July 21, 2023 • 46 mins
Somewhere in the Middle Welcomes Wellness & Spa Business Coach Gael Wood
Gael Wood is a massage and spa professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry. She graduated from massage school at the age of 19 and then went on to open her very own day spa and therapeutic massage center in 2003, which she ran for 6 years.
In 2013, Gael launched her first online business, which she managed along with her career as a Massage Therapist. As the online businesses began to take off, she made the decision to retire from the hands-on massage work in 2016 and concentrate on using her extensive knowledge and experience to create tailored training and coaching materials and courses for estheticians, massage, and spa professionals.
Gael is the co-host and co-founder of the Global Wellness Professionals Marketing Summits and The Work Freedom Summit. She was honored to be inducted into the World Massage Hall of Fame and featured as a Massage Magazine All-Star in 2019.
Since giving up hands-on massage work and concentrating on her online businesses, Gael has been prolific with her creativity. To date, she has created over 60 successful online courses, launched popular Massage and Spa Marketing Content Clubs, written and self-published more than 15 eBooks, and created a library of invaluable resources for massage, beauty, and spa professionals such as the popular Massage and Spa Resource Bundles. Gael has always been fascinated by Feng Shui, and this led her to study at the International Feng Shui School. In 2019 she gained certification in Feng Shui, enabling her to carry out consultations as another part of her business. She has since trained in Life and Business Coaching through The Rebel Millionaire Coach Certification Program and successfully completed her training in 2021.
Most recently, Gael has created the ELEVATE Mastermind, which is a program for people who want to learn about adding an online business to their income streams or segue into online business. She currently runs a low-cost subscription program alongside this called The Monthly Challenge Club for Entrepreneurs, and she teaches online business strategy through The Elevate Mastermind.
Gael is happiest when she is in creator mode, finding new ideas for courses, marketing content, and books. She is constantly inspired to create more courses and materials - and continues to launch new ideas. She loves to educate herself and discover new ideas, learning as much as she can through reading books, doing online research, and studying online classes and programs to boost her knowledge.
Her number one wish is that what she does can inspire other people, and she aims to help as many people as she can to thrive with her courses, books, and programs.
Gael lives in Boone, North Carolina, with her husband Dave and son Santino who she has been homeschooling since March 2020. She also has an older daughter, Grace.
Connect with GaelFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaelwoodsuccesscoach
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevate_with_gael_wood/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaelwood/
Website: https://www.elevatewithgael.com/
Find Gael's Books Online: https://www.elevatewithgael.com/shop
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michele A. Barard (02:07):
Happy Friday, everyone. Welcome to somewhere
in the middle with MicheleBarard. I'm your host, Michele
Barard, founder and CEO ofMichele, a broad LLC. And I'm
really pleased to share thishour with you, where we examine
all those places where spiritmeets life, and the joys and
challenges that may bring youguys know I'd like to start by
thanking Miss Beverly black andtribe family channel for helping
(02:29):
me create this space for us.Trapp Family Channel is home
tours in the assortment ofthought provoking shows that
explore life, spirit, businessand culture, including woman at
the well hosted by Miss Beverlyblack herself. Somewhere in the
middle was born on Trapp Familychannel. And though we have
grown onto our own platform,wherever grateful and loyal to
our roots, to paraphrase anAfrican proverb, we're here only
(02:51):
because we stand on theshoulders of those who came
before us. I want to thank myguests on the June 16, show,
teen zycus founder and CEO ofgetting black women paid, you
can connect with teen on socialmedia and at her website, www
dot getting black womenpaid.com. If you missed that
(03:14):
show, make sure you listen tothe replay. You can find our
complete show archives includingthe June 16 show at the summer
in the middle podcast.com. Ialso want to shout out Bruce
George of the geniuses commonmovement which encourages all of
us to embrace our inner geniusand share it with the world. It
is really important that weshare this message with the
(03:35):
young people but remember, it'snot just for the youth. We all
need to be reminded sometimesthat the world needs our genius.
Learn more about the geniusescalm and movement at WWW dot
geniuses common.com Now, thismonth's guest is an absolute joy
to work with and converse with.Gail Wood is a massage and spa
(03:58):
professional with over 25 yearsof experience in the industry.
She graduated from massageschool at the age of 19 and then
went on to open her very own dayspa and therapeutic massage
center in 2003, which she ranfor six years. In 2013. Gail
launched her first onlinebusiness, which she managed
(04:19):
along with her career as amassage therapist. As the online
business began to take off, shedecided to retire from the hands
on massage work in 2016 andconcentrate on using her
extensive knowledge andexperience to create tailored
training and coaching materialsand courses for estheticians and
massage and spa professionals.Gail is the co host and co
(04:41):
founder of the global wellnessprofessional marketing summits
in the work freedom Summit. Shewas honored to be inducted into
the world massage Hall of Fameand featured as massage magazine
all star in 2019 since giving upHands On massage work and
concentrating on her onlinebusinesses. Gail has been
(05:04):
prolific with her creativity. Todate she has created over 60
successful online courseslaunched popular massage and spa
marketing content clubs, writtenand self published more than 15
ebooks and created a library ofinvaluable resources for massage
Beauty and Spa professionalssuch as the popular massage and
(05:27):
spa resource bundles. Gail hasalways been fascinated by feng
shui which led her to study atthe International Fung Shui
school in 2018. She gainscertification in Fung Shui
enabling her to conductconsultations as another part of
her business. She has sincetrained in life and business
coaching through the rebelmillionaires coach certification
(05:49):
program, and completed hertraining in 2021. Most recently,
Gail has created the elevatmastermind, a program for people
who want to learn about addingan online business to their
income streams, or segue intoonline business. She currently
runs a low cost subscriptionprogram alongside this called
(06:10):
the monthly challenge club forentrepreneurs. And she teaches
online business strategy throughthe elevat mastermind. Gail is
happiest in creator mode,finding new course ideas,
marketing, content and books.She is constantly inspired to
create more courses andmaterials and continues to
launch new ideas. She loves toeducate herself and discover new
(06:33):
ideas, learning as much aspossible through reading books,
doing online research, andstudying online classes and
programs to boost her knowledge.Her one wish is that what she
does can inspire others. And sheaims to help as many people as
possible thrive with hercourses, books and programs.
Gail lives in Boone, NorthCarolina with her husband, Dave,
(06:56):
and sons and Tino, who she hasbeen homeschooling since March
2020. She also has an olderdaughter, Grace. So I'd like to
welcome Gail wood to somewherein the middle with Michele
Barard. Gale, thank you so muchfor being on the show with me.
Gael Wood (07:11):
Oh, thanks for having me. So nice to meet you.
Michele A. Barard (07:14):
Well, I'm really excited because you
actually have an interestingbackground, and one that I love.
And I want to kind of introducethe audience to who you are by
asking two questions. So ifyou're ready, I will ask those
two questions. I'm as ready
Gael Wood (07:31):
as I'm gonna get. All right.
Michele A. Barard (07:35):
So Gale Wood, who are you? And how did you
become who you are today?
Gael Wood (07:43):
So who am I, I think that I'm a creative person,
someone who just loves to alwaysbe creating, whether it's
decorating a room, or writing abook, or planning a new class or
a new business. So I'm justalways creating a lot of people
(08:07):
tell me that I'm a good teacher.And so over time, I've realized
that that's actually true aboutme. So I think I have a knack
for taking concepts that mightbe a little complicated. A
specific example would be likemarketing, and then putting that
in a format where, you know, mymassage therapists that I work
(08:29):
with are like, Oh, you make itsound so easy. I thought it was
so hard. So a teacher, and thenmainly, and I think my whole
life has been about just seekingout freedom, and trying to be
free.
Michele A. Barard (08:47):
I think it's wonderful that you said that
because, you know, I thinkyou're the first person I've
ever interviewed who hasexpressed that. And I think
that's what most of us arelooking for in some way. What
are your thoughts?
Gael Wood (09:02):
Yeah, I think when we're when we're thinking things
like, oh, I want to make moremoney, or I want to have, you
know, this type of job orsomething. I think that that is
really what's oftentimes at thecore of that mean, sometimes it
could be other things likesecurity, or something like
that. But I think especially inthe entrepreneurial world, I
(09:23):
think freedom we are a big bunchof freedom seekers, for sure.
Michele A. Barard (09:29):
And it's funny because, you know, that's
not the first word that wouldcome to most people's minds. You
know, people think, oh, I wantmore time. I want more luxury, I
want more. You know, what doesmoney give you? Yeah, which you
accept the freedom, the time,the luxury, all of those things
(09:51):
that really amount to freedom,ultimately, freedom to make
choices. Yeah.
Gael Wood (09:57):
Freedom to pick up in go on a trip if you want to Do
or, you know, and he had timefreedom, I think is a big one.
You know how even just havingsomebody that can come and help
you with your housework? Youknow, that's freeing up your
time. So, yeah, it's just, Ithink what you love. pervasive?
Yeah.
Michele A. Barard (10:18):
That's awesome. So you know, you're
creative person, but you'realso, I think, kind of a hands
on person, you come from amassage background. In my
experience, people with massagebackgrounds also come from kind
of a, I'm gonna say spiritualplace, for lack of a better
(10:40):
term, although that can rangeright doesn't have to be like,
religious, per se, or, you know,what some people might consider
to be woowoo. But how does allthat inform what you do all of
the ways that you expressyourself creatively, but also in
your business? Yeah, I
Gael Wood (10:56):
think, Well, I think with the massage thing, you
there's a whole spectrum. Sothere's the people that are, you
know, energy work, and it's allenergy. And then you have the
people that are very, you know,therapeutic, and they don't want
anything to do with that. So wehave that whole spectrum. For
me, I always kind of fellsomewhere in the middle of that.
And that's. So, you know, like,I definitely did that
(11:19):
therapeutic work, but brought inthe aspects of the art of
massage, I guess. And I thinkit's really interesting, you
know, to massage differentpeople all day, every massage is
different, every person isdifferent. And you create each
session for each person, eventhough you may have a basic
(11:42):
protocol or routine that they'renever going to be exactly the
same. So and then through doingmassage, there's just all kinds
of other elements that you canexperiment with. And, you know,
there's the, the oils and theproducts, which I love. There's
the music. And then when I hadmy own business, that I was
(12:05):
like, Oh, my gosh, I get todecorate. might create a place
that is really fun as well.
Michele A. Barard (12:15):
So even a massage is in and of itself, its
own creative endeavor. It soundslike
Gael Wood (12:21):
Yeah, yeah. And you're,
Michele A. Barard (12:24):
and then you translated that into a business
where you are helping othermassage therapists now?
Gael Wood (12:32):
I did. Yeah. So after about 16 to 18 years in massage,
and having, you know, run my ownbusiness worked for other people
run a couple of different typesof businesses. I just was like,
Okay, what's next? I had I had aclient tell me the other day,
(12:52):
actually, that 20 years in a jobis a lifetime sentence, he goes
out, you've done one lifetimesentence in your work, you got
enough. So I had done onelifetime sentence. And I was
like, Oh, I can do next. So Ijust through running my
businesses, I realized how muchI loved the marketing and, and
(13:12):
the creativity, even like, inplanning a menu of services and
pricing it and doing spatreatments. So that was
something that I really gotinto. Yes, as a therapist, you
know, doing massage aftermassage. It's so fun to have
that variety in your day. So Iwas like, you know, I want to
(13:33):
teach other therapists thatmarketing is, it's easy, it's
fine. And you can do it.
Michele A. Barard (13:39):
That's awesome. Because people do think
it's very difficult. And I thinkthat's maybe, and I'd love to
hear your thoughts on this. Ithink it's because we view it as
you do it, and you get animmediate result. And sometimes
that happens, and other times itdoesn't.
Gael Wood (13:55):
Yeah, and that can get really frustrating. When
you're like, I did some stuffand people didn't call yet, so
it's definitely not working.Well, it is working things just
take time.
Michele A. Barard (14:06):
What do you think is the biggest challenge
to helping people get overthere? I'm gonna call it a fear
of marketing. Although that maynot be the best word. I don't
know.
Gael Wood (14:18):
I definitely think it's a fear. Yeah, there, you
know, people were afraid ofembarrassing ourselves, putting
ourselves out there and maybegetting shut down, doing
something wrong. So there's alot of different things. I
think, for me, it's, it'ssharing, like, there are so many
(14:39):
ways to do marketing, that youcan find things that feel good
to you and work for you and youdon't have to do anything that
doesn't resonate. That feelsicky to you. You don't have to
do that kind of marketing. So Ithink just the fact that it can
be really customized
Michele A. Barard (14:57):
and you don't have to be everywhere,
Gael Wood (14:59):
right? Right, yeah, exactly. If you have two
marketing activities that areworking, just keep doing those,
you know, maybe like going tothe Chamber of Commerce meetings
and talking to people in person.And you know, then there's other
aspects to it. There's likefaster marketing, slower
marketing. So So what's the, you
Michele A. Barard (15:21):
know, when you're dealing with massage
therapists, because many ofthem, I would imagine, are like
I have I work with authorsprimarily, right. And authors
write books, some of them may beexperts in marketing. Others are
experts in whatever they'reexperts in. Yeah. And so you're
teaching them this new thing?What is one of the biggest
(15:43):
things that they say, Oh, thisis terrible, I don't want to do
this.
Gael Wood (15:48):
I'm probably creating any kind of like marketing
materials. So because you know,you're a massage therapist,
you're not a graphic designer,that's out of your wheelhouse.
So things like that. And thenknowing what to say, you know,
like, we would all just love toshow up at our office and have
(16:09):
five clients every day. Don't doany of that. So I think just
knowing what to say, and, and soI have, you know, through my
courses, I try to get everybodyreally clear, like once you know
who your ideal client is,knowing what to say, is 10 times
easier, because you're nottalking to the entire world. So,
Michele A. Barard (16:32):
and I think that's challenging, too, though,
right? Because, you know, Iasked that question of my
authors, when we're working on abook marketing plan. And they're
like, Oh, everybody, like mybook? Yeah. Everybody might like
your book. Yeah.
Unknown (16:47):
And
Michele A. Barard (16:48):
how are you going to talk to everybody? So
you know, pick some folks? Howdo you get that message across
to your massage therapists?
Gael Wood (16:57):
So one example I like to use is to think about the
clients you already have? Andwho are the ones that when you
see them on your schedule,you're like, Yes, I get to do
that person today. Because thatwas probably a really good clue.
And then who are the peoplewhere you're kind of like, oh,
that person's difficult, alittle bit difficult, or, you
know, like, if I had a schedulefull of men who wanted specific
(17:23):
deep tissue work, I would not behappy. You know, I like working
with women who they want torelax, they want to take care of
themselves. And so, you know,it's just kind of like, Who do
you prefer is how I phrase it?Because we're not going to rule
anybody out. If you're a nonideal client calls you you can
still put them in your schedule.
Michele A. Barard (17:47):
Well, and and that's really interesting that
you put it that way, who do youprefer to work with? Because
there is something very tangibleabout saying, well, this person
wants this type of massage. Andit is not my preference. Yeah.
Or maybe in this is, again, Iknow so little about the
mechanics of massage. I justknow when I go, I feel great
(18:09):
afterwards. But I would imaginethat it requires different
physical requirements to do deeptissue sports, tight massage, or
whatever, versus somethingthat's more of a, I want to have
a relaxing session. So there maybe different things that people
(18:29):
take into consideration, whatkinds of things do massage
therapists take intoconsideration when they are
making decisions about theclients that they want to work
with?
Gael Wood (18:39):
Yeah, certainly, you know, what type of massage do
they want to do all day? What'stheir, you know, you know, are
they also a personal trainer? Dothey really, a lot of people are
like, I just want to work withathletes. That's amazing to me.
And I'm the total opposite ofthat. So I think it's kind of
just saying, like, if you couldplan your ideal day, you know,
(19:00):
how many clients would you have?What types of services would you
do all day? Like, for me, I'mlike, why would have some
variety? I'd have two massages,to facials, you know, one other
body wrap or something. Sometherapists hate that. They're
like, that's so much work toswitch between service and
service and get out all thosegoofy products. So it really
(19:24):
just, I think, if you thinkabout like, you know, and we
often don't think from thisplace, because we think can't
even comprehend that we can havewhatever we want. It's like we
think we just take whatever weget.
Michele A. Barard (19:38):
And now you're hitting on something I'm
really curious about or most ofyour clients, you know, that you
work with in your business,women or men.
Gael Wood (19:48):
Well, mostly women, for massage and for my marketing
and training business, but justand that's because the massage
industry is probably 80% women.Okay, yeah. And then clientele I
just prefer to work with women.
Michele A. Barard (20:04):
So I wonder about what you said about we
never imagined that we couldhave what we want that we could
just choose. And I always wonderhow much of that is about being
women? Because I, you know,there's kind of a sometimes a
stigma, I think, when women askfor what they want, it's very
(20:27):
gentle. And then society says,Why didn't you ask for it? You
know, you don't get what? Whydidn't you ask for it? The men
ask for
Gael Wood (20:34):
it. Yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't think men struggle
with that in the in the way thatwe do. So
Michele A. Barard (20:43):
that's really, to me, that's an
interesting concept. I alwaysfeel like young girls in
particular, are discouraged fromexpressing their preferences.
And as a result, we grew up intowomen who don't ask for what we
want. Although I like to thinkthis younger group, this younger
crew of young women aredefinitely more into asking for
(21:06):
what they want. What are yourthoughts?
Gael Wood (21:07):
Yeah, I see that in my daughter. She's 25. And she
has many less hangups than Ihave, and then they have some
different ones.
Michele A. Barard (21:18):
But I also wonder, I wonder if there's just
a generation gap, too, thatwe're dealing with, ya know, cuz
there's the complaint that themillennials are, they feel so
entitled. And things thatnature? And I wonder if they've
just seen the what I want tocall challenges that we've
(21:40):
experienced in our careers andtrying to build lives for for
them, for those kids. No, like,
Gael Wood (21:46):
I don't want that. I don't. Yeah,
Michele A. Barard (21:49):
I don't like the way mom and dad or mom or
dad struggled. Yeah, you knowwhat I mean, to make things nice
for me, and I want to dosomething different for myself.
Gael Wood (22:02):
I do. And I mean, I think every generation does
that. You know, you see, and youwant something different than
than what your parents had. So
Michele A. Barard (22:12):
Well, that's what the that's what the whole
FlowerPower movement was aboutback in the day, right?
Gael Wood (22:19):
Yeah. And so I don't know, does it keep going in a
circle was like, we want toHouse. We ought to live like
this. We don't want to live
Michele A. Barard (22:31):
in vans.
Gael Wood (22:33):
Now my daughter's generation, she's actually lived
in a van for a year and a half.You
Michele A. Barard (22:38):
know, and it's so funny, because then I
look and I see that freedom. Andthat's exactly taken us back to
where we were before I see thatfreedom of hey, I'm just gonna
go on the road for however longand I'm going to experience life
in a totally different way. AndI'm like, Oh, that's lovely.
Gael Wood (22:58):
And it was so it was so interesting, though, to kind
of, you know, I was talking toher regularly while she was
doing that, and there's nothingthat doesn't have its
challenges. You know, it's itwas, it seems really cool and
awesome. And she had someamazing experiences, but it's
stressful to be homeless. Yeah.And when you're living in a van,
(23:22):
like she, yeah, she chose it,but she was still homeless and
had to deal with a lot of thosethose types of issues. Like, am
I going to be safe tonight andthings like that. So
Michele A. Barard (23:34):
yeah, those are things that I've thought
about, because at one point, I'mlike, maybe I'll go ahead and
get a, you know, RV, smaller Vor something like that, and just
travel around. And I was like,Oh, I don't know how I feel
about that. Um, how did you feelas a mom? Because they're grown,
but you're still a mom?
Gael Wood (23:53):
Oh, I worried. I worried a lot, you know, but
luckily, I could text her almosteverywhere she was I could just
be like, you know, are you okay,I would check in a lot. Like, as
long as I heard from her, I wasI was good. But you know, you
don't see your child struggling.But I'm also thinking, Oh, my
gosh, this is so good for her togo through these experiences
(24:16):
and, and really learn everythingshe's learning. And I'm proud of
her, you know, she's getting todo things I didn't get to do
Michele A. Barard (24:22):
so. But as a parent, I know, for me, even
just seeing my kids, and my kidsare taking pretty traditional
routes so far. But even evenjust that, you know, as a
parent, you kind of you want tolet them go. You want to let
them go do what they're going todo. And one of them made
(24:44):
decisions where I was like, Iwould hope you would have done
that differently. But you stillhave to let them choose their
paths. I think that's one pointwhere as parents and maybe bombs
in particular, I don't know butit, it feels like such a
challenge. Did she ish? Well,first of all, she's still on the
(25:05):
road.
Gael Wood (25:06):
She's not she's living in Colorado. Okay. And
they may go travel again in thefall and then move home. So Oh,
Michele A. Barard (25:17):
awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm curious,
because I'm curious about thewhole experience. So when she,
when when they decided to settleback home or somewhere not back
home yet not with you yet, butwhen they decided to settle back
somewhere, how was thattransition for them? And how did
(25:43):
you feel? Now that that was overwhat, you know, how did you play
into that whole transition?
Gael Wood (25:49):
I mean, it was a relief to know that she had a
home in front door with and shepicked a coal town, you know,
and they just wanted toexperience living somewhere
different. I think their planhas always been to move back
here. But, you know, they saidwe want to, we don't want, they
(26:09):
don't want to have kids youngand they want to experience
things and do different things.So I'm excited for and proud of
her. And, you know, she's haddifferent experiences at
different jobs, and just lots oflots of good adulting.
Michele A. Barard (26:26):
Well, and I'm a firm believer that everybody
needs to leave their hometown,at least for a year after high
school or I think preferablyhigh school and before college,
I think college is wasted on 18year olds, but but, um, I think
it's such a great experience. Sodid you have any takeaways from
(26:46):
her experience?
Gael Wood (26:49):
Um, well, my biggest takeaway would be if you are
going to go traveling, I thinkstay in campgrounds. They wanted
to go for as long as they couldand save money, which meant they
were looking for a lot of freeplaces to stay. But I also think
(27:09):
it was it was really interestingthat, you know, it's like this
big dream that a lot of peoplehave. And in general, that, you
know, reality doesn't usuallymatch expectations.
Michele A. Barard (27:24):
It seems like it's a little bit so they what
kind of vehicle were
Gael Wood (27:27):
they? They were in just a van one of those taller
vans. Okay, her husband is realtall, like a camper van. But it
was like a work van. And theybuilt it out into a camper van.
Michele A. Barard (27:42):
Nice. So they created a moving tiny home.
Gael Wood (27:45):
Yeah, yeah. And they built it together. And now my
daughter is working at a companythat builds vans. That's
beautiful. And she does like theconsulting with people that want
to build their van and helpsthem pick out the stuff that
goes in it.
Michele A. Barard (28:00):
So she would be the person I would call if I
decided to do that.
Unknown (28:03):
No, build your custom van.
Michele A. Barard (28:07):
That's awesome. Well, it sounds like
they gained a lot of reallygreat experience. One of the
things that you learned was, ifyou want to do it go to a
campgrounds. Do you mind if Iask some of the kinds of
challenges that theyexperienced?
Gael Wood (28:21):
Well, so getting sick, was one of the hardest
things as I think twice, theygot sick with like a stomach bug
while their van doesn't have abathroom. So that's super
challenging. And you know,that's what it's handy to have a
mom, because you'll get a hotel,I'll send you the money. So I
(28:44):
definitely think you know, therewere just some things that when
you're thinking of thatlifestyle, you might not realize
like, where am I going to take ashower? Where am I? What happens
if I had need to run to thebathroom and I don't have one,
you know, but I also think thoseare the experiences where you
just learn so much selfreliance, and that you can
(29:06):
figure it out and that you cando hard things. And I also think
one of the biggest challengeswas, I mean, Grace never didn't
have somewhere to be andsomething to do. You know, I
mean, she went from high school,to college, to traveling and it
(29:29):
was like all of a sudden she hadno structure. Job, no class to
be at no paper to turn in. No,you know, activities she was
supposed to be at. And it was Ithink that was probably her her
biggest challenge was justreally planning each and every
(29:49):
day. And I mean to kind of youregulate yourself.
Michele A. Barard (29:57):
Yeah, but you know, I think that's interesting
because You know, I had kids whoare all three of my kids are
over doers. They areoverachievers not all type A
personalities, but they all areoverachievers, in their own
ways, with their days are justthat. And I kind of feel like,
(30:20):
that's such a stressful way forus to move through life. And it
can create habits that aredetrimental to our health. But
that's kind of US culture,right? structure, structure
structure, lots to do lots ofactivities, lots of you know,
assignments. Would you say thatmaybe having a little bit less
(30:43):
structure actually, maybe helpedher not get that addiction to
these winds that we getthroughout the day, I guess, I
think it's kind of a dopamineaddiction.
Gael Wood (30:57):
I think so. And I also think it really helped her.
And now I just feel like she'sgot really good boundaries.
With, like, with her workschedule, and, and with, with
doing things, she's like, I, Ilike to have my days off. And
I'm not going to get myself in asituation where I don't have my
days off. And I mean, I'vealways been like, oh, I have
(31:20):
four jobs, I just work, work,work or work.
Michele A. Barard (31:24):
So which goes back to what I was saying
before, I think this younggroup, I mean, mine are between
20 and 20, and 30. And they havea totally different vibe about
them. And I think I feel likeI've been learning so much from
them about how I want to livethis phase of my life. You
(31:44):
mentioned, basically, you werelooking for your next phase,
when you started thesebusinesses, this other business,
how has that changed thestructure of your life?
Gael Wood (31:56):
Yeah, so going from, you know, having to be somewhere
everyday to now you know, workfrom home. And I definitely, I
struggle with getting thingsdone. Because there's always
something else to do. You know,like, I have a whole list here
today, but I just moved myChristmas tree over there. And
(32:21):
of course, half the ornamentsfell off. So my dog needs a
lock, I hear a pasting rightnow. So it is it is hard, you
know, and working from home isso much the dream for so many
people and I wouldn't trade it.But, you know, it's it has its
daily challenges in some days,you know, I'm super productive.
(32:44):
And I might organized and I getit all done. And so I I really
tried to just tune into myenergy and trust myself that
I'll get the important thingsdone. And keep moving forward.
Michele A. Barard (33:00):
So and that's really important, what you said
there I think is is reallytuning into your energy I have
been working remotely or workingstrictly from home for since
before the pandemic sincesignificantly before the
pandemic and at first I kept avery strict structure, you know,
(33:23):
I will be up at this time I willget to my computer, by this
time, I will only be away frommy computer for this amount of
time, and then I'll be back atmy computer. It was very much
like working in the office, I'llbe worse because my office was
right outside my bedroom door.Right. And at some point, I
realized that's no way tostructure my life. Because it's
(33:48):
basically an 18 hour workday atthat point. Because you never
just get done with dinner andand say, Okay, I'm gonna sit
down and watch a movie, rightare all the things that you
would do when you left anoffice, you actually feel
obligated to do more. So itreally has just been the last
(34:09):
several months where I've said,You know what, I'm not going to
continue that grind, you know,and I think it's a healthier
approach to things. So and, andthis is the point I'd like to
hear from you about specificallythat part about your energy. Is
(34:29):
there some part of that? That islike, yeah, I need to get this
done. However, I am not feelingthat this is the right thing to
do in this moment. Therefore, myenergy is telling me to do
something else. And I know thatsounds a little convoluted, but
does that make sense? What Ijust asked.
Gael Wood (34:51):
It does and you really have to get to know
yourself really well. And knowlike when you're feeding
yourself a line of crap good.being lazy versus when you
really need to take a break anddo something that's going to
recharge your batteries. So Iguess the energy thing is like,
okay, am I really like I really,I guess? Are my, my batteries
(35:16):
really low right now? And do Ineed to recharge them? Because
there's always stuff to do thatyou don't want to do. You know,
even though I love, I love mybusiness, there's always like, I
should do my bookkeeping, Ishould answer these emails,
there's always those things. So.And just so I think that energy
(35:37):
is more like, what's the rightthing? What's the right thing
for me to do right now? And Ithink that's something you get
from your higher self, becausesometimes my higher self says,
get this project done.
Michele A. Barard (35:51):
Yeah. It's sometimes your Higher Self says
You didn't sleep enough lastnight, you need a nap.
Gael Wood (35:56):
Yeah. Yeah, last few days in bed.
Michele A. Barard (36:01):
And if you you know, what's funny is people
will sometimes try to make youfeel guilty. I think, if you
aren't, like just grinding itout every single day, no matter
how you feel, particularly herein the United States. I don't
know that in other countries.They do that to people. But um,
I think that then we go throughso many years of that, from a
(36:25):
regular Gob that when we go intoour businesses, we come with
that same mindset that, how doyou work with your massage
therapists, to help them kind ofovercome that? I'm gonna call it
anxiety, about not doing enough?
Gael Wood (36:43):
Well, and that's, that is one of the harder things
is, you know, because they'reself employed? I think it's
figuring out you know, like,these are the marketing
activities that you want to do,when are you going to do them
and have some some structurethere. But I think there's a
real and it's a scarcitymindset, when you feel like, Oh,
(37:05):
if this person wants to massageon Saturday, I guess I better
work on Saturday, instead oftrusting that, you know, you'll
get you can fill your scheduleon the days of the week that you
want to work. So it's I justthink it's a mindset shift of
being in and trust that you'llbe okay, even if you choose to,
(37:29):
to take that time off and takethat time for yourself.
Michele A. Barard (37:33):
And so do you get to spend a lot of time
working on those other mindsetpieces with your clients, as
opposed to kind of just themechanics of things?
Gael Wood (37:43):
Well, I've, I have to I kind of sneak it in. It's part
of the conversation. I've foundthat people don't usually want
to sign up or pay for a let'stalk about mindset. Is that
hasn't been my experience. SoI'm like, okay, you know, let me
(38:05):
show you how to get the clientsin the door, make the money you
want to make, and then themindset is just a part of that
whole conversation.
Michele A. Barard (38:14):
Yeah, I mean, because it feels intangible, and
yet, that's the that's actuallythe basis of so many of the
issues that I think weexperienced as business people.
Gael Wood (38:24):
Yeah. But I think every time you get a, every time
you get a when you start tobuild up that trust muscle,
that, you know, it will be okay.And one thing he made me think
of is, you know, for so manyyears, I worked multiple jobs.
And I think though, if I look atthat, that goes back to my, if
(38:47):
money equals freedom, and I wanta lot of freedom, then I'm going
to work all these jobs to makeall this money and meanwhile,
I'm completely happy. No free.
Michele A. Barard (39:00):
The paradox that is the ultimate paradox.
Yeah. And that's unfortunately,I think that's what's
encouraged. We work working,working. Yeah, you can rest when
you're, you know, AD AD. Well, Idid. That's actually phrase but
I was trying to be, I was tryingto be gentle on us, you know,
but yeah, I think that's reallya fundamental issue that we have
(39:22):
it because it reinforces thatparadox. Like, okay, you want to
make money, work, work, work,work, work, but also, you know,
you're supposed to enjoy life.We really are supposed to enjoy
life and it's very hard to enjoylife when you're spending most
of your time. Shoveling amongstBorgia.
Gael Wood (39:43):
Yes, thankfully, that has that was a quite a while
ago. But I would also say,though, that another kind of
paradox is when you really loveyour work, you know, I'm like,
do I have to stop? Because thenit's like, Well, I'm sorry. Post
to rest I'm supposed to knockoff at five or 6pm. And I'm
(40:04):
like, I want to do this.
Michele A. Barard (40:08):
Yeah. And it is what feeds your soul? Yeah,
if that, especially becauseyou've got a creative outlet,
right? Creativity can beexpressed in so many different
ways. And I argue that businessis a creative endeavor. Yeah.
No, put in particularlydifferent types of businesses.
But all businesses requirecreativity, ingenuity, you know,
(40:30):
resourcefulness, is not justgrinding out, even if I don't
care if you're a dry cleaner, orif you're a plumber, or if you
do marketing, all of thosebusinesses require all those
different elements. And if thatcreativity and ingenuity and
problem solving and all thatfeed your soul, to some extent,
(40:51):
you kind of do want to do it.24/7
Gael Wood (40:54):
Yeah, yeah. And I do, like, sometimes, I get annoyed,
I even have a couple coachingclients, we'll be texting each
other, I'm like, I'm so tired ofthis vacation. I got so many
things I want to be doing,
Michele A. Barard (41:09):
then you have to find another way to have a
creative outlet, you know, maybego to the beach and build a huge
city,
Gael Wood (41:19):
do something productive. So
Michele A. Barard (41:23):
get that creativity out. So Gail, if you
had three pieces of advice forbrand new entrepreneurs,
entrepreneur, what would theybe?
Gael Wood (41:38):
You know, I would do that. Have a good, think about
your ideal day, you know, whatwould your ideal day be, and
then you can use that as kind ofa filter. If something comes
along, that doesn't fit intothat picture, you know, have
(41:58):
those boundaries from thebeginning. Because you'll you'll
build up what you want a lotfaster. So the other one would
be consistency. Show up, justkeep moving forward. Some days,
it'll be in small amounts, somedays, it'll be big leave some
(42:21):
days, you'll have big wins. Butit's so easy to get, get
discouraged and feel like it'snot working and you know, put it
on the shelf for a few weeks ora few months. Or even give up
altogether. So just thatconsistency and celebrate your
wins. Even if they're small, youknow, I use a certain system for
(42:44):
my website called Kajabi. And Ipicked it out because I was
like, I want something I can domyself. I don't want to do
everything myself, but I wantsomething where I can. And
there's a big learning curvewith anything like that. So, you
know, when I figure somethingout and and make a pretty web
page. And you know, I try to dosomething to celebrate. And the
(43:06):
people around you are going tobe like, okay, whatever, we
don't know what you're talkingabout. So you have to celebrate
yourself.
Michele A. Barard (43:14):
I think that's awesome. Those are great
pieces of advice. Because Ithink it's really hard for
entrepreneurs, especially newones just starting out you. You
are feeling so insecure in someways, you know. So thank you for
those pieces of advice. Gail, ifpeople want to get in touch with
you, what's the best way forthem to do that?
Gael Wood (43:36):
Yep, just come to my website, it is elevate with Gail
gl.com. And you can check out myblog, see what I have going on
and download my free ebook ondecluttering your schedule so
that you have more time to workon your dreams and do the things
that you want to do.
Michele A. Barard (43:56):
What and by the way, Gail's website is
beautiful, and it is helpful andcontains tons and tons and tons
of really good information. Iencourage you guys to go to her
website, elevate with gmail.comYou know what, thank you so much
for being on somewhere in themiddle of the show.
Gael Wood (44:16):
Thanks for having me.
Michele A. Barard (44:17):
Well, that's our show this month, guys. You
can reach me online at Michelebarard.com. You can also find me
on Facebook, Instagram, andTiktok as urban book editor.
Feel free to send in some topicsyou'd like us to cover on the
show. Send me a note. I'd loveto hear. Make sure you tune into
the show on August 18 When myguests will be Rufus Stevens and
(44:41):
Connie Johnson cofounders ofDaddy daughter books. You can
find us once a month on Fridaysat 5pm Pacific 6pm Mountain 7pm
Central and 8pm Eastern at thesummer in the middle of
podcast.com. Let's continue theconversation. You guys be good.
stay mindful Oh and remainprayerful Peace and blessings,
(45:02):
y'all
Happy Friday, everyone. Welcome to somewhere
in the middle with MicheleBarard. I'm your host, Michele
Barard, founder and CEO ofMichele, a broad LLC. And I'm
really pleased to share thishour with you, where we examine
all those places where spiritmeets life, and the joys and
challenges that may bring youguys know I'd like to start by
thanking Miss Beverly black andtribe family channel for helping
(02:29):
me create this space for us.Trapp Family Channel is home
tours in the assortment ofthought provoking shows that
explore life, spirit, businessand culture, including woman at
the well hosted by Miss Beverlyblack herself. Somewhere in the
middle was born on Trapp Familychannel. And though we have
grown onto our own platform,wherever grateful and loyal to
our roots, to paraphrase anAfrican proverb, we're here only
(02:51):
because we stand on theshoulders of those who came
before us. I want to thank myguests on the June 16, show,
teen zycus founder and CEO ofgetting black women paid, you
can connect with teen on socialmedia and at her website, www
dot getting black womenpaid.com. If you missed that
(03:14):
show, make sure you listen tothe replay. You can find our
complete show archives includingthe June 16 show at the summer
in the middle podcast.com. Ialso want to shout out Bruce
George of the geniuses commonmovement which encourages all of
us to embrace our inner geniusand share it with the world. It
is really important that weshare this message with the
(03:35):
young people but remember, it'snot just for the youth. We all
need to be reminded sometimesthat the world needs our genius.
Learn more about the geniusescalm and movement at WWW dot
geniuses common.com Now, thismonth's guest is an absolute joy
to work with and converse with.Gail Wood is a massage and spa
(03:58):
professional with over 25 yearsof experience in the industry.
She graduated from massageschool at the age of 19 and then
went on to open her very own dayspa and therapeutic massage
center in 2003, which she ranfor six years. In 2013. Gail
launched her first onlinebusiness, which she managed
(04:19):
along with her career as amassage therapist. As the online
business began to take off, shedecided to retire from the hands
on massage work in 2016 andconcentrate on using her
extensive knowledge andexperience to create tailored
training and coaching materialsand courses for estheticians and
massage and spa professionals.Gail is the co host and co
(04:41):
founder of the global wellnessprofessional marketing summits
in the work freedom Summit. Shewas honored to be inducted into
the world massage Hall of Fameand featured as massage magazine
all star in 2019 since giving upHands On massage work and
concentrating on her onlinebusinesses. Gail has been
(05:04):
prolific with her creativity. Todate she has created over 60
successful online courseslaunched popular massage and spa
marketing content clubs, writtenand self published more than 15
ebooks and created a library ofinvaluable resources for massage
Beauty and Spa professionalssuch as the popular massage and
(05:27):
spa resource bundles. Gail hasalways been fascinated by feng
shui which led her to study atthe International Fung Shui
school in 2018. She gainscertification in Fung Shui
enabling her to conductconsultations as another part of
her business. She has sincetrained in life and business
coaching through the rebelmillionaires coach certification
(05:49):
program, and completed hertraining in 2021. Most recently,
Gail has created the elevatmastermind, a program for people
who want to learn about addingan online business to their
income streams, or segue intoonline business. She currently
runs a low cost subscriptionprogram alongside this called
(06:10):
the monthly challenge club forentrepreneurs. And she teaches
online business strategy throughthe elevat mastermind. Gail is
happiest in creator mode,finding new course ideas,
marketing, content and books.She is constantly inspired to
create more courses andmaterials and continues to
launch new ideas. She loves toeducate herself and discover new
(06:33):
ideas, learning as much aspossible through reading books,
doing online research, andstudying online classes and
programs to boost her knowledge.Her one wish is that what she
does can inspire others. And sheaims to help as many people as
possible thrive with hercourses, books and programs.
Gail lives in Boone, NorthCarolina with her husband, Dave,
(06:56):
and sons and Tino, who she hasbeen homeschooling since March
2020. She also has an olderdaughter, Grace. So I'd like to
welcome Gail wood to somewherein the middle with Michele
Barard. Gale, thank you so muchfor being on the show with me.
Gael Wood (07:11):
Oh, thanks for having me. So nice to meet you.
Michele A. Barard (07:14):
Well, I'm really excited because you
actually have an interestingbackground, and one that I love.
And I want to kind of introducethe audience to who you are by
asking two questions. So ifyou're ready, I will ask those
two questions. I'm as ready
Gael Wood (07:31):
as I'm gonna get. All right.
Michele A. Barard (07:35):
So Gale Wood, who are you? And how did you
become who you are today?
Gael Wood (07:43):
So who am I, I think that I'm a creative person,
someone who just loves to alwaysbe creating, whether it's
decorating a room, or writing abook, or planning a new class or
a new business. So I'm justalways creating a lot of people
(08:07):
tell me that I'm a good teacher.And so over time, I've realized
that that's actually true aboutme. So I think I have a knack
for taking concepts that mightbe a little complicated. A
specific example would be likemarketing, and then putting that
in a format where, you know, mymassage therapists that I work
(08:29):
with are like, Oh, you make itsound so easy. I thought it was
so hard. So a teacher, and thenmainly, and I think my whole
life has been about just seekingout freedom, and trying to be
free.
Michele A. Barard (08:47):
I think it's wonderful that you said that
because, you know, I thinkyou're the first person I've
ever interviewed who hasexpressed that. And I think
that's what most of us arelooking for in some way. What
are your thoughts?
Gael Wood (09:02):
Yeah, I think when we're when we're thinking things
like, oh, I want to make moremoney, or I want to have, you
know, this type of job orsomething. I think that that is
really what's oftentimes at thecore of that mean, sometimes it
could be other things likesecurity, or something like
that. But I think especially inthe entrepreneurial world, I
(09:23):
think freedom we are a big bunchof freedom seekers, for sure.
Michele A. Barard (09:29):
And it's funny because, you know, that's
not the first word that wouldcome to most people's minds. You
know, people think, oh, I wantmore time. I want more luxury, I
want more. You know, what doesmoney give you? Yeah, which you
accept the freedom, the time,the luxury, all of those things
(09:51):
that really amount to freedom,ultimately, freedom to make
choices. Yeah.
Gael Wood (09:57):
Freedom to pick up in go on a trip if you want to Do
or, you know, and he had timefreedom, I think is a big one.
You know how even just havingsomebody that can come and help
you with your housework? Youknow, that's freeing up your
time. So, yeah, it's just, Ithink what you love. pervasive?
Yeah.
Michele A. Barard (10:18):
That's awesome. So you know, you're
creative person, but you'realso, I think, kind of a hands
on person, you come from amassage background. In my
experience, people with massagebackgrounds also come from kind
of a, I'm gonna say spiritualplace, for lack of a better
(10:40):
term, although that can rangeright doesn't have to be like,
religious, per se, or, you know,what some people might consider
to be woowoo. But how does allthat inform what you do all of
the ways that you expressyourself creatively, but also in
your business? Yeah, I
Gael Wood (10:56):
think, Well, I think with the massage thing, you
there's a whole spectrum. Sothere's the people that are, you
know, energy work, and it's allenergy. And then you have the
people that are very, you know,therapeutic, and they don't want
anything to do with that. So wehave that whole spectrum. For
me, I always kind of fellsomewhere in the middle of that.
And that's. So, you know, like,I definitely did that
(11:19):
therapeutic work, but brought inthe aspects of the art of
massage, I guess. And I thinkit's really interesting, you
know, to massage differentpeople all day, every massage is
different, every person isdifferent. And you create each
session for each person, eventhough you may have a basic
(11:42):
protocol or routine that they'renever going to be exactly the
same. So and then through doingmassage, there's just all kinds
of other elements that you canexperiment with. And, you know,
there's the, the oils and theproducts, which I love. There's
the music. And then when I hadmy own business, that I was
(12:05):
like, Oh, my gosh, I get todecorate. might create a place
that is really fun as well.
Michele A. Barard (12:15):
So even a massage is in and of itself, its
own creative endeavor. It soundslike
Gael Wood (12:21):
Yeah, yeah. And you're,
Michele A. Barard (12:24):
and then you translated that into a business
where you are helping othermassage therapists now?
Gael Wood (12:32):
I did. Yeah. So after about 16 to 18 years in massage,
and having, you know, run my ownbusiness worked for other people
run a couple of different typesof businesses. I just was like,
Okay, what's next? I had I had aclient tell me the other day,
(12:52):
actually, that 20 years in a jobis a lifetime sentence, he goes
out, you've done one lifetimesentence in your work, you got
enough. So I had done onelifetime sentence. And I was
like, Oh, I can do next. So Ijust through running my
businesses, I realized how muchI loved the marketing and, and
(13:12):
the creativity, even like, inplanning a menu of services and
pricing it and doing spatreatments. So that was
something that I really gotinto. Yes, as a therapist, you
know, doing massage aftermassage. It's so fun to have
that variety in your day. So Iwas like, you know, I want to
(13:33):
teach other therapists thatmarketing is, it's easy, it's
fine. And you can do it.
Michele A. Barard (13:39):
That's awesome. Because people do think
it's very difficult. And I thinkthat's maybe, and I'd love to
hear your thoughts on this. Ithink it's because we view it as
you do it, and you get animmediate result. And sometimes
that happens, and other times itdoesn't.
Gael Wood (13:55):
Yeah, and that can get really frustrating. When
you're like, I did some stuffand people didn't call yet, so
it's definitely not working.Well, it is working things just
take time.
Michele A. Barard (14:06):
What do you think is the biggest challenge
to helping people get overthere? I'm gonna call it a fear
of marketing. Although that maynot be the best word. I don't
know.
Gael Wood (14:18):
I definitely think it's a fear. Yeah, there, you
know, people were afraid ofembarrassing ourselves, putting
ourselves out there and maybegetting shut down, doing
something wrong. So there's alot of different things. I
think, for me, it's, it'ssharing, like, there are so many
(14:39):
ways to do marketing, that youcan find things that feel good
to you and work for you and youdon't have to do anything that
doesn't resonate. That feelsicky to you. You don't have to
do that kind of marketing. So Ithink just the fact that it can
be really customized
Michele A. Barard (14:57):
and you don't have to be everywhere,
Gael Wood (14:59):
right? Right, yeah, exactly. If you have two
marketing activities that areworking, just keep doing those,
you know, maybe like going tothe Chamber of Commerce meetings
and talking to people in person.And you know, then there's other
aspects to it. There's likefaster marketing, slower
marketing. So So what's the, you
Michele A. Barard (15:21):
know, when you're dealing with massage
therapists, because many ofthem, I would imagine, are like
I have I work with authorsprimarily, right. And authors
write books, some of them may beexperts in marketing. Others are
experts in whatever they'reexperts in. Yeah. And so you're
teaching them this new thing?What is one of the biggest
(15:43):
things that they say, Oh, thisis terrible, I don't want to do
this.
Gael Wood (15:48):
I'm probably creating any kind of like marketing
materials. So because you know,you're a massage therapist,
you're not a graphic designer,that's out of your wheelhouse.
So things like that. And thenknowing what to say, you know,
like, we would all just love toshow up at our office and have
(16:09):
five clients every day. Don't doany of that. So I think just
knowing what to say, and, and soI have, you know, through my
courses, I try to get everybodyreally clear, like once you know
who your ideal client is,knowing what to say, is 10 times
easier, because you're nottalking to the entire world. So,
Michele A. Barard (16:32):
and I think that's challenging, too, though,
right? Because, you know, Iasked that question of my
authors, when we're working on abook marketing plan. And they're
like, Oh, everybody, like mybook? Yeah. Everybody might like
your book. Yeah.
Unknown (16:47):
And
Michele A. Barard (16:48):
how are you going to talk to everybody? So
you know, pick some folks? Howdo you get that message across
to your massage therapists?
Gael Wood (16:57):
So one example I like to use is to think about the
clients you already have? Andwho are the ones that when you
see them on your schedule,you're like, Yes, I get to do
that person today. Because thatwas probably a really good clue.
And then who are the peoplewhere you're kind of like, oh,
that person's difficult, alittle bit difficult, or, you
know, like, if I had a schedulefull of men who wanted specific
(17:23):
deep tissue work, I would not behappy. You know, I like working
with women who they want torelax, they want to take care of
themselves. And so, you know,it's just kind of like, Who do
you prefer is how I phrase it?Because we're not going to rule
anybody out. If you're a nonideal client calls you you can
still put them in your schedule.
Michele A. Barard (17:47):
Well, and and that's really interesting that
you put it that way, who do youprefer to work with? Because
there is something very tangibleabout saying, well, this person
wants this type of massage. Andit is not my preference. Yeah.
Or maybe in this is, again, Iknow so little about the
mechanics of massage. I justknow when I go, I feel great
(18:09):
afterwards. But I would imaginethat it requires different
physical requirements to do deeptissue sports, tight massage, or
whatever, versus somethingthat's more of a, I want to have
a relaxing session. So there maybe different things that people
(18:29):
take into consideration, whatkinds of things do massage
therapists take intoconsideration when they are
making decisions about theclients that they want to work
with?
Gael Wood (18:39):
Yeah, certainly, you know, what type of massage do
they want to do all day? What'stheir, you know, you know, are
they also a personal trainer? Dothey really, a lot of people are
like, I just want to work withathletes. That's amazing to me.
And I'm the total opposite ofthat. So I think it's kind of
just saying, like, if you couldplan your ideal day, you know,
(19:00):
how many clients would you have?What types of services would you
do all day? Like, for me, I'mlike, why would have some
variety? I'd have two massages,to facials, you know, one other
body wrap or something. Sometherapists hate that. They're
like, that's so much work toswitch between service and
service and get out all thosegoofy products. So it really
(19:24):
just, I think, if you thinkabout like, you know, and we
often don't think from thisplace, because we think can't
even comprehend that we can havewhatever we want. It's like we
think we just take whatever weget.
Michele A. Barard (19:38):
And now you're hitting on something I'm
really curious about or most ofyour clients, you know, that you
work with in your business,women or men.
Gael Wood (19:48):
Well, mostly women, for massage and for my marketing
and training business, but justand that's because the massage
industry is probably 80% women.Okay, yeah. And then clientele I
just prefer to work with women.
Michele A. Barard (20:04):
So I wonder about what you said about we
never imagined that we couldhave what we want that we could
just choose. And I always wonderhow much of that is about being
women? Because I, you know,there's kind of a sometimes a
stigma, I think, when women askfor what they want, it's very
(20:27):
gentle. And then society says,Why didn't you ask for it? You
know, you don't get what? Whydidn't you ask for it? The men
ask for
Gael Wood (20:34):
it. Yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't think men struggle
with that in the in the way thatwe do. So
Michele A. Barard (20:43):
that's really, to me, that's an
interesting concept. I alwaysfeel like young girls in
particular, are discouraged fromexpressing their preferences.
And as a result, we grew up intowomen who don't ask for what we
want. Although I like to thinkthis younger group, this younger
crew of young women aredefinitely more into asking for
(21:06):
what they want. What are yourthoughts?
Gael Wood (21:07):
Yeah, I see that in my daughter. She's 25. And she
has many less hangups than Ihave, and then they have some
different ones.
Michele A. Barard (21:18):
But I also wonder, I wonder if there's just
a generation gap, too, thatwe're dealing with, ya know, cuz
there's the complaint that themillennials are, they feel so
entitled. And things thatnature? And I wonder if they've
just seen the what I want tocall challenges that we've
(21:40):
experienced in our careers andtrying to build lives for for
them, for those kids. No, like,
Gael Wood (21:46):
I don't want that. I don't. Yeah,
Michele A. Barard (21:49):
I don't like the way mom and dad or mom or
dad struggled. Yeah, you knowwhat I mean, to make things nice
for me, and I want to dosomething different for myself.
Gael Wood (22:02):
I do. And I mean, I think every generation does
that. You know, you see, and youwant something different than
than what your parents had. So
Michele A. Barard (22:12):
Well, that's what the that's what the whole
FlowerPower movement was aboutback in the day, right?
Gael Wood (22:19):
Yeah. And so I don't know, does it keep going in a
circle was like, we want toHouse. We ought to live like
this. We don't want to live
Michele A. Barard (22:31):
in vans.
Gael Wood (22:33):
Now my daughter's generation, she's actually lived
in a van for a year and a half.You
Michele A. Barard (22:38):
know, and it's so funny, because then I
look and I see that freedom. Andthat's exactly taken us back to
where we were before I see thatfreedom of hey, I'm just gonna
go on the road for however longand I'm going to experience life
in a totally different way. AndI'm like, Oh, that's lovely.
Gael Wood (22:58):
And it was so it was so interesting, though, to kind
of, you know, I was talking toher regularly while she was
doing that, and there's nothingthat doesn't have its
challenges. You know, it's itwas, it seems really cool and
awesome. And she had someamazing experiences, but it's
stressful to be homeless. Yeah.And when you're living in a van,
(23:22):
like she, yeah, she chose it,but she was still homeless and
had to deal with a lot of thosethose types of issues. Like, am
I going to be safe tonight andthings like that. So
Michele A. Barard (23:34):
yeah, those are things that I've thought
about, because at one point, I'mlike, maybe I'll go ahead and
get a, you know, RV, smaller Vor something like that, and just
travel around. And I was like,Oh, I don't know how I feel
about that. Um, how did you feelas a mom? Because they're grown,
but you're still a mom?
Gael Wood (23:53):
Oh, I worried. I worried a lot, you know, but
luckily, I could text her almosteverywhere she was I could just
be like, you know, are you okay,I would check in a lot. Like, as
long as I heard from her, I wasI was good. But you know, you
don't see your child struggling.But I'm also thinking, Oh, my
gosh, this is so good for her togo through these experiences
(24:16):
and, and really learn everythingshe's learning. And I'm proud of
her, you know, she's getting todo things I didn't get to do
Michele A. Barard (24:22):
so. But as a parent, I know, for me, even
just seeing my kids, and my kidsare taking pretty traditional
routes so far. But even evenjust that, you know, as a
parent, you kind of you want tolet them go. You want to let
them go do what they're going todo. And one of them made
(24:44):
decisions where I was like, Iwould hope you would have done
that differently. But you stillhave to let them choose their
paths. I think that's one pointwhere as parents and maybe bombs
in particular, I don't know butit, it feels like such a
challenge. Did she ish? Well,first of all, she's still on the
(25:05):
road.
Gael Wood (25:06):
She's not she's living in Colorado. Okay. And
they may go travel again in thefall and then move home. So Oh,
Michele A. Barard (25:17):
awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm curious,
because I'm curious about thewhole experience. So when she,
when when they decided to settleback home or somewhere not back
home yet not with you yet, butwhen they decided to settle back
somewhere, how was thattransition for them? And how did
(25:43):
you feel? Now that that was overwhat, you know, how did you play
into that whole transition?
Gael Wood (25:49):
I mean, it was a relief to know that she had a
home in front door with and shepicked a coal town, you know,
and they just wanted toexperience living somewhere
different. I think their planhas always been to move back
here. But, you know, they saidwe want to, we don't want, they
(26:09):
don't want to have kids youngand they want to experience
things and do different things.So I'm excited for and proud of
her. And, you know, she's haddifferent experiences at
different jobs, and just lots oflots of good adulting.
Michele A. Barard (26:26):
Well, and I'm a firm believer that everybody
needs to leave their hometown,at least for a year after high
school or I think preferablyhigh school and before college,
I think college is wasted on 18year olds, but but, um, I think
it's such a great experience. Sodid you have any takeaways from
(26:46):
her experience?
Gael Wood (26:49):
Um, well, my biggest takeaway would be if you are
going to go traveling, I thinkstay in campgrounds. They wanted
to go for as long as they couldand save money, which meant they
were looking for a lot of freeplaces to stay. But I also think
(27:09):
it was it was really interestingthat, you know, it's like this
big dream that a lot of peoplehave. And in general, that, you
know, reality doesn't usuallymatch expectations.
Michele A. Barard (27:24):
It seems like it's a little bit so they what
kind of vehicle were
Gael Wood (27:27):
they? They were in just a van one of those taller
vans. Okay, her husband is realtall, like a camper van. But it
was like a work van. And theybuilt it out into a camper van.
Michele A. Barard (27:42):
Nice. So they created a moving tiny home.
Gael Wood (27:45):
Yeah, yeah. And they built it together. And now my
daughter is working at a companythat builds vans. That's
beautiful. And she does like theconsulting with people that want
to build their van and helpsthem pick out the stuff that
goes in it.
Michele A. Barard (28:00):
So she would be the person I would call if I
decided to do that.
Unknown (28:03):
No, build your custom van.
Michele A. Barard (28:07):
That's awesome. Well, it sounds like
they gained a lot of reallygreat experience. One of the
things that you learned was, ifyou want to do it go to a
campgrounds. Do you mind if Iask some of the kinds of
challenges that theyexperienced?
Gael Wood (28:21):
Well, so getting sick, was one of the hardest
things as I think twice, theygot sick with like a stomach bug
while their van doesn't have abathroom. So that's super
challenging. And you know,that's what it's handy to have a
mom, because you'll get a hotel,I'll send you the money. So I
(28:44):
definitely think you know, therewere just some things that when
you're thinking of thatlifestyle, you might not realize
like, where am I going to take ashower? Where am I? What happens
if I had need to run to thebathroom and I don't have one,
you know, but I also think thoseare the experiences where you
just learn so much selfreliance, and that you can
(29:06):
figure it out and that you cando hard things. And I also think
one of the biggest challengeswas, I mean, Grace never didn't
have somewhere to be andsomething to do. You know, I
mean, she went from high school,to college, to traveling and it
(29:29):
was like all of a sudden she hadno structure. Job, no class to
be at no paper to turn in. No,you know, activities she was
supposed to be at. And it was Ithink that was probably her her
biggest challenge was justreally planning each and every
(29:49):
day. And I mean to kind of youregulate yourself.
Michele A. Barard (29:57):
Yeah, but you know, I think that's interesting
because You know, I had kids whoare all three of my kids are
over doers. They areoverachievers not all type A
personalities, but they all areoverachievers, in their own
ways, with their days are justthat. And I kind of feel like,
(30:20):
that's such a stressful way forus to move through life. And it
can create habits that aredetrimental to our health. But
that's kind of US culture,right? structure, structure
structure, lots to do lots ofactivities, lots of you know,
assignments. Would you say thatmaybe having a little bit less
(30:43):
structure actually, maybe helpedher not get that addiction to
these winds that we getthroughout the day, I guess, I
think it's kind of a dopamineaddiction.
Gael Wood (30:57):
I think so. And I also think it really helped her.
And now I just feel like she'sgot really good boundaries.
With, like, with her workschedule, and, and with, with
doing things, she's like, I, Ilike to have my days off. And
I'm not going to get myself in asituation where I don't have my
days off. And I mean, I'vealways been like, oh, I have
(31:20):
four jobs, I just work, work,work or work.
Michele A. Barard (31:24):
So which goes back to what I was saying
before, I think this younggroup, I mean, mine are between
20 and 20, and 30. And they havea totally different vibe about
them. And I think I feel likeI've been learning so much from
them about how I want to livethis phase of my life. You
(31:44):
mentioned, basically, you werelooking for your next phase,
when you started thesebusinesses, this other business,
how has that changed thestructure of your life?
Gael Wood (31:56):
Yeah, so going from, you know, having to be somewhere
everyday to now you know, workfrom home. And I definitely, I
struggle with getting thingsdone. Because there's always
something else to do. You know,like, I have a whole list here
today, but I just moved myChristmas tree over there. And
(32:21):
of course, half the ornamentsfell off. So my dog needs a
lock, I hear a pasting rightnow. So it is it is hard, you
know, and working from home isso much the dream for so many
people and I wouldn't trade it.But, you know, it's it has its
daily challenges in some days,you know, I'm super productive.
(32:44):
And I might organized and I getit all done. And so I I really
tried to just tune into myenergy and trust myself that
I'll get the important thingsdone. And keep moving forward.
Michele A. Barard (33:00):
So and that's really important, what you said
there I think is is reallytuning into your energy I have
been working remotely or workingstrictly from home for since
before the pandemic sincesignificantly before the
pandemic and at first I kept avery strict structure, you know,
(33:23):
I will be up at this time I willget to my computer, by this
time, I will only be away frommy computer for this amount of
time, and then I'll be back atmy computer. It was very much
like working in the office, I'llbe worse because my office was
right outside my bedroom door.Right. And at some point, I
realized that's no way tostructure my life. Because it's
(33:48):
basically an 18 hour workday atthat point. Because you never
just get done with dinner andand say, Okay, I'm gonna sit
down and watch a movie, rightare all the things that you
would do when you left anoffice, you actually feel
obligated to do more. So itreally has just been the last
(34:09):
several months where I've said,You know what, I'm not going to
continue that grind, you know,and I think it's a healthier
approach to things. So and, andthis is the point I'd like to
hear from you about specificallythat part about your energy. Is
(34:29):
there some part of that? That islike, yeah, I need to get this
done. However, I am not feelingthat this is the right thing to
do in this moment. Therefore, myenergy is telling me to do
something else. And I know thatsounds a little convoluted, but
does that make sense? What Ijust asked.
Gael Wood (34:51):
It does and you really have to get to know
yourself really well. And knowlike when you're feeding
yourself a line of crap good.being lazy versus when you
really need to take a break anddo something that's going to
recharge your batteries. So Iguess the energy thing is like,
okay, am I really like I really,I guess? Are my, my batteries
(35:16):
really low right now? And do Ineed to recharge them? Because
there's always stuff to do thatyou don't want to do. You know,
even though I love, I love mybusiness, there's always like, I
should do my bookkeeping, Ishould answer these emails,
there's always those things. So.And just so I think that energy
(35:37):
is more like, what's the rightthing? What's the right thing
for me to do right now? And Ithink that's something you get
from your higher self, becausesometimes my higher self says,
get this project done.
Michele A. Barard (35:51):
Yeah. It's sometimes your Higher Self says
You didn't sleep enough lastnight, you need a nap.
Gael Wood (35:56):
Yeah. Yeah, last few days in bed.
Michele A. Barard (36:01):
And if you you know, what's funny is people
will sometimes try to make youfeel guilty. I think, if you
aren't, like just grinding itout every single day, no matter
how you feel, particularly herein the United States. I don't
know that in other countries.They do that to people. But um,
I think that then we go throughso many years of that, from a
(36:25):
regular Gob that when we go intoour businesses, we come with
that same mindset that, how doyou work with your massage
therapists, to help them kind ofovercome that? I'm gonna call it
anxiety, about not doing enough?
Gael Wood (36:43):
Well, and that's, that is one of the harder things
is, you know, because they'reself employed? I think it's
figuring out you know, like,these are the marketing
activities that you want to do,when are you going to do them
and have some some structurethere. But I think there's a
real and it's a scarcitymindset, when you feel like, Oh,
(37:05):
if this person wants to massageon Saturday, I guess I better
work on Saturday, instead oftrusting that, you know, you'll
get you can fill your scheduleon the days of the week that you
want to work. So it's I justthink it's a mindset shift of
being in and trust that you'llbe okay, even if you choose to,
(37:29):
to take that time off and takethat time for yourself.
Michele A. Barard (37:33):
And so do you get to spend a lot of time
working on those other mindsetpieces with your clients, as
opposed to kind of just themechanics of things?
Gael Wood (37:43):
Well, I've, I have to I kind of sneak it in. It's part
of the conversation. I've foundthat people don't usually want
to sign up or pay for a let'stalk about mindset. Is that
hasn't been my experience. SoI'm like, okay, you know, let me
(38:05):
show you how to get the clientsin the door, make the money you
want to make, and then themindset is just a part of that
whole conversation.
Michele A. Barard (38:14):
Yeah, I mean, because it feels intangible, and
yet, that's the that's actuallythe basis of so many of the
issues that I think weexperienced as business people.
Gael Wood (38:24):
Yeah. But I think every time you get a, every time
you get a when you start tobuild up that trust muscle,
that, you know, it will be okay.And one thing he made me think
of is, you know, for so manyyears, I worked multiple jobs.
And I think though, if I look atthat, that goes back to my, if
(38:47):
money equals freedom, and I wanta lot of freedom, then I'm going
to work all these jobs to makeall this money and meanwhile,
I'm completely happy. No free.
Michele A. Barard (39:00):
The paradox that is the ultimate paradox.
Yeah. And that's unfortunately,I think that's what's
encouraged. We work working,working. Yeah, you can rest when
you're, you know, AD AD. Well, Idid. That's actually phrase but
I was trying to be, I was tryingto be gentle on us, you know,
but yeah, I think that's reallya fundamental issue that we have
(39:22):
it because it reinforces thatparadox. Like, okay, you want to
make money, work, work, work,work, work, but also, you know,
you're supposed to enjoy life.We really are supposed to enjoy
life and it's very hard to enjoylife when you're spending most
of your time. Shoveling amongstBorgia.
Gael Wood (39:43):
Yes, thankfully, that has that was a quite a while
ago. But I would also say,though, that another kind of
paradox is when you really loveyour work, you know, I'm like,
do I have to stop? Because thenit's like, Well, I'm sorry. Post
to rest I'm supposed to knockoff at five or 6pm. And I'm
(40:04):
like, I want to do this.
Michele A. Barard (40:08):
Yeah. And it is what feeds your soul? Yeah,
if that, especially becauseyou've got a creative outlet,
right? Creativity can beexpressed in so many different
ways. And I argue that businessis a creative endeavor. Yeah.
No, put in particularlydifferent types of businesses.
But all businesses requirecreativity, ingenuity, you know,
(40:30):
resourcefulness, is not justgrinding out, even if I don't
care if you're a dry cleaner, orif you're a plumber, or if you
do marketing, all of thosebusinesses require all those
different elements. And if thatcreativity and ingenuity and
problem solving and all thatfeed your soul, to some extent,
(40:51):
you kind of do want to do it.24/7
Gael Wood (40:54):
Yeah, yeah. And I do, like, sometimes, I get annoyed,
I even have a couple coachingclients, we'll be texting each
other, I'm like, I'm so tired ofthis vacation. I got so many
things I want to be doing,
Michele A. Barard (41:09):
then you have to find another way to have a
creative outlet, you know, maybego to the beach and build a huge
city,
Gael Wood (41:19):
do something productive. So
Michele A. Barard (41:23):
get that creativity out. So Gail, if you
had three pieces of advice forbrand new entrepreneurs,
entrepreneur, what would theybe?
Gael Wood (41:38):
You know, I would do that. Have a good, think about
your ideal day, you know, whatwould your ideal day be, and
then you can use that as kind ofa filter. If something comes
along, that doesn't fit intothat picture, you know, have
(41:58):
those boundaries from thebeginning. Because you'll you'll
build up what you want a lotfaster. So the other one would
be consistency. Show up, justkeep moving forward. Some days,
it'll be in small amounts, somedays, it'll be big leave some
(42:21):
days, you'll have big wins. Butit's so easy to get, get
discouraged and feel like it'snot working and you know, put it
on the shelf for a few weeks ora few months. Or even give up
altogether. So just thatconsistency and celebrate your
wins. Even if they're small, youknow, I use a certain system for
(42:44):
my website called Kajabi. And Ipicked it out because I was
like, I want something I can domyself. I don't want to do
everything myself, but I wantsomething where I can. And
there's a big learning curvewith anything like that. So, you
know, when I figure somethingout and and make a pretty web
page. And you know, I try to dosomething to celebrate. And the
(43:06):
people around you are going tobe like, okay, whatever, we
don't know what you're talkingabout. So you have to celebrate
yourself.
Michele A. Barard (43:14):
I think that's awesome. Those are great
pieces of advice. Because Ithink it's really hard for
entrepreneurs, especially newones just starting out you. You
are feeling so insecure in someways, you know. So thank you for
those pieces of advice. Gail, ifpeople want to get in touch with
you, what's the best way forthem to do that?
Gael Wood (43:36):
Yep, just come to my website, it is elevate with Gail
gl.com. And you can check out myblog, see what I have going on
and download my free ebook ondecluttering your schedule so
that you have more time to workon your dreams and do the things
that you want to do.
Michele A. Barard (43:56):
What and by the way, Gail's website is
beautiful, and it is helpful andcontains tons and tons and tons
of really good information. Iencourage you guys to go to her
website, elevate with gmail.comYou know what, thank you so much
for being on somewhere in themiddle of the show.
Gael Wood (44:16):
Thanks for having me.
Michele A. Barard (44:17):
Well, that's our show this month, guys. You
can reach me online at Michelebarard.com. You can also find me
on Facebook, Instagram, andTiktok as urban book editor.
Feel free to send in some topicsyou'd like us to cover on the
show. Send me a note. I'd loveto hear. Make sure you tune into
the show on August 18 When myguests will be Rufus Stevens and
(44:41):
Connie Johnson cofounders ofDaddy daughter books. You can
find us once a month on Fridaysat 5pm Pacific 6pm Mountain 7pm
Central and 8pm Eastern at thesummer in the middle of
podcast.com. Let's continue theconversation. You guys be good.
stay mindful Oh and remainprayerful Peace and blessings,
(45:02):
y'all
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