Episode 87: From $40 to a Fashion Empire | Elizabeth Haislip | Founder of Pebby Forevee
Elizabeth Haislip, better known as Pebby, is the founder of Pebby Forevee, a self-made apparel brand built from her Ohio basement into a thriving fashion empire. With designs that flatter every body type and make women feel confident from the moment they get dressed, she’s grown her business steadily over the past nine years without outside funding. Elizabeth shares how she started with just $40 in her bank account, the lessons she’s learned about scaling intentionally, and why it’s so important to create fashion that empowers women. She talks about making the path easier for those coming up behind her, the realities of entrepreneurship, and her best pro tips for building a business that lasts. Her journey proves you don’t need a huge investment to build something remarkable - just vision, persistence, and the will to keep going.
“One of the biggest lies told is that you need to have money to make money. I started with $40 in my bank account.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Elizabeth Haislip (Pebby)
02:38 How Pebby Forevee Began in a Basement
06:10 Starting a Business with $40
10:25 Creating Clothes That Flatter and Empower Women
14:40 Building a Brand That Inspires Confidence
19:20 Growing from Etsy to Shopify
23:45 Lessons from Nine Years of Steady Growth
28:50 Making the Path Easier for Future Entrepreneurs
33:15 Business Pro Tips for Sustained Success
37:30 Balancing Creativity and Business Strategy
42:00 The Importance of Living with Intention
46:15 Influences, Books, and Inspiration
50:20 Advice for Starting with Limited Resources
My whole brand is based off of making women feel comfortable and confident in what they're wearing because if we're honest, the minute that we wake up immediately start to change ourselves. The way you feel about yourself whenever you leave in the morning shapes every decision that you make.
That's
Elizabeth Haislip,
better known as Pebby, and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something, and the extraordinary to come and share their story. I hope that you'll be left, entertained, inspired, and moved. To take action towards living your most powerful life.
Elizabeth Haislip is the founder of Pebby Forevee, an apparel empire based in Ohio. She's self-made building her business slowly and thoughtfully, which has resulted in consistent growth over the past nine years. In this episode, we talk about why it matters that designers are creating fashion that make women feel confident, why it's important to make the path easier for those rising up behind you.
How you can start a business empire with only $40. And she even shares a few of her business pro tips too. All that and so much more coming up. But first, if you're interested in discovering what possibilities and businesses are available for you to create and to live your most fulfilling life, please visit the powerful ladies.com/coaching and sign up for free coaching consultation with me.
There is no reason to wait another day to not be living your best life when you instead could be running at full speed towards your wildest dreams today.
So I love hearing about startup stories. So you said you started in your basement. Yeah. And what was it that made you go from, that would be cool to, I'm gonna actually do this. What was the first thing you tried and how did it go? This is one of my favorite stories to tell
because I feel like it just tells, it shows people that you can honestly put.
Do anything that you put your mind to. And it doesn't, you don't have to have a lot of money to succeed. I think that's one of the biggest lies that we're told is that you have to have money to make money. That's a lie because I started this million dollar company with $40 in the bank, and I love telling the story.
I was a military wife and we were stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado, and I came across this little screen printing kit. And screen printing is something that I've always wanted to learn how to do. 'cause I've always been into graphic tees. And I found this little $40 kit from Michael's, and it was all like, I had $80 in my bank account.
That's it. That's all I had. So I bought it, I bought the $40 screen printing kit, and I took it home and I ruined it in 10 minutes. Like I ruined it. And I was like, are you kidding me? So I was like, okay. Like I think I got it now I'm gonna go back. I went back like a couple of hours later, as soon as I got done ruining it basically, and purchased another one and I brought it home.
I freaking ruined that one too but I was like, there's gotta be a way that I can get this to work. It's a little hobby kit. So they didn't give you a whole lot of redos. And apparently I'm not very good at reading instructions. So when my husband came home, I was like, can we, can I please have $40?
We were broke. Broke. He we was fresh into the military. I had left everything in Columbus to be with him. That in itself is a disaster, but that's a story for another time. But he was kind enough to gimme the $40. So we spent it was in whole $120 investment, but, it was a $40 screenprinting. And on that third try, I finally got it and it was hardly a screen printing kit. It was essentially a cardboard box with a light bulb screwed into it. But I figured it out on the third try. I figured it out. And I remember there was something that happened to me whenever I figured it out.
There was something that. It sounds so corny, but it was like birth. It was like, this is it. This is why I'm here. I can finally find a way to create what I want to create. And up until that point, I was taking shirts from Goodwill or shirts of my own and cutting them to be more flattering. 'cause I've never been a super small girl. I've always been curvy thick, whatever you wanna call it. And so there's never been a time up until what I've created that combined being comfortable and fashionable at the same time. I feel like if I was being fashionable up until that point, I was stuffing myself into something that wasn't comfortable.
It wasn't made for my body type. And then if I was wearing something that was comfortable, I just felt frumpy. So up until that point I was taking my own shirts and creating my own silhouettes, but it was working fine. But then whenever I found out how to screen print, I was like, I can make. Those t-shirts with those flattering silhouettes and put my own design on it.
And it was like, I was completely obsessed with it. And from that point on for probably, whew, I think I was able to quit my job after. After a couple of months because I wasn't able to keep up with the amount of orders coming in and have my full-time job, I was working at a receptionist at a car dealership, or as a receptionist at a car dealership.
And I was like, I'm losing money by being here at this point because I can't keep caught up and I would be able to do so much more if I was able to quit my job. But up until probably about six years ago, I was obsessed with it and I, I probably put in no less than 70 hours a week. So that's another thing you don't have to have a, you don't have to have money to make money, but if you don't have money to make money, then you need time to make money.
You're out there doing all the dirty work yourself, which is fine. There's two routes that you can take. And I chose to do the more frugal one, but, it took me longer to get where I am.
And how
did you get your first orders? I uploaded everything on Etsy. Etsy was new.
It wasn't anywhere where it is today. I got like my wedding bail off of there and then, after it was new to me, I was like, what is this? What is this place? And then I started poking around and I was like, oh, like I definitely belong on this platform. Like the things I'm creating could definitely do well here.
So I actually got my kickstart off of Etsy and then once that started rolling there were some issues with like legalities and trademarks and all of that. So I stepped off that and started my own website. And that's primarily where the sales come from now.
Yeah. I always think it's so exciting when you get your first sale and then when you get like your first sale, you're like, oh shit, this is gonna work.
Yeah. Yeah. What was that experience for you and do you remember your first sale still? Yes. Okay. So I'm gonna be completely honest,
and I wanna say this to every entrepreneur because my first sale was from my grandma. She was like my biggest supporter. I was so excited. I got this like little alert that said you got your first sale.
I was so excited oh my God. I finally made it, and then it was from my grandma, and I'm like, hug thank grandma, but also it's not a real sale. It wasn't organic. Yes, I remember after I, I had, up until that point, I had other stuff on the Etsy website. I had a couple of hands stamped thank you cards.
Like I had dipped them in tea, very like shabby chic or whatever you wanna call it. And those had been sitting up there for three or four months and no one was taking the bite. Whenever I listed my t. One sold within an hour. And that was like even more confirmation that was like, okay, like I've been stopped on the street so many times from people saying, I love your shirt.
Where did you get it? How did you do it? La. And so I was like, yeah. Like I know that women want to dress the way that I do 'cause it's comfortable. Like it had I would the main seller back then was the off shoulder shirt. And the reason why it's so popular is because people who are. Not thin in general.
This is a general statement. A lot of us don't feel comfortable in tank tops or tube tops. Like we're uncomfortable. We don't wanna show our arms, like a lot of tank tops are tight. Like we don't want that. And so the shoulder option gave you the option of being your skin, being able to breathe, like you feeling the breeze on your shoulder and your neck without being stuffed into a crew neck.
So I was the girl that used to wear like hoodies in 80 degree weather and claimed that I was cold or comfortable that way. But really I was more comfortable with hiding my body versus being comfortable with my physical surroundings and what I, clothing I was wearing. So a lot, my whole brand is based off of making women feel comfortable and confident in what they're wearing.
Because if we're honest, the minute that we wake up, the very minute that we wake up after brushing our teeth. Most of us immediately start to, to change ourselves. We do our hair, we do our makeup. We find clothes that either make us feel terrible about ourselves or that make us feel great about ourselves.
And I'm like, oh my God. Like the deci, the way you feel about yourself whenever you leave in the morning, shapes every decision that you make for the rest of the day. I can tell you I refuse to weigh myself in the mornings, which is whenever you're supposed to do it, because if it's bad, then I feel bad about myself for the rest of the day.
Like I, I don't want, I don't want attention. I don't wanna think about going on a date, which is non-existent right now, but I just don't, I don't feel worthy. And obviously that's something that stems from my insecurities and I've gone to therapy and listened to podcasts or whatever.
I've done a lot of self help with like body dysmorphia. But at the end of the day, there are millions of women who feel the same way that I feel. And I'm like, okay. Fast result. Let's think about the easy result. 'cause not all of us have time to go to therapy. Not all of us have the willpower to listen to podcasts and try to fix it ourselves.
Let's just start with the first decision of the day. Let's put you on something that makes you feel and look good and like confident. That's the whole premise that my brand is based off of. And it's obviously, it's worked and it makes me feel, oh, the feeling that I get whenever someone sees my clothes or like they wear my clothes, like I get emails or the responses that I get and the dms, they're saying like, I'm so glad that I came across your brain.
And seriously, I've had thousands up until this point. And still every single time I'm like, oh, that's why I'm here. That's why this brand exists. It seems so silly or not important to, to be comfortable in what you're wearing, but like I said. When you leave the house in the morning, if you don't feel good about yourself, the decisions that you make are gonna mirror that.
So it's get to the root of the problem and just get you something that makes you feel and look good.
I work with a lot of clients about how it's so important to know your why, your who and your what. Yeah. So that's the foundation of all businesses and really all things life in general.
And I love that you are so clear on why you're doing it, who you're doing it for, and you really get, you're not selling a t-shirt, you're selling confidence. You're selling someone getting to live their best day. Yeah. And that changes. It really does change everything. It, how have you seen your business evolve versus the competition?
And do you think it's because you are so tied to the women that you're serving?
Yes. We have a lot of copycats. We have a lot of companies primarily overseas that will literally take, it's so funny because we got a picture once of someone who purchased something from the the company Wish and they're notorious for stealing not just, my designs, but like hundreds or thousands of other people's hardware designs.
But like in the picture on our website, part of the word was like covered. And so whenever Wish made their t-shirts, it was printed in the exact same way that they stole from the website. So the half of the word on their t-shirt was cut off. It was so strange. I feel like there are the people that.
I think what it comes down to is they don't know what Pebby Forevee is, and they don't know that it's not just a T-shirt, it's
it's
appealing. It's it's an experience. It's gonna literally change your life. Because if you, like I said, five times now, if you feel good about yourself whenever you leave the house or whenever you go out on a date, you're overall gonna have better, more positive results.
So I could, honestly, I don't pay attention to them. A lot of times people will say is this, you on Wish? And I'll say, yeah, but I feel like it's, Pebby Forevee has been around for long enough that the majority of the people know that Hey, I've seen this girl before. She certainly doesn't sell on Wish.
I it's a monster in itself because most of these companies are overseas and I don't
It's really hard to get them to stop doing it.
Yeah. You mentioned earlier how great it makes you feel when you get the feedback from women who love your products. How does that keep you motivated as an entrepreneur?
Because every day is not sunshine and rainbows. As an entrepreneur, how much do you need that feedback to keep going?
Thereby a time, probably about two years ago where I was like, I got someone that was pretty reputable in, in like the fashion boutique, like small company world had offered to, to purchase Pebby Forevee and I was at first tempted because I'm like, wow, that'd be great to, to sell it and maybe move on and do something else.
But then I was so worried that what if this company. Changed the way that the brand is. What if the company, just, I'm sure we would be able to like, fine tune it, but again this is like my baby. This was like my first born before I even had a first born, this was something that I created from a cardboard box, literally.
The branding and the message that it sends is honestly more important than what the actual t-shirts say because it's it's a feeling. And yeah, so I, it was something that I just couldn't, I couldn't follow through with it, the company means too much to me. But a couple of years ago we were moving out of the side slit option and I didn't know where to go from there.
I didn't know what kind of style I wanted to move into, or I didn't know if it was just something that I struggled with. So a lot of times I'll use Instagram and I'll do pulls what do you guys wanna see more of? Do you wanna use, do you want us to try tank tops? What about muscle cheese? 'cause muscle cheese, give more.
Like they cover more than a regular tank top. Do you want to try something else? But then I always come back to what, like what is it that I do? Sometimes I lose, focus on myself, like I forget my why for even a second. So I started to get out of wearing off shorter tees.
It just became a little bit less out of style for me. And I was like what else do I do? And then I remembered that I cut my own teas a certain way and like I like sew 'em a little bit so that they go in like in a little bit through the waist. And I was like, wait a minute. What if we start selling these?
Because these are primarily what I've been wearing now. And then those have been, the side split tees have been who I thought like off shoulders were like the main T-shirt that we sold. Dude when the side split tees came into the picture, like it completely changed. The entire way that I run my website, like we used to offer custom designs.
We used to offer custom cuts. The side slit tees are so flattering on so many body shapes that it doesn't even make sense to carry the inventory of most of the other styles that we were carrying because 99% of the women want it on a side T. And that was from just tapping back into myself and being like, okay this is my brand.
This is something that I've created. It's done well because I've been honest about my body insecurities. So what am I insecure about now and how did I fix it? And then just transpiring that into other people probably wanna wear this style of shirt too.
How do you have a big team or like how big is your team for how much business you're doing?
We actually don't have a huge team. It's so funny because I think a lot of people think that because it's been on Pinterest for nearly a decade now. 'cause again, Pinterest is, we got into Pinterest right? Whenever it began. So buying the name heavy for Evie and like my pictures have been circulating for nearly a decade.
A lot of people think that we're like some big company. We're still like, we have, I have five employees and one is part-time, and then I have a virtual assistant that helps answer questions that I can't always get to because I wanna make sure obviously, that even if I can't answer their questions immediately, but someone is, and then I have.
I have a second branding company and I have two people that help me with that. So it's not huge. It's not as big as what you think it would be. And a lot of that's because I'm, I grew up very I hate to use the word poor because I know people that were actually poor, but we were not well off.
Like my dad was an alcoholic, he was never around. He was abusive. My mom was always working, trying to keep the family together. We didn't have money growing up. So even now, like even though the business is successful and it's established and it's here to stay, I still tend to make very small financial but important decisions.
I don't, I take risks, but they're very sensible and I execute them very sensibly. So if I don't like people just sitting around, if I feel like there's someone sitting around, then what? We gotta create a new project then to keep you busy. What else can I do to keep you busy? So we're not a huge team.
So many people get intimidated when they wanna create something that is in a space that they don't have experience in or they didn't go to school for. Coming from before, being a full-time entrepreneur, I was in product creation for 20 years. And so I know what it's like on the corporate side of the engine of like, how do you make a t-shirt?
There's all these steps and these people, and I love that you've just made it. What do you think is the advantage of being small and just jumping in and figuring it out as you go versus knowing maybe more than is dangerous?
Honestly. Being where, starting where I was and getting to where I am now was basically just pure grit because I've taught myself how to screen print using YouTube and reading like t-shirt forums.
There's this thing that I like to say, I probably heard it somewhere, but in the back of my mind it was this. I was, I would tell myself, and like my mindset was, honestly, I never thought of what would I do if this doesn't work out. That wasn't even an option in my head. It was, I'm going to do this and it will work out one way or the other.
So the advantage, is that I learned to do things my way and I was able to save a lot of money. I went to school for fashion design and merchandising. And I ended up dropping out my sophomore year because I'm like. I've always had, you know how I said earlier, I've always had this little seed in me that was like, I know that I was made for more.
I know that there was something about me that, and I don't wanna make me like, make myself sound like, oh, I'm so special. But I just knew, like it was something within me that I just knew. I also have this like time sensitivity thing, and I just think about sometimes I'm like, like whenever I was a sophomore in college, I was like, I'm wasting my time here.
I'm wasting my time. I'm wasting my energy, I'm wasting my money. And so I was like, I'm just, this isn't even what I wanna do. Once I got more involved with it, I'm like, this isn't even what I wanna do. So I'm not scared of being like, you know what, I'm just gonna bow out for a minute and then I can always come back.
Like I can always be like, yeah bowing out didn't work out either, so I guess I'm gonna come back. So I don't really base a lot of what I do or what I don't know on what I can accomplish. Like I, I'll accomplish it one way or the other. Especially now with the internet, I feel if you are using as an entrepreneur, if at this day and age, if you are using the lack of knowledge as an excuse, you don't want it bad enough because that's really not an excuse.
With all of the podcasts out there, with all of the YouTube tutorials, with all the TikTok tutorials, like there are so many things. There are so many Yeah. Avenues where you can gain knowledge at your fingertips and like a 10th of that was available to me 10 years ago. And if I could do this, like with the little knowledge that I had and just like ruining one thing after another or sucking up one thing after another until I finally got it. If you have to really want it. And I feel like a lot of the things that I've learned, I wouldn't have even learned in college. I wouldn't have even learned from a formal education.
Are there things from a formal education that would've helped me out? Yeah. There're definitely, there's definitely a whole other side of things that I'm like, dang, like I wish I knew how to. Literally run a business, like I didn't know how to do accounting or how to do actual business management or project management.
It was just like I have this idea, so we're gonna do this now, like it. And on the backend it can be pretty unorganized. Thank God I have a really solid team that follows up with me now. But you don't always have to have this one simple way of doing things or a formal education to get you started or all of your eggs in a basket.
Like a lot of times you just need to start with where you are. Just figure
it out. Yeah. I totally agree. I think that, as you said there, there any reason you're not doing it right now is ultimately just an excuse. If someone's listening is in that place right now, like really look at that. What is it that's actually holding you back?
'cause it's not the thing you're saying.
Yeah. And that I think that scares a lot of people too. Because it's oh shit, like I really don't have, I don't have an excuse anymore. It's I mean you don't, but I always say here's I, and I also wanna soften the edges of that statement.
It's okay if it's not your number one priority. Yeah. Too, because there, especially 2020, my priorities have shifted exponentially. Two years ago I didn't have to worry about teaching my kid in school and now that's my number one priority. I never thought that would be a thing. I would love to work out every single day.
I would love it. But right now it's not a priority and it's okay to say. Yes, I'm interested in that, but. It's also not my number one priority. A lot of times like I can juggle three things. That's it. Unfortunately for me, I'm always mom, I'm always dad because he's not around and I'm always a business owner.
So like anything else is optional and it's like juggling a bunch of different hats. But it's okay if it's like for me, if we're working out, can't always be in the top three priorities. And it's okay if being on the cutting edge of the best entrepreneur that you can be is not your number one priority.
That's okay. Especially in 2020.
We put so much pressure on ourselves that when we, sometimes when I use the word entrepreneur referring to powerful ladies it scares people. They're like, I'm not an entrepreneur. And I'm like, do you have, are you your own boss? Do you have a small business? Are you making the decisions?
Then the answer is yes, like you actually are. But that word can be so intimidating because we think about, why Combinators and Elon Musk and all this like extreme tech and money and spending, and it doesn't have to be. There's a great book I finished recently called the, it's like a simple business.
And it's so nice to know that you can have a very successful business for yourself and your family, and it doesn't need to have any of those things that Tesla has. Like it really doesn't. And like you're proof of that, right? You have a team of five and you are making it work for where you're at and the success you can experience as a business owner.
It has nothing to do with having investors or stock or any of these crazy metrics. None of it. None of it is true.
No. And one of the main things that I knew that like I didn't want to basically sell my soul to the devil to be able to pay my bills. I wanted to make enough money. My goal and being an entrepreneur and being my own boss is that I could make enough money to pay my bills, take vacations with my daughter, and.
And not have to face my life essentially around someone else telling me if it was okay or not based on their needs and their timeline. So the idea of like whenever I worked at a, as a receptionist at that car dealership, whenever I was sick, like if I got like the flu or something, I would have to use my own vacation time so that I didn't lose money.
And I'm like, this is like no way to live. And I make sure like even, and now, like I'm glad that I learned all of this because now I know with like my girls, like my employees, I'm like, you guys get like a couple of personal days a year. If you get sick, cool. Don't worry about it.
Take or like a mental health day. Take it like you get two or three days like that a year plus your vacation time plus paid holidays off. I like from, and not having that whenever I worked in retail and as the receptionist and a waitress and constantly working. That's where the phrase comes from, like working for the mans. I was working for someone else and not even myself, and I was like that. That was one of the main perks in being an entrepreneur was not necessarily just having the money to do what I wanted, but the freedom. Yes. I didn't wanna do it to have a bunch of things. It was so that if my daughter was sick, I could work from home that day and I didn't have to report back to anyone or be worried that my job was on the line.
Yeah. I there's a whole unique space of mom mompreneurs or professionals who are also mothers of, what we really need and what's. What's important because whether you have kids or not, you still need those things. You still need the sick days and the mental health days. You still need the ability to live your life.
When I was working in Europe, I thought it was so smart that it was set up from a society perspective that you really res they respected each person as a human no matter where they were at, in, in whatever business role they had where everyone got more vacation time, everyone got some sick time.
And it just, in my opinion, it allows people to take care of what matters to them, which is usually what matters to everyone else. If you have sick parents or sick kids or just to keep yourself going, and there's something really important about. Valuing time. Yeah. Over money that I love that female entrepreneurs always rank as a reason why.
And I wish that more people, more of society like God, excuse me, had the opportunity to have that time. 'cause you can always make more money. You can't, we can't make more time. Exactly. Yep. Yep. So on your journey as entrepreneur how many people have been instrumental in getting you to where you are?
Who are the other people who have inspired you or helped you along the way? That's a good question.
So I listen to a, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I've, this is like a hard question to answer because I feel like I've always been the leader. And I'm always the one inspiring and I'm always the one leading by example and showing people how I do things and telling people how I live my life and trying to explain my mindset so that they can be the same way.
So there, there has been people in my life that have influence, like Pebby Forevee but. Because it's like a personal brand. A lot of my, my, obviously my life story and just like things like my body image issues and all of that play into the brand as well. Like most of my customers find out who I am via Instagram and on my Instagram.
I'm very open. It's a lifestyle account, so I talk about being a single mom and I talk about the struggles of dating and talk about the hardships of her dad not being around or helping much. And one of the main people that has helped me a lot was my therapist actually like helping me.
Unt tell myself the lies that I have either believed or that I've been told. But also my my assistant Nicole, actually, I, she should be a therapist, honestly, like I've, she's helped me much with fixing my mindset. Most of last year was actually, or two years ago, it was actually just me paying her to help me and figure out, and she was basically, I called her my friend Aist, she's a friend, my aist and my therapist.
So that my therapist and Nicole have been extremely helpful and helping me like curb my mindset. But Brendan Burchard is probably my favorite podcaster. And he really helps me keep my mindset where it should be. And he helps me maintain laser focus. So I walk a lot, so whenever I'm walking I listen to him or I listen to you now now that I found out about you.
So say, I'm so excited to be here. You have no idea. I'm flattered. So yeah there's been there's been, and the people I hired this company to help me out with finally like I had to find like an ad agency. Like I had to find someone that would help me get it. Even bigger than where I'd gotten Pebby Foreveeery, like I had done great getting on Shopify, taking my own pictures, like figuring out how to edit.
But there's only so much that I can do. Like whether it just be, my skillset has only come this far, but I don't have the time to, to bring it to another level. So like finding someone that I could hand things off to, like the ad company that I have hired has been amazing at getting Pebby Forevee, even bigger than what, where I have brought it.
One of my favorite statistics is the four employee rule, right? Like the average small business in America with one like owner, employee as the one person, they're averaging like $42,000 a year in sales. But the second you get to four people on your team, whether they're employees or not, you get to 400,000 as an average.
Yeah. I just love that. It lets us know that it's okay to bring people on and that we can't do it by ourselves. And we're never supposed to, we're
just not supposed to as humans. I wish that was something that I had figured out earlier that it's okay to not do everything yourself. And the reason why I, there was two reasons why I was afraid to bring people onto my team.
One was I was afraid I was gonna get taken advantage of like getting stolen from, or my secrets getting out, like how I'd make things or whatever. Yeah. But the other one was money. It was that I didn't know. That, like what they had to offer would actually be worth the money. And so the first step I took was actually, obviously hiring an assistant that was non-negotiable because once my little girl got bigger, I was like, she doesn't nap all day now.
She's into everything and I cannot do all of this myself. So I finally found someone to come and work for me. But then the next thing I found was getting like an accountant. I finally handed that stuff off. So basically like I went through and I was like, what are some things that like I don't want to know more about and that I don't care about and that I don't like doing?
And then from there I was like, okay, I need to find someone that can do that. And it wasn't always easy. It wasn't just hired an accountant. It was great. I went through three different accountants until I found the one that actually did a what I needed and what I thought was a good job.
Not everything is just the solution. And there you go. That's hardly the case when you're an entrepreneur. It's a lot running into roadblocks and okay, let me pivot. I'm gonna go over here. That's not work either. Okay, now we're gonna go back over here.
So I love being honest about that too, because I don't want entrepreneurs to think you have this idea, you're gonna succeed. There you go. It's not like a baby word where you shove 'em out of Vanessa, then they fly. No. There's a lot too, I wanna be completely transparent about.
It's totally worth it. But also don't make it up in your head that it's just gonna be like, just easy as a, B, C
There's a lot of roadblocks and stuff and it's, like I said, it's a lot of grit and just wanting it that makes it like, makes you succeed.
There's something, there's that fire inside.
Of us that makes us keep going, even though it seems totally ridiculous to anyone else. Absolutely. And I just, I love talking to entrepreneurs about that because whether people say it's my purpose, I'm finally in the right path. Like I don't have a choice. So often it's not a choice that we're making.
It's no, like that's, there's no other option. Like you said that earlier, you're like, no. No, we just go straight. Yep. You're like, what about left? Nope. It's just straight.
Yeah. Exactly. And like that, it's encouraging for me to hear other entrepreneurs talk like that because then it makes me feel like, oh, okay, so that means whenever like I come to a roadblock, then that a lot of times people will tell themselves this wasn't for me, then this isn't working out.
And then they stop. It's. That's whenever you keep going like it's like whenever you're working out and you're like lifting weights you don't, if you pick up like the easy weight and you just keep doing it over again, you're not gonna make any changes. You are not gonna see any growth.
But it's really, whenever you keep pushing yourself and getting through the painful stuff, that's whenever you start to see changes and whenever you start to find out different regimens that you prefer and whatever. So I'm talking about working out as if I actually know, but in general like that's, let's be honest, I don't really know.
I'm sitting here with my jeans unbuttoned because I'm so bloated today.
Yeah. I love it. No it's it's true though. Like to me when you, the first challenge you face is when I'm like, Ooh, it's getting good. Because it's very much an adventure story or like a quest. If you're not being challenged, you're not on the right path because the hero's journey is not smooth Sailing.
The hero's journey is like when you face a challenge and the hero chooses what to do in that moment. Everyone that walks away, it's like, it's such a missed opportunity to see how creative can you get? Like how resourceful can you be? How strong are you really? And we reference on this podcast a lot, and I'm shocked that it is the number one talked about book from every guest, but The Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and talking about how the creative genius like wants to play.
It's like it's a game. And so how do you respond? There's something about how you respond to those challenges that the more that you're like, okay, yeah, let's do it. Let's try. Yeah. So it seems the fortune what is it like luck favors the fortune favors the brave or something like that's really what this is.
Yeah. Absolutely. When you hear the words powerful ladies separately and together, what does it mean to you and what does it bring up? Oh,
like how I feel like whenever I hear the word powerful and how I feel when I hear the word ladies. Yeah. I, okay, so I'm gonna address ladies first because IL in my head, I feel like 10 years ago I would have pictured a woman in pearls super classy like a suit of some sort.
Someone who never swears. And now I feel like the word lady has just been completely reinvented and it's much more realistic. A lady is someone who does not stand for being disrespected. A lady is someone who respects herself enough to go after the things that she wants and doesn't wait around for a man to get it for her.
A lady is someone who respects those around her, who doesn't like negate someone's feelings or who stands for things like racial injustice or anything like that. Like a lady is someone who is. Who is powerful in her own self to know that she has worth and value by herself and she doesn't need validation from anybody else.
So I love this question. I was not prepared for it, but that's, I feel like I love thinking about the word lady and how even when I, like just even five, 10 years ago, I would've thought of something completely different than what it is today. The word powerful. I think I tie the word influence with powerful.
I feel like. Whenever I was younger, I wanted to be, when people would ask me, I remember my grandpa like sitting me up on the kitchen counter and being like, what do you wanna be when you grow up, Elizabeth? And I was like, famous. And he was famous, and I'm like, yeah, I wanna be famous. But in my head, I associated the word famous with having influence.
And so I wanted to be someone who made a change on a big scale. Like you can make changes in people's lives on a small scale, holding, holding the door for someone, getting, like when you're in line at Starbucks, buying for the person behind you. Like little things like that. You can, you have no idea what that might mean to that person.
So little things can make a big difference. But I wanted, I, this is the seed I was talking about, I knew that there was something about me that was meant for something huge on a daily basis. Yeah. Every minute, every hour. I knew that I was meant for something more. So I feel like the word powerful, like the word famous in my mind was replaced with influe influential as I got older because.
Think about how much influence celebrities have and like how different celebrities are in general than what the, from 50 years ago, like Elvis Presley and like Marilyn Monroe. I don't know if that was 50 years ago, but whatever. Like those, there was very select celebrities and now there are hundreds of celebrities and think about all of the influence that they have.
Kylie Jenner mentioned something that she's not even on Snapchat anymore, and like the Snapchat stock, like plummeted because she said one sentence. So they, the influence that you have on people's lives is powerful. So I feel like powerful again, 10 years ago. Unfortunately, in my head, probably because society has brainwashed me, I would've picture pictured myself, like pictured like a business man.
And like some board meeting and whatever he said went and he had his little kids following him around. That's what I would think of whenever I thought of powerful. But now I just think of influence, like people who have influence have power.
Yeah. No, it's it's always controversial those two words because everyone does have their different story and I love that you tie influence to powerful because that's how it occurs to me.
Powerful ladies are so powerful and they have all the power they ever need already inside of them. It's just a matter of if we know it's there and then what are we doing with it? We have in the foundation of powerful ladies is this term full circle empowerment, where whether you are already a boss lady or a woman rising, or someone just desperately seeking any form of inspiration.
We all have the ability to level each other up. Like we don't need to be at the top of the pyramid to be of influence, right? And how do we keep paying it forward? Because if we can't be paying empowerment forward, then I'm not sure why we're doing any of the stuff we're doing. What's next for you and where you're going with your business and despite the madness of 2020, like what are you excited about?
My goal for 2020 was
to actually not step out of Pebby Forevee by any means, but basically. Just oversee it. Because my heart is obviously first and foremost, making sure that women have plenty of options, that they feel good wearing around the house, going on dates, whatever. Like I want them to feel like they are sexy, confident, ready to conquer the world in any situation.
But I also love helping other entrepreneurs. So I also have a course that goes up. It's not evergreen, so it pops up every couple of years or every couple of months, and we like tweak it with what's going on with the Instagram algorithm and all of that. But I want other, like entrepreneurs and business people to succeed at a much faster rate than what I did.
Like I, it took me nine years to get to this point, and I'm so thankful. It's I'm glad that I started in something that was equatable to like the mail room because the experience and the knowledge that I have learned along the way is, it's irreplaceable. Like it's, I'm so glad that I did it this way, however.
There have been so many things that I have learned that I'm like no, you don't wanna do it this way. You don't wanna spend your money here. You don't wanna post this then, or use this social media platform or use this website platform. Like I have so many answers for you. I have I feel like there's so many questions that come up when you're an entrepreneur that like me, whenever I started, I had no one to turn to.
The only way to figure it out was to literally just figure it out. There was a lot of pivots and like running into walls and U-turns. So I'm like, dang, if I could help people, they could get there in a year or two years if they put in the work and if they want about enough, they can learn in one one of my courses, they could learn in one day what?
It took me two, two to three years to learn. Like I, it's basically condensed every question that you have. I love that into one. And so that's where my heart is. I want to focus more of my main like attempts at helping people and like really focusing on the backend of running a business.
And it doesn't matter what kind of business you are, because if you're a realtor, if you're a hairdresser, if you sell something with MLM, it doesn't matter. Like you all have something about you where you want to work for yourself. You have this passion, you have that seed inside of you, the same seed that I had, let me help you grow it.
I'm gonna put some miracle grow on on that shelf. We're gonna get really fast. That is my goal. Like I wanna, it's so frustrating because I'm like, listen to what I'm saying, like you've, I, and people don't really, some people know about it, like my Instagram followers know about it, but I'm like, there were millions of people that need to know this information.
Like you, you need to know it. Yeah. Save you so much time and money.
No, I feel the same way. It's you wanna shake people, right? Yeah. And
I love talking to entrepreneurs because they have the same questions that whenever, like the same questions that I had and I want, I like want to reach out and hold them by the shoulders and be like, listen to me.
I know exactly what you're feeling. I know exactly what you're going through. Do A, B, and C and do it at this time and this time, whatever. And you will get the results and you don't have to spend a year figuring it out and like being frustrated I have the answers for you. So that's obviously I'm very passionate about this.
Like I get really excited, but I just, it's, I love having this knowledge again. I wanna tell the world about it.
So is your course focused on social media and marketing or what, what niche does your course cover?
Yes, so there's different sections. So one course focuses on specifically Instagram and how to make Instagram work for you, because that was something that really boosted my sales was whenever I figured out how to use Instagram.
And it basically, long story short, Instagram probably three or four years ago, moved away from mass marketing and started to focus more on relationship marketing. And finding a way to connect with your followers and the people that you know could potentially find you is the main way to, to get them to notice you.
Oh, what was the question? Sorry. I have a DD It's okay. What are your courses about? What niche? Topic? The follower Formula one focuses on just Instagram and basically teaching you how to do relationship marketing and then the other courses behind the brand. So it helps you learn how to brand, like what is a brand like, a brand is a makeup of relationships and experiences and feelings.
And so it's basically breaking it down and then breaking it down even more so that you have a very like pinpoint idea of what your brand is and what you're trying to do. And gosh, once you have clarity Yep. Clarity is so it needs to be talked about more whenever it comes to marketing. 'cause they're like, oh, just, who do you sell to?
Like what age? It's so much more than that. It's so more than where the person lives and like how old they are and if they're male or female, like it's so much more than that. Obviously it's good to know those things, but that could not be any more broad, like you need to know what they do at eight o'clock at night.
What do they like for breakfast? What kind of car do they drive? Where do they vacation? Do they have kids? Yeah. Do they like having kids? Do they vacation with their friends or do they vacation only with their family? There are so many things that go into it. And so the behind the brand course helps you break down your your ideal client and that, that is so much fun for me because I teach you how, like I make all of my own.
I make my own website like the heavy for every website. And so I teach you like, there's instructional videos on how to make like sliders and how to add graphics to it because again, this is just something that I would stay up until three, 4:00 AM. Figuring it out, and it's, I'm like, oh my gosh, why weren't these tutorials available to me?
But it's okay. Like I figured it out and now I can help other people figure it out much faster. What are you doing in the next live classes? We'll probably have one. Probably. We were, that's a trick question because we were planning on having one in September. But with my daughter not going back to school, it was like, I don't have the, like she's in first grade.
So I'm teaching her how to hold a pencil for crying all, she doesn't even know how to use the computer. So this online learning stuff is a joke. But we were supposed to have one in September and might get pushed until October, but in 2021 it'll be, that's where the main focus is gonna be. So there's gonna be a lot being pushed out in 2020.
We have selfie school coming up where it sounds like trite, to know how to a selfie, but, oh my God, it's so important to know how to take a good selfie and when it's appropriate to take a selfie. And how often and what kind of captions do you write with selfies? You need to know these things, even if you're not in a business.
It's good to know these things.
I think everyone ultimately is their own brand today, which they, we weren't before. And as much as I tried to fight being the face of powerful ladies, like I just have to surrender and give up. It's just, it's not gonna go the other way. What are you doing to keep your sanity?
You mentioned walks and podcasts, like how do you schedule fun for yourself? Like how do you make everything work that you're up to?
That is something that I'm terrible at. And I realized that actually during COVID there was, if there was one good thing that happened during COVID, it was that I realized that I am very like.
Serious person. Whenever I'm working, like I get tunnel vision. And the only prob, there's nothing wrong with that. But the only problem that comes with that is that I'm always working because I like to work. And so I tend to be serious all the time. And I realized I've really lost a lot of my goofy side.
This is crazy to even talk about, but I do this like voice, it's called Sister Ling. And it's basically you're, I can't, I'm talking about this right now. It's basically you know how like little kids sound whenever they're like they sound like they're on helium because like they're just so tiny little voice boxes.
Tiny. Sometimes I talk like that, like I talk, we call it Sister Link. I don't even know where this came from or why I'm talking about it, but I've realized it's been like years since I've talked in Sister Link and it's like one of those things that always makes everyone laugh. But like I talk in Sister Lane whenever I feel relaxed enough to be goofy.
Yeah. Whenever I checked out enough to just like. Be present and not have a new project or a current project, like in my rails and my brain. She's okay, leave it, leave work. And that's hard to do as an entrepreneur. It really is. Because we work all the time because we like working.
It's, I know a lot of people struggle with this. It's you have to make time for yourself to check out. And I realized that during COVID it forced me to slow down. And then I was like things run just fine if I'm not okay. Look at that. I I sat on my butt all day, but today, and sales are still coming in.
Customer service is getting taken care of, and I don't need a new project to make me feel happy or fulfilled right now. It was just like a little light bulb went off. I was like, oh, yeah. I focus so much on making sure that I've created a brand to enjoy life, but then I don't always, tap out and enjoy life.
And so yeah, I've forced myself to, to make like weekends work free. Like I don't I don't do anything on the weekends. I don't check my email, nothing. Otherwise one email will have me thinking about it for five hours and I'm like, I don't want that. I work Monday through Friday.
That's
it. Nobody we just launched an evergreen course a week ago now, and I intentionally planned a vacation the day it went live because I'm like, that's it. Like whether, no matter what state it's in, like I have to finish by 4:00 PM on Friday and then I'm gone for a week and everyone else can figure it out.
That is awesome to do that. It was just. I had to have that line in the sand to hold myself accountable because otherwise it would things can keep creeping. Like maybe I just fix it a little bit more, a little bit more. And it's no. Like it has to be I'm very similar. Like I really enjoy, I enjoy the work I do.
I love how I get to hang out with all day. We're doing an entire series this month of September in like dream customers and part of my philosophy with my coaching clients for is pick customers that you actually wanna hang out with and life is so much better. And everyone that's part of powerful ladies like I actually wanna spend time with, like this podcast is totally selfish.
It's like, how do I get to hang out with people I would never hang out with otherwise? I love that. Yeah. But really it's we could be having this conversation right now over a drink or over coffee. And that's why I love getting to do this part. 'Cause I'm the same way until I feel like things are done enough or complete enough, I can't relax.
Yep, absolutely. We literally got home yesterday from camping for a whole week and I didn't sit down until laundry was going and things were cleaned up. Like until it's put away, I can't chill. And it's definitely my own personal problem and it's but once it's done, I can actually be present otherwise I'm like, oh, that stuff is in the car.
And
absolutely, I'm the same way. I'm the same way. Absolutely.
Yep. How does it feel being an entrepreneur and what that gets to show your daughter?
I,
that is a good question. I want her to know that. She already has a much better childhood than me. Like I can't even compare, and I don't wanna say it like much like cue the violence my childhood wasn't great. When I hear other people talk about their childhoods, I'm like, mine was not like that.
Like I was doing my own laundry at eight. It was not like that. I didn't really have one. So I want her to take away from, it doesn't matter, like what she has or what she doesn't have. She's always capable of giving her best with what she has.
Like the other day, whenever we were in school, she was they were, it was so sad they were having this Zoom call and the teacher had asked them to read and she just got into first grade.
And I will be completely honest with you, whenever she got out of kindergarten, like in February or March. She was like learning to use her sight words and stuff. She has not looked at a book since February or March. That kid does not like to read. I struggle, like I struggle with making her read.
Honestly, I don't even remember it. This is this is one of those things we're having a second parent is so helpful because, let me be honest with you, it's a struggle to get her out of bed. It's a struggle to get her to brush her teeth, to put her cereal back into, like the cereal away her bull back in the sink to get dressed.
Let me do your hair. Everything is she's seven, so she has. She definitely has a personality and it's a strong one. God only knows where she got it from, but it's like everything feels like I'm like yanking her or being like, come on, let's go. And then to add more on top of that I know you don't like to read, but now I'm also gonna make you sit here and read.
It was just like, it's not gonna happen. And I didn't. And plus I was dealing with my own stuff, like during COVID. I didn't know how that was gonna affect my business. I just moved into a new house, like we had moved into this house and a week later is whenever everything shut down and I'm like, oh my God, I just moved into this new house.
Like what has gonna happen with my business? We weren't allowed to go into work, it was chaos. So no, teaching my daughter how to open a book was not on the top of my list of priorities. And whenever she was in first grade. Now she's in first grade, we're doing a Zoom call. The teacher asks everyone to read, she immediately starts to cry.
Now she's not the only kid in that class that can't read. She can read some sight words, but again, like should, we haven't practiced it in six months. She basically just had a six month summer vacation, so she immediately started to cry. And so I'm not like, teachers or moms and dads aren't allowed to like, coddle their kids, which makes sense.
So I waited till it was done. She came down, she was just like sobbing and my heart broke and I felt so bad and she's she asked me to read and I dunno how to read. And I'm like, you know what? Like I was honest with her. I'm like, I bet the kids who know how to read. Have a daddy helping, or they have a grandma helping, or they have an older sister, an older brother that helps.
I am sorry that I have not helped you with this, but we will get some help. And so I like, I can't do it like I'm already at max capacity, so I'm hiring a tutor, but that's just one example where I'm like, she is, she has a much better childhood than what I've ever had or what I ever thought that she could have.
Like her childhood has been great, but she's still gonna come up with some things that are hard for her. Everyone has, struggles. Or something that they need to get over. Everyone's gonna have something that they need to go visit therapy for. It doesn't matter what it is, you, everyone needs to be in therapy.
So I hope that, like what she sees from me is that you are capable of literally anything if you want to be. A doctor, or if you want to be a lawyer, or if you want to take over this business, or if you want to be a famous soccer player, I don't care. You're not going to get it handed to you. Like it takes a lot of hard work.
I'm not gonna sugarcoat that either, but you can do anything that you want. I cannot believe that eight years ago or nine years ago, whenever I started this, that it is where it is today. It's on I can't believe it, but I can't I'm just like, wow, I didn't realize that this was how it was gonna end up.
So she's capable of anything, anyone is
for sure. And I think that there's some beauty to when your head is down and you're just working and making it happen. When you look up and you go, oh, holy shit. I did that. I didn't know that was, I didn't know. I've been doing that this whole time.
What are you most proud of yourself For business or life? Oh,
I'm a three Enneagram, so that's a hard question for us to answer. This is not even business related. I'm proud that I went to therapy and that I did the inner work to get over like daddy issues. I didn't know that I had daddy issues. I guess I just associated daddy issues with being, like mistreated, like all like the normal things that you associate with having daddy issues or like family issues.
But I didn't realize until I started to go to therapy. How much of my life was basically a lie, and I was making decisions based off of that lie. And so a lot of my misperceptions were completely, or a lot of my conceptions were completely wrong, like they were. I was perceiving things in a light that wasn't true.
And so I'm glad that I went that route and I did the work. I still like love going to therapy and I frequent it. But it can be daunting to go to therapy and it's hard in the middle of it because man, that can of worms for me was really deep. And there's, the little worms are still like, poking out every once in a while.
They're on the loose. Yeah. It was hard to get started going to that first step because it just seems exhausting. I don't think a lot of people are necessarily scared to go tell a stranger and talk about their feelings. They just know in like the back of their minds that it's this is gonna be a lot of digging.
And it's am I doing okay? Yeah, I'm doing okay, but do I wanna do the work to be stellar?
And so I'm glad, I think I'm really glad that I did that.
Yeah. It's, and I love that line. Are you willing to do the work to be stellar? Because I think that's a choice that all of us have to make no matter what we're facing.
Any of us, as you said, can have any life we want. But do you wanna be good enough or do you wanna be stellar? Yeah. Yeah. I like being stellar when I can, that's what I'm striving for. Because it's way more fun. I think it's, yeah. Yeah. Maybe there's some masochist in me as well that appreciates the pain and suffering, but No, it's I'm too curious about what's over that next ridge, like what's next?
Because. It's never, it's not like you start a business and you've reached the mountaintop once it's out there, it's no, that was just the first hill. Like Absolutely. And it seems like you're climbing Everest when you start, and then when you get there and you realize, oh, that wasn't Everest. That's cute.
Oh, that was an ant hill. Yeah.
Yeah. We ask everyone on the podcast where they rate themselves on the powerful lady scale, zero being average, everyday human, and 10 being the most powerful lady possible. Where would you rank yourself today and where do you think you rank yourself on average?
I honest to, I think I'm probably a nine today. Like I, I feel like I know that what I say have has influenced, which is why I'm very careful with the wording that I put out and why I feel like it's so important to be transparent about my body issues or struggling with being a single mom.
I want people to know that, especially because I feel like a lot of times when people see me, they see a decent looking blonde and the dress is cute, and so you automatically get this perception of who I'm like, and I do the same thing. It's not like necessarily a bad judgment, but you do judge.
You don't realize that you are. But if I see someone in the soccer uniform, I'm like, oh, they love soccer, but maybe they, maybe it's a costume. Like you don't know. You just get this idea in their, your head that's what they do and what they're into. And I love being someone that I, that is I love being someone that people don't necessarily expect me to be.
I like to do my hair and makeup, but I also, I like to get dirty and go fishing, that sort of thing. So I feel like I, I can relate to a lot of people in a lot of ways. In general, I feel like in general, I feel like I'm an eight. I'm pretty confident in the fact that I have influence in that I have a positive influence on people's lives.
One thing that I wanna get a, be a better handle on is like securing my own demons when it comes to body image. Because every morning, whenever I wake up, I think about these pairs of jeans that I can't fit in right now. It's literally my first thought. And like a lot of that is habitual, but like it's, it needs to stop.
And so again, go back to therapy. We're going to get off that shovel and we're going to keep on digging and like breaking away and a lot of that is like generational. Like my mom is like that. Yeah. And her mom is like that. So not only am I trying to sort out the thoughts in my own brain it's breaking this generational issue that we have and that's that's a big load to carry.
Like what? Yeah, why didn't my mom do this so that I didn't have to do it? But that's another thing, like with my daughter, we do not discuss. Like my friends and I we tried to get better at it with each other. Not knocking our bodies or anything like that. Even remotely negative about our bodies.
We really don't even talk about our bodies in front of her. 'cause I'm like, that's what started it with me is I remember being eight and seeing like my mom hated her body so much and she hated her cellulite in her build. And she hated it and it was very obvious that she hated it and was very insecure.
And I remember being eight and it was just a year older than my daughter would. And it's just crazy to think about. I like sat down and I saw cellulite in my legs. And from that moment on, my worth plummeted. And it's been a climb ever since. Trying to to get out of that mindset. And I don't wanna blame my mom, but that was her fault.
And so I wanna make sure that yeah. I don't do that to, to my daughter. It's a lot. It's not, there's a lot going on in here at all times, basically. But yeah, I feel like I could be better if I did the work myself. And I was, I worked on being more confident with my body in general, which again, it's just work.
It's listening to the podcast, it's going to therapy it's doing the work.
I also wanna acknowledge you for how much you are changing your family legacy. Like you're not just changing your family legacy about body image, but you're changing it from a financial perspective. You're changing it from a being there and being committed perspective, from making an impact perspective.
Like when you look at the impact that you're making, it's bigger than your daughter. And it's like literally you are holding that line of no more. This is when the family legacy changes and it's a byproduct of you just doing what you know you're here to do. Which is, that's a win on such a huge scale.
Kinda
no, you're making my throat get all tight.
Yeah, thank you. That means a lot. No it's true. It's there's so many other things that you could be doing, right? There's so many easier paths. There's so many times in a day that we can choose to rise up to, like being that greatness we wanna be or being what's easy.
And I think everyone who's been listening so far is so clear on you choosing like you say, no, we're doing it this way. Nope. And I think you just need to give yourself credit for that because that's part of being a mom and being an entrepreneur and having influence be what's driving you and it's working.
So You're doing great, girl. Oh, thanks. You're welcome. For everyone that's listening and is now obsessed with you and wants to either following your path or know where, how they can support you, how first do you recommend that they, you mentioned Brandon Bouchard, you mentioned listening to podcasts.
What are your last words of wisdom for people who are like, should I do this?
Oh, think about, I heard this quote whenever I was younger and I felt like this helped shape my view set or my mindset. So what would you do if money had no influence? So if you love drawing and you could draw for the rest of your life and you didn't have to worry about.
Doing it to make money, it was just there. What would you pick? And so for me, I love, one of my favorite shows was what Not to Wear. Yeah. Because I was like, like I cried every time because I'm like, oh my God, these women like just get something that's flattering for your body type and just find out what makes you comfortable and confident and like seeing their faces whenever they came out.
I like, sobbing. Because I was just so happy for them and I'm like, they've done it. Like they can see themselves in such a positive light. And so like I knew that fashion and self-expression was always a huge thing for me. Being able to express yourself is huge to me.
And that's one thing that my mom did, right? She let me express myself however I wanted. So if I wanted blue hair, she was like okay. She'd be like, alright, okay, if, if that keeps you out of doing drugs, then fine. Unless you have blue hair. So I would encourage people to figure out don't ever do something just based on the money.
I feel like that's, and when people think of an entrepreneur, they think they can work whenever they want and they'll just make money. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. And you have to love what you're doing. You have to be obsessed with it because there's gonna be times where you're on a cliff and then you plummet.
And it's that obsession with it that gets you to crawl out from the bottom and get back on the top again. And the obsession and just wanting it so bad. That's what raises you through those times. It's not the, it's not the money. Don't chase money. I've seen so many people close to me make decisions based off of how much money they would make.
And again, like it would take them away from their friends and family for months at a time. Like they're trading in their life for a paycheck. And I'm like, that's not, you should be. No, it's about the freedom. That's what this is about. It's not about the money. So that's a big one for me.
And so don't chase anything just because you think it's gonna be, gonna make you a lot of money. Obviously. I understand that there are times in your life. Or being financially stable is priority number one. Like we talked about prior priorities earlier. Of course. There was times before I did this where I worked three jobs because we grew up poor and I finally got old enough to have a credit card, so I got nine of them.
Like, why not? And then of course I wasn't able to keep cut up with it. And then of course I went into debt and it took me three years of working three jobs to get out of it. So I get it, I get how sometimes starting my own entrepreneur business wasn't in the car to me right then and there.
There are seasons and there are things that you have to learn. The universe is teaching you things like just accept it, otherwise you're gonna have to, it's gonna teach it to you again. Like I get that there's seasons to everything, but also understand that there's seasons and you can change your priorities as you get out of one season and into another.
I love that. It's. It gives, allows you space to give yourself grace, right? When you remember that we are on this journey of learning what we need to for what's next. If anyone who's gone through like the Dave Ramsey program, he talks a lot about how like you're not gonna get what you're not ready for.
And I think that's accurate in all areas of life. If what you resist persists, so like how do you sit there and deal with it in that moment, you're supposed to. So it's handled and you can level up like what everything that you're supposed to have will come. It's just a matter of like deal, like doing the work and having your head down and like being in whatever you're in that moment.
It's so hard. 'cause I'm like the least patient person on the planet. Like I think anyone who's an entrepreneur, like you see it 10 years down the road half the time and you're like, wait, we're not there yet. What happened? Yeah, for sure. But there is something beautiful about hold on, if it's not working.
How do we figure out why? There's such simple things. Business is not complicated and it looks scary and intimidating and complicated from the outside, but at the end of the day, it's really not. So how do we just have a timeout and look at what isn't working and why? And then once you do that exercise, it's so easy to see 50 things you could try to change it.
Yeah. How important have the girlfriends and other powerful ladies in your life been to your journey? Oh my God. The biggest.
The biggest supporters. The biggest they challenge me. They pull things out that I, that they see, that I don't, and we do it to each other.
It's. They've been the biggest support system that I could ever ask for. And it, I know that they feel the same way about me. Like I, we all challenge each other. I've never been close with my family, like my immediate family or my extended family. I consider, I've always been like someone that considers my girlfriends to be actual family.
Like I have two, one lives in New York and one lives in Atlanta now. And like we call each other sisters. It sounds like cliche, but I've never had support from my own family, let alone in the way that my friends have shown up for me. So they've been huge building blocks in, in me becoming who the person I am today is.
What do you do to maintain those relationships with everything else you have going on? That's a priority. So
we have girls night once a week. They started their own podcasts. So every once in a while, like we'll be guests on each other's podcasts. But yeah, we have girls night once a week, and we have group chats.
Yeah, so we are pretty active in each other's lives. Like I, people ask me all the time, like, when are you gonna date? Are you on the dating apps again? I've been divorced now for six years and I've dated off and on. But it's one of those things where if I didn't have a child, I probably would be married by now because I could make that a priority, but like I can't, like her, she, I have her nearly a hundred percent of the time. And so it's hard to get away. It's hard to make it a priority. But it's just it's just one of those things where I'm like, like it'll happen. It'll happen whenever it happens. Why do we seriously, I have a DD Why did we, why did I start
talking about that?
We were talking about how the importance of girlfriends and how you maintain those relationships. Oh, because
I Oh, okay. So they are priority to me. Like having them over once a week is a priority. Them being as in my chats is a priority and my work is a priority and the branding is a priority.
And like things that aren't a priority just don't fit in. And I'm learned to be okay with that.
Yeah. There's a great book by Dan Meredith called How to Be Fucking Awesome. And he really drives home how we can only do three things a day and three things a week, three things a month, right?
Three, three things a year. And to me, there's so much freedom, right? The key word of like why we're doing all this stuff when you realize, okay, if I can do only three things a month, what do I want those to be? And let's be really intentional because. So many people I think get caught in this cycle of living a life that they haven't chosen or living a life that they didn't decide.
They just fell into it. And you mentioned clarity earlier, and in the powerful ladies community, we actually just made it into a kit. You can get outside of it, but we have this clarity kit where you really sit there and look at wait, why am I doing these things? Do I want to?
And there's such I'm a big believer in how in minimizing to grow and whether it's using the kaari method or just minimizing things otherwise, whether it's money or time or your stuff, when you scale back and just choose really what you want. It's crazy to me like how many doors and things start opening.
Yep. Because there's finally room. There's room for all that stuff to show up.
Yep. And you can finally be intentional with stuff instead of. Half-ass in it because that's the only way you can do everything. And yeah. Oh absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah. I love it. It has been such a pleasure hanging out with you today.
As we are wrapping up, is there anything else you'd wanna share with everyone listening? No. I'm just so glad I'm so flattered to be here. Everyone should listen to this podcast. That was awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you for being a yes to powerful ladies, and thank you for all that you're doing in your world as well.
Thank you. I had so much fun. Thank you for having me.
Pebby is such a powerful lady. I am so excited that Natasha connected us and I'm absolutely keeping her in. My powerful lady pocket of favorites. Go ahead and support this badass woman. To connect, support, buy from and follow pe. You can find her on Instagram at PBI for Evie, as well as at her website, pbi forever.com.
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of The Powerful Ladies Podcast. There are so many ways you can get involved and get supported with fellow powerful ladies. First, subscribe to this podcast anywhere you listen to podcast. Give us a five star rating and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies. Join the Powerful Ladies Thrive Collective. This is the place where powerful ladies connect, level up, and learn how to thrive in business and life. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page, and of course, visit our website, the powerful ladies.com. I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy.
Without her, this wouldn't be possible. You can follow her on Instagram at Jordan K. Duffy. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
