even as I continue on, it's someone else said to me, like leadership is my thing, and it's so funny because it's like it is but it's like I've never thought of it as like my leading thing, as like leadership and self-expression.

Speaker 2: 34:00

But even through the pandemic, it's like I've always wanted to see myself as like the leader that people can and this might be like attachment still surfacing but that people can rely on.

Speaker 2: 34:12

You know, like I show up, like and I've shown up through I don't want to say every single day, because that's unrealistic, but like I've taken time off, I've spent time outside with my family and stuff, but I've shown up every day since my business started, like through all of the internal mindset, the internal fear, the internal self-doubt, like I've always wanted to be this vulnerable example of like the truth, of what actually, what it actually means to be a leader. So I have, you know, intentionally, strategically, wanted to share all sides of myself with my people, and so the being able to share the shift of my own identity, it felt scary, it, you know, even the post I shared this morning is extremely, you know, pulling the veil kind of thing, but in doing so, like I had to be okay with the structure of my business, the sales of my business, the growth of my business pivoting with me.

Speaker 2: 35:15

You know, at the end of last year, when I really started saying no to things that meant letting go of my highest income-generating offer in my business, that I said no to almost probably 150K in one-to-one clients who wanted to work with me and it was just no, it wasn't aligned, it was saying, you know, letting go of every, almost every single one of my offers at the beginning of this year and really rebuilding and starting from a more. I don't wanna say aligned, because even over the last four I was aligned, I was in authenticity. But it's just, it's a different state now. So I felt like this clearing out of what was no longer good so that I could completely build on a much more solid foundation. So even though, like, my business isn't where it was last year or the year before that, like the external results of my business, the internal foundation is at a again. It's so when I hear myself say this, it's not like it wasn't before, it's just different.

Speaker 2: 36:20

Now, with the perspective and the insight and the awareness that I have now, if that makes sense, yeah, cause it's not like I hit burnout, it's not like I was doing things out of integrity. It's not like I was, you know. It's not like I created a business that I hated, like there was none of that energy that precipitated the shift or the pivot. It was more of just this like internal shedding of. Do you know what I mean? Yes, cause I know, like a lot of a lot of you know, and I think a lot of you know, the community that you speak to is like really building a business that supports them and like, well, they're not burnout, they're not working and working and working. So it's like those telltale signs of like a misaligned business I never experienced. I didn't. I was never burnt out. I heard like I had the most incredible schedule, I loved my clients, like it wasn't that anything felt bad or wrong. It was just it. Just, I just knew it needed to change.

Speaker 1: 37:18

That makes sense. How do you process through, like when you start to get like a glimmer or a nudge of this feels off? How do you, how do you allow yourself to sit with that and then process through it and then either move or don't move. Whatever the however, the decision comes up.

Speaker 2: 37:37

Yeah, so I. It's funny because I've always been someone who does move fast. It's like I don't, like I'll. You know, and that's really one of the powerful way in which I built my business over the last four years was I would get a download. I would hear my sacred yes and I go from like idea to launch to leading the offer and like days, sometimes, you know, like I didn't, I didn't wobble in my decision-making, I didn't overthink or overanalyze and I'm not a planner Like I'm so far not, like I'm not strategic, like when I compare, like your brain to my brain, it's like the total opposite, like the airy, very woo, woo. That's me, and the strategy and the visioning and the, the organization, that's you. And so I would like five days to an offer.

Speaker 1: 38:24

That sounds, that sounds terrible.

Speaker 2: 38:28

Well, it's funny, even when, like what I hear about, like people like a three month launch, like even that is like look like I can't, like that doesn't feel fun for me, like the idea of like well, having that much detail and organization ahead of time, like again, it's just so. I built my business moving fast and I built my business going from idea to action in alignment, like super, super quick. I have noticed since my it's like I have slowed down, like I have really given myself so much space to ensure the clarity, because what I have found is that the idea is in the vision that I'm having now and where I see it's like the clarity is still coming. It's like it drops in like little drips, and it's like I'm not forcing the clarity, I'm truly just allowing it to land. But I'll tell you it's frustrating as fuck. You know like it's frustrating, like my instinctual way, my actual, like innate way, is fast. I love intensity, like I'm an intense person, like you know, like I'm staring you in the eyes right now.

Speaker 1: 39:39

People aren't necessarily gonna see this, but it was like I'm an intense person.

Speaker 2: 39:42

Yeah, like I'm like staring at you through the camera. But like, that's who I like I'm in. I love the intensity, I love the heat, I love the friction, I love the like. You know, I like to like, I'm like the tornado that comes in and whips shit up and then goes away and then comes back in and whips shit up and goes away, so that I'm kind of in this like space of like I feel that building back up as this new, but I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.

Speaker 2: 40:09

I don't feel like I'm in a rush right, like I'm not rushing this rebuilding of this more solid foundation and that you know that's it's, this is, this is where it's like the ego work, the mindset work, the emotional intelligence work, the shadow work, like all the tools that I have in my back pocket, like I use every, every single day, because I know this is like it's funny, like the level of responsibility I feel for the impact that I'm here to make.

Speaker 2: 40:37

It's like I don't want to fuck up the impact that I'm here to make, like I really I'm so conscious that of like the, the work that I'm here to do, what I want to be known for, the impact, the relationships that I'm here to make. It's like I'm really I'm not allowing any like a shoddy object syndrome or any like ooh, that looks like like none of that, like I'm so focused and being specific on me and my gifts and my work here. So it's like you said to me at the beginning, like at the end you can like talk about like what, like what programs you have is like I really like there's very few ways to work with me right now where, if we had had this conversation like last year well, maybe not this time, but like last year I would have had like 10 offers.

Speaker 2: 41:22

So it's like my everything and how I'm moving and building my business now is as a much more grounded, anchored depth rather than breath. Yeah, is that width? Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 1: 41:38

Yeah, do you have tools for that that you like anchor into that you use daily or weekly or just when things come up?

Speaker 2: 41:46

Yeah, no, I'm a big journaler. I'm a big journaler, I'm a big starting to. I would say, like the last, especially the last few months, a lot of breath work. I do a lot of like. It's a more so of like because, like, I tend to run hot like and I tend to run like at like, a high energy, that's truly my body. It's all like, I don't want to say like nervous system regulation, but it's like bringing me, grounding me, like it's all groundedness work, because I you know, my husband jokes with me. He's like you're you're the.

Speaker 2: 42:20

You're the kite flying in the sky and I'm the one holding you to the ground, like that's kind of been like our relationship for the 20, 20 something years we've been together but, it's like I'm so like up here that I have a lot of energy. I'm like up here that I do my practices are like grounding me in the hot tub, you know, being outside in nature. Meditations I don't have like a ritual or like a daily like. This is my, like my morning ritual.

Speaker 2: 42:44

No, I let whatever is coming through in the moment to come in through the moment, but I have a wide variety of tools that I love to use here.

Speaker 1: 42:50

Here's one that feels out of left field, but I know that this is one of your offers and I truly don't know the answer. This question how do you use your spicy romances? Oh, I know that this is part of something that you do and I don't know actually what this is, but I this is great segue to ask about it. Perfect.

Speaker 2: 43:12

Yes, spice, I didn't find spicy romance. Spicy romance found me. So last last summer, when this is again, this is part of like the level of inner work and inner reflection and how our mind so and our ego really likes to protect us and if like, even like the high awareness and we can still miss things. So last summer, when my Nana was ill and she was, you know, we knew that her time was coming I numbed myself with spicy romances To to not feel the grief, like in the moment I didn't feel like that's what, that's what was happening. But in hindsight I can like experience because the grief of her death hit me so much, like after, after her passing.

Speaker 2: 44:01

But in reading spicy romances I was triggered so heavily and what I was reading in the words that were being used, in the sex scenes that were being described, in the types of relationships that were surfacing in the books, the different kinks and tropes, like I realized how much of a prude I was. It was one of those like holy crap, I have so much work here to do that I didn't even know existed, like I would say. Like I didn't like my relationship with, like now we're getting like real personal my relationship with like sex and intimacy and stuff. It was there like it was fine, like it wasn't. It wasn't great, but it wasn't like bad, like it was just kind of like there.

Speaker 2: 44:50

But reading these books made me realize how much body shame I had, how much like desire shame and pleasure shame I had, how uncomfortable I was. Like we wouldn't have been able to have this conversation, I wouldn't be able to have these words with you last. Like last, like summer 2022. Like I would have been too embarrassed because I hid the fact that I read spicy romances for so long, because I was so like people are going to think I'm reading porn. Like it was. Like there was like so much like inner self judgment around just engaging in it.

Speaker 1: 45:22

Just feel, like the word I just keep getting is like discomfort, like it all felt when you said triggering, like it was all very uncomfortable. Is that?

Speaker 2: 45:29

it was so uncomfortable and it really. That's that's when I really started like okay, like there's something in this for me. So it's like spicy romance found me and I wasn't prepared for. It's not like I chose to dive into it in this way, but it has become such a powerful tool in myself expression and in my client self expression. But it's not so much on the external expression of what, how, like what people see. It's not like I'm like walking around and like you know, a bdsm outfit and like whips and chains and like you know. I mean like that's not what I'm talking about. The internal relationship that we have with our bodies and even just in how we move our bodies and how we treat our bodies and how our internal relationship with desire and pleasure and the. You know the shame that we've been putting on ourselves for wanting what we want, even in non sexual ways Like this is where it's like the the transference is so powerful in in how we judge other people for what they're doing.

Speaker 2: 46:32

Like because I was real, I was judging these characters, these fictional characters, and like how could you do that?

Speaker 2: 46:37

Like that's so gross.

Speaker 2: 46:38

Like like I was realizing where I was, like judging the fictional characters and how that surfaces in our real life and also how we fear being judged so we don't show up, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 46:50

So like I could talk for hours and hours and hours about the spicy romance and the self expression, because it's like, and that you know, I have a spicy book club now, the trist, and that the launching of that like, so, like I lost a lot of people in and started to talk about it, and like lots of unfollowers and you know some, you know some clients in programs being like I don't get it like this, like how a spicy romance going to help me and my like lots of pushback, yeah, but again it was the act of self.

Speaker 2: 47:25

Like this is something that had, and now, with the women in the book club, like I know that this work is impactful and like the connections, the new connections that I've made with women inside of that group. It's, it's beautiful, the conversations of vulnerability again, that this vulnerability piece allowing ourselves to be seen in it. There's so much, there's so much inner shit that goes on that we are just too scared to admit, and that's, and that's the shit that holds us back is the stuff that we don't want to admit.

Speaker 2: 47:54

right, it's like what we resist persists, and if we're resisting because we don't want to admit it, it's like the magic lives in the shit we don't want to admit, and like that's where the spicy romance it just. Yeah, Adrian, you got to shut me out because I could go on forever.

Speaker 1: 48:11

No, I think it's. I think it's fascinating. It's so funny because, like my idea of like, if I'm going to read for pleasure, it's like give me historical nonfiction. No, no, no, no, no, no, it's like the concept, it doesn't bother me at all.

Speaker 1: 48:27

I think it's interesting to find anywhere there's a place where you go oh, that makes me extraordinarily uncomfortable, or I'm very judgmental of that, or, oh, I'm not into. That is really just an invitation to figure like why, why? Because really, what it doesn't affect your life, would you care? So where's the? I see it as an invitation of figuring out like, where is there a level, like there's something to be addressed here, and flipping it, I mean, in my I don't know if you use this as a tool somehow for people's businesses. I don't know where that connection I've. If you told me, I would believe it.

Speaker 1: 49:01

But also from a business perspective, when you choose to have a business, and especially the bigger it gets and the more you get away from the an experience that anyone else on the earth knows about, because most people will never know what it feels like to run a business and to put themselves out in the world, especially as a self employed person, and like it's just a mirror it holds. It's one giant mirror that gets held up to you at all times of everything that's going to trigger you and everything that's going to bother you and it's going to make you uncomfortable and like there, and it's almost like there's a mirror in that mirror somewhere, I don't know. I find it really fascinating that it could be a tool in that way, for for someone I don't know I don't even know how to articulate this.

Speaker 2: 49:44

Yeah, well, I 100% agree with you, like, I really like, everything is a mirror, right, like we, every, every, every looking outside your window could be a mirror. You know, like, and this is where that fine line of like, getting addicted to looking in the mirror and getting fixated on what the mirror is showing us versus knowing what reflections actually need work and actually and don't what I love about and you know to go to the spice of romance is that so often we try and think our way through the, through our shit. And this is where I've really found that fusion of like, what I call like the psyche and the somatic writing. We know, like psychosomatic, right? We know that, with that term, what I have found with the, and even now using like very explicit songs and music and even audio, spicy audio books, hits in a totally different way than reading, then reading spicy romance, but it elicits a visceral sensation in your body, like your brain can say do I don't like that, that's gross, I don't understand that.

Speaker 2: 50:51

But when your body starts to respond in a different way, it's like it can't be ignored, right? So the way in which and because and I think this is just my my love for the intensity, the unconventional, the like, the discomfort, the disruption. The books that I read like there's so many of them are so dark and taboo. Like they're, they're not Real a lot of them. They might be realistic, but they're very some of them real, real dark.

Speaker 1: 51:19

Yeah, you'll go documentary on it. That was like whoa there's yes, not there that whoa, that's very dark.

Speaker 2: 51:26

So it's very confronting. Yeah, so again, it's like that. This it's like it can't be ignored, like you can read like trust, trust the universe, or trust your intuition. Like you can read that quote like a thousand times.

Speaker 1: 51:41

You're like, yeah, yeah yeah, boy, see you though.

Speaker 2: 51:47

But it's like what? It's like a very descriptive and taboo and confronting scene. It's like you can't, it's like you want to look. It's like when you're watching a scary movie You're and you want to look away, but you're like, you're like peeking through your fingers, like it's like your body's reaction to it, your body's response. That's really where it's like okay, how does it feel in your body when you read that scene? Not what your mind is telling you. Where is your mind judging you for how your body is feeling in that scene? Where are you feeling the uncomfort? Where are you feeling? It's in your chest? Is it in your stomach? Is it in your groin? Is it in your shoulders? Is it in your hands? It like like paying attention to where your body responds and how your body feels. So it's it's.

Speaker 1: 52:29

It's just this, like different way of fusing the psyche and the somatic To come to the truth of our self-expression you know it's so it this is gonna really depart from what we're talking about, but I, yeah, I think it's fascinating Like listening to you talk about this and then thinking about my own experience with because I've directed shows that, like, I directed a show called Venus and fur, which is based on very old text from the late 1800s Called Venus in furs so very similar title written by a guy who, dr Von Sakura masik so it's that's where the term, say, domasticism came from Was the book that was written by this guy, and it was. It got banned. You know, banned books, yeah, and to be written in the 1800s, which that's when a lot of because it was a very suppressive time and there was a lot of Sort of underground material that came out of that time because no one was allowed to. It was very repressive. I was a lot of express and anyway, it got turned into. It got turned into a play, that's it's like a play within a play. It's very theater II, because it's like an actor and comes in for a Read for this play and it turns into this whole sort of Fantastical experience. It's a really great play, though, and when I directed it, like you can't come to that subject matter and have feelings in that way? You can't. How do I feel in my body about the? Do I feel this like you? You know, first to, first of foremost, to protect your actors and like now, had I I directed that, I think in 2017.

Speaker 1: 54:11

If it were, if I were directing it today, I would have an intimacy choreographer where there's very specific language around Distance and levels of touch and timing, so that instead of saying, like you know, on this word, you're gonna kiss this person, which I don't even. There's never a kiss in that show. It would be, you know, close the distance over five counts and then do a Muscle level touch with your lips to their lip like it's so courier, it's really core, it's choreography. That, what you're talking about, is such a different experience than I mean, I've never thought about it, but, like I, you can't think about it in that way, and especially An actor in that show I was. That's really fascinating to think about it in such a different Presented because art, because that is in its own way, that's art. It's books are art. Yeah, my approach to art in that sense has never. I've never thought about it. It's just a neutral like.

Speaker 1: 55:10

Yeah, and some people and people who come into the theater and like want to Get off in some way from that. Like you don't, you don't want them. I like that's cool. If you want to home and think about it, I want whatever, but like you can't. I remember I I directed a show called spring awakening very similar it was written. There was an adaptation, something written in the late 1800s, very sexually repressed, and so was it like a 13 year old girl that got pregnant and there was there's nudity in that show.

Speaker 1: 55:35

Like there's they. You mind you simulate sex on stage if you're doing it per the stage directions and the girl takes her top off. And when I directed it, someone in the audience got mad like actually got mad and asked for a refund that we did not have her take her top fully, take her top off she was really just like a little cammy or something.

Speaker 1: 55:57

Oh yeah, he was mad that there was no nudity. So like there's such an interesting line around like being being the observer and having the, the private observation Like is that this is gonna totally take us off the rails.

Speaker 2: 56:10

But no, my experience with art in this way is so vastly different well, but I but I think it's like in I obviously I don't know the plays that you're talking about, I don't know the books, but the expression allows Like what you like, the sexually repressed and like the like. There's so much of that in our bodies that we don't even know exists.

Speaker 2: 56:35

Yeah and it's so, and and our, our personal power, our confidence are Our self-acceptance. Like so much of it is tied to all like it. They're so intermingled. So it's like the I can see how it would you would. You would have to be detached emotionally from what you're doing in order to allow the art to be created in the way that it's meant to write. You can't be biased or swayed by how you feel about it. So it's like it's almost like you you're the author of the play. You know what I mean. Like we're like the author of the book. It's like the different, different type of a relationship versus a, a spectator or a participant on the outside.

Speaker 1: 57:21

Yeah, that's, that's directing. It's like it's not really that's my take on directing. Anyways, it's not really your job to have opinions. You're just you're trying to communicate the story in the most authentic way possible. Yeah, it's, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 57:35

No, it's so interesting and I think you know, for me, specifically with the books, women especially hold so much shame, aim About their bodies, what they look like, what you know, they feel like there's so much Societal pressure, there's so much societal conditioning for women.

Speaker 2: 57:58

You know so many double standards in the world around sex and around even talking about sex, like not even the act itself, like there's so much shame and judgment placed on women. So these books really bring forward so much inner Awareness, mm-hmm, of like they didn't even like, like for me, like I didn't even know, like I would never have called myself a prude before, but I was a prude when I. First it's like there was like total, like La, la, la, la, la, la, like don't tell me, like I don't want to hear it. And now it's like the level of Clearing out of that shame has been so again the internal self-expression piece, yeah, and being able to show up with just more internal confidence, more internal groundedness, more internal acceptance actually, I think this is fascinating and how it couldn't could relate back to Business.

Speaker 1: 58:54

Mm-hmm, I I talk about this this way quite often that marketing is like dating. Selling is like sex. Mm-hmm, there's a lot of consent based practice, that practices that I think get ignored in the sales process, and the shame that exists around selling. I don't want to feel salesy, I don't want to put myself. Yes there, marketing doesn't feel good. Marketing feels unaligned. Because I don't want to seem braggy or like the connection.

Speaker 2: 59:22

I'm curious to know your thoughts on that because I yeah, oh, actually that's so intertwined and that and that's it, and that that's the kind of conversations that I'm that I'm having with people Said where, if this is showing up for you like this, is it 100% showing up somewhere else?

Speaker 1: 59:35

elsewhere.

Speaker 2: 59:36

Yeah, like right, and I think too again, it's just that so much of our you know, when we talk about Especially online, like being seen online and how much of our being seen is is Do we feel forced to show up in specific ways. You know, the same way. It's like where are you forcing yourself to show up?

Speaker 2: 59:57

You know, to link to the to the, to the bug, but like in the bed, like if you're forcing yourself to show up specific way there, you're forcing yourself to show up a specific way somewhere else, if you're Struggling, talking about what's important to you and what you desire and what feels good for you and what you are here Like, it's going to surface in your business as well. So almost always there's a link very, very rare. Is there not a way to transfer what surfaces from reading these books personally into their business? Fascinating, yeah, even just the fear being judged for what you're talking about. Yeah, I was just being called out.

Speaker 1: 1:00:34

This is either gonna be the highest download episode I've ever had or I'm gonna lose subscribe. I don't care.

Speaker 2: 1:00:42

But, but like the fear of like be, like, like, like I said, like I lost a lot of people, people didn't want to hear me talking about this Like who, what, what, what, no, and it's so funny too, because even it's like what worse, like the fear of what other people are Going to think, holds us back so much, right, and that's where it all comes down to, that being seen in our vulnerability, we, in order for us to be safe expressing outward we have to feel, we have to have that level of acceptance within ourselves, that ownership within ourselves. I'm sorry to cut you off?

Speaker 1: 1:01:14

Do you think it's? Do you think it's fear of what other people are going to think, or the fear of how you feel about yourself, and you're reflecting that on to what?

Speaker 2: 1:01:23

so I'm gonna think both I.

Speaker 2: 1:01:25

Because I like, whenever we fear somebody else is gonna judge us, that we're just projecting our judgment on ourselves. Like it's really we're judging ourselves in that moment. Yeah, so we call it the fear of judgment, we call it the fear what people but it's really what we are the ones making it mean about ourselves. Yeah, so it's. This is what like that inner self, acceptance, work, that inner self, interself and ownership and honor, like it's so. That's like it's so required, you know, to help us.

Speaker 2: 1:01:55

Really like if we, if we say and I say this too, and people don't like it when I say this but it's like if you're not saying what you want to say, then you're being inauthentic, even if you say you're being authentic. But like if you're biting your tongue, if you're filtering or editing your and we all do it like this isn't again making people bad or wrong. Like we all do it. We all have these fears, the ego surfaces, but it's like that inauthentic inauthenticity and those moments of being inauthentic, those are like huge gifts of awareness as to where we need to do more work. So it's not about making ourselves wrong or shaming ourselves or being like, oh, I edited or I'm biting my tongue. It's like okay, why am I biting my tongue? What is the? What is the? What is the truth that I'm, that I'm hiding behind, and why am I biting my tongue? Why am I not sharing this? Why am I not, you know, expressing myself this way?

Speaker 2: 1:02:45

So, it's like our in being authentic, we, we, it's almost not, we, we're not, we're not, we have to be, but we will be inauthentic, and it's the leadership within us that allows those inauthentic moments to be the precipice of deeper connection and deeper authenticity.

Speaker 1: 1:03:00

Yeah, yeah. And if you, I want to be mindful of time. I don't know if you have to be some more in a minute.

Speaker 2: 1:03:08

Um, I've got, I've got a good. I've got a good like 10, 15 minutes. I'm good Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:03:14

So if someone's not quite, rather they're like this is interesting and the and the expression work and the where the triggers come up and more and feeling comfortable and how that can lead to quite, maybe not quite spicy romance. Yet, yeah, you do a lot. You do a lot of work, just in general, with self-expression, which which, cleverly, you write as S dash ex. Yeah, that was, that was a strategic choice. Yeah, I was a little strategic choice.

Speaker 2: 1:03:40

Yeah, I like it. Well, it's. I, you know, like part of this is like, if I'm being like I want to sting, like I want, I want, I want to like, you know, I like, I would say like I want, I don't want to, I don't want to placate you, I want to provoke you Like I want to. I like it's like, ooh, like, give me the goods, Like, like, I want to, like, like my hand, like the friction, the heat, the tension, the discomfort, like I love playing in that arena. What's the damage? Yes, this is it. And so, using SX, you know for my podcast, for all my, you know, for studio SX, you know SX, I know it's triggering, I know it's and not triggering in necessarily a bad way for people, but it's like, are you willing to play in that arena with me? If this is, you know what I mean. So that's kind of yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:04:27

Was that because you said you, because that came out not too long after, if I'm getting this timeline correct. You said, like summer of last, summer of 2022, you would not have been comfortable, Right? And so I think that's why I say romance is yeah. Wasn't too long after that that you introduced studio.

Speaker 2: 1:04:47

So yeah, studio was released in end of last year.

Speaker 1: 1:04:50

Yeah, how did you get yourself comfortable, Was that? Was it like I'm ready to own this or I'm not doing it anyway?

Speaker 2: 1:04:58

Both, both, both. I knew when I launched because SX that act like the short.

Speaker 2: 1:05:06

I don't know acronym short from like self expression. Yeah, I launched a free masterclass first called SX, and that's. That was like the ripping of the bandaid off of like allowing that cheekiness to kind of like be seen, and that's what led to the creation, because studio was, was an offer in my and studio doesn't isn't all about that. Like like the, the Trist is just it's an option for people inside of studio. But the whole of studio isn't about spicy romances and sex and stuff. Yeah, but the SX More about branding, right? Yeah, branding and expression. Yeah, but the acronym of SX came from reading spicy romance novels. But I didn't start talking about spicy romance novels until a little bit, I want to say beginning of this year. But the, but the acronym of SX came out at the end of last year and it wasn't at that point, though I wasn't speaking about it in terms of spicy romance novels.

Speaker 1: 1:06:10

You had your, you had a, you dipped your toe in the water and then you had a little progression, exactly yeah, yeah, right, yeah, how had this. I'll wrap it with this and then, and then we'll, we'll go from there. How do you relate this back to?

Speaker 2: 1:06:22

branding To me. Okay, hold on, let me get clarification on your question. The spicy romance novels or studio?

Speaker 1: 1:06:30

Understanding your self expression. Oh okay, how do you, how does that inform? Or the way that you teach on branding?

Speaker 2: 1:06:38

Yeah, this is really where it's we get to step into cause. Like I said at the beginning, it's so easy to see what everyone else is doing and our brand is really like the, the, the first iteration of people that people get of who we are inside of our business, and so our brand speaks for us before we even say a word, so allowing our being connected and being authentic in our branding. And this is, you know, I'm talking to, like it, entrepreneurs, solo, solo entrepreneurs who are building a personal brands through their business, where their their expression is is part of their business.

Speaker 1: 1:07:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:07:19

You know, it's not like this is a pro for like a product based business, where it's around the product, but it's their. It's like the alignment and the authenticity their true expression gets to speak for them and create a story as to who they are and what they're here for and what their business can help people with, before they, before you know they even open their mouth or before they even write a word. So it's about ensuring that their, their branding is allowing it to be the, the embodied representation of who they are at their, in their authenticity, and but also give themselves to allow it to evolve with them, because a part of the big part is our expression evolution. We're gonna and you know I always say like, scroll back on my IG, you'll see my branding has evolved, but there are some key components that have remained the same that allow that brand recognition to live through all the iterations of of the brand.

Speaker 1: 1:08:13

So that answer your question. After I said, I was like what's more about branding? I was like I feel like I need to touch on this Fair. Do you feel like we missed anything big? Anything else that you want?

Speaker 2: 1:08:22

No, this is a fun. This is like it went so many different directions and such a fun conversation.

Speaker 1: 1:08:28

I love interviewing so much.

Speaker 1: 1:08:30

So good, you're so good, you asked such good questions to speak to people, so I forgot to ask I. There's a question I asked in the beginning and there's a question I asked at the end. And I haven't done it forever because the only person I've interviewed for the last four months is Steve Cause. I know who that is, but he's the only guest on this podcast for such a long time, so I'm going to ask it to you I. I'll ask you the beginning question and the end question. They're not related. What does it mean to you to do business better?

Speaker 2: 1:08:54

Do business better. For me, it really comes down to this level of leadership where you're walking the line that the way in which you are doing business feels good for you. It it it's an alignment with your values, it's an alignment with your integrity, it's an alignment with your desires and your vision. But the leading force is like the impact that you're making through the business. So this I kind of like when I like the responsibility that I feel like my impact is so much bigger than any one of my fears. My impact is so much bigger than any one of my you know limitations.

Speaker 2: 1:09:35

It's like, for me, better business is that, yes, I'm thinking with my alignment, my integrity, my desires, but it's at it's for the impact of the people that are coming into my, into my environment, and how they're going to feel with me. The level you know like supporting, supporting them. It's like the meeting of, like, the individual behind their business, like as I work with business owners, but it's like the individual behind the business and supporting them and creating a space where they feel safe. I'm really directing it to like my, my specific business when I'm answering this question, but it's like the safety to be all of them, the, the, the willingness to for them, that they feel that they can be open, they can be honest, they can share what's really coming up for them. They're supported in a way that's an integrity that is, you know, inclusive.

Speaker 2: 1:10:28

You know, I want, I want, you know, all women to feel, to feel included in my world and taking into consideration different. You know, like I totally just jumbled that answer, but it's like there's so many pieces that I feel I don't think you jumbled it. I just feel like it's it's not just better for like it's better for all of us involved. Very macro, yeah, like it's it's impact driven, not income driven. Impact driven, not results driven. It's impact driven not, you know, like for me it's all about the impact that's being made.

Speaker 1: 1:11:01

Yeah. I like it, I like it, okay, and then I want you to. This is a happy, this is a happy moment, but I want you to fast forward to the end of your business, whether you're selling it, whether you're retiring to travel the world or whatever. Whatever, just the end. But it's a happy time, it's your choice, it's the it's the right time. What are the three things you hope your business will have given you, given?

Speaker 2: 1:11:29

me.

Speaker 1: 1:11:29

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:11:31

Connection number one, connection with a variety of people across the world, connection and perspective. Because of that connection, freedom and liberation, not only for myself but the women that I help, but the freedom to, to allow myself to experience all that I want to experience so that I can give my kids and my family and the people closest to me the experience that's going to help them in their lives. I feel like like impact. I know I've said that already, but impact like that I've impacted, that I've helped people, that I've helped transform other people's lives, and that includes my me and my family and my friends. Yeah, connection, freedom and impact.

Speaker 1: 1:12:12

My brain's going like nonstop now, adrienne, like I just think about all the things, yeah, what you can get done. You can get done here and you can go make some content or something, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:12:23

Cause so funny, cause, like the like that questions like it's been. I've thought about that before in like a different way, but like nailing it down to three specific things, I was like, huh, okay.

Speaker 1: 1:12:34

Interesting.

Speaker 2: 1:12:35

I love.

Speaker 1: 1:12:36

I love that question Cool. Where can people find you? Where do they if someone wants to read spicy romances with you or or do a little self expression, a little s? Sx?

Speaker 2: 1:12:47

Yeah, I'm Instagram, hands down. I am Carrie Russell. That's where, that's where I hang out the most my podcast, sx talk, and then my Facebook group, the lounge free Facebook community, and I'll link all the things.