EntreLeadership - #196: Christy Wright—Creating More Balance in Your Life

Episode Date: April 20, 2017

When it comes to your business, you get things done—no matter what it takes. It’s just part of your DNA. But there is a cost to pay when you work nonstop, and it’s usually your family and health. So how do you win at work without losing at home? Ramsey Personality and Certified Business Coach Christy Wright joins the podcast to share her tips on life balance. Check it out. entreleadership.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. Now, here is your host, Ken Coleman. Broadcasting from the Music City, this is the podcast of leaders by leaders for leaders. Thank you so much for joining us. This is a bonus episode, and we like this. We don't do this very often. We might do it some more.

You let us know what you think. Our bonus episode features Christy Wright, who is fast-becky-rength. who is fast becoming really the authority in America for helping women start something, whether it be a business, a nonprofit, around something that they love. In fact, her new book, which is out, it's called Business Boutique, a woman's guide for making money doing what she loves. We'll talk more about that. And full disclosure, she is a Ramsey personality, and she is fabulous.

She's also my friend. And this is going to help you. So we're going to talk a lot about living in the tension, something that we all face. So this might hit a little close to the head and heart today, and that's okay. If we put you in a little bit of tension on this episode, it's on purpose. It's on purpose. So we also have a great story from an entree leader. We love bringing stories from men and women like you, a part of this audience.

Her name is Maria Bozak. She's killing it. Got a great story. That's going to inspire you as well. Well, let's get right to it. Christy Wright is an amazing lady. A young mom and passionate about helping ladies start something, do something that is within their heart. She's done a lot of research many, many years, testing, finding out what the marketplace says.

And she launched these business boutique events before the book came out. and women were literally stampeding to get in the doors of the event. It has been a wild success, and now here is the book. You're going to love this conversation, and as you are listening, men, don't check out because you probably have a woman in your life who needs to hear this. Who needs the book? Who wants to start something? Christy is the resource.

What she's doing is helping. So enjoy the conversation. We'll be back to tell you more about the book. book. Here's Christy Wright. Well, this is a great treat to be in studio with my friend, Christy Wright, and we're going to tell you more about what she's doing and the exciting things that she's up to. But one of the talks that you do, Christy, that is always a bullseye. It just hits our attendees right in the chest at Entry Leadership One Days in the Entry Leadership Master series is this idea of living in the tension. And I want to set you up to talk more just about

where that comes from, because there is a natural tension. that go-getters live with. Sure. It's, I got to get up, I got to go hard, I got big goals, big dreams, I've got some immediacy that's right in front of me. Right. Yet, they need to take care of themselves. They need to take care of others.

Right. People that depend on them, there's just a natural tension there. And when you say living in the tension, the idea is don't sweep it under the rug. Don't sweep it under the bed and act like it's not there and just try to bite a stick, but actually live in it. I think that's very interesting. So what does that look like? What's the mindset, the heart mode, if you will, that you have to have to first begin to embrace this idea.

Before we can get into what it looks like, what has to happen with us? Well, I'll tell you from experience, and I'm very entrepreneurial by nature. I know you're like this. A lot of our business leaders are like this. Both of my parents were entrepreneurs. And what I've noticed is we have this trait in common in that we are extremists. So we're either all in or all out. We're either working out every single day or we're eating Oreos by the sleeve.

You know, we're hot or cold, off or on. There's no in between. And so what I've found is that can lead to incredible focus and momentum in an area of your life. But it's very easy to focus on one area and completely neglect other areas that are probably important to you. And so while that can be great at hitting milestones and growing your business, it can be really a struggle at home. And so we talk about this idea of life balance of how to build your business and still

have a life at the same time. And we really break it down to a few small choices you can make. You know, I've spoken at Entre Leadership for about five years. And after one of my events, a man came up to me. And I spent some time talking about our use of technology and putting your phone away. And he came up to me and he said, I love what you said. I totally get it. I just want to rip every electronic out of my house. And I laughed because I understand that's how we are. We're such extremist. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about small choices, tiny choices that you can make that create this sense of balance. But the reality is, at the end of the day, it's still going to be messy.

It's going to be imperfect. You know, life balance is messy because life is messy. I have two babies at home. Like, it's a struggle. I didn't sleep last night. They're sick right now. And so this thing is just, it's not going to be perfect. But if we can make some small choices, it can make a big difference.

The head and the heart thing that I'm talking about, this idea, and you talk about this, it's important for us to get in the right place so that we can begin to make these changes. Because you know this. If we don't change the way we believe, we won't. change the way we act. So you talk a lot about identity and significance, and this is normal. I mean, men and women, this is just a men thing. Right. That we take so much of our personal identity and even more importantly our significance based on what we're doing in our work. Are we accomplishing things? And that is not a healthy, holistic point of view. Explain, what does a healthy point of view

on this idea of significance and identity really look like? You know, it's interesting because I have experienced this firsthand, even recently, Ken, in a different way. And that's the reason it's easy for me to talk about this because I'm walking this out every single day. But I think there's this myth that finding our identity and our work is a men's issue and life balance is a women's issue. And I disagree because I'll tell you, I just got back from maternity leave a few months ago. And being on maternity leave was a struggle for me. And most people would think, oh, it's just so easy being home. That sounds like such a great. Well, if you have babies, you know, it is not a break. You are not off work. But I found myself losing a little bit of my identity because I love my work so much.

So I think one important point here is that it's okay to love what you do. It's okay to be proud of the work that you do. That's a good thing. That's what makes you excellent in business. But it's not the end all be all. And there are other areas of your life, to your point, your health, your family, being at the kids soccer game, taking vacation, taking rest and reading. Those things are important as well. And so if you can find ways to integrate them into your life and put time there and make them a priority as well, even though you're crazy busy, then you can feel that sense of balance.

And it's just these small choices. It's not ripping every electronic out of your house. It's not shutting your doors on your business. That's crazy. But how can you create some small choices that really give you that sense of balance where, yes, you find your identity partially in your work, but also in your family in these other areas that are important to you also? Now, you address this, and there's this myth that I can live out of balance. I can just toughen up. I can gut it out.

And the reality is, is you've seen this happen. but when we're so out of balance maybe in our personal lives and we're extreme over in the business side, we can actually win for a while. But there is a point in time where the wheels come off. Yes? It's true. And it's interesting because what I've found is it really doesn't have to do with how much you work or how much you're at home. So many people think life balance is this scale and it has to be perfectly weighted.

And it's not about that because what I tell people is life balance really comes down to living from your values. And because everyone's values are different, everyone's version of. of life balance will be different. And so someone that is early in their career or they have a startup or they're not married, they don't have a family and they want to work crazy hours, that might be balanced to them. And that's okay. But when you look around and you see other people doing something one way and you think I have to do it that way, that's where we start to get out of balance. We start to create a life that looks like someone else's versus defining our own version of success. So it really comes down to what are your values and how can you spend time

on those things that are important to you, which may not look like anyone else. And that's Okay. I love that you mentioned values. That is essentially what we have to have completely in focus, unbelievable 2020 clarity, or else we can't change behaviors. You talk a lot about the connection between values and behaviors and stress and anxiety comes, as you say, when the values and behaviors are disconnected. And that's so true. It's the idea of what really matters to us. And our behaviors sometimes show us where our values actually are, even though we might say in our head, oh, no, no, Christine, my values. are this, this and this. And you might say to me, I appreciate that, Ken, and I kind of believe that, but here's what your actions are saying. Right. You know what Dave says. He says, I can tell what you care about by looking at your bank account and your calendar. Because that's where you spend your time. And that's where you spend your money. And that's where the rubber hits the road where you're saying, you may say you care about these things. But if you don't spend time there, you know, the most valuable resource you have, then it's not really a priority. And what I found,

Ken is that most people don't get off track on purpose. They're not like, hey, I've got this grand plan to neglect my family. That's not their intention at all. We're just so hyper-focused and we're such extremists that it's easy to let those things go and we don't even realize it. And so when we talk about this idea of values, what I hear a lot are statements like this. I love to work out, but I don't ever have the time to. I value spending alone time with my spouse, but we can never make our schedules line up. And so just exactly like what you said, when there's a disconnect between our values and our behavior or between what we care about and where our time is actually spent, that's when we get stressed and frustrated. And what's interesting is the difference is also true.

If you spend time only on things that are important to you, then you can be crazy busy. But you feel that sense of balance versus spending a few hours on things you don't care about. And man, you feel out of balance quickly. Because it's not that you're doing too many things. You're just doing the wrong things. All right. Let's talk real practical right now. So you've got a lot of people listening to you right now. And they're going, okay, Christy, I get it. You've stepped all over my toes, back off my toes a little bit, and tell me, all right, how do I begin this process? How do I begin to step back, if I can for a moment, from my frenetic pace? Sure.

And look at, all right, here's where my calendar and my checkbook say my values are. And that's not what I want my values to be. How do they begin to practically begin to change the process? Well, I'll tell you, there's a great quote by Stephen Covey, and he says, don't prioritize your schedule. Schedule your priorities. So it comes from a place of being proactive versus reactive. And a good practice that I do with a lot of business leaders that I coach is to take a schedule and pretend that it's blank and create your ideal schedule. What is your ideal schedule given the restrictions and limitations of your hours and, you know, obligations? But what is a perfect schedule for you? And then set that next to your schedule.

and then how can you gradually and incrementally make changes to your current schedule to get closer and closer baby stepping your way, maybe over the course of weeks or months, to your ideal schedule. And it puts you in the driver's seat where you're saying, okay, these things are my values, these are priorities, and I'm going to put them on my schedule on purpose in advance by time blocking, by setting appointments, and by protecting those. And then one of the things we talk about a lot in life balance at Entree leadership is you've got to protect that by saying no. And so if you wait until there's time left over, until you put it towards what's important to you. It's never going to happen. Life and everyone else will just push you around. So it's about you becoming proactive and being in the driver's seat to make your things that are a value a priority on your schedule on purpose. Why are some people afraid to do what you just said? Man, we love to please people. Oh, and here in the South, we want to be locked. We want to be kind. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. You know, we think no is a cuss word, but it's not. In fact, no is a complete sentence. You don't need a reason for it. You don't need to justify it, explain it, or excuse it. It's your life and it's your schedule. And if you don't

protect what matters to you, no one else will. But so often we have other priorities. We may say, oh, my family is a priority. But what's interesting is actually our schedule proves that pleasing people is a priority because everyone else's demands make it on the schedule first. And you've just got to take the driver's seat. You've got to say, this is my life. And I'm going to unapologetically make my values a priority. All right, you and I, this is for our listeners. What you do not know is that Christy and I have virtually the same personality profile. I know. It makes for fun conversations.

Yeah, it's like you're my twin sister. It's very exciting. So here's what I want to ask you. I want to see what you say to this. And I'm going somewhere with these folks. How do you handle email? And what I mean by that is, I don't want the technical answer. I mean, like, what's your response time?

I'm just really curious. Okay. How do you handle it? Then I'll share a little bit. And then I'm going somewhere. Well, I know what I should say, but I'll tell you what I really do. I want you tell me what you really do. How do you handle it?

It is a chaotic. It is a chaotic. It is a chaotic. mess for me. I don't have a system necessarily. I'm not organized. That's not a strength of mine. Strengths of mine are being a dreamer, being creative, generating ideas. So if something is really exciting to me, I'll respond right then, which isn't always good. Sometimes that's a Saturday afternoon and people I'm responding to want to be with their family, for example. So, or if it's something that doesn't sound fun, like, oh, we've got to fill out this spreadsheet, I will just put that off for weeks

and weeks and weeks because it's not something I'm excited about doing. I can get an allergic reaction to spreadsheets. Yes. Do you? So here's the other thing I'll do. What's interesting, now we have the same personality, so you may do the same thing. I've noticed that because I'm so high D that I'm such a problem solver oriented type of person. So I will send an email to a team and say, why isn't this fixed? And what I have to do is, after I draft the email of what I want to say, I go back and make it friendly. So I start at the top, hey, how's everyone doing?

Hope we're having a great week. How can we fix this problem? And hope you're having a great week. You know, I have to add the niceness at the top and at the bottom, which is genuinely how I am. but I just first think in terms of problems and solutions. So if not, it could come across really me. So I have to be careful about spending a little time before I respond as well. Which is why I don't do that via email.

I gotta tell you, I must be old school. I like to see somebody face to face. No, I agree. I don't like that. I'll bet Eric the producer can count on one hand the times I've sent an email like that where it was kind of a confrontational email. It doesn't happen much. I like to get in person and dig into it because so much, okay, I'm getting distracted. I'm going to cut myself off.

All right, now here's where I want to go with this. I was intrigued that your answer was you will just kind of answer an email on the weekends. I don't answer emails at night or weekends. And I want you to cut. You can use me as an example. This has worked for me. Yep. Our friend, best-line author Tim Sanders, gave me this freedom about 10 years ago.

He said that email has become the tyranny of the urgent. Yes. So we're talking about balance here. Right. And tension. Right. I'm going to ask you if you think this is true. Do you believe that there's this cultural pressure?

I don't know where it came from, that you got to answer everybody's email in a 24-hour period or even shorter? Oh, for sure. Not for me. Even with text message, there's that pressure as well. But I'll tell you, I love your boundary. Because I think regardless of your age or type of business, you've got to define what your boundaries are.

And I teach that from stage. You're familiar with that where I'd say set times that you're off and you're unavailable. Now, for me, the times that I'm off and unavailable are from 530 when I get home until 7.30 when my boys go down. But after 7.30, if Matt is watching some documentary on a ban from the 70s that I could not care less about, I'm going to spend a little time on email. Why? Because I love what I do. And I don't think that's a bad thing. So you figure out what those time frames are. Like with my kids,

I'm not answering email. If my kids are playing with me, absolutely not. But you set those boundaries and then protect that time. All right. So that's what I want to know. You don't have to adopt my system. But I will say one thing. And I want you to respond to this. The reason I do that is because I have, have found that if I email somebody at 9 o'clock at night or 2 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, it unintentionally sends a message that, hey, I email at nights and weekends. Yes. You know what I'm talking about?

Yes. I sent one this weekend, literally this weekend, and then apologize for it to Chris Wright, who's in our studio right here. And I said, I'm so sorry. I said, Matt is watching a movie that I'm not interested in, and I was emailing, and I bothered you on a Friday night. I am so sorry. I said, I will not do that again.

He's behind the glass. Did you respond to her? Now, see, let me tell you what you've done. It's not bad. No, I know. We're talking about you have to set your system people. So what we're doing is we're kind of living out in front of you right now. Yes.

But what Chris did, not bad, not wrong, to his decision, he sent a message to Christy. I'll answer you on a Saturday afternoon. Here's the other problem. Hey, Christy, if you email me on a Saturday afternoon, you might as well send a smoke signal. I'm not going to see it. Here's the problem, though. We're speaking to business leaders, right? Right.

These guys are leading teams. They are leading businesses. When you send that email, you are also saying, my expectation is that you are on and available during the weekend that is a terrible tone to set as the leader. So if you're the leader of your organization, when you send that email, don't think it stops there that your team is going, oh, I'm going to ignore that. There's pressure. There's pressure that this is the norm. So instead, a good rule of thumb is to draft the email while it's on your mind. Now, I have to capture things when it's on my mind or I'm going to forget about it. draft it and save it as a draft. Monday morning

at 8 a.m. hit send on all of those. But then you're not bothering your team on their weekend with their family, setting an expectation and pressure that they need to respond to you. All right, we've already kind of touched on this, but I want to go a little deeper, okay? This idea that when somebody wants me or needs me or just wants an answer or wants to connect with me, that I have to like change my life or schedule in that moment and hurry. Now, there are times. If the Today Show calls you as soon as we're done here. Right.

You're going to hop to that. I would drop things. But in general, it gets back to this idea of you've talked about the values and kind of putting priorities out there. we've got to get honest about this to say sometimes you know what's okay to go no not right now or hey can we push that back and not have whatever anxiety comes up let's talk about that it takes a little bit of courage it does and what i found is that saying no is a muscle so if you never use that muscle it's weak and it feels really awkward when you try but the more that you use it the more strong that that muscle becomes and you feel more powerful eventually it actually feels good like you feel more powerful you feel more powerful, like you actually have a say in your own life. Imagine that. But it really does come

with practice. And I'll tell you the best way to start, if you don't say no a lot. And maybe you're a really nice person on our disc assessment. Maybe you're high S. And you don't want to offend anyone or make anyone mad. The best way to do it is you can actually do it in a way that's true to your personality and never even use the word. Now, Ken Coleman, my husband does this to me all the time when I have a new idea to redecorate a room in my house. He will say to me, what a creative idea. Now, that is not in the budget. But thanks for thinking outside the box. No, he didn't say the word, but the answer is still the same. No, we're not redecorating anymore.

So you can do that by affirming people, politely declining, and then ending with an affirmation. It's kind of like the criticism sandwich. Same idea, but you're able to protect these things that are important to you by saying no. And once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier. Yeah. And if there's something substantive behind it, people respect it. Absolutely. Absolutely.

I got asked to go to some networking podcaster mixer here in Nashville, a bunch of podcasters national. Now I'm going to tell you something. It was an automatic no. Why? It was a Wednesday night. Right. I got to look at that and say, all right, these are great guys. Would it be valuable to me? Of course. Meet some wonderful people. Sure, I could think of about seven things that would be good. But the end of the day, you and I travel. And on a weeknight, I've got homework with the kids. It's that valuable two or three hours. And I just wait in that particular situation, it didn't tip the scales. It's not a priority. And here's the thing I found. Now, Ken, you know, I work with women a lot and coaching them to start businesses. I found that women tend to do this.

We say yes when we mean no. And what happens is we end up resenting the person that we said yes to and ourselves. We regret the decision. So you end up being bitter and burn out, but you let that happen. And you can't complain about that which you permit. So here's what I tell women, and this would be true for all of your listeners that struggle with this idea of saying no. An honest no is always better than a dishonest yes. When you say no and you mean it, that is always better.

to your point, people know where they stand with you. If I invite you to something and you say yes, I know it's because you want to be there. And that's a great place to be to know where you stand with people. An honest no is always better than a dishonest yes. What's your personal filter? Let's just say I'm making it up, no details, but you get an opportunity to do something. Something that is on the surface immediately attractive to you. You go, oh, okay, and you have to actually think about it. Sure. What's your personal filter? Well, first of all, I ask myself if it competes with any boundary. So to your point on Wednesday night, Matt and I have a boundary that Sunday nights are off limit. So it has to be very compelling for me to give up a Sunday night and change that structure because that's a boundary Sunday nights or family night.

But I ask myself more questions now. I've talked about this at Entree leadership events. But my decision making paradigm used to be, do they need me and can I do it? Which do they need me, they always do because they're asking. And can I physically cram this into my schedule? And that leads to you having your entire schedule filled for other people. So now I ask myself more questions. I ask myself, is this a priority?

Does it compete with something else that's maybe more important? How will this affect my family? Do I want to do it? Which, by the way, you get to ask yourself that. When you're saying yes to things and giving up your time, you get to ask yourself, do you want to do that versus feeling obligated? And so when I start to put it through that litmus test of all these other things, then it helps me have more clarity around whether I should say yes or no.

All right, I'm putting you on the spot. Okay. Because that's a great filter. Yeah. But as we sit here, you're super excited. We've got a major tour coming out. I mean, Dave Ramsey's behind it. This is a big deal for you.

Right. I'm very excited for you. Right. So here we are. How is that filter change? Because you want to do anything and everything you can to promote this book, but there's going to be some things that you're going to have to weigh. How will that filter change?

Even when it's like one of the most outside of your husband and your kids, this is one of the most important things you will ever do in your life. Right. Well, that's a great question. I'll tell you, one of the things we talk about with this idea of life balance is there are seasons. Life balance is not doing everything for an equal amount of time. It's about doing the right things at the right time. So if you decided, for example...

Oh, hold on. Say that again. That's really good, folks. Now you've got to write this down. I do this from time to time. That's great. I interrupt. I talk fast. I tell everybody to write something down.

That's good. And you need to tweet this. Okay. And do it with hashtag business boutique. I'll explain later. Life balance is not doing everything for an equal amount of time. It's about doing the right things at the right time. So let's say, for example, your business leaders listening right now decide.

they want to run a full marathon. They're going to add to their schedule that's very busy, training for a full marathon. Something else is going to have to go. For that season, they're going to be focused and very busy training and doing their business. And so in my sense, right now this season of being on book tour and promoting the book is going to be very work focused. But in the summer, I'm going to take a vacation with my family and I'm going to take my foot off the gas a little bit. Yeah, exactly. Feet in the sand type of thing.

So there's seasons of being all in and seasons of maybe a little bit more rest. and when you do that, it creates more of a sense of balance. But I think when it comes down to it, is looking at what your family needs are, what your work needs are, and personal needs and making decisions. But man, have your family on board.

Matt and I had conversations leading up to me coming back to work in the spring and knowing what this season would demand of me. And your family's bought in. They're like, yeah, this is going to be a season. It's not forever. But the reality is, as your time becomes more limited because it's going to other places,

things that previously made the cut don't make the cut. So I'll give you a very practical example. one of the things that I value is time with my friends, having time with my girlfriends. When I am in town, Ken, only five days a month, my friends don't make the cut. I'm spending those five days with my family. So different seasons will have a different set of priorities of what makes it above the line when your time is so finite. So you're telling me during the book tour, you're not going to come over to Stacey and I's spring party? I'm not going to come to your spring party.

All right, let me make a little note here. All right, so we talked about the book a little bit through the book tour and everything, but this is great because Business Boutique is not just a book, all right? It's out. It's first week. It's going everywhere. We can't wait to see the results. But what we've seen before you launched the book was an event that you created.

And women were just flocking to it. And I believe this is true. Correct me if I'm wrong. Because simply put, when you begin to put that brand out there and say, we're going to do an event, this was the big thing that you put out there. We're going to help you start a business or an organization around something that you love. Right. You went right to the heart. It was like an arrow right to the bullseye of their spirit.

it. Is that true? Is that what's so exciting about this movement? It is. And what's so cool is this market is not being served, in my opinion. You have a market of highly educated, highly skilled, unbelievably talented women that either don't like their job. You know, 70% of Americans don't like their job. So either they don't like their full-time job or they want more flexibility to spend more time with their kids to create more balance, do what they love, align their values with their time, all the things we're talking about. And what's happening is they're intimidated by business. So they might have a hobby or a craft or skill. Maybe they're trained as an accountant. They're a CPA or a graphic designer or they're talented at making hair bows or handbags,

something like that. And they put this out there and they think, you know, maybe I could make money at this thing. But quickly they realize, wow, business can be overwhelming. What about taxes? What about trademarks? What about business licenses? How do I market myself? How do I stand out in the competition? All these questions. And so they start to think that they are disqualified for being successful in business. And that's simply untrue. And so this book is a guide. It is equipping women to make money doing what they love. And it's to take that thing that they love and show them how to make a business out of that.

And I really simplify the business side of things because I do have a background of business. I'm like you. I love business. I love working with business leaders. But I'm able to take that knowledge and help them turn that thing they love into a profitable income for their family. So you mentioned your guide. Give us a quick summary of the path that you take the reader through. Sure.

Absolutely. Well, cover to cover. This book is a plan. So it is a plan for your business, everything from starting or even if you're already running it or want to grow it to the next level. And at the end of each chapter, there are even action items. So you interact with this book almost like a workbook. You fill this out. And as you do so, by the end of the book, you have a customized plan to grow your business to the level that you want to.

My goal is that it's not a book that you read, put on the shelf and forget about it. It's a resource. It stays on your desk that you refer to to have help on different topics, depending on where your business is. and also to update as your goals and business changes. So if you could inject a thought into every reader who reads this book, right? So they close the book and they've taken all these notes that you're talking about at the back of each chapter. And they close the book on this thing. Okay.

All right, I just read Business Fartique. If you could inject one thought into their brain, what would you want them to be thinking when they finish? It would be really owning what I believe is the message of the last check. which is, I can do this. I absolutely can do this. I've got what it takes and I'm going to go win because you've probably seen this in Entree leadership, Ken, but the most successful business leaders are not the smartest. They're not the highest educated. They don't even have necessarily the best ideas. In my opinion, they're the scrappiest. They're just willing to get it done. They won't take no for an answer. They fall down. They get back up. They fail and they try again.

So just being scrappy and thinking, hey, I've got this. I can do this. It won't be perfect, but I'm not giving up. I'm not taking no for an answer. How about that for a thought? That's a good thought. And I would say that my dear friend and colleague, Chrissy Wright, is equal parts lovely and scrappy. Scrappy. I think that's a great adjective. And you know, I say that with the highest of compliments.

I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it as a wonderful compliment. All right. Real quick, tell folks where they can be completely immersed in all things, Business Petique, because you're doing way more than just the book. You've got events. You've got other things going on.

Free tools. I got to tell you this. The other day I'm at lunch with Brian Williams, who's helping you leave all this stuff. BusinessPitique. And he showed me the app. Oh, yeah. Now, folks, I just interrupted myself. This app is pretty amazing. I was having pizza and wings, and so he had to scroll for me because my fingers were greasy. Tell people about this app, because this is something that's really amazing. Well, absolutely. It's called Profit Potential, and it's on businessboutique.com, and what it does is you answer a few basic questions about your business, and it gives you a snapshot of the

financials of your business, what your profit is, how much to set aside for taxes. Now, I want to point out really quickly for your listeners. This may not be you. If you're running a successful business, this may not be for you. But for the women I'm working with that want to start something or want to grow it, this is a struggle of knowing how to price and knowing what your profit margin is and how to increase your profitability. So as you do that, it's going to walk you through it. There's even these sliders where you can change the numbers and see how that affects your overall income. So the thing that I would really say to your listeners as well is if that's not you, which is totally cool, many of you are further along, you might know someone. You might have a spouse or a friend

that they're getting started, they're in those earlier stages of business, that'd be a great resource for them in addition to the book to show them how they can make money doing that thing. All right, and all the stuff that we just discussed, plus the book, plus just being plugged into what she's doing. Businessboutique.com, that's business boutique.com, Chrissy Wright, congratulations on the birth of your third baby, your first book. That's exciting. That's right. Thanks so much for having me. Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Chrissy Wright is a force of name. you're helping so many people.

Again, her website, business boutique.com. I want to point out that she has a podcast entitled Business Boutique. So go check it out on iTunes. You can also get to it from her website, businessabotech.com. Now, I said this before we aired the conversation. Men, do you have a spouse, a sibling, a close friend who is a female, and this conversation, this book will help them. This is a great gift.

You want to encourage a lady in your life who's been stewing, planning, desiring to launch something, this will make you man of the year. Okay? So get the book and send it to them, give it to them. I'm telling you, it's an aha moment. It's a win for you. But more importantly, it's a win for them. So you don't have to be a woman only to buy this book.

That's what I'm trying to tell you. You should see my list of women that I'm going to give this book to as a surprise to say, hey, you need to know about my friend Christy. You need to read this book. I know you're planning on doing something. You're doing something. You can do it better now. Here you go.

Here's my friend Christy. You need to be her best friend from a distance. All right? That's what I'm doing. I'm thinking about who can I bless in this area? Because I'm telling you, this is a huge need. All you got to do is show up at a business boutique event and see it. which, by the way, buy a ticket, buy the book, buy a ticket.

Give them a book and give them a ticket. Here's the book, read it, now go to the event and be encouraged and equipped even more. That's actually a good idea. Oh, man, you want to be man of the year for an important lady or just a great friend in your life that just you know this. Do you want to bless them? There it is. Buy the book, buy a ticket. Businessboutique.com.

goodness, I can hear it right now, guys. Men everywhere are scurrying to get favor, right? Or to be a blessing to somebody else. Will the engineer, you got a couple people on your list? All right, he's already, oh, you're going to get it for your mom. Oh, Will the engineer is going to bless his mom with the Business Boutique book. That's very exciting. I love that. All right. She has a clothing store. Well, that's great. I like that. Very, very nice. Speaking of women who embody all things business boutique Maria Bozac Now Maria is a consumer of all things

Entree leadership She's been to our Entre Master series twice She's been to an Entree leadership one day And actually went to a business boutique event She's also part of our All Access community Now I want you to hear what she does My name is Maria Bozac I own a company called Eco Sheik Boutique

We have retail stores in Fargo, North Dakota that sell home goods, furniture. We sell a line of paint to paint your own furniture, and then we host a number of events throughout the year, one called Junk Market, another one called Design Conference, where we have other women come in and sell products and learn DIY projects. We opened the first store six years ago and the second store three years after that.

Just like many of you, Maria had a rough start. That's a part of being an entrepreneur many, many times. Her first store failed, and worse, it put her on the brink of bankruptcy. We opened our first retail store six years ago, and it started out as a baby mom home store. And about a year in, we recognized that it was failing. About 18 months in, we had met with a bankruptcy attorney. We were done. Not only on our personal debt, but the business debt, we had jumped into a lease that was way too big for what we needed to accomplish.

And so we were drowning. I think at one point I had invoices on my desk that were, like $27,000 with a merchandise I had purchased that I couldn't pay for, and we didn't even have $100 in sales some days in the business. Bankruptcy was knocking on our door. While processing and dealing with the facts of failure, Marie and her husband were introduced to Dave Ramsey. They got plugged into Dave's Financial Peace University. They began to work the baby steps in their personal finances, and about that time, she was introduced to Entree leadership. Bankruptcy was knocking on our door. And

I plugged into an entree leadership simulcast. I plugged into Dave's Entree Leadership book. And from there, started making some changes in our personal finances because we had also gone through financial peace. And one of the goals was, if we can get through this spot, someday my dream was to go to Master Series. We had bought this used furniture as our display fixtures. And we sold like cloth diapers and glass baby bottles and safe things for kids.

And women kept coming in and saying, how much is that high? hutch. And I'm like, no, the hutch isn't for sale, but would you like to see the cloth diapers? And it was about 18 months in, and we were really, really drowning. And I would go home to my husband, who's my partner, because he's my husband, but not active in the day-to-day business operations. And I would say, you know, we really had no sales again today. And I don't know what we're going to do. I said, but someone asked about that hutch. And this was going on for a while. And one night on a really dark day, we're laying in bed, in the dark, literally. And I said to my husband, I said, no sales again, but someone asked about that hutch. And in the darkness, my husband goes,

sell the darn hutch. And we're like, oh. And so we put a price tag on the hutch, and it sold right away. And then we had this dining room table, and that sold. And all of a sudden, we recognized that they were looking for what we called repurpose furniture, which is stuff that we have found, we've cleaned up, we've given it a new life, just interesting furniture pieces for their home. And this just walked us down a road that we didn't even know existed. And that's how we ended up doing what we're doing now. I mean, the baby store is now gone. I mean, we don't sell anything for babies. We just listened to our customers and ended up in an industry that we didn't really even know existed until our customers told us they wanted it. Just like many of you, Maria's journey didn't end up where she thought

it would. We ended up in an industry that we didn't start in. We started with baby mom home. We ended up in home decor and furniture and interior design. And I think once I started implementing some of that in my own home and found out how it changed how I felt in my own home and realized I could do that for other women, seeing in their faces when they would buy something from your store and they would bring you a photograph and they'd go, look how it looks in my home. Look what I did with my house. And one of the lines that we sell is a line of paint. And so they were paint and furniture. And maybe they had a new baby coming and they were painting something. And just the joy in their faces when they changed their homes, that just lit a fire under us to find new ways to inspire

and encourage them in their homes. And once we saw that a couple of times, I mean, we were hooked. We're like, this interior design stuff is decorating homes and helping people decorate their own homes. And this is just a lot of darn fun. On the other side of bankruptcy and looking forward, Maria could finally dive into Entree Leadership. Four years later, we went from bankruptcy to doing the platinum level at Master Series. I was all in because Entry Leadership, just the book itself, had made such an impact

on my life. I had no clue what I was in for, though, when I got here. I mean, not only the experience itself and the way that we were treated. but the information that we received, the education, the inspiration, the motivation, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I left knowing that I could do it. I left with the tools. I left with the information, and I felt like I was a completely different person when I

walked out of the room. Master's series changed my world. And the funny thing was you come and you think it's about business and it's not just about business. I think I went back a better wife. I think I went back a better friend and that was unexpected that it rolled over into all parts of life. And I went back and from there, we grew by 35% the year after Master Series. I mean, it was unbelievable. And the numbers were great, but the other side of it was how I led my people and my staff said, you talk different, you walk different, you act different. And they noticed it. And I think that

That was the biggest thing was the ability to go back and lead differently. There were things that I was doing that I didn't even recognize that I was doing until they were pointed out at Master's Series, not pointed out directly at me, but just as a whole of things that you can do when you're not paying attention. And it shifted our business. We haven't been the same sense. Maria had completely turned the ship around. Change had taken place, yet she knew she had to keep growing, keep learning, to make that change turned into sustainable long-term success.

One of the things the first year that I was at Master Series that they offered was the All Access program was coming out. And part of that program was you could get the videos of Master Series. And I wanted the ability to go back and listen to it again because I knew I had missed stuff and knew that I needed to hear it again. And then to have the weekly coaching with the All Access team was just so powerful. I mean, I was a worker. I've always been a worker. And I could get information if I needed information. but I needed to know what I needed to be. When I looked in the mirror in the morning,

what I needed to see in order for them to be led well. And so for me, it was working on me, changing me, which changed them, which changed our company, and it just rolled on down. Now Maria, six years into her business. The entree leadership principles are living and breathing in the four walls, and here comes business boutique. Business boutique really seemed to fit given,

I was a lady starting a new store and looking for community and partnership and just someone to inspire me and guide me. I mean, I love anything Dave Ramsey, so it just felt like a natural fit to do something that was aimed directly at women. I was at a place in my business where really I didn't need the inspiration as much as I needed the information. And so what I found the most helpful was the breakout sessions where they brought in experts in different areas.

And there was a gal that was a blogger and she was explaining how to monetize your website. And so those sessions gave me tools. I'd gone through the startup stuff and I was past that and now I needed some tools. So I got some inspiration, which is always fun, but I also walked away with specific pieces of information, do this, do this, do this. And that was powerful to listen to these people that had done it and could tell you exactly what to do. Coming out of the business boutique event, Maria had several aha moments. There was a gal that talked about utilizing Facebook and how as Facebook changes their algorithms, We built our whole business on Facebook, and we had come to a point where we recognized that it was no longer working because we couldn't reach our audience anymore.

And I didn't know where to turn. And this gal was a Facebook expert. And she walked us through a couple of pieces. And I went, aha, that's why we're not seeing the traffic anymore. And that's why we're not seeing the reach that used to be because this stuff changed. So really, the experts in their fields is the stuff that helped us go back and implement new things that changed things in our business that had gone stale. And then we stepped into a few new platforms like Instagram. and started some new things.

Because we were kind of stuck on Facebook and hearing from this gal that what we needed to do, we recognized that we also needed to step out to a couple different areas and try a few different things. And so the workshops, the breakouts were really great for giving you tools to take home.

Maria realized that when you can go to an event and step away from the day-to-day business and look at it from a brand-new perspective, it's invaluable. I really believe in women in business. And so this is kind of my deal. Not only do I love to come and get inspired. There was a few

breakouts that I'm like, I really want to hear from those people, but also just being around other women in business. I think we get stuck in our businesses. When we get so far in our businesses, we feel like we know what we need to do and we're moving forward and we're building, but we don't step out and take any time for ourselves. So this for me as a builder was really more about coming and getting away and stepping outside my business because when you're stuck in it, you sometimes can't see things and just getting maybe some fresh perspectives and some new energy from other women and having conversations with other women and being able to kind of go back in with some fresh eyes. Getting away and taking time for yourself to think about your business instead of working in it to work on it.

And whenever I come to an event like this, I get re-energized and can kind of start working on it again instead of in it. Maria is a classic entrepreneur in many times. We get caught up in the go-go-go-go of the every day. We forget we have to set some goals. We've grown so fast that I'm losing track of the numbers. And so my goal is to pause and set some goals, which is terrible. I know I come here and I've done a lot of other programs through Dave Ramsey and you always hear the set goals thing and then you never really do it.

And so this year it is to get laser focused on where we're going and then to really understand our numbers. Because the sales are going up and the overhead's going up. And then all of a end of the end of the day, you go, okay, we're growing but we're still at zero at the end of the month, something's not making sense here. And so for us, it's to pause and decide which of the things that we do in business are the most profitable. And we're going to do those better. So what's our goal in that area? We're actually going to set some goals. And then to understand our numbers better so that we don't run so fast that we run right out of the numbers. At Business Boutique, Maria found the content, the coaching, and the community that she had been

longing for. I think it was just out of pure necessity that I felt as if I couldn't give. up and then I really had a couple women that walked alongside me that said, you know, you can do this and here's some suggestions. They weren't in the business. They were just friends. And really it was having a support network around me that said, just keep going. And that's one of the things that I found here at Business Boutique, as I'm talking to other women, they are saying they come here for a community. They come here because they need a network of women to say, just keep going. I love this. I love encouraging other women and sharing what we've done throughout the six. years, there's been so many things along the way that really helped push us to the next

spot. And it's been an interesting journey. And at every point, I stopped and said, is this really where I'm supposed to be going? And there were times when it felt as if I was just wandering in the dark and I thought this can't really be the direction we're supposed to be going. It didn't feel right. Something felt off. But yet, we just kept moving forward. And every time we got through one of those stages and you understood why you had to go through that to be able to encourage other women. and just say, just keep moving, just keep moving, because you might not recognize today why you hired that person that ended up not being so good that you're like, why did I hire that person? But that gives you some perspective as you build. It doesn't happen again. So there's going to be

road bumps, but they're there for a reason. There's some that you can alleviate up front, but there's other things where it's business. And I think Dave said yesterday on stage, you know, you can go from exhilaration to almost depression in the same day. And it's true. And you just have to understand that roller coaster. is going to be there, and you have to just embrace it and just keep moving forward. Maria is modeling the way for leaders who want to continually learn by staying involved with Entree Leadership and Business Boutique. I don't know what we would have done without that network, without that community, without

a place to go to ask questions. I don't know if we'd be here today if it hadn't been for the different Ramsey programs that we plugged into. Big thanks to Christy Wright and Maria Bozac. Folks, this Business Boutique book, I'm telling you, is a tremendous resource. set it. All I can do is now encourage you to go get it. It's going to be great blessing to a woman who needs this in her life. Businessboutique.com is the website. That's where you can get the book, get all of the free resources that Christy and the team are offering, as well as go get engaged with

the podcast. What she's doing with the Business Boutique podcast, a tremendous encouragement. that's free and continues to support the book. And don't forget, I think you need to get a book and a ticket to a business boutique event. Again, all the events that she is offering, businessboutique.com is the resource to get all the details. On behalf of Eric, the producer, engineer Will Rutter, and the entire Entree leadership team. Thank you for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon.