Kelsey Reidl

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:06] SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, I'm Sleen Williams, an international speaker and business strategist and I'd like
[00:11] SPEAKER_00: to welcome you to Toronto's podcast.
[00:14] SPEAKER_00: We are part of the Canada's podcast network, your source for great insights for entrepreneurs
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: from across Canada.
[00:20] SPEAKER_01: So today I'm joined by Kelsey Rydall, who is a business coach, podcast host and sales
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: and marketing consultant.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: After being let go from two of her dream jobs in her 20s, she decided to take her power back
[00:32] SPEAKER_01: and ditch the 9 to 5 in pursuit of building her own brand and business.
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: Now, she teaches other women to follow that inner voice that keeps nudging them.
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: Very excited for this conversation, Kelsey, welcome.
[00:45] SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:47] SPEAKER_03: I love listening to podcasts, I love hosting them and it's so fun for me to sit on the other
[00:52] SPEAKER_03: side of the table and be interviewed today.
[00:54] SPEAKER_03: So thanks for having me.
[00:55] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it's totally a pleasure.
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: I am going to start with the obvious question, which is, tell me about this, what happened
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: in your 20s, these dream jobs, a situation because that seems like a real foundation to
[01:06] SPEAKER_01: get you to, you know, being an entrepreneur now at this point in your life.
[01:11] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
[01:12] SPEAKER_03: Looking back, they were definitely some of the most pivotal moments in my 20s and I don't
[01:19] SPEAKER_03: think I realized at the time that these big life moments of being let go from jobs that
[01:25] SPEAKER_03: I absolutely adored, really defined who I became from that point forward.
[01:30] SPEAKER_03: So kind of zooming the lens back a little bit, I went to school for business and didn't
[01:36] SPEAKER_03: undergrad in human resources, didn't really love it.
[01:39] SPEAKER_03: And so it took some time off, went traveling and then went back to school for holistic nutrition
[01:45] SPEAKER_03: here in Toronto.
[01:46] SPEAKER_03: And out of that program, I ended up getting a job with one of Canada's largest grocery
[01:53] SPEAKER_03: store chains.
[01:55] SPEAKER_03: And so I found this job and they were creating a brand new grocery store banner within the
[02:02] SPEAKER_03: brand.
[02:03] SPEAKER_03: And so we were there to really build out this new store that was going to kind of resemble
[02:07] SPEAKER_03: a whole foods.
[02:09] SPEAKER_03: And it was an amazing role.
[02:11] SPEAKER_03: I got to run around Toronto, building connections and meeting the community within the health
[02:17] SPEAKER_03: and wellness space.
[02:19] SPEAKER_03: And I was supporting the marketing efforts and I was meeting with different vendors and I
[02:23] SPEAKER_03: really thought I had landed the best job in the world.
[02:26] SPEAKER_03: And then one day walked into the office, we were down in the financial district in Toronto.
[02:32] SPEAKER_03: And our whole team was sat down and they said, project has been canceled, you guys can
[02:38] SPEAKER_03: go home, you're done.
[02:40] SPEAKER_03: And so that was my first taste of like, oh my gosh, I didn't even realize this was a
[02:44] SPEAKER_03: possibility that I could wake up one day and this dream role that I had been running around
[02:50] SPEAKER_03: shouting off rooftops, how much I loved my job could be taken away from me in an instant.
[02:56] SPEAKER_03: So anyways, recovered from that moment.
[02:59] SPEAKER_03: And luckily one of the vendors that I had been in touch with for this previous role that
[03:03] SPEAKER_03: I was at, they were hiring and they were hiring for the role of experiential marketing
[03:09] SPEAKER_03: manager.
[03:10] SPEAKER_03: So someone to be on the ground in Ontario, really creating an experience on behalf of their
[03:17] SPEAKER_03: protein powder brand.
[03:19] SPEAKER_03: So anyways, I worked so hard to get this job, got it.
[03:23] SPEAKER_03: I spent about three and a half years of my life really being a brand evangelist for
[03:29] SPEAKER_03: this company.
[03:30] SPEAKER_03: And it was like bleeding out of me.
[03:33] SPEAKER_03: If I would have made a dollar off of every person I converted to loving this product,
[03:39] SPEAKER_03: I would be a billionaire and I probably could retire right now.
[03:44] SPEAKER_03: I wore their clothing every day like I was the epitome of the employee you wanted to hire
[03:50] SPEAKER_03: in your business.
[03:52] SPEAKER_03: And you know, three and a half years into this journey, I'm sitting at a coffee shop.
[03:57] SPEAKER_03: I get a call my usual weekly call with my manager out in BC.
[04:01] SPEAKER_03: And she's like, do you mind if HR joins us today?
[04:04] SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, okay, get on the phone.
[04:08] SPEAKER_03: And again, due to business needs, they decided to let our entire team across North America
[04:13] SPEAKER_03: go.
[04:14] SPEAKER_03: And I left feeling so deflated.
[04:17] SPEAKER_03: But the next day I woke up and I thought, you know what, I'm not going to let this happen
[04:22] SPEAKER_03: to me anymore.
[04:24] SPEAKER_03: I've got skills.
[04:25] SPEAKER_03: I have life experience.
[04:27] SPEAKER_03: I have knowledge inside my head.
[04:29] SPEAKER_03: Why don't I turn that into a product or a service and start building my own brand so
[04:35] SPEAKER_03: that I don't have to receive these phone calls for the rest of my life that say, we don't
[04:41] SPEAKER_03: need you anymore and we have no control over that.
[04:44] SPEAKER_03: So that's a little bit of the backstory on how I got to where I am today.
[04:49] SPEAKER_01: I love how the challenges that we face at the moment, we never know that they're going
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: to change our life or be the thing that allows us to grow into who we really can be.
[04:59] SPEAKER_01: It gets in the moment, I'm sure it felt like this is the end of the world, right?
[05:04] SPEAKER_01: And looking back, looking back, it's so much easier to see all the lessons and it happened
[05:10] SPEAKER_01: exactly the way it needed to for you to get to where you are now.
[05:13] SPEAKER_03: Mm hmm.
[05:14] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I look back on it.
[05:15] SPEAKER_03: And even then, I did give myself that time to kind of sulk and to take that two, three,
[05:22] SPEAKER_03: four days to just lay on the couch and binge on Netflix.
[05:26] SPEAKER_03: I think there was even Netflix at the time.
[05:28] SPEAKER_03: Whatever candy I wanted, but I did always have that inner gut feeling of, this is my responsibility
[05:34] SPEAKER_03: to create something positive out of this because the world is not always just working for
[05:40] SPEAKER_03: us and it's up to us to turn those negatives into positives.
[05:45] SPEAKER_01: It's a great outlook to have, truly.
[05:47] SPEAKER_01: I think there are people that are naturally growth oriented, right?
[05:53] SPEAKER_01: If I always talk about the mindset book, right?
[05:56] SPEAKER_01: There's people that are naturally have a growth mindset where they see this is not the thing
[06:00] SPEAKER_01: that stops me.
[06:01] SPEAKER_01: This is the thing that allows me to grow from it and take the lesson.
[06:04] SPEAKER_01: And it's so interesting because in my experience, a lot of those people end up becoming entrepreneurs
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: because they're not going to let it stop them.
[06:12] SPEAKER_01: They're not going to be like, well, I just have to go out and do the exact same thing again.
[06:15] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[06:16] SPEAKER_03: And another thing that becomes a positive of being let go is that it truly is just a catalyst
[06:23] SPEAKER_03: for a change, right?
[06:25] SPEAKER_03: Sometimes that is what needs to happen for us to truly step into the next role that we
[06:32] SPEAKER_03: knew we kind of wanted, but we were too afraid to actually quit the job of ourself.
[06:37] SPEAKER_03: So I see those moments as just, yeah, the catalyst for me making a pivot that I would have
[06:43] SPEAKER_03: needed to make at some point anyways.
[06:47] SPEAKER_01: 100%.
[06:48] SPEAKER_01: So the next thing I want to know is as you were becoming an entrepreneur and stepping into,
[06:54] SPEAKER_01: it's a very different world from working for someone to working for yourself.
[06:58] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[06:58] SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of our listeners are either making or are considering that move or they're
[07:04] SPEAKER_01: in the early stages of it.
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: So having gone through it and being a number of years into your business now, what have
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: you learned about that shift?
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: What would you advise someone is going through it to be aware of?
[07:17] SPEAKER_03: Mm.
[07:18] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[07:18] SPEAKER_03: So the first thing that comes to mind for me is the art of showing up for yourself the
[07:24] SPEAKER_03: same way that you used to show up for that more corporate job that had structure around
[07:30] SPEAKER_03: it, right?
[07:31] SPEAKER_03: For most people that is getting up, showing up at a certain location from 9 a.m. until
[07:36] SPEAKER_03: 5 p.m. and then going home.
[07:39] SPEAKER_03: Whereas when you start your entrepreneurial journey, you don't have to do that.
[07:44] SPEAKER_03: But for me, I knew that in order to experience growth and success, I needed to stay accountable
[07:50] SPEAKER_03: to some sort of schedule.
[07:52] SPEAKER_03: Now I know this doesn't work for everybody.
[07:55] SPEAKER_03: Some people are more go with the flow, but I wanted to grow a business.
[07:59] SPEAKER_03: I wasn't just going to let it kind of, you know, do its own thing and see where it goes.
[08:03] SPEAKER_03: So I decided from day one that I would have structure around my working hours.
[08:10] SPEAKER_03: Now I started by just keeping them 9 to 5 Monday to Friday.
[08:15] SPEAKER_03: And in doing that too, I also made the decision to get a co-working space.
[08:21] SPEAKER_03: Because I don't believe that my best work happens in isolation when I'm sitting in my
[08:28] SPEAKER_03: PJs surrounded by nobody but my dog.
[08:33] SPEAKER_03: So I thought, you know what, I'm going to take this seriously.
[08:35] SPEAKER_03: So investing in that membership to be around like-minded entrepreneurs and maintaining
[08:41] SPEAKER_03: structured work hours were some of the first things that I did in order to feel that success
[08:48] SPEAKER_03: in my business and just put some parameters around what this new lifestyle was going to
[08:53] SPEAKER_03: look like.
[08:55] SPEAKER_01: I've got shifted for you at this point.
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: Like have you moved away from that kind of structure or co-working space or whatever it is
[09:02] SPEAKER_01: with the experience you've had?
[09:04] SPEAKER_03: That's a great question.
[09:05] SPEAKER_03: So about two to three years into my business, I had this epiphany moment that I don't
[09:12] SPEAKER_03: have to maintain this strict structure anymore.
[09:15] SPEAKER_03: I don't have to say no to coffee dates in the middle of the day.
[09:20] SPEAKER_03: And I thought if anything, that's actually beneficial for my business.
[09:24] SPEAKER_03: Because I love having flexibility and I love the freedom that comes alongside entrepreneurship.
[09:31] SPEAKER_03: And I think being diligent and very structured in the early days really did serve me because
[09:36] SPEAKER_03: I knew I had to focus on building this to a place where I was comfortable being a full-time
[09:42] SPEAKER_03: entrepreneur.
[09:44] SPEAKER_03: But when I really reassessed, what does my best life look like or my podcast is called
[09:50] SPEAKER_03: visionary life?
[09:50] SPEAKER_03: So what does my most visionary life look like?
[09:53] SPEAKER_03: And I realized it's not sitting at a desk nine to five.
[09:58] SPEAKER_03: And so in the past couple years, I've shifted that a lot.
[10:01] SPEAKER_03: And some days it means working at 6 a.m. until 9 a.m., taking a break and then coming back
[10:07] SPEAKER_03: and then working the late night.
[10:09] SPEAKER_03: Some days not working at all.
[10:10] SPEAKER_03: Some days working 16 hours.
[10:13] SPEAKER_03: So I really do go with more of a, I don't know, less structured process nowadays.
[10:20] SPEAKER_03: But I will say that I still do try to keep some boundaries around maintaining a really strong
[10:26] SPEAKER_03: worth work ethic.
[10:29] SPEAKER_03: Just because I do believe that a lot goes into maintaining momentum and building a massive
[10:35] SPEAKER_03: business.
[10:36] SPEAKER_03: And for me, that needs some baseline parameters.
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: I think that's, I love that you talked about re-evaluating and shifting because I did
[10:45] SPEAKER_01: something similar in my business as I was, I had a co-working space at the beginning.
[10:49] SPEAKER_01: I was as structured.
[10:51] SPEAKER_01: I am not naturally.
[10:52] SPEAKER_01: I'm more of a rule breaker than a instructor follower.
[10:54] SPEAKER_01: So even when I worked in corporate, I was like, can I flex into these rules a little?
[10:59] SPEAKER_01: So it's not as structured as you were, but more structured.
[11:02] SPEAKER_01: And then I realized at a certain point that that wasn't serving my best self.
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate the, the opportunity to re-evaluate and the wisdom in doing that at a certain
[11:13] SPEAKER_01: point.
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: Because what served you six years ago or 10 years ago, that's not who you are anymore.
[11:20] SPEAKER_03: Nope, not at all.
[11:20] SPEAKER_03: And I really believe there are seasons in our life and seasons in our business.
[11:25] SPEAKER_03: So sometimes I'm not seeing friends or family and I'm like fully dedicated to a project
[11:30] SPEAKER_03: because that feels good for me.
[11:33] SPEAKER_03: And other times I wake up and I'm like, I thought I was going to be productive today.
[11:37] SPEAKER_03: But it's just not there.
[11:39] SPEAKER_03: So maybe I should just go for a two hour walk instead.
[11:41] SPEAKER_03: And I think that is one of the joys of being the CEO of a business.
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: Well, that's it.
[11:49] SPEAKER_01: You have the flexibility to do what's going to serve you best in that moment and not have to follow a rule just because
[11:57] SPEAKER_01: someone says it's the way that it's one of my pet peeves is when people say, oh, like the no offense to anyone who's part of the 5 a.m. club.
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: And it falls that sort of mantra.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: But where it's like, this is the way you have to be to be productive and successful.
[12:11] SPEAKER_01: And it's, to me, it's like, I think we should be having more conversations about how it's about doing what serves you best, not what someone else says.
[12:19] SPEAKER_01: This is the way it works.
[12:21] SPEAKER_03: And that's like truly the foundation of why I started visionary life is because I was so sick of people listening to the noise of the world.
[12:31] SPEAKER_03: Like I have to join the 5 a.m. club. I have to do this type of workout.
[12:35] SPEAKER_03: I have to be like this on social media.
[12:38] SPEAKER_03: I'm like, tune it all out. Ask yourself, what do you need in this moment?
[12:43] SPEAKER_03: What feels good for you to be sharing as part of your strategy? What movement do you like to do?
[12:50] SPEAKER_03: Like, who cares that peloton is all the rage these days? What do you actually like to do to move your body?
[12:57] SPEAKER_03: I think we could all benefit from just listening to that inner voice a little bit more because it will guide you.
[13:04] SPEAKER_03: It will tell you when you need to work hard.
[13:06] SPEAKER_03: It will tell you when hey, you're not doing well today.
[13:09] SPEAKER_03: So maybe take the day off because you can't coach other people if you have nothing left.
[13:16] SPEAKER_01: How do you show up for someone?
[13:18] SPEAKER_01: How do you help someone be their best self?
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: Whatever that is, right?
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you're, I'm care for coaching. I don't care if you run a branding agency.
[13:25] SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you're an interior designer.
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: You run a protein brand shake. We're protein shake brand. You know what I mean?
[13:32] SPEAKER_03: Protein brand. I got you.
[13:33] SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, you're helping someone else be their best self, right?
[13:37] SPEAKER_01: We're all in service to another person to people to our customers.
[13:41] SPEAKER_01: So how do, how do we expect to do that if we're not taking care of ourselves first and foremost?
[13:46] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly. And I think it's kind of cool to look at just the synergies of what I used to do.
[13:53] SPEAKER_03: So I mentioned earlier that I studied holistic nutrition.
[13:56] SPEAKER_03: So for many years, I was seeing clients one on one talking about food.
[14:02] SPEAKER_03: And I was, I was really just helping them to achieve a goal, get them from where they are now, to where they want to be.
[14:08] SPEAKER_03: And I was giving them some framework in the form of meal plans.
[14:11] SPEAKER_03: And now I've shifted that and I'm doing business coaching.
[14:15] SPEAKER_03: So really, I'm listening to people's business ideas and helping them to actualize that and giving them a framework.
[14:21] SPEAKER_03: But I still am always thinking about my days as a nutritionist and how really our body is our vehicle to be a high level entrepreneur.
[14:31] SPEAKER_03: So I'm still like giving my clients meal plans because I'm like, you're not taking care of yourself and you want to build this business.
[14:37] SPEAKER_03: So maybe let's go back to square one, which is feed yourself well, take care of yourself well, and then let's focus on your business plan.
[14:46] SPEAKER_03: So it's almost kind of come full circle, even though I thought, oh, I'll never use my nutrition skills again.
[14:52] SPEAKER_03: But I actually tie it into all of my client programs now because again, if you're not taking care of yourself and you're feeding yourself well, then good luck showing up for your business in the way that you really want to.
[15:04] SPEAKER_01: So this begs a question for me, which is having, you know, had a few what seems like from an outside perspective, quite different career paths, if you like, how does it tie together and how do you find it has been beneficial to your business now and maybe also detrimental because sometimes, you know, I can, there's certain things that came out of my corporate life that were definitely more detrimental than beneficial that I had to get rid of.
[15:33] SPEAKER_03: That's an interesting question. So I can't think of anything detrimental at this moment, but I can think of things that have really followed me through.
[15:42] SPEAKER_03: At the core of what I have always done is I help people make changes that they already know deep down they want to make and I'm really just the facilitator.
[15:55] SPEAKER_03: So whether that was in nutrition coaching for a while, I was doing life coaching and now it's business coaching.
[16:03] SPEAKER_03: I'm listening to somebody's goals and then structuring out a manageable plan for them to achieve them.
[16:12] SPEAKER_03: So I can see now in looking back that that has been the common through line of working as a nutritionist as a life coach and as a business consultant, which I didn't necessarily see as I was going through it, but reflecting on it, it's just that people they have a vision of where they want to be.
[16:31] SPEAKER_03: They're not there right now and they need permission and some accountability and support to get them from here to here.
[16:42] SPEAKER_03: And that's what I've always done. I've just changed the specific area of focus or niche that I'm offering that coaching on based on who I am and what I'm very intrigued with, right.
[16:56] SPEAKER_03: And so that's what I see is a very common through line in terms of detrimental stuff. I don't know like what would you say is an example in your your path that has been detrimental from your corporate to being a entrepreneur.
[17:09] SPEAKER_01: So I would say that I love and this gets turned around on me.
[17:13] SPEAKER_01: The first one, the biggest one that comes to mind is so I was an entrepreneur before I was in corporate.
[17:20] SPEAKER_01: So I ran my own business for a number of years, sold it in my mid 20s and in the last few years of that, I was also working in corporate.
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: And the biggest thing that switched for me in corporate was not making decisions.
[17:34] SPEAKER_01: So in the corporate world, I could make a suggestion. Sometimes it was taken, sometimes it wasn't, but ultimately the final decision was not up to me.
[17:44] SPEAKER_01: I didn't have that. I was not the, you know, VP or SVP of whatever part of the organization I was in to have the final say. So I could influence, but I couldn't actually, it wasn't my responsibility.
[17:55] SPEAKER_01: And it took me longer than I would like to admit to shake that because I was in corporate for 11 years.
[18:04] SPEAKER_01: It was 11 years of reinforcing that you don't make the decisions.
[18:09] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's really interesting. And that story really resonates with me actually because after I had going back a little bit of my story when I got let go from that second dream job, I was recruited by one of that company's competitors.
[18:21] SPEAKER_03: So I went on to work for them for the very short segment of four months.
[18:27] SPEAKER_03: And that exact thing happened to me because I had dabbled in entrepreneurship and building my nutrition business all throughout my 20s.
[18:36] SPEAKER_03: I was really starting to feel empowered that I could create things and launch them and be the creative director and marketing director of my business.
[18:43] SPEAKER_03: And then I went to work for this company as their marketing manager and I remember sitting in meetings for the duration of that four months.
[18:51] SPEAKER_03: And I would say, oh, my gosh, why don't we do this to promote the brand or how about we start creating this type of program to expand our reach.
[18:59] SPEAKER_03: And every time I got a bunch of, no, it's not possible. No, we're just not the type of brand to do that. No, that will never get approved.
[19:08] SPEAKER_03: And it really shot my confidence levels down because I started to doubt my own ideas and so start doubting my own like blue sky big sky thinking.
[19:20] SPEAKER_03: And I think I did actually have to unlearn that when I became an entrepreneur that there's no limit here anymore.
[19:26] SPEAKER_03: Like you can literally take that that ceiling away, start dreaming bigger again because the vision for the company that I have now is truly limitless.
[19:37] SPEAKER_03: But for four months, I just remember getting so much resistance any time I put out an innovative or more modern marketing idea.
[19:46] SPEAKER_03: And that sucks for anybody, right? And I think that yeah, when you're faced with that enough times, it starts to dampen your creativity and your confidence.
[19:56] SPEAKER_01: 100% and that's that was when I say detrimental. That was the thing that I to what you're saying really had to unlearn.
[20:03] SPEAKER_01: And what I would say now, and I don't know if you found this is that my when I'm working with my sort of ideal clients, they don't have that at all.
[20:14] SPEAKER_01: They really are open to the innovation. They're open to thinking differently. They're open to me going, ooh, let's, how about we think about and test this. They're like, yeah, let's test it.
[20:23] SPEAKER_01: That's exciting to them.
[20:25] SPEAKER_01: And that learning that incorporate that when I was in corporate that that didn't work for me, helped actually helps me now recognize when a client is the right client for me.
[20:36] SPEAKER_03: I love that. Yeah, that's really cool.
[20:40] SPEAKER_01: So I know you, I know you're up to a whole bunch of different things. And how do you find it is because you've run a business, you have a podcast, I you do many other things that's not your whole life.
[20:54] SPEAKER_01: But how do you find balancing all those things and and prioritizing all of that shows up for you because, you know, as someone who has a podcast that I do.
[21:08] SPEAKER_01: And a life and a business and travels. I know it can be challenging. So what do you find works best for you?
[21:15] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think the number one, I do feel like it's part of my DNA to be multi passionate. I know there are some people who love just having one job to show up for and at the end of the day, shut it down.
[21:30] SPEAKER_03: And they can just, you know, do whatever they want for the rest of the day. And there's not a lot going on.
[21:36] SPEAKER_03: Elsewise, like not a ton of creative energy that needs to be on the store, passion projects on their mind. Whereas I've kind of been the other end of the spectrum.
[21:44] SPEAKER_03: So I am the epitome of someone who has like 40 browsers up on their screen at a time.
[21:52] SPEAKER_01: Just for the record, you're totally speaking my language right now because that is my life.
[21:57] SPEAKER_03: And like for better or for worse, like I know that that's probably not the most efficient way to work.
[22:04] SPEAKER_03: But I do think that potentially there's something going on with me that like I thrive when I'm changing from one task to the other.
[22:13] SPEAKER_03: So for me, do I find balance necessarily? I know there's a lot of talk on whether that word is even something we should be striving for.
[22:22] SPEAKER_03: But really what I use as my GPS, rather than think of balance as my GPS, I use joy.
[22:31] SPEAKER_03: So in every moment in everything I'm doing, whether it's coaching a client, talking on a podcast, editing a podcast, creating social media stuff for my business, taking on a new client and working on a launch strategy for them.
[22:44] SPEAKER_03: I ask myself, does this bring me joy or does it steal my joy?
[22:51] SPEAKER_03: And if it's bringing me joy, then I'm willing to keep it in my schedule and I'm willing to fit it in and I'm willing to maybe cut into another part of my day because if I'm experiencing more happiness from something, I want more of that in my life.
[23:09] SPEAKER_03: So lately, I have been trying to take on only projects that allow me to experience happiness and bring me to a place of joy without feeling overwhelmed.
[23:26] SPEAKER_03: So for me, it's that balancing act of not only with work, but taking on only clients, only projects, only content creation that is exciting me in the moment.
[23:40] SPEAKER_03: And then on the other end of the spectrum, making sure that I'm also filling in time with my family, my relationships, my health is a huge priority, like I mentioned.
[23:49] SPEAKER_03: So instead of seeing it as a balancing act, it's like a joy act for me. It's like how many things can I fit into a day that bring me joy and if something is stealing that joy, how do I get it off my plate as soon as possible, whether that means outsourcing it or delegating it or getting rid of it all together.
[24:10] SPEAKER_01: I love that I use energy as my barometer. There we go. That's what I was looking for. I love that word. Yeah. Yeah. So the energy is mine. And I also, I'm not a huge fan of the word balance. I always talk about what you know, probably obnoxiously, if anyone works with me, I talk about integration that it's not about like work life balance. It's not about health balance. It's about integration. How are you integrate all these things into your life in a way that works for you?
[24:39] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely. And like for me, that meant last year going on a trip to Nicaragua and being there for 11 days, but bringing my laptop so that I didn't come home to 9,000 emails and a whole lot of problems.
[24:54] SPEAKER_03: I thought integration for me is taking one day off of surfing and sitting there with my laptop and making sure I'm on top of things. Some people might say, oh, but you shouldn't have to work on vacation. And I'm like, no, but this is my life. I am a lifestyle entrepreneur. Like I feel creative every day. So it's okay for me to work one or two days on a vacation because that actually brings me joy.
[25:21] SPEAKER_01: Serves you. It is in service of you. And that's never a bad thing.
[25:25] SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
[25:26] SPEAKER_01: So what would you say if you had to, if you had to think about the best piece of advice that you've been given on this journey, whether it's from the transition, being an entrepreneur, something that someone has said to you that stuck in your mind, what would you say is the best piece of advice that you've ever been given as part of this that hasn't able to be where you are now?
[25:48] SPEAKER_03: I would definitely say do not be afraid, do not be afraid to invest in yourself and in your business.
[25:58] SPEAKER_03: For the first year of my business, I thought I just had to pinch pennies and that I couldn't enroll in that course or that workshop or travel to LA to go to that conference.
[26:07] SPEAKER_03: I couldn't invest in backend systems like a calendar scheduling system or a landing page system or, you know, a nice email provider.
[26:17] SPEAKER_03: I thought I was just trying to do it on the cheap, okay, and granted as a coach, you don't have a ton of startup costs, so you can do it very affordably.
[26:27] SPEAKER_03: The best advice that I've I ever got was from a past podcast guest a couple of years ago and she said, when you invest in yourself, you'll always see a 10X return.
[26:38] SPEAKER_03: And that's not a statistically correct statement, but I just thought, my gosh, like, what does she mean by this?
[26:45] SPEAKER_03: And so a few months later, I invested in one of my first business coaches and it was an astronomical amount of money, but I just thought, you know what, I'm going to take a chance on this and really have belief that this is the right next step and believe that the outcome will be greater than the money I'm putting in right now.
[27:06] SPEAKER_03: So I invest in her and it literally changed my life and my business. And from that point forward, I realize that you should never be afraid to spend the money upfront in order to see it come back in a really greater way.
[27:23] SPEAKER_03: And I think there's something with the law of attraction or the love money that when you put it out there and you say to the universe, like I'm ready for that next level, I'm going to put myself in the conference room with all these people or with a great business coach or whatever it is or invest in this $40 a month email marketing platform.
[27:42] SPEAKER_03: It will always come back to you. And I just remember after one of my first launches of my online course, I called my business coach and I'm like, yeah, I made thousands of dollars, should I go cancel all of the platforms now because I don't need them anymore.
[27:59] SPEAKER_03: And she was like, what do you want to regress in your business or are you going to be forward thinking and know that these systems still need to work for you and that it's an investment in your business, not a throw away of money.
[28:16] SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I've got the wrong perspective around all of this. And so, yeah, over the past few years, I think the lesson that I continue to share it to everyone else is make those investments you need to believe in yourself and your business enough to know that it's worth it.
[28:35] SPEAKER_01: So I have a question inside of this because I agree with you, by the way, I think that making the investment in yourself is it's basically you it's confidence, right, you're confident that this is going to be something and as someone who did that at the beginning of my business, the first year of my business was a disaster for many reasons.
[28:54] SPEAKER_01: But I did not make smart decisions at that time. So I invested in things that I did not need. So I invested in like way more advanced email marketing systems that I would ever have been able to use it for my like two people on my email list, you know what I mean, like that sort of thing.
[29:11] SPEAKER_01: So I say all that to say, I agree with you. And do you have any suggestions for how people can decide or determine what would be an actual appropriate thing for them to be investing in at various points and times.
[29:26] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a really good question too. And I'm kind of glad you bring that up because I think if you're say starting an online business, do you need to go purchase click funnels, which is this like all encompassing platform that promises to make the most epic sales funnels and you're going to sell these high level products.
[29:44] SPEAKER_03: Do you need to go from here to here. Hell no. When I say I invested in my business, I was looking at the things that the people I admired who were just one or two steps ahead of me in their business journey.
[30:00] SPEAKER_03: I was looking at what email marketing platform are they using what ecommerce platform or what calendar scheduling system. So at the time I was using all the free ones, but I thought there's probably some capabilities that as soon as I start to get more clients, I'm going to need these systems to be working for me.
[30:19] SPEAKER_03: So I was looking at literally like that logical leap of in a year's time, if I double my business, what's going to make the most sense for me. And I'm still using fairly affordable services, fairly affordable platforms. So I didn't think that just by registering for the best landing page creator and that all the sudden that my business is going to skyrocket.
[30:41] SPEAKER_03: I think work within your budget, be realistic in terms of how fast you see your business growing and know that there are so many options out there nowadays that you can get some incredible platforms for pretty affordable amounts of money.
[30:56] SPEAKER_03: And then with the business coach to I made sure that it was somebody who had already done what I wanted to do. So I knew that they could teach me everything they knew I saw the results in them and I knew that by aligning with them, I would likely produce something similar because I really trusted in the process that she was selling.
[31:15] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I think there's an important light stepping stone there that you don't need to go from zero to a hundred. It's just what makes sense in terms of the scalability over the next year or two.
[31:28] SPEAKER_01: So this raises an interesting question for me in terms of selecting a business coach as an example. So what would if someone was looking for a business coach, what would you suggest they look for or ask or think about in that process.
[31:46] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so great question as well. For me, like I mentioned, I have I have always looked to hire someone who number one has done what I want to do because I think that I don't care what their credentials are. I don't really care about.
[32:07] SPEAKER_03: So I don't know how beautiful their website is, how popular they are in contrast, but rather have they gotten to the place where I have envisioned my business going.
[32:20] SPEAKER_03: Number two for me, it's that there has to be some type of connection between you and your coach, a relatability or something that you authentically see in them that you also see in yourself.
[32:35] SPEAKER_03: Because you're getting into a relationship with this person. And if they have your best interest at heart, you want to make sure that you see this as more of a long term relationship, rather than just someone who's going to dump the resources on you and forget about you and not care about you.
[32:55] SPEAKER_03: So again, I would say like don't worry so much about their long list of credentials or courses that they've taken or even the clients that they've worked with, but just get on a call with them and talk human to human to make sure that it's someone that you want to learn that you want to spend a good chunk of the next six months with.
[33:19] SPEAKER_03: And maybe that's not the answer people are looking for. I guess I tend to go off a little bit more of intuition for me. I remember just as a quick side note when I was hiring my first business coach, I kind of had two people that had been recommended to me and that I had stumbled upon.
[33:36] SPEAKER_03: So I booked marked both of their names in a web browser. And I thought, okay, I'm going to book a discovery call with each of them to see who they are and like who I should hire both of their price points were around the same spot.
[33:50] SPEAKER_03: But the first girl that I got on a call with, she was clearly guiding me through a script on our call and I could kind of tell that it was a one hour framework that she was putting me through and it was probably because her business coach told her to do that.
[34:07] SPEAKER_03: And yes, they were really great questions like how much money do you want to make the next year and what does it really mean to you to want to achieve that goal and all great.
[34:17] SPEAKER_03: I've been through these types of coaching scripts before so I was kind of like, okay, like she knows what she's talking about, but it just felt a little forced.
[34:25] SPEAKER_03: I get on the call of the next girl, her kid is running around in the background. She just wants to get to know me as a person.
[34:32] SPEAKER_03: She's really sharing just why she got into coaching and how she created her course. And then she asked me a few questions and I felt so at ease with her.
[34:41] SPEAKER_03: I felt like she was being honest with me. I could see what she had created and I loved that her kid was just running around. She's feeding the kids snacks.
[34:49] SPEAKER_03: And she's like, this is me. Like, I'm not going to show up as anyone but myself either feel aligned with me or not.
[34:57] SPEAKER_03: And I ended up choosing her and that was only a 10 minute call versus a one hour scripted call.
[35:03] SPEAKER_03: So for me, it just it was based on feeling.
[35:07] SPEAKER_01: There's a lot to be said for authentic connection.
[35:10] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm a human. I want to connect with another human who I admire and who I trust.
[35:16] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally appreciate that and I appreciate you sharing your perspective on it because I think there's a lot of there is a I mean, I don't think I know there's a lot of different advice out there.
[35:26] SPEAKER_01: And everyone makes decisions from different places. So I think it's important to share your thoughts on it because there's going to be people listening that that's really beneficial to that's really valuable.
[35:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I hope so.
[35:40] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to switch gears slightly. Are there if you had to recommend a book or three, if you're me, it would be three.
[35:48] SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't have to be, I just know myself to our listeners. What would you recommend that can any sorts of books.
[35:56] SPEAKER_03: Great question. Number one, I recommend this to everyone. It's called the slight edge heavy reddit.
[36:02] SPEAKER_01: I have not even heard of this one.
[36:04] SPEAKER_03: It's very popular. Yeah, so it's called the slight edge. It's by I think it's by Joel, Austin or something like that.
[36:13] SPEAKER_03: And I bet it at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.
[36:17] SPEAKER_03: And what the slight edge concept is is that doing small things every day, give you the slight edge over the people who are simply showing up when they want to or showing up to write a blog when they feel inspired or just dabbling in their business.
[36:37] SPEAKER_03: And so it's kind of the same concept of the compound effect, but it really reinforced in me that even just doing like the minimum viable thing for your business day after day after day can produce massive impacts and frequency and consistency are really the most important things when you're building a business showing up for your audience.
[37:00] SPEAKER_03: And I've seen that time and time again in how I've built my own business just by doing small things each day and how that compounds.
[37:10] SPEAKER_03: So that would be the first book that I recommend.
[37:14] SPEAKER_03: Other than that, oh my gosh, I wish I would have like looked at my I keep a Google Doc with all my favorite books.
[37:21] SPEAKER_03: I have a couple behind here. So I'm a big fan of Seth Godin. So all of his books on marketing are absolutely amazing for someone who's new to the world of marketing and just trying to scale up their marketing thinking his newer book called This is Marketing is a really good one to dive into.
[37:42] SPEAKER_03: Other than that, I am obsessed with dragons done and shark tank and I like to know how entrepreneurs think.
[37:51] SPEAKER_03: So I have read all of the sharks and dragons autobiographies and the books that they've written just because I'm really fascinated with how people got to where they are today.
[38:01] SPEAKER_03: So I think reading biographies is one of the best things to do because you get inside the mind of somebody who has built a very impactful billion dollar business.
[38:13] SPEAKER_01: That's phenomenal. I also love biographies. I tend to read biographies of actors and directors for some reason because I love the way that they think about things.
[38:23] SPEAKER_01: It's not their entrepreneurs without being entrepreneurs. So the way that they approach things I find really interesting. So I totally appreciate the getting in the minds of people to help sort of understand the different perspectives.
[38:36] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
[38:38] SPEAKER_01: In wrapping this up, I'm just going to ask this really big broad question because I can do that.
[38:43] SPEAKER_01: Is there anything that you would like to leave our listeners with? Is there something that you would want them to know or sort of a wrap up from this conversation, but anything that you just kind of want to end on a on an impactful note from your perspective perspective.
[39:01] SPEAKER_03: The first thing that comes to mind because I do a lot of online marketing coaching. So when people have figured out their idea, maybe they want to start an online nutrition program or whatever the case is.
[39:14] SPEAKER_03: Oftentimes the next step is, well, how are people going to find out about it? And we have to talk about marketing efforts and social media always comes up as a big one because obviously with the existence of social media nowadays.
[39:28] SPEAKER_03: Anybody has the ability to sell anything to anyone. It's amazing.
[39:33] SPEAKER_03: And the piece of advice that I kind of would like to leave people on with this, whether it applies to how you run your social media because I know that plagues people at night, they're like, I'm doing right thing.
[39:45] SPEAKER_03: Should I be running Facebook ads? How do I get more clients using Facebook or Pinterest or LinkedIn or TikTok? And I get tons and tons and tons of questions about social media in general.
[39:56] SPEAKER_03: And the advice I want to say, whether you apply it to social or just to your business in general is to stop doing it like everybody else is doing it.
[40:06] SPEAKER_03: There's this like copycat mentality where we are following too many people and we're comparing ourselves to too many people.
[40:14] SPEAKER_03: And the moment you start doing it like everyone else is because of the formula that you've heard from Gary Vee or from a business coach or from a book.
[40:23] SPEAKER_03: When you start doing it like everyone else, people tune you out because they've seen it before.
[40:28] SPEAKER_03: There's an oversaturation of people on every single platform.
[40:32] SPEAKER_03: The only way that you are going to see traction in any of your online marketing efforts is to be different, different enough that people talk about you, talked about enough that your marketing strategy is done for you because people are referring you.
[40:51] SPEAKER_03: And they're constantly excited because your email is so funny every Friday and you're the only one that sends jokes and your emails or you're the only one that dances with your dog every Tuesday on social media.
[41:03] SPEAKER_03: Whatever the cases think about what makes you different, what makes you unique, what makes you you and infuse more of that into your marketing efforts because the moment you do it like everybody else, your customers have already tuned you out and they just don't care.
[41:20] SPEAKER_03: And that's why you're not experiencing growth. So that's what I would say.
[41:25] SPEAKER_01: I love that and I feel like now I need to make dancing with my cat videos a thing every single week.
[41:32] SPEAKER_03: Most definitely and maybe have like a shot of tequila or a tea in your hand and like just you know like make it fun because nobody needs more photos of like perfectly curated kale salads coming up on their Instagram feed.
[41:47] SPEAKER_03: We don't care.
[41:50] SPEAKER_01: Totally great. You have to be human right it's you are a human who wants to connect with another human full stop.
[41:58] SPEAKER_01: So I first of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me. This was really great. I really appreciated your honesty and authenticity and showing up and being so open. It's really it's always wonderful when that happens.
[42:10] SPEAKER_01: So thank you for that. And thank you.
[42:13] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to let everyone know that they can find you online at Kelsey rightle.com and it's KELSEY R E I D L dot com and we'll also have a link to that.
[42:25] SPEAKER_01: As part of the notes for this podcast.
[42:28] SPEAKER_03: Awesome. Well, thank you for having me on. I love doing this and hopefully can come back again someday. So thanks for having me.
[42:35] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. It's been a pleasure. Have a wonderful day. You too. Bye.
[42:41] SPEAKER_00: Thanks everyone for taking the time today to listen to Toronto's podcast on the Canada podcast network.
[42:47] SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed the podcast today, please make sure to write us a review on iTunes and share this episode with a friend.
[42:53] SPEAKER_00: You can also check us out online at CanadaPodcast.com where you can listen, discover and engage and learn more about what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[43:03] SPEAKER_00: See you next time.
[43:07] Speaker UNKNOWN: Bye.