January 21, 2020 • 51 mins
A happy life doesn’t just fall in your lap, so we’ve brought in Stephanie Fleming of Happy Planner to talk about how to plan out your happy life. We’re also talking about navigating pivotal life moments, cultivating happiness and creative freedom, fraudy feelings, and so much more.
This episode is sponsored by Freshbooks Cloud Accounting and Acuity Scheduling.
Get full show notes for this episode here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Emily (00:02):
I'm Emily Thompson.
Kathleen (00:04):
And I'm Kathleen Shannon
Emily (00:05):
And this is Being Boss.
In this episode of being boss,I'm excited to share a
delightful conversation I hadwith today's guest about
creative expression, fraudyfeelings and planning a happy
life.
As always, you can find all thetools, books, and links we
(00:26):
reference on the show notes atwww.beingboss.club.
Kathleen (00:32):
Whether you're building up your side hustle or
working for yourself full time,you'll quickly learn that as a
creative entrepreneur, the workyou do isn't always well
creative.
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(01:17):
Try FreshBooks cloud accountingfor free by going to
freshbooks.com/beingboss andenter being boss in the how did
you hear about us?
Section
Emily (01:32):
Want to know what single thing it moves the needle in my
business most every single timeI do it?
Attending a conference.
It was at a conference when Irealized I wanted to become a
content creator.
It was at a conference that Ifirst met Kathleen in real life.
It was at a conference that Ilearned the importance of
business strategies like how totake real time away from my
(01:55):
business, zeroing in on my valueproposition, and learning how to
first grow my team.
Conferences are immersiveexperiences that remove you from
the daily grind of your businessand surround you with the
content people and activitiesthat inspire new ideas and boost
your business forward.
It's for those reasons and manymore that we are hosting our
(02:16):
first Being Boss Conference inApril 2020.
Join me, Kathleen, and a broodof bosses for keynote speakers,
panel sessions and hands onworkshops that will leave you
and your business play more bossthan when you arrived.
Learn more and grab your ticketwhile they last at
beingboss.club/conference.
I look forward to seeing youthere.
(02:42):
A happy life doesn't just fallin your lap and I'm especially
saying that to any of you outthere who are embarking on or
who have embarked on yourbusiness thinking that that's
what's going to happen.
Getting that happy life is amany stepped process that
happens alongside starting yourbusiness, making annual action
plans, dealing with your inboxand going to that conference.
(03:03):
It also happens at the same timeas dealing with that awful
client mishap or having thatopportunity fall through.
Making a happy life for yourselfis a never ending project that
weaves in and out of everyproject you have going.
And the moment you put down thatBaton to put something else
ahead of it, well you'll likelyimmediately veer off course and
(03:27):
could soon lose sight of whatyou're really working for.
We talk often around here aboutthings like the work life blend
tactics for prioritizing whatbrings you fulfillment and how
to live and work by your valuesso you always feel good about
what you do.
And in today's episode we'rehearing more of this and more
(03:47):
from a heavy hitter in theindustry of creativity and
planning.
Stephanie Fleming.
Stephanie is a creativeentrepreneur, speaker, optimist,
and a wellness seeker.
Most notably, she is thecofounder of Me and My Big
Ideas, creators of the happyplanner.
What began 20 years ago as atiny garage based business is
(04:07):
now an industry leadinglifestyle brand that offers a
wide variety of products thatinspire customers to live
creatively and plan a happylife.
It's Stephanie's mission tocreate a happy life movement by
empowering people everywhere totake control of their own
happiness by embracing planning,positivity and all things
creative.
(04:28):
She sounds like a boss to me andI am so excited to share her and
her story with you here.
Hello Stephanie.
Welcome to Being Boss.
I'm so glad you're here.
Stephanie (04:39):
Hi.
Thanks for having me.
I'm super excited to be heretalking with you.
Emily (04:44):
Oh, we're going to have a blast.
So one I'll note we both havecups of tea, sitting here
hanging out.
I'm excited for just a reallygood chat about creativity and
business.
I'm excited to have been withyou on a couple of things, but
before I get started, I want youto tell everyone a little bit
more about you and how it isthat you got to where you are
today.
Stephanie (05:05):
Okay.
Oh wow.
Okay.
I'll try and make it, you know,like the cliff notes version.
My name is Stephanie Fleming.
I am a creative entrepreneur andabout 21 years ago now, almost,
I think it is, my mom and Istarted me and my big ideas,
which was a company that wecreated out of a need for a
(05:26):
product that we didn't see outon the marketplace.
And, um, so, but to go fartherback, a little bit farther back,
I grew up in the creativeindustry, so my parents ran a,
um, like a craft manufacturingcompany and a distributors.
So I grew up like seeingcreative people in business.
So I kind of had thatentrepreneurial spirit from a
(05:49):
very young age and worked thewarehouse and you know, our
parents had us doing all kindsof things like, you know, Oh,
you need to, you want some extramoney, you're going to to go
pick orders in the warehouse.
So I was really fortunate enoughto be able to see how businesses
work from, you know, the mind ofa 15 year old or, um, and see my
parents work very hard for whatthey wanted.
(06:09):
And then I, you know, was inhigh school and had got pregnant
right out of high school.
So I was kind of, you know,starting life going like, okay,
I'm going to be a mom.
I didn't go to college and Ijust was going to make my life
work.
And um, and I did that.
I had had another child, gotmarried and, and I did in home
(06:33):
daycare for like eight years,just trying to make ends meet
and you know, be a mom and doall the things.
And about eight years into that,um, I was not making ends meet
and having a really hard timejust, I love the little kids
that I watched.
I, I am the oldest of a lot ofhis mind and ours, there's like
(06:53):
nine of us all together.
So I love kids, but I needed toget out, I needed to exercise my
creative muscle and to be quitehonest with you and like I
wanted to pay the bills.
So, um, my mom at that time hadjust gone through a divorce with
my stepdad and they sold theirbusiness.
So my mom was at this place inher life where she was saying,
okay, I'm in my forties now Ineed to start a new life.
(07:15):
And I was saying, Hey, I need tochange my life up.
I need to, you know, dosomething different.
And, um, we were at my son'sbaseball game, I think in the
fall of 1998.
And scrapbooking was kind ofjust in its infancy at the time.
And we didn't have like this,you know, this idea that was
(07:36):
going to change the world.
But we were scrapbookers and wewere creative people and we were
wanting a sticker that wasdifferent.
So it started out with just oneidea to take the little tiny
stickers that people wereputting in these big giant
scrapbooks and say like, youknow, well, what if we made
bigger stickers that had theseclear borders?
(07:57):
And what if we just tried tolike, you know, go into business
together.
And we had an artist friend whowas going to do the work for us.
And, um, and we, I, I'm like, Ihave$0 million to put into this.
So I will put in 100% sweatequity cause like had maybe
negative$0 million.
Um, and so I, so we went and wejust, we just went for it with
(08:19):
that one big slash little ideaof creating this product that we
, um, wanted to see in themarketplace.
And in 1998, I filed for a DBA,um, you know, doing business as
is most of your listeners I'msure know and just kind of took
all of the chances and said,let's, let's just see what this,
(08:39):
where this goes.
And, um, so we did that.
I went to, um, there was a lotin between there.
I, we worked really hard, tookour products to a trade show a
couple months later, like mademoved mountains to make that
happen.
And um, kind of the hit of thisshow, you know, this little idea
we had turned into this businessthat people wanted also turn,
(09:01):
you know, and, um, we were ableto continue to follow that
process of being the customerand saying, what do I want to do
in this craft and creativeindustries?
What is the product that I wantto see that's not out there and
let's go make it and bring it tothe marketplace.
So we've been doing that now for21 years.
(09:22):
I hope that sum that up withoutnot giving you too much.
Emily (09:25):
No, it totally does.
And I even want to like pass acouple of kudos to your mom.
And that's one of the ones that,one of the things that really
stood out for me there was thisidea that she was in her forties
and thinking, yeah, you know,new life starting all over.
I know, you know, for me, I ammid thirties and started a new
business about two years ago.
(09:45):
And sometimes I think like, Idon't think I could ever start
any business or I know a lot ofour listeners are a little bit
older and are really sort offeel hindered by their age
almost to start to that newventure or their new life or
that new passion or whatever itmay be.
But your mom went for it and didit and it sounds like it's paid
(10:07):
off.
Stephanie (10:07):
Yeah, I think that she's, my mom's taught me, she a
lot of things in life, but she'svery resilient and my mom's kind
of had this like, it's never toolate.
There's never something that istoo big for you to try and
conquer.
I mean, like I said, I, I don'thave a college education, but I
am a very smart person.
(10:28):
Um, and I know at that pointjust in my life, I mean, I'm,
I'm all for, uh, highereducation as well, but if you
don't have one or if you're, ifit's later in life, there's so
many things that you can do bybeing an accomplished, by being
a hard worker, by believing inyourself and just going for it.
Um, that, and I think there'ssomething to be said to win when
(10:51):
you don't have, um, you know,you, not that she didn't have
anywhere to go but up, but wewere at these places where, you
know, she was, I want to say shewas, she would have been like
48.
She would've been like my age.
I'm 48, so my mom would, Oh,that's really interesting.
My mom would have been my agetrying to start this whole new,
this whole new life.
And I'm telling you, she wasn't,if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't
(11:15):
have done it.
I'm a much, uh, um, I'm kind ofa perfectionist.
I take a long time to like, Iwant everything to like I'm a
thinker and my mom's like, let'sjust do it.
Let's just do it.
And so that push that she had,um, has taught me a lot and has
really helped us get intobusiness.
I'm sure I would've over-thoughtmyself right out of the
business, you know, and doubtedmyself and my abilities.
(11:37):
And so that's been a real gift.
But she, you know, shedefinitely has that resilience.
Um, nature.
Emily (11:45):
Oh, it sounds like you guys make for a wonderful
partnership.
I would love to hear a littlebit about how you evolved from
the beginning scrapbooksstickers into planners, which is
what you're most known for now.
Stephanie (11:59):
It's part of you.
So one of the things when I grewup speaking to my mom, when I
grew up, um, we, my mom didbasically the same thing that my
sister does now at our, in ourbusiness.
And what I did before my sisterdid was, um, kind of go out
there and you take a look at theindustry that you're in and you
see, or you see that industryfrom the customer's perspective,
(12:22):
you become that customer and yousee, um, you know, what is what,
like in our instance, what wasthe scrapbook or doing, you
know, what was somebody that wasscrapping, knew what is she
want, what kind of products doesshe want to see?
And when we, we saw that earlyon in our lives, my mom was
doing that.
So my sister and I kind of cameacross that naturally.
Um, and, and I think, and shehelped to nurture that in us.
(12:46):
But in our business, when we sawscrapbooking start to, you know,
we, we were there, the rollercoaster ride, but it was like
up, up, up, up, up, up.
But for a lot of years.
And, um, and we would come outwith products and then we kind
of saw this, um, one year, Ithink it was 2014 scrapbooking
had already started to level offand decline.
(13:06):
People were still scrapbooking.
But when we were in business, wehave to grow, we have to
continue to grow.
Um, and we needed to find outwhat were creative women doing
if they weren't scrapbooking asmuch.
And um, because that's who ourcustomer is, the creative woman.
And so I went on and I wassearching Pinterest and it was
(13:27):
my job and my sister's job atthat time as well to see what
are they doing, what is ourcustomer doing if they're not
doing this, you know, the, theart of scrapbooking as much.
And I was on Pinterest and sawpeople using regular planners,
like, you know, in my opinion,boring kind of just nothing
(13:47):
planners, but they were usingour scrapbooking products to
liven them up and to make them,they were stickers that were
really designed forscrapbooking.
And they were using them inplanners to kind of bring this
creative vibe to planning theirbusy lives.
And so my, my observation wasour customers are busy.
Scrapbooking takes a lot of timeand she wants to do something
(14:12):
that is, um, she kinda needsthat permission, you know, to
like to bring that creativityinto her life.
And a planner was where she wasdoing it.
And so I did a lot of researchinto the industry.
I bought all of our competitorsor future possible competitors
products to see could we offersomething unique and different
(14:33):
because, you know, my belief is,is that if we can't, then we're
just white noise.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople that can do things well.
And I'm sure you know, for yourlisteners, whether they're,
whatever their businesses, youknow, if you're a photographer,
you gotta you have to know like,what do I offer that's different
because I'm sure there's tons ofwedding photographers, but if
(14:53):
you are a good one and you cansee like what you can offer
that's different, you know, howdo you stand out?
Um, that was, that's kind of howwe've always come out with
products to see if, if it wassomething different.
And, and in that case with theplanners, um, there were a lot
of great things that were outthere.
But what I wanted to do was tocreate one that was really
(15:14):
customizable that I could changearound.
Cause I was, some of them werevery expensive.
A lot of them were kind ofplain.
There were no accessories orstickers, which is what we did,
um, that were designedspecifically for planners, which
is so ironic because like, thereason why we got into business
in the first place was creatingproducts because nobody had
(15:37):
stickers that were specificallydesigned for scrapbookers.
And now there were no stickersor accessories that were like
designed to fit within thecolumns of your weekly date or
your weekly planners and um, andthe artwork.
I just thought we, we have anincredible team of designers who
are so talented and I thought ifthat artwork could get in
(15:59):
planners, so we, we brought thatidea, um, to our team to see
what they thought and you know,you know, my, my portion of that
was let's get, um, let's getthe, the idea to the team and
let's see them just kind ofbring it to life.
And that's exactly whathappened.
(16:19):
And um, it literally changed ourbusiness almost overnight.
I think when in the course of ayear, a year and a half, we
tripled the size of our businessfrom the introduction of the
planners.
Emily (16:31):
Nice.
That came from looking at yourcustomers.
Yes.
I know in our realm, a lot oftimes I hear things around
creatives or there's thisinteresting thing that happens
whenever you go into business asa creative.
Most people go in wantingcreative freedom to just create
what they want.
Whenever you start a business,you, your creativity is at least
(16:53):
a little bit, but most of thetime, a lot dictated by your
customers.
Did you ever have any sort ofinternal or external pushback in
terms of that?
And if so, how did you deal withit?
Stephanie (17:07):
That was probably one of the toughest things for me
early on because I rememberhearing somebody saying, well,
you don't take thingspersonally.
And I'm thinking, I takeeverything personally.
I've had to learn not to, butbecause as a creative person,
you put your heart and soul intowhat you do.
You know, that's not necessarilyjust a job.
You are putting something outthere and into the world and it
(17:30):
feels like a part of yourself.
Um, and I think when that's whatmakes it magic, you know, that's
what makes it so special is whenyou do put that out there.
But that is like putting yourchild out into the world and
then saying, what do you thinkof my baby?
Honestly tell me, do you thinkmy baby's beautiful and
someone's gonna go, you know,like we're looking, you know,
(17:51):
and, and you do have to be ableto, like if you, if this is a
business for you, you have to beable to separate that and find
the, the line of, you know, am Ibeing true to myself, which I
hope you, you know, you alwaysare.
Um, but also if I like it, butnobody wants to buy it.
(18:12):
It isn't a business.
You don't have a product.
You have a hobby.
You have something that youmight love.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
But, um, you might not have abusiness and that might be okay.
But if you are in the, you know,if you're looking to create
something that is going to be,you know, bringing in, um, a
(18:34):
revenue stream, then you have tolisten to your customers.
And that's been one of thethings with the happy planner
and using social media has beena way for us to have this real
time conversation with our, ourcustomers saying like, they love
something that we do or we wishyou would come out with this
product and we've been able toreact, which, I mean, you have
(18:54):
to listen to what your customerswant.
Emily (18:57):
True story.
True story.
Thank you for sharing all ofthat.
That is of course, wonderfulinsights.
Um, I'd like to move a littlefurther and you've had such,
such a robust journey I feel inthe past 20, 21 years.
I would love to hear from you ifyou can pinpoint any pivotal
point in your path where we're,maybe you've made a decision
(19:20):
that you can see made a hugedifference in your business.
Stephanie (19:25):
I think there've been two.
The first one is, um, juststarting it and not overthinking
it.
Um, because I think so manypeople get wrapped up in the
doubts and, well, what will, Idon't know.
I don't know if, and I do this,I struggle with this and, and
work on it all the time now, butevery time if you're prepared
(19:46):
enough, if you've thought aboutit and you really wanna go out
there and it feels maybe notsafe, but it feels, you know,
there's a difference betweenlike, you know, when somebody
says, you know, do somethingeveryday that scares you.
And I'm, I'm not, uh, anadrenaline junkie and so I like
to be safe, but doing somethingdifferent isn't safe.
(20:08):
So if you've done your homeworkand you feel like it's something
you want to do, um, but you'rejust afraid to do, to step out
there and take the chance, um,learning to do that, especially
like from day one with my momjust going, like, we looked at
each other going like, should wejust do it?
Let's just do it.
Let's give each other, let's,how about a year?
(20:28):
We gave it, you know, a year tosee, who knows if we were going
to like to work together, whoknows if, you know, this might
be a bomb.
And that was okay.
And so along the way, learninghow to just start like that has
it obviously launched thebusiness, but it also has given
the freedom to when we want tolaunch a new product, you know,
(20:50):
we don't know, not everything wecome out with is the happy
planner.
You know, we've come out withsome serious dogs, I mean really
bad products and we thought theywere good and nobody liked them.
And you know, if we gave upevery time we had a product
that, you know, that wasn't ahome run, we would be out of
business.
So, you know, kind of that Ithink the starting mechanism of
(21:14):
like believing in yourselfenough to, to just go for it.
That's been a big one.
And then I think the secondthing is, um, I S I really had
to kind of step out of my mom'sshadow.
She's very creative and she'svery, um, we're very close.
Uh, she's very good at what shedoes, but she and I are
extremely different.
(21:35):
And so I really compared myselfa lot to her and to a lot of
other people doubted myselfbecause I didn't have a college
education, uh, thought I neededto.
I've got pictures of myself inlike suits, like pantsuits, like
nothing.
It's not me, but I'm trying tobe like, I was always trying to
be like, you know what?
I thought somebody else thoughtthat a business woman should be.
(22:00):
Um, and somewhere along the way,I think, uh, I was, I want to
say it was probably about 10years ago, so it wasn't, I mean,
it was into my career.
I just said, you know, I wasinvited to these like CEO
summits and, and I was never theCEO, but I would go, and then I
felt kind of like an imposterbecause, you know, I was like,
(22:21):
Oh, I don't know.
I don't, I don't have theeducation they have.
I don't have this.
And finally, one day I learnedto say, you know, believe in my
talents and the things that I dowell.
And I really focused in on, Hey,this is, this is where I, this
is where I should live.
You know, this is where I shouldpush myself and I don't need to
(22:41):
be the CEO.
I don't need to dress in abusiness suit.
Um, and it was actually when Istarted to focus in on those
things that I was able to tap into the creativity that was
enabled me to see, you know, thehappy planner, you know, being
born.
Um, because you know, now I, theconfidence that I have, just
(23:06):
knowing what my abilities arehas changed my life and it's
changed my business.
So I think, you know, just beingself aware enough as a person,
it matters in business.
You know, you have to know whoyou are as a person and you have
to know who you are as aprofessional.
Emily (23:24):
Thank you so much for sharing both of those things.
You just hit on two of thebiggest things that we talk
about ally here at being bossand one of them is this idea
that you just have to do thework.
You have to show up.
You have to trust the process,you just, it, you have to have
like that leap of faith thatjust, you know, you're going to
do this, you're going to expressyourself creatively.
You're going to do business.
(23:45):
It's, it's gonna work.
It's gonna work out one way orthe other.
So high five on starting forsure.
And then this idea of owning whoyou are, of, of setting the
fraudy feelings aside, we callthem Friday feelings.
That's so great.
And, and also letting everyonein on the fact that even you
(24:06):
feel them too.
Because I would imagine amongstour people, you where you've
made it, do you, are, you are,you are probably on a couple of
people's vision boards, I wouldimagine in terms of what success
looks like.
And even even people who are,you know, in Walmart and target
and Michael's and everywherehave fraudy feelings to and have
(24:28):
to deal with some with some ofthose mindset shifts that come
from showing up, expressingyourself creatively, openly and
publicly, um, and finding whereit is that you fit in all of it.
Stephanie (24:40):
I think that's been something that I'm, I love
Instagram and social media whenit's used properly and one of my
favorite things to do and theone I get the most feedback on,
surprisingly, it's not theproduct.
People love the product, butit's when I show up as myself
and be real and that's all I'veever been on.
But once social media camearound before the fraudy
(25:03):
feelings happened to before andthey come back, they come back
all the time.
But it's such a freeing feelingto know that it's like I don't
have to be anybody other thanwho I am, what I bring to the
table when I'm working on it.
And when I am doing the work andshowing up is, is good enough.
And if it's not that I need towork harder at it and I'm okay
to say, you know, sometimes, youknow, I'll go on.
(25:25):
I'm my, my new title in ourbusiness is happiness ambassador
and about six months ago, um, Iwas not feeling so happy and you
know, there's a lot of pressureto, you know, go on and be seen
in like, do you hide it?
Because our product is all abouthappiness.
And um, I thought, you know,it's more important to be seen
(25:50):
authentically and be a genuineperson, whether it's social
media or whether it's businessfor me to say, Hey, you know
what, I'm struggling right now.
Um, it actually, it's kinda hardby being the happiness
ambassador and struggling alittle bit, but here's how I'm
going to work through it and Iactually use our product to work
through it.
So it became like a, a way toshare things and you know,
(26:10):
because I also think there'sthis illusion of, um, and, and I
don't ever want to be, I thinkit's P does people a disservice
to further the myth that, youknow, once you make it, it's
easier.
The way up is easy.
Once you get it, it's just ashard, if not harder.
It's worth it.
I love it, but it's hard, youknow, that saying of find
(26:32):
something you love and you'llnever work a day in your life is
just not true.
You know?
I mean, you might enjoy it, butit's work.
And if you're not able to dothat, and like there are days on
social media, I would say like,Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry guys.
I haven't been back here for awhile.
I miss you because if I showedyou what my week was, it would
be like, get up in the morning,go to work, come home late, you
(26:55):
know, eat something really quickfrom door dash.
Um, go to bed, get up in themorning, go to, that's, that's
what's happening.
It's not, you know, Oh my gosh,you hit the big time and then
you just get to bask and lay bythe pool.
You know, the work stillcontinues,
Emily (27:09):
Right?
Then you have to deliver.
Yeah.
That's when all the workactually happens.
Right
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Emily (28:21):
I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about what
it means to plan a happy life.
Um, is do you call that likeyour business mantra or your
tagline?
Like, how does that fit in themission of me and my big ideas
slash happy planner.
Stephanie (28:39):
But yeah, so I think it's, it's a motto.
It's a tagline.
It's all of the above.
Um, and because I feel like whenwe created the name, the happy
planner, it kinda had a dualmeaning.
So the planner would be happy.
It would be filled with positiveaffirmations and it would look
pretty and, and it would just bebetter than a gray blank office
store, you know, planner.
(29:00):
And, um, but it would also makeyou a happy planner, right?
It would bring a little bit morejoy into your life and
creativity.
And so in that we wanted tocreate a tagline that was a
little more active, like, youknow, and plan a happy life was
where we landed.
And what I love about that isaround that time, about 10 years
ago, I was telling you a bigshift in my life was really
(29:22):
believing in loving myself andknowing that I was enough and,
and positive affirmations thatwe had had in some of our
scrapbooking stickers reallyhelped me through that.
And so, um, you know, I reallystarted to understand the
importance of self awareness andpersonal development and, and
the fact that there's nobody inthis world that is going to take
(29:43):
you no charge and going to handyou your life, your business,
anything on a silver platter.
Like you have to decide whathappiness looks like for you and
then you and only you have todevelop a plan and go get it.
Um, you know, because happythings might happen around you.
But if there's something, a goalor an ideal life or feeling that
(30:05):
you want, you have to number onepeople to say, you know, what
looks good for me, which is, youknow, um, creating, uh, a home
and a business that I'm proud ofand being very close and being a
very present and loving wife,mother, grandmother, you know,
family member and friend and um,creating a home where people
(30:26):
feel loving and creating a spaceof peace and contentment that
may not be the ideal happinessfor someone who's an adrenaline
seeker.
You know, who wants to climbMount Everest, Everest.
And so I had to do the work tosay, this is me, this makes me
happy.
And so everyday when I'mplanning in my planner, I am
(30:50):
looking at am I creating thespace to um, to take some time
for meditation?
Am I working now to say healthis important to me?
And right now I'm, I've beenkind of stressed out and I
haven't been taking care ofmyself like I should.
So, you know, it's on me.
So let me put that in myplanner, let me make that time.
Um, and you know, if I'm not, ifpart of my work is not
(31:12):
fulfilling, what is it aboutthat and how am I going to work
around that or through that, orwhat am I going to do?
Um, and so the idea of don't,you know, we don't want people
over-planning and underdoing,you know, so get in there, make
a plan, but you know, ultimatelyyour happiness is up to you.
Emily (31:32):
So were you always a planner user or did your planner
make you a planner user?
Stephanie (31:37):
I've always been a planner in my head.
I think that, um, I've, and Ijust like in my behavior, I
don't do spontaneity very well.
I like to plan things out.
Um, and in, in school, I don'tknow that I ever had like a
calendar planner, but I wrotethings down a lot.
I've always been a paper person.
(31:59):
Um, whether it's been incrafting or in writing things
down.
I love a good app.
I love, you know, technology toa point.
And, um, but I, but it doesn'tmake me more productive.
It doesn't make me prioritize.
I'm a really right brainedperson.
So, um, getting something downon a computer screen is great.
(32:20):
I have to trigger my brain in adifferent way.
I have to trigger my brain bywriting something down and
planning and writing.
The act of writing does that.
Um, scientifically I w was notmy study obviously, but there's
been studies that have shownthat you trigger a different
part of your brain that helpsyou remember when you write
things down.
And I need to be able to say,you know, that thing that I'm
(32:42):
putting off that I really don'twant to do should be the first
thing I'm doing this morning.
I physically put it in myplanner.
Emily (32:49):
Same.
I'm the same.
I have to, I have to writethings down as well.
And again, that like brain hand,eye coordination, like there's
so many more little systems Ithink that go into you writing
things down.
I find it to be super powerfultoo.
So yes, all the tech things.
But also can I just have mypaper planner please?
Stephanie (33:06):
Yes.
Emily (33:09):
Awesome.
So you mentioned briefly there,this act of this act of
prioritizing and writing thingsdown that are important to you.
There's something that we talkabout a lot here too.
And even in our book we had thislittle exercise and we call it
like, um, we call it, it's likea garden.
You have this garden and it's awalled garden and those are your
(33:31):
boundaries.
And within your walled garden,you write down what it is that,
um, that is most important toyou and the different areas of
life and whatever it is thatyou're playing thing in.
That garden is what you'renurturing and protecting and
everything else, all the weedsjust don't belong there and they
can stay away.
And I often feel my planner isthat sort of visual
representation of that quoteunquote Garden that we've
(33:54):
outlined in our book where thethings that go in my paper
planner are the things that aremost important.
I mean, I have a Asana tasklists out my wazoo and so many
things on my cat.
Like there are so many thingsgoing on, but I know that what
is happening in my paper planneris most important for what
(34:15):
really makes me happiest if Imay.
Um, but do you have any sort ofsystems or processes or um, any
way that you use or you've seenyour community use planners, um,
to help them really cultivatetheir happiest life?
Stephanie (34:30):
Yeah, I mean, one of the things, I have a system that
over over the years I'd say hasreally helped me.
It started, um, because I, I'mnot good at, I'm not good at
multitasking.
I'm really good at focusing inon something and working on it.
And the minute I'm all over theplace, I mean I can do it.
(34:52):
I'm a woman, I'm a mom, I can doit, but I'm not very effective.
So, um, so I've developed thisthing the busier my company got
in my life, got everything thatwas running through my brain,
everything from hugepresentations, you know, sales
presentations to I need to emptythe dishwasher or get my tires
rotated was all just circlingaround in my head.
(35:16):
And, um, and so I learned tohave just what I call a match,
uh, master action item list,like a master list.
And I actually have to have apersonal one and a work one.
And, um, anytime it's, there'stwo sheets in my planner at all
times and I will say, Oh mygosh, if I'm in the car and I
(35:37):
think I need to rotate my tires,I don't let anything stay in my
brain for very long becausenumber one, I'm going to forget
it.
Um, and number two, you don'tfile it away in the same way.
So, um, and it takes up the sameamount of time in your brain to
think empty the dishwasher andprepare, you know, to, for a
(36:00):
speech in front of 1400 people.
Like it's the same thing, youknow, it's taking that same
space.
So, um, so I would just, Iimmediately write it down if I
am somewhere, I don't have myplanner, I use just the notes
app in my phone and then I'lltransfer it over.
But it always lives there.
And then I have this concept ofwhat I call, um, the today list.
(36:20):
And to me it happened when I wasgoing through a really tough
divorce and I found myselfactually physically on the floor
crying going, I don't know wheremy life is going to go.
Call my brother over.
And he just said, cause I waslike, I need to get a divorce
attorney and I need to like whatI'm going to do, where to sell
the house, where my kid's goingto go to school.
I was just, you know, I, Ididn't even know how to think.
(36:42):
There were so many things goingthrough my brain and he's like,
you need, you don't need toworry about those things today.
You need to get them offsomewhere, put them on a list,
write all the things down thatyou need to get done.
And then today, what do you needto get done like you?
And he goes, you need to pick upKayla from school.
You need to cook dinner for thetwo of you.
And maybe throw in a load oflaundry and maybe call someone
(37:04):
to see about maybe getting thename of a divorce attorney
period that don't worry aboutanything else.
You can do those four thingstoday.
Tomorrow you can have adifferent list.
So I will use my planner to takethe items off of my master lists
and transfer them.
I use like a, there's a, um,it's a vertical line, right?
(37:25):
Your vertical column.
It's Monday.
And I will look and say, okay,on Monday, what do I need to do
on Monday?
I prioritize it so that I have arealistic view of the things
that I need to get done.
So I'm not, cause when I look atmy master list, if I looked at
that thing, Oh, it's like you'rea sauna.
When I'm sure you look at, I'mthinking, Oh my gosh, when am I
(37:46):
going to get this done?
I get overwhelmed.
Anxiety sets in and, and then Iwill procrastinate and do
something completely off thatlist.
And like, you know, what Ishould try is acrylic painting
today.
You know, nowhere on my list,but that's going to feel good.
So, um, so my, I really, I lovelists list-making and
(38:09):
prioritizing and then puttingthem where they go in your day.
So on Monday I look at what do Ineed to get done on Monday and I
plan it off on Sundays.
So I kind of take a look at whatmy week looks like.
And that way if there'ssomething that, like if I'm
going to get my, you know, Ikeep going back to tires rotated
cause I need to get my tiresrotated.
But if I think about that onyour list, it's on my list.
(38:31):
And if I think about it and Igo, you know what, I'm going to
take it and I have anappointment, I'm going to do it
on Friday.
Then on Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, I'm not
worrying or thinking about thetires, rotating, freeing up
space in my mind for thecreative ideas that I need to
have and for the importantthinking that needs to go on.
And this giant head of mine, youknow?
Emily (38:53):
No, that's, that's such a wonderful tactic.
It's funny you're talking and Ihave a similar process as well.
I just call it my weekly list.
So on Sunday and it's usuallySunday, like late afternoon.
And that's usually the time forme where I have, um, I've been
going through my entire weekend,not at my computer or at my
notebook to write things down.
(39:13):
So I have all these things likebumping around in my head for me
to like really enjoy my Sundayevening.
Like those last hours beforeMonday starts rolling around, I
have to sit down and get it allout on a list and then come
Monday morning I'll starttasking it all out, you know, in
all the places where it needs tobe for either, um, and fun
tactic here, I'll even makelists for people on my team.
(39:35):
So if there's like a questionthat I need to ask someone or I
need, I need to check in on thatthing that I delegated to
someone to make sure it'sgetting done or I need to, you
know, give them this update ortell them to do this thing,
whatever it may be.
This master list that I createon Sundays really shapes the
rest of my week but also gets itall out of my head so that I can
enjoy those last couple of hoursbefore getting to work.
Stephanie (39:58):
We might be the same person because I do the same.
We might meet the exact sameperson cause I do the same thing
is when it comes down to like mylist, I will open it up cause
I'll know like I need to checkin with Hannah about this.
Well you know, I'm constantlygoing and then I look at Hannah
when I see her walking down thehall and I'm thinking I had
something for her.
What was I going to say toHannah?
(40:19):
And I'll open up my list and sayif we have a meeting or if just
like, Hey, Oh, here are the fivethings that I needed to touch
base with you on.
Um, and so I think we're, wehave so many of the same, um,
yes, uh, planner brain.
Emily (40:33):
I'm right there with ya.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Okay.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
I think that's a really helpfultactic.
If anyone out here is not makinglists, you've heard me Kathleen,
say plenty of times.
Make lists, you've heard itagain, make some lists.
It frees up brain space so youcan think about any and
everything else and take actionand take action.
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Emily (41:29):
I would like to ask you one more question around the
growth of your business andespecially I mentioned earlier,
Happy Planners are everywhere.
Like if you guys haven't seen aHappy Planner anywhere, you're
not going anywhere, everywherethese days.
I think that's so fantastic.
(41:51):
I would love to hear from you ifthis may be a triggering
question.
Sorry, not sorry.
If there have been any momentswhere you've learned really big
lessons that maybe some of ourlisteners can take with them
moving forward.
Stephanie (42:07):
So I, you know, having you say like, Oh, there's
happy planners everywhere andum, it's true and I think the
minute you are onto somethingthat gains any popularity or
success, there's always going tobe people that are, you know,
kind of riding your coattails orwe'll say imitating or copying
(42:28):
or you know, on anywhere on thatscale.
Sure.
Um, and it's very hard.
I think we saw it inscrapbooking when we had
products that would really besuccessful.
There was, you'd find people,you know, outright copying you
or just really knowing the lawand changing it just enough that
you can't protect yourself.
Um, and I would get reallywrapped up in that for a long
(42:50):
time.
And again, my mom kind of poppedin with some words of wisdom and
just said, you know, we need tojust basically keep your eye on
your own paper, eyes on your ownpaper and keep your side of the
street clean.
And, and, and you know what Itook from that after I, you
know, was like, Oh, but this isnot fair.
You know, um, I started torealize that, you know, if I
(43:10):
waste my energies, obviouslythere's times where we have to
protect, um, things that are,um, we have trademarks and
copyrights and all of that.
And we, we do.
But if I spent so much timeworrying about where everybody
else was, what my competitionwas doing, and Oh my God, how
are they following us?
And that's too close.
And then I would spend zero timedealing, doing what I do best,
(43:34):
which is, you know, working withmy sister who's a business
partner and, um, coming up withwhat's the next thing?
What's the next design?
What do people want?
That is where I should befocusing my energy.
So, um, I think if you, youknow, really be, it's, it's been
hard because when you have that,there's also, um, there's also a
(43:56):
lot of people who immediatelywill make assumptions about, you
know, maybe some of the movesyou make or products that you
have or the more popular theproduct becomes, the more input
you get because people love it.
You know, they love it, they getattached to it and then they
have very passionate opinionsabout it for, you know, good and
for bad sometimes.
And so, um, I think that it wasjust that whole idea of, you
(44:20):
know, doing our work, keepingour eyes on our own paper and
really just believing in what wedo.
And then we put it out there inthe world.
You know, if somebody, they'recopying or too closely, the
closest they're ever going toget to you is one step behind.
So I just feel like, you know,you, yeah, you might be
following me really, reallyclose.
(44:41):
You might even be getting, I'mnot a runner or a biker, but
don't they have that likebackdraft or the, you know, the
thing that makes you go fasterif you're following somebody,
something not an athlete.
Um, but I feel like, you know,but if you're always, if you're
not worrying about that behindyou, you're going forward,
you're moving forward.
You may be falling down, but youget up, you make mistakes, you
(45:03):
keep going.
You just, it's that whole, youknow, you do, you like you have
to just pay attention to whatyou are doing.
Don't be so concerned about, um,about what other people around
are doing it.
You really have got to hone inon what's your specialty, what
makes you unique, what are youdoing that's bringing something
different and um, and reallystay there.
(45:26):
I agree with every bit of that.
And it is an important lessonfor creatives.
Like you said earlier, it tendto put their soul into their
work and get very passionateabout it and can get a little
hurt when either someone'scopying or commenting in a way
that they don't like.
And like, I'm guilty of that forsure.
I think we all are.
But it is important to just puton those blinders.
(45:49):
Do the work.
Yes.
Yes.
And I think that, you know, I, Ithink it's important to, I
learned to identify instead ofpushing it down, because when I
was able to give myselfpermission to say a comment that
came on, you know, comments,something comes on and all
identify like that hurt myfeelings.
Like I don't do it publicly.
But personally I just said, youknow, Oh, that really hurt my
(46:10):
feelings.
I'm really giving 100%.
And I know that I have, youknow, like I said, one of my
biggest goals in life is tocontinue to any business that I
do, I do with integrity andhonesty and, um, and that I feel
really good about it.
And so I know that those arelike my pillars.
So when somebody makes anassumption or says something and
(46:33):
I'm thinking, they don't knowme, they don't know what I'm
doing and I have to feel it, andthen I go, but that's okay.
They don't know me.
And it's, you're going to have alittle bit more visibility like
that.
The more you know, more likemore visibility you have, the
more your product gets outthere.
And so, but to honor thosefeelings you have as a creative,
it's okay.
(46:53):
I am a, I say now like, um, mypositivity and my sensitivity
are my superpowers because Ikind of being a creative person,
I grew up hearing you are overlysensitive.
You're too sensitive.
Oh my gosh, don't be sosensitive.
But now I know that the factthat I am a sensitive person
that I care about other peoplemakes me unique.
(47:16):
And the fact that I really careabout our customers, I, I am
just blessed and thankful thatthey spend their hard earned
money on a product we createthat I hope brings joy into
their lives.
So, um, you know, I think notthat every creative person is
really sensitive, but I think weneed to, whether you're strong
(47:37):
and bold or sensitive orcreative, to know that, you
know, take in some of thatfeedback from others, but guard
who you are and know that that'sokay.
So you can honor those feelingsand that way you can protect
your creativity.
You know, you can pre protect,you can protect, um, you know
who you really are without justbeing crumbled by the opinions
(47:59):
of others.
That's a powerful stuff.
Thank you for all of that, forall of that.
Um, will you please share moreabout where people can find you
around the internet and offlinetoo cause you're definitely
everywhere too.
I gosh.
Well I know nowadays it's likethe list goes on and on but um,
yeah we have, you can find outmore about the happy planner,
(48:21):
the happy planner.com.
That's an easy one.
Um, and we have all of thesocial tags there that you can
find cause we are on YouTube andInstagram.
Um, and my daughter Kayla and Iwho also works, we have a, you
know, family, family, she worksin our marketing department but
she and I also started a podcastthat is promoting and empowering
(48:42):
people to plan a happy life.
That is what it's called.
And you can find that on Applepodcasts and pretty much
wherever you listen to podcasts,you can also find it on, um,
planet happy life.com.
And if, and I'm on Instagram asStephanie underscore Fleming.
Wonderful.
All right.
(49:02):
And then one last question.
What makes you feel most boss?
Hmm.
You know what makes me, this isto be honest, um, when I can go,
I go to work in athleisure,right.
I go to her just like in myLulus.
Yeah.
And knowing that I have gottento the place where like
(49:24):
expressing myself creatively andcoming up with creative products
has gotten me to the place whereI can fully be who I am with no
apologies and know that I can bea really like successful,
wonderful business person in myLulu is in my van slip ons.
Emily (49:44):
I think we might be the same person right there with ya.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for coming tochat.
Stephanie (49:51):
Oh, I really enjoyed talking with you and thank you
so much for having me.
Of course.
Emily (50:00):
Thanks for listening.
And Hey, if you want moreresources, we're talking
worksheets, free trainings inperson meetups and vacations,
and more.
Go to our website atwww.beingboss.club.
Do the work.
The boss.
I'm Emily Thompson.
Kathleen (00:04):
And I'm Kathleen Shannon
Emily (00:05):
And this is Being Boss.
In this episode of being boss,I'm excited to share a
delightful conversation I hadwith today's guest about
creative expression, fraudyfeelings and planning a happy
life.
As always, you can find all thetools, books, and links we
(00:26):
reference on the show notes atwww.beingboss.club.
Kathleen (00:32):
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Try FreshBooks cloud accountingfor free by going to
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you hear about us?
Section
Emily (01:32):
Want to know what single thing it moves the needle in my
business most every single timeI do it?
Attending a conference.
It was at a conference when Irealized I wanted to become a
content creator.
It was at a conference that Ifirst met Kathleen in real life.
It was at a conference that Ilearned the importance of
business strategies like how totake real time away from my
(01:55):
business, zeroing in on my valueproposition, and learning how to
first grow my team.
Conferences are immersiveexperiences that remove you from
the daily grind of your businessand surround you with the
content people and activitiesthat inspire new ideas and boost
your business forward.
It's for those reasons and manymore that we are hosting our
(02:16):
first Being Boss Conference inApril 2020.
Join me, Kathleen, and a broodof bosses for keynote speakers,
panel sessions and hands onworkshops that will leave you
and your business play more bossthan when you arrived.
Learn more and grab your ticketwhile they last at
beingboss.club/conference.
I look forward to seeing youthere.
(02:42):
A happy life doesn't just fallin your lap and I'm especially
saying that to any of you outthere who are embarking on or
who have embarked on yourbusiness thinking that that's
what's going to happen.
Getting that happy life is amany stepped process that
happens alongside starting yourbusiness, making annual action
plans, dealing with your inboxand going to that conference.
(03:03):
It also happens at the same timeas dealing with that awful
client mishap or having thatopportunity fall through.
Making a happy life for yourselfis a never ending project that
weaves in and out of everyproject you have going.
And the moment you put down thatBaton to put something else
ahead of it, well you'll likelyimmediately veer off course and
(03:27):
could soon lose sight of whatyou're really working for.
We talk often around here aboutthings like the work life blend
tactics for prioritizing whatbrings you fulfillment and how
to live and work by your valuesso you always feel good about
what you do.
And in today's episode we'rehearing more of this and more
(03:47):
from a heavy hitter in theindustry of creativity and
planning.
Stephanie Fleming.
Stephanie is a creativeentrepreneur, speaker, optimist,
and a wellness seeker.
Most notably, she is thecofounder of Me and My Big
Ideas, creators of the happyplanner.
What began 20 years ago as atiny garage based business is
(04:07):
now an industry leadinglifestyle brand that offers a
wide variety of products thatinspire customers to live
creatively and plan a happylife.
It's Stephanie's mission tocreate a happy life movement by
empowering people everywhere totake control of their own
happiness by embracing planning,positivity and all things
creative.
(04:28):
She sounds like a boss to me andI am so excited to share her and
her story with you here.
Hello Stephanie.
Welcome to Being Boss.
I'm so glad you're here.
Stephanie (04:39):
Hi.
Thanks for having me.
I'm super excited to be heretalking with you.
Emily (04:44):
Oh, we're going to have a blast.
So one I'll note we both havecups of tea, sitting here
hanging out.
I'm excited for just a reallygood chat about creativity and
business.
I'm excited to have been withyou on a couple of things, but
before I get started, I want youto tell everyone a little bit
more about you and how it isthat you got to where you are
today.
Stephanie (05:05):
Okay.
Oh wow.
Okay.
I'll try and make it, you know,like the cliff notes version.
My name is Stephanie Fleming.
I am a creative entrepreneur andabout 21 years ago now, almost,
I think it is, my mom and Istarted me and my big ideas,
which was a company that wecreated out of a need for a
(05:26):
product that we didn't see outon the marketplace.
And, um, so, but to go fartherback, a little bit farther back,
I grew up in the creativeindustry, so my parents ran a,
um, like a craft manufacturingcompany and a distributors.
So I grew up like seeingcreative people in business.
So I kind of had thatentrepreneurial spirit from a
(05:49):
very young age and worked thewarehouse and you know, our
parents had us doing all kindsof things like, you know, Oh,
you need to, you want some extramoney, you're going to to go
pick orders in the warehouse.
So I was really fortunate enoughto be able to see how businesses
work from, you know, the mind ofa 15 year old or, um, and see my
parents work very hard for whatthey wanted.
(06:09):
And then I, you know, was inhigh school and had got pregnant
right out of high school.
So I was kind of, you know,starting life going like, okay,
I'm going to be a mom.
I didn't go to college and Ijust was going to make my life
work.
And um, and I did that.
I had had another child, gotmarried and, and I did in home
(06:33):
daycare for like eight years,just trying to make ends meet
and you know, be a mom and doall the things.
And about eight years into that,um, I was not making ends meet
and having a really hard timejust, I love the little kids
that I watched.
I, I am the oldest of a lot ofhis mind and ours, there's like
(06:53):
nine of us all together.
So I love kids, but I needed toget out, I needed to exercise my
creative muscle and to be quitehonest with you and like I
wanted to pay the bills.
So, um, my mom at that time hadjust gone through a divorce with
my stepdad and they sold theirbusiness.
So my mom was at this place inher life where she was saying,
okay, I'm in my forties now Ineed to start a new life.
(07:15):
And I was saying, Hey, I need tochange my life up.
I need to, you know, dosomething different.
And, um, we were at my son'sbaseball game, I think in the
fall of 1998.
And scrapbooking was kind ofjust in its infancy at the time.
And we didn't have like this,you know, this idea that was
(07:36):
going to change the world.
But we were scrapbookers and wewere creative people and we were
wanting a sticker that wasdifferent.
So it started out with just oneidea to take the little tiny
stickers that people wereputting in these big giant
scrapbooks and say like, youknow, well, what if we made
bigger stickers that had theseclear borders?
(07:57):
And what if we just tried tolike, you know, go into business
together.
And we had an artist friend whowas going to do the work for us.
And, um, and we, I, I'm like, Ihave$0 million to put into this.
So I will put in 100% sweatequity cause like had maybe
negative$0 million.
Um, and so I, so we went and wejust, we just went for it with
(08:19):
that one big slash little ideaof creating this product that we
, um, wanted to see in themarketplace.
And in 1998, I filed for a DBA,um, you know, doing business as
is most of your listeners I'msure know and just kind of took
all of the chances and said,let's, let's just see what this,
(08:39):
where this goes.
And, um, so we did that.
I went to, um, there was a lotin between there.
I, we worked really hard, tookour products to a trade show a
couple months later, like mademoved mountains to make that
happen.
And um, kind of the hit of thisshow, you know, this little idea
we had turned into this businessthat people wanted also turn,
(09:01):
you know, and, um, we were ableto continue to follow that
process of being the customerand saying, what do I want to do
in this craft and creativeindustries?
What is the product that I wantto see that's not out there and
let's go make it and bring it tothe marketplace.
So we've been doing that now for21 years.
(09:22):
I hope that sum that up withoutnot giving you too much.
Emily (09:25):
No, it totally does.
And I even want to like pass acouple of kudos to your mom.
And that's one of the ones that,one of the things that really
stood out for me there was thisidea that she was in her forties
and thinking, yeah, you know,new life starting all over.
I know, you know, for me, I ammid thirties and started a new
business about two years ago.
(09:45):
And sometimes I think like, Idon't think I could ever start
any business or I know a lot ofour listeners are a little bit
older and are really sort offeel hindered by their age
almost to start to that newventure or their new life or
that new passion or whatever itmay be.
But your mom went for it and didit and it sounds like it's paid
(10:07):
off.
Stephanie (10:07):
Yeah, I think that she's, my mom's taught me, she a
lot of things in life, but she'svery resilient and my mom's kind
of had this like, it's never toolate.
There's never something that istoo big for you to try and
conquer.
I mean, like I said, I, I don'thave a college education, but I
am a very smart person.
(10:28):
Um, and I know at that pointjust in my life, I mean, I'm,
I'm all for, uh, highereducation as well, but if you
don't have one or if you're, ifit's later in life, there's so
many things that you can do bybeing an accomplished, by being
a hard worker, by believing inyourself and just going for it.
Um, that, and I think there'ssomething to be said to win when
(10:51):
you don't have, um, you know,you, not that she didn't have
anywhere to go but up, but wewere at these places where, you
know, she was, I want to say shewas, she would have been like
48.
She would've been like my age.
I'm 48, so my mom would, Oh,that's really interesting.
My mom would have been my agetrying to start this whole new,
this whole new life.
And I'm telling you, she wasn't,if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't
(11:15):
have done it.
I'm a much, uh, um, I'm kind ofa perfectionist.
I take a long time to like, Iwant everything to like I'm a
thinker and my mom's like, let'sjust do it.
Let's just do it.
And so that push that she had,um, has taught me a lot and has
really helped us get intobusiness.
I'm sure I would've over-thoughtmyself right out of the
business, you know, and doubtedmyself and my abilities.
(11:37):
And so that's been a real gift.
But she, you know, shedefinitely has that resilience.
Um, nature.
Emily (11:45):
Oh, it sounds like you guys make for a wonderful
partnership.
I would love to hear a littlebit about how you evolved from
the beginning scrapbooksstickers into planners, which is
what you're most known for now.
Stephanie (11:59):
It's part of you.
So one of the things when I grewup speaking to my mom, when I
grew up, um, we, my mom didbasically the same thing that my
sister does now at our, in ourbusiness.
And what I did before my sisterdid was, um, kind of go out
there and you take a look at theindustry that you're in and you
see, or you see that industryfrom the customer's perspective,
(12:22):
you become that customer and yousee, um, you know, what is what,
like in our instance, what wasthe scrapbook or doing, you
know, what was somebody that wasscrapping, knew what is she
want, what kind of products doesshe want to see?
And when we, we saw that earlyon in our lives, my mom was
doing that.
So my sister and I kind of cameacross that naturally.
Um, and, and I think, and shehelped to nurture that in us.
(12:46):
But in our business, when we sawscrapbooking start to, you know,
we, we were there, the rollercoaster ride, but it was like
up, up, up, up, up, up.
But for a lot of years.
And, um, and we would come outwith products and then we kind
of saw this, um, one year, Ithink it was 2014 scrapbooking
had already started to level offand decline.
(13:06):
People were still scrapbooking.
But when we were in business, wehave to grow, we have to
continue to grow.
Um, and we needed to find outwhat were creative women doing
if they weren't scrapbooking asmuch.
And um, because that's who ourcustomer is, the creative woman.
And so I went on and I wassearching Pinterest and it was
(13:27):
my job and my sister's job atthat time as well to see what
are they doing, what is ourcustomer doing if they're not
doing this, you know, the, theart of scrapbooking as much.
And I was on Pinterest and sawpeople using regular planners,
like, you know, in my opinion,boring kind of just nothing
(13:47):
planners, but they were usingour scrapbooking products to
liven them up and to make them,they were stickers that were
really designed forscrapbooking.
And they were using them inplanners to kind of bring this
creative vibe to planning theirbusy lives.
And so my, my observation wasour customers are busy.
Scrapbooking takes a lot of timeand she wants to do something
(14:12):
that is, um, she kinda needsthat permission, you know, to
like to bring that creativityinto her life.
And a planner was where she wasdoing it.
And so I did a lot of researchinto the industry.
I bought all of our competitorsor future possible competitors
products to see could we offersomething unique and different
(14:33):
because, you know, my belief is,is that if we can't, then we're
just white noise.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople that can do things well.
And I'm sure you know, for yourlisteners, whether they're,
whatever their businesses, youknow, if you're a photographer,
you gotta you have to know like,what do I offer that's different
because I'm sure there's tons ofwedding photographers, but if
(14:53):
you are a good one and you cansee like what you can offer
that's different, you know, howdo you stand out?
Um, that was, that's kind of howwe've always come out with
products to see if, if it wassomething different.
And, and in that case with theplanners, um, there were a lot
of great things that were outthere.
But what I wanted to do was tocreate one that was really
(15:14):
customizable that I could changearound.
Cause I was, some of them werevery expensive.
A lot of them were kind ofplain.
There were no accessories orstickers, which is what we did,
um, that were designedspecifically for planners, which
is so ironic because like, thereason why we got into business
in the first place was creatingproducts because nobody had
(15:37):
stickers that were specificallydesigned for scrapbookers.
And now there were no stickersor accessories that were like
designed to fit within thecolumns of your weekly date or
your weekly planners and um, andthe artwork.
I just thought we, we have anincredible team of designers who
are so talented and I thought ifthat artwork could get in
(15:59):
planners, so we, we brought thatidea, um, to our team to see
what they thought and you know,you know, my, my portion of that
was let's get, um, let's getthe, the idea to the team and
let's see them just kind ofbring it to life.
And that's exactly whathappened.
(16:19):
And um, it literally changed ourbusiness almost overnight.
I think when in the course of ayear, a year and a half, we
tripled the size of our businessfrom the introduction of the
planners.
Emily (16:31):
Nice.
That came from looking at yourcustomers.
Yes.
I know in our realm, a lot oftimes I hear things around
creatives or there's thisinteresting thing that happens
whenever you go into business asa creative.
Most people go in wantingcreative freedom to just create
what they want.
Whenever you start a business,you, your creativity is at least
(16:53):
a little bit, but most of thetime, a lot dictated by your
customers.
Did you ever have any sort ofinternal or external pushback in
terms of that?
And if so, how did you deal withit?
Stephanie (17:07):
That was probably one of the toughest things for me
early on because I rememberhearing somebody saying, well,
you don't take thingspersonally.
And I'm thinking, I takeeverything personally.
I've had to learn not to, butbecause as a creative person,
you put your heart and soul intowhat you do.
You know, that's not necessarilyjust a job.
You are putting something outthere and into the world and it
(17:30):
feels like a part of yourself.
Um, and I think when that's whatmakes it magic, you know, that's
what makes it so special is whenyou do put that out there.
But that is like putting yourchild out into the world and
then saying, what do you thinkof my baby?
Honestly tell me, do you thinkmy baby's beautiful and
someone's gonna go, you know,like we're looking, you know,
(17:51):
and, and you do have to be ableto, like if you, if this is a
business for you, you have to beable to separate that and find
the, the line of, you know, am Ibeing true to myself, which I
hope you, you know, you alwaysare.
Um, but also if I like it, butnobody wants to buy it.
(18:12):
It isn't a business.
You don't have a product.
You have a hobby.
You have something that youmight love.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
But, um, you might not have abusiness and that might be okay.
But if you are in the, you know,if you're looking to create
something that is going to be,you know, bringing in, um, a
(18:34):
revenue stream, then you have tolisten to your customers.
And that's been one of thethings with the happy planner
and using social media has beena way for us to have this real
time conversation with our, ourcustomers saying like, they love
something that we do or we wishyou would come out with this
product and we've been able toreact, which, I mean, you have
(18:54):
to listen to what your customerswant.
Emily (18:57):
True story.
True story.
Thank you for sharing all ofthat.
That is of course, wonderfulinsights.
Um, I'd like to move a littlefurther and you've had such,
such a robust journey I feel inthe past 20, 21 years.
I would love to hear from you ifyou can pinpoint any pivotal
point in your path where we're,maybe you've made a decision
(19:20):
that you can see made a hugedifference in your business.
Stephanie (19:25):
I think there've been two.
The first one is, um, juststarting it and not overthinking
it.
Um, because I think so manypeople get wrapped up in the
doubts and, well, what will, Idon't know.
I don't know if, and I do this,I struggle with this and, and
work on it all the time now, butevery time if you're prepared
(19:46):
enough, if you've thought aboutit and you really wanna go out
there and it feels maybe notsafe, but it feels, you know,
there's a difference betweenlike, you know, when somebody
says, you know, do somethingeveryday that scares you.
And I'm, I'm not, uh, anadrenaline junkie and so I like
to be safe, but doing somethingdifferent isn't safe.
(20:08):
So if you've done your homeworkand you feel like it's something
you want to do, um, but you'rejust afraid to do, to step out
there and take the chance, um,learning to do that, especially
like from day one with my momjust going, like, we looked at
each other going like, should wejust do it?
Let's just do it.
Let's give each other, let's,how about a year?
(20:28):
We gave it, you know, a year tosee, who knows if we were going
to like to work together, whoknows if, you know, this might
be a bomb.
And that was okay.
And so along the way, learninghow to just start like that has
it obviously launched thebusiness, but it also has given
the freedom to when we want tolaunch a new product, you know,
(20:50):
we don't know, not everything wecome out with is the happy
planner.
You know, we've come out withsome serious dogs, I mean really
bad products and we thought theywere good and nobody liked them.
And you know, if we gave upevery time we had a product
that, you know, that wasn't ahome run, we would be out of
business.
So, you know, kind of that Ithink the starting mechanism of
(21:14):
like believing in yourselfenough to, to just go for it.
That's been a big one.
And then I think the secondthing is, um, I S I really had
to kind of step out of my mom'sshadow.
She's very creative and she'svery, um, we're very close.
Uh, she's very good at what shedoes, but she and I are
extremely different.
(21:35):
And so I really compared myselfa lot to her and to a lot of
other people doubted myselfbecause I didn't have a college
education, uh, thought I neededto.
I've got pictures of myself inlike suits, like pantsuits, like
nothing.
It's not me, but I'm trying tobe like, I was always trying to
be like, you know what?
I thought somebody else thoughtthat a business woman should be.
(22:00):
Um, and somewhere along the way,I think, uh, I was, I want to
say it was probably about 10years ago, so it wasn't, I mean,
it was into my career.
I just said, you know, I wasinvited to these like CEO
summits and, and I was never theCEO, but I would go, and then I
felt kind of like an imposterbecause, you know, I was like,
(22:21):
Oh, I don't know.
I don't, I don't have theeducation they have.
I don't have this.
And finally, one day I learnedto say, you know, believe in my
talents and the things that I dowell.
And I really focused in on, Hey,this is, this is where I, this
is where I should live.
You know, this is where I shouldpush myself and I don't need to
(22:41):
be the CEO.
I don't need to dress in abusiness suit.
Um, and it was actually when Istarted to focus in on those
things that I was able to tap into the creativity that was
enabled me to see, you know, thehappy planner, you know, being
born.
Um, because you know, now I, theconfidence that I have, just
(23:06):
knowing what my abilities arehas changed my life and it's
changed my business.
So I think, you know, just beingself aware enough as a person,
it matters in business.
You know, you have to know whoyou are as a person and you have
to know who you are as aprofessional.
Emily (23:24):
Thank you so much for sharing both of those things.
You just hit on two of thebiggest things that we talk
about ally here at being bossand one of them is this idea
that you just have to do thework.
You have to show up.
You have to trust the process,you just, it, you have to have
like that leap of faith thatjust, you know, you're going to
do this, you're going to expressyourself creatively.
You're going to do business.
(23:45):
It's, it's gonna work.
It's gonna work out one way orthe other.
So high five on starting forsure.
And then this idea of owning whoyou are, of, of setting the
fraudy feelings aside, we callthem Friday feelings.
That's so great.
And, and also letting everyonein on the fact that even you
(24:06):
feel them too.
Because I would imagine amongstour people, you where you've
made it, do you, are, you are,you are probably on a couple of
people's vision boards, I wouldimagine in terms of what success
looks like.
And even even people who are,you know, in Walmart and target
and Michael's and everywherehave fraudy feelings to and have
(24:28):
to deal with some with some ofthose mindset shifts that come
from showing up, expressingyourself creatively, openly and
publicly, um, and finding whereit is that you fit in all of it.
Stephanie (24:40):
I think that's been something that I'm, I love
Instagram and social media whenit's used properly and one of my
favorite things to do and theone I get the most feedback on,
surprisingly, it's not theproduct.
People love the product, butit's when I show up as myself
and be real and that's all I'veever been on.
But once social media camearound before the fraudy
(25:03):
feelings happened to before andthey come back, they come back
all the time.
But it's such a freeing feelingto know that it's like I don't
have to be anybody other thanwho I am, what I bring to the
table when I'm working on it.
And when I am doing the work andshowing up is, is good enough.
And if it's not that I need towork harder at it and I'm okay
to say, you know, sometimes, youknow, I'll go on.
(25:25):
I'm my, my new title in ourbusiness is happiness ambassador
and about six months ago, um, Iwas not feeling so happy and you
know, there's a lot of pressureto, you know, go on and be seen
in like, do you hide it?
Because our product is all abouthappiness.
And um, I thought, you know,it's more important to be seen
(25:50):
authentically and be a genuineperson, whether it's social
media or whether it's businessfor me to say, Hey, you know
what, I'm struggling right now.
Um, it actually, it's kinda hardby being the happiness
ambassador and struggling alittle bit, but here's how I'm
going to work through it and Iactually use our product to work
through it.
So it became like a, a way toshare things and you know,
(26:10):
because I also think there'sthis illusion of, um, and, and I
don't ever want to be, I thinkit's P does people a disservice
to further the myth that, youknow, once you make it, it's
easier.
The way up is easy.
Once you get it, it's just ashard, if not harder.
It's worth it.
I love it, but it's hard, youknow, that saying of find
(26:32):
something you love and you'llnever work a day in your life is
just not true.
You know?
I mean, you might enjoy it, butit's work.
And if you're not able to dothat, and like there are days on
social media, I would say like,Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry guys.
I haven't been back here for awhile.
I miss you because if I showedyou what my week was, it would
be like, get up in the morning,go to work, come home late, you
(26:55):
know, eat something really quickfrom door dash.
Um, go to bed, get up in themorning, go to, that's, that's
what's happening.
It's not, you know, Oh my gosh,you hit the big time and then
you just get to bask and lay bythe pool.
You know, the work stillcontinues,
Emily (27:09):
Right?
Then you have to deliver.
Yeah.
That's when all the workactually happens.
Right
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Emily (28:21):
I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about what
it means to plan a happy life.
Um, is do you call that likeyour business mantra or your
tagline?
Like, how does that fit in themission of me and my big ideas
slash happy planner.
Stephanie (28:39):
But yeah, so I think it's, it's a motto.
It's a tagline.
It's all of the above.
Um, and because I feel like whenwe created the name, the happy
planner, it kinda had a dualmeaning.
So the planner would be happy.
It would be filled with positiveaffirmations and it would look
pretty and, and it would just bebetter than a gray blank office
store, you know, planner.
(29:00):
And, um, but it would also makeyou a happy planner, right?
It would bring a little bit morejoy into your life and
creativity.
And so in that we wanted tocreate a tagline that was a
little more active, like, youknow, and plan a happy life was
where we landed.
And what I love about that isaround that time, about 10 years
ago, I was telling you a bigshift in my life was really
(29:22):
believing in loving myself andknowing that I was enough and,
and positive affirmations thatwe had had in some of our
scrapbooking stickers reallyhelped me through that.
And so, um, you know, I reallystarted to understand the
importance of self awareness andpersonal development and, and
the fact that there's nobody inthis world that is going to take
(29:43):
you no charge and going to handyou your life, your business,
anything on a silver platter.
Like you have to decide whathappiness looks like for you and
then you and only you have todevelop a plan and go get it.
Um, you know, because happythings might happen around you.
But if there's something, a goalor an ideal life or feeling that
(30:05):
you want, you have to number onepeople to say, you know, what
looks good for me, which is, youknow, um, creating, uh, a home
and a business that I'm proud ofand being very close and being a
very present and loving wife,mother, grandmother, you know,
family member and friend and um,creating a home where people
(30:26):
feel loving and creating a spaceof peace and contentment that
may not be the ideal happinessfor someone who's an adrenaline
seeker.
You know, who wants to climbMount Everest, Everest.
And so I had to do the work tosay, this is me, this makes me
happy.
And so everyday when I'mplanning in my planner, I am
(30:50):
looking at am I creating thespace to um, to take some time
for meditation?
Am I working now to say healthis important to me?
And right now I'm, I've beenkind of stressed out and I
haven't been taking care ofmyself like I should.
So, you know, it's on me.
So let me put that in myplanner, let me make that time.
Um, and you know, if I'm not, ifpart of my work is not
(31:12):
fulfilling, what is it aboutthat and how am I going to work
around that or through that, orwhat am I going to do?
Um, and so the idea of don't,you know, we don't want people
over-planning and underdoing,you know, so get in there, make
a plan, but you know, ultimatelyyour happiness is up to you.
Emily (31:32):
So were you always a planner user or did your planner
make you a planner user?
Stephanie (31:37):
I've always been a planner in my head.
I think that, um, I've, and Ijust like in my behavior, I
don't do spontaneity very well.
I like to plan things out.
Um, and in, in school, I don'tknow that I ever had like a
calendar planner, but I wrotethings down a lot.
I've always been a paper person.
(31:59):
Um, whether it's been incrafting or in writing things
down.
I love a good app.
I love, you know, technology toa point.
And, um, but I, but it doesn'tmake me more productive.
It doesn't make me prioritize.
I'm a really right brainedperson.
So, um, getting something downon a computer screen is great.
(32:20):
I have to trigger my brain in adifferent way.
I have to trigger my brain bywriting something down and
planning and writing.
The act of writing does that.
Um, scientifically I w was notmy study obviously, but there's
been studies that have shownthat you trigger a different
part of your brain that helpsyou remember when you write
things down.
And I need to be able to say,you know, that thing that I'm
(32:42):
putting off that I really don'twant to do should be the first
thing I'm doing this morning.
I physically put it in myplanner.
Emily (32:49):
Same.
I'm the same.
I have to, I have to writethings down as well.
And again, that like brain hand,eye coordination, like there's
so many more little systems Ithink that go into you writing
things down.
I find it to be super powerfultoo.
So yes, all the tech things.
But also can I just have mypaper planner please?
Stephanie (33:06):
Yes.
Emily (33:09):
Awesome.
So you mentioned briefly there,this act of this act of
prioritizing and writing thingsdown that are important to you.
There's something that we talkabout a lot here too.
And even in our book we had thislittle exercise and we call it
like, um, we call it, it's likea garden.
You have this garden and it's awalled garden and those are your
(33:31):
boundaries.
And within your walled garden,you write down what it is that,
um, that is most important toyou and the different areas of
life and whatever it is thatyou're playing thing in.
That garden is what you'renurturing and protecting and
everything else, all the weedsjust don't belong there and they
can stay away.
And I often feel my planner isthat sort of visual
representation of that quoteunquote Garden that we've
(33:54):
outlined in our book where thethings that go in my paper
planner are the things that aremost important.
I mean, I have a Asana tasklists out my wazoo and so many
things on my cat.
Like there are so many thingsgoing on, but I know that what
is happening in my paper planneris most important for what
(34:15):
really makes me happiest if Imay.
Um, but do you have any sort ofsystems or processes or um, any
way that you use or you've seenyour community use planners, um,
to help them really cultivatetheir happiest life?
Stephanie (34:30):
Yeah, I mean, one of the things, I have a system that
over over the years I'd say hasreally helped me.
It started, um, because I, I'mnot good at, I'm not good at
multitasking.
I'm really good at focusing inon something and working on it.
And the minute I'm all over theplace, I mean I can do it.
(34:52):
I'm a woman, I'm a mom, I can doit, but I'm not very effective.
So, um, so I've developed thisthing the busier my company got
in my life, got everything thatwas running through my brain,
everything from hugepresentations, you know, sales
presentations to I need to emptythe dishwasher or get my tires
rotated was all just circlingaround in my head.
(35:16):
And, um, and so I learned tohave just what I call a match,
uh, master action item list,like a master list.
And I actually have to have apersonal one and a work one.
And, um, anytime it's, there'stwo sheets in my planner at all
times and I will say, Oh mygosh, if I'm in the car and I
(35:37):
think I need to rotate my tires,I don't let anything stay in my
brain for very long becausenumber one, I'm going to forget
it.
Um, and number two, you don'tfile it away in the same way.
So, um, and it takes up the sameamount of time in your brain to
think empty the dishwasher andprepare, you know, to, for a
(36:00):
speech in front of 1400 people.
Like it's the same thing, youknow, it's taking that same
space.
So, um, so I would just, Iimmediately write it down if I
am somewhere, I don't have myplanner, I use just the notes
app in my phone and then I'lltransfer it over.
But it always lives there.
And then I have this concept ofwhat I call, um, the today list.
(36:20):
And to me it happened when I wasgoing through a really tough
divorce and I found myselfactually physically on the floor
crying going, I don't know wheremy life is going to go.
Call my brother over.
And he just said, cause I waslike, I need to get a divorce
attorney and I need to like whatI'm going to do, where to sell
the house, where my kid's goingto go to school.
I was just, you know, I, Ididn't even know how to think.
(36:42):
There were so many things goingthrough my brain and he's like,
you need, you don't need toworry about those things today.
You need to get them offsomewhere, put them on a list,
write all the things down thatyou need to get done.
And then today, what do you needto get done like you?
And he goes, you need to pick upKayla from school.
You need to cook dinner for thetwo of you.
And maybe throw in a load oflaundry and maybe call someone
(37:04):
to see about maybe getting thename of a divorce attorney
period that don't worry aboutanything else.
You can do those four thingstoday.
Tomorrow you can have adifferent list.
So I will use my planner to takethe items off of my master lists
and transfer them.
I use like a, there's a, um,it's a vertical line, right?
(37:25):
Your vertical column.
It's Monday.
And I will look and say, okay,on Monday, what do I need to do
on Monday?
I prioritize it so that I have arealistic view of the things
that I need to get done.
So I'm not, cause when I look atmy master list, if I looked at
that thing, Oh, it's like you'rea sauna.
When I'm sure you look at, I'mthinking, Oh my gosh, when am I
(37:46):
going to get this done?
I get overwhelmed.
Anxiety sets in and, and then Iwill procrastinate and do
something completely off thatlist.
And like, you know, what Ishould try is acrylic painting
today.
You know, nowhere on my list,but that's going to feel good.
So, um, so my, I really, I lovelists list-making and
(38:09):
prioritizing and then puttingthem where they go in your day.
So on Monday I look at what do Ineed to get done on Monday and I
plan it off on Sundays.
So I kind of take a look at whatmy week looks like.
And that way if there'ssomething that, like if I'm
going to get my, you know, Ikeep going back to tires rotated
cause I need to get my tiresrotated.
But if I think about that onyour list, it's on my list.
(38:31):
And if I think about it and Igo, you know what, I'm going to
take it and I have anappointment, I'm going to do it
on Friday.
Then on Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, I'm not
worrying or thinking about thetires, rotating, freeing up
space in my mind for thecreative ideas that I need to
have and for the importantthinking that needs to go on.
And this giant head of mine, youknow?
Emily (38:53):
No, that's, that's such a wonderful tactic.
It's funny you're talking and Ihave a similar process as well.
I just call it my weekly list.
So on Sunday and it's usuallySunday, like late afternoon.
And that's usually the time forme where I have, um, I've been
going through my entire weekend,not at my computer or at my
notebook to write things down.
(39:13):
So I have all these things likebumping around in my head for me
to like really enjoy my Sundayevening.
Like those last hours beforeMonday starts rolling around, I
have to sit down and get it allout on a list and then come
Monday morning I'll starttasking it all out, you know, in
all the places where it needs tobe for either, um, and fun
tactic here, I'll even makelists for people on my team.
(39:35):
So if there's like a questionthat I need to ask someone or I
need, I need to check in on thatthing that I delegated to
someone to make sure it'sgetting done or I need to, you
know, give them this update ortell them to do this thing,
whatever it may be.
This master list that I createon Sundays really shapes the
rest of my week but also gets itall out of my head so that I can
enjoy those last couple of hoursbefore getting to work.
Stephanie (39:58):
We might be the same person because I do the same.
We might meet the exact sameperson cause I do the same thing
is when it comes down to like mylist, I will open it up cause
I'll know like I need to checkin with Hannah about this.
Well you know, I'm constantlygoing and then I look at Hannah
when I see her walking down thehall and I'm thinking I had
something for her.
What was I going to say toHannah?
(40:19):
And I'll open up my list and sayif we have a meeting or if just
like, Hey, Oh, here are the fivethings that I needed to touch
base with you on.
Um, and so I think we're, wehave so many of the same, um,
yes, uh, planner brain.
Emily (40:33):
I'm right there with ya.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Okay.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
I think that's a really helpfultactic.
If anyone out here is not makinglists, you've heard me Kathleen,
say plenty of times.
Make lists, you've heard itagain, make some lists.
It frees up brain space so youcan think about any and
everything else and take actionand take action.
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Emily (41:29):
I would like to ask you one more question around the
growth of your business andespecially I mentioned earlier,
Happy Planners are everywhere.
Like if you guys haven't seen aHappy Planner anywhere, you're
not going anywhere, everywherethese days.
I think that's so fantastic.
(41:51):
I would love to hear from you ifthis may be a triggering
question.
Sorry, not sorry.
If there have been any momentswhere you've learned really big
lessons that maybe some of ourlisteners can take with them
moving forward.
Stephanie (42:07):
So I, you know, having you say like, Oh, there's
happy planners everywhere andum, it's true and I think the
minute you are onto somethingthat gains any popularity or
success, there's always going tobe people that are, you know,
kind of riding your coattails orwe'll say imitating or copying
(42:28):
or you know, on anywhere on thatscale.
Sure.
Um, and it's very hard.
I think we saw it inscrapbooking when we had
products that would really besuccessful.
There was, you'd find people,you know, outright copying you
or just really knowing the lawand changing it just enough that
you can't protect yourself.
Um, and I would get reallywrapped up in that for a long
(42:50):
time.
And again, my mom kind of poppedin with some words of wisdom and
just said, you know, we need tojust basically keep your eye on
your own paper, eyes on your ownpaper and keep your side of the
street clean.
And, and, and you know what Itook from that after I, you
know, was like, Oh, but this isnot fair.
You know, um, I started torealize that, you know, if I
(43:10):
waste my energies, obviouslythere's times where we have to
protect, um, things that are,um, we have trademarks and
copyrights and all of that.
And we, we do.
But if I spent so much timeworrying about where everybody
else was, what my competitionwas doing, and Oh my God, how
are they following us?
And that's too close.
And then I would spend zero timedealing, doing what I do best,
(43:34):
which is, you know, working withmy sister who's a business
partner and, um, coming up withwhat's the next thing?
What's the next design?
What do people want?
That is where I should befocusing my energy.
So, um, I think if you, youknow, really be, it's, it's been
hard because when you have that,there's also, um, there's also a
(43:56):
lot of people who immediatelywill make assumptions about, you
know, maybe some of the movesyou make or products that you
have or the more popular theproduct becomes, the more input
you get because people love it.
You know, they love it, they getattached to it and then they
have very passionate opinionsabout it for, you know, good and
for bad sometimes.
And so, um, I think that it wasjust that whole idea of, you
(44:20):
know, doing our work, keepingour eyes on our own paper and
really just believing in what wedo.
And then we put it out there inthe world.
You know, if somebody, they'recopying or too closely, the
closest they're ever going toget to you is one step behind.
So I just feel like, you know,you, yeah, you might be
following me really, reallyclose.
(44:41):
You might even be getting, I'mnot a runner or a biker, but
don't they have that likebackdraft or the, you know, the
thing that makes you go fasterif you're following somebody,
something not an athlete.
Um, but I feel like, you know,but if you're always, if you're
not worrying about that behindyou, you're going forward,
you're moving forward.
You may be falling down, but youget up, you make mistakes, you
(45:03):
keep going.
You just, it's that whole, youknow, you do, you like you have
to just pay attention to whatyou are doing.
Don't be so concerned about, um,about what other people around
are doing it.
You really have got to hone inon what's your specialty, what
makes you unique, what are youdoing that's bringing something
different and um, and reallystay there.
(45:26):
I agree with every bit of that.
And it is an important lessonfor creatives.
Like you said earlier, it tendto put their soul into their
work and get very passionateabout it and can get a little
hurt when either someone'scopying or commenting in a way
that they don't like.
And like, I'm guilty of that forsure.
I think we all are.
But it is important to just puton those blinders.
(45:49):
Do the work.
Yes.
Yes.
And I think that, you know, I, Ithink it's important to, I
learned to identify instead ofpushing it down, because when I
was able to give myselfpermission to say a comment that
came on, you know, comments,something comes on and all
identify like that hurt myfeelings.
Like I don't do it publicly.
But personally I just said, youknow, Oh, that really hurt my
(46:10):
feelings.
I'm really giving 100%.
And I know that I have, youknow, like I said, one of my
biggest goals in life is tocontinue to any business that I
do, I do with integrity andhonesty and, um, and that I feel
really good about it.
And so I know that those arelike my pillars.
So when somebody makes anassumption or says something and
(46:33):
I'm thinking, they don't knowme, they don't know what I'm
doing and I have to feel it, andthen I go, but that's okay.
They don't know me.
And it's, you're going to have alittle bit more visibility like
that.
The more you know, more likemore visibility you have, the
more your product gets outthere.
And so, but to honor thosefeelings you have as a creative,
it's okay.
(46:53):
I am a, I say now like, um, mypositivity and my sensitivity
are my superpowers because Ikind of being a creative person,
I grew up hearing you are overlysensitive.
You're too sensitive.
Oh my gosh, don't be sosensitive.
But now I know that the factthat I am a sensitive person
that I care about other peoplemakes me unique.
(47:16):
And the fact that I really careabout our customers, I, I am
just blessed and thankful thatthey spend their hard earned
money on a product we createthat I hope brings joy into
their lives.
So, um, you know, I think notthat every creative person is
really sensitive, but I think weneed to, whether you're strong
(47:37):
and bold or sensitive orcreative, to know that, you
know, take in some of thatfeedback from others, but guard
who you are and know that that'sokay.
So you can honor those feelingsand that way you can protect
your creativity.
You know, you can pre protect,you can protect, um, you know
who you really are without justbeing crumbled by the opinions
(47:59):
of others.
That's a powerful stuff.
Thank you for all of that, forall of that.
Um, will you please share moreabout where people can find you
around the internet and offlinetoo cause you're definitely
everywhere too.
I gosh.
Well I know nowadays it's likethe list goes on and on but um,
yeah we have, you can find outmore about the happy planner,
(48:21):
the happy planner.com.
That's an easy one.
Um, and we have all of thesocial tags there that you can
find cause we are on YouTube andInstagram.
Um, and my daughter Kayla and Iwho also works, we have a, you
know, family, family, she worksin our marketing department but
she and I also started a podcastthat is promoting and empowering
(48:42):
people to plan a happy life.
That is what it's called.
And you can find that on Applepodcasts and pretty much
wherever you listen to podcasts,you can also find it on, um,
planet happy life.com.
And if, and I'm on Instagram asStephanie underscore Fleming.
Wonderful.
All right.
(49:02):
And then one last question.
What makes you feel most boss?
Hmm.
You know what makes me, this isto be honest, um, when I can go,
I go to work in athleisure,right.
I go to her just like in myLulus.
Yeah.
And knowing that I have gottento the place where like
(49:24):
expressing myself creatively andcoming up with creative products
has gotten me to the place whereI can fully be who I am with no
apologies and know that I can bea really like successful,
wonderful business person in myLulu is in my van slip ons.
Emily (49:44):
I think we might be the same person right there with ya.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for coming tochat.
Stephanie (49:51):
Oh, I really enjoyed talking with you and thank you
so much for having me.
Of course.
Emily (50:00):
Thanks for listening.
And Hey, if you want moreresources, we're talking
worksheets, free trainings inperson meetups and vacations,
and more.
Go to our website atwww.beingboss.club.
Do the work.
The boss.
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