Ep. 64 with Allyson Reinert | Founder & Owner, Ali Mada Boutique - Reclaiming Your Hue: A Podcast for Women Rediscovering Themselves in Motherhood & Entrepreneurship

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome everybody to Reclaiming your Hue, where we
are dedicated to empoweringwomen to embrace and amplify
their inherent brilliance.
Our mission is to inspiremothers and entrepreneurs to
unlock their full potential andradiate their true selves.
I'm your host, kelly Kirk, andeach week, my goal is to bring
to you glorious guests as wellas solo episodes.

(00:33):
So let's dive in.
Good morning Allison, goodmorning Kelly.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
How are you?
I'm great on this rainy morning.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
This rainy morning, but it's okay, we want it.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
We need it.
I know Rain is luck.
Every time it rains I'm likesomewhere it's bringing somebody
luck.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Speaking of which, very tangential, I promise
listeners we'll get into this injust a second, but my
sister-in-law is getting marriedthis very Saturday, and weeks
out leading up to it it's beensunny, not a cloud in the sky.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's been sunny, not a like cloud in the sky is
supposed to be right, and all ofa sudden there's a chance of
rain.
There's a chance of rain.
Well, again, it'll bring yourluck.
It's good luck, is it an?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
outdoor wedding.
It is an outdoor wedding theceremony is outdoors.
And then the reception is goingto be at a golf course.
But I'm like okay, we'll see.
It's like 40% chance yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Anyways.
So they just need it clearduring the ceremony and then one
hour, one hour.
We pray for good vibes for onehour.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, yes, we do Okay.
But, anyways, back back to you,back to regular programming.
Okay, um, welcome.
I am as always, literally, andthe listeners don't know that we
have like just a tiny littlebit of history together.
But let me just speak to thisreal quick.
Every single time I see you,like I just light up because you

(01:56):
are such a like a magical litperson speaking high school like
slang.
But seriously, and even fromthe event, my husband was like
who was the woman who dressedyou?
She was amazing.
And I was like yeah, I know shetruly is.

(02:17):
She's very quickly risen to mytop 10 people.
Just so awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Oh well, you are very sweet to say that and honestly,
I feel the same about you.
I mean it is I feel like theuniverse pulls people together
that are like each other.
Right, that's why I think weget along so well and why we hit
it off right away.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
So I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
And your event was amazing and everything about it
was you and everybody loved it.
And even just sitting like Iwent for a run, as I told you, I
went for a run this morning itwas not supposed to rain and
then I got drenched halfwaythrough.
But in the back of my mind I'mlike I get to see you today and

(03:02):
get to be a part of thiswonderful podcast.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
So I'm just thrilled to be here, well, okay.
So let's give some context tothe listeners.
First, let's share with themhow it is that we won know one
another and got connected.
Would you like to share?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
that, yes, I'd love to.
So we well.
I believe the first time we metwas through the net women's
network working event, throughStacey Stratton, through True
Talent Group, correct?

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Okay and Stacey for the listeners who don't know.
She owns True Talent Group,which is a recruiting company
and placement company, and sheis also a wonderful human being
and she is very good atconnecting people.
And she connected, kind of allof us randomly, I think.

(03:49):
I mean, I think there weremaybe a couple of women within
that group that already kneweach other, but I think the
majority of us had never meteach other before.
I think that's true, right,yeah, yeah, so we all met at her
house, or was it my house?
Was it my house?

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Was it your house?
I think it was my house.
Yes, it was my house.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Met at my house and we did introductions.
And it's funny because I don'tknow if you remember this, but
you each said, oh, we'll takeone or two minutes to introduce
ourselves, and all of a suddenlike two or three hours later.
And I think that was the onetoo, too, was it the one where
everybody kind of startedgetting really emotional and
asking there was, there were acouple of them that I don't know

(04:30):
if you were at that one or if,because I know this was right
before Christmas like I think itmight have been okay it might
have actually been in.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
No, it was at the very beginning of December,
because I remember kind of goingperfect.
I'm gonna wrap up some of myChristmas shopping.
And I did yes, I totally didyes, okay.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
So yeah, I think we went around the room and I mean
just introductions and, andsince it was at my house, I'm
like you know, the introductionsobviously were taking longer,
which was great because we weregetting to know each other, but
nobody was eating.
So I'm like people like, whilepeople are talking, make sure
you eat.
I don't want anyone passing outof my house or whatever.
But that just tells you thegroup of women that we were

(05:15):
surrounded with right, justeveryone willing to open
themselves up and share andreally get to know each other.
And then, obviously, we ate, wedrank and we shopped and I mean
to me there's I've always saidthis there's, I mean, does it
get any better to have wonderfulwomen in a group, sipping and

(05:35):
shopping and connecting, gettingto know each?

Speaker 1 (05:38):
other.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that
.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
No, it's incredible.
And you create such a nicesetting for people, for women,
to be able to come in, feelcomfortable, right Like.
Honest to goodness, I didn'tknow what to expect and I had
zero expectations going intothat, but what I came out of it
with was so incredible One someclothes, or at least some ID.

(06:06):
Actually, I think I only got abracelet for myself and the rest
of it was for everybody else inthe family for Christmas, but I
at least had an idea of what Iwas coming away with in terms of
what you and your businessprovides, which we'll get to in
just a second, and then alsojust some incredible new

(06:28):
connections, both in relation tohaving individuals on the
podcast, but just incrediblewomen doing incredible things.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, oh yes, and thank you for saying that,
because I mean, as any businessowner, we're always looking
somewhat for validation, like wethink what we're doing is cool
or is great, but you really yourcustomers or who you're
surrounding yourself with, orwho is coming to your events or

(06:59):
whatever it is that is your truetest of like is this going okay
?
And obviously, if it doesn'tyou pivot or whatever.
But I always want people tofeel comfortable, whether it's
at my house or an event, or onmy site or whatever it is,
because it's all about theexperience.
I want them to feel good andfeel great, and anytime I ever

(07:21):
do an event at my house oranywhere else for that matter I
just try and tell them.
I want you to think of this asa large dressing room with women
, that you're sharing with womenand you're very comfortable
here and that sort of thing.
So I appreciate you saying thatyou do a great job of it.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, so let's dive in so that our listeners can get
all the goodies of what it isthat you do for business.
Perfect, so the first questionthat I want to ask you.
Second question what came firstfor you?
Was it entrepreneurship or wasit motherhood?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
I was a mom first.
Yep, I was definitely a momfirst.
And so I have a son who's 17and a daughter who just turned
14.
And when my son was first born,of course, we just had him for
about three and a half years,until my daughter was born.
And when he was born, I wasn'tquite thinking entrepreneurial

(08:20):
anything at that moment.
I was newly married, gettingready to have kids.
We bought the house doing allthe things, and it wasn't until
my daughter was born that itkind of made me wonder.
I mean, I've been in corporateAmerica for, however many years

(08:40):
and I have met some of the mostamazing people through that.
I have learned a ton.
But also in the back of my mind, it just didn't feel like it
was enough, Like, yes, do I wantmy day job?
And absolutely.
But I, something else ismissing.
And I know with motherhood itis a lot right, but I still felt

(09:01):
that there was room forsomething else and so, kind of
trying to figure that out and wecould do a whole other podcast,
truly, on my discovery of how Igot to doing what I was doing,
what I was doing.
But for this podcast, I'll tellyou I'll kind of shorten that

(09:22):
part up because, like I said,that could be a whole other
podcast in itself.
But I did a lot of um ininterviews with people,
informational interviews.
I was like, do I want to do I?
Do I change within corporateAmerica?
Do I make a change?
Am I?
I've been in marketing andproject management, I love it,

(09:43):
but because I'm, I need, I'mfeeling the need for something
else.
Am I not in the right careerpath?
Do I need to change?
So I did a lot of informationalinterviews with, like,
pharmaceutical sales rep Do Iwant to be a trainer?
Do I?
And and I did some research andum for probably six to nine

(10:04):
months and nothing was panningout.
And I'm one of those peoplethat if you start to put things
out into the universe, it shouldstart to speak back to you,
right?
And nothing was speaking backto me.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
It was just falling very flat Flat and I had done
all these interviews and nothing.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
But even when something would pop up, it
didn't sound enticing to me.
So I was trying to figure out Iwas struggling with that.
What is something's happening?
But I cannot figure out what itis and why something isn't
panning out for me and why thisall of a sudden doesn't sound
interesting to me.
So I was on my way to work onemorning and it hit me like a ton

(10:43):
of bricks and I realizednothing is working out because
it's not what I'm supposed to bedoing.
None of that is.
I'm not aiming high enough.
What is my ultimate dream job?
Like aim, start there.
Why am I starting on just like,oh, maybe I want to do this,
maybe I want to do this Liketimeout, allison, what do you

(11:04):
ultimately want to do this?
Maybe I want to do this Liketime out, allison, what do you
ultimately want to do?
And then I completely gotenergized and my dream was
always to become a fashiondesigner.
That was my dream since I waslittle.
I've always had sketches, I'vewhatever.
And it's funny because on theway to work that day I was

(11:25):
honestly, I became a whole newperson because I had something
else that I was going to startlooking into and it was all mine
, like I didn't have to getapproval from anyone.
I didn't have to, whatever.
It was going to be mine.
And so I started researchinghow to become a fashion designer
.
I didn't go to school for it, Ididn't know what I was doing, I

(11:47):
just know I wanted to do it.
And I was reading through amagazine, honestly, probably a
week or two later, and it saiddo you want to become a fashion
designer?
If so, you can do it in thesefour steps.
And I was like four steps, Ican do anything in four steps,
right, I mean we can do anythingin four steps.
Well, little did I know thatthese four steps were incredibly

(12:07):
full of lots of steps withineach of the steps, but so I
started diving in that way and Imean I put my kids to bed at
night and then I would Google, Iwould research.
I mean, that's how I learnedhow to become a fashion designer
.
And my second collection, myand they always say like if your

(12:31):
first time at creatingsomething doesn't suck, you're
not doing something right.
And my first collection kind ofsucked.
So if any of you are listeningand bought my first collection,
I thank you because it probablywasn't that great.
But, to your point, everybody'sgot to start.

(12:52):
You have to start somewhere.
And so my second collection Iwas pretty proud of and I was
excited to get it launched.
And literally a week later,poshmark, which is the app that
you can buy and sell clothesfrom, came up with a contest and
they said do you design yourown clothes?
If so, you can apply to be oneof our 11 winners to be in
Macy's.

(13:12):
Your collection will befeatured in Macy's.
And I had literally justlaunched that second collection,
and so I was like you know what?
I'm going to try it.
I'm probably not going to win,but I'm I have to try.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Why not?
Why not Right?

Speaker 2 (13:28):
And I won.
I was one of the 11 winners,and so my second collection
ended up in Macy's in BeverlyHills, um, which was incredible
and um.
And then COVID hit um,literally like less than a year
later.
So, just like everybody else, Ihad to pivot.
So I started buying wholesaleitems and it's really gone well.

(13:50):
So I'm not going to breakwhat's going well, but I do have
the itch to design again.
We'll just kind of see how thatgoes.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Well, what's really interesting?
And we had talked about this.
I think it was like the secondtime that I came over to your
home for these gatherings, right, these?
Networking gatherings and to doa little bit of shopping and we
sat afterwards and talked, forI think it was like another 45

(14:20):
minutes and I was like justamazing.
This is just amazing.
But I think what struck me asso intriguing about how this
process happened for you is, Ithink maybe you shared with me
or or alluded to.
Like that's a little backwards,it's normally.
There's this process forfashion designers, where you

(14:45):
spend years and years and yearsworking on these collections and
building up your rapport andyour branding and you know, like
that's what people aspire to.
Is the thing that you startedoff with, yes, which was landing
a collection in a big box storelike Macy's, yes, and getting

(15:07):
all of the press to go alongwith that, yes, as a matter of
fact.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
So when my collection was in Macy's in Beverly Hills,
my mom flew out there with meand she wanted to experience all
of that, which was wonderful tohave her, and it was very
interesting, though, because shesaid to me on the way on the
flight back home where do you gofrom here?

(15:33):
Allison, right, you are at aplace where most designers it's
their ultimate goal is to you.
Like you said, land yourcollection in a I mean Macy's.
I mean, you know, we all grewup with that.
It's like a dream come true,but this is where you're

(15:53):
starting.
So where do you go from there?
So it was almost kind of areverse way of okay, I hit the
ground running in having mycollection in Macy's when do I
go from here?
And so it probably took me agood month to six weeks, once I

(16:13):
returned from that trip, toreally figure out, and I didn't
want to lose the momentum, right.
So I know I need time, andthat's one thing I've really
learned as being an entrepreneur.
I think we're somewhat designedand wired Like, if we're not
thinking about our businessevery single day of every single

(16:34):
moment of every single week, ofevery single month, of every
single year, it's not going tobe successful.
And that's not necessarily true, right, it's almost if you're
giving, allowing yourself breaks.
That is actually where some ofthe creativity and some of the
stuff, all of a sudden, you'veallowed space in your head for
that to enter.
So I wanted to gain momentum,but I also wanted to kind of

(16:55):
take a step back a little bit tosee what that would look like.
And my ultimate goal then, afterthinking about that, was you
know what?
This was so successful that Iwant to sell to boutiques.
I'm going to start a wholesalebusiness and I'm going to sell
to boutiques or Macy's, and sothat my collections are in many

(17:16):
different stores.
So that was the path that Istarted heading towards, and
then the first show wasscheduled in March of 2020.
And, of course, everything shutdown.
So there I was ready to launchtwo boutiques and whatever, and
I still did approach some ofthem, just because I thought you
never know, and I'm completelyready to go with everything.

(17:38):
But I pretty much received thesame answer from everyone that
hey, we can't even sell themerchandise we have, let alone
Bringing in more.
Bringing in more and bringingin a designer that is very new.
Yes, you have credibility thefact that you won that contest
out of, however, hundreds ofthousands of people or whatever.

(17:59):
You landed in Macy's.
It was successful, but you'restill new, right.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Right, it's a risk.
It's a risk for them,absolutely.
They're looking at the numbers.
They're looking at the numbersBecause they are like they're a
business also.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yes, and when COVID first hit, too, nobody knew how
long it was going to last Right.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
People thought well.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
I mean, I even remember people saying oh, I'll
just take my laptop and workfrom home for about two weeks.
We'll all be back in the officeby April 15th, or whatever.
And lo and behold, there wewere so years later it's still
like it's 2025.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Now we're gone.
We're still having these justweird residual domino impacts.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yes, I feel like, and to a certain degree I feel like
maybe we're all stillrecovering from it a little bit,
even socially or like our kids.
My son's entire middle schoolwas COVID, and so you look at
that, their experience, and Ithink we're all I mean we've

(19:05):
recovered, but I think we'restill.
It's still evolving.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, I think it's still evolving.
It kind of emerges in reallyweird sort of inconspicuous ways
but then it comes, then itactually is very conspicuous.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yes, if that makes any sense.
Yes, yes, and it's funnybecause I even the fashion like
everybody was at home, so nobodywas where everybody was
probably in sweats or whateverit was it.
Then it became the you knowbusiness on the top and
sweatpants on the bottom foryour zoom calls or whatever.
And then when people startedgoing back into work or people

(19:43):
started emerging from theirhouseholds again like you would
have never seen prior to, covidpeople in business suits, with
fun looking sneakers or athleticshoes, and now that's the norm.
And it's so fun, and it's yeah,and you walk into some of these
shoe stores.
There's not.

(20:04):
I mean, there are some highheels still in there, but a lot
of it is what can I wear everyday that I can rock and whatever
.
And it's these fun casual shoesthat now go with everything you
know.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
That was a trend that took me quite some time to
adopt.
And now I'm there and that'sokay, I have you to go to here
on out, to just like to tell youit's okay, yeah, and I've got
there's two other gals who havebeen on the podcast that are
more in, like they style peopleright they aren't like.

(20:40):
They have not created fashionlines or on the boutique side.
Right, I actually one of themhas actually now that I really
think about it and we can talkabout it off air, but here's,
here's where I'm going with thisone.
It took me a while to reallyadopt that Um, but I also wanted
to share with you before it,like fleets out again, cause I

(21:03):
kind of have done this like backand forth, since you just had
this two minute talk on COVIDand apparel.
Yes yeah, I did.
It took me a long time to.
I was like absolutely not, I amnot gonna wear, like I will not
wake up and just roll out ofbed.
Yes, I refuse, right, I haveliterally never been that type

(21:24):
of person.
I will always get up.
Even if I have to work fromhome, I will literally get up
and get ready for the day.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
It's my way of like.
I'm getting up and I'm readyand we're rocking the day, yes,
and I'm going to put on a niceoutfit while I'm doing it.
Yes, that's amazing.
But I also, during COVID, whenit got to the point where it was
like very evident that this wasgoing to go a little bit longer
than we anticipated, I embracedthe athleisure, yes, and I went

(21:55):
to Target because I was likeyou know, I'm not going to go
full on purchasing a ton ofstuff from Lululemon or Athleta.
I'm going to get some stufffrom Target and do this mix and
match of athleisure outfits forthe day and.
I highlighted it and apparentlyeveryone loved it.
I was like, okay, but like Iwould hop on stories on

(22:18):
Instagram and just showcase,like, what I was wearing for the
day.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Athleisure outfit of the day is what I called it.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
And I did that, I don't know, maybe for a month or
so during that time period, andeverybody was like what are you
going to wear tomorrow?
Like this is so stupid.
But it was kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
No not stupid at all Because it was like we've
discussed it's a.
It was a huge shift and I, whenI was going into the office, I
mean and I kind of grew up likeyou always look nice, you always
have heels on or at leastreally nice shoes and whatever,
so to wear the athleisure or thewhatever was I mean, or me

(23:00):
putting on a cute pair ofsneakers with a business suit, I
was like that.
I mean, that even took me awhile to adopt and look and kind
of look at different outfitsand say, yeah, I actually love
that, but it was a big enoughtransition that even me, who is
normally a risk taker with like,oh yeah, I'm going to pair that

(23:23):
or I'm going to wear whiteafter Labor Day or I'm going to.
whatever.
I always took those risks.
That one, the gettingcomfortable I mean not obviously
like physically comfortable,but just looks wise that you can
put on a pair of sneakers witha business suit or whatever it
is and walk out the door and becasual.

(23:43):
And it's amazing, I love it.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, we can do that now.
And how cool is that that youcan actually do business while
being comfortable and not havingto wear these like really
expensive heels that aren'tactually very comfortable and
you're like I literally justspent way too much money on
these heels.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yes, oh, and I.
It's funny because, as we'retalking about heels, I just
looked in my closet the otherday and nine West used to make
these heels that I loved and Iliterally bought every pair I
could, and green bluecomfortable too.
They were comfortable and theyweren't super, super high.
I think they were maybe threeinches or three and a half

(24:24):
inches.
They were amazing.
Now, if I put them on, they'renot as comfortable as they were
before.
We started wearing all thesesneakers, but I can't get rid of
them, because if I ever do wantto put a pair of heels on,
those are my go-tos, and.
I've had them for years andthey're still in great condition

(24:45):
.
But if anyone works at NineWest that's listening.
I would love to see you comeout with like heels that are
even more comfortable.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Okay, so I do want to .
I want to go down this pathbecause you may have seen Sarah
Blake Lively.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yes, I think with her Spanx.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Her sneaks, her sneaks, yes, and I was like
that's risky, yes, but she didit.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
But she did it and people are.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Women are buying this trend.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yes, absolutely this is incredible.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
What are your thoughts?
Oh, I love it.
I mean well, first of all, Ilove her and the fact that you
brought her even up in thispodcast.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
I'm like melting over here right now Cause she,
that'll be your goal right.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
I got to go through a lot of PR to get to that one.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
She is obviously I've never met her, but what I know
of her personally just anamazing human being and
obviously, as a business owner,she is someone I absolutely look
up to and if you follow her onInstagram or wherever, I mean
she's also super vulnerable indisclosing how she made her

(26:02):
business such a success.
And not only that, but she'svery funny at what she has done
and, like you said, it was veryrisky to try and come up with
that.
But it's funny because I wasactually doing an event and a
woman walked up in those insneaks and I literally like ran
right over to her.

(26:22):
I was like thank you for comingto my.
You know my event, but I haveto ask you about those shoes.
Are they as amazing as I thinkthey are?
And she said oh yeah, they'reincredible.
So and the other thing about,yeah with Sarah is her she I
don't know if you ever heardabout her white pants that are

(26:45):
not see-through, but I think ittook her over a decade to
construct those and make surethat they were what she wanted.
And so something also like anyidea that we come up with as
entrepreneurs, right, like wekind of want it to happen
overnight, right.
But I think of that story and itkind of goes back to that whole

(27:08):
saying of Rome wasn't built ina day.
And you look at these pantsthat she, it took her.
I'm almost positive.
It took her over 10 years toget them to exactly what she
wanted them to be, but the endresult was exactly what she
wanted him to be.
And again, another success.

(27:29):
I think there were like tens ofthousands of people on her
waiting list to get those whitepants that are not see-through.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
And Oprah was probably the first to get them.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
I'm sure, yeah, and they probably landed on Oprah's
favorite things list.
Right, totally, yes, I, I gottacheck this out yeah, I haven't
tried them on, but I'm surethey're.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
I'm everything she does should we go and do?

Speaker 2 (27:51):
it.
Should we just do it together?
Let's do it, and then let's.
I think we need to go try thesneaks, we should.
We'll do the pants and thesneaks together.
Okay, let's do it.
It's a date.
It's a date, it's a fashiondate.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
It's an excuse to write it off too.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, exactly, let's do it.
Let's do it.
I love it.
Sounds amazing.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Okay, okay, I need to back this train up.
Just a second.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
I know, because we could probably talk all day
about thousands of things right.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Oh, for sure, for sure.
And my brain is literally goinglike this, but I think what I
want to fold into this is whenthis all started for you and as
you're making your trip out toum, the West coast, how old were

(28:40):
the kids at that point?

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Um, that's a great question.
So that it was 2018, I believe,late 2018, early 2019.
And my son, I think, would havebeen in fifth grade, which
would have put my daughter infirst grade.

(29:02):
Okay, yeah, so they were.
They were kind of little.
They were little, I mean, theyweren't babies and toddlers but
they were little, yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
So I want to talk through how you were harmonizing
this venture, which hasblossomed blossomed into
something really incredibleAllison oh, thank you.
And then also harmonizing thatwith motherhood too, yes, yeah.
What did that look?

Speaker 2 (29:28):
like it was well.
It's kind of going back to thatday in the car where, all of a
sudden, I just got this burst ofadrenaline and energy and this,
literally like the cloudsparted and this bright sun was
shining through, because I waslike, oh my gosh, yes, I need to

(29:49):
chase my dream job.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Why am I?

Speaker 2 (29:51):
not aiming higher?
I mean, why am I not aiming atthe very highest and seeing
where it lands?
And so just the pure energy Ihad with that.
That never left and it's stillpart of me to this very day.
That's why I can talk about itso vividly.
I can almost even tell youwhere I was at on 35W going

(30:12):
north.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Look at that, that day, I mean.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
I can't tell you exactly what I was wearing that
day.
But I remember that moment.
It was very profound, and sojust having a realization like
that to open up for me but againI was open to it, right, I'm
like universe.
Why what's happening?
I'm throwing all this stuff outthere and you're not speaking
to me.

(30:36):
I need help, and sure enough,there it was.
So, honestly, it's just thatenergy that keeps me going going
, and I am one I don't sit verywell long periods of time join
the club.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
We have jackets, turns out.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes yes, like if you put me in a, in in front of a
movie or a pool or a beach orwatching something with my kids.
I can sit for hours becausethat's amazing to me.
Anytime else, I am, I'm up, I'mrunning around, I'm going, you
know, 360 days out of the yearat full speed ahead.

(31:16):
I've just built like that.
So, um, and I actually have toconsciously tell myself to slow
down sometimes, um, so I justthe pure energy of that.
So, and I still had a day job.
I mean, I still have a day job.
So that career has not goneaway and I don't really plan for
it to go away anytime soon.

(31:38):
But so I would work all day,come home and obviously make
dinner for the kids, spend sometime with them.
But if all of a sudden theywere involved in watching a
movie, or they were at afriend's house, or they had
soccer practice or whatever, Itook that opportunity to do

(31:59):
whatever I could in my business.
So, and then I would put themto bed at night and, as we all,
if anyone else, has mastered,like, especially at that age or
even littler, to get the kids tobed in under an hour, I mean I,
I couldn't figure it out.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
But really so from beginning to end.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Sometimes I mean it would be um longer than I
thought, but yeah and you've gotto.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
I will say I am very blessed in this arena that all
three of the kiddos have theirdad's sleep gene.
It's like they out they're done.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean the second that they are in their
pajamas and laying down in theirbeds.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Maddie's, you know she has pushed the envelope a
little bit.
Yeah, I mean the second thatthey are in their pajamas and
laying down in their beds.
Maddie's, you know she haspushed the envelope a little bit
here and there.
Like, and it's different whendad puts her to sleep versus
when mom puts her to sleep.
Like a very different narrativewith her.
But as soon as they fall asleepthey are out for the rest of
the night.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Wow, that's amazing.
It really is.
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
You are blessed, I am not bragging about that by any
stretch of the imagination, butI understand in those moments
where the narrative turns forMaddie and all of a sudden she's
like mom snuggie.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Mom scoochie.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
You scoochie.
No, now you snuggie.
I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah,it's time to go to bed.
Bye, bye.
See you in the morning, yes.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I think, as moms, though, we take every moment we
can to break.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
We have to yes.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Because that's sometimes the only way we get
through it.
Yes, because I can havesomething amazing happen,
whether it's my kids doing or Idid something great as a mom and
I am cheering it to the rooftop, even if it's just in my own
head, because I know somethingfive minutes later is going to
come and knock me flat on myback.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
That, like I, all of a sudden.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Oh, I forgot to sign them up for this.
Oh great, I completely missedthe deadline.
So I'm happy I took that fiveminutes to cheer myself up
because now I'm not mother ofthe year anymore.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
This is something to talk about for just a brief
moment.
Such a humbling reality.
Yes, where you are, you're likeI'm killing it.
I am killing it, I am just wow.
I am up early, I'm doing this,I've got the bags packed, I've
got this and I put the extradiapers in the bag because

(34:22):
daycare needs that, and then allof a sudden, it's like midway
through the day and you're likeand I totally didn't send a
snack, yep, yep, oh yeah.
And I and that's just a littletiny one, for sure, but it could
literally like.
That happened to me yesterdayand I was like, yeah, on the way
dropping Landon off for hisprogram, and I had moments

(34:47):
before we were leaving.
I was like we got to grab asnack and I forgot, even though
I said it, even though I hadthat light bulb go off, and I
was just about to drop him off,and I was like don't say
anything, because otherwise itmight trigger it.
Don't say anything, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
I remember dropping my daughter off at daycare and
this was years ago because shehasn't been in daycare for years
.
But it was again another vividyou know thing where I was
thinking I had it all together,whatever, dropped her off at
daycare and it was one of thefirst really cold days of the
year and the daycare teacherlooked at me and said where are

(35:26):
her hat and gloves?
And of course I have this likedeer in headlights.
Look, I don't know, Icompletely forgot, and I know we
don't even have any at homebecause I was going to get some
on my last Target run and Iforgot, so I kept her at daycare
.
Of course I ran to Targetfrantically.
I mean I'm supposed to be on myway to work at this point,

(35:48):
right, but there I am at Target,you know, trying to find hat
and gloves for her, because Idon't want her little hands and
her little head to freeze, youknow.
And as I was running around atTarget feeling like a complete
loser of a mom, you know,because I'm and not that the
daycare teachers are judging meby any means, but maybe they are
but you know just that.
How could I forget mydaughter's hat and gloves, like

(36:11):
this is a must have.
So as I'm running around Targetfrantically, I thought you know
what?
I can make this a really badday, or I can make it a great
day.
So I'm going to choose rightnow to make it a great day and
I'm going to grab a coffee whileI'm here.
I'm going to grab that cuteshirt that's only $14.99.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yep, okay, I'll grab that.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
I've got her hat, her gloves, maybe a little snack
that I normally wouldn't havebought Went back to daycare,
dropped off her hat and whateverand I drove to work.
I was late to work.
I got there, I explained thesituation.

(36:54):
Nobody's feathers were rough,the world kept moving and it
ended up being an okay date, butagain just those moments that
are like oh okay, this is whatlife is handing me right now.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Well, alison, you bring up a really important
point, and that is this decisionprocess right that we, as
mothers, can make.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
And it's.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Do I want to be a martyr or do I want to be a
victor?

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
And I love that you in a moment that otherwise we
could go down this rabbit holeor spiral completely, Because I
think a lot of the listeners canempathize with that.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Like, hey, I have been there and have I spiraled
before Me?
Kelly, 100% yeah, especially inthe early, like the you know
know, first year and a half ofMaddie being born, I think,
because hormones and stuff weresettling down.
Oh yes, I would definitely dothat.
I'm better now yeah becauseeverything is level setting up

(37:59):
with the hormones and I am juststarting like that hue is
definitely coming back yes,right, right, yeah so.
I think that this is really coolthat you brought that up as a
part of that story, which is, Icould have really gone down this
deep, dark pathway of like whata terrible day.

(38:21):
Oh my gosh, I'm a terrible momand you know I'm going to drop
it off and oh shoot, I'm goingto be late to work and
everyone's going to be reallymad at me.
Oh my gosh, I'm a terrible momand you know I'm going to drop
it off and oh shoot, I'm goingto be late to work and
everyone's going to be reallymad at me.
And oh my gosh but then you'relike no, I am just not going to
prescribe to this, I'm not goingto.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
And if I would have gotten to work and people would
have been upset with me, I justyou know, I guess it would have
been a moment like I'm sorry,it's just what happened, you
know, and nobody was upset withme, but it was.
I think the older we get to weget a little bit more
comfortable with that, like hey,life is going to happen and
this is just how it is.

(38:56):
Um, so yeah, but you talk aboutthe spiraling and I, I mean,
there are days where I'vecontinued to spiral, when I'm
trying to pick myself back upthroughout the day.
So we all have those days, butit's sometimes we're human,
absolutely, and no matter howmany things we have on our plate
, they can all go really well orthey can all, in the same day,

(39:17):
go really crappy.
But going back to your questionof like, how did I do it all?
It was truly just finding everymoment that I could, where I
didn't necessarily.
And you know, another topic wecould probably talk about a lot
is the mom guilt, right.
So I want to start thisbusiness on the side, but I also

(39:42):
don't want to lose any timewith my kids.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
So trying to balance that.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Like I said't want to lose any time with my kids, so
trying to balance that, like Isaid, it was a little bit easier
when they were a little bityounger because I could put them
to bed and I'm more of a nightowl than I am a morning person.
So I mean there are times atnine, 30, 10 o'clock I'm
completely getting my secondwind and I'm I know I'm going to
be up until midnight anyway.

(40:06):
So, I might as well be makingthe most of it.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Are you one of those individuals, the lucky
individuals, that only needslike six hours of?

Speaker 2 (40:16):
sleep.
Oh, okay, so that is.
It's funny.
People have asked me thatbefore.
I still love seven to eighthours.
That's my golden spot.
Actually, 1130 to 730 is myideal sleep time and I've tried
many times because I havefriends who are very much

(40:37):
morning people and they are inbed by nine or 930.
It's me Okay, so you'llappreciate this story.
So one night I was like I'mgoing to try and be one of these
people, I'm just going to flipit, I'm just going to see how
this goes.
So I was in bed by 9.30, and Itried to do everything
throughout the day to makemyself tired by 9.30.

(40:59):
So I was in bed by 9.30, and Ibet I was sleeping before 10
o'clock, which is pretty earlyfor me.
But here's what happened I wasup by 3.30 and couldn't go back
to bed, completely wired to go,because I had had six hours of

(41:20):
sleep, even though I like sevenor eight, but I had six hours of
sleep and I was like I know I'mnot falling back to sleep, so
I'm going to get up.
And I was like I'm I know I'mnot falling back to sleep, so
I'm going to get up.
And I did.
I was up at four and I justmade myself go all day and a
little bit, you know, extracoffee throughout the day,
whatever it was to keep myselfenergized.
And then I think I crashed thatnight at 10 30 and I'm now I'm

(41:41):
still back on my schedule oflike 1130 to seven or whatever.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
I tried, but I'm just .

Speaker 2 (41:45):
I'm not wired that way.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Yeah, here is such a perfect example of how every
single person is just completelywired differently.
Yeah, and there's no right orwrong way.
It's how your body handles Xamount of hours of sleep.
Like I was talking to, we hadan individual who's a part of

(42:09):
the Sotheby's Real EstateNetwork.
He lives down in Nashville buthe's got family in Wisconsin so
he'll be visiting a couple timesper year and he came up here to
visit with us.
We went out for lunch, um, onMonday and we were talking about
health and wellness and he'slike listen, I, six hours of

(42:34):
sleep is really my sweet spot.
I should I know I should begetting more like and there's
something with like bio rhythms,I think is like they both, joe
husband and this guy, sean Tate.
they coach with the sameindividual and that individual
had been talking on his podcastabout biorhythms.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
And how you should like, typically get seven to
eight hours of sleep, like thatis normal right, yes or average
anyways, and Sean's like, butliterally, if I get six hours of
sleep, I am ready to go for theday like ready to go and I am

(43:17):
good.
And this guy, allison, like Iknow I'm, I'm like I've derailed
the train, a little bit likewe're on a tangent but, I
promise it's kind of full, it'llcome full circle.
He's 58 years old and he Iliterally thought, for the
amount of time that I've knownhim, I just found out he's 58.

(43:38):
I thought he was our age.
I thought he was like 40, wow.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
So I'm like you just keep doing whatever you need to
be doing and if that's beenworking for you Well and.
I had a I used to have a teacher, and this was in um middle or
junior high.
She, every night, and herhusband was the same way four
hours of sleep, that was it.

(44:02):
And if they ever got more thanfour hours of sleep they didn't
feel very well and it was justhow they were wired.
And all I could think about, asI was becoming an adult of,
like you know, I like my seven,eight hours I thought, man, how
much could I accomplish if Ionly needed four hours of sleep?
Seriously Right, I could run 16businesses if I only needed

(44:25):
four hours.
I mean, think about it, youcould go to bed at midnight, be
up at 4 am or 9.30 and be up at1.30.
Yeah, I mean, think about thatIf you only had to function on
four hours of sleep.
That's wild.
But you're right, everybody isdifferent.
Everybody is, you know, and youfigure out what works for you.

(44:46):
Now, some mornings I am up atfive and I just can't sleep, or
I got to bed earlier or whateverit might be.
And honestly, and my daughteris somewhat the same way, like
she gets up before school, shemakes herself breakfast.
I mean, she is like very muchinto her mornings, her peaceful

(45:07):
time, and sometimes, when my sonand I are up with her, when
she's up really early, she'slike what are you guys doing?
You're, you're you're wreckingmy routine here.
No one else is supposed to beup.
I want my quiet time, you know.
So there is something to besaid about a very peaceful
morning Totally To being upearlier seeing the sunrise.
I mean it can be reallybeautiful.

(45:29):
That's my cup of tea.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Yeah, I really, really, really enjoy that.
I've got a pretty regimentedroutine down, like five, five,
30.
I'm up and either getting mystrength training in or going
for a walk, and it's so cool, Imean the summer is a little bit

(45:51):
of a anomaly, right, because thesun is already, like it's
already risen.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
So but you know it's nice because there's like hardly
anybody else that's out at thattime, and no matter what is
going on in your life or theworld, or whatever there, nobody
can take away a peacefulmorning right, like it, there's
something very calming and agreat way to start your day that
way.
I mean, even on my run thismorning, I mean it was it wasn't

(46:15):
sunny, but it was obviouslykind of overcast, but even when
it started literally pouring Iwas like it's still really
beautiful outside.
Like I actually love the rain.
I don't want to live in it 365days a year, no, but a rainy day
every once in a while.
I think it's beautiful and itkind of just cleanses everything
.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
I think that's the whole purpose of it right, yeah,
yeah, just cleanse everythingGod's like here you go, Just
clean Clean it yes.
And make everything green.
So we were talking about howyou're harmonizing this with you
know, and, and how that haskind of ebbed and flowed.

(46:54):
And so have you, have youexperienced, you know you've,
you've obviously seen somereally major success with all of
this, um, but through all of it, what have some of the valleys
looked like?

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Because you mentioned like I can turn the train
around pretty quickly, but we'rehuman Right and there are those
days.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Right.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
That it just something's not clicking Right.
Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Right, Absolutely.
So there was one.
So, speaking of getting readyfor trade shows, of like selling
my items to boutiques orwhatever, I was prepping to get
ready for a trade show and I hadhired a company I don't think
they're in, I know they're notin business anymore, but I had
hired a company outside of thestate of Minnesota.
I don't want to get into anymore details, just in case.
I don't think they're in, Iknow they're not in business
anymore, but I had hired acompany outside of the state of
Minnesota.
I don't want to get into anymore details, just in case I

(47:51):
don't want to offend anyone orwhatever.
But I had hired them tosomewhat help me figure out the
wholesale process along the way.
I mean, I had pretty much beenself-taught about fashion,
design and whatever, but theactual business side of
wholesale I didn't know a lotabout it.
So I hired this company to kindof help guide me throughout

(48:14):
this wholesale process and alsoeven sourcing fabric or a
pattern maker, because when youdesign your own clothes you have
to have some.
I mean I was sewing some of theclothes but I wasn't sewing all
of them and I certainly wasn'tmaking pants and zippers and
whatever.
So just to kind of connect meto the right people or kind of

(48:36):
the right process.
So they kind of more or lessfilled in the gaps for me and
they were actually reallyincredible at a lot of things.
However, when I was working ongetting ready for this trade
show to sell to boutiques, I wasplanning for a season let's
just say I was planning for falland winter.

(48:57):
As I'm going throughout thisprocess and, granted, now, I've
put a lot of time and a lot ofmoney and a lot of resources
into making this happen.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
And.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
I was maybe three weeks away from this trade show
when I found out it was theselling season for the opposite
season I had closed for.
So right, so yeah, right.
Just the look on your faceright now, right, like, think
about that panic moment.
All of a sudden I had preppedfor fall and winter and this was

(49:29):
a spring and summer show.
Now the show itself didn't saylike, oh, come shop for this
season.
It was just, it's a clothingtrade show and I didn't know
enough at that time to thinkahead.
I just thought, oh yeah, I'msure this is what they'll be,
shopping for, just based on whatI know of a retail calendar,

(49:55):
and I was off, and I was off byan entire season, which is, I
mean, anybody working in theretail world, even myself.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
I'm laughing inside my head right now, skin is
crawling.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
It's completely backwards, right, and it's not
to say that people wouldn'tnecessarily have bought my
things, but they're notnecessarily.
It's not top of mind and moststores, most places obviously,
are on a budget.
So unless my stuff is going toblow them out of the water,
they're not going to buy mythings because they're looking

(50:28):
for the other seasons right now,right, yeah.
So I called the company I hadhired that was, you know, kind
of helping me through thisprocess and I said I just
realized something, is this true?
And they did the research andthey're like, oh yeah, you
should have been prepping forthis.

(50:48):
So I said I need to let you go,I will call you back.
And I hung up the phone and mykids were sitting at the kitchen
table and I literally juststarted sobbing like
uncontrollably because I hadalready been somewhat stressed
because this is the first timeI'm doing this.

(51:09):
I don't know what I'm doing.
I kind of well, I kind of knewwhat I was doing, but like I
mean, this was a big thing tolike, have all these clothes
ready all the time, all themoney going into it and all, and
it's like three weeks away andall of a sudden I can't present
it, I cannot be at this tradeshow with these items.

(51:30):
So now not only have I put allmy time and money into it, I
can't do anything with it forlike six months, because it's
going to be another six monthsbefore there's anyone is going
to start looking at thiscollection for this season.
So talk about a valley Like.
That was a low of of a like andmy kids saw me completely break

(51:51):
down because I couldn't.
I couldn't hold it.
I mean, it was like the damnbroke and everything, just
whatever my kids were like mom,are you okay?
what's happening?
And I just said mom needs amoment.
And so I don't know.
I honestly don't even know.
But I went in some other partof the house and I just let
myself sob because I just waslike I have to let this out and

(52:12):
it's okay that the kids saw mecry.
I mean, yeah, it's life Likekids can't always see you crying
, but they can't always see youhappy either.
And they have to see the ebbsand flows of life.
So I can't.
I remember pulling myself backtogether and I came down and and
the kids kind of were a littlewide eyed like what happened,
mommy, and I was like here'sexactly what happened.
I planned for this and Iplanned for the wrong thing, and

(52:36):
it's just a lot of time andmoney.
Everything's going to be okay.
I will figure this out, but I'mjust really sad about it right
now.
So I just need to allow myselfto be sad because that's how
it's going to, how I'm justreally sad about it right now.
So I just need to allow myselfto be sad Because that's how
it's gonna, how I'm gonna getthrough this, you know.
So that is probably the biggestone, but it was a big one, it
was a very big one.
And then, of course, when I hadeverything ready to go, that's

(52:59):
when COVID hit.
So again, yeah, I mean my firstshow six months later was March
of 2020.
And then another big, hugevalley just I mean literally I
think it was like March 16th orwhatever that Saturday or Sunday
was was my first trade show.
And, of course, the personrunning that trade show, with

(53:22):
all of us vendors that weregoing to be there in brands-
they were like, yep, it's nothappening.
And again lots of tears, and soagain just kind of like, okay,
we're pivoting again.
So big big valleys, big ones,and there's been some little
ones too where I mean, I think,with any business.

(53:44):
There are times like my officein my house is where my boutique
is run out of.
There are times where I closethose doors and I'm like I'm
done, I'm not doing this anymore, I am not doing this anymore,
and it'll be like 6 pm at nightand then I'll wake up the next
morning like I'm so blessed tobe able to do this.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
This is the greatest thing, seriously you'd have a
lot of broken hearts if thatwere the case.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Oh, you're so sweet, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
Yeah, I'm going to grab my phone here real quick
because I'm listening to apodcast that was suggested to me
by my lovely husband and I wastaking some notes this morning
from it on my walk.
And, by the way, walking andtrying to take notes on your
phone is not recommended.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
I've actually tried to do that, and now I just try
and do my Apple Watch without myphone because it allows me to
not take notes.
But, sometimes on my walk or myrun, I come up with some really
great ideas.
It's so true, it's the movement, I think yes, and kind of
freeing our mind of all theother things that are going on

(54:49):
in life and, like I said, itallows for some space for some
new things to come into ourbrains right.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
By the way, too, I'm going to carefully read through
this, because I was trying tovoice text it, oh yes.
My voice text was not workingvery well.
Oh yes, um.

(55:32):
So he or my gosh, I'm totallybrain farting.
On his book title.
I have it here somewhere.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
I was going to say I'll kind of, otherwise it might
be in the other room, butanyways, he's.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
he's on this podcast with Chris Williamson and
they're talking about like beingengaged in, like having
friendships, and how we'vereally gotten away from that and
how that has really pushed usaway from purpose.
Yeah, as well.
And Chris asked Simon thisquestion about, like the people

(56:04):
that you are talking throughthese low points and
catastrophes, like what are theysaying about having gone
through that?
And he was like point blankyeah, it sucks to be going
through these catastrophes andthese low points and these
crises, but secretly, we'regoing.

(56:24):
I'm glad that it happened.
Yeah, do I want to go backthere?

Speaker 2 (56:29):
No, no Right.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
But I'm glad it happened, because this is what
has come out on the other sideof this, yes, and I thought, wow
, that's so beautiful.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
It really is points.
To excuse me how unfortunatelywe have to go through those low
points, those valleys, the mud,the ick in order to grow and
blossom and really embracebecoming a different version of
ourselves or reclaiming adifferent kind of coloring of

(57:04):
ourselves.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Unfortunately, unfortunately, and there's that
saying out there too, and Idon't know if it's an actual
quote or whatever it is, but yourarely it's something about you
rarely learn when everything'sgoing well, right, because if
everything's going well, it'sbasically rinse and repeat,
rinse and repeat rinse andrepeat yeah, If, which is great,

(57:27):
there's nothing wrong with that, and the majority of your
business probably thrives off ofthat.
But when you make mistakes,that is where your key learnings
are.
And even I also think thosereally low points or valleys
Also.
I mean, that was a low point inmy business, but it has also

(57:51):
taught me about low points justin my personal life or my career
or whatever.
It might be that I survivedthat so I can survive this, like
whatever.
You know what I mean, and orvice versa or vice verse yes,
yes.
So yeah, I think.

(58:13):
I mean, I don't know that anyentrepreneur, any business, has
ever gone through somethingwithout having uh, the valleys,
right, I mean that's that's howyou learn, and not only that,
but like your business, you knowyou might have everything
figured out as a business owner,but guess what?
The universe is changing, oryour customer base is changing,

(58:37):
or you know.
I mean it's kind of going backto the shoes, like not
everybody's walking around inhigh heels anymore like they
used to.
So now these companies,shoemaking companies, are
pivoting, like yeah, we stillneed to make some heels because
some people still want those andwe still need them.
Yeah, there's still a niche forit.

(58:57):
For sure there is.
And but what are the people arealso wearing these cute little
sneakers or athletic shoes orsandals or whatever it might be.
So it's also pivoting that wayto what the world and everybody
else is doing.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
So you are speaking to pivoting too, which I was
going to ask you the questionfrom when you shared about that
first, like with the event, theexpo, or whatever.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Oh yeah, the trade show.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
The trade show, thank you.
So how did you pivot in thatmoment?
I'm dying to know.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Yeah, so well, there I was with all these clothes in
the wrong season.
But you're like I've got to dosomething I've got to do
something with these, and then,of course, I had, then I was
going to be in the trade showand then COVID happened, so then
it then again.
Now I've been sitting on theseclothes for almost a year, right

(01:00:01):
, and but the thing is, is theclothes that I designed and
mostly picked out yes, there'ssome trendy, fun things in there
, or but a lot of things Idesigned, um, were fun and kind
of a little bit trendy, but alsoclassics, like nothing that's
going to go out of style in sixmonths, you know.
So, even though I had thoseclothes still a year later, I I

(01:00:26):
still felt very confident withthem, and so I thought, well,
I'm going to start an onlinestore and these are going to be
the first clothes that I selland I'm going to use that to
fund to buy wholesale items.
So that's what I did.
And then, with COVID, though,like my pattern maker stopped

(01:00:47):
making patterns and the fabrictrade shows were no longer
happening, and you know.
So that's also why I pivoted towholesale, because it's not
that I couldn't have stilldesigned it, just would have
been a lot harder.
And at that moment I'm likeI've had a year of sitting on
these clothes that I've designed, trying to make a wholesale

(01:01:08):
business out of this.
the universe is kind of tellingme a little something different,
right?
So I'm going to listen and soI'm going to sell and start
buying wholesale.
And guess what buying thatwholesale piece like if I would
have sold to boutiques?
Yes, I'd be partnering andgetting to know business owners

(01:01:28):
and store owners or whatever,but by buying the wholesale,
that started me doing pop-upevents and my site and meeting
people like you and getting toknow, like, yes, I love these
jeans or no, I'm looking forthis and you don't have anything
like this.
Great, I'm going to startlooking for that.

(01:01:50):
So just, I mean that's myfavorite thing is working with
my customers one-on-one.
There's nothing I love more,and I don't know that I would
have done that as a wholesalebusiness.
Maybe I would have still donedirect to consumers as well as

(01:02:13):
businesses, but it really justshifted me to not do wholesale
and going direct to customersand it's been so fabulous so far
.
So again, it's kind of likethat was two big, like valleys,
yeah, but I mean the peaks thathave come out of having to pivot
both of those have, I mean Ican't even, you know, start to

(01:02:38):
express how grateful and blessedI feel with having them.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
It's so interesting.
I just had this thought abouthow, as an outsider perspective,

(01:03:10):
we never know the true, likewhat individuals actually go
through in order to get theirbusiness to where, like I would
have never known without askingand being curious about what
your actual story is and yousharing also cause you did share
about that experience ofwinning this contest and like
what the contest was and wherethat landed you and where you're
at now.
Right, Like I had some, but allI keep thinking about is from a
vast majority of the guests whohave been on the podcast.

(01:03:31):
They talk so much and sofrequently about this pivot
moment and how they thought thisis the directionality of where
the business was going to go.
But actually this is thedirection.
It went instead in it and itturned out beautifully.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
It really did, and so you are truly speaking to that
right now.
And I as the outsider for thisstory, for your story, I'm like
it's so incredible.
You know, I love what you'redoing with online boutique and I
would have never thought like,oh, she had all of this other

(01:04:13):
stuff that was.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
this is a trajectory of where everything was going to
be.
Yeah, that didn't go well, yes,right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
And it didn't go.
And it didn't go, well, for areason.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Yes, right, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
You're speaking to the universe.
You're saying like all of thesigns were pointing me in a
completely different direction.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
I just had to listen.
I had to listen and kind of gowith the flow because, as
business owners, I think to acertain degree we are all
control freaks because we haveto be right.
I don't know that you can be abusiness owner and not be a
control freak to a certaindegree, because we want to
control everything right.
We want to control like I wantto do this and it's going to go

(01:04:50):
this way and I want this muchsales and I want this and I want
this.
And life doesn't work that way.
You can have goals or processesor whatever that might look like
but, you have to be open topivoting and and it's
interesting, because in collegeI had to do a paper, or I can't

(01:05:15):
remember it was, I mean and it'sbeen, uh, several years since
I've been in college.
I'll just say that but I'llnever forget there was a paper I
had to do in a retailmerchandising class because that
was my major, on what a storeshould be doing differently and
why and I'm not going to say thestore, because they're still in

(01:05:37):
business, but I did an entirepaper on what I would do
differently if I own that storeand I often that paper kind of
opened me up.
Doing or having that experienceof writing that paper really
opened me up to.
I kind of always am thinkingthat way Like how can I make?

(01:06:02):
it better, it's going greatright now, but how can I make it
better?
And there are stores that thathave gone out of business, that
I'm like, oh, if I could havegotten my hands in there like I
wanted to write an entirebusiness plan and I'll just say
one store.
This isn't the store that I did, but do you remember the
limited?

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
yes, okay, loved loved the limited right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
They had a lot of my money at many different times
because I loved them.
Like the work pants, like thestyles I mean, that was usually
my go-to store for a lot ofthings.
But I would say in the last fewyears before they went out of
business, I could see that theyweren't keeping up with the

(01:06:48):
trends.
They weren't.
They were having the same salesthey had had for the last five
years.
You can't do that in a store.
I mean you can maybe pick yourtop five, 10 bestsellers.
Keep those going.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
But you got to pivot with the rest.
Otherwise you're and I couldsee it, because I remember the
first time going walking throughthe limited and I didn't buy
anything and that was like afirst and I thought it's because
they're not shifting and maybethey don't want to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
They're not pivoting.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Maybe they don't want to, maybe their grand plan is
to be done in a few.
I mean right, and at some pointin time it sometimes businesses
are just ready to be done,they've run their course,
they're ready to be done, and Idon't know the limited story,
but, man, if I could have gottenin there and worked with
whomever I'd have been likeplease, let me work on your

(01:07:42):
marketing plan, cause I wouldhave loved to have kept that
store in business and I had.
I mean, I even wrote my ownplan for them in my own head on
a run one day.
I was like, if I would have, ifI could have saved that company
, this is what I would have doneand they you know, but just
yeah just pivoting and, honestly, there are times where I've
often thought about like puttingmyself out there as a

(01:08:04):
consultant for stores of likethat you've.
You've got to continue to pivot,I think, in order to stay in
business and thrive.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Alison, you know, you should do that.
I just think of it as so muchfun.
But you're lighting up too.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, just likegetting in there and being yeah,
and it and it doesn't have tobe the style of store that I
have.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
It would be.
You know cause I'm a marketingmajor that I look at things that
way.
I mean, there've there've beena couple of my friends who have
started their own businesses andas soon as they tell me about
it, I'm like I can't help it, Idon't.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
you never asked me for a marketing plan, but here's
all my marketing ideas, becauseI can't I can't fall asleep
tonight until I tell you all ofthis.
I just have to share this withthe listeners because that that
second time when we, you and I,had the opportunity to just have
this really beautifulone-on-one time together.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
Yes, after everyone left.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
After everyone left.
I adored it, alison, oh, so didI.
But what I?
What stuck with me the mostfrom that time together and just
having this one-on-one time asI was walking out, I think I
like just mentioned somethingabout where I saw everything

(01:09:28):
going with the podcast yes, inMompreneur Couture, which I just
shared all about that visionwith everyone at the podcast
anniversary event and you werelike let me know if you want to
sit down, let's get some girlstogether, we can sit down and we
can just kind of vision outsome of this stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Yes, and I was like really, oh, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
And you you were like yeah, and I kind of like
chuckled like ha ha, Okay,Sounds good.
And then I really thought aboutit.
I was like, yeah, I do need todo that.
Yes, I do and I was thinkingabout it this morning too, like
I need to do that and it stuckwith me and to kind of come full

(01:10:30):
circle to what I was talkingabout here with that podcast
with Chris and Simon and howthey're talking through
friendship, right isolation andtry to do things by yourself or
have this firm grip of controlon everything, you go into a
deeper despair, yes, and that'snot okay.
And you have to rabbit hole ofyes, and I was in no like, by no
means that position.
Yeah, I matter of fact, I wason the opposite side of kind of
like okay, I'm going to do thisevent and this is what it's

(01:10:50):
going to look like, and I havepeople who are backing me up
that want to see something likethis, like want to see me follow
through on it, yes.
And want to help you and wantto help me.
Yes, Right.
Yes, and I think that we need tofind more of that for people,
which is why I want to do whatI'm doing and why I'm doing what

(01:11:11):
I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
And you're amazing at it.
I mean your event was.
I mean you could tell everybodywanted to be there.
I mean the hue of everybody inpink and the flamingos, I mean
it was magical, it wasabsolutely magical.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
By the way, I got feedback on the garden party
casual.
One of the pieces of feedbackfrom the survey was very
confusing.
I'm like, okay, duly.

Speaker 2 (01:11:39):
And now you know right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Yeah, everyone loved the pink, though, so that was
good oh absolutely Go ahead, goahead.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
I was going to say when you and I were talking and
I remember our conversation,when you told me about this idea
and I said yes.
I would love to help you andlet's get a group of women we
can help you out.
When you were talking aboutthat just now, I just got chills
thinking of it, because thething is, is women, I think we

(01:12:12):
are reluctant to ask for help orthink that we need help
sometimes, and once you start toput things out there, it's
amazing what can happen.
And there's power in numbers,right?
So all of a sudden, if you havetwo people in a room versus

(01:12:33):
just you, or you have fivepeople in a room versus two, I
mean there's power in numbers.
And there are, even at yourevent, the panel that you had,
just those four women up there.
In themselves was incredible.
Their stories and what they'recapable of, and that is what is

(01:12:53):
so amazing.
And going back to Stacey'snetworking group, that we, where
we first met, I mean the powerin that, room.
I just left that power in thatroom.
I just left that Well, not leftbecause it was at my house, but
after everyone left, I was leftwith this just overwhelming

(01:13:17):
like feeling of power, that oflike look who was in this room?
And we all connected and we'reall wanting to help each other.
And I also think that evensomeone that does your same
thing, as far as maybe somebodyelse has another podcast, or

(01:13:37):
I've also obviously met otherboutique owners.
Yes, are they competition?
A little bit?
Yes, but you should be in yourown business for your own
reasons and therefore remove anynotions that you think anybody
else is your competition.
You are not in competition withanyone else, except for

(01:14:00):
yourself, except for yourself.
So keep on your path for yourbusiness.
Don't worry about thecompetition.
Yes, compare to whatever, maybeget inspired, maybe whatever,
but don't diss them or don'twhatever, because there are
events I do for my boutiquewhere I'm actually partnering
with other boutiques and we'reall buying from each other and

(01:14:22):
praising each other and liftingeach other up.
It's how it should be.
It's how it should be andthere's power in that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
There really is and as you're talking through it,
I'm just reflecting and goingwhy isn't there more of that?
And that's really what I wantthis community for mompreneurs
to look like is like ain'tnobody got time for the bashing

(01:14:51):
or bringing people down ortalking behind people's backs.
Nobody's got time for it.
Set it aside, because that'syour ego and nobody cares.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
Nobody cares, work harder, absolutely.
And the people that are goingto bash or talk behind your back
or that sort of thing going tobash or talk behind your back or
that sort of thing even theolder I get, the more I don't
have time for those people.
I just and I don't want them inmy space because life can be
difficult as it is.
We don't need that extra stuffin our.

(01:15:26):
You know what I mean the extranoise and the drama, the drama,
yes.

Speaker 1 (01:15:31):
Yes, we're just going to put it like yes, over to the
side, it goes to the side.
I love that you brought this upand that is something that I
think most of the listeners needto just grasp really tightly to
.
Yes, is that piece of advicethat you just gave?
Yeah, like, literally, grasptightly to that, seek out the

(01:15:53):
people, like.
I'm pretty sure this is not.
This isn't new advice or news.
It's the power of surroundingyourself with amazing
individuals who are smarter thanyou and be in those room.
Be, in that room with them,because that's going to lift you

(01:16:14):
up.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Yes, it really is yes , absolutely.
And the thing too is like,based on what you just said and
also kind of what I was sayingabout you know, have be friends
with your competition, lift eachother up or whatever.
Friends with your competition,lift each other up or whatever.

(01:16:40):
I always want a few stores or afew boutiques to be better than
me, and here's why because ifit makes me be better totally
and it inspires me and it likeKate Spade, she is the reason I
became a designer in the firstplace.
I mean she is my, she was thereason I I mean because the bags
and the clothes and the littlejackets with the bows, like.

(01:17:02):
Everything about it was amazingand I adored her line and still
adore everything of Kate.
Spade adored her line of, andstill adore everything of, kate
Spade, um, and I always wantthat line to be better than
anything I do, because it'sinspiring and it keeps me
motivated and it keeps me better, you know.

(01:17:23):
So, yeah, do I ever want to belike the top designer in the top
boutique?
Sure, that would be amazing,but I'm always looking for
someone that's better than me,because it makes me better and
it makes me thrive to, you know,reach the next goal or whatever
it might be.

Speaker 1 (01:17:41):
So what I keep thinking about too.
As you're saying this is, asyou're doing that and you're
aspiring to like what Kate Spadehas done with her line, and I I
agree.
I have my go-to light pink KateSpade bag.
That is like tried and drew.
Yes, and I've got lipstick allover the inside of it, but I

(01:18:02):
don't care, it doesn't matter.
That is my go-to one that Ithat I grabbed cause it's easy
and it's flattering and it goeswith pretty much everything,
right?

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
Okay, where I was going with this is, as you're
you know, early stages, infantstages of building out what

(01:18:34):
their boutique or fashion lineor, you know, designing whatever
sort of line that they like.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
you're inspiring somebody else by being inspired
over here, which is reallyreally cool, yeah, and thank you
for pointing that out, cause Inever really thought about that
until you just said that, and itis interesting because I've
actually had a couple ofboutique owners Um, one is just
starting out and one has been inbusiness for a while and they

(01:19:07):
have approached me and have saidI want to be where you are, I
want to be doing what you'redoing and I have mimicked my
displays, like I haven't copiedyou, but your displays are
always amazing and I want to beknown for amazing displays and I
want to you know.
So I I'm always like flatteredto hear that, but, like you

(01:19:31):
saying that right now, like, yes, I hope that I am inspiring
people.
And when I, when it came outthat I lent my second collection
landed in Macy's and BeverlyHills, the Star Tribune did an
article on me and and the do youhave that thing framed?

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
It is, it's in my book.

Speaker 2 (01:19:52):
Yes, and I have like 25 extra copies.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
I love it I want a copy.
I'm serious.

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
Next time I see you I'll give you a copy.

Speaker 1 (01:20:02):
I'm going to brag about you See my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
Well, and it's funny because I hired a photographer
and a model for that collectioneven before it had won the
contest.
And as I won the contest andthe newspaper is going to do an
article on me, all of a suddenit dawned on me I'm like I need
to give this model a heads upthat she's going to be all over
the newspaper Because obviouslythey put in a picture of me, but

(01:20:32):
a lot of the pictures were ofmy model of the, because they
are the ones modeling theclothing.
Um, so I reached out to themodel and I said I just want to
give you a heads up that you'regoing to pretty much be all over
the newspaper.
You know, next week or whatever.
Um, so that was really funny.
But yeah, I had a lot of people, even when that article came

(01:20:57):
out, like I had one guy reachout to me and he said wow, I'm
not even, I'm not in fashion,I'm not in designing clothing.
I'm in a completely differentbusiness, different industry.
But your story was so inspiringto me because I think he was
actually going into finance.
But he's like I'm looking tostart my own finance company.

(01:21:18):
I don't feel like I know whatI'm doing, but I feel like I
know enough to start and yourstory has completely inspired me
to just go for it.
So just stuff like that that Imean completely not industry
related, but just the fact thatI inspired people to do that.
And then I actually had a younggirl come up to me at one of my

(01:21:42):
events and say you've inspiredme to maybe want to do fashion
design someday.
I didn't think anybody could doit in Minnesota.
I thought you had to be in NewYork or California.
You know one of the fashion.
States but you've inspired mebecause you, you know, whatever.
So those stories are stillthere, Um, and I don't

(01:22:06):
necessarily give myself enoughcredit all the time that I am
inspiring people, you know somuch credit.
So you've helped remind me ofthat.

Speaker 1 (01:22:14):
You just continue being humble right, like and I
think that there is something tobe said about that too Allison,
it's like, it's beautiful howhumbled you are.
Like you, you're so humbleabout it, and that's really cool
too.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
But I know sometimes we, we look to all of this and
go wow, yeah, and I think,sometimes I know for a fact,
sometimes, yeah, and youprobably feel the same way too,
like you're not giving yourselfenough credit you know and I not
at all and I feel I wish theremaybe this is I don't between

(01:22:51):
you and I can help people, evenourselves, like, how do we allow
ourselves to give ourselvesenough credit sometimes?
Because life moves fast, right,and if you don't stop and give
yourself enough credit sometimes, you that's.
That's a big part of thejourney that I think we're
missing out on.
You know, um, when I wasfeatured in the newspaper, one

(01:23:14):
of my girlfriends did call meand she was, I mean, she was
literally sobbing for me and Iwasn't even in tears, I mean I
was just.
I mean I was excited, don't getme wrong.
I was celebrating and excited,but she literally called me,
crying, and she's like you, likethis is incredible and you're
not.
I don't think you're givingyourself enough credit, I don't

(01:23:34):
think you've realized whatyou've accomplished, and you
know, and she and, but her phonecall made me realize like, yeah
, maybe I'm not giving myselfenough credit every once in a
while you know to.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
I know what it is.
I think I've got a well, I knowpart of why this is the case,
and this is because you and Iare very similar that we just
want to keep going going going.
It's just kind of a part of ourDNA.
Yeah, like we got to have thehouse clean and we got to do
this and we've got to have thisin place, right, and that's

(01:24:08):
because we're wired that way.
It's hard to like slow down andactually like relish in what is
happening.

Speaker 2 (01:24:16):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
Because the other side of that, too, is you're
like okay, well, what's next?

Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
Yes, oh yes.
How do I keep coming from this?
And you?

Speaker 1 (01:24:25):
know, just keep stacking all of this and there
is something about having toactually slow down means that
you have to do this reflection.
And I think sometimes, if I'mgoing to think about it from my
perspective, that means, if I'mgoing to reflect on it, that

(01:24:46):
I've got to actually think aboutthe good and the not so good.
Yes, yes, exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
And that's where you can learn Right and the not so
good.
Yes, yes, exactly.
And that's where you can learnright, right and when you
reflect, it helps shut your minddown a little bit.
It kind of pulls out some ofthe noise that you're not
allowing space for, and that'swhere you can allow space for
the good stuff.
Right, and yes, and I took apersonality test years ago, it

(01:25:13):
was through work, and one of mytop five is I'm futuristic.
So, I'm constantly looking inthe future, which is great
because I can kind of see.

Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
It was Clifton, wasn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
Clifton Strength, yes , yes exactly, which is why I
think, going back to ourconversation about the limited,
I'm like I already see in a fewyears, this company is not going
to make it because they're notpivoting to their customers.
They're not pivoting to what'shappening in fashion and retail
and the consumer that's walkinginto their store every day.
I could already see it, and sothat's also like in my own

(01:25:45):
business.
I'm like I already know where Isee myself in six months, or in
this is where I want to be in ayear, or this is whatever.
In six months, or in this iswhere I want to be in a year, or
this is whatever.
But, like ask my kids, there isa checklist on my island at any
given moment with 55 things onit and I might knock 10 of those

(01:26:05):
off, but then 15 more are goingto get added.

Speaker 1 (01:26:09):
And.

Speaker 2 (01:26:10):
I never want to, or I'm.
I do my best to not missanything with the kids.
So if I have the choice betweenknocking 10 things off my list
especially if five of them arefor my business, or going to my
son's speech event, there's noquestion where I'm going to be.
I'm going to be at my son'sspeech event right.

Speaker 1 (01:26:29):
This is called prioritizing, Prioritizing,
right.

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
So some of that too, you know, like some of the
things I wanted to accomplish inthe last two months.
It has been kind of an insanecouple of months for me.

Speaker 1 (01:26:41):
It's the summer.

Speaker 2 (01:26:43):
It's the summer and I just sent my son to Argentina
for a foreign exchange programand getting him ready for that
and, yeah, you know, wrapping upa dance season for my daughter
and now she's starting anotherone this week, and so some of
that stuff too takes time, andyou know, and we can't, we're

(01:27:03):
not wired.
Even though I don't sit verywell, we, as humans, we're not
wired to go 24 seven.
You can't you know, so some ofthe downtime I have, which is
hard for me, like the downtime Ihave, like I want to sit
outside and enjoy the birds andthe flowers and maybe just read
a magazine or do a crosswordpuzzle even though there's 50

(01:27:26):
other things I should be doing,but I'm trying to have some
downtime and allow myself someof that, Do you?

Speaker 1 (01:27:32):
feel like that is what a form of self-care looks
like for you.
Yes, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:27:37):
And I'm trying to get real better at that.
I'm trying to get better atself-care, because I tend to go
and go and go.
And then I don't know that I'veI've kind of put myself over the
limit until I maybe get sick,or or mentally I can't even
think about anything anymorebecause I'm so mentally drained,
or mentally I can't even thinkabout anything anymore because
I'm so mentally drained.
Yeah, so I'm trying to do moreself-care.

(01:27:58):
Um, and then the older we get,to write like it becomes more of
a thing, and so, yeah, justtrying to allow myself to do
that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
Okay, I'm going to ask you this follow-up question,
then, which is if you couldwave the magic wand of what
self-care would idealisticallylook like for you.
What would it look like?

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
Oh, I've thought about that.
It's funny that you asked that,because just in the last few
months I was talking to agirlfriend of mine and we were
talking about how, growing up onSundays for me, we went to
church and we went to brunch andthen we didn't really do much

(01:28:40):
else because it was it was God'sday, sunday, I mean, and I grew
up in North Dakota so youcouldn't even shop on Sundays
until, like, I was in highschool or maybe after I even
left high school.
You couldn't shop, and so youand I use shopping as an example
, cause that's probably where Iwould have been Is at the mall.

Speaker 1 (01:29:00):
It's me too.
Yeah, I would have been at themall.

Speaker 2 (01:29:03):
But it was God's day.
It was a day of rest you know,and talking to my girlfriend
about that yeah, you can't, youcan't help some of the things,
the activities that arehappening with your kids on
Sundays, right, like, yeah, I'mnot going to not go to something
on Sunday because it's whatever, but I'm trying to maybe get

(01:29:23):
back to that a little bit where,if we don't actually have
anything on a Sunday, could Ihave a day of rest?
Could I have?
Maybe I knocked two things offmy list, two or three instead of
15.
And maybe those two or threeare the big ones, like the ones
that I will feel really goodabout if I can get them done and

(01:29:45):
allow the rest of the day to bewhatever it is, just allow the
date of ebb and flow as it'ssupposed to, versus trying to
control every minute of everyhour.
And the way that I've alsostarted to maybe allow that to
happen a little bit is kind ofgoing back to your question from

(01:30:05):
a little while ago of, like,how do you do it all, being a
mom and an entrepreneur and aday job, and I set a timer, and
that has been a big game changerfor me.
So, because we're all like, oh,I'm like, let's just say I want

(01:30:25):
to add more things to my siteand send out an email.
Okay, I do that.
Well, all of a sudden, I get atext from a friend.
Oh well, that's funny.
Oh, she sent me an Instagramthing.
Oh, that was cute.
Oh, now I'm in Instagram andfour other things popped up.
Oh yeah, that was funny.
Oh, that reminded me I wasgoing to send one of my brothers
this because it reminded me ofhim.
Oh yeah, I should call my momand dad.

(01:30:47):
Do we have our vacation plansplanned for the holidays?
Or, all of a sudden, I am offin some other planet and it's an
hour and a half later and Ihave not really accomplished
anything.
So, by setting a timer 20minutes, a half an hour, an hour
, depending on what I want toaccomplish, it is phone is

(01:31:12):
turned over.
What I want to accomplish, itis phone is turned over.
The only reason I will answerit or whatever, is if it's one
of my kids.
They get priority, otherwise itis heads down.
There's no going on Instagram,there's no whatever.
It is heads down, and that hasbeen a game changer.
It is amazing what you canaccomplish in 20 minutes or even

(01:31:34):
an hour if there are no otherdistractions.

Speaker 1 (01:31:38):
So 100% yes, there is realities.
And actually I've got this, myproductivity planner Ooh, which
literally Okay, I might need toget one of those Speaks exactly
to what you're talking about,okay, and it's all about, like,
setting the priorities for forthe day, and it can be three to

(01:31:58):
five priorities yes you mighthave the whole list and, believe
me, it's on the left hand sideof the page.
it's um, what are you gratefulfor today?
What's your intentionality forthe day?
Part of the page has like,literally from six o'clock in
the morning until like nine or10 o'clock at night, like
scheduling everything out.

(01:32:19):
Yeah, and then your toppriorities, like here are my
three main priorities.
Like I've got to get these donetoday.

Speaker 2 (01:32:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:26):
Secondary and then additional.

Speaker 2 (01:32:28):
Oh my gosh.
And then on the other side ofthe page as you open it up.

Speaker 1 (01:32:32):
It's just like kind of like lined paper, yeah, and
so I literally write everythingout on there and then take the
top things to focus on and putit in.
Yeah, and you set timers foryourself.
I'm not.
I'm human.
I'm not perfect at this.

Speaker 2 (01:32:49):
Right, oh, no sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:32:50):
As the summer has really gotten in a full swing.
I am as far away from that aspossible.
Yeah, but it's setting a 30minute timer for yourself to see
how much of that first priorityyou can get done.
Yeah, and you gauge like, oh, Ithink I can get this done in

(01:33:11):
like two or three 30 minutesegments and you just cross out
like how many times it actuallytakes you to get done telling me
about that and explaining howit works.
Going back to like if I couldwave my magic wand.

Speaker 2 (01:33:34):
What does self-care look like?
It's maybe having Sundays withnothing on my to-do list.
If I have that productivityplanner, guess what.
I'm going to try and planeverything on the six other days
and maybe something will fallinto Sunday.
Right, like life isn't life ebband flows.
So maybe something will fall onthat Sunday, but I can do

(01:33:55):
everything I can to try and plannothing on Sunday and maybe
going it.
Maybe every once in a while Iwill have a Sunday where I don't
.
I don't have to do anythingbecause I got it all done on the
other six days.

Speaker 1 (01:34:11):
You could just challenge yourself.
I got it all done on the othersix days.
You could just challengeyourself right, challenge
yourself to like.
You know, I'm going to try itthis week.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
Yes, oh.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
I did it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:19):
Okay, let's try it for another week.

Speaker 1 (01:34:20):
Okay, I did it All.
Right, you know, you just kindof keep pushing the envelope a
little bit more, right, allright, I did it, I did it, I did
it Great.

Speaker 2 (01:34:29):
Or even if it's a day where I know I've got this
going on, or maybe it's even aSaturday.
I know I'm going to be here andhere and here.
There's no way I'm pretty muchgoing to get anything else done.
So maybe everything else shifts, Maybe on Sunday becomes my day
of you.
Know, I do need to do somethings on Sunday in order to

(01:34:50):
have my Saturday all for thisevent or this or my daughter's
dance competition or whatever itmight be so our church
challenged us to incorporate ina Sabbath time period and and
what was really great is that indoing this challenge, they
didn't say it had to be on aSunday.

Speaker 1 (01:35:13):
Right, they were like when is it going to work for
your schedule?
And so what we did for ourfamily is we challenged
ourselves, Um, and and I setthis because with real estate
and that other business, yeah.
Clients want to go out and lookat houses and and then there's

(01:35:33):
negotiation of deals and stuffthat are happening, and that's
sometimes happening on Saturdaysand sometimes it's happening on
Sundays.
But I was like typicallySaturday evenings to like Sunday
noon timeframe, not a lot ofstuff was happening and so I
literally was like that's goingto be our Sabbath period.

(01:35:55):
So from Saturday after dinneruntil we got back from church on
Sunday right around noon, notechnology like we were doing,
we were engaged with each other.
How were we focusing on?
Like building that relationshipwith God, and that was our

(01:36:16):
Sabbath time period.

Speaker 2 (01:36:17):
I love that and I really want to get back to it.
Yes, I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:36:21):
Yeah, it's.
It's interesting that you bringthat up, and that was it was
interesting, challengingourselves, and we did it and it
was really nice.
We did it earlier this year andit was really nice.
And I will say there is rewardsto you when you set
intentionality, things like thatin place.

(01:36:43):
God, the universe, like you,are rewarded because we are not
built to work 24, 7, 65 and ahalf Exactly.
We're just not Exactly.
We should rest.

Speaker 2 (01:36:59):
Because and then that's where things start to
align better, right, like yousaid, the universe.
You get those rewards becauseall of a sudden, you've allowed
yourself that time, like yousaid, no technology, family time
, whatever that looks like, andthings are, you know, planned
out in the planner and whatever,and I mean even just your mind,

(01:37:21):
right, like if you know, liketoday you have four things in
there you want to accomplish andyou accomplish those.
You're gonna be like great, andthen, as it starts to even
become more like that over time,it just frees your mind up
versus I don't know about you,but everyone's fault.
I'm just.
I walk around half the timejust worried, like, okay, I want

(01:37:43):
to get that done.
How am I going to get that done?
Yep, okay, I'm going to do that.
Oh, nope.
Now my friends invited me to gojet skiing.
Yeah, I really want to go jetskiing.

Speaker 1 (01:37:51):
I have got to show this to you.
I am I rarely ever do this, butI'm going to do it.
I am popping on to social mediabecause I've got to show you
this.
This is literally whatmotherhood feels like to me
sometimes.
That's what it feels like.

(01:38:12):
That's literally like I feellike.
I'm like, yeah, wait, oh, overhere, over here.
Oh my gosh, oh what the kidsover here, maddie's over there
like oh, I gotta do this for thepodcast.
Oh, I forgot about this for thepodcast.
Like I literally yeah sometimesfeel like that, but something
like the productivity planner.
To get back to a little bit ofa serious note, yeah, so

(01:38:36):
incredible.
It has been game changer for meand it took a couple different
planners, like I did the bulletjournal for a while.
Yep, I've heard of that onewhich was a good start for me.
It was a really good start, yeah, but I migrated to this and my
sister-in-law actually she wasmy secret Santa and she gifted

(01:39:00):
this to me and I was, like youknow, pretty darn set on the
bullet journal.
I was like it's working, Likewhy upset the apple cart?
And then it literally wascoming to up to the start of the
new year and I was going tohave to make a choice, Like am I
going to get another bulletjournal or do I just use the
thing that was given to mecomplimentary?
as a gift, so I was like allright, I'm going to commit to it
.
I haven't even looked back atthe bullet journal Like this is

(01:39:22):
exactly what my life and brainneeded.

Speaker 2 (01:39:26):
And I'm so happy I'm going to make my.
If my kids don't listen to thisentire podcast, I'm going to
make them listen to the last fewminutes because my daughter
it's funny, she's called me outon a few times.
She's like Mom, you're justkind of constantly all over the
board You're like in 55different things right now and
I'm like, I am because I'mtrying to uphold, like keep our

(01:39:49):
household afloat.
I'm trying, I've got my careerduring the day.
I've got my business, which isalso another career.
I want to make sure I make itto your things.
I want to make sure I make itto everything that Jaden needs
to.
You know my son and um and alsomaybe have a little bit of time

(01:40:10):
to you know self-care and takeour dog for a walk.
So yeah, I am in 50, but Iactually, to a certain degree, I
thrive in it.
I love having you thrive in thechaos?
I thrive in the chaos a littlebit, but it needs to be a little
bit more organized.

Speaker 1 (01:40:28):
I need organized chaos right, okay, so we're
going to start to land the planehere and I want to speak to
your lovely daughter as she'slistening to this part of the
podcast like honey, just waituntil you potentially have your
own children and you'll totallyunderstand.
In the back of my head, I'mlike one day.
I hope she says oh now I get it, I understand understand.

Speaker 2 (01:40:51):
And now I and I understand, and I'm going to
make my mom listen to this partof the podcast too.
I now understand too my momsometimes was going crazy just
to try and keep everythingafloat Right, and that's just
keeping things afloat.
That's not even necessarilyaccomplishing a ton of things on
top of just keeping everythingafloat Right.

Speaker 1 (01:41:11):
So, oh yeah, that could be a whole podcast, okay,
okay.
So I had two questions backfrom when we were talking about
Kate Spade.
So first question as, as afashion designer at heart and
you own your own boutique, is itchallenging, like you've got
this love for Kate Spade right.

(01:41:32):
Do you have some of stuff fromher lines partnered with the
stuff from your boutique?
Or are you like I've got tojust like own this, like I am
only wearing stuff from myboutique or accessorizing from
my own boutique?

Speaker 2 (01:41:48):
Okay, that's a great question that you're asking,
because I am a mix of all sortsof fashion.
So, I can take an $8 tank topfrom Target and a pair of pants
from my boutique with a KateSpade bag and I'll feel like a
million bucks.
So that is my ultimate type ofstyling that I do.

(01:42:12):
Is my ultimate type of stylingthat I do?
I would say a lot of my styling, like what I'm wearing today,
is from my boutique.
Yeah Right, so a lot of it is,and it's taken me a couple of
years to get very confident inwhat I buy for my boutique
because I used to kind of tryand dabble in different types of
styles and I would take achance on things that I didn't

(01:42:34):
really feel great about, but Iwould buy them anyway to sell,
and that was all.
that's all the stuff I alwayshave left over.
Anything, I second guess issome of the stuff that doesn't
sell very well.
So, and I think that's not tosay that you're never not going
to have I mean, you walk intoany pretty much retail store or
boutique, there's always a salerack right, there's some stuff

(01:42:55):
that like maybe didn't sell aswell.
It just didn't sell as well orpeople change their minds or
whatever it might be.
So not to say that you canalways get rid of that.
But I've just become moreconfident in my customer on what
I'm bringing to them and whatthey're looking for.
And if somebody doesn'tnecessarily love color or

(01:43:16):
ruffles or love to be kind oftrendy, they're probably not my
customer If they only want to bein athleisure stuff every
single day and not be kind of alittle bit more fun dressed or
something with color whateverfeminine, yes then you're

(01:43:37):
probably not my customer andthat's okay, and but that's
taken me a couple of yearsbecause it it's goes back to
that saying like, if you'retrying to serve everybody, you
serve nobody, you know?
So, um, but I do have a lot ofpeople who you know whether it's
at the events I have at myhouse or pop-up events or

(01:44:00):
charity events or whatever thathave come up to me that have
said you are like my favoriteboutique to buy for to buy from,
and that then I know I'm doingeverything right.

Speaker 1 (01:44:11):
You are.
You're knocking it out of thepark.
Oh, thank you, at least for mebecause I'm a, I'm a mix for,
for my fashion sense, personally, like I always want to have
classic staple pieces, yes, butI like to inject color.
I like to inject the feminineside of things.

(01:44:31):
Yes, I think my husband umhusband has shared this with me
a time or two.
He's like I just love when youkind of wear a little mix of
athletic yeah, because I am anathlete at heart.

Speaker 2 (01:44:45):
Yes, yes, it's part of who you are.
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:44:49):
Yes, excuse me, as I come I like, have a little
tickle yeah, a little tickle,but you know it's.
It's a mix, and what I loveabout your boutique is I get to
play in that really femininepart of like.
It's just always been like.

(01:45:09):
I've always loved the rufflesand the lace and color the color
, yes, and especially in thisparticular season of life, when
I am interviewing women for apodcast that's talking about
reclaiming your hue andflamingos and the pink like.
So.
This was formerly Maddie'snursery, oh, and now she's got

(01:45:33):
the room next door and thisblush color of the wall is like
I think that that is truly likealways and forever going to be a
favorite.
And then the Kelly green colortoo, oh yes.
And they're complimentary.
Yeah absolutely so.
When I tried on the pink pairof pants, I was like, oh, I

(01:45:54):
actually could do this.
Nope, we're going to wear thekhakis, the khaki colored pants.
I should say but I love whatyou're doing with the boutique
and it's incredible.
And my other follow-up question, speaking of your daughter,
let's talk about the name ofyour boutique too, and where

(01:46:17):
that originated from the origin.

Speaker 2 (01:46:19):
So I remember rocking her to sleep.
So she was I mean, she waslittle obviously, and I was at
the time I was just starting tokind of think of starting my own
business fashion design.
And I was trying to think ofwhat I was going to name it.
I knew I wanted maybe part ofmy name or whatever, and I

(01:46:44):
mostly go by Allison, but I havehad friends that call me Allie
and so I was rocking her tosleep one night and her name is
Madison and people kept askingme after she was born are you
going to be okay if people callher Maddie and I?
said yes, I think Maddie's justas adorable as Madison.
So I said whatever she wants togo by will be perfectly fine.

(01:47:07):
So I was rocking her to sleepone night and I was in my head
of like.
So I was rocking her to sleepone night and I was in my head
of like, what, what name do I?
What?
What should I name my business?
And or, and and right above hercrib was her name, madison, and
I was looking at it and Ithought, yep, and people are,
I'm going to be okay with peoplecalling her Maddie.

Speaker 1 (01:47:28):
And all of a sudden I was like that's it, it's Allie
Maddie, because it shortens myname and hers, and that's that's
where it yeah, it's so, it's sosweet and she's listening to
this right now and she'sprobably like maybe a tad bit
embarrassed, but at the sametime of course she's a 14 year
old girl, of course she'sembarrassed, but sometimes

(01:47:51):
that's kind of fun when I know Ican embarrass her.
It is kind of fun every once ina while you know she, she can
look back at some point and gowow yeah, that's so cool.
I had a boutique partiallynamed after me.

Speaker 2 (01:48:03):
Absolutely, absolutely, and she's actually
helped me make some decisions onthings.
If I'm like I am, I'mstruggling, should I do this or
this?
And then she'll say do this,I'm like okay, well, what better
person, who?

Speaker 1 (01:48:16):
what better person than a girl at that particular
age, where, like, that's wherethe trends lie primarily like
most are aiming towards that.
There's a an age range right,and then a lot of us just adopt
it from there.
Exactly.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:48:36):
I might be completely off base on that, but it's it
feels like for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:48:41):
Like I'm looking back at some of the girls who are
walking around here in Edina andyou know, we've got some
friends that live just a fewblocks away and they've got a 11
, almost 12 year old and then a15, 14, 15 year old Like I think
there's just a few years apartand I'm literally looking at the

(01:49:01):
trends and what they're wearingand I'm like is that, is that?
Is that it?
Right, right, because that'swhat I was wearing back in, like
the nineties.

Speaker 2 (01:49:10):
I know, I know, and then also just the very like
athleisure, little lululemonshorts and a tank top or
whatever it is.
But and even though that's okay, maybe for them to wear to
school or to dance or whatever.
But I mean it could change orshift, but when they are going

(01:49:31):
to work someday, my guess isthat's not what they're going to
be wearing no right they I meanso it'll be interesting to see.
But I thought there it'll beinteresting to see what that
generation ends up going intowork but I know I'm hoping they
keep the ruffles and the colorsand the you know, know, let's

(01:49:51):
just, let's just ensure thatthat's the case and keep
purchasing stuff from your tokeep that going.

Speaker 1 (01:49:59):
Okay, so we've been slowly landing the plane.
A couple of final questions towrap everything up.
The first question is what's apiece of advice that you would
give a younger version ofyourself knowing all that you
know now?

Speaker 2 (01:50:15):
Yeah, To just more or less, I think, believe in
yourself.
Have the confidence that, nomatter how it ebbs and flows, if
you have the confidence,everything's still going to turn
out just as it should.

(01:50:35):
Belief and confidence, beliefand confidence and it's like I
even tell my the women that comeand shop from me.
They're like I love this top,but I don't think I can pull it
off.
I don't normally wear thiscolor.
I don't normally have big aruffle on my sleeve, don't
normally wear this color.
I don't normally have big aruffle on my sleeve and I it's

(01:50:56):
what I tell them like 75% ofbeing able to pull something off
is the confidence to wear it.
And all of a sudden their eyesjust light up.
Oh, you mean, if I can justhave the confidence to put it on
, I'm going to look okay in it.

Speaker 1 (01:51:08):
I'm like you're going to look more than okay in it.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
So it's honestly, it just comes back.
Just have confidence, you knowand it's not to say that
everything's going to be perfect, because it's not, but it'll
help you through it.
You know, and I would also tellmyself my younger self too,
like, or anyone wanting to starta business whatever you do,

(01:51:32):
make sure you're passionateabout it, Because when the, when
the low valleys hit, if you'reat least passionate about what
you're doing, even or believe init, that's what'll get you
through it.
You know, like the, the daythat I realized that I was
planning for a trade show in thewrong season, I mean, that's

(01:51:53):
almost catastrophic to a certaindegree, but I I have enough.
Pat, like that is not going tostop me from making this a
success.

Speaker 1 (01:52:02):
You know, I I had another woman on the podcast
pretty early on and she and shesaid something very similar in
the same vein, but also she goesand some listeners might hear
this and go.

(01:52:22):
Absolutely not.
But I do think that there'srelevance and truth to this,
that if all the money were to goaway, would I still want to do
this.
All the money were to go awaywould I still want to do this,
and if the answer is yes, likehands down bar none, like hell

(01:52:46):
yes or hell no Absolutely.
If it's a hell yes, then youbetter do it.
Yes, oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:52:50):
I mean, and the thing is, unless we all start walking
around naked, I'll always havesomething that somebody needs.
That's also part of it, right,I mean?
And there is billions ofdollars worth of clothes out
there.
So it's not that I'm not goingto do it, because, well, why are
they coming to me?
Because they can go somewhereelse.

(01:53:11):
I am in it because I, I believein myself and I, I believe I
have something that there are alot of women that want.
And again, if I had to do itfor free, would I do it
Absolutely.
It is ingrained in me, it is,it has been a part of me ever

(01:53:31):
since I can remember, you know.
So I mean people when I wasyounger.
They were like you were just awalking fashion plate.
You know Cause I?
loved putting together outfitsand loved doing.
You know what a compliment too.

Speaker 1 (01:53:46):
Yeah, well, you answered my other question, and
so um the last question.
You made it all the way through.

Speaker 2 (01:53:53):
You did great.

Speaker 1 (01:53:54):
You even came with your notes and you didn't even
have to use them.
That's incredible, right?
I always like to say, likenobody knows your story better
than you do right.
So, you've knocked it out ofthe park.
How can people get connected toyou?

Speaker 2 (01:54:08):
Yeah, so people can get connected to me through my
site, which is alimadicomA-L-I-M-A-D-Icom.
You can email me through thesite, you can follow me on
Facebook and you can find me onInstagram, and I'm always open
to meeting, connecting withpeople and whatever that looks

(01:54:32):
like, and even helping peoplestart off, however they can.
I'll probably have a marketingplan an hour later after we meet
for their business, becausethat's just how I'm wired as
well.
I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:54:44):
I am so honored that you took the time to come.
I know that we're kind ofsqueezing things in so that we
can jet off to other parts ofour daily schedule, and I'm with
you on that too.
But thank you, yeah, I justadore you.
And this is so fun, and I evengot a pair of pants.

Speaker 2 (01:55:04):
Well, and the feelings are mutual because I
adore you as well and I'm sohappy you're part of my life now
, and not only as a friend butin our business journeys
together, and I'm just honoredthat you had me on your podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:55:17):
I want to.
I want to just throw somethingout to the listeners as a little
teaser to that.
I think that there is an areaof opportunity here for us to do
some sort of collaborationoutside of what we're doing with
the podcast right now.

Speaker 2 (01:55:28):
So I'm I'm all in, stay tuned, stay tuned.

Speaker 1 (01:55:32):
We're going to just dangle that little carrot out
there for the listeners Perfect.
Thank you so much.
I hope you have a great rest ofthe day.

Speaker 2 (01:55:39):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:55:41):
Um, we'll be chatting very soon.
Sounds wonderful.
Thank you again for having me.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Thanks for listening, and ifyou enjoyed this episode and
know of any inspiring mamas whoare powerhouse entrepreneurs,
please help connect them withmyself and the show.
It would mean so much if youwould help spread this message,
mission and vision for othermompreneurs.

(01:56:01):
It takes 30 seconds to rate andreview.
Then share this episode withyour friends Until the next
episode.
Cheers to reclaiming your hue.

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Ep. 64 with Allyson Reinert | Founder & Owner, Ali Mada Boutique

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 64 with Allyson Reinert | Founder & Owner, Ali Mada Boutique