How Job Loss Can Lead to New Success as an Entrepreneur!

Allison Turner Hey, welcome to the dream plan start grow podcast hosted by Allison Turner. In each episode, we interview real everyday entrepreneurs, to learn how they got their start, what challenges they faced and overcame when starting the business, and what successes each has had. Welcome to the dream plan, start grow podcast, we've created this podcast or I've created this podcast really for one thing, and that is to share entrepreneurial journeys with everyone. And not necessarily the entire journey. But the journey from the time you that person became an entrepreneur, what prompted them to become an entrepreneur and what they did to continue that journey. So what challenges they had, what successes they had early on, and any tips they might provide us in what helped them. Today, we are hosting Jamie Mackie. That's me who I personally know. And she got thrown into entrepreneurship during the pandemic. So the pandemic hit, she was working for an event planning company, obviously, there were no events for a long time. She got laid off, so to speak. And she became an entrepreneur poof. How did you know what you wanted to do when all this hit? Jamie Mackey I didn't. I think that's like, maybe the secret sauce of entrepreneur, entrepreneurism or whatever. You know, you just have to be open to what comes next. Right? Because I certainly wasn't expecting to be out of a job when I was, I wasn't expecting that all of my skill sets, whether it was event planning, before that I was teaching elementary art. And then I have a very long background in bartending. And like none of those things were happening during the pandemic. So what was I going to do next? So yeah, I didn't have a plan. I spent a lot of time just sitting there on the computer, sending out resumes on indeed, for remote work that everybody else was applying for as well. And, yeah, my opportunities literally fell into my lap. Unknown Speaker That's awesome. Because I know that doesn't happen for everyone. Yeah, I mean, Were there moments of anxiety when all this first hit? Unknown Speaker Oh, yeah. I would say I was living in a very high dose of anxiety the whole time. I mean, it was my first pandemic, you know, longtime, longtime listener, first time caller. My first experience with the pandemic, we didn't know what to expect, you know, you're just like watching the news and seeing the numbers come in. And, you know, everybody's trying to figure out how to navigate it. So that was anxious. That was anxiety driven. I probably didn't leave the house for four months. Well, yeah. I'm, I have a history of being sick all the time. There, I had a very terrible immune system. And I was like, I can't go out there. I don't know what's gonna happen. So that was anxiety driven, not having a job, not having an income mosaic, anxiety driven. My brother had just gotten married, like the week before the world shutdown. And I, you know, I donated a generous amount to his weddings, my brother, I love them with the intent that I'm going to build my nest egg back up, you know, and that didn't happen. So I literally blew my nest egg got laid off, and then had to figure it out in a brand new world. So navigating that terrain was very stressful. My husband going to work every day and coming home and navigating how to handle that transition was very stressful. My family was in New Jersey. That was very stressful. So there was a lot of anxiety involved, which I guess is how I liked, found the CBD industry. Because I was just like, how do I navigate this for myself? You know? Unknown Speaker Yeah, so I know you're in two very distant industries. Yeah. CBD and property management. Yeah. And you just said a couple of minutes ago that they both fell into your lap. So maybe speak about the CBD. I know more about that story. Maybe speak about that part first. And how that since you just referenced it kind of fell into your lap and how you started then selling it. Unknown Speaker I think that might actually be the order in which I started both of them actually. So that's a good transition. Well, I've actually lived with pain I'm in my hands for a really long time. Most people who know me personally know me as like the crow Shire. Like, I have done many things in my life. But the one constant thing was I was always crocheting and creating. Whatever anyone said to me, can you make this blanket for this baby? Can you make this doll for this birthday kids hats. And then I dove deep into just being a fiber artist and making my own sculptures that look like small succulents. And sometimes there were very big succulents and cacti, and they're all made out of 1000s of tiny knots. And that's like, hours and hours of those of you are gonna watch this on the video, we're gonna see like, I like just crunching my shoulders back and forth, and my arms, and I just didn't have a good posture. So probably 20 years of doing that gave me multiple repetitive motion and district injuries. So really, before I was looking for anything from anxiety, I was looking for something for my pain, because I was taking a really high dose of ibuprofen every day, that wasn't taking away the pain. And I was starting to get really severe stomach problems, which was, yeah, that will happen. Do your research before you start digging things? So yeah, so I was literally just looking for something for that I saw my friend on Instagram, you know, I'm home in the pandemic, scrolling on Instagram. Because what else am I doing besides applying to jobs, and I saw my friend, giving this, you know, rubbing this lotion on her husband's back or giving CBD to her kids or her posting about how it is helping her with anxiety. And it's when she started posting that she was giving it to her kids that I was like, What are you doing you insane person giving drugs to your kids. And she took the time to explain to me like, you know, you have to make sure you're getting your CBD from a safe place and know what your what you're taking and make sure you can see the results and all those things. So I said, okay, okay, I'll stop judging you. But can you send me that lotion you're giving me your husband? That would be great. And that's how I fell into the CBD industry. That's the first time that I personally felt any relief from this throbbing pain and my hands and my wrists and my elbows and my shoulders and my neck. And yeah, I just I had to be part of it. And I'm not a numbers person. But you know, Johnny, my husband, like the moment he took a look at like, what the industry was doing. He was like, Yeah, this is probably a good idea. So that's how I got into CBD. And I get to help people who are going through things like I was, which is, that's my jam. I'm not money motivated, but I am like, serving motivated. So I would always put other people's things before mine. So now I get to kind of like combine those two things. Unknown Speaker Well, that's an important thing in business. Yes. When we're, I find if like an entrepreneur starts a business, and they're their money focused. And that's like, why they started the business is like, oh, I should get into the CBD industry or whatever good investment because Yeah, exactly. Because you know, it's gonna make me a lot of money, then they're really not coming from the right place. Yeah. And eventually, they're probably not going to do what they think they're going to do. Because there's not going to be any passion in it for them. Yeah, there really has to be that passion to accelerate your business. Yeah. And keep you interested, because otherwise people get bored. And like, why isn't it taking off more quickly? You know, what's going Unknown Speaker on? You're focused on the wrong things. Yeah. So Unknown Speaker being able to serve people, like you are, then that's bringing in the money on the back end? Yeah. And helping both of you? Yeah. Yes, it's Unknown Speaker a win win. It really is. And then I kind of fill that bucket as well with property management. I help take care of people's homes while they're away. You know, we're in Florida. In the area that we're in, you know, there's a lot of snowbirds, as we like to call them. So there's a lot of second homes down here. So while people are living in their state, that's not Florida. I watch over their homes, and that fell into my lap as well. Very, very grateful. Johnny's in the home. He's in WaterFire, and mold restoration, emergency services, and he had a client who had an immense loss. People don't realize that the batteries in your thermostat can die. Yep. And if you're not in your home for a few months, you will hot hot moist in there. So like to the tune of like 70 plus $1,000 worth of damage. And on your homeowners insurance, this is a fun fact. If you're out of your home for more than for 14 days or more it's considered negligence. So that affects your really yeah I didn't know that extra payout or how much that they'll reimburse you, et cetera. So read the fine print, read it. So that's where I come in. So he said, I had this client, she inquired with me, if I knew anybody who would watch her home while she's gone. Are you interested in this? And I was like, oh, yeah, I'll give it a try. And I was actually, the reason that that conversation came up was because we had a neighbor across the street from us, who had to relocate his mom into a facility to take care of her. And he lives in Arizona, and he asked if we could watch the home, and I'm just like, an overachiever. I like, made a calendar and a spreadsheet. And I would go once a week and check everything out. And they actually had their batteries and their thermostat died, too. So he was like, you're kind of already doing it. Would you be interested in maybe starting your own business? So this client ready to go? said, Yeah, sure. I'll give it a try. And that was my first client and I had systems already in place for it. I made everything official. And now I get to help so many different families, and that aspect, too. So that's really great. Unknown Speaker Yeah, yeah. So how do you get your clients now, Johnny, or he hasn't Unknown Speaker passed me any more leads after that one. But, um, I do a lot of work with realtors, I like I like to call myself a realtors best friend. Because a lot of property managers that deal with tenants, you have to be a licensed real estate agent in order to be a property manager for that type of dwelling, that has tenants in it. I'm not a licensed real estate agent, so I can't deal with tenants. So I kind of help Realtors keep their, their clients in place purchase from you, as a real estate agent, you send them to me, I take care of them, when they're ready to buy another property or sell their property, they come back to you, instead of me being a real estate agent. And now I'm their property manager. Now they're more likely to call me for that listing. So I get a lot of referrals from real estate agents, and I do my networking groups, you know, I'm always trying to go out and meet new people and make new friends. I've been described as aggressively friendly. Unknown Speaker So it's an interesting term. I simply friendly, Unknown Speaker South Jersey, Italian girl. Unknown Speaker So let's talk relationships. And she said, like I liked, you know, you got network a lot. Yeah. Like how much of your business has been built on building relationships? Unknown Speaker All of it? Every last bit of it? Yeah. Unknown Speaker So is it been mainly in person? Is some of it online? Like, where do you feel like most of your business has gotten built from? Or is it like a split? Unknown Speaker I think because of the times right now, most of it has been online, especially in the CBD arena. With that i i personally share my personal journey about CBD. And information about it, maybe I share someone else's story with their permission. And you know, you're scrolling on Facebook or Instagram, your friend shares their thing that they've gotten at Starbucks, you know, and you're like, how do I order that one? That one looks really good, you know, or they're sharing their favorite laundry detergent. Like I've, I was just asking people for their suggestions on laundry detergent the other day, like, We're sourcing our community more and more for things. So I just share what I'm going through my experiences. So most of my CBD business has come from that. Okay. I also like to do in person events. Those are very fun. But you know, the last year has like waxed and waned on what was safe and what wasn't. So I try not to do anything that makes anyone feel uncomfortable or unsafe out there in the world while we're trying to figure out this post quarantine life. But then on the property management end, I do in person networking events, chamber events. We've met through the chamber, I think, or one chamber. Unknown Speaker Yeah, I'm not sure where because I know I may have met Johnny first. Oh, yeah. Everybody. I don't know. Remember, it was a chicken or the egg. Or the split? Yeah, exactly. Unknown Speaker Yeah. But yeah, for property management, management, it's mostly in person networking groups. Some of them are still on Zoom. But like chamber events have been very useful in introducing me to different real estate agents and stuff like that. Unknown Speaker So what's been your greatest challenge? Like with the new businesses, Unknown Speaker figuring it out? Unknown Speaker There's no playbook is there Unknown Speaker there's there isn't there isn't you know, there's so much information out there on how to do it. So you could start anything you want anything? You And there's somebody out there that'll tell you for free on YouTube how to do it or sell you their course, or, you know, you could go on somebody's website and just look at what they did and figure it out from there, you know, kind of like deconstruct the pattern. But then there's so much information out there that you're like, where do I start? So it's almost information overload. So for me, my biggest challenge was just like, actually doing it, I, I have this thing. I'm sure a lot of people know it as like impostor syndrome. And I call it that, like, that chatter that like, it won't stop talking in your head. Right. And mine, my phrase that I always hear would be like, you don't know enough about that yet. And that's the thing that held me back the most. And I'd be like, Okay, I've got to research it more, I gotta look it up more, I gotta see what they're doing. And then you start seeing what other people are doing. And then you're comparing yourself to them. And comparison is like, what did they say is like the killer of productivity? Or Yeah, something like that comparison is the destroyer of joy or something, the destroyer of joy. I'm imagining like a Marvel character, like annihilating some joy. But that that was my biggest hurdle was just now when I hear myself think you don't know enough about that yet. I'm like, Well, we're gonna try anyway. And that's my cue to do some, like, maybe some, like just imperfect moves, you know, maybe it won't work, maybe well, but I'll figure it out along the way. And I think figuring it out along the way, is so much more useful than reading for blog posts about it, or watching another training for the third time, because it just didn't quite stick the first time. You know, Unknown Speaker and I think, you know, business owners often get that, or especially new ones that analysis by paralysis or analysis, yes, paralysis by analysis, that's the way it is. Reverse it. Um, you know, because there's so much you know, there used to some, whatever job they had, you know, and here's what they did. Here's your job description, and you fit into the little box right here. And you don't need to go over to this box over here, because this person is doing this box. And now listen, you're doing all the boxes. You know, your, your everyday accountant, you're the marketer, you're the CEO, you're the salesperson, like you're everything. Yeah, that's a filler, depending on what you're fulfilling. So you're everything. And then people are like, Oh, crap, like what I mean, I remember like, back when I first started the company with a business partner. She's like, Oh, you go out network. And I was like, wouldn't be me go out and network. You're like the extrovert. I'm an introvert. I'd rather be at home. She's like, No, no, you go out. And so she was kind of the closer in the sales side. Yeah. So I would network, I would build the relationships, and I would bring people in and that closer, when we didn't, we ended up not being a good business. And when she left the company in 2014, I was like, Oh, crap, I gotta be the SonicWALL. I was like, What? What am I doing? Me now? Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, Okay, I guess if you want to eat you better, like figure this out. But yeah. So yeah, it's one of those things, that it's always a challenge, and you're always growing and I find that mindsets, one of the most important things. Yeah, I think that's one of the things that gets overlooked in you know, people are like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna start my own business, you know, and I make my own hours, and I can do it. And you know, I can do it part time. If I want, I can do a full time. And then they get there. And they're like, oh, wait a minute, did I do I make the right move here? I just invested all this money. You know, but mindset, you know, so you mentioned that imposter syndrome syndrome is such a key piece in business, and continuing to grow that mindset or continue to like, develop yourself personally. Yeah. Because it can't just be, you know, even if you come in with a pretty clear vision and pretty good mindset, or, you know, confidence level, whatever you want to call it, there's always gonna be something that's going to trip you up, because you didn't expect it. You know, there's something that comes out of left field and you're like, Oh, my God, what do I do? What's that, you know, like, the pandemic came out of left field, like, no one expected it, and then all of a sudden, I feel bad for the really new business owners that just started especially restaurants and things like that, because, you know, there was no prep, you know, they didn't even have necessarily a huge following yet. And now there's no precedent of like what you do here. You know, when everything's gone online, well, obviously a restaurant can't really go online. I mean, luckily they had takeout and some of the laws relaxed a little bit on some of that, but but I find that one of the greatest challenges so what do you do from a personal development standpoint like that helps you in business in life in general? Unknown Speaker I am obsessed with self development books. I am obsessed I had to like actually like put a moratorium I'm reading them for a while because I, I just feel like I was overloading myself. Every time somebody suggests a new book demand, like, put it on my audible list, use one of my credits on that. But I find that thing that is really helping me hit a stride or keep me productive, or brings me the most joy is connecting with other people. I guess like accountability buddies. So like, within my business organization, I have accountability buddies, and maybe we're on the same level of what I would describe as an org chart, you know, for lack of a better description. So we're there to check in with each other share graphics or information, all those things. That's one thing that I wasn't expecting to come with the CBD industry was the incredible community that's there. So I have great accountability buddies there. I work with a friend who does accountability coaching. And she also has been very helpful with keeping me on track. And then just like, networking, and hanging out with like, great people, like yo, like, you are such a badass business, babe, you know, and just hanging out around you is like, Man, I gotta get on Allison's level. Like, she's killing it. Oh, Unknown Speaker so are you? Thank you, I find that people, you know, you have to attract that energy to and I mean, and also, you know, there's people that are in your life, that are pulling in a different way, you know, whatever that is. Sometimes they may have been in your life for a reason at the time, and maybe they are no longer in your life for other reasons. Yeah. So I find that you have to kind of continue to grow that circle as well. I mean, they always say who is it? I'm trying to think who said it was in the point Hill? I don't know, whoever said it. You know, your, Unknown Speaker your the some of your five closest friends, right? Yeah, I think it wasn't Napoleon Hill, because I probably read thinking Grow Rich. Yeah, Unknown Speaker I read that a million while ago. And I need to actually reread it, but it's on the list until like, read it Unknown Speaker through and then just like, bookmark on Audible, so you can like, go back and you can just like whisper in your ear, and you can bookmark on Audible, you can think you can like clip it. Unknown Speaker Oh, okay, so it kind of like clubhouse in 30 seconds. Oh, yeah. I Unknown Speaker felt similar to that. Yeah. Yeah. Unknown Speaker I haven't I haven't actually gone back and listen to what I've clipped, like clip and I'm like, I have all these clips. Or when you think about Yeah, when I go back and like, where was it? Like, far back? Isn't it Unknown Speaker swipe, swipe, swipe. But yeah, you are the sum total of your five closest friends. And I and I learned that the hard way, you know, couldn't figure out why wasn't moving forward. And then I took a look at the people that I was hanging around with the most you know, and they were great friends. Great memories, and you know, still friendly with a lot of them. But I definitely find myself more in circles where people are talking more about ideas and strategies and sharing information. Right? Yeah. Right. Unknown Speaker Yeah. Now, I know Johnny owns his own business, your husband. So obviously, this may be kind of a moot question or moot point in your situation. But I find that sometimes people get into business for themselves. And maybe the spouse is working, like in a nine to five job and all of a sudden, the dynamic shifts a little bit to Johnny's probably out of his out of your house a lot more than maybe you are. But it did anything shifted at all, when you went into business for yourself? Or has there ever been any challenges or any enhancements because of like, you're both in business for yourselves. Unknown Speaker The shift that had to happen was me being open to his suggestions. He is such he's such an amazing business person and marketing, and he has so much knowledge. But I think it was just too close to home when I first started, and I was just really insecure about what I was doing, not that he was delivering a message in a certain way. So just getting over my Encik shifting my insecurities and being open to his suggestions and he learned how I communicate, right? And how to allow me to be open to suggestions. That was a shift. And also I had to figure out how to balance working from home and being at home. You know, like I carved out an office space. I have my little space and it's perfect little room for me to like tuck away you know, event materials and do my computer, computer work, whatever. I do more things than that. But I told you earlier like sometimes words just like there In the brain, they're just hiding. But before that, it was like, Oh, I'll sit on the couch, and I'll do this or, you know, I'll sit at the kitchen table, and then those areas became my office, and then I didn't have anywhere to relax. Or I'd say, let me just start with a load of laundry before I do this, get to those dishes, or just having laundry and dishes to do was a was weighing on me that I was having a hard time balancing. Well, should I just do a cleaning day today? Or should I do my back office stuff today? So I had to really get focused with how to spend the time in my day. around that, and with Johnny, you know, sometimes will say like, what are you doing today? And I'm like, working. What do you mean? What do you mean? It's just a list of the things I'm doing. But I'm sure that's just like a common question. But sometimes I'm like, I know I'm home. But I'm not home. Like don't ask me to do any home stuff until you get home. Unknown Speaker So not doing your laundry right now. Yeah. Unknown Speaker Could you know I'm working, but now we have a good balance now. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, cuz Unknown Speaker I think that's that's one of my challenges. I'm I haven't home office. Now. Right now, I don't have a computer. I like to work at home. I mean, I have a laptop that does live at home most of the time, but I'm not, I'd hate working on laptops. I prefer like my 27 inch iMac. That's our so like, it just kills my neck to like, sit here and look at a laptop all day. And I used to use one and I'm like, Oh, no. So anyway, but my challenge was, I'd be like, Oh, I'm hungry. Regardless of whether I was hungry or not, you know, and at home, you have like pretty much everything. It's in your house. It's open season for food, here at least, you know, I can bring food here. But I it's only like what's here. Otherwise, I gotta physically go out of the building and purchase something if I want something different. So that was my, probably my greatest challenge when I because when Jack and I were dating, I had given up my office space at one point because I was spending this is when he still lived at his place. And I lived in my place and we had dogs. So I felt guilty leaving my dogs when I was out with him, like at his home. And then so I ended up starting to work from home more. So I was like, Well, why no point me paying for an office space, right and doing this. So I did that. And then it took us awhile to find this space. So I was working from home. And then when he moved in with me like we both had home offices. So then like it was like, What are you doing? Like yeah, so even during like the entire pandemic, like I always came here like he may work from home, which is fine. And it may work for him. But like for me, like I kept my routine especially since a lot of other things weren't open and I wasn't getting like yeah, movement elsewhere. I couldn't go to networking events, or I couldn't just go out to dinner. I couldn't go to you know when it first happened. And so for me it was and that's when all three dogs in mind started coming to work. So usually I just said Gracie here good balance. And then I was like, Okay, well you guys can just come to work with mom. And so we started doing that instead because like well I can't talk to anyone else or I don't can't see anyone else besides from afar, so I might as well have you guys here saying talk to somebody talking to my dog. Yeah, but that's for me. That's that routine helps. So I can understand like having a separate routine space in your house. And but you know, my biggest challenge is like how you shut it off. Mike, do you ever have that challenge it? Oh, yeah. At night, you're like, Oh, I forgot to do that. And you're like, Oh, the offensive the right on there. Yeah, just run over there and do it really quickly. Unknown Speaker So like something that I have a completely hard time turning off is the work. I have always, I guess been a hustler. So like, my whole life, all I can remember is having multiple jobs. I think the only time I've ever had one job was when I was 14. It was my first job I was waitressing. And then the moment I got my driver's license when I was 17. I picked up another job. And then I started crocheting, like on the side and I always had something going even like as I got older, I was always I had my daytime job but then I always have my bartending shifts and then I would have my orders that I was crocheting. So I never knew how to just sit and watch TV. I had never until this year until I gave up crocheting which I had to do because I have all these injuries that I'm trying to alleviate. I had to sit and watch TV for the first time and I don't know if you've noticed this while I'm sitting here on camera. I'm very fidgety. I should have like one of those fidget spinners that the kids have or something. I don't know how to just sit still. So and before Johnny and I lived together I would sit and watch TV, but I'd have the computer on my lap, I'd have a project that I was working on. And that's the norm for me. So he plays soccer, usually three times a week. And I mean, I love spending time with him, like, I'm pretty obsessed with him. And I think you obsess, I think I give him like I have to mine I realize I'm like word vomiting on him, because I'm so excited to see him and tell him all the things I like, realize what I'm doing. And I'm like, I'm gonna give you 20 minutes, a 20 minute break, but when that's over. But what was I saying? He goes, he goes out here to soccer three nights a week. And I'm like, Oh, good. Now I get to watch TV and work some more. But I guess that's just how I know to relax. And when he's there, I do feel guilty. Not because like, maybe we're just watching TV, and we're not having a conversation or something. But it's still time that we're spending together. And if in if your partner is sitting with you, and watching a movie with you, is different than your partner sitting with you watching the movie, but really, they've been on their phone the whole time. So I tried to be really conscious of that. But to answer your original question, it's, it's very difficult for me to say, Okay, this is done now. And now it's time to relax, you know, or cook dinner and not listen to a training or a YouTube video, or, you know, I'm always somehow multitasking, answering a text for a client, which I think is very important. But it's extremely hard to shut it off. But sometimes you have to sometimes you have to think like, instead of like, I'm ignoring my business at 730. At night after I've been working on it all day, what I'm doing is I'm practicing self care, right now, reminding myself that, like, you're not failing as a business owner, because you're not answering this text in the middle of the night, where this email in the mail and I are this inquiry that can absolutely if it's an emergency, I'm going to answer it. Right. But if it's something that can wait till the morning, it can wait till the morning. And that's that's an act of self love. You know? Unknown Speaker I mean, I think that's one of our, from a business side, one of my greatest challenges with like, you know, the cell phone industry right now is because people think they can reach you at any given time. So accessible, like, what do you Why didn't you pick the phone up? You know, so Unknown Speaker I saw you posted on social media, but you didn't answer my text. Right? Yeah. Unknown Speaker Oh, yeah. I saw that. I've seen those when I was supposed to. I'm like, but yeah, I mean, you're they. I mean, one of the things I did, which Jack and I disagree on was when we made our last business cards when we rebranded the company, back at Media Group last year, I took cell phones off the cards. Now he doesn't like it. I said was we grow and we get more calls and things like that I'd rather run through a phone system. So I have a voice over IP system, and it has mailboxes. So like he has a mailbox, I have a mailbox, you know, they can get to either of us. Unknown Speaker can those be forwarded to us often? Yeah, I Unknown Speaker mean, I have the main line forwarding to my cell phone at this point. So if, you know, I'm out, like it will forward into my cell phone and I can choose to answer or not choose to answer. That's great. You know, but it's an option. I chose to take it off. Obviously, there's still some of my clients that habit. But some of the newer ones. And I always have to remind myself, like when I, you know, someone refers someone new to me, like, oh, like I called someone new. That was a prospect today. And I'm about to pick up my phone because you know, I have the air pods and like to call them and I'm like, Oh, nope, gotta pick this one up over here. So I have to remind myself to do that to kind of keep it that way. Yeah. You find Unknown Speaker that as a hurdle, or do you find that as a good boundary that you have? Unknown Speaker I find is a good boundary. Yeah. Because if it's an emergency, like your website's down, since we do websites, like that's different, like if you want to text me that, but I mean, I have clients that will be like, Hey, can you update? You know this? And they'll text it to me, I'm like, Hey, can you email it? Because yeah, I ultimately, I'm not necessarily the person depending on what it is not necessarily the person doing the work. Sometimes I'm sending it to my assistant. Yeah. So it's much easier for me to send it if it's an email form, and I check my email a lot. Like when I'm here, like, I'm, like, always on my email for the most part. So it's not like I'm not reachable via email. But yes, if you're texting me at eight o'clock at night, then I'm probably not on my email. Yeah, looking at it at eight o'clock at night. Except for a couple nights this week. I was here till nine. So I wasn't looking at either here nor there. But yeah, but generally speaking, I'm not looking at it. So that's the you know, it's a Yeah, it's one of those things because you want that personal touch but then you don't want people to take advantage because some people do. I mean, I remember I had a client when he and I were dating and Um, she Unknown Speaker we had an appointment Jack, not you and your client. Unknown Speaker Yeah, no, no. When Jack and I were dating, excuse me, um, thank you for the clarification. And she were supposed to have an appointment at like 8am. And I was staying out at his house, and all of a sudden, and I didn't put my phone on Do Not Disturb because at the time I had my, like, second cousin living with me and she was like 19 or 20. And so I wanted her to be able to reach me just in case she needed to get a hold of me. So I all of a sudden my phone goes, like one in the morning. I think she texted me, this client texted me saying, Hey, I can't meet at one in the morning and I'm like, texts and one on one in the morning. I don't care if you're up, like send me an email, like my email. I don't get notifications for emails. So you know, but I wanted the notifications for text in case she met the person staying at my house actually contacted me. So that's why my phone goes on Do Not Disturb from 9pm to 9am at this point. Unknown Speaker I didn't know that the phone did that. Because like I turned my ringer off. But then I still get all the notifications I didn't know until you told me and then do you remember I was like what is this Do Not Disturb Thank God you can ask you just ask your phone things instead of searching through it and yeah, Unknown Speaker oh, yeah. And I love Do Not Disturb. Schedule it so you know if you can? Yeah, I have mine scheduled so i My mind is automatic. So I don't like manually go in. It's like, oh, it's nine o'clock at night. Let me like turn it on. Like automatically goes on doing it. This little moon thing pops up on the screen. So and it says Do Not Disturb Unknown Speaker mood is so soothing to my my head. Now when I see that I'm like, Oh, you're so Unknown Speaker you can schedule like I just haven't. So automatically scheduled from nine to nine. And then if I want to, like I just put it on Do Not Disturb what we're doing this because they come through to my watch. And I was like, I don't need a phone call coming through the watch this. I don't have the watch thing. Yeah, I don't have the, this is just Wi Fi. But it connects Bluetooth to my phone. And so stuff will vibrate here. Yeah. So I was like, Yeah, we don't need that. So I just turned it on manually. Unknown Speaker That was a huge hurdle for me, because I'm easily distracted. And when I opened my phone to check my calendar, or answer a question, if that were to specifically to specifically do anything, and I open it up, and then there's those glaring notifications, and I opened it up and it's on the like the last web page that I was and whatever I get pulled, usually it's a notification and usually from my mom. But the Do Not Disturb has changed my productivity immensely. Because as I said most well I don't know if I said it here, we had a conversation recently that most of my business is online, right? And I am on Facebook, and I am on Instagram. But when I'm getting those notifications on my phone, that takes me out of the tasks that I'm doing and that moment. So sometimes I was just like putting my phone in another room and doing all my Facebook and my Instagram on the laptop, right just to focus but having an on Do Not Disturb has. Unknown Speaker Yeah, and you can put efficiently and you can make it so like emergency contacts can come through, which is what I like. So I have it like set for nine to nine and then certain people can come through so Jack can come through if he was out, Sabrina can come through, I think my mom can come through, you know, and that's maybe about it. Unknown Speaker My mom's on my emergency contact list. But she's mostly she's probably gonna watch this and listen to this, but Unknown Speaker he's a corporate one. One more question that I find important in business. And I want to see how you deal with it. Obviously, you're already in kind of a health industry with the CBD. But what else do you find helpful for you as an entrepreneur of kind of keeping that balance from a health side? You know, whether it's working out whether it's eating healthy, or other supplements you take or anything else like what like Do you have any things that you use that are beneficial for you? Yeah, it's Unknown Speaker all those things that you answer you answer the question for me, thank you good night. It's all of those things. And I didn't do any of those things for a really long time I would just obsess about work and that wasn't good for anyone involved. But now I have a scheduled gym appointment with a trainer two times a week I go to the gym almost every day. Even if it's just to like show up, stretch on the ground and leave. I did something and if I didn't go to the gym to do it, I wouldn't do it. In fact, I have my own little like baggy of like my own, you know, those they call them booty bands. I've got my own like you know, leg band and I've got arm pulleys and my own mat. I bring all my own stuff because like I skeeve everything. A lot of people don't like maths, maths was like the best thing that ever happened to me because things just grossed me out. Oh, so bring my own stuff. So I could, and there are days when I'm like, I could just use all my own stuff here at home. But I won't, yeah, I have every best intention to do the things at home. But as I said, I need my I need the rest of my home to be my home. So even if it's just going to the gym, stretching, doing my warm up routine yesterday, I just went to the gym and I did my a triple long version of my warmup routine. And that was enough to get my body moving to crack a sweat, and go home and feel like I accomplished something that day. So I do that. I am on a special diet elimination diet right now just to see what foods are triggering my hormonal migraines. But I'm has Gianni pointed out the other day, I'm always on some kind of fun new diet. I like to liven things up, you know, things go. Good try new recipes. So I'm very health conscious about foods, even though I could just eat chocolate all day, every day chocolate and a plain loaf of bread. We're not allowed to have bread in our house because I could just polish one of those off. But really, I don't know why. Maybe it's like the Italian to me. And yeah, I just need bread, bread and oil. That's all you need, are like a little bit of garlic. Stop, we can't we can't go down this rabbit hole. So I try really hard to eat healthy consciously, especially now that I'm trying to narrow them the hormonal migraines. And yeah, I take my vitamins. Take, I think there's a song about that. But I'm not going to go into that. We'll have to pay somebody royalties for that. During this, we won't do it. But um, yeah, I try I try really hard to focus on all those things, too. And, and all those things in my mind now before they used to be a chore like, Oh, I gotta work out, oh my god, I got a meal prep, this is such a pain. But now in my mind, it's, as I touched on earlier, like, these are all acts of self love. And I have to like, take a moment out of each of my days to date myself. You know, like you pour so much into your relationship, but then like, how much do you pour back into yourself? So those are like my, my dates. Yeah, take myself out. Maybe I'll get a smoothie after the gym, who knows? And go Unknown Speaker wow. Yeah, and I find the gyms important too, because like I tried during the pandemic, I tried what you were talking about, I was like, Oh, let me do one of these apps that you mirror up to the TV. And then I'm sitting there. I'm trying to look at the big huge TV and they're trying to tell you to do some downward dog thing. And I'm like, Well, I can't see that. And you're like looking through your eyes. I'm trying to look at my TV. Yeah, I'm trying to look at my phone at that point. And Unknown Speaker then I was in the dogs get involved. And it's a family affair. Yeah. And I was like, all right. I don't know if I'm ready for that. And you're doing that 75 Hard. Now I saw you're up to Yeah, so Unknown Speaker the gym is like critical, because I tried it one other time when I didn't have the gym membership. And that second workout. So like I walk in the mornings for 45 minutes. So that's the easy thing. I count that as a workout. Yeah, yeah, no, that's the first workout. Yeah, sometimes I walk a second time. Wait Unknown Speaker 45 minutes. Is that reason? Yeah. You do like three miles a morning? That's three miles. How do you walk? Unknown Speaker 50 minute. Wow. Like around 50. Like, usually in the morning. It's like 15 to 16. And then like, if I walk a second time, sometimes I do a second walk during the day. But I can't do it too often. Because it likes too much joint issues going on. By the way, sometimes I'll do a second. So that's like a little mirror like 16 to 18. And I Unknown Speaker think one day I'll join you on a walk. Yeah, yeah, leave me on your desk. Unknown Speaker It's super early, though. So be ready. Once we do a waiter walk, we could do the waiter walk one day, because I walk around here usually like I'll leave the office and walk. But I found like when I did it before, trying to ask what am I doing for this second workout. I'm like, I can't walk everyday twice because it's just too much pounding on my ankles and my knees and hips and things. And so I finally rejoined the gym, maybe four weeks ago. So now and luckily, I picked one that was like super close to my office. And we really that's what I picked it for him like I don't like and I like it because it's small. And it's not super populated. So when I get there, I'm like I tell anyone what it is. So that's, I love it just because it's literally like a mile down the road, or a mile and a half or something like that. And so convenient. Yeah. And so I get there I can you know, because I didn't want to drive on the other side of Delray Beach because going through downtown is just like a nightmare to get to the traffic. Yeah, because I've been members of the big box gyms and they're great for what they are, but like I have to drive bigger distances and a barrier to entry. So it's a barrier to entry for me, I'm like I need the close. So now it's been easier because I can do the second workout either I scheduled in the afternoon and then I come back and work some more or I wait until like five or six and it's not super crowded, which is two thumbs up. Because if you did that at one of these bigger gyms that will remain nameless right now. It's a challenge. like to get any of the equipment, you're like, Okay, I can't wait for like 10 minutes to like, get on this piece of equipment. Let me go find something else. And they're like, Oh, that one. Somebody sprayed it down and well, yeah, yeah, so this one's like super convenient. So it's been knock on wood, because I'm going on day 16 of 75. Knock on wood, it's been easier to do it, I find my biggest challenges are the weekends when I'm less scheduled. So it's like weird because, like, the more scheduled I am then like, I have to know when it fits. Like I'm going to a friend's fifth anniversary of her company tonight at 530. And so I'm like, Okay, I guess it's gonna be a later night workout, which I normally like to do. But like that's the only place it could fit. Because they have to be at least three hours apart. So I can't do like, hour and a half workout. Yeah. So it's a little bit you know, but that's part of the challenge. It's supposed to be more of a mental challenge. It's not just like a fitness challenge. It's a mental challenge of like, making it inconvenient. So you have to like really think through, but it's actually made me more productive. That's great in the in the last couple of weeks, too. So that's like a fun, a fun benefit. So far. We'll see after 75 days, I'm determined to make 75 days, but this totally got that. Yeah. So the final question I'm going to ask before we wrap up is, if there was one thing you could, if someone said, Okay, I want to go out on my own to do something, you know, whatever that is, and you know, or maybe they got laid off from a job, and they're like, Oh, crap, you know, what do I do now? Like, if it was one thing you could recommend to somebody that was just starting out? What would that be Unknown Speaker just starting out. Just follow your gut. There's going to be a lot of people with opinions on what you should do, or how you should do it. But you know, what you're capable of, and you know, what your heart is telling you. And if you have a little voice in your head, that's not the inner critic that's kind of like this yearning like, I've always wanted to do this perfect world, what would I do? Just do it, just do it. Even if you don't know how to do it, you know, just take a chance and follow your gut, your gut will always tell you, this is right, or if it's wrong. So Unknown Speaker that's, that's great advice, because I think many people figure out where the money is. And they follow that. And then they like we talked about earlier, they don't have the passion behind what they're doing. Yeah. So you definitely need to do some research on whatever industry you're going in just to see what you know, the paths are and be open to find in business, you're always zigzagging as opposed to like, there's no real straight Unknown Speaker line, there is not that there is Yeah, forget it. There is not, and maybe there's pads that are a little more worn and easier to follow. But they're not going to be you know, there's no straight highway. No. And but but the important thing is that you get moving in the direction because the actual under a tree writing out your plan. While it is important, you know, the shade of a tree is sometimes so comforting that you fall asleep underneath of it. So Unknown Speaker yeah, no, that's true. And I think yeah, but taking action piece, which a lot of people in business get kind of paralyzed by because there's so many different ways you can go. Yeah, so take action overwhelming. Yeah, take small steps. I mean, small steps are better than zero steps. Yeah, you know, and that small gain every day is better than like zero gains every day. Unknown Speaker Somebody said this quote once before, and it all has always stuck with me. Because I love elephants so much. So I would never ever even elephant but how do you eat an elephant? You know, your tasks are big. One bite at a time. One day you Unknown Speaker do not eat elephants? Do they? Unknown Speaker I hope not be too tough. Unknown Speaker Sorry, we digress. But yeah. Yeah, I Unknown Speaker suppose your final question? Unknown Speaker Yes, that was my final question. So thank you very much for joining me today. Unknown Speaker Oh is a pleasure. Unknown Speaker This was the first interview of the dream plan, start grow podcast. Keep keeping. Stay tuned. Let me rephrase that. Stay tuned for the next one. And the next one is going to be another good one and kind of an outside the box marketing idea for his industry. So it's gonna be an exciting one as well. And I look forward to seeing you or listening or having you listened to us then. Allison Turner Thanks for tuning in to the dream plan start grow podcast with Allison Turner. If you like what you heard, make sure to subscribe and leave a review. Join the Dream plan start grow community by following us on Facebook or Instagram at Dream plan start grow. See you in the next episode.