November 16, 2023 • 30 mins
This episode is a little different – it's all about YOU! We took a dive into the questions you sent our way, and let's just say, it was a wild ride of insights, laughter, and a few unexpected twists!
From curious to thought-provoking, your questions covered it all. We shared our perspectives, spilled some behind-the-scenes secrets, and maybe even revealed a surprise or two.
So, grab your favorite snack, hit play, and join us for a Part Uno of our special Q&A.
This episode is a celebration of our awesome community, and we couldn't be more excited to share it with you!
A Siarza Production
Hosted by Kristelle Siarza Moon & Jace Downey
Executive Producer: Kristelle Siarza Moon
Producer: Jace Downey
Video/Editing: Justin Otsuka
Watch episodes at siarza.com/siarza-podcast
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Follow Kristelle @kristellesiarza
www.misskristelle.com
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www.jacedowney.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was incredibly difficult to feel comfortable at
the table when I first startedthe company and I had to really
push through that fear.
As an Asian woman, I walk intothe room when I'm the only Asian
person in the room.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I had initially started having back issues my
early 20s.
I used to throw out my back myearly 20s.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Who are you doing it?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I don't know Her needed a disc in my late 20s.
Boo, I mean, that was my early,that was my early.
No, that was my late 20s.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Man.
Okay, if there's one thing youwould tell 20 year old Jace
about your body, oh my God.
Now what would that be?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I was gonna say stretch, but I don't even do
that sufficiently now.
So I should probably tell my 36year old self that about my
body, like just, and maybe justbe more gentle.
I honestly in my 30s I decidedmy fitness would center around
what seniors do and like theyhave a Tai Chi, tai Chi, I do
(01:03):
Chi Gong, I'm dancing that'spretty legit Things that help
elongate the comfort and use ofthe body and I'm like I'm doing
that F running like high impactstuff, forget it, it wears the
body down.
So now I do things that arekind and gentle to the body.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's a good idea.
I think I would tell myselfeverything that you did in your
20s to your body, you did itright, you did it right, I did
it right.
Yeah, I don't live with a lotof regret.
And so there's a lot of thingslike kickball was one of them
and I didn't run Like you'resupposed to be healthy.
I trust me when I say I have myfair share of health issues,
(01:44):
but everything that I wanted todo, which was like standing and
partying at a club for like 10hours or walking aimlessly
through the Bosque, everythingthat I did in my 20s like I was
well worth it, even at my 36 age, sans the health issues, but
everything else, like I'm soglad I lived without a great.
(02:05):
If I died tomorrow, I lived areally good life physically.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I'm gonna say are we supposed to stop that
stuff in our 30s?
I went dancing six nights outof seven last week, like that's
pretty good.
Keep it up, yeah, I would too.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Mentioning Q&A great segue into today's podcast.
Today on story success andstuff.
We talked about it last week.
We wanted to meet everybodythat has been listening to the
podcast.
We get messages like excitedfor my therapy session, hashtag,
story success and stuff, whichis hysterical.
And then my favorite one, fromanother friend who was like oh
(02:41):
yep, I binge on you guys and youshouted me out and that was
hilarious.
So really excited to meet, justbesides our moms, our loyal
listeners right there, our firstlisteners ever.
I'm excited to talk toeverybody.
We put out a request for a Q&Aon your favorite social media
channel or on, if you're asubscriber, from YouTube, which
is great.
Thanks for sending in somereally amazing questions.
(03:03):
We're here just to kind ofshoot the shit a little bit
today.
Have some fun with it.
And a couple of questions.
I think you and I have alwayswanted to ask each other Like we
had lunch on Friday, which wasgreat.
Rarely do we get to have lunchtogether on Friday.
So it was nice to kind of likecatch up.
A little business, a littlepersonal stuff too.
So I'm sure it's just areflection, it's just part of
(03:25):
Friday which is awesome, exceptyou guys get to participate with
us.
Yeah, or you're welcome to takeus out to lunch anytime.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I was going to say we can go to lunch next time.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
If we're just in this next time too.
Yeah, that was rude.
Right, ok, it was rude.
Sorry, it wasn't a podcastlunch.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, it was a different business lunch.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So yeah, so where do you want to start?
We have some OK, sohighlighting.
We've got a couple of questionson leaving corporate life,
being a proud Asian woman,tattoos.
Ok, let me start off with thisone.
Jace, you clearly have veryvisible tattoos.
Has that had an impact on yourcareer or the jobs you've been
(04:06):
able to get?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Oh, the short answer is no, not that I'm aware of.
The longer answer is that whenI was getting my hand tattoos,
it was this burning of the shipsfor me.
I was living a non-9 to 5 life.
I was working for myself,living outside of convention,
and I wanted to make sure that Istayed that way.
(04:29):
As we both know, it's reallyhard being an entrepreneur, it's
hard being a business owner,it's hard.
Going your own way, it's hard,it can be exhausting, and giving
that up and just going intocomfort is tempting often, and
so I'm like, oh, I've beenwanting to do hand tattoos and
I'm in this stage of my life andI woke up this one morning it
(04:51):
was a Tuesday and I'm liketoday's the day we're going to
go and get this scheduled.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Tattoo Tuesday Tattoo Tuesday I didn't get it on that
day.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But I did go and get them scheduled and in my mind
I'm like this will solidify menot returning to standard
society, because people can beweird if you have your hands
tattooed.
No, they don't care.
Nobody cares anymore At leastthe people that I associate with
or work here.
Like we're a company.
We do professional things, I goout and meet professional
(05:18):
people, I give professionaltalks.
Nobody cares anymore.
So maybe if you had your facetattooed, that might impact some
things.
Jolly.
Roll was the CMA recipient andhe has his face tattoos, I think
today, at day and age, we'rethe ones running companies, our
age open-minded people.
Am I going to go work at somelike super buttoned up corporate
(05:42):
types stuff?
No, but I wouldn't do thatanyway.
So do whatever you want.
Tattoo whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, so I have to tell the story of one of our
first friends of the firm, whichwas Jason Griffin.
Jason Griffin is now thedirector of web over at Media
Desk, a competitor of ours.
Jason's awesome, but he was oneof the most unique men I've
ever met.
Jokingly, we always call himfancy man and we always call him
fancy man Because, like heloved a three piece suit.
(06:11):
Like homie was always dressed inthe lines Professionally.
He knew corporate life.
He actually worked with my momat the Gap, Incorporated as
director of IT, really knew hisstuff.
But then when it came todressing up, he dressed up and
he used to live in Oakland, inthe Bay Area, because that's
where the Gaps headquarters were.
And so all of a sudden he'slike, nah, you know, not many
(06:32):
people realize I'm really tattedCrystal and I was like, well,
that's cool.
Like his wife was reallyeccentric too, Just a phenomenal
woman, very artistic, eccentricin the best way possible.
Right as a couple they werereally great.
And so I was talking to him andhe's like no, no, no really.
And one day he came in fullfledged color sleeve, Like from
here to his wrist, and I'venever seen his back or anything.
(06:55):
He showed us pictures and itwas just like full on color.
It was impressive.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
He was one of those people that he didn't make me
realize.
He further emphasized the factthat a tattoo doesn't describe
your skill, doesn't describeyour personality, doesn't
describe what professionalismyou can bring to the table.
He was awesome, awesome guy,incredible for professional, so
he'd always talk about thosetypes of moments and stuff like
(07:21):
that, like I always hid mytattoos.
Can you imagine if he enteredin the workforce now?
It would be different.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It would be totally different and I think it depends
on where you live, cause Iremember I was working, living
in Austin, working there, and Iwould go out and film and
broadcast different conferencesand things like that, and in
Austin, like I would go to onesfor bar associations a lot yeah,
lawyers have visible tattoos.
In Austin, one guy hasdreadlocks and like he's like
(07:48):
the rock star, you know, he'sgot tats everywhere and I'm like
, oh, that's normal, whatever.
And then I was in Florida andpeople were glaring at me and I
was like, oh, florida, oh yeah,this isn't Austin, and New
Mexico was pretty laid back.
It's more of an artistic placeas well.
But I say, if you see someonewith a tattoo in front of you
and looking for a job, hire them.
They are willing to commit tothings.
(08:09):
They are dedicated.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
They have a boldness.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
They will endure, they stand by, something like
hire people with tattoos.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
That's what I say.
Well, we always talk about it.
The first tattoo I noticed thistattoo right away.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I actually gave him shit about it you would Cause
it's an LA, it's a Los.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Angeles Dodgers tattoo and I was like I don't
know if this is gonna work out.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Man, and he's like boo, that is not a protected
class Sports team.
You can definitely discriminateagainst sports teams.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
I have a big believer .
Nowadays you can't talk aboutsex, drugs, rock and roll,
politics and now sports, becausesports is very polarizing,
especially as a 40 diners fan.
Like sports is very polarizing,but that's besides the point,
or San Francisco Giants fan inits case.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Talking about these different classes that do often
meet discrimination.
One of the questions that camein, which I liked and I'd love
to hear from you on, is how hasbeing a woman or an
Asian-American or the combo,affected your career and how
does it impact you being abusiness owner?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh wow, how much have we have.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
How much have we?
These are the bite-size answers, I guess.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I would say that this is probably the trailer reel
right here for the podcast.
It was incredibly difficult tofeel comfortable at the table
when I first started the companyand I had to really push
through that fear as an Asianwoman.
There's a couple clubs, there'smultiple times where I've
walked into the room and itstill happens today, which is
(09:36):
the unfortunate part.
I walk into the room when I'mthe only Asian person in the
room of C-levels executives, etcetera.
In fact, I actually gracefullyturned away from my interest of
joining a leadership community,the leadership community for
C-level executives, and I askedthe question what does diversity
(10:01):
look like among your C-levels?
And they said, oh, there's 75%men and 25% women were working
on it, and I said okay.
And then I said but actuallythat wasn't what I was
referencing.
I was wondering aboutbackground, socioeconomics, race
, et cetera.
And they said we don't have alot of diversity in terms of
(10:22):
race and I said, oh, are thereany Asian American owners?
And they said no.
And immediately I started tovery much turtle shell myself
and say, oh, I don't like thatcomfort level.
And I don't like that comfortlevel because I feel that in our
community, in this day and age,if you're gonna promote
(10:45):
diversity, equity, inclusion,you have to mentor the people
that might have not had the sameadvantages or disadvantages as
you.
And so my family.
They immigrated to America in83 and 85, my mom and my dad
separately and then met here.
There's definitely times whereAsian Americans in general don't
(11:06):
understand the credit system orwhat asset building and wealth
looks like, and I didn't havethose advantages.
I didn't have a family memberthat actually knew how to create
a business, or, if they did,they lived elsewhere, created it
, failed at it and thenrestarted it themselves.
So it was different.
My family doesn't have a set ofentrepreneurs, because that's
(11:27):
our generation, like our cousinsand the kids.
So I will say that it had itsdisadvantages in the beginning,
but I embraced it.
I was like cool, I'm the onlybrown chick out in the gallery
of ownership.
We went to the Coombraise, whichis the awards for the New
(11:47):
Mexico PRSA, and there's a lotof agency owners that were there
.
How many of them were people ofcolor?
Not many.
So I used it to our advantage.
However, I used it to ouradvantage in terms of sticking
out.
Whether or not we stick outlike a sore thumb, that's
irrelevant.
We stick out and what is one ofthe big marketing principles?
(12:10):
Differentiation?
Yeah, 100% right.
And so, to kind of summarizethis has it been uncomfortable
to be an Asian-owned woman-ownedagency or business owner?
Absolutely, absolutely.
But the nice thing is thatpeople that have hired us
haven't hired us for our coloror how we look.
They hired us for our talentand the team and being
(12:32):
incredibly smart and talentedand objective and just organized
and rolling with the punches,like that's why people hire us.
They don't hire us becausethere's an Asian lady.
That's nuts.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
At the helm, I say we do work to gain culture,
competency as well in areas thatwe don't understand.
I think we make really strongeffort for our clients where we
go.
Oh, we don't have yourbackground or the background of
your audience, but we're goingto learn.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You know we'll take for example some of the
conversations we've had about.
I know which particular clientyou're talking about.
It's not just that we're reallyrespectful people.
You talked about ethics and howyou want to work for an ethical
company or be aligned withpeople that have the same ethics
and values as you.
I wouldn't want you to pretendthat you're Native American.
(13:29):
That's bullshit.
To make you pretend that youare.
I didn't mean to make you spitthat one, but you're just trying
to respect the culture.
Yes, yeah, 100%.
And so that's the cool partabout surrounding ourselves
around people.
You don't see it as amonetization to take the time to
go in depth and look at aculture and understand a culture
(13:50):
.
You're doing the right thingand we don't have to question if
it's the right thing or not.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So, speaking of sticking out at that award
ceremony, how about bringinghome so many First Yarza?
What shameless plugaward-winning agency right here.
We cleaned up, including.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Best of Show, including Best of Show for
campaigns and texts.
I have a funny story about that, if we have a quick second.
So 11, I don't know if you sawmy Facebook post so 11 years ago
was when I won my first Cumbre,and it was a Best of Show.
And the Best of Show was forsocial media for a very big,
(14:28):
high-profile, world class eventhere in town, and the agency
that I won it with it was greatbecause it was definitely a team
effort and also knowing that Idid a bulk of the work.
There came a point, though,when I won that award, where I
said OK, so I'm going out on myown.
It's not about me anymore, it'sabout the team really
(14:49):
understanding that moment of joyand satisfaction and realizing
the confidence that they havethat they're an award-winning
public relations professionaldoing social media, doing video,
doing web.
Justin won his first Cumbre,second large award.
(15:09):
Is that right, justin?
I don't know.
Ooh, he's lost count.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, it's called Humility right there.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
So Justin won, amy won for her great website work
and project management, marisawon for the campaign, danielle
did too.
So everybody just had a reallygood contribution to it, and it
became to the point where ittalk about being full circle.
11 years ago, if you asked me,I would have been at a table
with my team celebrating a bestof show, my APR and everybody
(15:42):
else's successes.
I would have been like you'refucking nuts nuts.
So it was very full circle andreally surreal to experience
that I just like being the owner, sitting back there like, oh
crap, was that us again.
Yeah, and then also, do youknow what I really loved about
that award ceremony, too?
A lot of the young people.
There was a fair amount ofpeople that definitely look a
(16:06):
lot younger than us.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, yeah, well, there were students there too.
Yeah, that was a point.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
These students make me feel old and like, oh man,
I'm not that cute little publicrelations like, want to be
whatever that was back then.
But it was very inspiring toactually see them in the room
because those are the people in10 years from now and we walking
across that stage with theirAPR, with their award,
(16:34):
celebrating their successes withtheir teams, like that was the
cool.
Cool part about that Coombra isthat there's a lot of young
people that are growing theprofession and the trade.
That's what we really need tosee.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Or in 10 years from now, they'll have realized that
this industry isn't the one theywant to work in at all and
they'll want to do somethingcompletely different.
Which brings me in one of thefavorite questions that we got
in, which was around.
Let's see.
It was about what advice do youhave for someone who is right
(17:07):
on the verge of pursuing theirdream, like they're right about
to quit their corporate job.
They're 95 to pursue theirdream.
What advice would you give,because we've both done that.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's scary.
Yeah, no, I'm rolling back thetape and trying to calm down
that anxiety that comes with thethought of leaving your job.
I'm gonna answer first.
I'm not gonna be reading.
Answer this one too.
I actually had to have thisconversation with somebody in
the community recently and theyput in their two weeks and you
could tell the fear in thatindividual's voice and I said I
(17:44):
think so.
I'm gonna give the same advicethat I gave this individual.
There's somebody out there thatdid exactly what you did.
Find that support system.
Find that support system ofmotivation and put yourself
around them, because you knowthat they're going to understand
and be empathetic to thechallenges of becoming an
(18:07):
entrepreneur and finding that,if you're on the verge, what do
you have to lose?
I always ask that question whatdo you have to lose?
If you feel like you're gonnalose your family, if you feel
like you're gonna lose yourbasic security and your safety,
et cetera, then that's when youreally need to evaluate, like,
is it worth losing thoseimportant things?
That's the massive hierarchy ofneeds right, safety, security
(18:30):
and your people, your family oryour friends.
You don't wanna lose that.
But if you're not gonna loseany of those in fact, they're
gonna be more supportive of youby taking the leap fuck it, go,
go, go do it.
And if you fail, don't beafraid to fail.
You're going to fail, you'regoing to fail.
Just start, just don't beafraid of it.
Yeah, it's gonna happen.
Curious your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
If I think back to my first endeavor, if I were to
give myself advice one and thiswas a really hard one to swallow
as an entrepreneur or anybodyputting out their art or their
passion or whatever, no one isgonna care as much about it as
you do they just won't, I know,and it hurts because I was so
(19:14):
psyched about it and it was agreat idea.
And entrepreneurs they'revisionary people, right.
They have great ideas, they dogood things, they see an area
that needs help or that theywant to positively impact and
they're full of passion, they'reready to dedicate their lives
to it.
And then it can be reallycrushing when the world does not
meet you there and people arewrapped up in their own things.
Or maybe they've got theirpassion that they're excited
(19:34):
about, or they're going througha tough time, or they're just in
the midst of life, which ishard being a human's hard and no
one will care as much as you doabout your idea.
Oh, there's probably somebodylistening to.
I know, and it hurt, like for meto realize that it hurt and it
hurt my ego, but I spent so muchtime and energy trying to get
people up to my level of caringabout the thing I cared about
(19:56):
and they're just not going to.
They have not dedicated theirlife to it, right.
So that would be a big thing.
And the other piece you touchedon and I don't think we talk
about it enough because it's notthe fun part it's like oh,
you're gonna go pursue yourdream or your passion and you're
gonna have a fuller expressionof yourself.
Like we get excited about thatand the truth is it's gonna take
(20:18):
a lot longer to be successfulthan we think.
Money will likely run out,energy is gonna run out.
Like having a strong base toensure that those material needs
are going to be met for two tofour times longer than you're
anticipating.
I had my little nest egg beforeI left the corporate world.
(20:40):
I thought I had it planned out.
That money went so fast and Ihave been struggling to play
catch up ever since.
Yeah, to play financial catch upever since.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, no, I remember, even as owners.
I remember in the beginning yousay, oh, you're a small
business owner, your family,some of your peripheral family,
be like, well, you can afford it, right?
I'm like fuck, no.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I'd say your entrepreneur is just having a
very expensive hobby for mostpeople.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, I don't remember the last time I had a
consistent paycheck.
I envy those days.
I'm one of our pilots greatfriend.
He's like we're sitting at Blueand Fias and I'm checking
emails.
He's like you know why I lovenot being in corporate America
anymore.
I was like why?
Because I don't have to check adamn email anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I was like fuck you, I'm so jealous Like I miss.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Trust me, I have those moments.
I have to tell this amazingstory about a woman who I adore,
adore, ann Haynes, fromformerly Axion, now Dream Spring
.
We're going back to the thoughtof you don't know what you need
until you're actually in it asan entrepreneur, or you don't
(21:54):
know when that support comesaround, you didn't realize that
you needed it.
Ann Haynes had seen my articlewhen we first started the agency
.
I'll say this in December of2014, an article came out saying
that I disrupted the market.
I left the I love that.
Yeah, it's still out there.
It's an article from AlbuquerqueBusiness First saying it was a
bold move.
I think that was actually likethe words literally from the
(22:17):
headline Nice and I left theagency.
I left an agency and created myown.
I had the support of my oldagency owner, which was great
but financial, and also I gothis blessing, but I started the
agency the way that he did.
So I talked about that in thearticles, like I didn't do
anything different.
I just started the agency theway that he did and he luckily
(22:38):
mentored me to understandbusiness development, the
operations, et cetera, andeverybody kind of knew I always
wanted to start my own smallbusiness.
But I don't think he realizedhow full blown I wanted to go
with it, and so an article cameout.
It caught the attention of thebusiness community and so Gal
White, by the name of Ann, a gala seat, this amazing founder
(22:58):
and CEO of this micro lendingcompany, and it ended up being
one of our longest clientsbecause of her relationship.
But Ann told me the story ofhow she started her loan company
, or her loan nonprofit, excuseme, which was at the time Axion.
And she said and this was thestory she told me she goes.
I can't remember, I can'tforget the number of nights that
(23:21):
I spent crying on my keyboard,creating the company, trying to
put it all together.
And when she said those exactwords and explained how she
started it, I didn't realize shewas reaching out to me, trying
to tell me bitch, it's gonna behard.
And when she said those words,like all of a sudden, I just
started weeping and I literallysaid nobody understands, nobody
(23:47):
understands.
And it's like in the middle ofStarbucks in Rio Grande and I'm
crying and she's laughing andcrying at the same time, because
she's like I get it.
And that's when I knew this wasnot gonna be an easy road.
It was not, and I was only likemonth two into it and she told
me that and I like everybodyneeds a woman like that in their
life when they first getstarted.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, or a bunch of them, and check out our episode
Trying and Crying, where we dotalk about the emotional side of
running a business andentrepreneurship.
That's another thing I wouldsay like get ready for
everything that you've beenhiding from or running from
inside you to come up.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Oh, 100%.
Or here's another good questiontoo.
That kind of ties into it.
So we were asked how do youincorporate self-care and
wellbeing practice into yourroutine to support your mental
and emotional health on thejourney to success?
That's a big one, homie.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It's a great question .
It is a great question and I'llsay and I'm not here yet, but
here's where I'm working to go,here's what I want to do, you're
here in the office.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
No, I am here.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I'm here but I'm not at my what my goal would be,
where my wellbeing is my toppriority, yeah, and that it is
that the rest of my life isbuilt around that instead of
building that into my life.
I've been working towards thatand having routines and things
like that, and I'm getting awhole lot better at being a
grown up and taking care ofmyself and all that, yeah,
(25:10):
there's all kinds of stuff thatI'm like, oh, that was very
adult of how I handled that.
Like I'm very impressed.
We can look at some tips later,right, I'm like, did anybody
see that?
No, I'm just doing normal adultthings, cool.
So I would love to get to thatspace.
In the meantime, my biggestthing is having some form of
(25:30):
morning routine.
It's shifted over the years,but for me it usually includes
taking the pups out.
Obviously they insist on it.
I don't have a yard, so goingon a walk but it also gets me in
motion, it gets me outside andI try to be really present when
I'm on that walk.
I leave my phone at home and Itry to notice.
It's so beautiful right now inNew Mexico.
It is incredible, stunning, itis absolutely beautiful.
(25:52):
So it's so nice to Yellow redoranges Sucks for golf, but
that's okay.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Why?
Because?
It's cold or Because you losethe ball and it's cold and then
you get sore and then it gets asJustin says, it's very leafy of
the green, and that sucksanyways Not the right leafy
greens Not the left, not theright?
Am I right being?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
him.
Yeah, hey, just kidding.
So, yeah, meditation is usuallypart of that as well.
And then I check in with mybest friend every day.
We use a voice messaging appand we have a morning check in
every single day.
Oh, that's sweet, and so I havea point of connection.
I also start my day the veryfirst thing I wake up, and I do
a gratitude practice before Iget out of bed.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That's really cool.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
So gratitude, some form of mindfulness, meditation,
movement and connection yeah,and I do my own version of
prayer in there as well.
So those things have been agame.
Even if the rest of the daygoes to shit, at least start on
an okay foundation.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
That's really good.
Yeah, definitely taking mentalnotes on that friend.
I try to get myself into amorning routine.
Morning routines are reallytough whenever you have a
partner that has insomnia, I'lltell you that.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yes and so he.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I know that for him his circadian clock is just off,
like right now.
He's probably still up rightnow and it's 12 o'clock and he
hasn't slept since yesterday atone o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
It's nuts.
I want to lay off some of thosemonsters, if I can just throw
something out there.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So he actually has been laying off the monster,
especially after the wedding.
Hasn't changed his sleeppattern?
It really hasn't, I'll tell youthis.
So it's kind of tough and I'mnot making excuses Like I can
get.
I have a weekly routine whichis I have to do some type of
project that's not related towork on Friday, and then
Saturday, sunday, saturday Ihave to balloon.
(27:42):
Like going out and chasing ahotter balloon to me is just
such joy and such peace.
Or even jumping in the balloonif the pilot needs extra weight,
whatever that might be.
It's really calming to be up inthe air, like during balloon
fiesta.
I was there again on Friday inthe basket and I was just.
It was so many balloons in theair.
(28:03):
It was almost one of the morebeautiful mornings I've ever
seen, right.
So we're floating on by andthen all of a sudden I'm like,
oh crap, this is really peaceful.
I didn't get bored up there,but I was like hanging out on
the side of the gana, going likehuh, something to do appeared
just to look, besides looking.
And it was like the therapy, aswe call it, like the altitude
(28:24):
adjustment.
It's like a really nicealtitude adjustment You're gonna
do that.
Or even chasing like fourwheeling.
That's what chasing is, justfour wheeling.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's so much fun Four wheeling with friends.
Oh yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And then an occasional fan and some guy in
the back of the truck is that'sgreat.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
That's a good point to say.
Dance is another big part ofmine.
If I don't dance throughout theweek, if y'all have noticed me
being particularly grumpy, you'dbe like, oh, that girl is not
gonna dance this week yeah goget out of here, go find
somewhere to move.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oh yeah, no, I'm a, so kickball was my movement.
I noticed that.
If so, the other thing for myemotional mental health is like
getting out and doing somethingthat's not related to work.
So, like Thursdays used to be,our kickball days probably come
back up again when it's warmer,so kickball days were always
really great for me.
Mondays are top golf seasonended, but we have a top golf
(29:10):
league sitting around and justshooting the shit with your
buddies.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
So much fun.
The humans are the mostimportant part I have found.
Yeah, yep, and we know, like,when people get to the end of
life, what do they say?
They talk about theirrelationships, they talk about
their experiences and thingslike, yeah, and then we're so
isolated.
Yeah, so the humans.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
And that's it for this week's episode of stories,
success and stuff.
There is a part two.
We had a lot of great questionsand so we'll be broadcasting
that next week, and I hope thatyou'll continue to follow us on
your favorite podcast channel oryour favorite social media
channel at CRS of the agency, orfollow along and subscribe to
our newsletter at CRScom.
(29:48):
I'm Crystal.
This is Jace.
Thanks for another great weekand we hope to see you soon at
stories, success and stuff.
Now.
It was incredibly difficult to feel comfortable at
the table when I first startedthe company and I had to really
push through that fear.
As an Asian woman, I walk intothe room when I'm the only Asian
person in the room.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I had initially started having back issues my
early 20s.
I used to throw out my back myearly 20s.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Who are you doing it?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I don't know Her needed a disc in my late 20s.
Boo, I mean, that was my early,that was my early.
No, that was my late 20s.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Man.
Okay, if there's one thing youwould tell 20 year old Jace
about your body, oh my God.
Now what would that be?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I was gonna say stretch, but I don't even do
that sufficiently now.
So I should probably tell my 36year old self that about my
body, like just, and maybe justbe more gentle.
I honestly in my 30s I decidedmy fitness would center around
what seniors do and like theyhave a Tai Chi, tai Chi, I do
(01:03):
Chi Gong, I'm dancing that'spretty legit Things that help
elongate the comfort and use ofthe body and I'm like I'm doing
that F running like high impactstuff, forget it, it wears the
body down.
So now I do things that arekind and gentle to the body.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's a good idea.
I think I would tell myselfeverything that you did in your
20s to your body, you did itright, you did it right, I did
it right.
Yeah, I don't live with a lotof regret.
And so there's a lot of thingslike kickball was one of them
and I didn't run Like you'resupposed to be healthy.
I trust me when I say I have myfair share of health issues,
(01:44):
but everything that I wanted todo, which was like standing and
partying at a club for like 10hours or walking aimlessly
through the Bosque, everythingthat I did in my 20s like I was
well worth it, even at my 36 age, sans the health issues, but
everything else, like I'm soglad I lived without a great.
(02:05):
If I died tomorrow, I lived areally good life physically.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I'm gonna say are we supposed to stop that
stuff in our 30s?
I went dancing six nights outof seven last week, like that's
pretty good.
Keep it up, yeah, I would too.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Mentioning Q&A great segue into today's podcast.
Today on story success andstuff.
We talked about it last week.
We wanted to meet everybodythat has been listening to the
podcast.
We get messages like excitedfor my therapy session, hashtag,
story success and stuff, whichis hysterical.
And then my favorite one, fromanother friend who was like oh
(02:41):
yep, I binge on you guys and youshouted me out and that was
hilarious.
So really excited to meet, justbesides our moms, our loyal
listeners right there, our firstlisteners ever.
I'm excited to talk toeverybody.
We put out a request for a Q&Aon your favorite social media
channel or on, if you're asubscriber, from YouTube, which
is great.
Thanks for sending in somereally amazing questions.
(03:03):
We're here just to kind ofshoot the shit a little bit
today.
Have some fun with it.
And a couple of questions.
I think you and I have alwayswanted to ask each other Like we
had lunch on Friday, which wasgreat.
Rarely do we get to have lunchtogether on Friday.
So it was nice to kind of likecatch up.
A little business, a littlepersonal stuff too.
So I'm sure it's just areflection, it's just part of
(03:25):
Friday which is awesome, exceptyou guys get to participate with
us.
Yeah, or you're welcome to takeus out to lunch anytime.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I was going to say we can go to lunch next time.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
If we're just in this next time too.
Yeah, that was rude.
Right, ok, it was rude.
Sorry, it wasn't a podcastlunch.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, it was a different business lunch.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So yeah, so where do you want to start?
We have some OK, sohighlighting.
We've got a couple of questionson leaving corporate life,
being a proud Asian woman,tattoos.
Ok, let me start off with thisone.
Jace, you clearly have veryvisible tattoos.
Has that had an impact on yourcareer or the jobs you've been
(04:06):
able to get?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Oh, the short answer is no, not that I'm aware of.
The longer answer is that whenI was getting my hand tattoos,
it was this burning of the shipsfor me.
I was living a non-9 to 5 life.
I was working for myself,living outside of convention,
and I wanted to make sure that Istayed that way.
(04:29):
As we both know, it's reallyhard being an entrepreneur, it's
hard being a business owner,it's hard.
Going your own way, it's hard,it can be exhausting, and giving
that up and just going intocomfort is tempting often, and
so I'm like, oh, I've beenwanting to do hand tattoos and
I'm in this stage of my life andI woke up this one morning it
(04:51):
was a Tuesday and I'm liketoday's the day we're going to
go and get this scheduled.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Tattoo Tuesday Tattoo Tuesday I didn't get it on that
day.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But I did go and get them scheduled and in my mind
I'm like this will solidify menot returning to standard
society, because people can beweird if you have your hands
tattooed.
No, they don't care.
Nobody cares anymore At leastthe people that I associate with
or work here.
Like we're a company.
We do professional things, I goout and meet professional
(05:18):
people, I give professionaltalks.
Nobody cares anymore.
So maybe if you had your facetattooed, that might impact some
things.
Jolly.
Roll was the CMA recipient andhe has his face tattoos, I think
today, at day and age, we'rethe ones running companies, our
age open-minded people.
Am I going to go work at somelike super buttoned up corporate
(05:42):
types stuff?
No, but I wouldn't do thatanyway.
So do whatever you want.
Tattoo whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, so I have to tell the story of one of our
first friends of the firm, whichwas Jason Griffin.
Jason Griffin is now thedirector of web over at Media
Desk, a competitor of ours.
Jason's awesome, but he was oneof the most unique men I've
ever met.
Jokingly, we always call himfancy man and we always call him
fancy man Because, like heloved a three piece suit.
(06:11):
Like homie was always dressed inthe lines Professionally.
He knew corporate life.
He actually worked with my momat the Gap, Incorporated as
director of IT, really knew hisstuff.
But then when it came todressing up, he dressed up and
he used to live in Oakland, inthe Bay Area, because that's
where the Gaps headquarters were.
And so all of a sudden he'slike, nah, you know, not many
(06:32):
people realize I'm really tattedCrystal and I was like, well,
that's cool.
Like his wife was reallyeccentric too, Just a phenomenal
woman, very artistic, eccentricin the best way possible.
Right as a couple they werereally great.
And so I was talking to him andhe's like no, no, no really.
And one day he came in fullfledged color sleeve, Like from
here to his wrist, and I'venever seen his back or anything.
(06:55):
He showed us pictures and itwas just like full on color.
It was impressive.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
He was one of those people that he didn't make me
realize.
He further emphasized the factthat a tattoo doesn't describe
your skill, doesn't describeyour personality, doesn't
describe what professionalismyou can bring to the table.
He was awesome, awesome guy,incredible for professional, so
he'd always talk about thosetypes of moments and stuff like
(07:21):
that, like I always hid mytattoos.
Can you imagine if he enteredin the workforce now?
It would be different.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It would be totally different and I think it depends
on where you live, cause Iremember I was working, living
in Austin, working there, and Iwould go out and film and
broadcast different conferencesand things like that, and in
Austin, like I would go to onesfor bar associations a lot yeah,
lawyers have visible tattoos.
In Austin, one guy hasdreadlocks and like he's like
(07:48):
the rock star, you know, he'sgot tats everywhere and I'm like
, oh, that's normal, whatever.
And then I was in Florida andpeople were glaring at me and I
was like, oh, florida, oh yeah,this isn't Austin, and New
Mexico was pretty laid back.
It's more of an artistic placeas well.
But I say, if you see someonewith a tattoo in front of you
and looking for a job, hire them.
They are willing to commit tothings.
(08:09):
They are dedicated.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
They have a boldness.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
They will endure, they stand by, something like
hire people with tattoos.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
That's what I say.
Well, we always talk about it.
The first tattoo I noticed thistattoo right away.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I actually gave him shit about it you would Cause
it's an LA, it's a Los.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Angeles Dodgers tattoo and I was like I don't
know if this is gonna work out.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Man, and he's like boo, that is not a protected
class Sports team.
You can definitely discriminateagainst sports teams.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
I have a big believer .
Nowadays you can't talk aboutsex, drugs, rock and roll,
politics and now sports, becausesports is very polarizing,
especially as a 40 diners fan.
Like sports is very polarizing,but that's besides the point,
or San Francisco Giants fan inits case.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Talking about these different classes that do often
meet discrimination.
One of the questions that camein, which I liked and I'd love
to hear from you on, is how hasbeing a woman or an
Asian-American or the combo,affected your career and how
does it impact you being abusiness owner?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh wow, how much have we have.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
How much have we?
These are the bite-size answers, I guess.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I would say that this is probably the trailer reel
right here for the podcast.
It was incredibly difficult tofeel comfortable at the table
when I first started the companyand I had to really push
through that fear as an Asianwoman.
There's a couple clubs, there'smultiple times where I've
walked into the room and itstill happens today, which is
(09:36):
the unfortunate part.
I walk into the room when I'mthe only Asian person in the
room of C-levels executives, etcetera.
In fact, I actually gracefullyturned away from my interest of
joining a leadership community,the leadership community for
C-level executives, and I askedthe question what does diversity
(10:01):
look like among your C-levels?
And they said, oh, there's 75%men and 25% women were working
on it, and I said okay.
And then I said but actuallythat wasn't what I was
referencing.
I was wondering aboutbackground, socioeconomics, race
, et cetera.
And they said we don't have alot of diversity in terms of
(10:22):
race and I said, oh, are thereany Asian American owners?
And they said no.
And immediately I started tovery much turtle shell myself
and say, oh, I don't like thatcomfort level.
And I don't like that comfortlevel because I feel that in our
community, in this day and age,if you're gonna promote
(10:45):
diversity, equity, inclusion,you have to mentor the people
that might have not had the sameadvantages or disadvantages as
you.
And so my family.
They immigrated to America in83 and 85, my mom and my dad
separately and then met here.
There's definitely times whereAsian Americans in general don't
(11:06):
understand the credit system orwhat asset building and wealth
looks like, and I didn't havethose advantages.
I didn't have a family memberthat actually knew how to create
a business, or, if they did,they lived elsewhere, created it
, failed at it and thenrestarted it themselves.
So it was different.
My family doesn't have a set ofentrepreneurs, because that's
(11:27):
our generation, like our cousinsand the kids.
So I will say that it had itsdisadvantages in the beginning,
but I embraced it.
I was like cool, I'm the onlybrown chick out in the gallery
of ownership.
We went to the Coombraise, whichis the awards for the New
(11:47):
Mexico PRSA, and there's a lotof agency owners that were there
.
How many of them were people ofcolor?
Not many.
So I used it to our advantage.
However, I used it to ouradvantage in terms of sticking
out.
Whether or not we stick outlike a sore thumb, that's
irrelevant.
We stick out and what is one ofthe big marketing principles?
(12:10):
Differentiation?
Yeah, 100% right.
And so, to kind of summarizethis has it been uncomfortable
to be an Asian-owned woman-ownedagency or business owner?
Absolutely, absolutely.
But the nice thing is thatpeople that have hired us
haven't hired us for our coloror how we look.
They hired us for our talentand the team and being
(12:32):
incredibly smart and talentedand objective and just organized
and rolling with the punches,like that's why people hire us.
They don't hire us becausethere's an Asian lady.
That's nuts.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
At the helm, I say we do work to gain culture,
competency as well in areas thatwe don't understand.
I think we make really strongeffort for our clients where we
go.
Oh, we don't have yourbackground or the background of
your audience, but we're goingto learn.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You know we'll take for example some of the
conversations we've had about.
I know which particular clientyou're talking about.
It's not just that we're reallyrespectful people.
You talked about ethics and howyou want to work for an ethical
company or be aligned withpeople that have the same ethics
and values as you.
I wouldn't want you to pretendthat you're Native American.
(13:29):
That's bullshit.
To make you pretend that youare.
I didn't mean to make you spitthat one, but you're just trying
to respect the culture.
Yes, yeah, 100%.
And so that's the cool partabout surrounding ourselves
around people.
You don't see it as amonetization to take the time to
go in depth and look at aculture and understand a culture
(13:50):
.
You're doing the right thingand we don't have to question if
it's the right thing or not.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So, speaking of sticking out at that award
ceremony, how about bringinghome so many First Yarza?
What shameless plugaward-winning agency right here.
We cleaned up, including.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Best of Show, including Best of Show for
campaigns and texts.
I have a funny story about that, if we have a quick second.
So 11, I don't know if you sawmy Facebook post so 11 years ago
was when I won my first Cumbre,and it was a Best of Show.
And the Best of Show was forsocial media for a very big,
(14:28):
high-profile, world class eventhere in town, and the agency
that I won it with it was greatbecause it was definitely a team
effort and also knowing that Idid a bulk of the work.
There came a point, though,when I won that award, where I
said OK, so I'm going out on myown.
It's not about me anymore, it'sabout the team really
(14:49):
understanding that moment of joyand satisfaction and realizing
the confidence that they havethat they're an award-winning
public relations professionaldoing social media, doing video,
doing web.
Justin won his first Cumbre,second large award.
(15:09):
Is that right, justin?
I don't know.
Ooh, he's lost count.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, it's called Humility right there.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
So Justin won, amy won for her great website work
and project management, marisawon for the campaign, danielle
did too.
So everybody just had a reallygood contribution to it, and it
became to the point where ittalk about being full circle.
11 years ago, if you asked me,I would have been at a table
with my team celebrating a bestof show, my APR and everybody
(15:42):
else's successes.
I would have been like you'refucking nuts nuts.
So it was very full circle andreally surreal to experience
that I just like being the owner, sitting back there like, oh
crap, was that us again.
Yeah, and then also, do youknow what I really loved about
that award ceremony, too?
A lot of the young people.
There was a fair amount ofpeople that definitely look a
(16:06):
lot younger than us.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, yeah, well, there were students there too.
Yeah, that was a point.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
These students make me feel old and like, oh man,
I'm not that cute little publicrelations like, want to be
whatever that was back then.
But it was very inspiring toactually see them in the room
because those are the people in10 years from now and we walking
across that stage with theirAPR, with their award,
(16:34):
celebrating their successes withtheir teams, like that was the
cool.
Cool part about that Coombra isthat there's a lot of young
people that are growing theprofession and the trade.
That's what we really need tosee.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Or in 10 years from now, they'll have realized that
this industry isn't the one theywant to work in at all and
they'll want to do somethingcompletely different.
Which brings me in one of thefavorite questions that we got
in, which was around.
Let's see.
It was about what advice do youhave for someone who is right
(17:07):
on the verge of pursuing theirdream, like they're right about
to quit their corporate job.
They're 95 to pursue theirdream.
What advice would you give,because we've both done that.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's scary.
Yeah, no, I'm rolling back thetape and trying to calm down
that anxiety that comes with thethought of leaving your job.
I'm gonna answer first.
I'm not gonna be reading.
Answer this one too.
I actually had to have thisconversation with somebody in
the community recently and theyput in their two weeks and you
could tell the fear in thatindividual's voice and I said I
(17:44):
think so.
I'm gonna give the same advicethat I gave this individual.
There's somebody out there thatdid exactly what you did.
Find that support system.
Find that support system ofmotivation and put yourself
around them, because you knowthat they're going to understand
and be empathetic to thechallenges of becoming an
(18:07):
entrepreneur and finding that,if you're on the verge, what do
you have to lose?
I always ask that question whatdo you have to lose?
If you feel like you're gonnalose your family, if you feel
like you're gonna lose yourbasic security and your safety,
et cetera, then that's when youreally need to evaluate, like,
is it worth losing thoseimportant things?
That's the massive hierarchy ofneeds right, safety, security
(18:30):
and your people, your family oryour friends.
You don't wanna lose that.
But if you're not gonna loseany of those in fact, they're
gonna be more supportive of youby taking the leap fuck it, go,
go, go do it.
And if you fail, don't beafraid to fail.
You're going to fail, you'regoing to fail.
Just start, just don't beafraid of it.
Yeah, it's gonna happen.
Curious your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
If I think back to my first endeavor, if I were to
give myself advice one and thiswas a really hard one to swallow
as an entrepreneur or anybodyputting out their art or their
passion or whatever, no one isgonna care as much about it as
you do they just won't, I know,and it hurts because I was so
(19:14):
psyched about it and it was agreat idea.
And entrepreneurs they'revisionary people, right.
They have great ideas, they dogood things, they see an area
that needs help or that theywant to positively impact and
they're full of passion, they'reready to dedicate their lives
to it.
And then it can be reallycrushing when the world does not
meet you there and people arewrapped up in their own things.
Or maybe they've got theirpassion that they're excited
(19:34):
about, or they're going througha tough time, or they're just in
the midst of life, which ishard being a human's hard and no
one will care as much as you doabout your idea.
Oh, there's probably somebodylistening to.
I know, and it hurt, like for meto realize that it hurt and it
hurt my ego, but I spent so muchtime and energy trying to get
people up to my level of caringabout the thing I cared about
(19:56):
and they're just not going to.
They have not dedicated theirlife to it, right.
So that would be a big thing.
And the other piece you touchedon and I don't think we talk
about it enough because it's notthe fun part it's like oh,
you're gonna go pursue yourdream or your passion and you're
gonna have a fuller expressionof yourself.
Like we get excited about thatand the truth is it's gonna take
(20:18):
a lot longer to be successfulthan we think.
Money will likely run out,energy is gonna run out.
Like having a strong base toensure that those material needs
are going to be met for two tofour times longer than you're
anticipating.
I had my little nest egg beforeI left the corporate world.
(20:40):
I thought I had it planned out.
That money went so fast and Ihave been struggling to play
catch up ever since.
Yeah, to play financial catch upever since.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, no, I remember, even as owners.
I remember in the beginning yousay, oh, you're a small
business owner, your family,some of your peripheral family,
be like, well, you can afford it, right?
I'm like fuck, no.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I'd say your entrepreneur is just having a
very expensive hobby for mostpeople.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, I don't remember the last time I had a
consistent paycheck.
I envy those days.
I'm one of our pilots greatfriend.
He's like we're sitting at Blueand Fias and I'm checking
emails.
He's like you know why I lovenot being in corporate America
anymore.
I was like why?
Because I don't have to check adamn email anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I was like fuck you, I'm so jealous Like I miss.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Trust me, I have those moments.
I have to tell this amazingstory about a woman who I adore,
adore, ann Haynes, fromformerly Axion, now Dream Spring
.
We're going back to the thoughtof you don't know what you need
until you're actually in it asan entrepreneur, or you don't
(21:54):
know when that support comesaround, you didn't realize that
you needed it.
Ann Haynes had seen my articlewhen we first started the agency
.
I'll say this in December of2014, an article came out saying
that I disrupted the market.
I left the I love that.
Yeah, it's still out there.
It's an article from AlbuquerqueBusiness First saying it was a
bold move.
I think that was actually likethe words literally from the
(22:17):
headline Nice and I left theagency.
I left an agency and created myown.
I had the support of my oldagency owner, which was great
but financial, and also I gothis blessing, but I started the
agency the way that he did.
So I talked about that in thearticles, like I didn't do
anything different.
I just started the agency theway that he did and he luckily
(22:38):
mentored me to understandbusiness development, the
operations, et cetera, andeverybody kind of knew I always
wanted to start my own smallbusiness.
But I don't think he realizedhow full blown I wanted to go
with it, and so an article cameout.
It caught the attention of thebusiness community and so Gal
White, by the name of Ann, a gala seat, this amazing founder
(22:58):
and CEO of this micro lendingcompany, and it ended up being
one of our longest clientsbecause of her relationship.
But Ann told me the story ofhow she started her loan company
, or her loan nonprofit, excuseme, which was at the time Axion.
And she said and this was thestory she told me she goes.
I can't remember, I can'tforget the number of nights that
(23:21):
I spent crying on my keyboard,creating the company, trying to
put it all together.
And when she said those exactwords and explained how she
started it, I didn't realize shewas reaching out to me, trying
to tell me bitch, it's gonna behard.
And when she said those words,like all of a sudden, I just
started weeping and I literallysaid nobody understands, nobody
(23:47):
understands.
And it's like in the middle ofStarbucks in Rio Grande and I'm
crying and she's laughing andcrying at the same time, because
she's like I get it.
And that's when I knew this wasnot gonna be an easy road.
It was not, and I was only likemonth two into it and she told
me that and I like everybodyneeds a woman like that in their
life when they first getstarted.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, or a bunch of them, and check out our episode
Trying and Crying, where we dotalk about the emotional side of
running a business andentrepreneurship.
That's another thing I wouldsay like get ready for
everything that you've beenhiding from or running from
inside you to come up.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Oh, 100%.
Or here's another good questiontoo.
That kind of ties into it.
So we were asked how do youincorporate self-care and
wellbeing practice into yourroutine to support your mental
and emotional health on thejourney to success?
That's a big one, homie.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It's a great question .
It is a great question and I'llsay and I'm not here yet, but
here's where I'm working to go,here's what I want to do, you're
here in the office.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
No, I am here.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I'm here but I'm not at my what my goal would be,
where my wellbeing is my toppriority, yeah, and that it is
that the rest of my life isbuilt around that instead of
building that into my life.
I've been working towards thatand having routines and things
like that, and I'm getting awhole lot better at being a
grown up and taking care ofmyself and all that, yeah,
(25:10):
there's all kinds of stuff thatI'm like, oh, that was very
adult of how I handled that.
Like I'm very impressed.
We can look at some tips later,right, I'm like, did anybody
see that?
No, I'm just doing normal adultthings, cool.
So I would love to get to thatspace.
In the meantime, my biggestthing is having some form of
(25:30):
morning routine.
It's shifted over the years,but for me it usually includes
taking the pups out.
Obviously they insist on it.
I don't have a yard, so goingon a walk but it also gets me in
motion, it gets me outside andI try to be really present when
I'm on that walk.
I leave my phone at home and Itry to notice.
It's so beautiful right now inNew Mexico.
It is incredible, stunning, itis absolutely beautiful.
(25:52):
So it's so nice to Yellow redoranges Sucks for golf, but
that's okay.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Why?
Because?
It's cold or Because you losethe ball and it's cold and then
you get sore and then it gets asJustin says, it's very leafy of
the green, and that sucksanyways Not the right leafy
greens Not the left, not theright?
Am I right being?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
him.
Yeah, hey, just kidding.
So, yeah, meditation is usuallypart of that as well.
And then I check in with mybest friend every day.
We use a voice messaging appand we have a morning check in
every single day.
Oh, that's sweet, and so I havea point of connection.
I also start my day the veryfirst thing I wake up, and I do
a gratitude practice before Iget out of bed.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That's really cool.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
So gratitude, some form of mindfulness, meditation,
movement and connection yeah,and I do my own version of
prayer in there as well.
So those things have been agame.
Even if the rest of the daygoes to shit, at least start on
an okay foundation.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
That's really good.
Yeah, definitely taking mentalnotes on that friend.
I try to get myself into amorning routine.
Morning routines are reallytough whenever you have a
partner that has insomnia, I'lltell you that.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yes and so he.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I know that for him his circadian clock is just off,
like right now.
He's probably still up rightnow and it's 12 o'clock and he
hasn't slept since yesterday atone o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
It's nuts.
I want to lay off some of thosemonsters, if I can just throw
something out there.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So he actually has been laying off the monster,
especially after the wedding.
Hasn't changed his sleeppattern?
It really hasn't, I'll tell youthis.
So it's kind of tough and I'mnot making excuses Like I can
get.
I have a weekly routine whichis I have to do some type of
project that's not related towork on Friday, and then
Saturday, sunday, saturday Ihave to balloon.
(27:42):
Like going out and chasing ahotter balloon to me is just
such joy and such peace.
Or even jumping in the balloonif the pilot needs extra weight,
whatever that might be.
It's really calming to be up inthe air, like during balloon
fiesta.
I was there again on Friday inthe basket and I was just.
It was so many balloons in theair.
(28:03):
It was almost one of the morebeautiful mornings I've ever
seen, right.
So we're floating on by andthen all of a sudden I'm like,
oh crap, this is really peaceful.
I didn't get bored up there,but I was like hanging out on
the side of the gana, going likehuh, something to do appeared
just to look, besides looking.
And it was like the therapy, aswe call it, like the altitude
(28:24):
adjustment.
It's like a really nicealtitude adjustment You're gonna
do that.
Or even chasing like fourwheeling.
That's what chasing is, justfour wheeling.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's so much fun Four wheeling with friends.
Oh yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And then an occasional fan and some guy in
the back of the truck is that'sgreat.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
That's a good point to say.
Dance is another big part ofmine.
If I don't dance throughout theweek, if y'all have noticed me
being particularly grumpy, you'dbe like, oh, that girl is not
gonna dance this week yeah goget out of here, go find
somewhere to move.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oh yeah, no, I'm a, so kickball was my movement.
I noticed that.
If so, the other thing for myemotional mental health is like
getting out and doing somethingthat's not related to work.
So, like Thursdays used to be,our kickball days probably come
back up again when it's warmer,so kickball days were always
really great for me.
Mondays are top golf seasonended, but we have a top golf
(29:10):
league sitting around and justshooting the shit with your
buddies.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
So much fun.
The humans are the mostimportant part I have found.
Yeah, yep, and we know, like,when people get to the end of
life, what do they say?
They talk about theirrelationships, they talk about
their experiences and thingslike, yeah, and then we're so
isolated.
Yeah, so the humans.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
And that's it for this week's episode of stories,
success and stuff.
There is a part two.
We had a lot of great questionsand so we'll be broadcasting
that next week, and I hope thatyou'll continue to follow us on
your favorite podcast channel oryour favorite social media
channel at CRS of the agency, orfollow along and subscribe to
our newsletter at CRScom.
(29:48):
I'm Crystal.
This is Jace.
Thanks for another great weekand we hope to see you soon at
stories, success and stuff.
Now.
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