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4: Episode 4: Allie Corrigan Senior Consultant and Owner of The Business Shoppe
85 Plays5 years ago
Grit and Grind podcast is brought to you by Grit City Women - A female forward organization that nurtures a creative approach to empowering female entrepreneurs, small business owners. and leaders in Tacoma. Join host Krystle Edwards and Grit City Women Charter Member Allie Corrigan while we discuss:
- When to let go
- Obstacles female entrepreneurs face
- Being unapologetic
- Defying the cookie cutter mindset
- Website : www.onebizshoppe.com
- Insta : @Thebusinessshoppe
- Facebook: The Business Shoppe
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Transcript
Introduction of Podcast and Guest
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to Grit and Grind, a podcast by Grit City Women, where Griti is the new pretty. This is Grit City Women founder and host, Crystal Edwards. In today's podcast, we have Grit City Women charter member and contributor, Allie Corrigan, senior consultant and owner of a business shop. Welcome, Allie. Hey. How are you? I'm doing pretty good. Doing pretty.
Allie's Business Journey
00:00:36
Speaker
So obviously you're a good city women charter members and a friend of mine, but why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself? Well, I started my business in 2013 before the birth of my daughter. And I essentially started my business to originally just, you know, put money in the bank, pay bills and take care of my family without having to have a traditional nine to five income.
00:01:03
Speaker
But it's kind of morphed into this thing now where I have like a big business that is six figures and I'm helping other businesses be profitable and helping business owners stay on top of their accounting, their taxes, but empowering them to really be educated about what all of those things are. And then we talk about how to build a business and scale a business. So it's kind of just become this
00:01:29
Speaker
out of control beast that I'm super excited to continue to grow and feed.
Pivotal Moments and Decisions
00:01:36
Speaker
So when was, so we met, was it just over a year ago when we met? Oh, I think it was, no, you're right. It was 2018. Cause you were, you were one of the people that I was talking with about this vision of great city women and you know, we were getting each other. So what was that pivotal moment for you that
00:01:58
Speaker
convinced you to transition from your old job to starting this business? Um, well, I think it's because one, my job didn't have, it was before the family leave act or whatever. My job didn't have, um, any leave for me. I had been working at a law firm for like nearly four years, like two and a half, three, four years. I'm like that. I don't remember exactly. Um, but I worked there for a really long time and in the time that I worked there,
00:02:28
Speaker
I had shown, you know, this attorney that I can do paralegal work. I could do accounting. I was doing office management. I was running payroll. I was filing taxes. I was managing the whole place, you know, doing a really great job. And in three years, I got a 50 cent raise. And then I watched people that had worked there for six months get dollar raises and whatever. And I was like, clearly, I know how to. And I raised her. I even sat with this woman and showed her, like, I've increased your
00:02:58
Speaker
quarterly earnings by X amount by implementing these processes and procedures by cutting people off who have already exhausted their retainer and then keep coming back to waste time or whatever. And she, you know, it was great that she was compassionate to our clients, but at the same time, I was like, this is a business, like if you want it to be viable, you have to be charging people. And so I've implemented a lot of processes and procedures that increased her revenue.
00:03:20
Speaker
And she was like, I mean, I was just discredited. I had the numbers in front of her and I would get discredited. I would just be told like, well, that was a nice thing that you did. Thanks for putting more money in my pocket. Here's 50 cents. And it was almost like a, it was insulting. And so I was like, you know what? Clearly I know how to make money. Clearly I know how to run a business. Why am I not doing this for myself? And why am I going to like, cause she wanted me to bring my daughter into the office with me and stuff.
00:03:49
Speaker
I already went through this with my first child where I didn't get to bond with him until he was two because I went to work a week after I gave birth. And I'm like, I'm not doing that again. I'm not, I'm not doing this. So I just was like, you know what, I'm just going to save money and leave this job. And then when I have my daughter, like, well, right before I had her, I started this business and I already had like a few clients at that point, um, and was just about able to supplement my income.
Business Development and Market Needs
00:04:14
Speaker
So that was with,
00:04:16
Speaker
summit, right? No, actually. So I started this business as first stop solutions. Okay. And I started it with another person and it didn't work out with that person. Um, and so it was fine. They were no longer a part of it. So they left. And then, um, and so essentially what I did is I started doing, you know, just basic bookkeeping, but then it realized that my clients needed a lot more help. Right. They were like,
00:04:43
Speaker
Okay. I understand like this is what we put in. This is what we get out. What does this report mean? And I'm like, this is a profit and loss. And what is a balance sheet? And I'm like, Oh, okay. So one, not everybody should have to go to business school to run a business. Sometimes they just kind of need the quick and dirty. You know what I mean? You're just like, here's what a profit and loss is. Here's what a balance sheet is. Here's how you run these numbers and here's the taxes you're going to own. Here's where you go to pay them. And doing that with clients was just so, it just saw how empowering it was to them.
00:05:13
Speaker
And I was starting to do this with more and more clients where I was like, Hey, you need to streamline this process. Hey, you're not making any money here. Hey, are you looking at this? You know, and realizing that they were like, well, our previous bookkeeper didn't say anything. And I'm like, well, yeah, cause they were just data regurgitators. Exactly. And so I realized more people, more and more people, um, who I was working with and more and more of my clients were in this position of, well, thank you for these numbers. Thank you for these reports now.
00:05:42
Speaker
Now what? How do I set up my books to make sure that I'm tracking these certain numbers? What are your products and services? How do these things fall into, you know, what, how do these things feed into the way that your business is run? And how do you know if you're even making any money? And most people, I mean, I was going into warehouses for companies that were, I mean, big companies and
00:06:05
Speaker
They weren't even making any money. They weren't even tracking how much they were spending on their cost of goods to sell a certain product, and let alone do they even know what their overhead was. And so I'm sitting there, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is like I saw a need in the market. And so me being the brazen woman that I am, I went around to, and I hadn't even finished my degree at this point.
00:06:26
Speaker
But I got around to a bunch of CPA firms and essentially got laughed out of them because they were like, this chicken's insane. Because I was like, I see a need in the market. There needs to be a one-stop shop for people to be able to come in, get educated on their numbers, come in for workshops and gain access to resources, but then also be able to, you know, to
00:06:50
Speaker
delegate that to someone else without feeling like that person is taking over everything. Because I feel there's a feeling of loss of control when you just hand everything over to a bookkeeper or a CPA and they're not explaining to you what they're doing. Well, a lot of CPAs that I talked to are a little older. They're kind of old school. And their thing was like, well, you're exposing, like, that's the mystery of it. And I was like, the mystery of it? Like, this is taxes and books. This isn't like,
00:07:23
Speaker
People should be able to like, people should be able to know what they're doing, you know, like, there's a mystery behind this. And at the end of the day, eventually, they're gonna want to delegate these things, at least they know what an 1120S is, at least they know that, you know, the difference between a 1099 to W2 and what, you know, what qualifies as a contractor as opposed to an employee. And I love empowering and educating people to understand those things. So they are just
00:07:49
Speaker
You know, cause what I get a lot is people swimming around Google being like confused. Yeah. Then you just get a ton of people. Yeah. I mean, I know exactly what's up. That's like, I've been doing that for years and you know, that time I can be spending on growing my business, on doing the things that I am good at and, uh, allowing someone else to help me with those other things. And it's.
00:08:12
Speaker
It is really important, I think, to have that balance and to realize when you're going down a rabbit hole of like, how much time am I spending? How much is my time worth? Um, how do I handle that? And then also I like the idea that you shouldn't have to go to business school to start a business. And I think business school isn't necessarily geared to owning a business. It's geared to operating in a business corporation and, um,
00:08:39
Speaker
A lot of people who own small businesses or run organizations have some intrinsic value or motivation that drives them. And that's not because they went to business school. That's because it's something they're passionate about or it's something that they've always dreamt about. And so they have that vision, but they don't necessarily have that back end know-how of bookkeeping, which you shouldn't need to have because you should be able to have the vision and ideally
00:09:07
Speaker
you should be able to use your resources and to scale appropriately to get to where you want. And I think that's right now where we're at where the entrepreneur and all that stuff is coming out. And what does that look like? I never went to business school, but I can sure develop a marketing plan. I know how to run a business. I know how to do that now. Do I know all the ends, the back end stuff? No, that's all stuff that I don't know.
00:09:35
Speaker
And so I think that that is
Grit City Women's Impact
00:09:37
Speaker
something that stops a lot of people from pursuing their business and from growing their business because they feel overwhelmed about all the technical stuff behind the scenes. Well, my rule of thumb is if you don't know, let it go. If you don't know how to do it, you need to find resources. There is no honor in doing everything yourself.
00:09:59
Speaker
If you can't, it's okay to say that you can. It's actually really good for you to say that you can't and go to somebody like, you know, with my website, my, you know, all that kind of, I'm like, I'm not a techie person. I don't know shit about websites or web design or any of that stuff. My website was atrocious. And so I got somebody to, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I don't know how to do it. I'm just going to delegate this to somebody who that's their wheelhouse.
00:10:26
Speaker
But I also want to know a little bit more about it and be educated to know, OK, my website needs to be compatible for mobile phones.
00:10:35
Speaker
Um, uh, Brandy with the multifaceted matriarch gave me a wonderful proposal that was like, here's everything that you need to, you know, to know about what we're going to do in our website. So it was just very informative, but I was like, but I don't want to do it. And then you felt good about it. This aligns with what my need is. I feel comfortable. She understands my vision. She understands what my business needs.
00:10:58
Speaker
And you can take that burden off your plate and continue to move forward with your business. Precisely. I shouldn't have to go to social media school or marketing school or whatever school it is, graphic design school, to do my website. But I also should just know what's going on. But I don't need to have all that education because that's what the experts are for. And so reaching out when you start a business especially, reaching out to different resources,
00:11:24
Speaker
and gaining access to those resources, but finding a good channel that you know you can trust that's going to give you clear, concise information about what you need to know when you start, what taxes you're going to need to file, how do you hire your first employee. We have a blog that's about
00:11:41
Speaker
you know, a blog post about hiring your first employee. And, you know, when I realized like, okay, when people also need to know what the difference is between an employee and a contractor and, you know, and how different government entities look at that. So it's just, it's just was a lot. And so once I went into that, I went to the firm, I partnered with a CPA firm with Tim Wood from Summit CPAs and we still affiliate with each other. Um,
00:12:07
Speaker
And in the years that we were partners, I learned so much from him because he's been a CPA for 30-something odd years.
00:12:15
Speaker
And I just, he's a wealth of knowledge and still is a valuable resource for us. And we sent a lot of clients to him because I don't want to be a CPA. There's no way in hell I want his job. Um, but he was great for that, for that time being. And then I was like, I want to be like front and center in Tacoma. I want an office downtown. I want to work seven minutes from my house. I want to do more consulting. I want to be boots on the ground. I want to do workshops. And, um, and so he was like,
00:12:45
Speaker
You've blossomed into a beautiful butterfly. And so that's when we started. We opened up the business shop on January 1st, 2019 and within six months grew out of two different offices and now we're in one of the biggest offices and we're just continuing to grow. That's awesome. Yeah. Really awesome. So what has, um,
00:13:12
Speaker
What has it been like being involved with Great City Women over the last what year and a half? It's been really cool to watch it grow. It's been really cool to see it in like, you know, I watched you conceive as creepy as that sounds.
00:13:37
Speaker
I gotta watch you conceive of the warrior that I am. This beautiful concept. And I was like, oh my gosh, I love this concept. And then watch it grow to what it's become. And it's been really cool. I mean, I've met so many incredible women through the process. I've been able to bring other women into
00:14:03
Speaker
um, the fold, I guess. And they've grown so much as a result, um, of, you know, just the great educational resources you're bringing, um, to people. And, um, yeah, it's just, it's, it's just, I, I'm like almost taken aback to watch like just how, you know, we both kind of started on this journey.
00:14:27
Speaker
in different aspects, but at the same time, and to just watch how everything just went kablooey. Like it just exploded. And it's been really cool.
00:14:38
Speaker
insane.
Challenges and Triumphs of Women in Business
00:14:40
Speaker
And I that's kind of falls into really what Good City Women is all about is about being around other women that are doing things and that want to progress. And we both kind of met around this timeframe of I have this vision, and sharing it with you guys to get some feedback and some insight and to gain some support. And then you were like,
00:15:04
Speaker
well, I need to be in Tacoma. This is what I want to be doing. I want to be involved with this kind of stuff and having that conversation and then watching you just do it and then like me just do it. And we're just doing stuff and then seeing other women in the group opening their businesses and just doing it. We've had women who started opening their businesses since they joined and also that have just been learning from the group and from some of the speakers and from other members. And it's
00:15:34
Speaker
it's been really cool to see where that goes. And it's definitely like the energy feeds off one of one another, you know, and yeah, yeah. And I think what's really cool, especially about all the like the different speakers that you have is that each person
00:15:55
Speaker
has a different wheelhouse, which I really believe brings it into, you know, it brings like a diversity of thought into what goes into being an owner of a business. Because like for me, for example, I own a business, but I'm also a mother of four. And I have
00:16:17
Speaker
so many different things I'm involved with. I also serve on a board of directors so I'm involved in all these different areas of my life and I serve in all these different areas but I wear all these different hats and I feel like as women that's really what differentiates us as business owners and professionals is that you know while men do also wear I'm sure lots of different hats it's not really the same
00:16:39
Speaker
you know, because I'm a single mom, for example. So, you know, for a very long time, I mean, now I have a partner that I'm living with, but for a very long time, I was, you know, I go to work, and then I come home, and then I have to do all of the things that, you know, that a parent has to do, because they don't have somebody to rely on to help me with that. And so it was just, you know, having to kind of fit and navigate into all those different roles, and fulfill myself in all these different ways was just,
00:17:01
Speaker
It was really good to have a network of other women that were experiencing that level of like identity crisis. Yeah. In every aspect, like in our dating lives, right? Or in our romantic lives, in our family relationships. I mean, you have all these different things happening in your life and then on top of that, you're trying to
00:17:25
Speaker
tell yourself every day that you can get up and achieve the impossible. I mean, that's really what we're doing. If you don't believe that you can do anything, good luck getting anywhere. And that is a mental game that you have to tell yourself every day. And there's days when it's hard to believe in yourself. And there's days when it's hard to find the strength to keep pushing forward or be positive or have gratitude. And being around other women and hearing them say,
00:17:54
Speaker
I really didn't think I could do it or, you know, like talk about their struggles has been something that I've heard a lot of feedback. Like I thought I was the only one who felt that way. Right. Or I thought I was the only one and just seeing that, wow.
00:18:07
Speaker
There's a woman who's got her shit together. At least, you know, we think that they do. I love when people say that, oh, you've got your shit together. And I'm like, bitch, you didn't see me cry five minutes ago in the bathroom. But that's the reality. I mean, that's the reality. Like, you can go look on anyone's social media and very rarely are you going to see them ugly crying or, you know, having those moments.
00:18:30
Speaker
But everybody has those moments. And if they don't, they're not doing anything that they say they're doing because straight up lying. Yeah. So then I'm like, yeah, no way. Yeah. They're either lying about having the hard times or they're not they're not pushing the boundaries. They're not pushing the limits. They're not growing as people. There's no way. Like, I mean, I have moments and I will cry or have tears because I'm frustrated or whatever weird
00:18:59
Speaker
is going on in my head, right? And it's like, I have people come and say, you know, you're such an inspiration for this stuff. And that's only something that's been happening in the last few years. And I'm like, wow, like, I never would have ever thought anyone would have ever been inspired by me ever to do anything.
Breaking Stereotypes and Building Trust
00:19:15
Speaker
And I think like having that process and then allowing myself to have a moment in my car where I'm driving because I'm frustrated about this or that, and then being like, all right,
00:19:28
Speaker
Get over it, dude. Get your boots on. Figure it out. Embrace the suck. This is your opportunity to handle the situation and to move forward. I think there's also an opportunity too because I think the one thing that I feel like I'm coming out of this right now and so I've been talking about it a lot more.
00:19:50
Speaker
was being a single mom. So I went through and so I started a business in 2014 and then 2017, my husband, my ex-husband and I, or whatever husband at the time, split up and it was my second divorce. And I had four kids, you know, and I was just, it was just a lot. And
00:20:14
Speaker
I feel like the one thing I'm so proud of is that I was never a struggling single mom. That when I would tell people, when I would tell people at the time, like, oh, no, I'm a single mom or whatever. And people would always be like, oh, bless your heart. And you know, because that's kind of the idea that the society has for us as single mothers is that like,
00:20:35
Speaker
Were these struggling, bootstrapping, you know, like hot messes. Exactly. Exactly. That we're just a big mess that we've, you know, we've got like kids hanging off of us. We've got nothing together where we need all kinds of assistance. We're basically just a charity case walking around.
00:20:53
Speaker
And I thrived as a single mom. I went on vacations to Florida and Hawaii. My kids got involved in all kinds of programs. They were, I had the freedom to go in volunteering their classes and be super involved in their schools. I was able to really be there for my niece who I care for and be involved in her schooling and her upbringing. And I was able to do so many things.
00:21:18
Speaker
and still thrive and thrive financially as well. We were for want of nothing. I didn't have to rely on any assistance or any charity in order for me to be able to do it. Not to say that there isn't a place for that where there have been times I've been that single mom. This just wasn't it. And it was because my business empowered me to be able to work the hours I wanted to work to make the income that I wanted to make to provide for the people I wanted to provide for.
00:21:45
Speaker
And so being able to sort of shift that whole, like, when people are like, oh, you poor single mom. And I'm like, I'm having a good time over here. Yeah. One, exactly. I come home and I do whatever the hell I want. I sleep on the whole bed. I can order things from Amazon without having to hide them from my husband. Like, I am the happiest I've ever been in my life, living my best life, doing what I love every single day and being around the people I love. Yeah. It's awesome.
00:22:14
Speaker
I have a partner now and that's cool, but he's, he's cooler. He knows better than to ask me what I'm ordering on Amazon. Yeah. You don't want that smoke. Yeah. That's really cool. I think that everyone has their own obstacles that they go through and you know,
00:22:42
Speaker
your life doesn't get easier. It doesn't, you know, you might have times where you have less drama. Oh, there's a suck on my chair. Okay, so we'll just transition. I forgot what I was saying, but we'll transition out of that. What is what was your biggest struggle with you?
00:23:01
Speaker
transition to owning your own business. Getting clients. Yeah. You know, it's hard to tell people to trust you when I had all the experience in the world and I had a lot of the education too. Um, and because I just was a gypsy and was really very, um, I was aloof a lot. I think in my younger years, I got pregnant really young, had a kid really young, had my first marriage really young, left my first marriage really young, did the whole single mom thing. And I,
00:23:30
Speaker
never finished what I started, but I had tons of experience, sort of like a Jane of all trades, master of none. And, but I'd done finance consistently for, you know, 15 years, 18, I think I'm going on 18 now. And so it's like, you know, getting people to trust me and trust that I knew what I was talking about and that I was doing what I was doing. So I had to go out and get a lot of like
00:23:53
Speaker
credentials. And so it was just, you know, being able to get clients to believe in me enough to want to put money in my bank account to want to pay me to do it. Honestly, that was really the biggest challenge.
00:24:09
Speaker
and figuring out how to reach that market, tap into what they needed, and be able to sell my products and services to them. Being strategic about how you execute your marketing and your branding. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like you got that all dialed in now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I definitely did. So what is one lesson that you've learned?
00:24:37
Speaker
if you could kind of just give a general of all the crazy ridiculous lessons I've learned. I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned is to be unapologetic. I think, especially as women, we have been taught by some and just in our own, even amongst ourselves, we're so apologetic.
00:25:05
Speaker
My big thing with clients when I'm talking to them is, and I work mostly with women, one of the biggest things I bring to the forefront when I'm especially dealing with a, you know, a client who's a woman who's really struggling with like her, with her business, with her sometimes identity, you know, because of, because what we're doing is so unorthodox to what we've been told that
00:25:28
Speaker
You know, it's like when they're like, oh yeah, this is what I charge. I'm sorry. And I'm like, do I ever fucking be sorry for what you charge? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Your labor has value. Your time has value. Your labor has value. You have value. You are valuable. And that was something I had to really teach myself, especially after, you know, the craziness and the domestic violence and the abuse and all the things that I've endured and all the times I was shut down by people because I'm loud and I'm crass and I'm unapologetic.
00:25:57
Speaker
And I was told to be more apologetic. And then I finally realized like, no, this is who I am. I'm unapologetic. I mean, I'm not unapologetic if I do something wrong, but I'm unapologetic about charging what I'm worth. I'm unapologetic about knowing what I know. I'm unapologetic about what I bring to the table and knowing exactly where I belong at that table. And I think that that's really something I, once I learned that and once I really felt comfortable inside my own skin, being exactly who I was, there was really no stopping
Navigating Societal Expectations and Self-Value
00:26:27
Speaker
me at that point.
00:26:27
Speaker
I think that's true for a lot of women if they can just reach that point and we are conditioned. You and I are both very strong women and we can be outspoken and we voice our opinions and our passions and we stand up for people that need it and we're both very smart.
00:26:47
Speaker
you know, we know what we know and we're not scared to admit when we don't know something. And I have noticed that it is easy for women like us who take up space naturally with our voice, with our energy, with everything like that. It is easy for people to try to put us back in a box. Because they don't like the space that we're taking up because it's intimidating to them and it threatens them.
00:27:17
Speaker
for their own ego or insecurities or whatever and and I have noticed that and I noticed that whatever that looks like whether it's little put downs or whether it's brushing people off or whether it's hey I love your idea I'm just gonna take it and go take it as my own type thing but not include you know you know like whatever that looks like I've definitely noticed that that is a thing yeah that being a strong woman
00:27:43
Speaker
comes along with and I think there's a lot of women who don't realize that they're strong because of all these little microaggressions that continue to happen from being a child to their adulthood of oh well
00:27:58
Speaker
someone told me I can't do anything or someone tells me I'm too loud or someone tells me, you know, oh, I got so emotional about something or, you know, I'm too passionate. And it's like, I'm sorry. Nothing great ever happened from someone who wasn't passionate.
00:28:13
Speaker
right exactly or sitting on my porch with my you know like my ex-husband and having him be like well you wouldn't have all of this if it wasn't for me yeah it's like um okay whatever bro yeah it's like wait i'm sorry what yeah excuse you you know and i've i've just i've noticed that a lot and
00:28:33
Speaker
There's that thought process of you teach people how to treat you. And that's the same thing when it comes to charging your work. When you are not negotiating properly or you're not leveraging properly or you're not charging what you should be charging, you're essentially teaching people that about you and you're instilling that into yourself.
00:28:57
Speaker
And there are strategic ways of partnering with certain people where you're like, Hey, it would be strategically good for me to do the service for you because I get that in return. You have to be strategic about it. It's not just like, Oh, okay, because I need validation that somebody needs something from me. It's like, this is a strategic move. And here's.
00:29:19
Speaker
what I would like and return and da da da da da. And so I think that's super important. And if a lot more women could come to that realization of when those little instances are happening and kind of just either roll off of them or find the balance of how to be politically or bureaucratically savvy and just work through it and brush it off like
00:29:43
Speaker
You know what? I don't need to focus on that. Here's what I'm going to focus on and do me and focus on my goals, on my financials, on whatever I need to do. Move on. I think that we would have a lot more people that are successful, but it's so hard to break that historical like... It's dismantling. Yeah. You're dismantling your entire life. Exactly. You're dismantling an entire construct that has been designed to teach you to be subservient. You're dismantling an entire construct.
00:30:10
Speaker
that has been designed to teach you to be someone who gives, who just gives without any expectation of receipt. And the only people that I unconditionally love like that are going to be the people that are closest to me, like my family and my children, right? Or my very close and dear friends. But if a stranger off the street comes into my office and wants to take up space and time in my office, they're going to be charged, you know what I mean?
00:30:39
Speaker
And, and I'm very unapologetic about that because I'm like, this isn't my hobby. And that was something I had to defend for a really long time. And I was like, why do I have to defend this? I'm looking at my male counterpart. Nobody questions what he is charging. Nobody's questioning his invoices. But they, but because they're like, well, I call him like, yeah, you called me, you called me for an hour. Three days in a row. Yeah. That time was money. Absolutely. You know what I mean? And then they're like, Oh, well, I
00:31:09
Speaker
And another thing is it's like with your story.
00:31:14
Speaker
when I think of when you were trying to get people to trust you, right? You have this, all these multiple life situations that were happening that made you seem to other people's eyes unstable, right? Like you had the marriage, the divorce, the single mom thing, all these perceptions that people put on you that you don't know what you're doing or whatever it is that they think. And to me,
00:31:40
Speaker
because I feel like I was maybe not necessarily a single mom, but I was one of those people, and I can still be considered one of those people. Being an entrepreneur, there are a lot of old school people and a lot of old school companies and organizations who don't trust people who take action.
00:31:59
Speaker
who come out of the box, who are like, hey, I may not have this degree, but I know what I'm doing. I've been boots on the ground. Like I've lived, eaten, breathed this. And I've done, like when you went to your old boss and you showed her her numbers and you increased her revenue and she put you in this place of like, oh no, you didn't actually do anything beneficial for me. Right.
00:32:23
Speaker
when you go and try to present that to other companies because you don't have whatever title or whatever BS that you can't say, oh, I have a degree because I showed up to a class for six months or whatever the degree means, which I think that degrees can be great, but they can also just be a title that really doesn't mean anything. Well, I mean, if you just look at the way our government runs, there's a lot of educated idiots out there. Oh, absolutely. And so, you know, I think that
00:32:53
Speaker
I find a lot of power in people who have been through a lot of stuff. I think that they have a lot of life lessons and seeing someone with drive and passion to me. I would love to work with people like that who have the drive and passion because you can have ideas and you can have strategy, but if you don't have passion,
00:33:12
Speaker
Good luck. Good luck trying to get it during the hard times. Good luck going through all of that stuff. And so I just, I think that that is a new thing that people and especially women need to realize is just because you don't have the cookie cutter past, or you don't have that cookie cutter title, or you don't have that cookie cutter label, that doesn't mean that you don't know what you're doing.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I don't have a marketing degree, but I have successfully marketed so many things and launched so many things and raised tons of money and made money.
Confidence, Worth, and Validation
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah. And, um, and I help people do it and I've done it. And I, can I go and say, Oh, I worked for this company and done this? No. Yeah. I'm not from a marketing firm and I never worked at an accounting firm, but you know, I mean, I'm like, I know because I went up the education and to
00:34:04
Speaker
I was put in all of these different places where I had all this experience. And then coupled that with my education, which now makes me a powerhouse. But also, it was something that was utilized as a means to control me as well because I left that person who I did increase her revenue and did all those things for. I put that on my resume because it was something that was very important. And what I did, I thought was very important. And then when I went to my next employer, who was also a nightmare,
00:34:34
Speaker
she like lied to them and told them like, oh, that never happened. Even though I actually kept all of the reports to back it up because I was like, she's going to gaslight me in some, in some aspect, but was trying to thwart my ability to find gainful employment outside of her.
00:34:52
Speaker
which I absolutely was infuriated about, which I mean, you can't do legally. She's having business anymore. But, you know, it was just amazing to me that I was like, wow, like one person can really like salt your whole game. Like just completely, like what a salty thing to do. But it's like, yeah, she didn't like, she couldn't handle it and made her feel bad about herself and what she was doing. Cause she was a highly educated woman who I was like, Hey,
00:35:19
Speaker
You know, like I sat down with her and that's the other thing about like your ego too. Like you've got to fucking say your ego. Your ego cannot drive everything you do and you cannot sit there and listen to somebody who you look down on because they don't have all the same plaques and awards and degrees as you sitting up on their fucking wall gathering dust. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know, these are the things that are happening within this business that need to grow. Here's where we're losing money here. Here's we can gain money here.
00:35:44
Speaker
And she would just be really insulting. And I was just like, why am I doing that when I could do that for people that would pay me more to do it and would treat me like a person? A human. Yeah, that'd be cool. And that's, to me, what a lot of grit-sitting women is founded upon, is that grit to start your own business, that grit to move forward, because that's really
00:36:12
Speaker
to me what it takes. And I find that such an endearing quality in people is overcoming those obstacles, breaking down the barriers, breaking down that status quo of what a business woman needs to look like, what an entrepreneur needs to look like, what you need to look like. Like, I mean, I think
00:36:31
Speaker
To me, that is such a valuable quality over anything else because you have to be gritty. You have to be able to handle it. You have to be able to keep pushing forward. And, you know, I can have my degrees or plaques and wave them around all I want. But I think it's also just having just like being able to become solid in your own mind.
00:36:56
Speaker
becoming confident in what your offerings are without being egotistical. And that's where I think a lot of that struggle is too, is that confidence is mistaken for confidence, where people become conceited because their ego is in the way because they do have all those plaques, they do have all the experience or whatever.
00:37:18
Speaker
Um, or instead of collaborating with other people who, you know, and, and creating a community around, you know, their business or whatever, and empowering other people in that aspect, it becomes this sort of, it's, it's conceit, it's ego. And that's what's driving it. But it's like confidence is being like, no, I know what I'm doing. Here's how I bring value to this situation. Um, here's what I know. Here's what I don't know. And I'm open to receiving what I don't know. Yeah.
00:37:46
Speaker
And that's when you're not driving everything by your ego. And I think that that's the other thing is that, you know, people will mistake what I'm doing, you know, and are the way that I come across. Like I've told you, I've gotten a lot of flack for, um, you know, you should talk a lot about money. And she's just like,
00:38:01
Speaker
all about money and I'm like, so it feeds you. Yeah, I'm like, what do you pay for things with? Or hopes and dreams? How do you keep the power on? I know, right? I'm sitting there like, well, I need to know about this life because I'm wrong. Please teach me your way. Sign me up. Yeah. I'll come to your commune. Let's do this. Maybe we should just start our own. Yeah, exactly. But seriously, I just like, you know, like, yeah, I do talk about those things because one, I want to de-stigmatize it and two,
00:38:31
Speaker
I wanna make it so that people realize you don't have to have this enormous ego or be completely conceited to be confident. And you can have really genuine relationships with other people and run your business in a collaborative manner and still make money and still make an impact on the world and still affect your community and still do all these great things without having to walk around like a pompous, arrogant ass clown.
00:39:00
Speaker
Right, well maybe- Can I say ask clown? Yeah. Okay, just making sure. I already said fuck a couple times and I was like, I think she knew who I was. I'm not the best at censoring.
00:39:14
Speaker
We're shutting you down and taking you off the internet.
00:39:32
Speaker
And I too, it's also one of those things where confident women seem pitchy, right? Or people are like, oh, she's so stuck up or whatever. You know, that's something that has been, I think it was an obstacle as well. And I deal with that in so many avenues and in my career.
00:39:54
Speaker
And luckily now I've established myself enough that I don't. I feel like we've embraced the bitch. Yeah. Well, and I'll straight up tell people sometimes like, Hey, you don't want me to be mad because I will come in there and I will have this conversation. Well, I'll have this difficult conversation with you. And I mean, I'm not saying yelling and screaming, but I will come in and I will, um,
00:40:21
Speaker
I will lay the hammer down on what the scenario is and be very real with you. And then you're going to have to face the reality that I do know what I'm doing and I do know what I'm talking about. And because you failed to respect our negotiation or our agreement or the fairness that we established, now I have to come in and I have to be this person. And, you know, there were a lot of times where people would just be like,
00:40:48
Speaker
Oh my God, and roll their eyes at me and stuff because I set standards. And luckily now I've established myself enough that I don't have to deal with that. But that doesn't mean that I still won't have to. And a lot of times we don't negotiate the way we should be negotiating for things, whether it's raises or money, because we're just like, oh, we should be grateful that we're even getting this opportunity. And I remember growing up just thinking that way so many times, like, wow, somebody, you know,
00:41:18
Speaker
um, gave me that opportunity or wow, they, they actually, they actually believe in me. And to just be in that mindset of scarcity of having people that actually think I'm capable of something and actually thinking like I deserve a promotion or actually thinking that I'll get that job or actually thinking this and that it made it worse. Like, cause I was like,
00:41:45
Speaker
Thank you for liking me or thank you for believing in me. And that doesn't mean I'm not grateful for people that do, but it was like, that's how... It's like that pupper, like, please sir, can I have some more? Thank you for believing in me, sir. I was like the little cave girl, Timmy. Like, you know, like just with my wild hair. Do you have an opportunity?
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's the way a lot of, you know, a lot of women have been brought up to think as well, like, you know, and it's like, man.
00:42:23
Speaker
Just the stuff that I've seen and the stuff that I've gone through and that I'm seeing other women doing, you doing, it's really exciting and I feel really empowered just to be around that community of people that are working on themselves and working on finding their space and working on how to own that space and set good examples for other women and support them of like, hey,
00:42:49
Speaker
you can do this, you can do this, you should know your value, da da da da da, because that is so necessary. And I feel like it's not just about finding your space, it's about unapologetically taking up that space.
Continuous Growth and Entrepreneurial Tips
00:43:06
Speaker
Because you know that you have earned and deserved that seat at the table. And I feel like with women, with people of color, with all the different trends,
00:43:18
Speaker
like trans people that are in the LGBTQIA community coming out, that I look at all of these people coming up and being like, I'm just going to take my seat at the table. It's about equity, not equality. And I'm really unapologetic about it.
00:43:33
Speaker
And I really am loving seeing more of that. Yeah. And it's fine if you have a vision to be at a table, but you don't feel you're there yet, but start setting some things in motion to get there. Right. And those are some, those are some things that I've been working on with our workbook for the power circles for Great City Women is finding the intrinsic motivation, developing the steps to not just for your business, because Great City Women is more encompassing to leadership and to entrepreneurs, to everybody, anyone basically, but to,
00:44:02
Speaker
leverage those opportunities to really get you into that space and get you more comfortable in that space and those boundaries and to empower you to be successful in your social life, to be successful in your relationships, to be successful in your business, to be successful in your career. Because until you're comfortable in your own skin and you have those boundaries and you understand, check that ego, you know, and you check those insecurities and you're like, okay, I'm just going to keep moving and I'm going to keep doing it.
00:44:31
Speaker
That's the kind of stuff that's going to help you live your best life. And it's so important. And so even if you don't feel like you're there yet and you want to get there, start taking the steps to get yourself there. You know, you don't have to wake up one day and all of a sudden your life is different and you're this new person and you're taking all these risks. But, um, you know, if you want to better yourself, you can start taking baby steps to get there.
00:44:56
Speaker
Absolutely. I think it's all about developing that routine as well and realizing that nothing is a reality TV show. You're not going to wake up the next morning and all the people from Shark Tank have invested in your company. So it's a matter of taking those baby steps and just developing that routine. And you're the only person that can do that.
00:45:19
Speaker
Being around other people that do that inspires you to do it right and it gives you ideas and it helps you ride that wave of energy. But at the end of the day, if you aren't motivated to do it and you aren't doing little things to help yourself.
00:45:34
Speaker
you're not going to be able to ride that wave. Don't be bored. Yeah. Don't sacrifice yourself at the altar of your business. Somehow people are going to look at you and be like, what? Oh, no, she has, you know, like coming to you and wanting to pay you. Put in the work. You've got to, you've got to get up every day. You've got to start getting discipline. You know, discipline is not a bad word. Discipline is a good word. And if you fall off the horse, you get back on, you know, and that I,
00:46:03
Speaker
you just gotta do it. You just like climbing a mountain. You gotta get to the top. I might have to go to the bathroom and it's gonna suck right now. I'm on this cliff and it's really cold. Anybody knows about that, it's you. But I'm gonna do it and people might see my ass. But I'm gonna put my pants on and I'm gonna walk right back up the mountain.
00:46:31
Speaker
Crystal's inspirational book, Kiss on the Mountain, will be coming out very soon. Stay tuned. Okay, so now we're kind of wrapping up here. What are three tips that you have to offer great city women?
00:46:55
Speaker
I think, you mean as entrepreneurs? I think just in regards to your area of expertise. I think, well, the first thing is, is if you're a woman out there trying to start a business or thinking about starting a business and what's inhibiting you is fear, imposter syndrome, and just a lack of confidence, I would encourage you to start writing yourself love notes.
00:47:23
Speaker
Write yourself notes every day about how powerful you are and speak into, speak in the present what you believe will be in the future. Number two would be invest, invest in yourself, invest in solid consulting, invest in, you know, in all kinds of business resources, really invest and put your time, resources and energy into that.
00:47:47
Speaker
so that you can really understand what you're doing, what you want to accomplish, and how you're going to accomplish it. You have to establish your why. Why are you in business? Who are you in business for? And who are you marketing to? And then how? How you're going to run that business? How are you going to reach that market? And then I would just say the third thing is be unapologetic.
00:48:16
Speaker
take up space in a way that you have to feel like you have to make yourself small in order to just fit into what maybe tiny sliver of space may be available for you. Unapologetically take up space. And what I mean by that is if you go into a space where you want to, you know, if you're somebody who's a maker and you want to be on a market, you know, really aggressively pursue being in different markets, aggressively pursue, you know, finding your target market and reaching out to them, aggressively pursue it.
00:48:48
Speaker
In a way, I hope these dogs. They're my babies. They're such great for babies. Good protectors. In a way that you're just not going to be, don't be sorry about it. Really, really own your shit and be unfuck withable.
00:49:06
Speaker
on fuck with a bowl. Yes, be completely beyond being fucked with. I love that. You're the only one that defines that. Exactly. I love that. That's great advice. So if anyone wants to get in touch with you, how do they do that? Or where do they find you? So you can go to our website, which is 1-O-N-E-Biz, B-I-Z, shop, S-H-O-P-P-E.com.
00:49:34
Speaker
I put a link in the bottom. Just so people know, because every time I say it, they're like, Oh, one man's shop. And I'm like, I spilled it weird because I'm because I just had to make it more difficult. Yeah, that's just who I am. It's like my mom did with my name. It's been great. We're all having a good time. Yeah. But you can send us an email.
Conclusion and Acknowledgments
00:49:55
Speaker
You can find me on Instagram, on Facebook, set up an initial consultation.
00:50:00
Speaker
We're going to be putting out a resource page that'll have free resources on it for new and existing business owners. So yeah, we can send a carrier pigeon, a horseman, and a carriage. And we'll put the links and stuff to your social media and everything, the website below when we launch this.
00:50:23
Speaker
Thank you so much for being on the podcast and being a Grit City Women charter member and supporter. It's been a good time. We've been having fun and I can't wait to see what the next year does. Oh, that's going to be so good. Grit and Grind is powered by Melissa Newell, financial advisor for Edward Jones. To learn more about Grit City Women, visit gritcitywomen.com or follow us on Instagram at gritcitywomen and we look forward to getting gritty with you.