Episode 78 - 3 Steps to Scaling a ProfItable Brand with Evie Mcleod & Lindsey Roman of Heart & The Heart & Hustle Podcast and The Heart University
The babes over at The Heart & The Hustle Podcast bring the fire with their story and 3 Steps to Scaling a Profitable Brand!
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
We hosted two fabulous guests - the Incredibly Inspiring and Super Fun: Evie Mcleod & Lindsey Roman Co-founders of The Heart University and Co-Host of the Top-Rated Podcast, The Heart & Hustle Podcast!
In this Episode, Evie and Lindsey share their journeys of how they have built multiple different businesses on their own and then together, the story of how they met and what they believe have been the 3 Steps that have led to them being able to scale a profitable brand and business.
We dive into topics like building community (and how they just hosted their first-ever in-person Conference), Growing a Personal Brand, Investing in yourself and in your people, setting boundaries and how they work together as a partnership!
There is SO much GOLD in this Episode! You are all going to LOVE tuning in and you might even develop a girl crush on both of these Ladies! (we sure did!)
TWO CAN GO FURTHER THAN ONE
Businesses are built better with community. Coming together with different strengths and worldviews is so powerful in entrepreneurship and your business reflects who you surround yourself with. Your people can truly make or break your business.
3 Steps To Scaling a Profitable Brand
Personal Branding
Get a community to buy into your vision. This means you need to care about and listen to your community.
Invest in Your People
You can go so much further by investing in your team, mentors and people in your business. One man shows don’t go very far.
Get Good With Your Boundaries
As you gain success, you grow! With growth comes learning to put systems in place to keep you casting vision in your business, not caught up in the tasks that don’t move you forward. Work on your business, not just in your business. You don’t need to be a hamster on a wheel!
How to Develop Brand Focus
Do a time audit.
Investigate how you spend your time. An honest audit helps you find where you thrive, what tasks bring the most results, and what you need to outsource.
Pay attention to areas of marketing.
Find what is bringing in your clients/customers and prioritize that platform!
Work smarter, not harder.
Batch content, automate what you can automate, create systems and workflows that support your business and streamline your time. You don’t have to have a team to save time! But having these systems in place for when you scale is so valuable and will make it easier to onboard team members.
Staying Clear on Vision
Don’t play the comparison game! Ask yourself what success means to you and stay the course. You can set clear boundaries if you are incredibly clear about your vision for your business and your life. Write it down, speak it out and follow through!
Connect with Evie Mcleod & Lindsey Roman:
Instagram: @theheartuniversity
Evie @evierupp
Lindsey @mrslindseyroman
Our Top Business Resources to Support Female Entrepreneurs:
Free Masterclass “How to Scale a Profitable Business without working around the clock”
Action Takers Club: Our Signature Business Course + Community to Support you in Scaling a Profitable Business
Ready to Take Your Business to the Next Level in an Intimate Group of other Successful Entrepreneurs? Learn about our Mastermind
One on One Business Coaching and Strategy Consulting with Danielle Wiebe
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Danielle: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. I am so excited that you are here today to tune into an amazing episode. We have some incredible guests today, Lindsey and Evie. They are powerhouse women who are the co-founders of the heart university and cohosts of the top rated podcast, heart and hustle. You guys, this conversation is so amazing.
[00:00:26] I absolutely love these women so much. I actually got the opportunity to be a guest on their podcast, so if you haven't listened to that yet, hop on over to heart and hustle podcast, and you will see that I was interviewed by them just last week and we had an incredible conversation there as well. So today here on the podcast, we dive into so many different topics with these amazing women.
[00:00:50] We talk about community. We talk about personal branding, boundaries, investing, having systems in place in your business. It is such a great conversation. You guys are gonna [00:01:00] absolutely love it. And not only have these women created an incredible, successful business together, but they also have their own businesses as well.
[00:01:09] So Lindsey is a business coach, photographer, and social media marketing expert. And Evie is a serial entrepreneur, founder of Evie swimwear, as well as an elopement photographer and business educator. I absolutely love what these women are doing. I loved our conversation. I am so grateful for how vulnerable they were in this interview and you guys are gonna get so much out of our conversation today.
[00:01:32] Before we dive in, I wanted to remind you that we have our applications open right now for our mastermind. So if you have been thinking about it, you're not really sure if you're ready, this mastermind is for you. If you are done sitting on the sidelines, watching everyone else achieve massive success and you are finally ready to dive in and scale your business to the next level.
[00:01:57] I remember just a few short years ago, being [00:02:00] in a place where my business had experienced success and, you know, things were going well, but I knew that there were things that I could be doing better. I knew that there was systems I could be putting in place. I knew that I could grow my income and my impact while working less. I knew that was possible, but I had no idea how to make that happen. And I knew that I needed support and I knew I needed help. And that is when I joined my very first mastermind. And honestly, it was such a huge game changer for me.
[00:02:29] I was pushed and challenged in ways I had never been challenged before. I was held accountable and I also gained access to an incredibly inspiring community who pushed me to dream bigger than what I was dreaming before, and really held me accountable to do things that I was totally scared and afraid to do.
[00:02:49] Like launching this podcast, like launching my own mastermind group, my own online course and creating passive income for myself. And so if you are ready to take your business to the [00:03:00] next level, you're ready to be surrounded by other inspiring women who can hold you accountable who can brainstorm with you and just allow you to thrive in your business, head on over to businessbabescollective.com/mastermind. We only have three spots left for this round, so run and get your application in.
[00:03:20] I cannot wait to get to know you more. I can't wait to get to know more about your business and the exciting things you have going on. And we will see together if this is the right next step for you. And if not, I'm happy to share what I think the next steps for you are and how our community can support you to get there.
[00:03:39] So if you are wanting to draw that line in the sand, say, this is my time to go all in on my business and create the business that I have always dreamed of creating. You know, we were not meant to do business alone. We were meant to do it in community. Come join us. As I've shared in [00:04:00] previous episodes, we also have some incredible bonus in person opportunities for this round of our mastermind and as well as some incredible bonuses, including a one-on-one session with me.
[00:04:12] I can't wait to work with you. I can't wait to strategize with you. And I can't wait to introduce you to the incredible group of women we have a part of our mastermind. All right, let's go ahead now and dive into this incredible episode. You guys are gonna be so inspired, and this is gonna get you hyped up for the day. So let's go ahead and get started.
[00:04:31] Welcome to the business babes collective podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Wiebe. In this podcast, you'll learn tangible business tips and strategies on how to grow successfully and sustainably. We'll also interview season entrepreneurs so you can listen in on their stories and see behind the scenes of what it took to grow and scale their businesses. Let's dive in, as we discuss the wild, exciting, crazy challenging, rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship. [00:05:00]
[00:05:01] Welcome to the business babes collective podcast, Evie and Lindsey. I am so excited to chat with you ladies today.
[00:05:10] Lindsey: Oh, we are so excited. We had you on our show. We are excited to be here. We're ready to jam.
[00:05:14] Oh, I love it. Well, I'm really excited to dive in and honestly, I feel like there's so many things that we have in common. And also, I know you guys have a very interesting journey of how you've gotten to where you are today and what you guys are doing today. So why don't you just share whoever would like to jump in first, share your background. How you became an entrepreneur, did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur? Tell us all the things.
[00:05:42] Evie: Yes. Lindsay, do you wanna go first?
[00:05:44] Lindsey: Sure. Well, I feel like I grew up, I never even thought that being an entrepreneur like that was never even a thought in my mind. I feel like, ironically, my mom is very entrepreneurial. She's very good at sales. And she grew in Mary Kay to the level that you have to have like a pink car, which is, I don't know that [00:06:00] very well, but it's pretty high, I guess, like they give you a pink car. Like you you've done something, but , uh, other than that, like I grew up and I never, I never really like was like, oh, I'm going to be an entrepreneur.
[00:06:10] I was just like, I'm gonna be an actress. I like to act and do things like that. And so it, for me personally, it was just really after college that I always loved photography and that was kind of my gateway into entrepreneurship. So I started my photography business after college and it kind of what's it like teased.
[00:06:26] It was like a little teaser to entrepreneurship, uh, as a whole. And I've just dove in ever since.
[00:06:32] Danielle: I love that. That's awesome. And I love that you wanted to be an actress. I feel like you use that somewhat in ways. Oh, for sure. World of marketing and
[00:06:41] Lindsey: oh yeah. With video content being just prime, like real I literally, right before we got on this podcast, I was finishing up a real where I was literally doing. Crazy insane things. And I was like, wow.
[00:06:51] Danielle: Oh, I can't wait to see that. That's awesome.
[00:06:53] Evie: Oh, I love it. Lindsay's definitely got that, uh, flare to all of her content that she creates. You can see [00:07:00] the, the love of the stage with everything she does, which is the best. Ironically, I had a very similar upbringing of never expecting entrepreneurship in my own like journey or life, but it's a little more, I feel like surprising that I hadn't really considered it given that my dad has always been an entrepreneur, started his company, that he still runs today when he was like 22, 23, something like that. Both of my brothers are very entrepreneurial, have started multiple businesses, you know, all that stuff.
[00:07:27] So, but I just never crossed my mind. I was like, oh, I mean, Politics, acting. I had so many different other like ideas of where I wanted to go with my life and acting was also something that I spent a lot of time on the stage, loved performing, telling stories, which I feel like both Lindsey and I now are like, oh, we see where that comes into.
[00:07:44] Danielle: totally.
[00:07:46] Evie: But it kind of entrepreneurship kind of fell into my lap in a lot of ways where I did fall in love with photography when I was, uh, in high school. And I never really saw that becoming a full time career. I just, it was a little hobby business and I worked [00:08:00] with some friends and, you know, different things.
[00:08:01] And then slowly like a career path that I had thought I was going towards kind of closed, like the door closed. And I was like, I don't know what else to do with my life. So I guess I'll just pursue photography a little bit until I figure something else out. And never figured anything else out. I just turned into a full-time career and then eventually into business education, photography, education, and then starting other companies and kind of progressing to where we are today.
[00:08:24] So I feel like for both Lindsey and I entrepreneurship almost kind of fell into our laps, which I don't know if you would say fell into our laps or God was like, hello, here, pay attention to this.
[00:08:33] Danielle: yes.
[00:08:33] Evie: Um, but it was worth it. And every, I think, day Lindsey and I both fall more in, more in love with entrepreneurship and running our own business and helping other entrepreneurs do the same thing.
[00:08:43] Danielle: So good. Oh my goodness. That is so cool that you both have a similar background. So tell us, obviously, I know you guys run a business now together, but for the listeners who, who might not know kind of about like what you guys are doing right now, tell us how, [00:09:00] like, how did you guys meet? How did you connect? How did you decide that you wanted to run a business together as well?
[00:09:06] Lindsey: I feel like in the year of 2022, every like, creative business owner, how they met, like most of their friends say Instagram, because it's...
[00:09:15] Danielle: totally.
[00:09:16] Lindsey: So we were, I don't even know genuinely how we started following each other.
[00:09:19] Danielle: Mm-hmm
[00:09:19] Lindsey: way back in the day, like 2014, 2015,, somewhere around there. We were following each other on Instagram. Little, dweebie be just girls who were, you know, just trying to be cool.
[00:09:30] Evie: I was still in high school.
[00:09:31] Lindsey: Yeah. I was not, but there's a significant age gap, not significant, but kind of, um, I'll just pretend I'm younger. And we, we followed each other and we were in like this, like follow Friday thing that I started. Cause I was like, oh, Evie's cool. Whatever anyways, we met, she was going to school in Northern California and I, my husband was in the coast guard, long story short. We were in the same state. We were like, we should meet up.
[00:09:53] Evie: Cause originally Lindsay was from Kansas and I was from Ohio. So we weren't even from the same state, like right. The fact that we were in the same [00:10:00] state and in the same region of the same state, we were like, must meet up. Sorry, Lindsay. Lindsey continue.
[00:10:05] Lindsey: No, it's good. It's good. So we met up, we were photographers or budding photographers right at the time. So we met up and my husband could not come. So it couldn't be like a couple shoot switch cuz she had a boyfriend at the time, I had a husband and so, andrew, my husband just didn't come. So I, I photographed her and her boyfriend, Landon, who is now her husband hey-oh. And she just did portraits of me, which great, perfect. Uh, but basically that day we were like, we instantly click, we are gonna be besties literally till we are old and gray.
[00:10:32] Like we literally said that having no context of like, let's start a business together, like no, nothing of that, that sort, we were just little dinky photographers at the time. And later that summer, we were both doing our photography thing and Evie called me up one day and she was like, Hey, I've really had this heart to start a photography workshop.
[00:10:49] And I like, I don't necessarily wanna do that alone. I wanna do it with you. Would you do that with me? And after a little bit negative Nancy talk, I was like, oh, who are we to do that? Then I was like, yes, that sounds great. Let's do it. And so [00:11:00] that's kind of the journey that started us on is like photography workshops. That's how the heart university began. And then Evie do you wanna kinda continue?
[00:11:07] Evie: Yeah. Yeah. So without going into too much detail, cuz this could be a whole conversation so we'll give you
[00:11:14] Danielle: it's so interesting though. I love it.
[00:11:15] Evie: It's so fun. Well, we, we both were like, maybe we'll sell out this first workshop within like a few months, you know, who knows? And I think we only had like 18 seats or, or 15 that we were opening when we first launched tickets, we sold out in like a few hours or in like a day. And we were like, uh, what just happened? And then from there we were like, okay, there's, there's a demand for this. That was our first workshop. I don't, I hadn't even been to a workshop.
[00:11:39] I don't know if Lindsey had either. So we were like hosting a workshop before we'd ever attended one. It was a whole interesting thing.
[00:11:44] Lindsey: I think I, we just went to like a joint. I, I, I had one, I had gone to one in like New York city, but,
[00:11:48] Evie: okay. So you had one underneath your belt.
[00:11:49] Lindsey: Not the same style, not like an intimate workshop, like we were hosting.
[00:11:53] Evie: Yeah. So it kind of progressed from there. We launched and hosted our first one, learned a lot. The girls really enjoyed it, [00:12:00] launched another one that one sold out in, I think the first one was like eight hours. The second one was like five hours and it just kind of grew from there to the point where we were selling out workshops and, you know, 10 15 minutes girls would be waiting online to punch in their card information.
[00:12:14] And we had grown a wait list to 10,000 girls, and we knew, you know, we can't host these intimate, like 25 girl workshops and meet this demand for this 10,000 person. Wait list.
[00:12:26] Danielle: Mm-hmm ,
[00:12:26] Lindsey: we're also. Full time wedding photographers at this point.
[00:12:28] Evie: Yes. We were also full time destination traveling, wedding photographers. We were both on the road a lot. We were shooting, you know, three, four times a week between couple sessions and weddings and elopement and different things. And we were like, we can't, we can't do all of this. So Lindsay's husband was like, you girls need to take this online and do a digital course of what you're teaching in your workshops. You need...
[00:12:47] Lindsey: He literally takes credit for like every single great ideas.
[00:12:49] Evie: There are so many ideas in our business that have been very successful.
[00:12:52] Lindsey: Every time we think we like create something awesome. We're like, oh wait, that was Andrew's idea.
[00:12:57] Evie: Andrew Andrews suggested that one.
[00:12:59] Danielle: But you guys get to [00:13:00] run with it, which is the fun part.
[00:13:01] Evie: Right. Right. And, and what's better than having amazing, you know, men who have amazing visions.
[00:13:05] Danielle: Totally supported, amazing.
[00:13:06] Evie: Yes. Yes. So it's the best. So yeah, then that kind of progressed into, we went from just hosting photography workshops to creating our first online course. And then from there it just kind of snowballed. And now we have a podcast, we have many online courses, many digital resources. We just hosted our first in person conference, so much larger scale than our older workshops that we used to do. And it's just kind of grown from this one little workshop that we weren't even sure that we would sell out.
[00:13:33] We were scared to press purchase on the first Airbnb, cuz we weren't sure if we would make our money back to, you know, a full online resource and in person education business that we have today. So we love empowering and teaching entrepreneurs. That's our heart, that's our passion through everything we do. Our free education, our podcast, all the way to our, our courses and our conferences. We just, we love entrepreneurs and we love helping. 'em get to where they wanna be in their business.
[00:13:58] Danielle: Oh, that's so beautiful. I [00:14:00] love that. And I love that you just kind of jumped in, not knowing really obviously where this was gonna take you and just sort of one step at a time. And I think it's really cool when you can look back and just see like how all of the puzzle pieces came together.
[00:14:16] You're like, wow, like, that's so cool. How all of it was kind of leading into the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. Because, like, did you ever think, you know, when you were, when you first met that first time of we're gonna have this big podcast together, we're gonna that conference and everything like that?
[00:14:34] Evie: No. Never.
[00:14:34] Danielle: Um, yeah. And so, okay. Tell me, I am so curious about the conference specifically, because as you know, I love community love events, all of the things. So, what was that like being in person again after pandemic? What was that like hosting your first event? Were you nervous about doing an in-person event again? Tell us all of the things.
[00:14:55] Lindsey: All the things. Well, we had started trying to pivot out of just doing [00:15:00] photography workshops around the time that 2020 hit, we had one more workshop that we had to cancel because it was literally March. It was late March, 2020, which we all can just laugh at that timeline now.
[00:15:11] Um, so we had to, and we felt, I felt like later I was like, okay, I feel less bad because everything cancelled, like the NBA canceled. Like it's not just me. Okay. But we were already trying to like pivot and think at that time we were trying to do a business conference and that date was for October 2020, which again, we can laugh.
[00:15:27] So that got postponed a lot. And so, yeah, it, it had been two years really, since we had seen our people, like our students, our community, our heart family in person. And that's honestly, since we started that's because that's how we started and just, it's been like the heartbeat, that's a pun kind of, but, um,
[00:15:45] Danielle: I love it.
[00:15:45] Lindsey: I love it's been the heartbeat of our business is just that in person connect since we started. And I, I think being in a room of like 150 people, it, there is something about that energy and just the feeling of business owners and entrepreneurs and creatives [00:16:00] coming together and just getting inspired, becoming friends, building relationships, building connections, just getting poured into that, like, the energy in the room was insane. And I, by far, probably one of our favorite, like my favorite thing that we've ever done is probably the conference.
[00:16:14] Danielle: Ugh.
[00:16:14] Lindsey: I, I don't think I was expecting. The amount of love that was poured out, not only on each other, but then on us. Like, I just, that wrecked me a lot. I don't know. I, do you have thoughts?
[00:16:23] Evie: no, same thing. I think, you know, it has been a couple years since we've been really in person with our people and hosted a live event like that. And 2020, 2021 were whirlwind years in business. And I know that is the case for a lot of entrepreneurs, um, for a variety of reasons, all of us experienced some kind of chaos or burnout or stress or, you know, whatever that was.
[00:16:45] And so I think both Lindsey and I going into the conference, there was a lot of work to host a conference. There is so much work to host a conference. So people told us, oh, you know, it's a lot of work. And we were like, okay, you're cute. We've hosted workshops. Oh no, it's a lot of work. But going into that, I think there was so much prep that [00:17:00] I almost feel like both Lindsey and I had our faces just glued to like the grindstone of like what needed to happen, getting to the event.
[00:17:07] And so once we were there and all the work was done and we just got to connect with our people, it was like mind blowing. I really hadn't thought of what it would be like to be back in that room with our people and hugging our girls and talking to them and hearing their stories and, you know, just answering questions and getting to know each other.
[00:17:24] It was just, it was so powerful. Lindsay and I both cried multiple times throughout the week because we were so like overwhelmed by how powerful and beautiful that week was for our students, but also for ourselves. Um, and how fulfilling it was to see so many powerful people, entrepreneurs coming into a room and learning from each other, learning from our speakers and having their lives and businesses change in one way or another. It just like, nothing feels better than that. So, it was powerful.
[00:17:53] Danielle: I love that so much. And you are speaking my language. I'm just like, Yes. Yes, yes. Yes. And [00:18:00] I think just being in person, there's something about being in person. And I think also after all of this time where, I think a lot of entrepreneurs, myself included, and I'm sure you guys have probably felt this too, is the loneliness that comes along with entrepreneurship.
[00:18:15] A lot of times you're working from home, you're working from your PJs with your coffee and like, that's so fun and cute and whatever, but also like it gets lonely, right?
[00:18:25] Evie: Yeah.
[00:18:25] Danielle: Like you need, like we were, I believe we were created for connection and for relationships and building community and with entrepreneurship, we don't get that naturally. We have to go out and we have to seek that out and we have to create that for ourselves. So do you guys wanna speak to like the importance and obviously there's online community, which is so beautiful and you know, you guys have built an incredible online community. We have an online community here too as well.
[00:18:51] So can you guys speak to, what do you think the importance is of building relationships, building community, not only just, you know, in your [00:19:00] personal life, but also for entrepreneurship building, relationships with other business owners and other entrepreneurs?
[00:19:06] Lindsey: I feel like the heart university would not exist without that concept like me and Evie coming together.
[00:19:11] Evie: Yeah.
[00:19:12] Lindsey: Is a perfect example of that. And time and time again, I'm seeing either our past workshop students, or even conference attendees like this year build friendships and then they'll go on to like do other stuff. And just, I don't know, it's this concept that when we were first starting to consider doing a workshop together, or maybe it was after we had done the workshop together, but we were considering making it more of like an education company and doing like all the things under the sun.
[00:19:35] I had this moment where there's probably honestly like a selfish moment where I was like, oh, but I think I wanna do that under like Lindsey Roman, like my business, like I would like to do courses or whatever. And as we were talking about it, I was like, No, that this makes more sense to, to go with Evie and like make it under this umbrella.
[00:19:53] And I, I think it's just the principle of two can go farther than one when you get together with like-minded people for a [00:20:00] purpose and for just a mission like that is powerful. It is so life changing. It is world changing.
[00:20:06] Evie: Yeah.
[00:20:06] Lindsey: And I just have seen that time, time again, through people coming together, creating new ideas, like when you're in a room with creative entrepreneurs or just other people that get you, like your brain gets more energy like that, that doesn't make sense, but like you get more ideas, you get more creative juice, like that's how businesses are built. And that's also how we don't just go to work with our mug of coffee, like you just said with your computer and just be so freaking lonely.
[00:20:31] Evie: Yeah.
[00:20:32] Lindsey: Like you don't go to a, a office with other people to connect. Like you have to build that.
[00:20:36] Evie: Yeah. Well, I think the same principal applies with any relationship in life where you need other people to give input. They have different perspectives. You know, if you are, let's all go back to middle school, high school, whenever we all started dating and we had that first boyfriend or different things, and we're, you know, going to talk to our friends.
[00:20:55] If you had a good relationship with your parents or your mom, maybe you're going to talk to your mom. And you're like, he, he [00:21:00] said this in the instant message on MySpace, you know, whatever it was. And you're like, what does that mean? You know, does that, does that smiley face? Does that actually like, like, is that, was that a little flirty, there was a wink on this message, you know, we're, we're getting that input from people that different perspective, that communication, that processing, especially for those of us that are, are external processors.
[00:21:19] My hand is raised. I need those people that I can talk to that I can process with and be like, if I had this idea or, you know, this popped into my mind and that exact same power in like doing life with other people who can give you input and different perspectives, they have different strengths. They have different world views.
[00:21:36] They have different upbringings. So they see things a little bit differently that all applies the exact same way. And sometimes I feel like, more powerfully in entrepreneurship, because you have people who can pour into your business, into your dreams, into your goals and vice versa. Those people that can call you up and be like, you are really good at blank and I need help with blank.
[00:21:57] It's just that I feel like there's a quote, which I'm gonna butcher, [00:22:00] but it's something like you are the five closest people you surround yourself with. There's something like that. And in entrepreneurship that applies just as much like your business reflects who you surround yourself with in the business world.
[00:22:13] And if you don't have people who understand doing business and entrepreneurship and marketing and making decisions and, you know, whatnot, your business is not A) going to feel as life giving and B) probably going to go as far as fast, like Lindsey said, two is better than one and those friends can pick you up when you're down, those friends can give you input.
[00:22:36] I've had calls with friends where I'm like, this is the most brilliant business idea I've ever had in my whole life. And they'll be like, okay, but what about X? And I'll be like, oh, this is a terrible business idea. I have never thought of anything worse. Like, those people are so necessary in your life to give you that input.
[00:22:51] And you know, the life that comes from it. The, the empowerment, the energy, like Lindsey said, the creative juices that come from [00:23:00] those people is just Ugh, the most powerful thing in business and in life. So if anyone's listening to this, trying to do business or life alone, either one, it is so much better and so much sweeter and so much more full of joy and certainty and peace and all the things when you have your core people who are aligned, who understand you, who can give you differing perspectives and input, it just it's life changing. So I can't say that enough.
[00:23:28] Danielle: a hundred percent. Oh my goodness. Everything you just said. And I think also celebration like we as entrepreneurs, I don't think we celebrate our successes enough. And you know, we're always looking at that next goal, that next thing, that next income level, like just,
[00:23:44] Lindsey: yeah,
[00:23:44] Danielle: it's always, what's next? What's next? And we need other people around us to remind us to celebrate the little wins that we have that, you know, we, and I think also we can downplay the things that are happening and that puts [00:24:00] us into a negative mindset, a negative spiral, and that mindset is so important to entrepreneurship. Like,
[00:24:07] Evie: yes,
[00:24:07] Danielle: you need to have, you need to have this positive outlook and to keep your inspiration because day to day and business, there's things that you have to deal with that are not easy.
[00:24:17] Lindsey: Yeah.
[00:24:17] Danielle: You know, I'm sure anyone listening has been an entrepreneur for any length of time, even if it's like a week, it's hard. Like there's times where you're like, oh my goodness, how am I going to overcome this challenge? Or how am I gonna push through this difficult situation? And you're so right, Evie, like, having other people to bounce those things off of, and also say like, Hey, I've been there.
[00:24:40] Evie: Yeah.
[00:24:40] Danielle: I've done that. I've I've been through that really, really hard time. Yeah. And I got through it and this is, this is what I wish I would've done. Or this is what I did that worked really well.
[00:24:51] Evie: Yeah.
[00:24:51] Danielle: And so I, oh, man. Totally amen to everything you said.
[00:24:56] Evie: I love it. It's so good. It's community is life changing. [00:25:00] And I feel like people are starting to hear that a little bit more, especially coming out of COVID, but you know, if, if I can say anything and have any listener walk away with anything today, it's, your people can truly make or break your business and how you feel about it, how long you last, how good your ideas are. Like all of the things.
[00:25:17] Danielle: Yeah.
[00:25:17] Evie: So don't skimp on those people.
[00:25:20] Danielle: and it can feel like a really fluffy thing, you know?
[00:25:23] Lindsey: Yeah. Right.
[00:25:24] Danielle: Like I feel like community's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Community. Sure, sure, sure. But like, I need to know how to scale and grow and need like whatever. And you know, that's like the natural entrepreneurial brain being like, yeah. Okay. Fine. But like, give me the, give me the X, Y, Z, but it like, that is such, such a huge part of it.
[00:25:41] Lindsey: Mm-hmm
[00:25:41] Danielle: that cannot be ignored. And so, yeah. Thank you. So much for sharing that. So, I mean, let's get into the scaling now. Let's let's, uh, get, you know,
[00:25:51] Lindsey: now that we've, we've talked about the fluffy stuff.
[00:25:53] Danielle: Yeah, you mentioned. But let's actually talk about some things of like scaling your business. And obviously you [00:26:00] guys have scaled photography businesses, which is, you know, in person. Then you've had those in person workshops, events, then you've scaled online businesses. So what do you think has contributed to that? Obviously there's a lot of different things, but if you could maybe think of one, two or three things that have really helped you to grow and scale. What have some of those things been?
[00:26:20] Lindsey: Ooh. Okay.
[00:26:22] Evie: We have the same brain. I know exactly what you're about to say.
[00:26:25] Lindsey: oh, but I, I don't even know if I know what I'm gonna say. So it's oh,
[00:26:28] Evie: do you want me to say what I think you're you should say?
[00:26:30] Lindsey: Okay. Yes. Well, I have many thoughts, but I was like trying to accumulate my brain to get like three points together. But then I was like, I need to telepathically speak to Evie, so she like, we're coordinated on the three things. Okay.
[00:26:42] Danielle: This is, so this is so awesome because I feel like it's exactly what we were talking about before about like bouncing ideas off of other people. It's so beautiful. I love,
[00:26:50] Lindsey: but there is so many times Danielle where like, literally we'll say something in a meeting or, or just whenever, and I'll be like, or I'll, I'll interrupt or we'll speak at the same time and then I'll [00:27:00] shut up and she'll talk. And then I'm like "oop" that's what I was gonna say. Okay.
[00:27:02] Evie: Exact same things or vice versa. I'll be like, I'll write down on the note in a meeting. I'll be like, must say blank and Lindsay, you'll go guys I have a question and an like ask the exact thing that I was gonna say. So it's wonderful to do.
[00:27:13] Lindsey: Okay. So what should I say in this moment? What did, what did you
[00:27:16] Evie: number one, personal branding.
[00:27:18] Lindsey: Yep. That's what I was gonna say.
[00:27:19] Evie: I knew it
[00:27:20] Danielle: love that, love that, let's dive into that.
[00:27:21] Lindsey: Well, cause if you, if we're answering question of like how we've been able to grow, it's actually getting a community to have buy in into your brand and who you. and obviously if you're more of a company and less of a personal brand and like get buy into the brand mission, you, you can't grow and scale a company, in my opinion, without that, like, without people actually like caring or, or without you coming to mind, if they're in daily life and something that reminds them of you is triggered, right. And you have to do that by creating a community and actually like giving an S H I T about people
[00:27:52] Danielle: mm-hmm
[00:27:53] Lindsey: and just actually caring. I don't know, like, but that's encompassed in a personal brand. Evie, what else would you say?
[00:27:59] Evie: I think number [00:28:00] one would be personal brand. Number two, that's allowed us to like really scale and grow, I would say, is investing in our people. Either mentors, education or our team. I feel like those two things can be kind of encompassed in one is just investing in our people.
[00:28:12] Lindsey: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Evie: You know, Lindsay and I each have two to three businesses. I have, uh, four counting one with my husband and I could not do you know, when people are like, oh, you have four different companies, you run four different, you know, brands and businesses and all this stuff. And I'm like, I do not do this alone.
[00:28:27] I do not do any of this alone. I have people on every team who are doing, you know, different things who are running X or blank or, and I think that, for a lot of entrepreneurs, It can be something that you look at other entrepreneurs and you're like, man, they're just doing so much. Their business is growing so fast.
[00:28:42] They're doing blah, blah, blah. And sometimes you don't realize the number of people who are behind the scenes, helping them either it's consultants or, you know, investors or their team, their employees who are actually there. A lot of times, those people who are really doing really well are not one man shows.
[00:28:58] So I think that's the second thing too. [00:29:00] You can go so much farther with not only like your friend community, but also the people that you like financially invest in, which is usually like your employees or mentors, consultants, those types of people. So, yeah, that's number two.
[00:29:13] Lindsey: I think, I think that leads me into what I would say is number three, which is you have to get good with your boundaries. In in life and in business in the sense of like, as you're delegating, as you're scaling your business and, and elevating yourself and delegating to your team members and everything, I feel like, as entrepreneurs as you get, gain success, you, you get on this hamster wheel where you're like, oh, it's working awesome. Okay. I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep going.
[00:29:37] And that's the, like, that's exactly what happened with me and Evie, especially in our photography businesses. And it's also still happened with the heart, like when you get successful and it's like, oh, okay, we're gonna launch and we're gonna run, run, run, and then we're gonna make money and it's gonna be great.
[00:29:50] And it's like, you're just like on this, this hamster wheel, striving and, and pulling out all of your time and you have to learn to, I, I feel like this phrase is freaking used way [00:30:00] too much, but it's generally the truth work smarter, not harder, and like actually create systems in place. Automate things and work smarter so that you are actually strategic about the things that you're doing strategic about the way that your team is working. And actually, when I say boundaries, putting things in place so that you're not working like 16 plus hour days.
[00:30:18] Danielle: Yeah.
[00:30:18] Lindsey: You can't run three to four businesses. If you're working 16 hour days, you think, oh, I have to in order to run 16 or like three to four businesses, but it's actually the opposite. You have to scale back and be diligent with your time to actually manage that.
[00:30:31] Evie: Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's something to be said too, for, you know, I think I'm gonna butcher this phrase. It's working on your business, not working in your business and, you know, being able to sit actually in the CEO seat and really cast the vision, working in your zone of genius, making sure you're not just being the little hamster on the wheel, that's just pumping your little legs away hoping that you, you know, you get somewhere and realistically you're going in circles.
[00:30:56] So I love that. Lindsay pointed that out too. I think those are our top three like things that [00:31:00] first came to mind, but I'm sure there's a million others that we are probably gonna get off this podcast and be like, oh, I should have said blank.
[00:31:06] Danielle: well, I mean, that's the whole thing, right? There's so many pieces of working and scaling, but I think you guys really did an amazing job of kind of narrowing it down. Cause I think a lot of the things too that go underneath that, like obviously with personal branding, there's a lot that can be discussed underneath that. Whether it be growing your email list, social media, the brand itself, like all of those things, website, SEO, there's like a million things under that.
[00:31:30] And then like you said, team, investing in yourself. There's a whole lot of things under there and then the boundaries, but I love that you kind of brought it into those three main buckets, cuz I think that, just so much of what you said, I'm just like nodding my head a hundred percent agree. And I, and I think I wanted to kind of touch on all of those things for a minute.
[00:31:49] So when it comes to building a personal brand and kind of going off of too, you know, how you talked about investing in your business, investing in your team, What do you recommend for people [00:32:00] who maybe are at the point in their business where they're not quite ready to bring someone on onto their team?
[00:32:06] They're just doing it on their own for now, but they have cut vision of like either bringing someone on as an employee or maybe even contractors or people to help them maybe even bringing in a business partner. But they're kind of at the point right now where they're like, I am wearing like a thousand different hats.
[00:32:21] And I do feel overwhelmed when it comes to that. What would your recommendation be of like, what is the one thing that they should focus on? I know, like I really loved, I, I, Lindsay, I think it might have been you that was talking about caring about people, caring about your, you know, your ideal client and what they want.
[00:32:39] How would you bring that back around to what they should be focusing on when it comes to brand awareness, scaling, to get eyeballs on their products, services, and eventually making more sales. Cause I think there's so many things
[00:32:53] Lindsey: yeah.
[00:32:53] Danielle: That we could be doing, you know, as businesses always. Right.
[00:32:56] Lindsey: Always.
[00:32:57] Danielle: So what would your guys' recommendations be for? [00:33:00] Where, where did they invest some of their time?
[00:33:02] Lindsey: I almost would put a challenge on that person that's in that position to audit your time. Audit where you are currently spending the time in your business and actually like do thorough research into the numbers. Like, Hey, are you spending like five hours a day on Instagram?
[00:33:17] Does that actually bring an ROI? Because, well, I'm talking to the choir here. Like everyone loves to scroll and then like we do it and we like convince ourselves that that's us working.
[00:33:25] Danielle: We're working.
[00:33:26] Lindsey: Yeah. And. Instagram makes it even worse, cuz they're like, we'll pay you for real. So then you're really like, oh, I'm doing stuff guys, but is that like the actual best use of your time? Or like maybe you, you're starting to see that, like, you're really getting a lot of sales from Pinterest, but you're not maybe giving that like an hour a day and maybe not even at like an hour a month or something like, that's why I would almost say audit your time to see where you're actually spending it, first of all, so that, you know, one like obviously what you're best at and I mean, cuz you are wearing all the hats and, and maybe right now you're doing things that, you know, you will eventually outsource, but you truly can't afford to outsource it yet. So like [00:34:00] be honest with yourselves of all the things that you're doing.
[00:34:02] And then I would figure out one like which cuz again, you, you can't be killing it on Pinterest and also like be a TikTok star and also be, be a Reels queen and also have incredible SEO, like that's very hard to do with like a solopreneur right. Like that's very hard if it's just you
[00:34:19] Danielle: and all at the same time. It's not possible.
[00:34:21] Lindsey: Exactly. which I like that you just said that, cuz again, after you audit your time and really hone in on like, which one right now is bringing the biggest ROI, like is bringing the biggest customers into me. I would focus on that first and make sure like it's something that, again, you are talented at and love, cuz if you're doing something that you don't have talent in and you, it makes no sense.
[00:34:41] Like maybe you just really suck at writing and you are focusing on blogging. Like maybe, I don't know. I mean, yes. Get better at writing maybe, but like focus on your strength. Evie,, do you have any other thoughts? I feel like I'm blabbing.
[00:34:51] Evie: No, that's I think that's really, really good. I think the only other thing that, that I thought, is, I love that Lindsey, you kind of narrowed down like almost the areas of marketing, like [00:35:00] audit your time and pay attention to your areas marketing. But the other thing, Danielle, when you asked that, I was like, I, I really feel like the person who's listening to this who feels like they have a hundred thousand hats that they're just jumping between, like trying to juggle all of them at the same time.
[00:35:14] And they can't, they're not quite in the place where they're ready to really invest in a team or a contractor or whatever that looks like. I would encourage that person to reevaluate. You don't have to have a team in order to save time on what you're doing. So think towards batch working, begin to think about, you know, Managing your time, really well, creating systems and workflows and automations.
[00:35:35] There are ways on the back end of your business to work smarter, not harder, like instead of, let's say you do go towards blogging and you love writing, and you're noticing that you're really getting an audience in from that or, or Pinterest or whatever that is. Don't just sit there every single day, sitting down to write a blog post and post it, or to create some pin graphics and get those up, actually think, Okay, I need to do this every single day, or should I do this once a week or [00:36:00] once every two weeks? Once a month? And will that actually save me more time in the long run? Because I'm able to lock into this zone and knock out a bunch of stuff at once. And then during my other days, I can really focus on client interaction, really serving my customers.
[00:36:13] Whatever that looks like the backend fulfilling the product, creating the product or service or whatever. So that's the only other thought that I have is, do not think that the team is the only answer to cutting down your time or working less. A lot of times that rests in your hands as well. And if you can create workflows and systems and, you know, manage your time a lot better, when you do hire a team, there are systems and things in place for that person to pick up and not just one chaotic pile of todos that you dive into every day, just grabbing whatever, you know, your hand latches onto, you know?
[00:36:47] Lindsey: You know what, I like the onboarding process for that team member like. So much easier
[00:36:51] Evie: yeah. So that's the only other thought that I had of like, you know, there are things that you can do now to not only help you in the immediate, but also prepare you for the team in the [00:37:00] future.
[00:37:00] Danielle: Yes. Oh, that's so good. And it's so funny cuz it made me like recognize cuz, this is definitely something that we talk about too on the podcast is like, yeah, Auditing your time figuring out what can you, yeah, outsource, but then what can you automate? What can you create a system for?
[00:37:16] And it made me realize too, about the amount of hours that you're working and how that's not actually producing the results in your business. It's actually the tasks that, that you're actually accomplishing. And then are those tasks, like you said, Lindsey, are those tasks the tasks that are actually bringing in you in the most results?
[00:37:36] Evie: Yeah.
[00:37:36] Danielle: And so that's kind of like where that, like, I love that you said the time audit too, of figuring out where are you using your time? Is that time being used in a productive way? And then, like you said, Evie, bringing in those systems, automations, so beautiful. I absolutely love it because I think too, like you, sometimes we think we need like a 40 hour work week, or [00:38:00] maybe even sometimes more in order to accomplish all the things we need to accomplish or in order to hit our goals.
[00:38:05] And I know so many people, myself included that have gone from that to, I had a daughter last year, I had to cut down my work hours. I work about 15 to 20 hours now. And I almost feel like I'm more productive
[00:38:18] Evie: Oh yes.
[00:38:18] Lindsey: Yeah.
[00:38:18] Danielle: Than I was like, it's insane. How the, and, and I, my business has grown from that. And so it's interesting how you can actually work less time but be more effective and efficient in the time that you do have?
[00:38:31] Evie: Yes.
[00:38:32] Danielle: I feel like it's...
[00:38:32] Evie: It's because you're forced to.
[00:38:33] Lindsey: You will, you will work however long you give yourself, right?
[00:38:37] Evie: Yes.
[00:38:37] Danielle: Like, so if you give yourself 16 hours a day, you'll fill all 16 hours with mindless stuff. Probably. I mean, some, you know, whatever, but like, if you give yourself five, seven hours a day or less, and then come, like Evie said with systems in place and processes, you can get the stuff done that you would've got done in 16 hours twidling your thumbs in less time.
[00:38:57] Evie: there's actually studies that, this is my nerd self. There are [00:39:00] studies that show, you know, students were given a specific amount of time to complete an assignment or complete a project. They took that full amount of time.
[00:39:07] Lindsey: Yeah,
[00:39:07] Evie: there was a number of hours and another group of students was given like a fourth of the amount of time and they completed this exact same project better than the other students who were given more time. So you do not always need more time. Sometimes you actually need to limit it so that you're not just sitting there wasting your life away, but that's a whole other work boundaries, time management conversation.
[00:39:27] Danielle: oh my goodness. I am like, I am nerding out on this conversation right now. Cause I'm like, this is like, oh, I love this so much, cuz it's so true. And also I feel like the reason why I feel so passionate about this too, is because I want people to enjoy their life. Like I want people to like, yes, build a successful business. Yes, you know, hit their income goals, all of these things, but like enjoy their life in the process.
[00:39:49] I made that mistake of sacrificing everything to, in order to build my business, like sacrificing time with my husband when we are newly married, like sacrificing like a [00:40:00] lot of things that I, I regret, if I'm being completely honest, knowing what I know now. It's, it doesn't have to be that way. And so that's why I think I love this conversation because it's important for people to recognize that they don't have to sacrifice their values or things that are important to them just to build a successful business.
[00:40:21] What do you guys feel as far as when it comes to boundaries of when you are looking at, okay, what do I wanna accomplish in my business, but then getting distracted along the way? How have you guys found that you've been able to maybe give yourself those boundaries so that you are staying consistent and clear with your own vision instead of getting distracted by a million shiny objects?
[00:40:46] Lindsey: Yeah.
[00:40:46] Danielle: Of what you could do or what you see someone else doing?
[00:40:50] Lindsey: Okay. Okay. I feel like we have a very good example. I'm not gonna go like super in depth into it, but like a very good example of like literally this last week, like a, a very [00:41:00] big decision we made in the Heart. So, so just kind of to give context, I feel like a lot of business owners can relate to this of just like looking, especially online at social media, what everything else, what everyone is else is doing.
[00:41:12] And you're looking at the highlights, right? You're looking at the wins of everyone else and you're thinking. Oh that person's doing this. Oh. And that person's doing this and that translates to, oh, I must do all of that. Not like person A is doing one thing. And person B is doing another thing. They're both not doing both of those things, but suddenly we are looking at that and we're saying, oh, now I have to do both of those things in order to be successful, right?
[00:41:35] That's like the trick that our mind plays on us and. I feel like how that's related to us a little bit is, I don't know if we have been like, oh, we have to do this because somebody else is doing this. But I think like, there is an element of you wanna grow and scale your business. You want the, the accolades, or you want like the respect of the industry, right?
[00:41:53] And so it's like, oh, we have to make this many figures or this number or whatever. And I think we at the heart had got on this [00:42:00] cycle of, of launching things in 2021, Evie alluded to it earlier, but like, Psycho. We not, it us, we were psycho all that. What it was, we launched like a new thing every single month of 2021.
[00:42:12] It was apparel in May. And then it was the subscription subscription for captions, Instagram captions in June. And then it was a Reel's course and an Instagram course in July. And then it was our conference and like literally insane and something that we learned in doing that was, it's not that launching things is bad.
[00:42:29] It's that problem, when you're an entrepreneur, like you have so many ideas and you wanna do it all right. And, but again, there is that comparison of like, I, I want to like have the respect. I want the accolades. I want the success quote, unquote, that these things will bring me, but when you're launching things and you're just in a cycle of launching, you're not actually maybe fixing like the foundation of your business or like the, the like things that in the day to day keep getting overlooked because you are always focusing on like the big flashy launches to, you know, that is nice to [00:43:00] look on on Instagram, but like not actually
[00:43:01] Danielle: that looks like success.
[00:43:03] Lindsey: Yes, exactly. Exactly. So
[00:43:05] Danielle: Outward success.
[00:43:06] Lindsey: Basically literally. A week and a half ago, we were preparing to launch a huge thing in two months and we did not give ourselves a runway to do it. And so like literally we had a meeting, I think literally, no, no, this week, this Monday. It's Friday. It was literally, it was literally this Monday, our marketing team was like, okay, go team.
[00:43:25] Like, it was literally like this huge long to do list. And me and Evie got off that call and had like an existential crisis. And we were like, did some like deep praying, deep talking with each other. And we were just like, this feels like we're doing the same thing over and over again and we're just chasing success.
[00:43:40] I mean, maybe that's not what it was on the front, but maybe deep down that's what we were doing. I don't know. But like we were like, does, do we really need to do this? Yes, the cash will be great. Cool. But like, is this the best thing that we can do right now? Or should we pull back and actually just continue doing what we're doing?
[00:43:56] And maybe that doesn't look as flashy on the front end, but [00:44:00] actually we, it gives us time to fix those foundational issues that build us as a better company. I don't know.
[00:44:06] Danielle: Wow.
[00:44:06] Lindsey: That's that's what came to my mind.
[00:44:07] Danielle: yes.
[00:44:08] Evie: Yeah. I love that. I wanna tag onto that Lindsey, and almost like what's popping into my head is like you asked your question, Danielle of, you know, how do you not, how do you set boundaries? How do you stay focused on what actually matters? And Lindsey shared like the perfect example of something very big and very recent for us that we kind of had to pull back and set a boundary and
[00:44:29] Lindsey: which I feel like we've literally never done that before.
[00:44:32] Evie: We've never, we've never paused something that was
[00:44:35] Lindsey: that's already in motion.
[00:44:37] Evie: That's A, already in motion or B, we'd had that on the calendar for eight months, like the plan to launch it. And then two months before, when we were actually diving into launch prep, we were like, pause. Where this is a no. And I wanna share from our perspective and what I would say to anybody who is like, how do I determine A, what is important in my business and what is moving the needle?
[00:44:57] And B how do I know where to set a [00:45:00] boundary? Lindsey and I have been very intentional, both with the heart, but also in our own personal lives, in our own personal businesses in each of our companies to set very clear, like vision casting of where do I want this company to go? What is the purpose of this company?
[00:45:17] Who is it serving? What, you know, how many hours a week or a month or whatever, do I wanna be working in each company? What do I want my life to be looking like, and how does that affect my businesses and all these different things. So when it comes time to have these big decisions to be casting the marketing vision for 12 to 18 months or however, you know, whatever your business looks like, you know, you are able to go back and revisit kind of the picture that you've painted for yourself and your life.
[00:45:46] And that's the one thing that I would maybe point out as well. I think that's one of the most important things of all of this. As entrepreneurs, typically we've created a business so we can live a life that we want so that we can have freedom to be with our kids. We can [00:46:00] financially fund X, you know, Y, Z whatever.
[00:46:02] There are reasons that we've become an entrepreneur. Freedom, finances, family, something. Wow. Those were a bunch of Fs. Anyways.
[00:46:10] Danielle: That was beautiful! That all came out of your head?
[00:46:12] Evie: That was, that just came outta my mouth. oh, I love it. But there's reasons that we've done it and I would encourage any listener to make sure that those are very clear, those are written down on paper. I have, I've just moved a couple months ago, so I haven't put this back up, but I usually have like a big paper roll, like sheet on the wall where I have my ultimate goals, my quarterly goals, my yearly goals, like this is what I'm working towards. And on that paper, I will have like, I want to have time to take Fridays off during the summer to go sit at the beach with my husband or go on our boat or, you know, whatever that is.
[00:46:47] And I review those every month when I sit down to kind of think about my month and every week when I go to plan out my week, cuz I'm keeping at the forefront. What are the, not only the big tasks in my, you know, day to [00:47:00] day, my week to week operations, like everything that I'm sitting down to work on. Not only am I trying to make sure those stay aligned with the big picture, like launches, goals, finances, whatever. But I'm also trying to make sure everything lines up with my life goal.
[00:47:13] Like that. I'm making sure that I'm building a business that supports the life I wanna lead and when Lindsay was sharing that story, I think both of us came to that conversation and came to that table together. And I was able to share with her, I was like, I feel like I don't have any time now back in launch prep for my swimsuit company, for my bathing suit business.
[00:47:32] And we're in the middle of summer and I need that time. I need that runway. This is the season for it. And then I also shared, I was like, now I don't feel like I even have time to take Fridays off and go to the beach and like, relax and hang out if I want to. And she was like, well, I feel like I don't have time with my kids, my two daughters and, you know, we were sharing that and we both pulled back and we were like, okay, so this isn't aligned.
[00:47:52] Like this is not aligned with what we want. So we're gonna set a boundary and say, Let's reevaluate. Let's come back to the drawing board. [00:48:00] What can we do that is aligned with our, with our heart and our goals. So that's what I would say if somebody is trying to come to set boundaries, even if it's something as simple as trying to set work hours and you've never set work hours before, like, what's your goal?
[00:48:14] Do you wanna have evenings with your friends or are you married and you wanna have evenings with your spouse or are you trying to date and you wanna have space to like find someone and go on dates, you know, whatever that looks like. What's, what are your goals and your vision and your passion for your life and your business, and making sure that those are aligned and your decisions are reflecting those ultimate goals. I think that's the only other thing that I would add to that.
[00:48:38] Danielle: Ugh, so, so good. And I love what you said about that, because it's definitely something that I have really been contemplating lately just on, yeah. What do you want your life to look like? What do you want and why did you start your business in the first place?
[00:48:56] Evie: Yeah.
[00:48:56] Danielle: Cause like what you said, a lot of us start our businesses because [00:49:00] we want the flexibility. We want the freedom. We wanna be able to do all these other things that we're passionate about, but then we get into this hamster wheel. I think Lindsey, you were talking about it. Like this wheel, I don't know if you said hamster wheel, but this wheel of like, oh, but you're doing the next thing and launching the next thing and you just get caught up in it.
[00:49:18] Lindsey: Mm-hmm
[00:49:18] Danielle: and all of a sudden you're like, okay, but I, I will have that freedom or I will have that, but. But, you know, maybe I just need to watch just one more thing or I need to do this, or when I hit this goal, then I'll do that. But the problem with that is that doesn't happen. You hit that goal, then you, then you move the goal even further and you say, okay, well I'm not actually going to take those Fridays off, or I'm not actually gonna spend that time with my kids until I hit this next goal because this goal, I thought it was what I wanted to hit, but now I actually know I wanna hit this next goal here.
[00:49:50] And so it just becomes this moving target that we never hit. And yeah, like, why are we delaying living the life that we wanna live, or [00:50:00] why are we delaying these things that we say that are our, our, our top values, our top priorities.
[00:50:06] And so thank you. First of all, thank you for being vulnerable with that and sharing, you know, the fact that you had to set that boundary and you had something that you were gonna launch and you, and you paused on that. Thank you for sharing that. I think that gives permission for anyone listening, who maybe is like, oh, well it's too late to do that.
[00:50:25] Or it's, you know, all the plans are in place. You said, like your team was coming to you being like, okay, let's go.
[00:50:31] Evie: Yeah.
[00:50:31] Danielle: And you could have said like, oh, okay, well it's not really a line, but you know what? We're kind of too far into this. Right. So let's push forward.
[00:50:37] Lindsey: We almost did that. Like literally we, I was almost like, just suck it up, Lindsey, just suck it up. Like
[00:50:41] Danielle: yeah.
[00:50:42] Lindsey: It was literally like
[00:50:43] I
[00:50:43] Danielle: really like the fact that you could be transparent with each other.
[00:50:44] Lindsey: It was like, okay, yeah. Yeah, that's so true. But it's like, it was like, we had like the team go meeting and then we were like, hold up, wait, hold up. like, well, and I like that, Evie actually even like followed it up with like almost the why behind why we made that decision.
[00:50:58] Especially like [00:51:00] feeling the personal life tension in that, because our decision, it, at least in this season probably means we will make a lot less money this quarter, right? Yeah. However, I, I almost want the listener to like focus, like, yes, we're all in the business world. We're all trying to make money, but is making like a certain amount more important than your sanity than your mental health than your actual like time spent with your family than like the life that you wanted because you became an entrepreneur, right? Like that that's, I, I like that Evie kind of like brought that around cuz
[00:51:31] Evie: mm-hmm
[00:51:32] Lindsey: that gives a fuller picture.
[00:51:33] Danielle: Yeah. Yeah. And I love that. And how can we be content where we are right now?
[00:51:40] Evie: Yeah.
[00:51:40] Danielle: Even though we all have big goals, we all have things we wanna accomplish, you know, it's, it's okay to be content in where you're at, but then still have these big goals. And that's, you're able to do that. Like I think I used to think, well, if I'm feeling content, that means that I. That I'm just lazy or [00:52:00] I'm not pushing forward or I'm not challenging myself and no, like that's, I think that's a lie that we believe, and that unfortunately is keeping a lot of entrepreneurs unhappy yeah. And depressed, right?
[00:52:16] Evie: Yeah. Well, something I share with a lot of my coaching students is I'll tell them contentment and complacency are two completely different things.
[00:52:23] Danielle: Yes.
[00:52:23] Evie: And you can be content with where you are and still, you know, Having a desire to push forward and finding joy and peace and happiness where you are, that doesn't mean that A you're lazy or B that you're complacent and stagnant. Like those are two completely different things. And I think that's so good that you pointed that out. Danielle, like you should be content with where you are, because if you're not content with $10,000, you're not gonna be content with a hundred thousand dollars.
[00:52:51] And if you're not content with a hundred thousand dollars, you're not gonna be content with a million. And it just goes on and on, like those goals that you set for yourself are [00:53:00] arbitrary. They are moving targets, like you mentioned Danielle, and they do not satisfy, you know. Just because you have more doesn't mean that suddenly you'll become happy.
[00:53:10] And typically the more that you have, the more employees you have to, you know, pay their bills, the more launches that you have upcoming, the more money you're making, the more taxes you're paying. Just kidding. But there's a lot of stuff that the more you have, the more pressure that there can be with that
[00:53:26] Danielle: mm-hmm
[00:53:27] Evie: it does not always mean, oh, suddenly I'm gonna make a hundred thousand dollars.
[00:53:30] And now all of my financial struggles will be gone. Well, probably if you're making a hundred thousand,
[00:53:34] Lindsey: they will multiply.
[00:53:35] Evie: Yes. You have a team member that you're paying or, you know, whatever
[00:53:38] Lindsey: you have a hundred thousand worth problems.
[00:53:42] Evie: it's true. But I love that just making sure you are aligned in every season that you're in and that you're finding contentment in it. Like you mentioned, Danielle, that's absolutely key in everything that you do. And I love that this conversation is happening. It makes me happy.
[00:53:57] Danielle: oh my gosh. I love that. I, I [00:54:00] feel like we just went into a time warp.
[00:54:02] Evie: Yeah.
[00:54:03] Danielle: And then we came outta the other side. I'm like what? I thought it's been 15 minutes. Um, okay. So many things I feel like we'll just have to have you back on the podcast. How about that?
[00:54:12] Evie: Perfect. For real.
[00:54:13] Danielle: But I love it. Thank you guys so much. First of all, for being here for sharing so authentically, so vulnerably of wins you've had, but also struggles and all of it. I wanna ask you one last question. You guys have been able to accomplish a lot separately in your separate businesses and then together, what are you most proud of, of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
[00:54:35] Lindsey: Oh Lord. Okay.
[00:54:38] Evie: the first thing that pops into my head is instantly just the relationships we've been able to build with our community and from that, both from our education and, you know, whatnot, but also just Lindsay and I sharing our hearts and, you know, encouraging and sharing our journeys through entrepreneurship, our wins, our losses, our, our victories, our failures, all of it.
[00:54:58] I feel like I've [00:55:00] seen people's lives be touched. I've seen their businesses be changed. That's everything to us. That's the reason that we created this company. That's the reason that we do everything that we do in all of our businesses is I guess just the simple word is the impact that we've seen from what God has done through our businesses and through our little flailing and fumblings, it's, that's everything to us. So that's the number one thing. It's not a numerical number. It's not, oh, I own blank businesses or it's the impact and the people that have been affected by our yes to God and then his power moving through us.
[00:55:33] Lindsey: Yeah. I would say like the same thing, the only thing I would add it onto that is getting over the fear of what people will think of you and just sharing it anyway. Cuz I think how our photography businesses have grown and then also how the heart has grown truly stemmed, like Evie said at the beginning, just from that personal brand and being willing to be real, being willing to like share the hard stuff and like be honest and invite people in.
[00:55:57] And by doing that, you, you do have to get over [00:56:00] that fear of comparison or, or like fear of what people will think of you. And in doing that, like I have just, and I know Evie has too, just received so many stories from people saying like the story that you shared changed my life. Like, I literally just got an email, like two days ago of a follower at one of our conference attendees, which was fun, cuz I got to meet her in person, but,
[00:56:19] I had a miscarriage a couple of years ago and I shared it pretty like a lot. Um, and she had just experienced a miscarriage and she emailed me and was just like, I, I didn't know that I wanted kids until that happened. And I came to like, go back to your content when you shared that. And I just felt so seen and loved and heard, and it, like, it really confirmed in my heart that like, I want kids and I like, and it was just like, it made me bawl, first of all, but like stories like that.
[00:56:43] That like, that's not even about business. Like that's not even attached to like our offering whatsoever it, but it's just attached to the heart of being willing to let God use your story by just putting it out there. And, and yes, sure, intertwining that with your business, but like just sharing from that place and like, [00:57:00] trusting that God's gonna work in it.
[00:57:02] Danielle: Oh, I love that so much. And I love that both of what you guys shared is all about like impact, you know, like making impact through your business. And it's so beautiful that you guys have been able to do that you guys separately, but then also coming together and building this incredible community that you guys have.
[00:57:17] So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you for being here and yeah. Where can people connect with you? Find, you tell, tell people where they can find your podcast. All of those things.
[00:57:30] Evie: Yes. Uh, so our podcast, we are on there every Tuesday and Thursday. So two episodes a week is called the heart and hustle podcast. And you can find that on just about any place you would stream podcasts, or you can go to theheartuniversity.com and you can find it through there as well as all of our courses, we have tons of free resources and stuff too. And the heart university on Instagram, there's a whole highlight of freebees.
[00:57:52] You can go in there, there's a ton of resources and free things that we want to help empower you in your business, as well as daily tips, [00:58:00] funny, relatable content, Instagram live Q & A's like all sorts of things on all of that content. And then
[00:58:05] Lindsey: lots of free juice.
[00:58:06] Evie: Yes.
[00:58:07] Danielle: I love that.
[00:58:07] Evie: And then you can find our personal accounts. I think they're both linked in the bio of, at the heart university on Instagram as well. So if you wanna come connect with us personally on Instagram, um, follow along on our journey. Find either one of our other businesses, anything like that, you can find it through there.
[00:58:21] Danielle: I love that. So, so good. And yeah, if there's anything that you're listening to that resonated with you or impacted you in some way, I feel, I don't know if you guys feel like this, but podcasting is such this weird thing, cuz like with Instagram you get that like instant connection with people where like podcasting it's like you put it out.
[00:58:37] Evie: Yeah.
[00:58:37] Danielle: Like it's, who's listening. We don't know like all these random people. So if anything like connected with you or impacted you message these women and let them know because it honestly inspires, like as entrepreneurs and as content creators, you know, like it really makes a difference when you can know that your story or something that you said impacted. So definitely connect with these ladies and thank you guys for being on the [00:59:00] podcast. Thank you for being here. And, um, yeah, so grateful for both of you.
[00:59:04] Evie: Thank you for having us.
[00:59:05] Lindsey: Yeah. So thankful. And like Danielle just said, literally we answer nearly every DM. So like, come say hi, we will not be a stranger. We love to chat with you. So thank you, Danielle, just for having us on the show and just giving us a space to talk. This was such a fun chat.
[00:59:19] Danielle: Of course, anytime.
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